Best Songs of 2009

Just like I created 100-song Best of Lists representing 30, 20, and 10 years ago, I have spent the past year creating lists for every other year I've been alive. So rather than wait ten years to publish them all, I'm also going to share lists from 5, 15 and 25 years ago. I'd do 35, too, but that pesky Best of 1979 isn't quite finished yet.

In the past two years since I started this process of culling tracks from every year of my existence, I have come across a slew of great albums and artists that I had only heard of (but not heard), or, in a few cases, had never known about at all. It's been a wonderful experience, yet again, to piece together this list.

As before, this list is an honest attempt to assess a year in music, merging the reality of a list of 40 made at the end of 2009, with a bunch of others that didn’s make the cut then, plus plenty more that I had not even heard yet. The result is a weird blend of what I listened to heavily just 5 years ago, with songs that I listen to a lot more frequently now. In the end, it is a pretty good document of the year that was 2009, no matter how you look at it.

For these year-end lists, I like to undertake the seemingly impossibly task of creating an hours-long mix. The order you see below represents that effort, which you can listen to via Spotify or my preferred streaming service, Rdio. Sadly all 100 tracks aren't available in either case, but you get the general idea. Track notes to come eventually or—particularly if last year's un-annotated lists are a sign of future action—maybe never.

Show Grid

Ben Lee

Ben Lee

Ben Lee Plays Songs He Loves That Were Written by Other People

New West
via TK library: 2/12/2009

Notes
(I Want to) Burn You (Down)

Mike Doughty

Sad Man Happy Man

ATO
via TK library: 10/10/2009

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Island, IS

Volcano Choir

Unmap

Jagjaguwar
via TK library: 8/11/2009

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Brother Mister

Christian McBride

Kind of Brown

Mack Avenue
via TK library: 9/19/2009

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Lady Luck

Richard Swift

Atlantic Ocean

Secretly Canadian
via TK library: 12/28/2011

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Love Comes and Goes

Lee Fields & The Expressions

My World

Truth & Soul
via TK library: 12/16/2009

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Empire State of Mind

Jay-Z featuring Alicia Keys

The Blueprint 3

RocNation
via TK library: 11/10/2009

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Heartbreaker

MSTRKRFT featuring John Legend

Fist of God

Dim Mak
via TK library: 3/28/2009

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I’ll Get You

Classixx featuring Jeppe

I’ll Get You 12"

Kitsune
via TK library: 5/11/2013

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Hazel

Junior Boys

Begone Dull Care

Domino
via TK library: 4/7/2009

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1901

Phoenix

Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Glassnote
via TK library: 8/13/2009

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Pursuit of Happiness

Kid Cudi

Man on the Moon: The End of Day

G.O.O.D.
via TK library: 3/27/2010

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Sleepyhead

Passion Pit

Manners

Frenchkiss
via TK library: 5/19/2009

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You’ve Got the Love (xx remix)

Florence + The Machine

You’ve Got the Love 7"

Moshi Moshi
via TK library: 5/5/2010

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Transmission

Hot Chip

War Child Presents Heroes

Astralwerks
via TK library: 3/4/2009

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Deadbeat Summer

Neon Indian

Psychic Chasms

Lefse
via TK library: 12/8/2009

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Feel It All Around

Washed Out

Life of Leisure

Mexican Summer
via TK library: 12/8/2009

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Coastal Brake

Tycho

Coastal Brake 12"

Ghostly International
via TK library: 12/15/2009

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Lovers’ Carvings

Bibio

Ambivalence Avenue

Warp
via TK library: 12/28/2010

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Leap

The Cave Singers

Welcome Joy

Matador
via TK library: 8/18/2009

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Back to the Wild

Langhorne Slim

Be Set Free

Kemado
via TK library: 9/6/2009

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Little King

Pufferfish

Swell

self-released
via TK library: 2/26/2010

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Acorn Factory

The Dodos

Time to Die

Frenchkiss
via TK library: 9/22/2009

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Pulling on a Line

Great Lake Swimmers

Lost Channels

Nettwerk
via TK library: 4/23/2009

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Two

The Antlers

Hospice

Frenchkiss
via TK library: 6/23/2009

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Kaufman’s Ballad

Megafaun

Gather, Form & Fly

Hometapes
via TK library: 1/7/2012

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Good Enough

The Acorn

Heron Act

Paper Bag
via TK library: 2/18/2009

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Cello Song

The Books featuring Jose Gonzalez

Dark Was the Night

4AD
via TK library: 2/18/2009

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All for the Best

Thom Yorke

Ciao My Shining Star

Mezzotint
via TK library: 9/29/2009

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Running to Stand Still

Elbow

War Child Presents Heroes

Astralwerks
via TK library: 3/4/2009

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No Sound But the Wind

Editors

Twilight: New Moon

Summit Entertainment
via TK library: 10/19/2009

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All the Kings Men

Wild Beasts

Two Dancers

Domino
via TK library: 12/4/2009

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Autumn Beds

Modest Mouse

No One’s First, and You’re Next

Epic
via TK library: 8/5/2009

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Clouds

The Daredevil Christopher Wright

In Deference to a Broken Back

Amble Down
via TK library: 12/4/2009

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Vacationing People

Foreign Born

Person to Person

Secretly Canadian
via TK library: 5/28/2011

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Fitz & the Dizzyspells

Andrew Bird

Noble Beast

Fat Possum
via TK library: 1/20/2009

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Know Better Learn Faster

Thao & The Get Down Stay Down

Know Better Learn Faster

Kill Rock Stars
via TK library: 10/19/2009

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The Traitor

Sea Wolf

White Water, White Bloom

Dangerbird
via TK library: 9/22/2009

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The Walls Are Coming Down

Fanfarlo

Reservoir

self-released
via TK library: 6/13/2009

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I Was Young When I Left Home

Antony

Dark Was the Night

4AD
via TK library: 2/18/2009

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Aftermath

Doveman featuring Norah Jones

The Conformist

Brassland
via TK library: 12/4/2009

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You Can Tell It to Everybody

Air

Love 2

Astralwerks
via TK library: 11/30/2009

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Faster Side of Normal

Noise Addict

It Was Never About the Audience

self-released
via TK library: 9/1/2009

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Two Tickets to Paradise

Eef Barzelay

Two Tickets to Paradise

self-released
via TK library: 3/6/2010

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Take on Me

A.C. Newman

Sweetheart ’09

Hear Music
via TK library: 2/7/2009

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So Long, Marianne

Beck featuring Devendra Banhart

Record Club: Songs of Leonard Cohen

self-released
via TK library: 11/14/2009

Notes
New Year’s Day

Josh Rouse

Monthly Singles 2009

self-released
via TK library: 2/27/2009

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For You

Sharon Van Etten

Because I Was in Love

Language of Stone
via TK library: 12/8/2009

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Chalk

Buddy and Julie Miller

Written in Chalk

New West
via TK library: 4/7/2010

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Blue Skies

Noah and the Whale

The First Days of Spring

Cherrytree
via TK library: 10/10/2009

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Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F.)

Monsters of Folk

Monsters of Folk

Shangri-La Music
via TK library: 9/22/2009

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Train Song

Feist & Benjamin Gibbard

Dark Was the Night

4AD
via TK library: 2/18/2009

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Hideaway

Karen O & The Kids

Where the Wild Things Are

DGC
via TK library: 10/19/2009

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Blood Bank

Bon Iver

Blood Bank

Jagjaguwar
via TK library: 12/20/2008

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Meet Me on the Equinox

Death Cab for Cutie

Twilight: New Moon

Summit Entertainment
via TK library: 10/19/2009

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Hindsight

Built to Spill

There Is No Enemy

Warner Bros.
via TK library: 11/29/2009

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The Ruminant Band

Fruit Bats

The Ruminant Band

Sub Pop
via TK library: 8/13/2009

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Paint Yourself

White Denim

Fits

Full Time Hobby
via TK library: 12/31/2009

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Lalita

The Love Language

The Love Language

Bladen County
via TK library: 3/17/2009

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Relator

Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson

Break Up

ATCO
via TK library: 10/10/2009

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Home

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

Up From Below

Vagrant
via TK library: 11/9/2009

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French Navy

Camera Obscura

My Maudlin Career

4AD
via TK library: 4/22/2009

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Knotty Pine

Dirty Projectors

Dark Was the Night

4AD
via TK library: 1/22/2009

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Oh My God

Ida Maria

Fortress ’round My Heart

Fontana
via TK library: 1/25/2010

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Now We Can See

The Thermals

Now We Can See

Kill Rock Stars
via TK library: 3/28/2009

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The Fixer

Pearl Jam

Backspacer

J
via TK library: 9/22/2009

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Why I Am

Dave Matthews Band

Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King

RCA
via TK library: 6/23/2009

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Percussion Gun

White Rabbits

It’s Frightening

TBD
via TK library: 5/19/2009

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When They Fight, They Fight

Generationals

Con Law

Park the Van
via TK library: 8/13/2009

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Daylight

Matt & Kim

Grand

Fader
via TK library: 2/5/2009

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Tightrope

Yeasayer

Dark Was the Night

4AD
via TK library: 1/22/2009

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My Girls

Animal Collective

Merriweather Post Pavilion

Domino
via TK library: 2/5/2009

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Sunlight

tUnE-yArDs

BiRd-BrAiNs

4AD
via TK library: 1/27/2010

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Let’s Go Surfing

The Drums

Summertime!

Moshi Moshi
via TK library: 9/19/2009

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Reruns

Holiday Shores

Columbus’d the Whim

Two Syllable
via TK library: 11/8/2009

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Beach Comber

Real Estate

Real Estate

Woodsist
via TK library: 12/8/2009

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Sun Was High (So Was I)

Best Coast

Sun Was High (So Was I) 7"

Art Fag Recordings
via TK library: 12/8/2009

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Under Your Spell

Desire

II

Italians Do It Better
via TK library: 10/3/2011

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All We Want, Baby, Is Everything

Handsome Furs

Face Control

Sub Pop
via TK library: 3/20/2009

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Hysteric

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

It’s Blitz!

Interscope
via TK library: 12/4/2009

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The Backyard

Dinosaur Jr.

Ciao My Shining Star

Mezzotint
via TK library: 9/29/2009

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Cascading

Born Anchors

Sprezzatura

self-released
via TK library: 4/20/2009

Notes
Young Hearts Spark Fire

Japandroids

Post-Nothing

Polyvinyl
via TK library: 6/20/2009

Notes
Please, Baby Please

David Bazan

Curse Your Branches

Barsuk
via past experience library: 9/11/2015

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Lust for Life

Girls

Album

True Panther Sounds
via TK library: 11/8/2009

Notes
I’ll Fight

Wilco

Wilco (The Album)

Nonesuch
via TK library: 7/16/2009

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Everyday

Vetiver

Tight Knit

Sub Pop
via TK library: 4/23/2009

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Sweet Tooth

Dave Rawlings Machine

A Friend of a Friend

Acony
via TK library: 11/29/2009

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Bowling Green

Alela Diane & Alina Hardin

Alela & Alina

Rough Trade
via TK library: 12/20/2009

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California Zephyr

Jay Farrar & Benjamin Gibbard

One Fast Move or I’m Gone

Atlantic
via TK library: 10/27/2009

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I’m an Animal

Neko Case

Middle Cyclone

Anti
via TK library: 3/4/2009

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Laundry Room

The Avett Brothers

I and Love and You

American
via TK library: 9/29/2009

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Living This Life

The Dutchess and The Duke

Sunset / Sunrise

Hardly Art
via TK library: 10/10/2009

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Whispered Words

Dan Aeurbach

Keep It Hid

Nonesuch
via TK library: 3/20/2009

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Going Home

The Maldives

Listen to the Thunder

Mt. Fuji
via TK library: 9/10/2009

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With All My Heart

Clem Snide

Hungry Bird

429
via TK library: 2/27/2009

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My Will Is Good

Port O’Brien

threadbare

TBD
via TK library: 8/11/2009

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Ashamed of the Story I Told

The National

Ciao My Shining Star

Mezzotint
via TK library: 9/29/2009

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While You Wait for the Others

Grizzly Bear

Veckatimest

Warp
via TK library: 3/3/2009

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Sun Will Shine (Warm of the Sunship Version)

Akron/Family

Set ’Em Wild, Set ’Em Free

Dead Oceans
via TK library: 5/19/2009

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