The Top 10 Songs of 2017

Forget 'Peak TV': Welcome to the era of 'Peak Music'.

Making a 'Top 10 songs' list is absurdly reductive in any year, but in 2017, it was especially fanciful.

It suggests the list-maker (aka me) heard every song and then ranked them with the help of an objective, inarguable algorithm. In reality, the process is a lot less impressive: I just picked the ten songs I liked most, and that best soundtracked my own personal 2017.

You'll have a different list, obvs. Perhaps you listened exclusively to Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift over the past 12 months. Or, maybe you fell in love with newbies SZA and Cardi B. Was it Post Malone who got the most streams according to your Spotify 'Wrapped', or Harry Styles?

I'm not going to lie to you: Even though my working list had about 700 songs to consider, there was plenty I missed this year. For instance, I never heard P!nk's Beautiful Trauma or Niall Horan's solo debut, and it was unreasonable of Future to expect me to give both his new albums, released one week apart, equal listening time. And then there's the relentless stream of SoundCloud rappers out there, each more ridiculously named than the last, and all those bedroom-based singer-songwriters Spotify Discover keeps introducing us to.

It's legitimately stressful. 

So, let's all take a deep breath.

If you've been on a sonic cleanse this year, living a monastic existence to clear your head of the musical deluge, consider this a good starting point for your re-entry into society: My personal Top 10 Songs of the Year (with 15 runners up). 

(Language warning ahead.)

Read More:

The Top 10 Albums of 2017

Runners Up (In Alphabetical Order):

"I Get Overwhelmed" by Dark Rooms, "Wild Thoughts" by DJ Khaled feat. Rihanna and Bryson Tiller, "Pure Comedy" by Father John Misty, "The Bus Song" by Jay Som, "The Story of O.J." by Jay-Z, "XO Tour Llif3" by Lil Uzi Vert, "My Lover Cindy" by Maricka Hackman, "Slip Away" by Perfume Genius, "Now & Then" by Sjowgren, "Mystery of Love" by Sufjan Stevens, "List of People (To Try and Forget About)" by Tame Impala, "Fresh" by Tired Lion, "Disco Tits" by Tove Lo, "Foreword" by Tyler the Creator feat. Rex Orange County, "Big Fish" by Vince Staples.

10. "Strangers" by Halsey feat. Lauren Jauregui

"Strangers" is a classic ‘she-said, she-said’. Here, Halsey and Lauren play two lovers who can’t agree which of them is more invested in the relationship. Honestly, they probably could’ve figured it out over a cuppa and a chat, but instead, they turn it into a tale of sinister, psychosexual torment. And we’re here for it.

9. "Los Ageless" by St. Vincent

St. Vincent's art-pop got even spikier on MASSEDUCTION, and though "Los Ageless" is a somewhat on-the-cosmetically-enhanced-nose parody of the Los Angeles lifestyle, it's a pleasure to hear Annie Clark's slinky vocals cascade over her guitar-shreds. In the clip above, she even delivers the escalating, tongue-twisting chorus at a 90-degree angle: "How could anybody have you? How could anybody have you and lose you? How could anybody have you and lose you and not lose their mind too?"

8. "No Known Drink or Drug" by Japandroids

One minute and forty-five seconds of build-up. One minute and fifteen seconds of release. Finally, a rock band that gets the ratio right.

7. "New Rules" by Dua Lipa

Don’t give all the credit to the hypnotic and highly-GIFable music video. There was something else special about Dua Lipa’s smash, compared against the other hits of the year. Maybe we can pin it to her uncommonly firm delivery; maybe it was the song's strange production choices (what is that droning noise in the background?); maybe it was the tension she manages to draw from a countup rather than a countdown. All I know is "New Rules" was the only dance track in 2017 that actually felt nerve-racking.

6. "Bike Dream" by Rostam

Rostam Batmanglij, formerly of Vampire Weekend and Discovery, produced some of 2016's finest songs ("Ivy" by Frank Ocean; "F.U.B.U" by Solange) but he forged out on his own in 2017 with the shimmering, arena-ready, stream-of-consciousness stomp of "Bike Dream". Until we get another Vampire Weekend album, this'll more than do.

5. "Slide" by Calvin Harris feat. Frank Ocean and Migos

Last year, Taylor Swift dumped Calvin Harris. He rebounded with Frank Ocean, Migos and a cast of thousands for some of the best singles of the year. Good gracious! His triumph? The airy, summery "Slide", which also gave us Frank at his loosest, preceding his easy-breezy standalone singles "Chanel" and "Biking".

4. "Take Me" by Aly & AJ

Some of the year’s catchiest tunes abandoned choruses entirely ("New Rules", Rita Ora’s "Anywhere") but former child stars Aly & AJ perfected the art of the 'no-chorus pop single' in "Take Me". Its many drum machine-fills build to a simple scream and then a stuttering synth-solo. It sounds the way Elaine Benes dances, which is the highest compliment I could ever possibly pay.

3. "Up in Hudson" by Dirty Projectors

Boy meets girl. Girl joins band. Band tours world. Boy and girl break-up. So does band. Boy ends up writing for Kanye West and is then inspired to tell their entire story over an afrobeat breakdown. That’s the story of Dirty Projectors, and of "Up in Hudson", an epic romantic drama told in under eight minutes. Honestly, that’s better and more expansive storytelling than seen in most of the year’s films.

2. "Homemade Dynamite" by Lorde

This spot could’ve gone to "Green Light" or "Liability" or "Sober", but you can hear me wax lyrical about Lorde’s Melodrama singles in my Top Albums of the Year ranking. For this list, I had to go with the song so nice they made it twice. You may prefer the remix with SZA, Khalid and Post Malone—and it’s certainly much richer-sounding—but I will always go back to the sparse original, with Lorde’s adorable vocal explosion ("pchwww!") and the darkest, danciest couplet of the year: "We'll end up painted on the road, red and chrome, all the broken glass sparkling/ I guess we're partying." Pchwww!

1. "Hard Times" by Paramore

There was no denying it: 2017 was rough, for a variety of reasons. And though we’ve already talked—extensively—about the bravery of "Hard Times" for addressing mental illness (and not eschewing a big pop chorus), we’re celebrating it today for defining and capturing the #mood of the year without succumbing to it. "Hard Times" is the irrepressible sound of defiance in 2017.

Share your faves below!

Photo: Student Edge Illustration / YouTube (St.Vincent / FueledbyRamen / Aly & AJ / Dua Lipa)