Best Songs of 2013

I have two simple rules when making my "Best of" song lists. First, an artist can't appear more than once. Second, I will not rank my lists. The first rule makes the list-making harder, and the second makes it easier. This paradox creates a happy medium.

For all of 2013, I have been working on lists representing 30, 20, and 10 years ago, along with a list for this year. The weird thing about making those lists after the fact is the use of hindsight, for I have discovered new artists and new songs in the interim years and, in some cases, during this process of trying to fill out a 100-song list.

Making my 2013 playlist, however, proved difficult in its own right. I started with a HUGE list of nominee tracks and whittled them down over the course of the past 12 months, finally putting together the 100 songs featured here, just a matter of days ago.

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. Sadly all 100 tracks aren't available, but you get the general idea. Track notes to come eventually or maybe never.

Show Grid

Happy

Pharrell Williams

Happy

Columbia

Notes
Blurred Lines

Robin Thicke featuring T.I. and Pharrell Williams

Blurred Lines

Star Trak

Notes
Bound 2

Kanye West

Yeezus

Roc-a-Fella

Notes
You’re Not Good Enough

Blood Orange

Cupid Deluxe

Domino

Notes
Heartbreaks + Setbacks

Thundercat

Apocalypse

Brainfeeder

Notes
You

Bibio

Silver Wilkinson

Warp

Notes
It All Feels Right

Washed Out

Paracosm

Sub Pop

Notes
Destitute Time

Delorean

Apar

Mushroom Pillow

Notes
Holding On

Classixx

Hanging Gardens

Innovative Leisure

Notes
Put a Light On

Generationals

Heza

Polyvinyl

Notes
Let Go

RAC featuring Kele

Don’t Talk To

Cherrytree

Notes
Walking in Your Footsteps

Shout Out Louds

Optica

Merge

Notes
Green Garden

Laura Mvula

Sing to the Moon

Columbia

Notes
Obscene

Bloc Party

The Nextwave Sessions

Frenchkiss

Notes
Primetime

Janelle Monae featuring Miguel

The Electric Lady

Bad Boy

Notes
#Beautiful

Mariah Carey featuring Miguel

#Beautiful

Sony

Notes
Tiff

Poliça featuring Justin Vernon

Shulamith

Mom and Pop

Notes
Say That

Toro y Moi

Anything in Return

Carpark

Notes
Default

Atoms for Peace

Amok

XL Recordings

Notes
Retrograde

James Blake

Overgrown

Universal

Notes
World War

Autre Ne Veut

Anxiety

Software

Notes
New Summer

Young Galaxy

Ultramarine

Paper Bag

Notes
Shucks

Dungeonesse

Dungeonesse

Secretly Canadian

Notes
Wings

Haerts

Wings

Columbia

Notes
I Blame Myself

Sky Ferreira

Night Time, My Time

Capitol

Notes
I Can Hardly Make You Mine

Cults

Static

Columbia

Notes
Avant Gardener

Courtney Barnett

The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas

House Anxiety

Notes
Destroyer

The Dodos

Carrier

Polyvinyl

Notes
Weight

Mikal Cronin

MCII

Merge

Notes
Wakin on a Pretty Day

Kurt Vile

Wakin on a Pretty Daze

Matador

Notes
There Can Be Only One

Cass McCombs

Big Wheel and Others

Domino

Notes
Mariette

Mark Kozelek & Desertshore

Mark Kozelek & Desertshore

Caldo Verde

Notes
Advanced Falconry

Mutual Benefit

Love’s Crushing Diamond

Soft Eyes

Notes
Just Make It Stop

Low

The Invisible Way

Sub Pop

Notes
I Saw Her Face

The Men

New Moon

Sacred Bones

Notes
One More Chance

The Moondoggies

Adios I’m a Ghost

Hardly Art

Notes
Gallup, NM

The Shouting Matches

Grownass Man

Middle West

Notes
Pretty Green

White Denim

Corsicana Lemonade

Downtown

Notes
The Quotidian Beasts

Phosphorescent

Muchacho

Dead Oceans

Notes
Down Down the Deep River

Okkervil River

The Silver Gymnasium

ATO

Notes
Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around

Shearwater & Sharon Van Etten

Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around 7"

Sub Pop

Notes
Prisoners

J. Mascis & Sharon Van Etten

The Music Is You (A Tribute to John Denver)

ATO

Notes
Cut Me Some Slack

Dave Grohl, Paul McCartney, Krist Noveselic & Pat Smear

Sound City: Real to Reel

RCA

Notes
The Stars (Are Out Tonight)

David Bowie

The Next Day

Columbia

Notes
Afterlife

Arcade Fire

Reflektor

Merge

Notes
Ohm

Yo La Tengo

Fade

Matador

Notes
Dog That Bit You

The Baptist Generals

Jackleg Devotional to the Heart

Sub Pop

Notes
Dream Captain

Deerhunter

Monomania

4AD

Notes
Bad Mythology

On an On

Give In

Roll Call

Notes
Cooker Ship

Albert Hammond, Jr.

AHJ

Cult

Notes
So Good at Being in Trouble

Unknown Mortal Orchestra

II

Jagjaguwar

Notes
Never Seen Such Good Things

Devendra Banhart

Mala

Nonesuch

Notes
Of the Mother Again

Jim James

Regions of Light and Sound of God

ATO

Notes
Strictly Reserved for You

Charles Bradley

Victim of Love

Dunham

Notes
Lady Luck

Pickwick featuring Sharon Van Etten

Can’t Talk Medicine

Small Press

Notes
Every Body

Thao & The Get Down Stay Down

We the Common

Ribbon Music

Notes
Crazy

Au Revoir Simone

Move in Spectrums

Instant

Notes
Is This How You Feel?

The Preatures

Is This How You Feel?

Harvest

Notes
Honey & I

Haim

Days Are Gone

Columbia

Notes
Who Have I Become?

Best Coast

Fade Away

Jewel City

Notes
Closer

Tegan and Sara

Heartthrob

Warner Bros.

Notes
S.O.S. in Bel-Air

Phoenix

Bankrupt!

Glassnote

Notes
From Nowhere

Dan Croll

From Nowhere

Racquet

Notes
Under Cover

Ducktails

The Flower Lane

Domino

Notes
Demon to Lean On

Wavves

Afraid of Heights

Mom and Pop

Notes
Best of Friends

Palma Violets

180

Rough Trade

Notes
Byegone

Volcano Choir

Repave

Jagjaguwar

Notes
Sea of Love

The National

Trouble Will Find Me

4AD

Notes
The Oil Slick

Frightened Rabbit

Pedestrian Verse

Atlantic

Notes
Have to Pretend

The Cave Singers

Naomi

Jagjaguwar

Notes
Aman

Bombino

Nomad

Nonesuch

Notes
My Number

Foals

Holy Fire

Warner Bros.

Notes
Macando

Way Yes

Tog Pebbles

Lefse

Notes
Heavy Feet

Local Natives

Hummingbird

Frenchkiss

Notes
Ghosts and Creatures

Telekinesis

Dormarion

Merge

Notes
Heaven

Depeche Mode

Delta Machine

Columbia

Notes
Invisible

The Dismemberment Plan

Uncanney Valley

Partisan

Notes
Despair

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Mosquito

Interscope

Notes
Only a Clown

Caitlin Rose

The Stand-In

ATO

Notes
Until We Get There

Lucius

Wildewoman

Mom and Pop

Notes
A Lot Like Magic

Josh Rouse

The Happiness Waltz

Yep Roc

Notes
Fragments of Time

Daft Punk

Random Access Memories

Columbia

Notes
Get Lucky

Beats Antique

Get Lucky (Beats Antique Remix)

self-released

Notes
In the Kingdom

Mazzy Star

Seasons of Your Day

Rhymes of an Hour

Notes
November Baby

Torres

Torres

self-released

Notes
Twined & Twisted

Valerie June

Pushin’ Against a Stone

Concord

Notes
Night Still Comes

Neko Case

The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You

Anti-

Notes
Every Grain of Sand

The Blind Boys of Alabama featuring Justin Vernon

I’ll Find a Way

Masterworks

Notes
All the Old Heroes

Joseph Arthur

The Ballad of Boogie Christ

Lonely Astronaut

Notes
Dixie Cups and Jars

Waxahatchee

Cerulean Salt

Don Giovanni

Notes
Master Hunter

Laura Marling

Once I Was an Eagle

Virgin

Notes
I Won’t Be Long

Beck

I Won’t Be Long

Fonograf

Notes
Gradual Return

Trixie Whitley

Fourth Corner

Strong Blood

Notes
Suddenly

Junip

Junip

Mute

Notes
Turns Turns Turns

Majical Cloudz

Impersonator

Matador

Notes
In the City

Caveman

Caveman

Fat Possum

Notes
3 Days

Rhye

Woman

Republic

Notes
Pusher Love Girl

Justin Timberlake

The 20/20 Experience

RCA

Notes
Hey Love

Quadron

Avalanche

Vested in Culture

Notes
Latch

Disclosure featuring Sam Smith

Settle

Interscope

Notes