AMF EOY Best Songs of 2016 -- RESULTS

[Romain]

Great job notbrianeno ! Wonderful presentation even if the last Bowie image is very hard (but good choice)

I have only 6 songs of the top 100 in my top 81 but the #1 is my #1...YES !

[antonius]

Thanks notbrianeno. Love the gifs

[Honorio]

Excellent work, notbrianeno!!

I endorse an Spotify playlist including the whole Top 100 (except obviously the 6 songs by Beyoncé).




Excellent list, my friends. As always and as other have said before, it's better than the critics' (at least our Top 10 is more adequately ordered). Anyway the list is quite similar, isn't it? Apart of bringing down some mainstream songs (like the Rihanna or Drake ones) it follows closely the trends of the critic's list. Nothing wrong about it (and moreover I'm not going to complain since I haven't participated on the voting thread), it's obvious that the sounds of today are dominated by Hip Hop and Contemporary R&B. But maybe a different thing (but that's just my opinion) is that these styles suppose almost half of our list (and the critics') leaving completely out so many other styles (not less deserving to be there). See here the distribution of music styles of our list grouping it in four main styles:



As I told on a previous thread Rock music continues losing steam being neatly surpassed by the styles I mentioned above. But nothing to complain about, the Black music harvest this year has been astounding. I also include some graphics that proves that non-white acts are almost in par with white acts (something refreshing and really unusual before).



And the percentage of female acts is continuously increasing too (which is great), with an exact 25% on our songs list.

[Nassim]

Wonderful presentation, if we keep raising the bar like that for every poll, within 3 or 4 years we will have to post results as 90 minutes movies with CGI and choreographed musical sections.

[andyd1010]

As for Drone Bomb Me, I admire the lyrics but can't really get into the music, at least not yet. It's an important topic to be sure though, as Obama's drone strikes (which likely killed well over a 100 civilians) were discussed very little in the US.

That's how I feel as well.

Great list overall. My favorites did as well as they've done in any game/poll on this site, and I'm excited to check out the few I haven't heard. Thanks notbrianeno! Great presentation. And thanks to all the other contributors.

[veganvalentine]

It looks like the most acclaimed song not to make our list was Ariana Grande's Into You (#29 on the critics' list; I voted for it.)

The most highly ranked unacclaimed song was Andrew Bird's Roma Fade (#61), which didn't make the critics' top 2023 (!), although two of his other songs did.

Regarding Honorio's observations, I'm curious: for those of you who voted heavily for hip hop and R&B, were those your favorite genres back in the 80s or 90s, or, like the critics, have you you come to appreciate those genres more in recent years?

[Henrik]

Interesting question, veganvalentine. I had Kate Tempest's "Tunnel Vision" as my number one, but when it comes to US hip hop I find it harder than ever to appreciate it these days.

Edit: I (still) have a lot more love for R&B though. It's two very different genres for me actually, although the genres are combined in a lot of today's music.

[Nick]

Glad that "Lazarus" won. It wasn't my #1, but it's a more than worthy choice for the top spot. Thanks notbrianeno! Very excited to see the album results!

[Nick]

Also for a couple of years now Chambord's been posting how artists have been faring this decade with respect to the number of songs/albums that have made our EOY top ten. I haven't seen any post from him here, so I figure I'll do the honors...

There are 4 artists with with 3 songs in AMF EOY Top 10 this decade (2010s):

Grimes - Oblivion (2012); REALiTi (2015); Flesh Without Blood (2015)
Janelle Monáe - Cold War (2010); Tightrope (2010); Dance Apocalyptic (2013)
Kanye West - Runaway (2010); Black Skinhead (2013); Ultralight Beam (2016)
Kendrick Lamar - Never Catch Me [with Flying Lotus] (2014); The Blacker the Berry (2015); King Kunta (2015)

There are 9 artists with 2 songs in AMF EOY Top 10 this decade:

Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) (2010); Reflektor (2013)
Daft Punk - Get Lucky (2013); Giorgio by Moroder (2013)
David Bowie - Blackstar (2015); Lazarus (2016)
James Blake - The Wilhelm Scream (2011); Retrograde (2013)
Lana Del Rey - Video Games (2011); West Coast (2014)
PJ Harvey - The Glorious Land (2011); The Words That Maketh Murder (2011)
Radiohead - Burn the Witch (2016); Daydreaming (2016)
Tame Impala - Elephant (2012); Let it Happen (2015)
The Black Keys - Tighten Up (2010); Lonely Boy (2011)

[Rocky Raccoon]

It looks like the most acclaimed song not to make our list was Ariana Grande's Into You (#29 on the critics' list; I voted for it.)

The most highly ranked unacclaimed song was Andrew Bird's Roma Fade (#61), which didn't make the critics' top 2023 (!), although two of his other songs did.

Regarding Honorio's observations, I'm curious: for those of you who voted heavily for hip hop and R&B, were those your favorite genres back in the 80s or 90s, or, like the critics, have you you come to appreciate those genres more in recent years?

I don't know if I would say I voted heavily for hip-hop and R&B (9 out of 20 albums and 12 out of 20 songs), but I probably did vote more for those genres than in years past. The reason for this isn't because I've come to appreciate them more in recent years (I've always appreciated them), it's because I think this was an especially strong year for those genres.

[bootsy]

Regarding Honorio's observations, I'm curious: for those of you who voted heavily for hip hop and R&B, were those your favorite genres back in the 80s or 90s, or, like the critics, have you you come to appreciate those genres more in recent years?

I am a child of the 80s and early 90s and hip-hop and R&B was the only music I listened to until about 5 years ago. Hip hop has changed, I'm not sure what US hip hop vs. foreign hip hop has to do with anything it's all under the same umbrella of hip hop. Anyway I look at hip hop as something that has evolved into a commercial brand of music now more than ever. The lack of skills be a lot of today's hip hop artists have definitely affected how I listen to it now. I still listen to it and like some of the artists (Future, Drake, Vince Staples, Kendrick, J Cole, RTJ, Kanye, Danny Brown) more than others. The easy way out is to say it's not the same but it shouldn't be. Music genres evolve and I'm not going to treat hip hop any differently with the 'get off my lawn' mentality. I just choose to listen to what I like and sounds good to me just like I did in the 80s and 90s.

I look at R&B the same way although there isn't enough of it like hip hop. It isn't a mainstream genre like it was in the 80s and especially the 90s. Most of the R&B artists now seem to gain steam by word of mouth unless it's The Weeknd or Frank Ocean. I appreciate it more now because there are a lot of hidden gems out there Some get the exposure and some don't and I think that's ok.

[Nick]

Here's how my top 50 songs break down...

Rock: 18

Hip-hop: 13

R&B: 7

Electronic: 6

Folk: 3

Pop: 3

For some of these I wasn't really sure where to put them. For example, I put James Blake in with R&B and Anohni in with electronic.

[notbrianeno]

Regarding Honorio's observations, I'm curious: for those of you who voted heavily for hip hop and R&B, were those your favorite genres back in the 80s or 90s, or, like the critics, have you you come to appreciate those genres more in recent years?

In my case, I didn't follow music at large very closely until 2010, my sophomore year of high school, when myself and many others gained access to the nascent streaming platforms like Spotify, as well as torrenting. Until then, my iPod consisted of U2, Coldplay, and The Smashing Pumpkin's discography exclusively.

While I may be a special case, up until then my technological separation from the music world at large only made me more fascinated with new releases. Before sophomore year, I didn't even have access to a computer capable of loading Youtube or an income to purchase acclaimed albums. I would read reviews of In Rainbows, Veckatimest, and Merriweather Post Pavilion, imagining what the songs the text described sounded like. I say all this, because the first acclaimed album I was able to experience on this new streaming technology was My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

Here was a rap artist, already with a reputation for disregarding genre lines, openly recruiting stars from the world of indie and electronica I had read about to build his magnum opus; I was enthralled from the first listen. The following few years "event albums" continued in this theme: Bon Iver, Bon Iver, James Blake, channel.ORANGE, Kendrick Lamar and The Weeknd sampling Beach House.

So I would say that part of the younger generation's openness towards Rap and R&B comes not only from the fact that these albums achieved acclaim and recommendation as we were forming our musical taste, but because this period correlated with a massive trend of cross-pollination in genres unseen since the 70s. Whereas the 2000's notion of indie was in opposition to popular music as a whole--think Funeral and You Forgot It in People, 2010's indie kids fully embraced other genres alongside a wave of poptimism, just as bands like Radiohead were putting out an album (The King of Limbs) influenced by alt-R&B and Future Garage, and Frank Ocean sampled "Optimistic" on nostalgia.ULTRA. If the unifying principle of the online music-nerd fandom in the 2000s was antithesis, the principle today is synthesis.


More to the point, according to my RYM page, here are my favorite genres:

Alternative R&B / Ambient / Art Pop / East Coast Hip Hop / Electropop / Experimental Hip Hop / Free Jazz / IDM / Post-Punk / Post-Rock / Shoegaze / Slowcore / Trip Hop

[Chambord]

Also for a couple of years now Chambord's been posting how artists have been faring this decade with respect to the number of songs/albums that have made our EOY top ten. I haven't seen any post from him here, so I figure I'll do the honors...

There are 4 artists with with 3 songs in AMF EOY Top 10 this decade (2010s):

Grimes - Oblivion (2012); REALiTi (2015); Flesh Without Blood (2015)
Janelle Monáe - Cold War (2010); Tightrope (2010); Dance Apocalyptic (2013)
Kanye West - Runaway (2010); Black Skinhead (2013); Ultralight Beam (2016)
Kendrick Lamar - Never Catch Me [with Flying Lotus] (2014); The Blacker the Berry (2015); King Kunta (2015)

There are 9 artists with 2 songs in AMF EOY Top 10 this decade:

Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) (2010); Reflektor (2013)
Daft Punk - Get Lucky (2013); Giorgio by Moroder (2013)
David Bowie - Blackstar (2015); Lazarus (2016)
James Blake - The Wilhelm Scream (2011); Retrograde (2013)
Lana Del Rey - Video Games (2011); West Coast (2014)
PJ Harvey - The Glorious Land (2011); The Words That Maketh Murder (2011)
Radiohead - Burn the Witch (2016); Daydreaming (2016)
Tame Impala - Elephant (2012); Let it Happen (2015)
The Black Keys - Tighten Up (2010); Lonely Boy (2011)

Thanks Was planning to do it today.
I'll do it for the albums when the Top 10 is reavealed.

[Henrik]

I'm not sure what US hip hop vs. foreign hip hop has to do with anything it's all under the same umbrella of hip hop.

I think the tone is generally radically different. No?

[StevieFan13]

Regarding Honorio's observations, I'm curious: for those of you who voted heavily for hip hop and R&B, were those your favorite genres back in the 80s or 90s, or, like the critics, have you you come to appreciate those genres more in recent years?

In my case, I didn't follow music at large very closely until 2010, my sophomore year of high school, when myself and many others gained access to the nascent streaming platforms like Spotify, as well as torrenting. Until then, my iPod consisted of U2, Coldplay, and The Smashing Pumpkin's discography exclusively.

While I may be a special case, up until then my technological separation from the music world at large only made me more fascinated with new releases. Before sophomore year, I didn't even have access to a computer capable of loading Youtube or an income to purchase acclaimed albums. I would read reviews of In Rainbows, Veckatimest, and Merriweather Post Pavilion, imagining what the songs the text described sounded like. I say all this, because the first acclaimed album I was able to experience on this new streaming technology was My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

Here was a rap artist, already with a reputation for disregarding genre lines, openly recruiting stars from the world of indie and electronica I had read about to build his magnum opus; I was enthralled from the first listen. The following few years "event albums" continued in this theme: Bon Iver, Bon Iver, James Blake, channel.ORANGE, Kendrick Lamar and The Weeknd sampling Beach House.

So I would say that part of the younger generation's openness towards Rap and R&B comes not only from the fact that these albums achieved acclaim and recommendation as we were forming our musical taste, but because this period correlated with a massive trend of cross-pollination in genres unseen since the 70s. Whereas the 2000's notion of indie was in opposition to popular music as a whole--think Funeral and You Forgot It in People, 2010's indie kids fully embraced other genres alongside a wave of poptimism, just as bands like Radiohead were putting out an album (The King of Limbs) influenced by alt-R&B and Future Garage, and Frank Ocean sampled "Optimistic" on nostalgia.ULTRA. If the unifying principle of the online music-nerd fandom in the 2000s was antithesis, the principle today is synthesis.


More to the point, according to my RYM page, here are my favorite genres:

Alternative R&B / Ambient / Art Pop / East Coast Hip Hop / Electropop / Experimental Hip Hop / Free Jazz / IDM / Post-Punk / Post-Rock / Shoegaze / Slowcore / Trip Hop

I didn't start paying serious attention to music until about 2015. Can't act like this site wasn't a big motivator to do so.

[veganvalentine]

Thanks for the thoughtful responses. I can certainly relate to notbrianeno's experience. I was really into music during college (mid-2000s), and since I was (and am) ethically opposed to stealing music, I bought a plethora of used CDs at the time. However, after college I spent less my money buying CDs and gradually become bored listening to the same music. I used the free version of Spotify a little bit, but for some reason I didn't pay for a streaming service until Apple Music came out in 2015. This rekindled my interest in AM and opened up a new world for me where I can listen to all the acclaimed albums I've been reading about for years. For me, the only downside is that I now rarely listen to an album twice, which is necessary to appreciate much non-mainstream music. I usually just leapfrog from album to the next, but when I used to buy a few CDs every month, I would regularly give "bad" albums second chances.

[Jirin]

I didn't make a singles list just because most of my listening is album oriented, but thought I'd drop my 'Top tier' list of the songs that did stand out from the albums for me this year. The few that make me want to hit the back button when I get to the end of the song.

Kendrick Lamar - untitled 03
Lucinda Williams - Dust
PJ Harvey - The Wheel
David Bowie - Blackstar
The Avalanches - Frankie Sinatra

[bootsy]

I'm not sure what US hip hop vs. foreign hip hop has to do with anything it's all under the same umbrella of hip hop.

I think the tone is generally radically different. No?

Yeah it is but it's still hip hop in general. The content is different but the style is still hip hop. Experimental hip hop in some cases but still hip hop. One of the most common and funniest complaints I hear from Americans is that they can't get into foreign rap because they can't understand the lyrics especially from groups like The Streets or Dizzee Rascal because of the heavy accents but I have trouble understanding US rappers sometimes especially a lot of the current rappers.

[santacosta]

I made a playlist of this till number 50. By far better than what critics decided. Where are all the past years song polls?

[JohnnyBGoode]

I made a playlist of this till number 50. By far better than what critics decided. Where are all the past years song polls?

History of AM Forum Polls which is one of the pinned items at the top of "Music, music, music ..."

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3

also there's a playlist of top 100 above.