The 100 Best Songs of 2009

It is probably not a good sign for the music business that the biggest song of the year was released back in 1969. But for some reason, three artists all used Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye by Steam in their songs. Wale started out ’09 sampling it for Chillin’. Then Kristinia DeBarge used it as the chorus for her debut song, the aptly titled Goodbye. Then Jay-Z tried to kill off Auto-Tune with the help of the famous cadence. Despite the overuse of cheesy sports anthems, 2009 was actually a great year for good music (on the flip side, it wasn’t much of a good year for great music) as this was the largest pool of songs, 250 (shoot me an e-mail if you want the full list, I'll send you my speadsheet), which I had to cut down for my Top 100. And here they are and I hope to see everyone back in 2010 (check the bottom of the post for samples of the songs on the Amazon MP3 widget):

1. Use Somebody - Kings of Leon

2. Make Her Say - Kid Cudi, Kanye West, and Common

3. I and Love and You - The Avett Brothers

4. Run This Town - Jay-Z featuring Rihanna & Kanye West

5. You And Me - Dave Matthews Band

6. Sugarfoot - Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears

7. Grapevine Fires - Death Cab for Cutie

8. Funny The Way It Is - Dave Matthews Band

9. Cowboy Casanova - Carrie Underwood

10. Magick - Ryan Adams & the Cardinals

11. Nothing but a Miracle - Diane Birch

12. Pony (It's OK) - Erin McCarley

13. Too Many Rappers - Beastie Boys featuring Nas

14. Who Says - John Mayer

15. You Belong With Me - Taylor Swift

16. Staying in Love - Raphael Saadiq

17. Geraldine - Glasvegas

18. A Dustland Fairytale - The Killers

19. Mykonos - Fleet Foxes

20. Even If It Breaks Your Heart - Will Hoge

21. People C'mon - Delta Spirit

22. Notion - Kings of Leon

23. Chillin' - Wale featuring Lady Gaga

24. Melody - Kate Earl

25. I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight - U2

26. Fugitive - David Gray

27. Percussion Gun - White Rabbits

28. Chasing Pirates - Norah Jones

29. Under My Bed - Meiko

30. Red Light - David Nail

31. (If You're Wondering if I Want You To) I Want You To - Weezer

32. The Fixer - Pearl Jam

33. Fitz and the Dizzyspells - Andrew Bird

34. Wild at Heart - Gloriana

35. 100 Yard Dash - Raphael Saadiq

36. Heartless - The Fray

37. I Could Break Your Heart Any Day of the Week - Mandy Moore

38. Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart - Alicia Keys

39. Just Breathe - Pearl Jam

40. Doesn't Mean Anything - Alicia Keys

41. Gravity - Sara Bareilles

42. Love, Save the Empty - Erin McCarley

43. I Love College - Asher Roth

44. Fire Escape - Diane Birch

45. People Got a Lotta Nerve - Neko Case

46. I Like You so Much Better When You're Naked - Ida Maria

47. Empire State of Mind - Jay-Z featuring Alicia Keys

48. The One - Slaughterhouse

49. Furr - Blitzen Trapper

50. The Fear - Lily Allen

51. A Whole Lot Better - Brendan Benson

52. Everybody Knows - John Legend

53. Laughing With - Regina Spektor

54. Beyond Here Lies Nothin' - Bob Dylan

55. Just Ain't Gonna Work Out - Mayer Hawthorne

56. Little Bribes - Death Cab for Cutie

57. Sometime Around Midnight - The Airborne Toxic Event

58. New in Town - Little Boots

59. Goodnight, Travel Well - The Killers

60. Brick by Boring Brick - Paramore

61. Sky - Joshua Radin featuring Meiko

62. I Wanna Rock - Snoop Dogg

63. Hometown Glory - Adele

64. Shining Down - Lupe Fiasco featuring Matthews Santos

65. Bang Bang - K'naan featuring Adam Levine

66. 1901 - Phoenix

67. Chocolate Box - Prince featuring Q-Tip

68. If Rap Gets Jealous - K'naan featuring Kirk Hammett

69. Kinda Like a Big Deal - Clipse featuring Kanye West

70. White Horse - Taylor Swift

71. Radio Radio - Brooke White

72. The Man Who Can't Be Moved - The Script

73. Oscar Wilde - Company of Thieves

74. Swim - Jack's Mannequin

75. Nothing to Worry About - Peter Bjorn and John

76. Show Me What I'm Looking For - Carolina Liar

77. Who'd Have Known - Lily Allen

78. A-Yo - Method Man & Redman featuring Saukrates

79. Wavin' Flag - K'naan

80. Life Is Better - Q-Tip featuring Norah Jones

81. Barely in Love - Q-Tip

82. Fly One Time - Ben Harper and Relentless7

83. Why I Am - Dave Matthews Band

84. Daddy's Gone - Glasvegas

85. Crawl - Kings of Leon

86. Uprising - Muse

87. Don't Forget - Demi Lovato

88. Bulletproof - La Roux

89. On Vacation - Aimee Allen

90. Fireflies - Owl City

91. Just Say Yes - Snow Patrol

92. East Jesus Nowhere - Green Day

93. How I Got Over - The Roots

94. I'm Broke - Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears

95. Wonderful - Gary Go

96. D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune) - Jay-Z

97. That's Not My Name - The Ting Tings

98. Love Letter to Japan - The Bird and the Bee

99. Get On Your Boots - U2

100. Let's Take a Walk - Raphael Saadiq

The 9th Green’s Readers Favorite Songs of 2009

Today is the one day of the year I turn the 9th Green over to you the readers. I have collected your top ten lists, powered up Microsoft Excel, plugged them in, and here is the list that it spit back out to me. If you don’t agree with this list, you should have sent in you on list and I hope you do so next year. For the list of my 100 favorite songs of 2009, check back tomorrow (a little warning, it may be late as I just started working on it last night and I get a little obsessive compulsive with these lists). So thanks to everyone who did submit their list and hope to see you back here in 2010, here is your list of the best songs of 2009:

1. 1901 - Phoenix

2. Just Breathe - Pearl Jam

3. Bulletproof - La Roux

4. Run This Town - Jay-Z featuring Rihanna and Kanye West

5. Daniel - Bat for Lashes

6. Heads Will Roll - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

7. No Sound but the Wind (New Moon Version) - Editors

8. Empire State of Mind - Jay-Z featuring Alicia Keys

9. World So Cold - Three Day Grace

10. Fireflies - Owl City

11. Half of My Heart - John Mayer with Taylor Swift

12. Swim - Jack's Mannequin

13. Houses - Great Northern

14. Impossible - Daniel Merriweather

15. New Divide - Linkin Park

16. Heartless - The Fray

17. Supernova - Mr. Hudson featuring Kanye West

18. Use Somebody - Kings of Leon

19. I and Love and You - The Avett Brothers

20. Help I'm Alive - Metric

21. The Debtor - Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson

22. You Belong with Me - Taylor Swift

23. Poker Face - Lady Gaga

24. House of Flying Daggers - Raekwon featuring Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, and Method Man

25. Day n Night - Kid Cudi

Lyrics Quiz: Best Songs of 1999

Every since I decided that the January Lyrics Quiz was going to be the ten anniversary o my best of that year list I have dreaded the 1999 list because it is pretty embarrassing as someone that is called a musical snob. In my defense, 1999 was the worst year in music ever in the history of the world. In fact a couple months ago when I did my Guilty Pleasures Lyrics Quiz, I could have well been a 1999-only list. Basically everything was teen pop, Latin pop, and frat rap-rock. But for prosperity sake, here is the list I created back in 1999. As always leave your guesses, both artist and song title, in the comment section or e-mail me. If you are correct I will un-bold the lyric. Please keep in mind the lyrics quiz is for entertainment purposes only so please only use your own meandering mind to guess them. Now onto the lyric quiz:


1. Hormones pumping at the speed of light but that don’t mean it’s got to be tonight, baby, baby, baby. (Genie in a Bottle - Christina Aguilera; guessed by Rebekah)
2. Just close your eyes and I’ll take you there. This place is warm without a care. We’ll take a swim in the deep blue sea. I go to leave but you reach for me. (Someday - Sugar Ray; guessed by Rebekah)
3. Since the last time you heard from me I lost some friends, well, (expletive deleted), me and (Name Deleted), we dipping again. (Still D.R.E. - Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg; guessed by Angie)
4. Don’t come hanging around my door. I don’t wanna see your face no more. I don’t need your war machines. I don’t need your ghetto scenes. (American Woman - Lenny Kravitz; guessed by Rebekah)
5. It’s undeniable that we should be together. Unbelievable how I used to say that I’d fall never. (Back at One - Brian McKnight; guessed by Rebekah)
6. Man it’s a hot one, like seven inches from the midday sun. (Smooth - Santana featuring Rob Thomas; guessed by Rebekah)
7. She was looking kind of dumb with finger and her thumb in a shape of an “L” on her forehead. (All Star - Smash Mouth; guessed by Rebekah)
8. Getting back to my MC status, other willie that I kick make the other (expletive deleted) maddest. Moving through your town and situation. Shorty thought she subtle but she was really was blatant. (Vivrant Thing - Q-Tip; guessed by Big Wood)
9. Fell deep in love but now we ain’t speaking. Michael J. Fox was Alex P. Keaton. (Summer Girls - LFO; guessed by Angie)
10. You can buy your hair if it won’t grow. You fix your nose if he says so. You can buy all the make-up that man can make. (Unpretty - TLC; guessed by Angie)
11. We stay all day getting sober just hiding from daylight, watching TV. We just look a lot better in the blue light. You know I got to get out. (Hangin' Around - Counting Crows; guessed by Angie)
12. That was about the time she walked away from me. Nobody likes you when you’re 23. (What's My Age Again? - Blink-182; guessed by Rebekah)
13. Let’s go see the stars, the Milky Way or even Mars. Where they’d just be ours. (Fly Away - Lenny Kravitz; guessed by Angie)
14. We knew from the start that things fall apart. Intenses shatter, she’s like that (expletive deleted) don’t matter when I get home get at her.
15. It has to somewhere, it has to start sometime. What better place than here, what better time now? All (expletive deleted), can’t stop us now. (Guerilla Radio - Rage Against the Machine; guessed by Big Wood)
16. I can’t figure out which Spice Girl I wanna impregnate. (My Name Is - Eminem; guessed by Angie)
17. Lift up your open hand. Strike up the band and make the fireflies dance, silver moon sparkling. (Kiss Me - Sixpence None the Richer; guessed by Rebekah)
18. It’s on me, if you’re married then get a divorce. (Holla Holla - Ja Rule; guessed by Big Wood)
19. Don’t love the life you kill? The priest is on the phone, you father hit the wall, your mom disowned you. (Slide - The Goo Goo Dolls; guessed by Rebekah)
20. Sometime I feel that I am drunk behind the wheel, the wheel of possibility, however it may roll. (Out of My Head - Fastball; guessed by Angie)
21. I don’t know when I got bitter but love is surely better when it’s gone. (You Wanted More - Tonic; guessed by Angie)
22. Soon I spend every dollar. You became my habit. Other brother’s vive was smoke, mine was carrots.
23. So what can I do I really thank you my lord? To me flirting is just like a sport. (Mambo No. 5 - Lou Bega; guessed by Angie)
24. Cruising in his Pinto he see homies as he pass but if he looks twice they’re gonna kick his lily (expletive deleted). (Pretty Fly (For a White Guy) - The Offspring; guessed by Angie)
25. She wanna pillow fight in the middle of the night. She wanna drive the Benz with five of her friends. (Heartbreaker - Mariah Carey featuring Jay-Z; guessed by Big Wood)

100 Best Songs of 2008

Much apologies for being late on this but it does come before the end of the year. And even a day late, this may not be the definitive list that makes up the playlist on my iPod. To pull back the curtain of the 9th Green, typically I have two or three (or ten) drafts of the best songs of the tear before I am content with the results. I doubt I will ever change this post but maybe sometime in the New Year I will make a playlist somewhere for you to listen the songs and post that here. Until then feel free to dissect this list (and if you want to how all 189 potential songs actually ranked, shout me a holla and I will e - mail you my spreadsheet) and hope to see you all back at the 9th Green in 2009 when I have some major projects planned throughout next year.

1. I’m Yours - Jason Mraz

2. Paper Planes - M.I.A.

3. Shine - Anna Nalick

4. Who’s Gonna Save My Soul - Gnarls Barkley

5. Cath... - Death Cab For Cutie

6. Where I Stood - Missy Higgins

7. Lost! - Coldplay

8. Come on Get Higher - Matt Nathanson

9. Hope - Jack Johnson

10. Strange Times - The Black Keys

11. Love Story - Taylor Swift

12. Going On - Gnarls Barkley

13. Free Fallin’ - John Mayer

14. Fix It - Ryan Adams and the Cardinals

15. Love is Noise - The Verve

16. Viva la Vida - Coldplay

17. More Time - Needtobreathe

18. Amen - Kid Rock

19. Always a Friend - Alejandro Escovedo

20. Bottle it Up - Sara Bareilles

21. I Will Possess Your Heart - Death Cab for Cutie

22. Warwick Avenue - Duffy

23. Picture to Burn - Taylor Swift

24. The Resolution - Jack's Mannequin

25. Nothing Ever Hurt Like You - James Morrison

26. Boys With Girlfriends - Meiko

27. Birthday Girl - The Roots and Patrick Stump

28. Listen - Amos Lee

29. Good Morning - Kanye West

30. Just a Dream - Carrie Underwood

31. I Got Mine - The Black Keys

32. Just Stand Up! - Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige, Rihanna, Fergie, Sheryl Crow, Melissa Etheridge, Natasha Bedingfield, Miley Cyrus, Leona Lewis, Carrie Underwood, Keyshia Cole, LeAnn Rimes, Ashanti, Ciara & Mariah Carey

33. Girls in Their Summer Clothes - Bruce Springsteen

34. This Is the Life - Amy MacDonald

35. Trashcan - Delta Spirit

36. Rock & Roll - Eric Hutchinson

37. If I Had Eyes - Jack Johnson

38. You Are the Best Thing - Ray LaMontagne

39. Your Song - Kate Walsh

40. Pumpkin Soup - Kate Nash

41. You Found Me - The Fray

42. Stepping Stone - Duffy

43. 75 Bars (Black’s Reconstruction) - The Roots

44. How I Could Just Kill a Man - Charlotte Sometimes

45. Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution - The Black Crowes

46. Lovebug - Jonas Brothers

47. Move - Q-Tip

48. Falling Slowly - Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova

49. Get Busy - The Roots, Dice Raw, Peedi Peedi, and DJ Jazzy Jeff

50. Oxford Comma - Vampire Weekend

51. Mercy - Duffy

52. Praying for Time - Carrie Underwood

53. Heartless - Kanye West

54. Us Placers - CRS

55. The Show - Lenka

56. The Truth - Jake One featuring Freeway & Brother Ali

57. What's Been Going On - Amos Lee

58. Dream Catch Me - Newton Faulkner

59. Change - Taylor Swift

60. Gettin’ Up - Q-Tip

61. Right as Rain - Adele

62. The Weight of Her - Butch Walker

63. The World Should Revolve Around Me - Little Jackie

64. Whatever You Like - “Weird Al” Yankovic

65. Fast Car - Wyclef Jean featuring Paul Simon

66. Foundations - Kate Nash

67. Everyone Nose (All the Girls Standing in the Line for the Bathroom) - N.E.R.D.

68. Slow Dance - John Legend

69. Madly - Tristan Prettyman

70. A-Punk - Vampire Weekend

71. Champion - Kanye West

72. Violet Hill - Coldplay

73. You Don't Know Me - Ben Folds featuring Regina Spektor

74. Crack the Shutters - Snow Patrol

75. If I Never See Your Face Again - Maroon 5 featuring Rihanna

76. Love That Girl - Raphael Saadiq

77. Love Lockdown - Kanye West

78. Run (I’m a Natural Disaster) - Gnarls Barkley

79. You Cheated Me - Martha Wainwright

80. Hero - Nas featuring Keri Hilson

81. Dance With Me - Old 97’s

82. Sweet And Low - Augustana

83. The Little Things - Colbie Caillat

84. The Fear - Lily Allen

85. Car Crash - Matt Nathanson

86. Chasing Pavements - Adele

87. Mr Rock & Roll - Amy MacDonald

88. New Soul - Yael Naïm

89. Pork And Beans - Weezer

90. My Medicine - Snoop Dogg

91. Nike Boots - Wale

92. Teenage Love Affair - Alicia Keys

93. Catch My Disease - Ben Lee

94. Broken - Tift Merritt

95. Old Enough - The Raconteurs featuring Ricky Skaggs & Ashley Monroe

96. Gives You Hell - The All-American Rejects

97. Ayyomyman - Tre Hardson featuring Fatlip

98. Beat It - Fall Out Boy featuring John Mayer

99. Seven Days of Lonely - I Nine

100. Stuck to You - Nikka Costa

The 9th Green’s Readers Favorite Songs of 2008

First off, congratulations are in order Emily and Niv who both picked up Amazon gift cards for sending in their top ten lists and thanks to everyone else who also contributed to the list (check your e-mail that you sent your lists from if you haven’t got it yet). After sending all the ballots sent in this year through my patent pending algorism that makes the Electoral College seem reasonable in comparison, here is what it came up with. If you do not like the results start get ready to send in a list for 2009.


1. Viva la Vida - Coldplay

2. Shut Up and Let Me Go - The Ting Tings

3. Electric Feel - MGMT

4. I Will Posses Your Heart - Death Cab for Cutie

5. Heartless - Kanye West

6. Where I Stood - Missy Higgins

7. The Show - Lenka

8. Signs - Bloc Party

9. You Don’t Know Me - Ben Folds featuring Regina Spektor

10. Human - The Killers

11. Violent Hill - Coldplay

12. In This Life - Delta Goodram

13. Oxford Comma - Vampire Weekend

14. If I Never See Your Face Again - Maroon 5 and Rihanna

15. Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) - Beyoncé

16. Come on Get Higher - Matt Nathenson

17. Live Your Life - T.I. featuring Rihanna

18. Broken - Lifehouse

19. She’s a Lady - Forever the Sickest Kids

20. Paper Planes - M.I.A.

21. Shape Shifter - Keri Noble

22. The Resolution - Jack’s Mannequin

23. How I Could Just Kill a Man - Charolette Sometimes

24. Sex on Fire - Kings of Leon

25. My Medicine - Snoop Dogg