Top 100 songs of 2011

Here is my subjective ranking. A mix of acoustic, pop, rock, dream pop, electronic, folk, etc. To make the list a little different from top 100 songs of 2010, I've decided to limit myself to one song from each artist. The emphasis in this post is on emotional resonance, repeatability, and the tracks having a pleasing sound to my ears. The Drive soundtrack is missing below, because the songs were from 2010. Enjoy!

1. Chinatown - Destroyer
2. Stone's Gone Up - David Lynch
3. Tell Me A Tale - Michael Kiwanuka
4. Don't F*ck with My Money - Penguin Prison
5. One for You, One for Me - Bright Eyes
6. Nuclear Seasons - Charlie XCX
7. Humdrum – Pallers
8. She Wants - Metronomy
9. Runner Ups - Kurt Vile
10. Human Condition - Joan As Police Woman
11. Cult Boyfriend - Jeffrey Lewis
12. I'm Losing Myself - Robin Pecknold (Fleet Foxes) feat. Ed Droste
13. Take the world - She Wants Revenge
14. Some Children [ft. Michael McDonald] - Holy Ghost!
15. Gone Kerouac - W. Travis
16. Dig Your Own Hole - Gotye
17. Re-wired - Kasabian
18. Thanks for Nothing - Middle Brother
19. The Sun Always Reminds Me Of You - Marissa Nadler
20. Wall Street - Van Dyke Parks
21. Forget That You're Young - The Raveonettes
22. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses (U2 Cover) - Garbage
23. Smart - Girl in a Coma
24. Lotus Flower - Radiohead
25. Oh My Heart - R.E.M
26. House – Amanda Mair
27. Think you can wait - The National
28. An Argument With Myself - Jens Lekman
29. Call Me Back - The Strokes
30. Black (feat. Norah Jones) - Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi
31. Blue Jeans - Lana Del Rey
32. Evening Song - Hymns From Nineveh
33. Beth/Rest - Bon Iver
34. Can’t Keep – Eddie Vedder
35. Cover Your Tracks (CFCF Remix) - Young Galaxy
36. Stickers - Sleep ∞ Over
37. I – Nicola Roberts
38. Halftime - Amy Winehouse
39. Reunion - M83
40. Diamond Heart - Active Child
41. Speed vs. Distance - Fotoshop
42. Sparrow Song (Feat. Caroline Polachek) - Acrylics
43. The Twilight Hour - Still Corners
44. The Same Thing - Cass McCombs
45. Paris Collides - Rufus
46. Dreaming - Adam & The Amethysts
47. Hiding Tonight - Alex Turner
48. Anymore - Blue Belt
49. Growing Pains – Grieves
50. The Vent - Big K.R.I.T

51. Never Let Me Go - Florence + The Machine
52. Warm In The Winter - Glass Candy
53. Letters Home (Memoryhouse Remix) - CFCF
54. Take Another Look - The Cars
55. Here in Heaven 2 - Elite Gymnastics
56. Godless Brother in Love - Iron & Wine
57. Wonder Years - Real Estate
58. Love Is A Laserquest (Live on KEXP) - Arctic Monkeys
59. Open Your Mind (live) - Wilco/Jeff Tweedy
60. Glorious - The Pierces
61. Love Song (Lesley Duncan cover) - Marianne Faithfull
62. Natural Rhapsody - Jonathan Wilson
63. Between The Bars (Elliott Smith cover) - Chris Garneau
64. Like They Say It Does - Geoffrey O'Connor
65. Over the Hill and Back Again - Paleo
66. So Alive (Love and Rockets cover) - Duncan Sheik
67. Avenue - Agnes Obel
68. Reach A Bit Further - Wild Beasts
69. Wild Thing - Noah And The Whale
70. No Part Of Me - Steven Wilson
71. Steak Knives - Man Man
72. Come Around – Sarah Jarosz
73. Keep Me Young - Trent Dabbs
74. Country Dumb (Piano Version) - Josh T. Pearson
75. The Fifth Horseman Of The Apocalypse - The Nightwatchman / Tom Morello
76. American - Sean Rowe
77. Night After Night (Live at WFUV/The Alternate Side) - Laura Marling
78. Put on Cologne – Donovan Woods
79. Future Shadows - Forest Fire
80. The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie - Red Hot Chili Peppers
81. Balance - Future Islands
82. Taking You With Me – Daniel Tashian
83. On Our Own - Diamond Rings
84. To Begin (Live) - Alela Diane
85. Call It What You Want - Foster The People
86. Lamentations - The Dears
87. Honey Mine (Memoryhouse Remix) - Korallreven
88. Amor Fati - Washed Out
89. Spaced Out Orbit - Thao & Mirah
90. Hey Moon (Molly Nilsson cover) - John Maus
91. Even Better Than The Real Thing (Jacques Lu Cont Mix) - U2
92. All or Nothing - Mutemath
93. Conquest – The Sound Of Arrows
94. Dying Hipster (feat. Maria Due) - Torgny
95. Still Life – The Horrors
96. Faith Found Me In Dreams - Craft Spells
97. Common Burn - Mazzy Star
98. 38 Stories - Indoor Voices
99. No Widows - The Antlers
100. This Aint No Hymn - Saint Saviour


Honourable mentions in random order:
Face to the Highway – Tom Waits
Moon in The Water - Dawes
Mary's Gone - The Deep Dark Woods
Wu Tang Clan - Allo Darlin
It's Windy - Ida Gard
Apple Like a Wrecking Ball - Hoots & Hellmouth
Used to be a cop – Drive by truckers
Face In The Crowd - Joseph Arthur
Kentish Town Waltz - Imelda May
No match - Bonnie Prince Billy
The Afterlife - Paul Simon
Eastwood (Feat. Clint Eastwood) - Brad Paisley
Marcy's Song (Jackson C. Frank Cover) - John Hawkes
Sourdoire Valley Song - The Mountain Goats
Masterpiece - Madonna
Te Amo - Atlas Sound
Animal Dreams - Sapphire Slows
My Body Is A Cage (Arcade Fire Cover) - Anna Rose
No Title (Molly) - John Maus
Drop Me A Line - Midnight Magic
Shadow - Alan Wilkis (feat. Lyrics Born and White Hinterland)
Caution Repetitive - Princess Chelsea
Life's What You Make It (Talk Talk cover) - Duncan Sheik
Already Gone - Milano Sun
Bed of Nails - Wild Beasts
Accolade - Chris Malinchak
Wash – Bon Iver
Hollow Bones - Zoe Boekbinder

(Last updated 20th January 2013)


If I find (or I'm informed about) any great 2011 songs in future, I'll be adding them to the mentions list, providing they are my taste.

What were your favorite albums from last year? Let me know what you think of the top 100 in the comments box!


Thanks to jaredmobarak.com for the artwork

Top 100 songs of 2010

Here is my current ranking. Let me know in the comments what you think.
You can right-click your mouse button on the links to open the songs in a new window. I'll try and update the dead links from time to time.

1. Good intentions paving company - Joanna Newsom
2. Don't Do It - Sharon Van Etten
3. Heirloom - Memoryhouse
4. Calculating Bimbo - Belle & Sebastian
5. Don’t Walk Away - Chromeo
6. On a good day -Joanna Newsom
7. Young Blood – The Naked And Famous
8. I L U - School of Seven Bells
9. I Let Her In (live) - Steve Mason
10. Karen - Chew Lips
11. Take My Soul - Abou
12. Oh my god – Cocoon
13. Phone - Donovan Woods
14. Senior Living – Royksopp
15. Relief (R Kelly cover) - Sam Amidon
16. Boil & Fight - Nathaniel Rateliff
17. Goodbye England Covered in Snow (live) - Laura Marling
18. When I Go - Slow Club
19. Shameless - Groove Armada & Bryan Ferry
20. Slow – Rumer
21. Home (RAC mix) - Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
22. Down In The Street Below - The Divine Comedy
23. At The Indie Disco - The Divine Comedy
24. Have you ever been in love - The Divine Comedy
25. Buddy Bradley - Adam Green
26. Bad Day - Darwin Deez
27. On The Ocean - Guster
28. Shadows –Warpaint
29. The Hoopers of Hudspeth - Kaki King
30. How Come That Blood - Sam Amidon
31. My New Mind – Otis Gibbs
32. Staring Out The Window - Fulton Lights
33. The Drying of the Lawns - The Tallest Man On Earth
34. Coming Through - The War On Drugs
35. Wedding Song - Anais Mitchell feat. Justin Vernon
36. Hey, Little Songbird - Anais Mitchell feat. Greg Brown
37. Our Lady Of The Underground - Anais Mitchell feat. Ani DiFranco
38. Russia - Ramona Falls
39. Atlas Air - Massive Attack
40. Why Does the Wind (Ewan Pearson Radio Edit) - Tracey Thorn
41. Better than nothing - Sarah Jaffe
42. I Wanna Be Adored - The Raveonettes (The Stone Roses cover)
43. Breaking Locks - Adam Green
44. Alpha shadows - Laura Marling
45. Save Yourself (live on KEXP) – Sharon Van Etten
46. Cloudy Shoes - Damien Jurado
47. Broken Bells – Citizen
48. Bodies in motion - Laurie Anderson
49. All Come Down - Steve Mason
50. Truth Sets In - Avi Buffalo
51. Runner - Daniel, Fred & Julie
52. Strawberry Skies (ft. Laurel Halo) - Games
53. Paradise Circus - Massive Attack
54. Lowlands (Live on KEXP) -Chris Pureka
55. Revival – Deerhunter
56. Take it in - Hot Chip
57. Keep quiet - Hot Chip
58. Porcupine – James
59. Night air - Jamie Woon
60. Sprawl II – Arcade Fire
61. The Suburbs - Arcade Fire
62. The Curse - Josh Ritter
63. Becoming A Jackal – Villagers
64. Another new world - Josh Ritter
65. In the Nothing of a Night – Hammock
66. Sunnyside - Kaki King
67. Come on sister - Belle and Sebastian
68. I Want The World To Stop - Belle & Sebastian
69. Little River - The Tallest Man On Earth
70. Dancing ghosts - Azure Ray
71. In the Sun – She & Him
72. Garden - Karen Elson
73. This Love (Will Be Your Downfall) - Ellie Goulding
74. Zorbing - Stornoway
75. Clementine - Sarah Jaffe
76. Kingfisher - Joanna Newsom
77. Pray For Rain (feat. Tunde Adebimpe) - Massive Attack
78. Hercules - Guster
79. Oh The Divorces - Tracey Thorn
80. You are a lover - Tracey Thorn
81. Once in a great while - Nathaniel Rateliff
82. Behind the mask - Michael Jackson
83. Lets get lost - Bat For Lashes & Beck
84. Caregiver – Memoryhouse
85. Confirmation - Wild Nothing
86. No fear of heights - Katie Melua
87. Infinite arms – Band of horses
88. Since we last met - NDF
89. I'm Gonna Make It Better - She & Him
90. Stylo – Gorillaz
91. Give Them A Token - Adam Green
92. Better times - Beach House
93. If You Run - The Boxer Rebellion
94. Live In Dreams (Wild Nothing Cover) - High Highs
95. Darker Than Blue - Andreya Triana
96. I Would Like To Call It Beauty - Corinne Bailey Rae
97. Futile Devices - Sufjan Stevens
98. Butterfly House - The Coral
99. No Time Has Passed - Donovan Woods
100. Highway Slipper Jam - Broken Social Scene


100 not enough for you? The 2010 songs below I feel deserve a mention, some I have not shared previously:

Undertow - War Paint
I'm a Hummingbird – Eels
Our Riotous Defects (Feat. Janelle Monáe) - Of Montreal
Melancholy hill – Gorillaz
Spanish Sahara – Foals
Way Go Lily - Sam Amidon
The ghost who walks - Karen Elson
When you sleep – Memoryhouse (My Bloody Valentine cover)
Cold Summer – Seabear
Tristia – Hammock
The Lightning Bug Situation - This Body
Suburban War - Arcade Fire
Je suis deja partie - Nouvelle Vague & Coralie Clément
Sushi - Cocoon
Roche (Breakbot Remix) - Sebastien Tellier
Round and Round - Ariel Pink
Stilyagi - Puro Instinct (feat. Ariel Pink)
The Shore - Basia Bulat
No man's land – Psychobuildings
Come With Me – CEO
No Problem - Perfume Genius
Bowsprit – Balmorhea
The Needle And The Damage Done (Neil Young cover) - Laura Marling
Hægt, kemur ljósið - Ólafur Arnalds
The Balcony - The Rumour Said Fire
Blank Pages - The Album Leaf
Ramona – Beck
Clear The Cobwebs - Mark McGuire
Ouroboros - Oneohtrix Point Never
Our Deal – Best Coast
Taxi Cab - Vampire Weekend
Lovesick - Lindstrøm & Christabelle
I Love You More Than You Will Ever Know – Nevershoutnever
Happy Just To Be - Nathaniel Rateliff
Tell her I said so – James
Grimes – Devon
Hollywood tonight – Michael Jackson
10 Mile Stereo - Beach House
Rebecca - Tesla Boy
Animal - Jenny and Johnny
Pumped Up Kicks - Foster The People
What he wrote - Laura Marling
Another day in America - Laurie Anderson
Emerald and stone - Brian Eno
Ghosts of Syllables - Admiral Radley
Carolina - Girls
Daydreaming - Dark Dark Dark
Science Channel 9 – Computer Magic
That feeling – Dent May
Keep The Dog Quiet - Owen Pallett
Like Rock & Roll And Radio -Ray LaMontagne and The Pariah Dogs
Sing - She & Him
If You Can't Sleep - She & Him
Learning - Perfume Genius
Toro - Chew Lips
Rocket – Gold Frapp
The House -Katie Melua
Take Em Up – Shit Robot
Lawren Harris - Donovan Woods
Human Nature (Michael Jackson cover) - Vijay Iyer
Hard to Change - Meg Hutchinson
Icarus - White Hinterland
StrangeLoveHate - Scanners
He Dreams He's Awake - Stars
Sailing - ‪Deerhunter
Blue Lily - The Depreciation Guild
In The End - Charlotte Gainsbourg
Vanities - Charlotte Gainsbourg
Slip Away - Kathryn Calder
Mr. Peterson - Perfume Genius
Dark Allies - Light Asylum
Next To Me - Sleeping At Last
Accidental Light - Sleeping At Last
Watermark - Sleeping At Last
Baby Birch – Joanna Newsom
The Truest Faith – Korallreven
Honey Mine (feat. Victoria Bergsman) – Korallreven
Outer Limits – Sleep Over
Chinatown – Wild Nothing
Anything – Chad Valley
Days Ahead - Museum of Bellas Artes
Watch the Glow – Museum of Bellas Artes
Late Key – Veux
Stick to My Side – Pantha Du Prince
Forget You & I - Nite Jewel
Falling Far - Nite Jewel
I'm New Here - Gil Scott-Heron
The Crutch - Gil Scott-Heron
Last Forever – Molly Nilsson
On Giving Up - High Places
The Longest Shadows - High Places
The Loop - Mimicking Birds
10 percent - Mimicking Birds
Burning Stars - Mimicking Birds
Broken Horse - Freelance Whales
Dark Tower - Miniature Tigers
Coyote Enchantment - Miniature Tigers
To Old Friends and New - Titus Andronicus
From the Mouth of Gabriel - Sufjan Stevens
Across the Sea - D'eon
More Blitz Than Ritz - The Crookes
I Kissed A Girl (Katy Perry Cover) - William Fitzsimmons
Kylie - William Fitzsimmons
Problem of Pain - William Fitzsimmons
Passion Play - William Fitzsimmons
True Blue - Dirty Beaches
Heaven's On Fire - The Radio Dept.
What if it isn't out there? - The Silver Seas
Don't Be Afraid - Keep Shelly In Athens
Someone Else - Henry Wolfe
The Man Who Would Speak True - Blitzen Trapper
Out Of Tune - Real Estate
When I’m Small - Phantogram
Camouflage – Small Black
Saviour - Teen Daze
Harlem River Blues - Justin Townes Earle
Cry – GAYNGS
When We're Dancing - Twin Shadow
Nightcall - Kavinsky
A Real Hero - College feat. Electric Youth
Tomorrow - Jono McCleery
Endless Summer - Still Corners
You Can Call Me Al (Paul Simon cover) - Jens Lekman
I Can't Wait - Twin Shadow
Burn Bridges – Dom
My Plants Are Dead - Blonde Redhead
Spain - Blonde Redhead
Shades Away - Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti
Under The Bridges - Niki & The Dove
DJ Ease My Mind - Niki & The Dove
Mother Protect - Niki & The Dove
Turnpike Ghost (Steel Train Cover) - Tegan and Sara
Touch Me Bad (Steel Train Cover) - Nellie Mckay
I Can't Go For That - The Bird and the Bee
Love Is All - The Tallest Man on Earth
Wake Up Your Saints - The National
The Order Of Things - Badly Drawn Boy
I Saw You Walk Away - Badly Drawn Boy
It's What I'm Thinking - Badly Drawn Boy
A Pure Accident - Badly Drawn Boy
Rambling Man - Laura Marling
Love saves - Thieves Like Us
So Clear -  Thieves Like Us
I Don't Feel It Anymore - William Fitzsimmons (Feat. Brooke Fraser) (George Raquet Remix)
Watch Over Me - Teen Daze
Dream Fortress - Grimes
Voyage - Charlotte Gainsbourg
Selfmachine - I Blame Coco
The Lost Ones - Joanna Ballard
Oil Rush - Joanna Ballard
Don't You - El May
The Things You Lost - El May
I Remember - El May
Shelter - Jars of Clay
The Bullitts feat Jay Electronica & Lucy Liu - Close Your Eyes
Faces - Owl Eyes
The Believers - How To Destroy Angels


(Last updated 2nd January 2013)


Enjoy the music! Do you disagree or agree with my ranking?Have I missed any great music from 2010 I could add? I'd love to hear what you have to say about the list.

from Chris, moviesandsongs365