100 Blood Orange – “You’re Not Good Enough”
99 Marnie Stern – “Year Of The Glad”
98 WAVVES – “Demon To Lean On”
97 No Joy – “Hare Tarot Lies”
96 Smith Westerns – “3AM Spiritual”
95 Akron/Family – “No-Room”
94 Chance the Rapper – “Paranoia”
93 My Bloody Valentine – “Only Tomorrow”
92 Jeremih & Shlohmo – “Boo Peep (Do U Right)”
91 Deafheaven – “Dreamhouse”

90 Cut Copy – “Let Me Show You Love”
89 Foals – “Inhaler”
88 Mount Kimbie – “Made To Stray”
87 Miley Cyrus – “Wrecking Ball”
86 Baths – “Worsening”
85 London Grammar – “Nightcall”
84 Annie – “Invisible”
83 Kurt Vile – “Wakin’ On A Pretty Daze”
82 Omar Souleyman – “Wenu Wenu”
81 Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Sacrilege”

80 A$AP Rocky – “****in’ Problems”
79 Unknown Mortal Orchestra – “So Good At Being In Trouble”
78 BANKS – “Waiting Game”
77 Majical Cloudz – “Childhood’s End”
76 Autre Ne Veut – “A Lie”
75 Young Galaxy – “New Summer”
74 **** Buttons – “The Red Wing”
73 Janelle Monae – “Dance Apocalyptic”
72 Grizzly Bear – “Will Calls”
71 WET – “You’re The Best”

70 Toro y Moi - “Rose Quartz”
69 The National – “Sea of Love”
68 Waxahatchee – “Dixie Cups and Jars”
67 TV on the Radio – “Mercy”
66 The Weeknd – “Belong To The World”
65 Disclosure – “Latch” featuring Sam Smith
64 Neko Case – “Night Still Comes”
63 Earl Sweatshirt – “Hive” featuring Vince Staples and Casey Veggies
62 Glass Candy – “Warm In The Winter”
61 Postiljonen – “Supreme”

60 Jai Paul – “All Night”
59 Youth Lagoon – “Mute”
58 Angel Olsen – “Sweet Dreams”
57 Foxygen – “No Destruction”
56 Arctic Monkeys – “Do I Wanna Know?”
55 Mikky Ekko – “Kids”
54 Daft Punk – “Doin’ It Right” featuring Panda Bear
53 Haerts – “Wings”
52 The National – “Pink Rabbits”
51 CHVRCHES – “Recover”

50 MØ – “Never Wanna Know”
49 M.I.A. – “Come Walk With Me”
48 Blood Orange – “Chamakay”
47 Youth Lagoon – “Dropla”
46 Pusha T – “Numbers On The Board”
45 Danny Brown – “Lonely”
44 Merchandise – “Anxiety’s Door”
43 The Knife – “A Tooth For An Eye”
42 Arcade Fire – “Reflektor”
41 King Krule – “Easy Easy”

40 FKA twigs – “Ultraviolet”
39 Rhye – “Open”
38 James Blake – “Retrograde”
37 Lorde – “Royals”
36 Mariah Carey – “#Beautiful” featuring Miguel
35 Volcano Choir - “Byegone”
34 Autre Ne Veut - “Counting”
33 iceage – “Ecstasy”
32 Baths – “Phaedra”
31 Savages – “Shut Up”

30 HAIM – “The Wire”
29 Janelle Monae – “Primetime” featuring Miguel
28 Vampire Weekend – “Diane Young”
27 Robin Thicke – “Blurred Lines” featuring Pharrell and T.I.
26 Foxygen – “San Francisco”
25 Torres – “Honey”
24 Big Sean – “Control” featuring Kendrick Lamar and Jay Electronica
23 Laura Marling – “Master Hunter”
22 Drake – “Hold On, We’re Going Home”
21 Kanye West – “Black Skinhead”

Lady Gaga treads a thin line: she’s made a career out of being weird, but she can’t risk actually alienating her listeners. When we’re all expecting something crazy, how could she throw a genuine curveball and still satisfy the demands of pop radio? Cue “Do What U Want,” effective proof that raising the stakes doesn’t always require raising the volume. Over, under, and in between a sinister synthetic throb close enough to Italo disco that no one would blink if Johnny Jewel’s name appeared in the credits, Gaga and guest R. Kelly offer up a disorienting combination of come-on and ****-off (“You can’t stop my voice because you don’t own my life, but do what you want with my body, world!”). “Do What U Want” doesn’t have a characteristically bonkers video (yet), but when the two vocalists performed it on SNL in November, the choreography was a lot like the song: blatantly erotic, strikingly raw, a little awkward, and, in its own special way, totally *******. [ST]

Mike Will Made-It’s breakout hit this year was Miley Cyrus’s inescapable “We Can’t Stop,” but his masterpiece was surely “Body Party.” The rising producer reimagines Ghost Town DJ’s’ classic “My Boo” as a sex jam that’s simultaneously ethereal and refreshingly tactile. But while Mike Will Made-It and co-writer Future are undoubtedly responsible for much of what makes “Body Party” great, the majority of the praise rightfully goes to Ciara, whose delivery is a master class in the tense interplay between restraint and release, play and gravity, as she expands and contracts her vocal presence nimbly around the production’s many contortions. Best of all, she manages to absolutely sell lyrics that range from silly metaphors to frank bedroom directives. No post-Weeknd nihilism here; in Ciara’s capable hands, “Baby, put your phone down, you should turn it off” isn’t just a hot line, it’s an announcement that “Body Party” is meant as a throwback to the great R&B slow jams of yore, and it’s true. [ST]

After a seven-year hiatus – which lasted longer than your average pop star’s full shelf life – Justin Timberlake returned to music early in 2013 and then opened the floodgates. His ambitious 20/20 Experience project produced two sprawling albums: a humongous smash, followed by a satisfying, if less commercially appealing, return to form. Having crisscrossed America as Jay Z’s sidekick on a blockbuster tour, JT is now readying to single-handedly conquer global arenas in 2014. Cash receipts aside, this feast after famine has been of mixed overall quality, yielding but a single, unimpeachable delicacy – the mid-tempo showstopper “Mirrors.” As a solo artist, Timberlake is best known as the blue-eyed conduit for his beloved R&B and soul influences. He instead follows Bon Iver’s lead on “Mirrors” and gives us schmaltz, straight up, in the style of Peter Cetera (Timbaland’s beatboxing notwithstanding). This gambit, so cringe-worthy on paper, pays off with resplendent results. As a bonus, the song comes with a subversive twist. Delivered like a future wedding standard, “Mirrors” is in fact an anthem of self-love. Timberlake’s words of praise and devotion, directed at his lover, ultimately bounce right back to their source. He closes “Mirrors” by reciting a mantra into the song’s namesake: “You are, you are the love of my life.” On second thought, this may just be a perfect wedding ballad, custom made for Kimye’s first dance. [PT]

Instant classics arrive with a built-in flaw. We soon take them for granted, by definition, as if they’ve existed forever. And yet I reach back with little difficulty to that April night when Daft Punk’s first single in years debuted on iTunes. After an hour or so of bouncing around the living room like a sugar-addled toddler – or, more accurately, like the village idiot – I dashed upstairs and shook my boyfriend awake. With a big, dumb smile, I played “Get Lucky” on repeat through our bedroom speakers and breathlessly rhapsodized about the triumphant return of both Daft Punk and the dominant pop genre of the 1970s. He patted my head, kissed my cheek, and returned to sleep. America took notice however. The French duo nearly topped Billboard’s Hot 100 chart for five consecutive weeks (a milestone left unrealized thanks to Alan Thicke’s son). “Get Lucky” reached cultural ubiquity without the aid of an accompanying viral video (though celebrity fans supplied a few of their own) by featuring the year’s earworm-iest hook, a career-reinvigorating vocal by Pharrell, and Nile Rodgers’ best fretwork since his work with Madonna. And so, two robots conquered the Earth the old fashioned way: with four brilliant minutes of disco. [PT]

It started with a projector. Sixty-six projectors, to be precise. Kanye West, lying uncharacteristically low since Watch The Throne, broadcasts his face on buildings all around the world. He’s stolid and dead-eyed, unflinching and uncomfortably close, silently demanding our full attention, reciting what sounds oddly like commercial suicide. If the spectacle wasn’t enough, then there’s always the accompaniment. Not hip-hop in any conventional sense of the word, “New Slaves” is all about shedding skin, and with it, expectation. Whether he’s always fully aware of it or not, Kanye is a man of contradiction, and he may well be the only one who can get away with lambasting the 1% while also glorifying the privileges that come with being a member of the world’s most hated club. For our consideration, he submits his thoughts on civil rights, consumerism, for-profit prisons, and his preferences for metaphorical sex acts, while noxious synths fire off in anger. A series of unmusical events is followed by an auspiciously melodic sample from Hungarian rock act Omega, which may warrant inclusion on this list entirely on its own. With “New Slaves”, Kanye provided a correct answer to the question: How do you follow up your (and possibly your entire genre’s) magnum opus? [BF]

Why do people like Autre Ne Veut? I don't get it.

28 Vampire Weekend – “Diane Young” 14 Vampire Weekend – “Hannah Hunt” 05 Vampire Weekend – “Ya Hey”

Originally posted by Kang. And is Body Party c's most acclaimed track ever?

AMAZING #1! “Song For Zula”, "Mirrors" and "Do What U Want" Top 10!

"Is This How You Feel?" and “Str8 Outta Mumbai” right next to each other and God KNOWS those are two of the year's best pop songs. Two Foxygen, Disclosure, Youth Lagoon and Arcade Fire songs. Even mentions to "Hannah Hunt", “The Red Wing”, “Hare Tarot Lies”, "Invisible", "Only Tomorrow", “So Good At Being In Trouble” and "Sacrilege". Damn this list is freaking great!

But again, the snubbing of the flourishing wave of stunning electronic/experimental songs this year is quite sad, with only **** Buttons representing.

#Beautiful at 36