Top 40 Songs of 2019

Welcome to the beginning of #ListSZN2019! I am not a fan of any publication curating their end-of-year playlists prior to December, not because it overshadows my list that is going to get a dozen or so views from my good friends and the random intrigue click but, because it completely dismisses the possibility of music being released over a two-month span that has any relevancy. Imagine pretending Beyonce's self-titled album never occurred. A publication that dropped a list before December 2013 would have had to either awkwardly insert it into their 2014 list season (which is what I settled for since my cutoff date is usually around December 15th and Beyonce' was unveiled to the public on the 13th that year. When Pitchfork pushed out their Top 200 Songs/Albums of the 2010s in EARLY OCTOBER, they missed out on including FKA Twigs, the new Harry Styles' album and "Everything I Wanted" by Billie Eilish. It was an atrocious oversight, I don't care how high the demand was for a retrospective on the decade, the reveals could have been handled much better. My lists are far from perfect (the songs list only include songs with music videos so "The Blacker The Berry", "Devil In A New Dress" and "Hey, Ma" have not/will not be acknowledged until they have music videos and in two of those three cases, that is 100% not going to happen) but, at least I try to put some thought into the timing of my announcements.

Bon Iver does make my list despite the lack of a video for "Hey, Ma".

December 14th, 2019 is the cutoff date for all 2019 music videos. Anything released after that date is eligible for next year's list. There is a playlist featuring the songs in order from 40-1 in order at the very bottom of the page in case you do not want to click each individual link as you read along the list.

Here is a list of songs that were in close consideration for the Top 40 Songs of 2019 that just missed the cut...

Countdown Contenders
Ed Sheeran ft. Khalid - Beautiful People
Harry Styles - Adore You
The Japanese House - Maybe You're The Reason
Lil Nas X ft. Billy Ray Cyrus - Old Town Road (Remix)
Mark Ronson ft. YEBBA - Don't Leave Me Lonely
Normani - Motivation
Sigrid - Don't Feel Like Crying
Weezer - High As A Kite
Yves Tumor - Noid

Especially honorable mention to "Old Town Road (Remix)" for never not making me happy as it combined two polar opposite genres and became the most wholesome of all meme songs that ended up breaking the Billboard record for weeks at #1 on the Hot 100. 

#40. Bon Iver "Naeem"

At this point, if someone hasn't gotten into Bon Iver (and tried), they're just not going to get into Bon Iver. What started out as a passion project of Justin Vernon's, recorded in the woods of Wisconsin while going through a rough patch in his life, Bon Iver's sound has morphed into something far more electrifying and unique than the "sad white guy with guitar" label that he could have fallen into (I say "he" because there are still people out there that believe Vernon is a man named Bon Iver). With 2016's 22, A Million album, Vernon sort of disregarded any narratives to his songs' lyrics and instead went for more startling instrumentals and on their Grammy nominated i,i album, we see the band refine their sound somewhere in between both albums with mysterious lyricism and unknown meanings behind the music set to a combination of 22-type noises and that classic folk-ish sound that drew so much critical acclaim their way in the past. "Naeem" is the one song to get a video off of their fourth studio album and is a shining example of the band going back to their earlier aesthetic with some newer puzzling lyrics sprinkled on top of a piano ballad.

Fun Fact: "Naeem" is used in the latest Nike ad featuring LeBron James.

#39. Karen O & Danger Mouse "Woman"

I'm not sure if we'll ever see new material from Yeah Yeah Yeahs again and that's okay. The New York-based rock band gave us three great albums, one okay album (Mosquito had some HIGH lights and some LOW lights) and lead singer Karen O seems to be doing just fine in the band's downtime. Linking together Karen O & Danger Mouse (of Gnarls Barkley fame) was already an interesting proposition but, putting out an entire album together? That was a bold decision. Much like Mosquito, I could have done without about half of Lux Prima but, "Woman" is absolutely the highlight of that record. "Woman" is your basic female empowerment anthem with Karen O's fun, screeching, growling, sex-goblin vocals turning exquisite Danger Mouse production into unlike anything we've heard on a Danger Mouse-produced track since he first emerged in the early aughts. The official video being recorded live on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert made this song a MUST-have on my year-end list because the whole thing is just too damn fun.

Fun Fact: Actress Beanie Feldstein of Booksmart fame is one of O's backup dancers in the video for "Woman".

#38. Carly Rae Jepsen "Now That I Found You"

After overlooking Emotion, there was no way I would let another all-around solid pop effort from Carly Rae Jepsen go unnoticed. Now that I've found the single from the Canadian Idol contestant to break through into my list, I should probably talk about it. "Now That I Found You" is a perfect pop song for all eras and ages. The song is Jepsen, in love and not wanting to let go of that initial realization that "Dammit, this is great" set over chopped vocals from Jepsen and a chorus that will not leave the listener's head alone for a long time upon even the first listen. It's a shame Jepsen still hasn't hit the mainstream the way that her weakest track ("Call Me Maybe") did early in the decade but, it isn't the lack of quality that's kept her out of the limelight.

Fun Fact: "Now That I Found You" is used in television advertisements for Target.

#37. The 1975 "Frail State Of Mind"

As if getting four The 1975 songs on last year's list weren't enough, they have the follow-up to A Brief Inquiry To Online Relationships coming out early in 2020 and have delivered on the excitement behind their musical turn to darker subject matter once again. In case nobody knows what social anxiety sounds like inside someone's head, this is a pretty dead-on example. Second guessing every action taken or word said, feeling guilt or the most minute detail created by yourself, apologizing for apologizing, it is all there in this downbeat version of the melody for their 2018 countdown contender "TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME". The frantically skipping piano-based beat is reminiscent of King Of Limbs era Radiohead and despite that now-classic rock band never being explicitly mentioned as a favorite of Matty Healy and company, it is clearly an influence they were on their sleeves.

Fun Fact: The 1975's new album, Notes On A Conditional Form, is slated to be released on February 20th, 2020.


#36. Taylor Swift "Lover"

I never thought we would see the day that Taylor Swift would win me over with a love song after all the (sorry but,) boring post-breakup material she's released over the years and the way her presence in the media has been so needlessly controversial since the Kanye @ the 2009 VMAs incident. The Lover era was off to a horribly rocky start with the terrible "ME!" leading me to believe that there was nothing left for Swift to do but try and write the next "Fight Song" by Rachel Platten. Next came "You Need To Calm Down", a pandering single for an admirable cause in social justice that somehow came off as way too Taylor-centric and not enough about the topic at hand. She won my interest back after it was confirmed that St. Vincent had a hand in one song on the new album ("Cruel Summer") so, I decided to give Lover a listen. After 13 years as a known name, the biggest musician in America and a talented singer-songwriter that went from straight country to straighter pop, the title-track from her seventh album is the wedding anthem to end all other candidates for "First Dance of the newly wedded". It's the sweetest song Swift has ever written, there are no breaks in the song for her to do some cringe-worthy speaking parts ("Hey kids! Spelling Is Fun!") and it's production is not overdone. This is the first song from Taylor Swift to land on my end of the year countdown and it's definitely not something that I hate, hate, hate. 

Fun Fact: "Lover" is nominated for Song of the Year at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards.

#35. Joji "Sanctuary"

I completely missed the internet following that Joji got on YouTube earlier this decade and despite the "Harlem Shake" dance craze being a huge part of my Senior year of high school for some reason, I did not know that he was one of the originators of the meme that took over the world when times were simpler (2012). Instead, I was introduced to Joji when I did a deep dive on Rich Brian and all his 88rising cohabitants. With his lo-fi sound, occasionally slurred, sad-boy aesthetic, it was only natural that Joji (born George Kusunoki Miller) would attract an even larger fan-base and write a classic at some point. While too soon to be declared a "classic", "Sanctuary" is definitely a song one could put on repeat and not get tired of. The song is a moody one where Joji expresses his deep attachment to his significant other, to the point where being with them is the only safe space he needs when times get rough and it's sort of a perfect back-to-back with Taylor Swift even those these are two wildly different musicians.

Fun Fact: #35 on last year's Top 40? The 1975's "It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)".

#34. Vampire Weekend "This Life"

Danielle Haim of the all-sister band HAIM lent her vocals to much of Vampire Weekend's fourth studio album, Father Of The Bride and between her and Ezra Koenig, Vampire Weekend accidentally stumbled upon the new James Taylor/Carole King duo that this generation didn't ask for yet apparently needed. "This Life" is such a naturally upbeat, happy sounding song that it is easy to overlook how it's a song about mutual infidelity. "This Life" is a shrug emoji compared to most breakup songs that in reality, ended with someone's clothes or belongings thrown off a third-story balcony onto a soon-to-be-activated sprinkler system. The song is an admission of selfishness and a reflection on how easy life can potentially be for someone that puts their own desires first constantly set over a sunny, guitar-driven, beach-chilling instrumental. I love misleadingly deep songs that sound simple or dark songs that reach a level of melancholy by sounding so positive and this falls into both categories.

Fun Fact: The chorus of "You've been cheating on, cheating on me. I've been cheating on, cheating on you" is an interpolation of iLoveMakonnen's 2015 song "Tonight".

#33. Danny Brown "Best Life"

"To Make You Happy" by Tommy McGee was a soul song released in 1976 that Q-Tip (of A Tribe Called Quest) turned into the hottest beat on Danny Brown's uknowhatimsayin¿ album from October of this year. The song sees Brown reflecting on his come-up from drug addict wildcard to now, a man living happily with the successes he's had, mistakes he's made and trying to live his "Best Life" going forward. It's a really happy song compared to the dark twists and turns both sonically and in subject matter that Brown touched on with 2016's Atrocity Exhibition. The end result is one of the better hip-hop songs of 2019.

Fun Fact: Danny Brown's last appearance on my countdown was at #25 in 2017 with the Jonah Hill-directed video for "Ain't It Funny".

#32. Orville Peck "Turn To Hate"

One of my favorite unexpected discoveries of 2019 was that of the masked lampshade cowboy, Orville Peck. Between the arrival new singer/songwriters like Yola, Peck and the continued solid work from Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell, Patty Griffin, Brandi Carlile and more, maybe country music is on the rebound? I mean... popular country is fucked but, hope lies on the horizon. Peck's origin is unconfirmed but, the comparisons are in and his voice sounds like a Roy Orbison impression that isn't quite present in "Turn To Hate" as the high notes aren't as high as he can go and yet, that comparison still works in his lower register. One of the poppier songs off his debut album, Pony, embraces being an outsider while comforting his past self for feelings of missing out on not being with the "in" crowd. There's no reason to hate others just because of dissimilar interests and it's possible to have a good time embracing those differences. What an excellent song to unite people that would otherwise not be seen sharing interests "Turn To Hate" is.

Fun Fact: The only facts we know of Orville Peck are that he is a queer cowboy from Canada. That's fascinating in itself.

#31. Coldplay "Everyday Life"

Yes, it is 2019 and Coldplay is still a thing! After a couple of albums in the mid-2010s that sort of strayed away from the typical Coldplay sound, the Everyday Life album featured more of the ballads and pop-rock songs that made them one of the world's biggest bands from the late nineties into the early 2010s. The title-track from their eighth studio album plays the "why can't we all just get along?" card in a very controversial time to do just that but with all of the goodwill built by this band's charitable, environmentally-friendly ventures around this album cycle, it's kind of hard to be skeptical about a nice sentiment over the beautiful piano-balladry that Chris Martin has become synonymous with in addition to the newer element of orchestral strings that the band really only used heavily on 2008's Viva La Vida. If one is not a fan of Coldplay already, this will not sway them one way or another but, the same band that made "In My Place", "Clocks" and "Fix You" is still churning out tracks for their greatest hits album one day and that's pretty cool.

Fun Fact: Coldplay's last appearance on one of my year-end lists? #13 in 2011, "Paradise"


#30. SebastiAn featuring Gallant "Run For Me"

It says a lot about Gallant that he's been on my Top 40 twice and I still don't feel like the potential has been reached there. Christopher Gallant III has an insane vocal range and his high notes combined with strangely delirious dance moves have made him one hell of a compelling live performer and I'm shocked he hasn't gained more positive feedback for his first two albums. Gallant's best work so far seems to rely on other musicians bringing out the best in him. On 2016's "Skipping Stones", his high-pitched volume up against Jhene Aiko's sweet lullaby-type vocals was a perfect match and on "Run For Me", the way French producer SebastiAn makes Gallant's voice a major part of the instrumental isn't necessarily innovative but, has a more chilling effect than songs that made the chopped vocal effect so popular (think Kygo & Selena Gomez's "It Ain't Me"). For much of the song, Gallant's voice plays over sparse organ notes and then the main beat associated with the pre-chorus kicks in and it's a true thrill.

Fun Fact: #30 on 2018's list? "Sicko Mode" by Travis Scott featuring Drake.

#29. Lizzo "Cuz I Love You"

In 2019, Lizzo was a sudden revelation of sorts and with songs like "Cuz I Love You", it's pretty obvious why she is America's newest sweetheart. The 31-year old performer has been in the game since early in the decade but, didn't garner much acclaim until songs like 2018's "Boys" and this year's "Jerome" were released and showcased the fun side to a powerhouse vocalist and charismatic rapper. "Cuz I Love You" could have just been a power ballad where Lizzo admits that she has feelings for someone despite not wanting to fall for anyone at the time of publishing the song but, falling for her significant other anyway. She adds her now-signature own style to the song by clearly having fun with lyrics like "Once upon a time, I was a ho" and dragging out notes beyond the length we're accustomed to. It's a song that proves how talented Lizzo is and shows more personality than the typical diva-like song structure.

Fun Fact: The band X Ambassadors have production credits on "Cuz I Love You" along with three other songs on Lizzo's Cuz I Love You album.

#28. Charli XCX featuring Christine and the Queens "Gone"

After a dominant 2018, Christine and the Queens were still present in 2019 and despite being the featured artist on one of the better pop songs of the year, Heloise Letissier refused to take a backseat to Charli XCX. The two play off of each other very well over an electric industrial pop beat produced by A.G. Cook that sounds like the future of pop music, as much of XCX's 2019 album Charli does. The song "Gone" is about feeling alone despite being surrounded by people and the anxiety associated with said scenario. Charli's part in the song is the more anxious, possibly sad voice inside the pop singer's head while Christine's portion is the more confident voice inside our narrator's head that feels too comfortable with herself to be spending time with people that otherwise don't matter to her in the long-term. It's a great pop song that combines all types of influences from the past thirty years of pop music and yet, also showcases the future of the genre. 

Fun Fact: This is Charli's third song to reach my end-of-year Top 40 songs list and Christine's fifth.

#27. Devon Welsh "Dreamers"

One of the more left-field choices on this year's Top 40, "Dreamers" is a song from the former Canadian indie band Majical Cloudz's lead singer Devon Welsh that sounds straight out of the eighties. The synth-heavy song showcases Welsh's strictly baritone voice with a chorus that is literally just him repeating the word "yeah" thirty times and yet, that somehow works. The highlight of "Dreamers" is in Welsh's songwriting around the chorus and how unexpectedly powerful each "yeah" feels despite being such a monotone, repetitive, basic phrase. Lyrics like "They hated seeing pictures of wars" and "They knew what music is for" are so oddly specific that it's clear there was a meaningful relationship at the heart of the story the song is based on and even though the song doesn't seem like a finished product, it's also one of the more hypnotic spells of a song put forth by any singer in 2019.

Fun Fact: Welsh once was in a relationship with singer and fellow countdown veteran Grimes.

#26. Mark Ronson featuring Lykke Li "Late Night Feelings"

Twelve years after Version, Mark Ronson is still producing excellent pop music with retro, funky vibes featuring some of my favorite indie singers around. "Late Night Feelings" is another one to add to the Ronson Greatest Hits' collection as he attacked this song from a more disco-influenced angle as the song is pure Studio 54. Over the past decade, Lykke Li has proven herself as more than just the indie-folk darling that showed so much potential on her 2008 debut, Youth Novels. Not only is she the underrated star of oddball songs like N.A.S.A.'s 2009 song "Gifted" and a queen of indie-pop hooks like 2011's "Get Some" and the powerful 2014 hit "Gunshot" but, I guess she can do disco now too. Ronson knows how to bring the best out in performers that have a long repertoire of music (see: Bruno Mars, Amy Winehouse and Angel Olsen) and "Late Night Feelings" is the latest example of him making a banger of a song out of sad lyrics sung by a veteran star that should have had a huge hit here and instead, the song just came and went when it should have at least charted nationally. 

Fun Fact: This is Mark Ronson's 4th Top 40 appearance and Lykke Li's 6th. (Note: I've been doing these since 2006.)

#25. Brandi Carlile "The Mother"

Even though the Grammy-nominated By The Way, I Forgive You album didn't click with me immediately, "The Mother" was a clear highlight for me upon first listen in 2018 and I'm so glad it was finally released as a single this year so that I could brag up Brandi Carlile some more. Already a highly-regarded singer/songwriter, Carlile really made the best "sacrifices made out of love for your child" song that most other musicians would save as a deep cut on a lengthy album. Carlile decided to release it as a single after the success of her sixth album and despite it going mostly unnoticed, it is by far the best song she's made since 2007's "The Story". We might see her as this accomplished singer/songwriter worthy of placing in a country supergroup of all women (see: 2019's The Highwomen) but at the end of the day, Carlile' favorite accomplishment is being the mother of Evangeline.

Fun Fact: The last Brandi Carlile song to chart for me was 2010's "That Year" at #19.

#24. clipping. "Blood Of The Fang"

After 2016, plenty of music journalists were impatiently awaiting the next big wave of politically-driven music a year after Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly set expectations way too high. Last year, Childish Gambino struck gold with "This Is America", a song highlighting gun violence and it's disturbingly high rate of occurrence in the United States. "Blood Of The Fang" is a violent song both in it's dark production and gory lyricism that is prevalent throughout clipping.'s There Existed An Addiction To Blood. The song covers the violent history of racism and invokes Black Panther-like ideology to resolve the issue at hand instead of further discussing something that's been discussed to death for as long as America has existed.

Fun Fact: clipping. lead Daveed Diggs starred on Broadway in Hamilton.

#23. The National "Light Years"

By adding female vocalists to all of the songs on their eighth studio album, I Am Easy To Find, The National added another layer of sadness and beauty to their music. The finest example on this slept-on project from the band was the closing track, "Light Years". Another piano-heavy borderline-ballad, "Light Years" was written by Aaron Dessner about a couple in love that is not on the same page anymore and quite possibly, never was to begin with. It's a tragic ending to an otherwise seemingly ideal relationship and it was a near tear-jerker that somehow punches just as hard at the end of the sixteen-track album. It is my favorite song of theirs to date and this band is aging like a fine wine.

Fun Fact: I Am Easy To Find is accompanied by a 26-minute long short film starring Alicia Vikander that is leaps and bounds more emotional than the music on the album in my opinion. It is truly a must-see video.

#22. Noah Gundersen "Lover"

I swear I'm not this much of a romantic but, "Lover" is another powerful song that is extremely simple in it's structure. The song's quite repetitive and just builds and builds from a struggling whisper to a pained shout that in it's tone changes the meaning of the words "I don't need no lover". In the beginning, Gundersen is defiant that he doesn't need the person of his interest in his life but once he's yelling the lyrics, it's as if the feelings have intensified and made it clearer that "I sure like having you around" is the more highly emphasized portion of the chorus. The synths carry this song during the mid-portion and make it more memorable than it has any right to be as Gundersen transitions from folk singer to a more indie-pop sound that has divided some fans of his early work. Personally, I'm on board.

Fun Fact: "Lover" is the second album title-track from an album called Lover, that was released on August 23rd to make my countdown. Yes, his album came out the same day as Taylor Swift's and the covers are eerily similar with the only difference being color schemes.

#21. Caroline Polachek "Ocean Of Tears"

The vocal tricks that Caroline Polachek can pull off in this song are outstanding. For her other two singles, "So Hot You're Hurting My Feelings" is fun and catchy and "Door" is a pretty song as well but, "Ocean Of Tears" has a hard-hitting instrumental and one of the best vocal performances of any singer in 2019. The way that Polachek pronounces her words in this song are so unique that it is the most interesting song on her fascinating debut solo album, Pang. The production highly emphasizes her siren's call after the chorus and then adds on a surprising industrial-sounding beat to make it one of the most powerfully entertaining songs about desire in 2019.

Fun Fact: Caroline Polachek used to be the lead singer of Chairlift, an indie darling of a band that never made my Top 40.

#20. The 1975 "People"

Speaking of shocking listens, this song came completely out of left field as the lead single from The 1975's upcoming Notes On A Conditional Form album and won over critics that really only loved "Love It If We Made It" out of their entire catalog of music. "People" starts with seven seconds of upbeat drumming and immediately, Matty Healy jumps in to scream at the listener to "WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP!". The song does not let up after that and is a two and a half minute audio moshpit in the same vein as "Love It If We Made It", only less hopeful and way more angry. With Healy clearly taking inspiration from Marilyn Manson in both shock value (The chorus includes "Stop fucking with the kids" which, in the year of Jeffrey Epstein, could really mean anything) and style, this is the hardest The 1975 have ever rocked and it should solidify them as a "rock" band, whatever the hell that means going into the next decade of music. Watch the video (ONLY IF YOU DO NOT HAVE EPILEPSY) to see a rollercoaster of images including Healy with disturbingly long girl-from-The-Ring hair. 

Fun Fact: The 1975 have charted six songs in the past two years on my end-of-year Top 40. They had zero prior to 2018 and we love the steady improvement.

#19. FKA Twigs "Cellophane"

The best music video of 2019 (even though I have no idea what to make of it's possible meaning other than damn, strippers are mad talented) doesn't seem to fit the saddest FKA Twigs to date but sometimes when you combine two fascinating, beautiful works of art, it just creates a whole other level of art that most musicians can not even dream of achieving. At it's heart, "Cellophane" is a song about all of the effort that Tahliah Barnett (AKA: FKA Twigs) put into her relationship (probably the one with Robert Pattinson but, that's just me speculating based on the "They want to see us apart" line) that was ultimately useless as the two split and how disappointing that must have been. After three years away from music, this was one hell of a statement of a return as the struggles she went through health-wise in her time off seemed to match the struggle that was getting through singing such a personal song. The beatboxing "chchchhh" background accompanying the distorted piano made this one of the more interesting songs to come out this year and Barnett's vocals are on a whole other level compared to her previous work. She might just be capable of doing anything extremely well.

Fun Fact: #19 on 2019's list? The 1975's "Sincerity Is Scary"

#18. 21 Savage featuring J. Cole "A Lot"

What a wild year this was for 21 Savage. After 2018's I Am > I Was, the rapper was detained by ICE for visa problems when the mass public had no idea this dude was from the United Kingdom. Once his legal problems were settled, the top-notch video for "A Lot" was released and made me realize that there was a diamond in the rough on his otherwise lackluster 2018 album. J. Cole definitely helps with his flow over the beat that breaks up the otherwise fairly repetitive (Again, not always a bad thing) track and references Tekashi6ix9ine, Markelle Fultz, Dennis Smith Jr. and falsified streaming numbers (*coughs* Jay Z). "A Lot" covers quite a bit (I'm not going to say it!) of ground as 21 discusses his rough upbringing, his early days in the rap game and the problems he still faces now that he's at the peak of his career. The accompanying video showing a gathering of seemingly well-off people eating a dinner in a mansion is immediately jarring when it shows every one of those people at their lowest moments synced up to each backing "A lot" repeated by 21. The video is a massive amount (Don't do it, Andy) to take in and is exceptionally directed. There is a reason this is a favorite to win Best Rap Song at the Grammy's this February and it's not just because the category has never been weaker than it was this year.

Fun Fact: 21 Savage says "a lot" 49 times in the song, which is quite a lot. (I got this one off of genius.com so technically, I'm in the clear)

#17. Tove Lo "Glad He's Gone"

Tove Lo has made a career out of crafting perfect pop songs that go just a tad too far lyrically to get played on popular radio stations and "Glad He's Gone" is no different in that sense. The lead single off of her Sunshine Kitty album is different than most of her other work in that outside of "only one dick? That's a bummer" and a pearl necklace reference inside the chorus, this absolutely should have been a bigger song than "Habits (Stay High)". It is Tove Lo's finest moment so far as she consults a friend over the loss of her boyfriend and tells her how much of a blessing in disguise this is going to be for her friend moving forward. The lyrics and song are pretty self-explanatory and the video is the cream cheese icing on the red velvet cake. It is probably only behind "Cellophane" for Video of the Year and the song accompanying the visual is so much more addictive.

Fun Fact: "Glad He's Gone" is nominated for Video of the Year (along with "Cellophane") at the upcoming Grammy Awards.

#16. James Blake "Can't Believe The Way We Flow"

James Blake is another artist that had a reputation for making "sad-boy music" without too many thrills along the way, no matter how much I appreciate his abilities as a producer and his exquisite vocals. He HAD that reputation until this year's Assume Form, his fourth studio album released three weeks into 2019. On his latest project, he turned into a genre-fusing producer extraordinaire with songs featuring Rosalía, Travis Scott, Andre 3000 and Moses Sumney. "Can't Believe The Way We Flow" is probably the most upbeat song that stars Blake by himself. "It Feels So Good To Be Loved So Bad" by The Manhattans is the distorted, sped-up and slowed-down sample heard in the background as Blake croons about his happiness in his now public relationship to The Good Place actress Jameela Jamil. He describes the song as "simple" and stated in an interview with iTunes that "Romance is a very commercialized subject, but sometimes it can just be a peaceful moment of ease and something even mundane"

Fun Fact: This is Blake's third appearance on my annual Top 40 lists.

#15. Miley Cyrus "Slide Away"

Too often, Miley Cyrus finds herself going to one extreme ("23" or "Dooo It!") or the other, extremely tame Miley (which is fine but, nowhere near as interesting as the perfectly-centered "Wrecking Ball" Miley). "Slide Away" is the neutral Miley and arguably the first song we've heard from adult Miley. The song is self-reflective of her rowdier times earlier this decade in the public's eyes and of her relationship with separated-husband Liam Hemsworth. It was released almost immediately following the announcement they were separating and it's clear that this song was created as an immediate response to that for her. In the song, she tells her ex to go back to surfing or whatever it is that he does in the ocean on his downtime while she tries to stray away from the hard-partying lifestyle that made her this decade's rebellious child star all grown up. The song is pretty middling compared to the explosive chorus of "Wrecking Ball" and the bubbly production of "Malibu" and it has me excited to see what her 2020 album will be like. 

Fun Fact: This is Miley's first appearance since "Wrecking Ball" was my #12 song of 2013.

#14. HAIM "Now I'm In It"

Another album cycle that is building up to a high grade in 2020 from me is whatever HAIM is releasing next year. Of the three singles released this year by trio of sisters, "Now I'm In It" is the most upbeat and club-ready song despite it's subject matter. The song itself was written about a period of depression that Danielle Haim went through and describes all the minor details that ultimately build up to a full-blown depression like dissociating to the point where she realizes that in her normal everyday demeanor, she could not possibly be friends with this version of herself. It's the Spongebob Squarepants "Indoors" song minus the penny and featuring influence from Savage Garden's "Into You". 

Fun Fact: Danielle and Este Haim (two-thirds of the group) once performed at the 2005 Kids' Choice Awards as a part of the band The Valli Girls. 

#13. Janelle Monae featuring Zoë Kravitz "Screwed"

The tricky part of my annual Top 40 Songs list are the songs from 2018 that didn't get a video until 2019. By this point, I either rank them too high based on album reputation or too low based on fatigue from listening to the song too much. Dirty Computer has incredible replay value so, "Screwed" was in heavy rotation for me before the video for the song was spliced out of the 48-minute short film for the album and is now it's own separate entity on YouTube, it is eligible for the 2019 countdown. The way Janelle Monae uses the word "Screwed" to embrace her sexual liberation and describe the state of America is hilarious ("You fucked the world up now, we'll fuck it all back down") and creative. Lenny Kravitz's daughter is an acclaimed actress and donated her vocals to the chorus to make it sound like a rallying cry for the people who just want to live their lives while the government tries to micromanage them. 

Fun Fact: Zoë Kravitz and Lenny Kravitz are the first father-daughter combination to appear separately on my Top 40 in separate years (Lenny's "I'll Be Waiting" was my #6 song of 2008).

#12. Billie Eilish "Bury A Friend"

Coming into 2019, the hype for Billie Eilish's debut album was already pretty high with a few singles that showcased her vocals ("When The Party's Over") and/or her brother Finneas's production ("You Should See Me In A Crown"). There was also a fresh and creepy aesthetic to most of her music videos. The unsettling nature of those videos crossed over into the songs and the hype culminated into her first single of this incredible year for her with "Bury A Friend". The ad libs added into the beat and the sound effects accompanying the pre-chorus make the When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? track entirely unique to the pop music scene at the beginning of the year. Now, Eilish is biggest pop star of the future and the present and we're sure to see many attempts from big record companies at recreating the 18-year old singer/songwriter. 

Fun Fact: "Bury A Friend" made it to #14 on the Billboard Hot 100.

#11. HAIM "Hallelujah"

After two albums of playing together as an upbeat indie pop-rock band, each one of the Haim sisters gets a chance to shine with their own verse on this family-oriented folksy tune. Danielle and Este cover how grateful they are for the closeness of the trio's relationship while Alana reflects on a late friend's death and how grateful she is for her close relationships now as a a result of said tragedy. It's easy to forget how talented the two non-Danielle HAIM members are and this song is the all-too-rare example of every one of them shining as vocalists.

Fun Fact: "Hallelujah" was co-produced by Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend.

#10. Robyn "Ever Again"

Another holdover from 2018, "Ever Again" is the stellar closing track to Robyn's 2018 album, Honey. The underground pop queen came back eight years removed from her critical smash hit "Dancing On My Own" and hadn't lost a step in making single people dance. "Ever Again" comes from a place of optimism in Robyn's life where she is free and determined to stay that way, with zero emotional attachments to people or things that don't deserve her time. It's fairly lowkey compared to the bombast in production on the songs of her past but, "Ever Again" sounds funkier than last year's #27 "Honey" which was a slow builder that didn't culminate behind much besides added vocal and instrumental layers. 

Fun Fact: Last year's #10 song? "Crazy, Classic, Life" by Janelle Monae.

#9. Tyler, The Creator featuring Playboi Carti "EARFQUAKE"

The growth of Tyler, The Creator from 2010 to 2019 has been an astounding ascent from shock-value, attention-grabbing rapper/to superstar producer with Grammy nominated albumS (emphasis on the "s" because he's now had two albums nominated for Best Rap Album, including 2019's IGOR despite it being all over the place musically). The song features one verse of uncredited rapping from Playboi Carti and otherwise, it's just a pitch-shifted and distraught Tyler singing his guts out over the desperation he has to save a relationship. The song also features one of the most underrated musicians of the past forty years, Uncle Charlie Wilson on the refrain with his classically belted vocals alongside Tyler's painfully sad screeching. It is not the kind of song we've come to expect from Tyler but, it does have clear influences from his last two albums in both production (Cherry Bomb) and lyrical content (Scum Fuck Flower Boy). After this and the soundtrack to the latest Grinch movie, where he goes next musically is anybody's guess.

Fun Fact: "Earfquake" was originally written as "Earthquake" for both Justin Bieber and Rihanna. They luckily declined.

#8. HAIM "Summer Girl"

With their third and final entry in the past seven songs, HAIM's new album is practically a lock for my Top 20 Albums of 2020 countdown, even if the new songs don't sound as varied and well produced as "I'm In It", "Hallelujah" and this one, "Summer Girl". "Summer Girl" at it's face is a clear rip-off of Lou Reed's "Walk On The Wild Side", one of the best songs of the 1970s. Instead of a saxophone'd outro to a song about transgender women, "Summer Girl" features the sax on every repeating of the chorus about Danielle's presence keeping producer Ariel Rechtshaid's spirits up as he underwent and eventually overcame testicular cancer. It's another sweet, wholesome song from the band that touches on a serious subject and overcomes dark times. It's okay to wear your influences on your sleeves every now and then, especially when those influences haven't been musically flirted with for decades (which is the case for both Savage Garden and Lou Reed).

Fun Fact: This is HAIM's fifth appearance on my Top 40 countdown ever.

#7. Billie Eilish "Bad Guy"

Sometimes unavoidable, overplayed pop music is both of those things for a reason... It's really fucking good, catchy and completely different from anything else on the radio at the time. After removing her invisalign, an unmistakable bass kicks in and the song wins over it's fans immediately. The carnival-like beat behind the chorus and constant snapping, clapping and bass-strumming make an otherwise quiet song with sparse instrumentation utterly enthralling. The lyrics have Eilish taunting a guy who thinks he's the bad boy when in her mind, she's the "Bad Guy... DUH". The memes were strong with this one and the potential it showcased from her brother Finneas's production was an eye-opener for America in 2019.

Fun Fact: Along with being nominated for three Grammy Awards, "Bad Guy" usurped Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus's "Old Town Road (Remix)" after it's record-breaking 19-week run at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

#6. Lizzo "Juice"

When I first discovered Lizzo, she was just a host on MTV's Wonderland, a show that gathered up-and-coming young artists to perform in a dark alley/bar/underground rap battle location (or something of that nature) every week. That show did not make it past Summer 2016 so, imagine my surprised when Lizzo popped back up with "Boys" last year (A fun song) followed by banger after banger of hits this year. Yes, "Good As Hell" and "Truth Hurts" made all the rounds but, both of those songs were at least three years old already and therefor, ineligible for my Top 40 of 2019. That's all fine though because "Juice" is the best Lizzo song and I will personally fight anybody who disagrees. "Juice" should have been the song of the summer before Billy Ray Cyrus hopped onto a trusty steed. It's the most organically confident Lizzo of them all as she takes describing herself as "juicy" to a whole other level as her "juice" hypnotizes the men around her.

Fun Fact: "Juice" was produced by Ricky Reed of Wallpaper. fame.

#5. Angel Olsen "Lark"

"Lark" is the most anthemic song of Angel Olsen's career as the song immediately sounds like an intense thrill-ride with building drums and an orchestral string section guiding the listener into the track before Olsen's voice explodes and turns the song into a whole new experience. Four minutes into the song, when the goosebumps begin to recede from the listener's body, the strings take a downward spiral and the rest of the song is a theatrical, operatic explosion of rock music. It was a completely unexpected track from an indie artist that already had some throwback vibes but, we're used to her throwing her sound back to the 1940s, not the eighties. Trust me when I say that fans of metal and fans of country should at least enjoy portions of the song if not the entire masterpiece itself. 

Fun Fact: #5 in 2018? Childish Gambino's "This Is America".

#4. Angel Olsen "All Mirrors"

Back-to-back Angel Olsen means she's had three songs in my end-of-year top fives over the past four years (2016's #2 was "Shut Up Kiss Me"). "All Mirrors" was the first single released off of her album with the same name and it got me hyped for what was to come. The title track is a synth-filled rock excursion that also seems to break into two different songs, the typical, haunting Angel Olsen song and the cool as fuck rocker Angel Olsen song. At two minutes in, the song shifts from being a slick synth-heavy track into more strings that transition back into the song's original sound only, the volume on the backing instruments is that much more explosive (though not as intense as "Lark"). It showcases Olsen's influences with her female Roy Orbison-like trembling vocals that really, really work well and the theatricality behind the atmosphere of the music matching that of Kate Bush. 

Fun Fact: This is Angel Olsen's fourth song to reach my Top 40 over the past four years.

#3. Sharon Van Etten "Seventeen"

To be honest, I was very passively interested in Sharon Van Etten's music before the singles started coming out for her early 2019 album, Remind Me Tomorrow. Her sound seemed to be a bit more approachable on her latest record, including the third single "Seventeen". The song is a piece of reflection for Van Etten on her time growing up in New York. The song has been written a million times before (Think LCD Soundsystem's "New York I Love You But, You're Bringing Me Down"... A song Van Etten has covered herself!) but rarely does it contain this many complex emotions. She spends the entire song singing to her younger self about topics including the ways the city has changed for better and/or worse and it's genius. It's easy to relate to for anyone that spent much of their childhood growing up walking the same streets every day and knowing exactly where the "hot spot up the street" is. Eventually, Van Etten accepts that her former idea of New York has been changed for a newer generation as it will be in most cities or townships across America. The real come-to-Jesus moment of the song though, is that note she hits in the bridge. That is pure passion and desire to get her message out there and I will tip my #RE2PECT hat to that every time.

Fun Fact: "Seventeen" was named the #1 song of 2019 by Consequence Of Sound.

#2. Lana Del Rey "The Greatest"

Please note that the first half of the music video linked to above features the song "Fuck It I Love You" by Lana Del Rey, a song that did not chart on my Top 40 this year but, was in consideration along with 82 other songs. "The Greatest" is appropriately titled as it is Lana's best song to date in a nine-year window that saw her drop six fantastic albums with seven Top 40-caliber singles. In yet another extremely nostalgic mood, Del Rey recalls the days before climate change was known when The Beach Boys were dominating the charts and eventually, Kanye West was just this Goliath of a musician. Those are unrelated subjects but, clearly Lana feels just as strongly about them and growing up in New York as Sharon Van Etten did about the NYC as well. This one sounds like closing time and if this is it for quality music from Lana Del Rey (doubtful), then it was one hell of a ride and I had a ball.

Fun Fact: On January 4th, 2020, Lana Del Rey will release a spoken word album for charitable, Native American-based causes.

#1 songs of year's past
2006. P!nk "Stupid Girls"
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"
2015. Courtney Barnett "Depreston"

2016. Dirty Projectors "Keep Your Name"
2017. Kesha "Praying"
2018. St. Vincent "Fast Slow Disco"

The #1 song of 2019                                       

Vampire Weekend "Harmony Hall"

Between the Jonah Hill-directed visuals giving off a 1990s vibe and the upbeat tone of the entire song, "Harmony Hall" is never not going to make me smile upon hearing the introductory guitar plucking. It somehow is the best Paul Simon song of all-time and he has absolutely nothing to do with it other than being an obvious influence to the band. This song is also probably the most politically-charged song to make this year's list outside of "Blood Of The Fang" as the song expresses lead singer Ezra Koenig's worries that the political discourse in America is simply too heated for anybody to have an open-mind on either end of the spectrum, especially the side that is linked to upper-class behind-the-scenes discriminatory behavior. It's another gorgeously produced song by Ariel Rechtshaid and along with Father Of The Bride, will forever remind me of the joyful relief I felt once I was done with a stressful project at work that took two weeks off my life. Oh well, learning experiences are a thing.

Here is the Spotify Playlist from #40 to #1
Here is the YouTube Playlist from #40 to #1
Here is a playlist of other songs that were in consideration for this year's countdown

In a year jam-packed with artists' finest projects to date, Billie Eilish shined through as the future of critically-acclaimed music along with veterans like Charli XCX and Lizzo.