It goes without saying that 2020 turned out to be a year for the record books on so many levels. It started out well enough, but quickly went to hell beginning in March as the Covid-19 virus spread throughout the world, causing a global pandemic that resulted in a shut down of many countries’ economies, and nearly 1.8 million deaths as I write this at the end of the year. One of the hardest-hit sectors has been the music industry, particularly live music, which in these days of unlimited streaming, most musicians count on to make a living and promote their music. On the plus side – if there was one – many musicians had more time to write and record new music, blessing us with some really stellar works. The Rolling Stones used the lockdown to put out their previously-written but timely “Living in a Ghost Town”, their first new single in four years, while AC/DC thrilled fans with their surprise release of Power Up, their first new album in six years. The Pretenders, Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney also released new albums.
Like with every year, in 2020 we had to say goodbye to far too many legendary musicians – something that seems to be happening with greater frequency as music icons we grew up with pass away primarily due to having reached old age. Some of the notable passings included Bill Withers, Little Richard, Peter Green, Eddie Van Halen, Spencer Davis, Neil Peart, Kenny Rogers, Helen Reddy, Bonnie Pointer, Mac Davis, Ennio Morricone, Johnny Nash, Jerry Jeff Walker and Chad Stuart (of Chad & Jeremy). Sadly, we also lost John Prine, Charley Pride and Trini Lopez due to complications from Covid-19.
As a music blogger, I receive a lot of submissions from artists, PR reps and labels wanting me to review their music. I also follow a large number of music blogs, where I learn about music, and as a result, end up listening to a tremendous amount of new music over the course of a year. That said, I know I’ve heard only a fraction of all the singles and albums released in 2020. Some of the standout albums I had the pleasure of hearing were Taylor Swift’s Folklore, Run the Jewels’ RTJ4, Fiona Apple’s Fetch the Bolt Cutters, The Killers’ Imploding the Mirage, Tame Impala’s Slow Rush, Fontaines D.C.’s A Hero’s Death, Fleet Foxes’ Shore, Two Feet’s Pink, Haim’s Women in Music Pt. III, Bryde’s The Volume of Things, Kidsmoke’s A Vision in the Dark, Surrija’s brilliant eponymous album Surrija, and MISSIO’s Can You Feel the Sun. (The albums I reviewed are highlighted in blue, and if you click on those titles it will take you to my review.)
One of my favorite music genres is Dream Pop & Rock, which seems to be undergoing a major surge in recent years. The genre was well-represented in 2020 by numerous stellar songs, including “Are You Bored Yet?” by Wallows ft. Clairo, “Can I Call You Tonight?” by Dayglow, “White Lies & Palm Trees” by The Lovepools, “Lost in Yesterday” and “Is It True” by Tame Impala, “Can I Believe You” by Fleet Foxes, “Downs” by Roadkeeper, “Fire For You” by Cannons, and the entire aforementioned album by Kidsmoke.
Obviously, my list of the Top 100 Songs of 2020 includes only songs I know. I’m certain there are likely other great ones that should be on this list, except that I’ve never heard them. Still, among the thousands of songs I did hear in 2020, there were many outstanding ones, and it frustrates me to have to cull my favorites down to only 100, omitting scores of tracks I really like and wanted to include. Furthermore, a song at #40 isn’t necessarily better than one at #60, but I had to rank them somehow.
Our music tastes are very subjective, so it’s guaranteed that not a single person reading this will agree with my song choices or their rankings. My list contains my favorite songs of the year, not necessarily songs that were ‘popular’ or influential. I’m now late middle-aged, so my song picks are going to reflect that, though I do still have my guilty pleasures.
Many bloggers and critics list songs in the year they were released, while Billboard and other charts generally place them in the year they were ‘hits,’ which is what I prefer. Many of the songs on this list were released in 2020, however, a number of them were released in 2019. Absofacto’s “Dissolve” was originally released in 2015, but didn’t chart until 2019. Because there are always a few songs that overlap from one year to the next, like Billboard, I include those songs on lists for both years if they spent enough time on the charts in each year. I always wrestle with how to rank them, as well as whether to list them in only one year or two. For example, Two Feet’s “You?” was #1 during the final week of 2019, and the first four weeks of 2020, so it would seem only fair to include it on the lists for both years. That song ranked #18 on my Top 100 of 2019, and ranks #3 on this year’s list. I suppose that at the end of the day it’s all silliness, but this is the way I choose to do it. The songs in this Top 100 that also appeared in my Top 100 Songs of 2019 are indicated with an asterisk *.
For previous years’ Top 100 lists, I wrote little pieces for each of the top 20 songs, as well as embedded their YouTube videos, then simply listed the remaining 80. That always left me feeling a little bad for those 80 songs, as it made them seem like afterthoughts, which was certainly not the case. For this year’s list, partly out of fairness, and partly to save myself huge amounts of time, effort and stress, I’ve decided to forego with the individual descriptions and videos, and simply list the entire 100 songs.
As always, I’ve created a Spotify playlist for this list, which is included at the end of the post. Hopefully you’ll find some of your own personal favorites on it. Let me know what songs were your favorites of 2020.
- BLINDING LIGHTS – The Weeknd
- LEVEL OF CONCERN – twenty øne piløts
- YOU? – Two Feet *
- CAUTION – The Killers
- HALLUCINOGENICS – Matt Maeson
- FEEL YOU – My Morning Jacket
- EVERYTHING I WANTED – Billie Eilish
- HELL N BACK – Bakar
- DON’T START NOW – Dua Lipa
- MARIA – Two Feet
- BLACK & WHITE LOVE – Beating Hearts Club
- MIGHT BE RIGHT – White Reaper *
- ARE YOU BORED YET? – Wallows featuring Clairo
- IS IT TRUE – Tame Impala
- DOWNS – Roadkeeper
- HOW WILL I REST IN PEACE IF I’M BURIED BY A HIGHWAY?// – Kenny Hoopla
- CAN I CALL YOU TONIGHT? – Dayglow
- WHITE LIES & PALM TREES – The Lovepools *
- MY OWN SOUL’S WARNING – The Killers
- IF NOT FOR THE FIRE – The Million Reasons
- IT’S YOU – The Frontier
- LOST IN YESTERDAY – Tame Impala
- MARIPOSA – Peach Tree Rascals
- CAN I BELIEVE YOU – Fleet Foxes
- MONSTERS – All Time Low featuring blackbear
- BLOODY VALENTINE – Machine Gun Kelly
- NOVOCAINE – The Unlikely Candidates *
- BLACK MADONNA – Cage the Elephant
- USED TO LIKE – Neon Trees
- WARS – Of Monsters and Men
- CARDIGAN – Taylor Swift
- ORPHANS – Coldplay
- LEMON DROP – Absofacto
- THE BEST – AWOLNATION
- DISSOLVE – Absofacto *
- HONEYBEE – The Head and the Heart
- ADORE YOU – Harry Styles
- YOUR LOVE (DÉJÀ VU) – Glass Animals
- VISITOR – Of Monsters and Men
- MOOD – 24kGoldn featuring iann dior
- DELETER – Grouplove
- PSYCH FILM – Strangely Alright
- SOMEONE ELSE – Rezz & Grabbitz
- A HERO’S DEATH – Fontaines D.C.
- DANCE OF THE CLAIRVOYANTS – Pearl Jam
- BAD DECISIONS – The Strokes
- LOVE YOU FOR A LONG TIME – Maggie Rogers
- THE RUNNER – Foals
- VIRUS – Vanity Fear
- REWARD – Paul Iwan *
- THINK I’M CRAZY – Two Feet
- SHINE A LITTLE LIGHT – Black Keys
- 2ALL – Catfish and the Bottlemen
- VAN HORN – Saint Motel
- LIFE IN THE CITY – The Lumineers
- IDENTICAL – Phoenix
- GIANTS – Dermot Kennedy
- FIRE – Black Pumas
- LAY YOUR HEAD ON ME – Major Lazer featuring Marcus Mumford & Diplo
- OH YEAH! – Green Day
- UNEVENTFUL DAYS – Beck
- COME & GO – Juice WRLD & Marshmello
- BLIND LEADING THE BLIND – Mumford & Sons
- HOODIE UP – MISSIO
- HERO – Michael Kiwanuka
- PARADISE – Creeper
- WATERMELON SUGAR – Harry Styles
- UNCHAINED – Devon Gilfillian
- EXPECTATIONS – Katie Pruitt
- FIRE FOR YOU – Cannons
- HEAVEN IS HEART – Jaded Jane
- TEXAS SUN – Khruangbin featuring Leon Bridges
- OVER AND OVER – Amongst Liars
- HONEY – King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard
- LIVING IN A GHOST TOWN – The Rolling Stones
- HOW WE LIVE – Mandalan featuring Cadence XYZ
- MY FUTURE – Billie Eilish
- STRANGERS – Mt. Joy
- NOT OK! – Chaz Cardigan
- MARINERS APARTMENT COMPLEX – Lana Del Rey
- LETTER TO YOU – Bruce Springsteen
- HOLD ON – Noah Reid
- BE AFRAID – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
- FAULT LINES – Callum Pitt
- LET’S FALL IN LOVE FOR THE NIGHT – FINNEAS
- ME & YOU TOGETHER SONG – The 1975
- HALF YOUR AGE – Joywave
- SERAFINA – BAMBARA
- COLORS – Black Pumas
- THE LET GO – Elle King
- SWIMMING CLOSER – HAZY
- REAL LONG TIME – White Reaper
- NOTHING LOVE – Surrija, Albert Chiang, Christine Tavolacci & Matt Chamberlain
- MAN ON THE MOON – The Common View
- ALONE – The Rare Occasions
- RAINBOW RECORDS – Oceanography
- BURN THE VISION – Amongst Liars
- ZEN – X Ambassadors, K.Flay & grandson
- ROSE TINTED EYES – Seprona
- SKIN – The Ocean Beneath & Fran Minney
Oh well maybe next year lol.
Thanks so much for the reviews this year. We really appreciate it. Happy New Year.
On Tue, Dec 29, 2020 at 5:25 PM ECLECTIC MUSIC LOVER wrote:
> EclecticMusicLover posted: ” It goes without saying that 2020 turned out > to be a year for the record books on so many levels. It started out well > enough, but quickly went to hell beginning in March as the Covid-19 virus > spread throughout the world, causing a global pandemic that” >
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Happy New Year to you all!
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Wow what a list!!
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Thanks!
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That is an extensive list. Surprisingly, I do know a fair amount, but most I have never even heard, but I will take you word for it. 🙂
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Great list, well done. One of my top songs of 2020 is Hostages by the Howl and the Hum. I’ll share it as tomorrow’s song on my blog… That way you don’t have to go on a quest to find it yourself. You will like it; it could be put in a box with The Killers, I think.
As always, thank you for the work and all the music. I wish you a happy new year, with lots of good music and many great conversations. xx
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Thank you Cathy. There’s just so much good music, and like I stated, I’m sure there are some stellar songs that belong on my list, except I’m not aware of them! I added a handful of songs after learning about them from other blogs I follow.
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There are so many songs I would not have heard without you. It’s amazing. Good music is not hard to find these days, and yet, it is.
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Happy New Year Jeff! Wishing you good health and good cheer in the coming year!
Thank you for all the great tips on new music and even some not so new music that I have never heard of before.
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Happy New Year to you too Michelle! Glad you like some of the music I share.
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How would you rank the singles this year compared to years in the past ten- If I recall correctly you have said 2014- or was it 2015 was an exceptional year for music.
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Overall, I think 2020 was a pretty good year for music, and somewhat better than 2019. To me, the years 2013-2018 were all exceptional years. Looking over the entire ‘rock era’ – generally defined as having begun in 1955 – I think the greatest years for music were 1965-72, followed by 1980-87 and then 2013-18. My least-favorite period was 1992-2005, though there was certainly some good music produced during those years. I was just not a big fan of a lot of the grunge, hip hop and rap of those years.
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I would agree with you on the 1992-2005 era… the great eras i agree but don’t know enough about the music of 2013-2018 to say one way or another.
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I listened to the top 5…I liked them but the one that really stood out was #5 Hallucinogenics by Matt Maeson…I really like that.
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It’s a great song.
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