People often ask, “How did you come up with these lists?” Radio stations get people to vote to determine their number one, Billboard uses sales and radio play, iTunes uses downloads and websites use….well who knows how they come up with anything. But for my lists, they are mine and mine only. I do have a few rules:
SINGLES
Songs should be “singles” from an album or standalone. I love some albums and every song on them but I try to stick to songs that bands have released as singles. This was easier back before digital music and many indie bands don’t really have singles so this rule can be fluid.
RELEASE DATES
Songs from a particular year can be on an album from another year. If you release an album in November but the third single comes out the following spring, it can be from the year the single comes out. Likewise, singles that come out before an album is officially released can be from the prior year.
PERFORMANCES
Cover songs, live songs and previously unreleased tracks are often discouraged, however, some are great and unavoidable.
GENRES
Genres can generally include anything that I like. Pop and country can be allowed but seldom make me want to include. The songs on my list are generally rock, rap and electronic.
How do I find these songs? Easy! (not really). Over the years my methods have changed. Pre-2000’s I would have just used Billboard charts and songs I heard on the radio. With the age of the internet, I have used many sites, Amazon, Pitchfork, Stereogum, FMQB, Beyondradio, Consequence of Sound, NPR as well as radio station site like WTMD, KEXP, WXPN and KCRW. Now, I can use many of these same outlets’ Spotify playlists to see newly added songs. Now that I have it set up, I can find new songs with ease and the hard part is finding time to listen to them all.
How do they get ranked? I have a weekly Top 100 chart. This is structured like Billboard where songs enter, move up and then down and out of the chart weekly. Any given week can have 6-10 new songs and songs can stay on the chart for a couple weeks or a few months. These songs get points each week depending on how up they are, and at the end of the year, I add them up and have about 500 songs in a decent order. From then, I peruse other peoples year end lists to round out the Top 500 with any songs I missed. (I’m just one guy!) I then fiddle with the order as some songs just seem to get better as the year goes on and I try to account for songs released in November and December and how I think they would have done had they had a full chart life. After that, I have 500 songs ranked and ready to countdown!
Again, I stress that no one but me votes on these songs and they are not based on plays or sales or anything. I listen to these songs all year and see many of the bands in concert. The songs on my lists are songs I find to be the best songs in a given year or decade.