You've got a hold of me
Don't even know your power
"Mercy," by Shawn 'Daddy' Mendes, is his best song yet. From its hummed intro to the underlaying piano to the layered vocals on the title word at the end of each chorus, "Mercy" exemplifies pop made perfect. The bridge adds even more momentum to the song before it launches into the final chorus.
2015: Adele - Hello
2014: Beyoncé - Partition
9. Leonard Cohen
YOU WANT IT DARKER
Vilified, crucified in the human frame
The title track of Leonard Cohen's final album, "You Want It Darker" was written and produced by the man who helped Madonna deliver "Like A Prayer" to the world, and it certainly feels like Patrick Leonard tapped into the same divine power here. Though its production is reminiscent of "Like A Prayer," its lyrics couldn't be much further from Madonna's blasphemous titillation. "You Want It Darker" seems almost more like a poem than a song, and its subject matter is quite serious. Deadly serious, in fact, as the song is about Cohen's willing acceptance of his pending death.
2015: Hailee Steinfeld - Love Myself
2014: Coldplay - Magic
8. Taylor Swift
NEW ROMANTICS
The best people in life are free
Put simply, Taylor Swift's "New Romantics" was brought into this world meant to become the definitive anthem of an entire generation. Had it been the lead single from 1989—or even the second or third single—it would have accomplished its destiny. Unfortunately, fate is cruel and the Lord is wicked. Releasing "New Romantics" as the seventh and final single from a quite long and ridiculously omnipresent album campaign doomed it to flop. Now, all that remains is the unrealized promise of what could have been and what will never be. It's alright, though, because it still won the popular vote!
2015: Adam Lambert - Ghost Town
2014: Lorde - Yellow Flicker Beat
7. Josef Salvat
PARADISE
Forgetting gets easy where the milk and honey run
Josef Salvat wrote "Paradise" singlehandedly, proving that the breakout Aussie artist is an extremely gifted and capable musician. The imagery invoked in the lyrics, the utterly thrilling explosion of a chorus, the utterly unadulterated bombastic nature of the song is simply exquisite. The song succeeds in evoking a paradisiacal, blissful tone, and yet it feels as though there's something dark bubbling just beneath the surface.
2015: Troye Sivan - Wild
2014: Sam Smith - Stay With Me
6. Alicia Keys
IN COMMON
If you could love somebody like me you must be messed up too
Alicia Keys seems unrecognizable from the "Girl on Fire" of recent memory as she sings in a hushed, sultry voice over an ambitious production that masterfully blends dancehall, tropical, latin, afrojack, and electronic music to produce something outstanding. At first glance, "In Common" seems to be a song about a one night stand, but a closer look reveals that the song actually tackles a far more dysfunctional relationship. It's generally a good thing to have something in common with another person when pursuing a relationship with them, but "In Common"—rather like this year's quirky indie film The Lobster—flips this narrative. The song makes one wonder if it's possible to have too much in common with someone, and if that could form the basis of a relationship that doesn't work as well as it should.
2015: Brandon Flowers - Can't Deny My Love
2014: Ingrid Michaelson - Afterlife
5. Kelly Clarkson
PIECE BY PIECE
Piece by piece he'll restore my faith
That a man can be kind
And a father should be great
I had never heard "Piece By Piece" before Kelly Clarkson's show-stopping American Idol appearance, a performance so emotionally raw that re-watching it still makes me cry nearly a year later. I may have spent the past year listening to the less devastating original recording, but I think that both versions of the song are remarkable. There's this old cliche that "we marry our parents," but Clarkson easily and effectively outlines the differences between her lowlife father and her wonderful husband, making "Piece By Piece" an amazing, heart-wrenching, and perfectly-written song about breaking the cycle of unhealthy relationships.
2015: Years & Years - King
2014: Paramore - Ain't It Fun
4. Andra Day
RISE UP
We'll rise up, in spite of the ache
Like many others, I first came across Andra Day when she performed her breakthrough single "Rise Up" at the Grammys in a medley with Ellie Goulding's "Love Me Like You Do." The song quickly became a favorite of mine, and its use as a Hillary Clinton campaign song only further secured its place in my heart. In the aftermath of Clinton's soul-crushing loss, "Rise Up" only became more poignant. In fact, I chose this song as my first song of 2017 in honor of the fact that the time has come for us to rise up and do our part to mitigate the unsurmountable damage that the incoming administration will undoubtedly cause.
2015: Borns - Electric Love
2014: Bleachers - I Wanna Get Better
3. Taylor Swift
OUT OF THE WOODS
The monsters turned out to be just trees
2016 began with Taylor Swift debuting the music video for "Out of the Woods," long my favorite song from 1989. In fact, "Out of the Woods" is not only my second most played song of all time, but it is also my second most played song of 2014, 2015, and 2016. Swift struck gold by teaming up with Jack Antonoff, imbuing this song's repetitive chorus with a sense of intensity and urgency. I could honestly go on and on about this masterpiece, but I don't think any of y'all even read these things. Anyways, this is the third year in a row that Swift has placed a single in the top 5 (and two in the top 10).
2015: Taylor Swift - Style
2014: Sam Smith - Latch
2. Solange
CRANES IN THE SKY
Thought if I was alone then maybe I could recover
Eight years in the making, the airy "Cranes in the Sky" is an astounding meditation on attempting to alleviate one's depression by any means necessary. It's title instantly evokes the image of cranes flying through the sky, an illusion of flight and freedom. It's a delicate image; one made all the more delicate by the fact that Solange is actually singing about the construction cranes that loom over skylines and tear buildings to the ground. Depression has never sounded nearly this beautiful.
2015: Madonna - Ghosttown
2014: Taylor Swift - Blank Space
1. David Bowie
LAZARUS
This way, or no way
You know I'll be free
Just like that bluebird
David Bowie is no stranger to the top of this list, considering that "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)" took the top spot back in 2013. "Lazarus" was the final single David Bowie released in his lifetime, with a music video dropping just two days before his death. Considering the song's subject matter, one could consider it Bowie's greatest act of performance art that his death coincided with this song's release.
The songwriting here is fairly modest in comparison to a song like "Blackstar."
For starters, both verses begin with the command, "look up here," as though Bowie is singing to us directly from the afterlife. The line "dropped my cell phone down below" sticks out for its use of such a modern technology, but it can be read as both Bowie leaving behind the modern world to ascend to the eternal world and as a reminder that he is now beyond our reach. Finally, he invokes the image of the bluebird—a common symbol of happiness and freedom—to suggest that he will soon be free of the pain and suffering of his mortal form.
"Lazarus" is a swan song worth dying for.
2015: Taylor Swift - Wildest Dreams
2014: Taylor Swift - Shake It Off
Really nice top 2
I think David Bowie does weird artsy long songs well sometimes but what he does best is a song with a Pop forrmula, so Lazarus > Blackstar.
Mercy is one of his better songs.
I still need to check out that Leonard album.
New Romantics and Out Of The Woods are some of Taylor's best.
In Common is really great!
Piece by Piece one of her best written songs.
Rise Up is really good. Need to get into her more..
Lazarus just hits me like a semi-truck.
one of her best written songs.
New Romantics 
Out of the Woods 
