Hey you guys! It’s your pal and Tuned Up head honcho Ryan G again, with his top 100 song picks of the year. If you didn’t cringe too hard at that corny intro, dig into what I enjoyed this year, if you’re up for it! I hope you are. 90 of the songs are unranked and in alphabetical order, and I have my top 10 at the bottom. Scroll all the way down for a handy-dandy playlist to indulge.

.boy – Tree Forts

070 Shake – Microdosing

Alanis Morisette – Ablaze

Ambergrove – Seraphim

American Arson – The King is Alive

Anna Claire Loftis – Happy on TV

Anna Von Hausswolff – Sacro Bosco

beabadobee – Care

Best Coast – Everything Has Changed

Billie Eilish – Thereform I Am

Bilmuri – ISERIOUSLYDISLIKEMOSTOTHERHUMANS

Bonelang – Infinity Wife

Brit Drozda – Avalanche

Brothertiger – Shelter Cove

Car Seat Headreat – Can’t Cool Me Down

Caroline Rose – Feel The Way I Want

Carver Commodore – Cancel Culture

Cherimondis J – Dontcha Wanna Dance

CIRCE – Dancer

Colony House – Looking For Some Light

Danger Scene – Never Lost My Love

Deathbreaker – Strangers

Dens – Even

EOB – Shangri-La

Fiona Apple – Shameika

Fit For A King – Locked (In My Head)

Fleet Foxes – Sunblind

flor – lmho

Fontaines DC – Televised Mind

Foo Fighters – Shame Shame

Four Tet – Insect Near Phia Beach

Future Islands – For Sure

Ghost Tense – Gone

Glass Animals – Tangerine

Grandpa Loves Rhinos – Fostering Patience For Patients (feat. Kept On Hold)

Grimes – So Heavy I Fell Through the Earth

Half Waif – Ordinary Talk

Hazel English – Born Like

Hello Luna – Sympathize (Reimagined)

Hello Luna – Wait So Long

Idles – Grounds

Jetty Bones – Taking Up Space

Joey Aich – Rossi on the Deck (feat. TARYN)

KIDS – Dry Bones

Kitten – My House

LeTrainiump – Electric

Lightworker – Empyre

Little Image – WORTH IT

Meet Me @ the Altar – Garden

Michigander – Let Down

Mint – M180

Modeling – Lodestone

Mondo Cozmo – Kicks (Postively Montauk)

mungbean – “cool”

Needtobreathe – Hang On

Nightbirde – New Year’s Eve

nobigdyl. & Andy Mineo – WILLY

Phangs – When I’m All Alone

Phoebe Bridgers – Kyoto

Polyenso – Dust Devil

Purity Ring – sinew

Royal Blood – Trouble’s Coming

Run the Jewels – JU$T (feat. Pharrell)

Sansol the Artist – Drunk & Naive

Sansol the Artist – Holograms

Shaed – No Other Way

Shape of the Sun – Everybody Runs

Something Else – All My Fault

South of Eden – Dancing With Strangers

SPACESHIPS – Monsters

Speak Seldom – Sanity

Spirit of the Bear – Opaque

Starflyer 59 – This Recliner

Sufjan Stevens – Video Game

Sylvan Esso – Train

Tame Impala – Lost In Yesterday

Taylor Swift – Invisible String

The 1975 – If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)

The 1975 – Me & You Together Song

The Beths – I’m Not Excited

The Midnight – Deep Blue

Thomas & the Work-Men – Sunshine

Tigerwine – Technicolor Yawn

VEAUX – Tell Me That You Love Me

Wani – Tragic

Waxahatchee – Lilacs

William Cashion – Twin

Wolf Parade – Fall Into The Future

Yoke Lore – Fade Away

Yoke Lore & Jax Anderson – Sensitive Heart

TOP TEN

10.) The Midnight – Dance With Somebody: One of the most defining moments of the year was the night The Midnight released their album Monsters. I sat in the dark of my office amidst a neon glow and cranked it. Dance With Somebody is a wholesome dousing of neon pop and nostalgia. Props to the sax player and the ear-catching hook near the end of the song.

9.) Author – Blur: I’ve never seen the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, but I have to imagine that if the movie were remade today, “Blur” would be on the soundtrack. Author has been a nearly perennial band on our year end lists, and for good reason. The way the song progresses and ramps up is a thrill.

8.) twenty one pilots – level of concern: I predicted that this song would be the band’s biggest hit since “Stressed Out.” While that didn’t quite come true, there’s zero doubt in my mind that the 2020 pandemic will be reflected on with this song as one of the leading lasting cultural outputs of this period.

7.) Notelle – Alive: It’s pop. It’s dark. It’s industrial. What’s not to like? Nine Inch Nails meets Lorde with some extra polish and badass personality.

6.) Silent Planet – Trilogy: Vocalist Garrett Russell penned this standalone single whilst in the throes of a personal mental health crisis that left him institutionalized. What’s notable here is that these lyrics are raw and strictly what he was feeling at the time. No footnotes or obscure references in sight. While I don’t know what Garrett was feeling, for me this song personifies the storm of inner conflict and anxiety I’ve felt at many points throughout this year.

5.) Bonelang – Fox and the Hound: The lyrics of this song make me a little uncomfortable, but holy moly they won’t get out of my head.

4.) The Killers – My Own Soul’s Warning: When that synth kicks in after the first chorus, its a massive dose of euphoria that I think we all needed to hear this year. Brandon Flowers never sounded so passionate.

3.) Tame Impala – One More Year: “One… More… Year…” repeats the robotic sounding voice drenched in reverb, forming the unlikely backbone of one of my favorite songs of the year. This is five minutes of anticipatory danceable psych pop at its finest.

2.) The Weeknd – Blinding Lights: Yes, I know. This is a stereotypical answer. If you have to ask why, you’ve been living under a rock. This kinda reminds me of “Take On Me.”

1.) Hayley Williams – Simmer: This song should have propelled Hayley to the stratosphere, but it didn’t. There was something just effortlessly cool in the way this came together. “How to draw the line, between wrath and mercy? Simmer simmer simmer simmer simmer down.” There’s some clever wordplay here too. Depending on what syllable you focus on, you hear “Simmer simmer simmer” or “mercy mercy mercy,” showing in a very visceral linguistic way the conflict Williams feels.