Monday, December 31, 2018

Acclaimed Music – Songs of the Year, 1920-2018

Originally posted 12/29/2014; updated 12/31/2018.

Acclaimed Music was started in 1994 by Henrik Franzon in Stockholm, Sweden. He has aggregated multiple best-of lists to come up with all-time lists for albums and songs as well as annual lists.

  • 2018: Childish Gambino “This Is America”
  • 2017: Kendrick Lamar “Humble”
  • 2016: Beyoncé “Formation”
  • 2015: Tame Impala “Let It Happen”
  • 2014: Future Islands “Seasons (Waiting on You)”
  • 2013: Daft Punk with Pharrell Williams “Get Lucky
  • 2012: Frank Ocean “Pyramids”
  • 2011: M83 “Midnight City”
  • 2010: Kanye West with Pusha T “Runaway”

  • 2009: Jay-Z with Alicia Keys…Empire State of Mind
  • 2008: Hercules & Love Affair “Blind”
  • 2007: M.I.A. “Paper Planes
  • 2006: Gnarls Barkley “Crazy
  • 2005: Arctic Monkeys “I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor”
  • 2004: Franz Ferdinand “Take Me Out
  • 2003: OutKast “Hey Ya!
  • 2002: LCD Soundsystem “Losing My Edge”
  • 2001: Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott “Get UR Freak On”
  • 2000: OutKast “Ms. Jackson”

  • 1999: Aphex Twin “Windowlicker”
  • 1998: Stardust “Music Sounds Better with You”
  • 1997: Radiohead “Paranoid Android”
  • 1996: The Prodigy “Firestarter”
  • 1995: Pulp “Common People”
  • 1994: Oasis “Live Forever”
  • 1993: Beck “Loser”
  • 1992: Radiohead “Creep
  • 1991: Nirvana “Smells Like Teen Spirit
  • 1990: Sinéad O’Connor “Nothing Compares 2 U

  • 1989: Public Enemy “Fight the Power”
  • 1988: The La’s “There She Goes”
  • 1987: Guns N’ Roses “Sweet Child O’ Mine
  • 1986: The Smiths “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out”
  • 1985: Madonna “Into the Groove”
  • 1984: Prince “When Doves Cry
  • 1983: New Order “Blue Monday”
  • 1982: Michael Jackson “Billie Jean
  • 1981: The Specials “Ghost Town”
  • 1980: Joy Division “Love Will Tear Us Apart

  • 1979: The Clash “London Calling”
  • 1978: Blondie “Heart of Glass”
  • 1977: Sex Pistols “God Save the Queen”
  • 1976: Sex Pistols “Anarchy in the U.K.”
  • 1975: Bruce Springsteen “Born to Run
  • 1974: Bob Marley & the Wailers “No Woman, No Cry”
  • 1973: The Stooges “Search and Destroy”
  • 1972: Stevie Wonder “Superstition
  • 1971: Marvin Gaye “What’s Going On
  • 1970: Derek & the Dominos “Layla

  • 1969: The Rolling Stones “Gimme Shelter”
  • 1968: Marvin Gaye “I Heard It Through the Grapevine
  • 1967: The Beatles “A Day in the Life”
  • 1966: The Beach Boys “Good Vibrations
  • 1965: Bob Dylan “Like a Rolling Stone
  • 1964: The Kinks “You Really Got Me
  • 1963: The Ronettes “Be My Baby
  • 1962: Booker T & the MG’s “Green Onions”
  • 1961: Ben E. King “Stand by Me
  • 1960: The Shirelles “Will You Love Me Tomorrow”

  • 1959: Ray Charles “What’d I Say
  • 1958: Chuck Berry “Johnny B. Goode
  • 1957: Buddy Holly & the Crickets “That’ll Be the Day
  • 1956: Elvis Presley “Heartbreak Hotel
  • 1955: Little Richard “Tutti Frutti
  • 1954: Bill Haley & His Comets “We’re Gonna Rock Around the Clock
  • 1953: Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton “Hound Dog
  • 1952: Lloyd Price “Lawdy Miss Clawdy”
  • 1951: Woody Guthrie “This Land Is Your Land
  • 1950: Muddy Waters “Rollin’ Stone”

  • 1949: Hank Williams “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”
  • 1948: John Lee Hooker “Boogie Chillen’”
  • 1947: Bill Monroe & the Blue Grass Boys “Blue Moon of Kentucky”
  • 1946: Charles Trenet “Beyond the Sea (La Mer)”
  • 1945: Edith Piaf “La Vie En Rose”
  • 1944: Les Brown with Doris Day “Sentimental Journey
  • 1943: Duke Ellington “Come Sunday”/“Black, Brown, and Beige”
  • 1942: Bing Crosby with the Ken Darby Singers & the John Scott Trotter Orchestra “White Christmas
  • 1941: Billie Holiday “God Bless the Child”
  • 1940: Quintet of the Hot Club of France “Nuages”

  • 1939: Billie Holiday “Strange Fruit
  • 1938: Artie Shaw Begin the Beguine
  • 1937: Robert Johnson “Hellhound on My Trail”
  • 1936: Robert Johnson “Crossroads (aka "Cross Road Blues")”
  • 1935: The Carter Family “Can the Circle Be Unbroken (Bye and Bye)”
  • 1934: Huddie “Leadbelly” Ledbetter “The Midnight Special”
  • 1933: Bennie Moten’s Kansas City Orchestra “Moten’s Swing”
  • 1932: Bing Crosby “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
  • 1931: Cab Calloway “Minnie the Moocher”
  • 1930: Duke Ellington “Mood Indigo

  • 1929: Fats Waller “Ain’t Misbehavin’
  • 1928: Louis Armstrong “West End Blues
  • 1927: Blind Willie Johnson “Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground”
  • 1926: Jelly Roll Morton “Black Bottom Stomp”
  • 1925: Bessie Smith with Louis Armstrong “St. Louis Blues
  • 1924: Paul Whiteman with George Gershwin “Rhapsody in Blue
  • 1923: Bessie Smith “Down Hearted Blues”
  • 1922: James P. Johnson “Carolina Shout”
  • 1921: Al Jolson “April Showers
  • 1920: Mamie Smith “Crazy Blues”

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