The 2020 end of year music lists thread

i'll have to figure out which of the million great sun-el-adjacent sa deep house tracks to heavily campaign for

I’d be open to make this years poll a top 100 for tracks instead of the usual top 77 given how diverse it could get.

nah 77 is fine, if anything the diversity means we'll have a spectacular 77

the important thing is to start the nominations thread asap ;)

SALEM at the #1 spot for gvb makes me lol but there’s at least 5 songs in that top 20 that I think I would consider in my own top 20.

Oddly enough there’s not a song in NPR’s top 20 which I’d consider (or even heard) and I found myself agreeing with most of their top albums list.

Still not a bad list I guess

These 5 are also top 20 2020 for me:

02 SAULT | Wildfires
04 070 SHAKE | Guilty Conscience
12 BULLION | We Had a Good Time
14 OKLOU | Entertnmnt
17 WESTERMAN | Blue Comanche

I expected way more love for Haim and Ariana Grande at this EOY lists.

If memory serves, there was never much of a 🎈 consensus on this side of the pond.

We got a whole month and a whole bunch more music left to come out!

the ilx eoy track list is wide open, which means there will be 3 sault tracks and 4 tracks by the 1975

oh god the purple mountains thing is gonna happen with fiona apple isn't it, except with like 8 tracks instead of 5

Also like 3 Taylor Swift tracks which I will never understand the appeal of.

Xpost: every list posted so far seems to pick different Fiona Apple songs so you might be right.

actually no, folx, this is your selection for this year:

🇳🇬 NAIJA SPECIAL: which of these *seven* current high-profile Nigerian hit songs is the best one? please help me decide

oh the nominations thread is usually started in mid-december

there are about 2 songs i like on the FA album, expecting neither to be among the 8 ofc

breastcrawl ur a traitor to southern africa

i am definitely voting for one of those songs, i'll you be surprised on which one (or you could, uh, read the thread)

xp

I expected way more love for Haim and Ariana Grande at this EOY lists.

one thing at a time, imago

also, I’m not South African

what is the jessie ware song i am supposed to stan for this year anyways? I am torn.

yes ur dutch iirc, just observing ur usual musical loyalties :)

breastcrawl is very "all-inclusive" when it comes to the realm of contemporary african music

I’m now hearing Jessie Ware doing a cover of “Torn” and Simmy interpolating it in one of her songs, both at the same time. Time to go to bed.

public service announcement: the new Sun-El album is out 37 minutes from now!

I see tracks by Roisin Murphy, Jessie Ware, Christine and the Queens, Master KG, Victoria Monet, Jorja Smith, Rina Sawayama and Azana that could do well. Not speaking of Charli MMXX or Dua Lipa. And there's lots more: Klo Pelgag, Liturgy, Wizkid, Rema, Tiwa Savage, Lianne La Havas, Kali Uchis, Masego.

klô pelgag absolutely, so long as we all choose correctly

I was gonna be uncomplicated and propose Rémora

nah. and so we sail into votesplit city lol

(a l'ombre des cypres, imo. would also be one of hopefully multiple appearances in the 77 for a certain wearer of goon ties)

have listened to those NAIJA songs and am handing my belated vote to Fireboy DML fyi

We should have done (or do) a South African version of that poll with
John Vuli Gate
Emcimbini
Jerusalema
SBWL
Emakhaya
Your Love
Uhuru

i think it's possible "delete forever" could win the tracks poll

'Violence' is the only Miss Anthropocene track I unambiguously liked.

i just wanna stay
in the moonlight this is our time
in the spotlight

i think it's possible "delete forever" could win the tracks poll

― monotony

I like it but I’d be terribly disappointed if that’s the winner.

Top 50 RYM singles (not to be confused with tracks, obv.):

https://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/single/2020

Mmm 3 Jessie Ware singles in the top 10. Wont complain.

Too much love for clipping on both the singles and albums charts. What’s that about? Is that a fantano thing or something? I don’t think I’ve seen anyone excited about that one elsewhere.

lol wait till DJP gets here.

will def vote for one of the clipping singles

I like the clipping. record

in fact, the one that's at #5 in the RYM singles chart. it's...genuinely incredible

hi moka

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/19/arts/music/clipping-daveed-diggs-chapter-319.html

Different initials, must be some other guy.

Hi!

Ok ok I’ll check them out. They sound good enough on paper.

going through the gvb songs playlist and wow "volcano" by eartheater is great

also nabozo please make that poll!

Don't think Jhene Aiko's showed up on any of these lists. I really love that album.

Some people think her songwriting's too ethereal, I think that airy dreaminess is a strength, but regardless, the album is her best-selling yet, relatively late in her career she's found a new popular peak, while doing her own thing, against trend, so she's unique enough and I think it's weird that she's totally ignored in this setting.

also nabozo please make that poll!

The New York Times jazz list:

1. Immanuel Wilkins - Omega
2. Jyoti - Mama, You Can Bet!
3. Charles Lloyd - 8: Kindred Spirits
4. Asher Gamedze - Dialectic Soul
5. Exploding Star Orchestra - Dimensional Stardust
6. Nduduzo Makhathini - Modes of Communication: Letters From the Underworlds
7. Keith Jarrett - Budapest Concert
8. Susan Alcorn - Pedernal
9. Sun Ra Arkestra - Swirling
10. Webber/Morris Big Band - Both are True

The Slate jazz list:

1. Ron Miles - Rainbow Sign
2. Charles Lloyd - 8: Kindred Spirits
3. Jimmy Heath - Love Letter
4. Maria Schneider - Data Lords
5. Aaron Diehl - The Vagabond
6. Ran Blake and Christine Correa - When Soft Rains Fall
7. Ben Perowsky - Upstream
8. Matthew Shipp Trio - The Unidentifiable
9. Raphaël Pannier Quartet - Faune
10. Fred Hersch - Songs From Home

Each of these lists contains at least one album that's on my own year-end list, which will be up at Stereogum next week. But there's also a lot of stuff on both that's...fine, but hardly the best music of the year. (The Sun Ra album is a curiosity, the Charles Lloyd is as dull as 95% of his work, I don't even think the Jyoti album is jazz, and I will never understand why critics like Fred Hersch — or Keith Jarrett — as much as they do.)

xps eartheater is incredible
well worth checking irisiri from a couple of years back if you haven't