Pitchfork's Top 40 Tracks from 2016 poll

i was going to stop this year and not do this but checked the site before going to bed tonight. i really thought they were a week away but everything looks pushed up this year. it was a sign ;-)

Your mother wouldn't approve of how my mother raised me.
But I do. I think I do.

'Lazarus'

Cranes in the Sky

i eurostep past the haters like i'm rondo

5. David Bowie - Lazarus
7. Rihanna - Work
23. David Bowie - I Can't Give Everything Away
35. Kevin Gates - 2 Phones
^^are all great but I'm going with:

38. Weyes Blood - Do You Need My Love

Loads of great stuff here in with the usual nonsense. Your Best American Girl and Do You Need My Love would be up there in the best tracks of any year, and Dis Generation is also very likely to feature on my tracks ballot. An incredibly tight call - I really want to vote Weyes Blood because it's amazing transcendental music, but there's a strong possibility that Mitski has written the best song here

nikes

lol they are trolling a bit w lil peep kiss @ 100 (should be higher imo)

did Kanye and Frank really need 3 slots each on this thing

alpine static OTM

what a shit list. did only 7 people make music in 2016?

How many of these are self released or not released by a label that belongs to one of the four major labels? (Universal, Sony, Warner, EMI). Lazy to go one by one but here's 4

Radiohead - XL
Nomame - self released
Weyes Blood - Mexican summer
Bon Iver - 4AD

Black Beatles
I Can't Give Everything Away

off the top of my head Mitski, CSH, Lanza, Jenny Hval xp

Angel Olsen as well

they picked a strange choice for Young Thug.

Anyway, this is Black Beatles, no contest.

Going with Cranes in the Sky, which is gorgeous.

they picked a strange choice for Young Thug

They must have mistaken it for a Kanye joint.

did Kanye and Frank really need 3 slots each on this thing

I know this is an old complaint but yeah I feel sad when EOY lists for songs end up being dominated by the same people that are inevitably going to be on the publication's albums list anyway. I do wonder how much the shift from 'singles' to 'tracks' is to blame for this.

Voted for 'Black Beatles'.

what is this absolute obsession with 3-4 megastar artists to the point of exclusion of almost everyone else

It's kind of funny to see them double down on Ye at the point where "that album was pretty enhh huh" is increasingly the consensus view

I went with Work. It has stayed with me all year.

"work" is banger of the year until you have to scramble for the next button at 2:11

It's kind of funny to see them double down on Ye at the point where "that album was pretty enhh huh" is increasingly the consensus view

Hospilization helped obv

Why is Lazarus eligible? Came out in 2015

This is basically Beyonce vs ATCQ

oh vs Kendrick, I didn't realize they picked THAT song, which is glorious

Have to double down on Kayne at this point to justify a ridiculously high score for an album that the reviewer didn't even seem to like that much.

We the People

going to vote Weyes Blood here after some careful thought

"black beatles" or "2 phones"

"ultralight beam" ahead of "formation" and "cranes in the sky" feels extremely like trolling

anyway my favourite song in this list is "formation" quite easily.

i finally gave mitski a try after seeing ppl rhapsodise about her all year and...i wasn't feeling it at all tbh

I hate 80% of this. Drone Bomb Me, I guess.

i voted Mitski (i LOVE LOVE LOVE that song but only like the album) BUT i played 2 Phones more than any other song on this list this year.

10. Rae Sremmurd - Black Beatles
11. A Tribe Called Quest - We the People...
23. David Bowie - I Can't Give Everything Away
24. Radiohead - Daydreaming
31. A Tribe Called Quest - Dis Generation
37. Noname - Yesterday
39. Jessy Lanza - It Means I Love You

These are the songs that stand the best chance of making my year-end list.

I will probably have songs by Anderson .Paak, Kendrick, Kanye, etc. also but not the ones here.

i voted Mitski (i LOVE LOVE LOVE that song but only like the album) BUT i played 2 Phones more than any other song on this list this year.

― alpine static, Monday, December 12, 2016 12:46 PM (ten minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i feel the same way but about "my body's made of crushed little stars." tried hard to get into the rest of it but it's not taking for me. that song is incredible though. no drums!

all one and a half minutes of that song was mitski's entire encore at her london show

it was the greatest encore ever obv

i might've downplayed how much i like the album - i like it a lot. i love Crushed Little Stars and several of the other tracks. she's great. YBAG seriously affects me on another level, though.

2 Phones. had so much fun w that song all year.

yeah why does this poll inevitably have to be made immediately upon the publication of this list every year

Dis Generation

Compared to the previous years this one does look like half of the list is just the same names

yeah why does this poll inevitably have to be made immediately upon the publication of this list every year

― dyl, Monday, December 12, 2016 1:38 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it's okay it allowed me to avoid having to click through the rest of the list

Removing repeated artists cuts almost half of the list but it looks better:

1. Kanye West - Ultralight Beam
2. Beyoncé - Formation
3. Solange - Cranes in the Sky
4. Frank Ocean - Ivy
5. David Bowie - Lazarus
6. Anohni - Drone Bomb Me
7. Rihanna - Work
8. Angel Olsen - Shut Up Kiss Me
9. Radiohead - True Love Waits
10. Rae Sremmurd - Black Beatles
11. A Tribe Called Quest - We the People...
12. Chance the Rapper - No Problems
15. Blood Orange - Best to You
16. Mitski - Your Best American Girl
17. Anderson .Paak - Am I Wrong
18. Bon Iver - 33 ‘GOD’
19. Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker
20. Car Seat Headrest - Fill in the Blank
22. Jenny Hval - Conceptual Romance
26. Danny Brown - Really Doe
27. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - I Need You
30. Drake - One Dance
33. D.R.A.M. - Broccoli
35. Kevin Gates - 2 Phones
36. Kendrick Lamar =- Untitled 02
37. Noname - Yesterday
38. Weyes Blood - Do You Need My Love
39. Jessy Lanza - It Means I Love You
40. Young Thug - Kanye West

I'd prefer if all polls limited to one song per artist and maybe add a footnote of the 2nd and 3rd places and their votes. Album polls are there anyway.

I mean the 2nd and 3rd places of songs by artists with more than 1 song on the countdown.

it is kind of hilarious that the young thug song on this list is called 'kanye west'

I would love a similar rule for the 77 lists tbh xxp

i remember simon reynolds saying sometime in '06 or '07, "it gets boring doesn't it, proclaiming timbaland's genius for 10 years in a row" and seeing kanye's ubiquity this year just feels like such a lack of imagination

Xpost: I'd also like that!

Then you have something like

15. KANYE WEST - ULTRALIGHT BEAM (120 points, 4 n•1 vote)
Runnerups: Famous (89 points) Waves (84 points) Wolves (63 points)

I have advocated for this in the past and it has...not been liked iirc

it's a dumb idea tbh. theoretically the best artists are going to make more than one of the best tracks

otoh (and I disagree with the idea but) 'the best artists' is hateful specious bullshit

I get the argument but personally I would prefer a more diverse list than to honor some dubious metric of "representing" individual artists' impact/importance/etc, esp with only 77 slots

It's a silly idea.

Giving a shit about the pitchfork poll is a silly idea

Both can be true tbh

I see both sides

maybe we should put it to a referendum, those are great

and that, my children (dogs), is how we left pitchfork

Cranes In the Sky, easy

huh I had no idea ppl liked the kanye album that much

i don't agree with the 'one song per artist' rule for the same reason as k3vin, but this list is in such gross violation of the principle of variety/avoiding listing the 5th best deep cut on an album that will be in your top-ten that the rule aims to uphold, that they really should have pared it back. if you remove everyone else from the list and just look at it, i mean, it's excessive, no?

1. Kanye West - Ultralight Beam
2. Beyoncé - Formation
3. Solange - Cranes in the Sky
4. Frank Ocean - Ivy
5. David Bowie - Lazarus
6. Anohni - Drone Bomb Me
7. Rihanna - Work
9. Radiohead - True Love Waits
13. Frank Ocean - Pink + White
14. Kanye West - Real Friends
15. Blood Orange - Best to You
18. Bon Iver - 33 ‘GOD’
21. Solange - Don't Touch My Hair
23. David Bowie - I Can't Give Everything Away
24. Radiohead - Daydreaming
25. Frank Ocean - Nikes
28. Beyonce - Hold Up
29. Bon Iver - 22 (OVER S∞∞N)
32. Kanye West - No More Parties in LA

they should go back to doing track reviews. anyways, enuff complaining. songs i love on this list:

2. Beyoncé - Formation
8. Angel Olsen - Shut Up Kiss Me
10. Rae Sremmurd - Black Beatles
12. Chance the Rapper - No Problems
16. Mitski - Your Best American Girl
30. Drake - One Dance
33. D.R.A.M. - Broccoli
35. Kevin Gates - 2 Phones
36. Kendrick Lamar =- Untitled 02
37. Noname - Yesterday

will prob vote for 2 phones or no problems

that Bowie song is among the best things he's ever written and sung but I don't want anyone else to know it, therefore it doesn't belong on this list.

tune in to P4k's FB now if you'd like to watch Schreiber and two other people talking about the year's best songs and awkwardly singing/bopping along on FB Live.

actually don't do this ^ they will ruin your favorite songs for you :(

man, I am out of the loop

i always go through the year focusing on a small handful of albums and then i play catch-up w/the poll nominations spotify playlists a bit.

they picked a strange choice for Young Thug

It would've been my pick, though mainly because it's so rare to hear my name uttered in a pop song, not to mention 50 times by Wyclef Jean. I'm surprised enough non-G/Je(o)ffs voted for it.

tribe - we the people

cranes in the sky!!!!

are people not saying "formation" bc it's too obvious or bc they genuinely don't like it as much as other songs

I like "Formation" but I like other songs even better

Entirely unsurprising but still irritating - this list is almost entirely comprised of favourite-songs-from-favourite-albums. There are hardly any non-album singles on there, possibly none at all, and almost every artist appears on the albums poll in any case. In the era of the playlist that's kind of amazing.

I haven't heard any of these records though I have heard some other really horrible attacks from some of these. I imagine if I will hear some of them in the end of year poll, I couldn't face it last year after being burned the first year , but I'm trying to be more optimistic this time, things can change!

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

dgaf about most of these, although 6 of their top 11 matches mine.

What are the odds that the top 3 here will match ILMs top 3?

I feel like Fader top 3 has a better chance maybe

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

The weirdness of this list is exposed with these results. It's a heavy meh for me... doubt the ILM will feel as samey.

Looking at the 2013 to 2015 results makes it seem like 2016 was kind of a shit year. Maybe it was after all.

the best #1 of the year won this poll tho

everything with 4+ votes would make a dece 2016 playlist, if you cut radiohead

Hey, rev hasnt been around lately...who's going to do the US #1s and #2s poll this year?

i mean ugh do we really even want to poll those

the best #1 of the year won this poll tho

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), martes 20 de diciembre de 2016 1:06 (seven hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Black Beatles is good but it would be a no contest against Realiti from past year. Comparing the first place from past years not only from p4k bur from other sites it seems there's no real consensus or "eureka" songs this year.

I''m going through the top 10 winners of the polls above and there's at least 2 songs which make me go "whoa yes this is s timeless classic" and I don't feel that way about this top 10

"black beatles" is obviously several leagues above "realiti" but i don't get thinking it's better than "formation"

I respect "black beatles" but can't say I truly understand the appeal...

REALiTi (demo) is gorgeous

the best #1 of the year won this poll tho

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), martes 20 de diciembre de 2016 1:06 (seven hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Black Beatles is good but it would be a no contest against Realiti from past year. Comparing the first place from past years not only from p4k bur from other sites it seems there's no real consensus or "eureka" songs this year.

― dance cum rituals (Moka)

No. I was referring to Billboard #1s.

I'd go with "Work"

i like black beatles enough but I usu turn it off once the Gucci verse comes on

^^ a real weirdo