2016 was an incredible year for music. Icons left astounding goodbye notes. Long-gestating masterpieces dropped from the sky. Artists that you thought would never come back did – and sounded unbelievably good. This is probably the toughest time I’ve ever had whittling a list of songs down to 25. “Formation” is only an honorable mention! Well enough of my blather. Here are the tracks I cranked in my 2005 Honda Civic with the most gusto this year. You can listen to the whole playlist on the player thingie at the bottom. Happy New Year, friends.
25. Kendrick Lamar – “untitled 8 / 09.06.2014”
Over a dreamy MJ groove, Kendrick details what it’s like to be a broke American, from the perspective of a broke South African.
24. Azealia Banks – “The Big Big Beat”
Just the latest in Azealia’s seemingly bottomless well of snappy dance-rap masterpieces. She should be on the charts as often as she’s in the tabloids.
23. Iggy Pop – “Chocolate Drops”
In a very tough year, this I’ve-seen-it-all soul number from the retiring Iggy (with an assist from new pal Josh Homme) contained some welcome perspective – the shitter things get, the closer they are to becoming sweet again.
22. case/lang/veirs – “Best Kept Secret”
I hadn’t heard of Laura Veirs before this collab with kd lang and Neko Case. So I was doubly surprised when she outshone them both, with this irrepressibly catchy folk song.
21. 2 Chainz ft. Drake – “Big Amount”
I want to hear flutes on everything now.
20. Usher – “Crash”
It’s remarkable that Usher can still make songs like this – an R&B ballad about feeling vulnerable that takes you higher than an ego boost ever could.
19. The Avalanches ft. Danny Brown and MF Doom – “Frankie Sinatra”
Calypso rap witchery.
18. Anderson Paak – “Come Down”
An ambitious R&B auteur contemplates a state of permanent highness over a crackling funk break from Hi-Tek.
17. Charli XCX – “Vroom Vroom”
The lavender Lamborghini of dance-pop hits.
16. Lady Leshurr – “Queen’s Speech 4”
Personal hygiene has never sounded this hardcore.
15. The Monkees – “She Makes Me Laugh”
Romantic sunshine pop to soothe our inner cynic, from the singers of “Daydream Believer” and the writer of “Island in the Sun.”
14. Drake ft. Wizkid and Kyla – “One Dance”
Dancehall, Afrobeat and hip hop collide on Drake’s entrancing hit – one of the few things most of us could agree on this year.
13. Kvelertak – “1985”
A beer-swillingly addictive single from these Norwegian black metal heroes. Sounds like Van Halen fronted by one of Satan’s sandpaper-throated emissaries.
12. Anohni – “Drone Bomb Me”
On this gut-wrenching takedown of modern warfare, Anohni rips our hearts out, if only to prove we still have them.
11. Kero Kero Bonito – “Trampoline”
Dance-pop that’s as blissfully bouncy as its subject matter.
10. Solange ft. The-Dream and BJ the Chicago Kid – “F.U.B.U.”
Solange sings about racial profiling with calm confidence, over floating organ and crisp, darting horns.
9. Fifth Harmony – “Work From Home”
When you’re in love, the worst part about being in the office doesn’t involve what you could be doing outside.
8. Kamaiyah ft. Zay – “Out the Bottle”
Combining syrupy ’90s gangsta with the lit bluntness of Mustardwave, this magnetic Bay Area rapper shows us why the self-confident have no need for stemware.
7. Kanye West – “Ultralight Beam”
An artist who once claimed to be a god lies prostrate here, before the majesty of a gospel choir, and the nimble footwork of an all-time-great Chance the Rapper verse. He calls it a god dream, and I can’t argue.
6. A Tribe Called Quest – “The Space Program”
When Q-Tip leans into his first verse on this, the first track of Tribe’s impossibly perfect comeback LP, I feel less silly about believing in something like fate.
5. Frank Ocean – “Self Control”
Nobody reflects on lost love like Frank Ocean. “Keep a place for me / It’s no thing,” he sings. There’s no regret or bitterness. Just sweet humility, and warm light.
4. DJ Shadow ft. Run the Jewels – “Nobody Speak”
Killer Mike and El-P bring mics to a gunfight.
3. Rihanna – “Higher”
“I know I could be more creative / And come up with poetic lines,” sings our narrator, emboldened by alcohol, voice fraying from the sheer force of her feelings. They don’t make love songs like this anymore.
2. Angel Olsen – “Shut Up Kiss Me”
A total gem of a rock and roll song, powered by love’s frightening adrenaline.
1. Beyoncé – “Hold Up”
Remember how awesomely cathartic it was to watch Angela Bassett set fire to her shithead husband’s car in Waiting to Exhale? Now you can sing along.
Honorable Mentions: 2 Chainz ft. Lil Wayne – “Bounce”; Azealia Banks – “Skylar Diggins”; Beyoncé – “Formation”; Black Mountain – “Cemetery Breeding”; James Blake – “Always”; David Bowie – “Lazarus”; Danny Brown – “When It Rain”; Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – “Distant Sky”; Hannah Diamond – “Make Believe”; D.R.A.M. – “Cute”; Ariana Grande ft. Nicki Minaj – “Side to Side”; Homeboy Sandman – “Talking (Bleep)”; Masta Ace – “Young Black Intelligent”; Metallica – “Spit Out the Bone”; M.I.A. – “Bird Song”; Frank Ocean – “Solo”; Isaiah Rashad – “Free Lunch”; Rihanna – “Love On the Brain”; Run the Jewels – “Talk to Me”; William Tyler – “Kingdom of Jones”; Vektor – “LCD (Liquid Crystal Disease)”; Kanye West – “Real Friends”; YG – “Twist My Fingaz”; Young Greatness – “Lingo Dripping”; Young M.A – “OOOUUU”; Young Thug – “Wyclef Jean”
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