ILLUSTRATION BY LYDIA CONKLIN
Another year has passed, and with that comes our best attempt to gather our favorite tracks and order them from best to, well, the very best. This collective is about as subjective as it gets — it’s not something that necessarily represents what was popular or what certain sites wrote about. It’s simply the music we loved in 2012.
Without further ado, we present to you our list of the top 100 songs of 2012. While we had a blast putting this together, it didn’t come without an argument or two. What we agreed to below, however, is something we’re truly excited to share with you. These 100 songs are the tracks we turned to hundreds of times throughout the year, songs that we’ll take with us into 2013 and songs that we can listen to ten years from now, remembering the stupid decisions we made when we were young and reckless (relatively reckless at least).
Listen to all 100 songs (or at least close to it) below using Spotify (right) or 8tracks (left) if you don’t have Spotify.
Stream:
100-81
100. “Union Square” – Francisco The Man
99. “Disparate Youth” – Santigold
98. “Lose Your Mind” – So Many Wizards
97. “Default” – Django Django
96. “Atticus, in The Desert” – Kishi Bashi
95. “Always Gold” – Radical Face
94. “Pyramids” – Frank Ocean
93. “Haus” – Oberhofer
92. “Leaves” – Cheers Elephant
91. “Impregnable Question” – Dirty Projectors
90. “Remembrance Of Things To Come” – Princeton
89. “The Live Oak” – Heyward Howkins
88. “Bodies of Water” – Ramona Falls
87. “Defenestrate You” – Modern Rivals
86. “Ho Hey” – The Lumineers
85. “Lost Weekend” – Tiny Victories
84. “The Wheel” – S O H N
83. “White Wave” – Princess Music
82. “My Better Self” – Tennis
81. “Dark Doo Wop” – MS MR
80-61
80. “I Turn On” – Slam Donahue
79. “All My People Go” - Kris Orlowski & Andrew Joslyn
78. “Hold On When You Get Love and Let Go When You Give It” – Stars
77. “(Into The) Atmosphere” – Dusted
76. “Catamaran” – Allah-Las
75. “Holy Roller” – Thao & the Get Down Stay Down
74. “Lost Communication” – Anothers Blood
73. “Find The Reason” – Rioux
72. “Before The Dive” – St. Lucia
71. “Half Gate” – Grizzly Bear
70. “Dark Ghost (I’ve Got Arms)” – Flashbulb Fires
69. “Dirty Paws” – Of Monsters and Men
68. “Wasted Days” – Cloud Nothings
67. “Carry On” – fun.
66. “Dream It Up” – Sydney Wayser
65. “She Lit a Fire” – Lord Huron
64. “Dour Percentage” – of Montreal
63. “Don’t Just Sit There” – Lucius
62. “Sex” – The 1975
61. “Beating Hearts” – King Charles
60-41
60. “Spar Helm” – Inspired and the Sleep
59. “I Spy” – Mikhael Paskalev
58. “My Kind of Woman” – Mac DeMarco
57. “Ken Caryl” – Mesita
56. “Breakers” – Local Natives
55. “It’s Not My Fault, I’m Happy” – Passion Pit
54. ”Fantasy II” - Fenster
53. “Pierre Bensusan” – Capybara
52. “Girl” – Opossom
51. “The Line” – The Eastern Sea
50. “Motion Sickness” – Hot Chip
49. “Time to Run” – Lord Huron
48. “Love Interruption” - Jack White
47. “Medicine” – Daughter
46. “Good As New” – Vacationer
45. “Nancy From Now On” – Father John Misty
44. “Must Land Running” – Stepdad
43. “Speak in Rounds” – Grizzly Bear
42. “Cherokee” – Cat Power
41. “The Match” – The Eastern Sea
40-21
40. “Tessellate” – alt-J
39. “Amanaemonesia” – Chairlift
38. “Caught Me Thinking” – Bahamas
37. “Fineshrine” – Purity Ring
36. “Feel Like We Only Go Backwards” – Tame Impala
35. “Hot Knife” – Fiona Apple
34. “Switzerland” – The Last Bison
33. “Orange Grove” – People Get Ready
32. “Orifice Origami” – Reptar
31. “Lily” – Benjamin Gibbard
30. ”Husbands” - Savages
29. “Matilda” – alt-J
28. “Simple Song” – The Shins
27. “Give Out” – Sharon Van Etten
26. “If You’re Never Gonna Move” – Jessie Ware
25. “Thinkin Bout You” – Frank Ocean
24. “Backlines” – Stars
23. “Angels” – The xx
22. “Lazuli” – Beach House
21. “Storm” – Django Django
20-11
20. “Thin Line (feat. Buffalo Madonna)” – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
19. “Hood” – Perfume Genius
18. “Losing You” – Solange
17. “Hurricane” – MS MR
16. “Laura” – Bat For Lashes
15. “Side by Side” – Gung Ho
14. “Don’t Save Me” – Haim
13. “These Streets Will Never Look The Same” – Chromatics
12. “Apocalypse Dreams” – Tame Impala
11. “Everything Is Embarrassing” – Sky Ferreira
10-1
10. “Magic Kids” – Indians
9. “Bright Whites” – Kishi Bashi
8. “Hit the Ground (Superman)” – The Big Pink
7. “Leonard” – Sharon Van Etten
6. “Oblivion” – Grimes
5. “Youth” – Daughter
4. “I’ll Be Alright” – Passion Pit
3. “The House That Heaven Built” – Japandroids
2. “Breezeblocks” – alt-J
1. “Manchester” – Kishi Bashi
What do you think of our list? Tell us who you would have included in the comments below! Or just tell us how perfect it is?