Pitchfork's Top 20 Songs Of The Decade

We all love reading lists. I know I certainly do. I love reading what other people think is “the best”. Maybe its just what they like, rather than what they think is the best. Either way, I find it really intriguing to see what everyone else loves.

2009 is here, and this decade is coming to an end. As expected, everyone is posting lists of their favorite songs/albums of the decade. I won’t get to my list until much later. I haven’t had a chance to listen to everything that I want to (it’s just impossible!). Plus, I think we need to get through 2009 first in order to fully digest the albums, and then to make room for them in the decade list.

Pitchfork loves to make lists. They take pride of their “hip” best of lists. A large chunk of their picks usually make people scratch their heads. People do read these lists though, a lot of people. The people who read these lists, such as myself, may not agree with the list at all. Your favorite band may get left off (like Arctic did for the entire 500 song list!!!). Or pitchfork will add a mainstream rapper that you never saw them pimpin’ before. You start to wonder if they stop being hipsters when it comes to making best song lists.

There is a reason their website is the biggest musical source. They know how to create controversy, while also displaying strong musical knowledge.

Their list of the top 500 songs of the decade was iffy to me. Sure, there are tons of great picks, but there are also plenty of snubs. There are tons of mainstream rap/r&b artists, which makes no sense. I don’t say this because I am against it. I’m not. Rather, I find it strange to see these types of picks when they never praise these artists during regular coverage. Oh well…

With all that said, I think that the top 20 is pretty good. Some things don’t quite belong in the top 20, some could have been replaced by better songs in the artists catalog. Either way, this is probably one of the better lists that you will see.

Enough rambling. Here are pitchfork’s top 20 songs of this decade. You probably know a good chunk of these anyway, but here they are:

#20 | The Walkmen – The Rat

#19 | R. Kelly – Ignition (Remix)

#18 | Hercules and Love Affair – Blind

# 17 | Annie – Heartbeat

# 16 | The Rapture – House Of Jealous Lovers

# 15 | The Knife – Heartbeats

# 14 | Jay-Z – 99 Problems

# 13 | LCD Soundsystem – Losing My Edge

# 12 | Outkast – Hey Ya!

# 11 | Gnarls Barkley – Crazy

# 10 | Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)