It's the most wonderful time of the year in one of the more wonderful years in music. Granted, looking at the #1 songs this year on Billboard, you start to lose a little bit of faith in humanity...
- "Blank Space" by Taylor Swift = 2 weeks at #1 (Just a boring song)
- "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars = 14 weeks at #1 (Great song BUT was on my Top 40 in 2014)
- "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth = 12 non-consecutive weeks at #1 (Another boring song)
- "Bad Blood" by Taylor Swift ft. Kendrick Lamar = 1 week at #1 (Awful song although, I do embrace pop star beefs so I can't entirely hate on it)
- "Cheerleader" by OMI = 6 non-consecutive weeks at #1 (Fun, poppy, obvious 1-hit wonder)
- "Can't Feel My Face" by The Weeknd = 3 non-consecutive weeks at #1 (LITERALLY THE ONLY SONG THAT BILLBOARD AND I AGREE ON THIS YEAR)
- "What Do You Mean?" by Justin Bieber = 1 week (Just sort of exists as background music, not great and not bad)
- "The Hills" by The Weeknd = 6 weeks (Didn't make the Top 40 cut, wasn't really in consideration)
- "Hello" by Adele = 8 weeks (Was in consideration, still didn't make the cut)
Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of good there but, the amount of bland garbage that is popular (looking at you, T-Swift) is sort of alarming.
Back to how wonderful 2015 was... 2014 seemed like a barren wasteland of hip-hop and 2015 could not have been more different. Seemingly everybody not named Jay Z or Nas released something this year and between forever genre-altering albums like To Pimp A Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar and critically-acclaimed masterpieces like If You're Reading This, It's Too Late by Drake, it was one of the strongest years the genre has had since the nineties. Every year has plenty of alternative hits and this year did not slow down the genre's pace of quality releases. Rock has been in decline for years and with Tame Impala being another band going for a synthier sound and spacier aesthetic, it felt like a female-dominant genre with acts like Wolf Alice, Courtney Barnett and Sleater-Kinney having their biggest years as artists. This year was easily the hardest Top 40 countdown I have ever had to make (although I was pretty certain of #1 for a couple of weeks at least) and the cuts of countdown contenders that didn't quite make it is pretty staggering. For example...
Countdown Contenders
BØRNS - 10,000 Emerald Pools
Courtney Barnett - Kim's Caravan
D.A. Wallach - Long Way Down
Florence + The Machine - St. Jude
Jenny Lewis - She's Not Me
Majical Cloudz - Silver Car Crash
Raury - Devil's Whisper
TV On The Radio - Trouble
Youth Lagoon - Highway Patrol Stun Gun
and about 100+ others
Those nine songs were in close consideration but, could not quite make the cut. Here is the much self-debated list that I eventually curated...
#40. Tame Impala "The Less I Know The Better"
NOTE: None of the music videos are available for posting within the blog so, sadly you will just have to click the link in the song title because of this scumbaggy move made by Vevo.
The moment this song kicks in, you know you are in for a retro-vibing track. "The Less I Know The Better" is the fifth single off of the Australian psychedelic rockers' third album, Currents. The music video is an even more extreme trip than the song with a gorilla mascot and a cheerleader being eaten out by some dude named Trevor. It's a hundred layers of bizarre entertainment and keeps the viewer wondering just how absurd things can get. This is a song for a drive down a curvy road on a sunny day.
Fun fact: This song was perfectly used for a recent Apple Watch advertisement.
#39. Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment "Sunday Candy"
Who exactly is in "The Social Experiment"? According to an always-reliable source known as Wikipedia, The Social Experiment consists of Donnie Trumpet, Chance The Rapper, Peter Cottontale, Greg Landfair Jr. and Nate Fox. The entire eclectic collection of artists are local Chicago acts. The female singer in this is Jamila Woods, a poet/singer/actress from Chicago and the whole thing feels/looks like the best Broadway production of the year not named Hamilton. There wasn't a better semi-gospel song about a rapper's grandmother released in 2015.
Fun fact: Chicago-based singers Eryn Allen Kane and Jabari Rayford sing background vocals during the chorus as well.
#38. Best Coast "Feeling Ok"
The third and finest single off of Best Coast's third album is alt-rock at it's chillest. Bethany Cosentino does not write the most complicated sheet of lyrics but, gets the point across quite easily in nearly every song she's written. For anything she lacks in songwriting, Cosentino makes up for in vocals as her voice mixed with the reverberation of her guitar make everything Best Coast releases pleasantly listenable. Their obsession with California and Best Coast equaling west coast is discernible through their music, which sounds exactly like what should always be playing on a beach in California.
Fun fact: Best Coast made my countdown at #28 back in 2011 with "Our Deal".
#37. Ezra Furman "Restless Year"
Oooowaaaaoooo. That simple vocal noise in the background mixed with frenetic drumming make this song one that forces you to get out of your chair and do that weird dance you do when nobody's looking.
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| Something like this. |
Fun fact: Furman? Also Chicago-born. I'm sensing a trend.
#36. Miguel "Coffee"
Hey girl, do you want to come up for some "coffee"? The coffee-as-sex euphemism has been used at least as far back as Seinfeld but, had somehow never had an entire song about it until Miguel dropped this sensual tune back in May. Thank god the official version of the song did not include Wale, who added so little to the song that he actually took enjoyment out of "Coffee". Miguel and Frank Ocean have been leading the return of R&B to the charts for a few years now and with the release of his Prince-ish third studio album, Wildheart, we are now living in the midst of Miguel's prime. Now, if only Frank Ocean would come back from whatever cave with wi-fi he's been holed up in...
Fun fact: Rolling Stone ranked "Coffee" as their #27 song of 2015.
#35. BØRNS "Electric Love"
BØRNS has the most obnoxious name to type on the countdown and I've had to figure out to type that crossed-out o thing twice already because he had that good of a year musically. The indie pop artist's debut album, Dopamine, has been widely acclaimed by nearly everybody that has taken the time to listen to it and the synthpoppyness (new word alert!) is strong throughout the whole 40-minute record. The strongest track on the entire album is "Electric Love" which is the rockiest the album gets with a chorus that makes me to turn up the volume and fail to sing along. The production is great and BØRNS seems like an artist worth paying attention to in the next few years.
Fun fact: "Electric Love" is used in the most recent Hulu TV ad. How come some of these great songs are used in advertisements yet, never chart on Billboard's Top 100? Suspicious.
#34. Leon Bridges "Coming Home"
Bridges is a 26-year old singer from Atlanta with a boatload of soul that we were lucky enough to be introduced to early in the summer. You typically should not judge an album by it's cover but, the cover for Bridges' Coming Home album looks like a record straight out of the sixties with Leon snapping his fingers in a way that lets you know that this isn't just a soulful record but, there will also be some dance-able tunes along the ten-track journey. The title track is the highlight of the entire album as it evokes memories of Sam Cooke and with artists like Bridges, Aloe Blacc and Mayer Hawthorne breaking out over the last three years, it is clear that music has not lost it's soul in a time where emotionless EDM dominates the chart.
Fun fact: The album Coming Home is nominated for Best R&B Album at the upcoming Grammy Awards.
#33. Dawes "Things Happen"
Dawes have been around for six years officially even though I only got into them recently when I saw them pop up a few times at an assortment of concerts on the Palladia network. When I heard the 2011 song "A Little Bit Of Everything", I knew they were good. When I heard "Things Happen" and the rest of their fourth record, All Your Favorite Bands, I knew they were REALLY good (even though half of that album feels too similar). "Things Happen" feels like another great example of a song you drunkenly sing with a glass in your hand (as suggested in the song) and the line "Things Happen, that's all they ever do" has become my favorite phrase of 2015. You don't agree with this list so far? Oh well, things happen, that's all they ever do. Moving on...
Fun fact: #33 in 2014? "First Time" by Vance Joy.
#32. Years & Years "Eyes Shut"
Pop ballads don't typically interest me unless the singer's voice is on a whole other level compared to anything else out at the time (Adele) or the song is just incredibly well written and I feel like this song has a balance at being solid on both counts. There is something about Olly Alexander's voice that I find fascinating in that his vibrato is so shaky that it works. "Eyes Shut" was one of three great songs("Shine", "Foundation") that Years & Years released in 2015 that could have made the list easily in 2014 (due to lack of depth in comparison to other years). This song should have been a huge mainstream hit for them and instead, we got OMI.
Fun fact: The music video was filmed in Sofia, Bulgaria. (Does it actually look that apocalyptic? maybe.)
#31. Kurt Vile "Pretty Pimpin'"
The lead song off of Vile's sixth album, B'lieve I'm Goin Down..., was the first song of his that I enjoyed to the point where I could listen to it multiple times. The former War On Drugs member has been on a steady stretch of releasing critically acclaimed indie folk rock since the late 00's and this album along with the song "Pretty Pimpin'" are his biggest hits to date. "Pretty Pimpin'" is a five and a half-minute track over which Vile slowly loses his mind and the time as the days just seem to keep passing by with nothing notable occurring in the narrator's life. It's a strange one but, any song that fits every day of the week in the chorus without sounding ridiculous gets bonus points from me.
Fun fact: NME Magazine ranks Vile's album as the 11th best of 2015.
#30. SOAK "Sea Creatures"
Teenagers have been having a great decade between the Lorde takeover and the rise of acts like Jake Bugg and Raury and SOAK is another example of a teen that is a real artist/musician already. The 19-year old Irish singer first gained steam at the end of last year with songs like "B a noBody" and "Blud" that showcased a blossoming folk-ish songwriter. It was no surprise that her debut album, Before We Forgot How To Dream, was a success and included another single that would be her best song to date in "Sea Creatures". The song is more dreampop than it is folk and is about experiencing the world as an adult while still feeling like a kid which is a central theme of being 19-years old.
Fun fact: SOAK's real name? Bridie Monds-Watson.
#29. Will Butler "Anna"
Will Butler has been one of the main members of Arcade Fire for a decade now and just in 2015 decided to release his first solo work with the debut album, Policy. The lead single "Anna" has the most fun music video released this year with Emma Stone playing the lead character Anna, who quickly loses her sanity in pursuit of money. It's colorful, fascinating, weird and just all around as entertaining as a music video could get in 2015. At first, I did not think that highly of the song and it just sort of passed in and out of my life but, I regained an appreciation for the fun catchiness of the song six months after it's release thanks to the unveiling of the music video that accompanied the song.
Fun fact: Butler received an Academy Award nomination for his work on the original score of the 2014 film, Her.
#28. Florence + The Machine "Delilah"
In what is currently the sixth and final (there may be more yet to be released) chapter of The Odyssey series of music videos, "Delilah" is the most dance-able song on Florence + The Machine's third album, How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful. The song is the typical indie rock we have come to expect from Florence Welch with dramatic vocals and lyrics about a lover. The formula continues to work so, why alter anything?
Fun fact: Rolling Stone named How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful it's third best pop album of the year, further proving that genres are dumb.
#27. Drake "Hotline Bling"
Some songs are well written, some songs are produced perfectly and some songs are just delightful enough earworms that they take over the country. "Hotline Bling" took over the world the minute the instantly-iconic video was released and the song was just delightful enough ear-candy that it also took over the radio. Everybody from Erykah Badu to real-life presidential candidate Donald Trump had their own takes on either the song or the video. It was hip-hop's "Uptown Funk" of the year with how popular a song it became over time. Of course, it's basically a carbon copy of "Cha Cha" by D.R.A.M. released earlier in the year only, this one features Drake's weird uncle dancing.
Fun fact: Billboard ranks "Hotline Bling" as the #30 song of 2015.
#26. Florence + The Machine "Ship To Wreck"
No, that is not a typo. Florence + The Machine had a phenomenal year with both the #28 and #26 songs as "Ship To Wreck" was the upbeat song with depressing lyrics that seems to work well 95% of the time. The only song that I might describe as a "pop" song on the entire record, "Ship To Wreck" feels nearly Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band-esque until Florence invokes that vocal power she has into the word "wreeeeeeeeeeeck".
Fun fact: The music video premiered right before her Coachella performance in April as part of the live Coachella Youtube stream.
#25. Major Lazer & DJ Snake featuring MØ "Lean On"
How this song was not nominated for a Grammy in any of the Dance categories is completely beyond me. You could not avoid the beat to this song anywhere in 2015, whether it was in the background during a football game, in the bowling alley or in the newest Nexus 5X commercial. The song was so huge that Major Lazer was the most shazam-ed artist of the year and "Lean On" is now the most streamed song in the HISTORY of Spotify. The song was also huge thanks to MØ's vocal performance as she is a fun musician who's been releasing songs on the same level as "Lean On" in terms of poppy goodness for the past couple of years including tunes like "Kamikaze" and another feature on the Elliphant song "One More". Peace Is The Mission might be the weakest album Major Lazer has dropped to date but, this song will live on as one of Diplo's finest creations.
Fun fact: The video was shot Maharashtra, India. That still doesn't explain MØ's dance moves.
#24. Kendrick Lamar "King Kunta"
Quite a change in tone from one song to the next. Kendrick Lamar went all in on To Pimp A Butterfly and on his second single, Lamar takes on "the power that be" and his foes in the 24th best song of the year. This song and video both sound and look like they could have been ripped out of the past with it's funkadelic vibes and classically nineties-looking video with low-riders cruising through Compton. The entire video is an homage to "California Love" and the influence within the music is also apparent. The background female singers asking "What's the yams?" are also something that is rarely heard in music anymore where a random voice in the background actually communicates with the lead artist (in this case: Kendrick Lamar) and the whole thing is entirely unique which is hard to do in a world where so much music exists.
Fun fact: Pitchfork named "King Kunta" it's 4th best of the year.
#23. Dawes "All Your Favorite Bands"
The second and final appearance from Dawes is the best song and title track off of their newest record. "All Your Favorite Bands" is one of the more pleasant breakup songs ever created where lead singer Taylor Goldsmith wishes his ex well with lines like "I hope the world sees the same person that you've always been to me" and "may all your favorite bands stay together". It's hard to get hit with some sense of nostalgia when you hear a folk rock song with lyrics so clear and to the point.
Fun fact: This is the only song on All Your Favorite Bands that features a co-writer (Jonny Fritz) with Taylor Goldsmith. That might not be as much of a fun fact as it is... fact.
#22. Jamie xx featuring Young Thug & Popcaan "I Know There's Gonna Be (Good Times)"
Many would call this the song of the summer with it's tropical feel, upbeat lyrics and singing rapper feature that isn't a disaster. It's impossible to not get this song stuck in your head once you hear it whether it be the 1972 sample of The Persuasions' "Good Times" or the line "IMMA RIDE IN THAT PUSSY LIKE A STROLLER" being gleefully shouted into your ear hole. This was one of the defining tunes of 2015 off of one of the more well-received Dance/Electronic albums in a long time.
Fun fact: #22 in 2014? Foster The People's "Coming Of Age".
#21. Lana Del Rey "High By The Beach"
Lana Del Rey just continues to have a great output year after year. 2012 was her debut album, Born To Die, and the two top 40 hits that followed ("National Anthem" and "Born To Die"). 2013 did not involve any albums but, had some quality releases nonetheless with "Young & Beautiful" off of The Great Gatsby soundtrack. 2014 was her second great album featuring the hit single "West Coast". 2015 was no different with a return to more hip-hop heavy instrumentals on her latest album, Honeymoon, and an entertaining music video to accompany the trap beats of lead single "High By The Beach".
Fun fact: Pitchfork named the music video as the tenth best music video of the year.
#20. The Weeknd "Can't Feel My Face"
I had always thought that Abel Tesfaye (AKA: The Weeknd) sounded almost exactly like Michael Jackson. The only differences between the two was that there was no subtlety in Tesfaye's lyrics and he was more of a hip-hop/R&B artist until this year. "Can't Feel My Face" was the pop smash hit that The Weeknd needed to win over the older people who had no idea a singer with pineapple hair existed. "Can't Feel My Face" is his "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" and I'm very intrigued to see if The Weeknd continues to tone down his explicit lyrics for radio airplay.
Fun fact: "Can't Feel My Face" is nominated for Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance at the upcoming Grammy Awards.
#19. Thundercat "Them Changes"
Going from one of the biggest pop hits of the year to the funkiest of funk hits of 2015, "Them Changes" was an underground success mostly to rising Thundercat hype started by Kendrick Lamar and his new album (which features Thundercat) in early Spring. I cannot wait for the next full (30 minutes or longer) Thundercat release as his latest and greatest album, The Beyond/Where The Giants Roam, was abruptly over after 16 funk-tastic minutes. "Them Changes" is the clear highlight of the album with a throwback vibe thanks to production from super-producer Flying Lotus and the video is out there and quite sad if you remove the song that automatically induces head-bobbing.
Fun fact: Pitchfork ranked Thundercat's newest album as their 24th best album of 2015.
#18. Kendrick Lamar featuring Bilal, Anna Wise and Thundercat "These Walls"
Who would have guessed before the year that Thundercat would get back-to-back mentions on the Top 40? No one, that's who. "These Walls" was one of only a few songs off of To Pimp A Butterfly that did not take me more than one listen to get into, whereas most of the album had to be heard a few times for me to fully appreciate what K.Dot had crafted for the listener. The song offers a quick glimpse into the darker moments of Lamar's new-found fame and once again, does this over the funkiest of beats that you would have heard in 2015. The music video is a whole other world as the eight-minute "Black Comedy" stars Terry Crews, Lamar, rapper Isaiah Rashad and comedian Corey Holcomb and is truly one of the most entertaining eight minute music videos ever.
Fun fact: "These Walls" is nominated for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 58th Grammy Awards.
#17. Daughter "Doing The Right Thing"
When I was first introduced to Daughter back in 2013, I thought "Okay, I love the song "Youth" but nothing else is jumping out at me". It only took them two more years to have a song jump out at me and just stun me with the lyrics and music video that accompanies their first single off of an upcoming album to be released in January. Lead singer Elena Tonra's vocal performance is chilling in this song with only a guitar behind it when she sings about the fear of one day acquiring dementia. It is one of the saddest, most chilling songs I heard all year and I think Daughter will finally hit their stride on January 2016's Not To Disappear.
Fun fact: #17 in 2014? SBTRKT featuring Ezra Koenig "New Dorp. New York"
#16. Tobias Jesso Jr. "How Could You Babe"
No, This guy is not Randy Newman's son even though they have strikingly similar musical styles. Jesso Jr. released this song back in January and I immediately thought "This is going to be a great, eclectic year for music" and I was right. "How Could You Babe" is a soft piano pop/rock song that gets more intense and loud as it goes on and for what is a typical love song, does a pretty good job at still sounding fresh after a bunch of listens. There's a reason Adele called upon Jesso Jr. to help co-write the song "When We Were Young" on her new album, 25, as the man just knows how to create good music.
Fun fact: The entire Jesso Jr. debut album, Goon, was co-produced by Black Keys' drummer Patrick Carney.
#15. Rihanna featuring Kanye West and Paul McCartney "FourFiveSeconds"
The best thing Rihanna has ever done was taking a break for herself from music for a year or two. Between the simplistic ballad that is "FourFiveSeconds", the banger that is "Bitch Better Have My Money" and the socially-conscious "American Oxygen", Rihanna seems to be releasing her most interesting and thought-out music of her career with her upcoming album, Anti. "FourFiveSeconds" is a song that should not work as it features autotuned Kanye West singing instead of rapping over Paul McCartney's guitar and NOTHING ELSE and the song also features lyrics that you would expect over something closer to "Bitch Better Have My Money" instrumentals. It's a weirdly experimental song featuring three musical icons that all comes together and works thanks to Rihanna's strongest vocal performance of her career up to this point. She's raked in money from releasing albums pretty much every year from 2005 until 2012 so, it was about time she took a break and released more consistently quality music.
Fun fact: The trio first performed this song at last year's Grammy Awards.
#14. Sia "Elastic Heart"
Another Diplo-produced song, "Elastic Heart" was the first music video I put down on my list of songs to consider for this year's Top 40 and voila, the song made it onto the end-of-year countdown. It felt weird placing this song so high when it was first released so long ago (October 2013) as part of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Soundtrack. Of course, the song was re-released on Sia's July 2014 album, 1000 Forms of Fear, and finally on January 9th, a music video featuring Maddie Ziegler (of "Chandelier" music video fame) and Shia LaBeouf (of barking at any cars that drive past his house fame) was unveiled to the public. Some of the public reacted quite poorly to the video, accusing it of depicting pedophilia, which is utterly fucking stupid. The video was supposed to make the viewer think about what it could possibly mean, as art typically does, and the fact that now-performance artist Shia LaBeouf is in the video should automatically be a red flag to anybody watching the video that "this isn't going to make a ton of sense unless I read some fan theories on why this is about a daughter watching a father with mental health issues and why it should totally make sense" or some shit like that. By the way, the production of the actual song itself is A+.
Fun fact: The original Hunger Games version of the song features The Weeknd.
#13. Jamie xx featuring Romy "Loud Places"
One of the biggest bands in indie pop the past few years has been The xx and with Jamie xx releasing his first solo album, he decided to call upon both of his fellow xx members for two separate songs. "Loud Places" features female xx, Romy (As far as I'm concerned the band is female xx, male xx and producer xx) and is the best thing anybody xx has ever released. The song is a quiet dreampop hit that I was a big fan of until I went shopping through a mall earlier this year, heard it while shopping and became a HUGE fan of it. It's the most refreshing song off of one of the more critically-acclaimed albums of the year.
Fun fact: Jamie xx's album, In Colour, is nominated for best Dance/Electronic Album at the upcoming Grammy Awards.
#12. Big Grams "Fell In The Sun"
Big Boi (formerly of Outkast) released his last album, Vicious Lies And Dangerous Rumors, back in 2012 and it went largely unnoticed by Big Boi-standards. That album happens to be one of my all-time favorite underrated albums due to it's experimental elements with Phantogram and other indie acts like Little Dragon and Wavves. When I heard that Big Boi and Phatogram were teaming up for an EP under the name "Big Grams", I got super excited for two of my favorite musical acts teaming up once again. Ultimately, it was seven songs of experimental hip hop that also won't get the love it deserves. "Fell In The Sun" is the highlight as it features triumphant trumpets, Sarah Barthel singing the chorus and Big Boi rapping about Atlanta. It's everything I expected and wanted from two acts I never expected to collaborate again because that is very rare nowadays.
Fun fact: Phantogram appeared twice on last year's Top 40 Songs of 2014.
#11. Young Fathers "Shame"
If there's one award that everyone should pay attention to in music, it is the Mercury Prize. The Mercury Prize is handed out to the best album released in the UK and Ireland and last year, Young Fathers won the award for their debut album, Dead. Their 2015 record, White Men Are Black Men Too, mixes an assortment of genres including hip hop, indie rock and even a bit of pop music in their biggest hit "Shame". The song is extremely reminiscent of peak TV On The Radio and is a song that could cause a moshpit in the calmest of places with it's fast, pulsing beat. The video captures the strange intensity of this song pretty well also.
Fun fact: #11 in 2014? "Digital Witness" by St. Vincent.
#10. Years & Years "King"
Every year, there are about three newer artists that I obsess over because I just enjoy their music and see the potential for greatness within their music. This year those artists were probably Raury, Courtney Barnett and Years & Years. "King" was my introduction to Years & Years and for some reason, became a huge hit in every country besides the USA. "King" really should have been one of the ten most-played songs of the year in this country as I thought it would be the first time I heard the group's second single off of their debut album, Communion. The bubbly instrumental mixed with Olly Alexander's unique voice make for the best house music track of 2015.
Fun fact: Before starting Years & Years, I first saw lead singer Olly Alexander in the 2009 horror film, Tormented. Alexander was an actor before becoming a professional singer.
#9. Grimes "Flesh Without Blood"
Grimes is a weird little Canadian woman with incredible drawing ability and a bizarre taste in art/music videos. The song contains one guitar riff that gets the listener pumped for whatever comes next and then, Grimes starts singing with her high-pitched baby voice and you forget everything you previously knew about music because this is completely original and bizarre and I love every minute of it. "Flesh Without Blood" is an awesome driving song and the entire Art Angels album is great. The music video is more bizarre than the song and looks like it was a ton of fun to film. Come to watch the "Flesh Without Blood" music video, stay for the snippet of "Life In The Vivid Dream".
Fun fact: Rolling Stone placed "Flesh Without Blood" as their 15th best song of 2015.
#8. Courtney Barnett "Pedestrian At Best"
The slacker-rock anthem of 2015, "Pedestrian At Best" was the first song that brought Courtney Barnett into the spotlight in the United States after the minor success of the clever single "Avant Gardener". The first song off of her first studio album, Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit is a rock song with a witty chorus about how average and disappointing Barnett thinks she is. She doesn't want anybody to have expectations for her music and yet, it turned out so well that I can't wait for her next album, whenever it may be released.
Fun fact: Courtney Barnett is nominated for Best New Artist at the 2016 Grammy Awards.
#7. Mark Ronson featuring Mystikal "Feel Right" (NOTE: This is a link to the obnoxiously censored version, which is the only version available with the music video on the internet. I apologize for whoever's decision this was to ruin a fun song)
As if "Uptown Funk" weren't enough, Mark Ronson also released "Feel Right" a single that features Mystikal (of "SHAKE YA ASS" fame) just feels... right. The track brings a rapper from out of whatever cave (or prison) he's been hiding in and makes him James Brown-level yell at you while the production from Mark Ronson is on point, as always, with the jazz-ish bar concert vibe going on. The video features a bunch of kids in an elementary school talent competition and it's cute and fun and none of it means a whole lot but, music doesn't have to mean a whole lot in order to be great. This should have been just as big as "Uptown Funk" but wasn't because duh, it's a rapper and not Bruno Mars. Try convincing the typical middle-aged midwestern mom to listen to this without mentioning "the guy that made Uptown Funk".
Fun fact: This is the first appearance of a Mark Ronson song on my end-of-year countdown since 2007 ("Stop Me" featuring Daniel Merriweather).
#6. Tame Impala "Let It Happen" (NOTE: There is an eight-minute version of this song and the music video is only 4:17 long)
The first time I heard the full version of this song, I exclaimed "Ho. Ly. Shit.". The first single on the Australian band's third album, Currents, is a nearly eight minute whirlwind of psychedelic guitars, synths and distorted vocals. "Let It Happen" was a preview of their fantastic new album as the whole thing was a lot more psychedelic and even a tad disco at times than their previous work. Lead singer Kevin Parker was quoted in NME magazine as far as what the song means to him, "For me, the song is about finding yourself always in this world of chaos and all this stuff going on around you and always shutting it out because you don’t want to be part of it. But at some point, you realize it takes more energy to shut it out than it does to let it happen and be a part of it.". This song is a "must turn up the volume" song no matter what mood one might be in.
Fun fact: Roling Stone ranks "Let It Happen" as the #17 song of 2015.
#5. Florence + The Machine "What Kind Of Man"
The first single off of the fantastic How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful blew my mind the first time I listened to it in a very similar manner as "Let It Happen" (the #6 song). It starts out sounding like no other Florence Welch song before it, with distorted vocals that make it sound like the highest-ranked ginger on the countdown was possessed. It was spooky and I was confused until the guitar really kicked in out of nowhere, then the fun really took over my ears. Florence does her typically awesome, somewhat over-dramatized singing but it works perfectly for a song as dramatic and angry as "What Kind Of Man". When she took time off in between her second and third albums, she channeled more of her emotions into the music than before and dammit, it worked spectacularly. If I had to pin-poit a guess as to when Welch broke her foot at Coachella this year, I would assume it was the moment she jumped off stage and ran up and down the audience aisles as she really, really gets into this song during live performances which makes her one of the best musical acts we have going right now.
Fun fact: How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful was Florence + The Machine's first Billboard #1 album.
#4. Braids "Miniskirt"
Experimental pop music rarely works as well as it does on Braids' 2015 album, Deep In The Iris. I first discovered this album (and had honestly not even given Braids a chance up until this point, which was foolish on my part) when looking through nominees for the 2015 Polaris Music Prize. As with most of the songs higher than 20th on this countdown, I was thoroughly impressed to the point where all I could think after hearing "Miniskirt" was "Wow". "Miniskirt" is the most powerful feminist anthem of the year and the intensity within Raphaelle Standell-Preston's vocals makes it apparent that this is a very important song to her. The production on this song is incredible and gives the listener chills immediately.
Fun fact: #4 in 2014? Bleachers' "I Wanna Get Better"
#3. Kanye West featuring Paul McCartney "Only One"
People that do not appreciate Kanye West are my least favorite kind of people behind racists, terrorists and people that use the word "silly". This song is a fucking masterpiece of simplicity and how to use auto-tune correctly without being Imogen Heap. Everybody wastes their time complaining about West's personal life being in the news or about how cocky he is on some of his songs (which most musicians are on most of their songs once they've made it big) when they don't take the time to actually sit back, pop on "Only One" and pay attention to the lyrics about a love for his child and deceased mother that spans three generations. West even takes the role of his late mother when singing to his daughter, North. It's as beautiful a song that has ever been written in hip-hop behind songs like "Tha Crossroads" by Bone Thugs-n-Harmony and "Hey Mama" by who else but Kanye West. But no, keep hate-reading stories about Kim and his personal lives or quotes that you can run with for days when none of you even try to understand the man behind the rude award show guest.
Fun fact: "Only One" was technically Paul McCartney's first top 40 Billboard hit in the United States since 1989's "My Brave Face"
#2. Kendrick Lamar "Alright"
Director Colin Tilley made the best music video of 2015 when Kendrick Lamar's "Alright" was released to the public on June 30th. Lamar takes over L.A., flies around town, gets carried along with the rest of the Black Hippy crew by police officers, ends up on a lamppost, gets shot down by police and recites part of a poem that begins and ends over multiple tracks on To Pimp A Butterfly. The song was a whole other beast before the video came around as protesters of police brutality began reciting the chorus while walking down the streets of Baltimore in late April after the death of Freddie Gray. That right there was a moment that will cement this song's legacy. It did not feel right to put this song any lower than the top five with the cultural impact it had and the positive vibes that emitted from what many websites are referring to as the song of the year.
Fun fact: Pharrell Williams co-wrote and co-produced "Alright".
#1 songs of year's past
2006. P!nk "Stupid Girlz"
2007. Amy Winehouse "Rehab"
2008. Kanye West ft. Dwele & Connie Mitchell "Flashing Lights"
2009. Santigold "L.E.S. Artistes"
2010. Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Skeletons"
2011. Adele "Someone Like You"
2012. Santigold "The Keepers"
2013. Arcade Fire "Afterlife"
2014. St. Vincent "Birth In Reverse"
The #1 song of 2015
Courtney Barnett "Depreston"
I did a damn good job at purchasing albums this year as the only two I bought are ranked #1 and #2 on pretty much every major music website on their year-end countdowns. Courtney Barnett's Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit and Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly might not be my top 2 albums of the year but, I do agree that both are tremendous albums and feature the top 2 songs of the year. "Depreston" is another song from Barnett that features incredible songwriting about the most mundane of topics (shopping for a new house). The second single off of her March album is the best soft indie rock song of the year and the best song of the year in a pretty great year for music.
Thank you for reading. The Top 20 Albums of the Year will be posted before 2016.
Spotify Playlist of the Top 40 Songs of 2015
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