The 20 Best Songs of 2009

Magazine



"Up to Our Nex"
Robyn Hitchcock

The great psych-rock surrealist struggles—in unerringly tuneful fashion—to get over, under, and around the feeling of falling in love. "So rad!" "How sad!" Neither. Both. Beautiful.

"Life in Marvelous Times"
Mos Def

Over a triumphant beat, Mos futurizes and postulates a Brooklyn of sidewalk sin and sympathy, then concludes, "We can’t be alive in no time but now."

"Raindrops"
Basement Jaxx

Pop music's MDMA moment came and went. This track brings it back—giddier. Go kiss a stranger.

"This Tornado Loves You"
Neko Case

Anthropomorphizing meteorological phenomena sounds like the stuff of kids' music; Case's breathy coo puts an end to that idea real fast.

"Bulletproof"
La Roux

A perfect pop hook backed by bubbly eight-bit bloops and delivered by a ginger-pomp'd cross between Annie Lennox and a replicant. The superhuman league.

 

 Songs 20 - 16  |  Songs 15 - 11 |  Songs 10 - 6 |  Songs 5 - 1 


 Also See:   THE 40 BEST ALBUMS OF 2009 

 

154 Comments

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Posted By Anonymous

08.24.10 7:08 AM

WTF-I even dont know any of this songs just bullet proof...

Posted By Anonymous

06.18.10 10:09 AM

I think it's a good list, you just need try to hear them. I love Phoenix btw.

Posted By Anonymous

06.16.10 11:47 PM

SERIOUSLY?????? i don't even know ALL of these songs except for 'use somebody'..........

Posted By musiclover2161

06.08.10 5:00 PM

you must be one of those people who dislike mainstream music becasue its mainstream. Half these bands I have never even heard of. AND THERE IS A REASON FOR THAT!!1 Whatever that may be. Not saying they suck, but they are not as good as KOL or Paramore Band of Horses etc.

Posted By Anonymous

06.08.10 4:56 PM

why exactly does spin suck? Most of these bands are so not mainstream. A band doesnt have to be mainstream to be good, but why is it that these mags feel the need to think they are cool and pick all of these bands that the masses have never heard of. In this day and age you dont have to have radio play to be mainstream. The internet takes care of that for you.

Posted By Anonymous

06.02.10 7:06 PM

I like a lot of these bands and their songs. "My Girls" was by far the greatest song of 2009. BUT, that doesn't change the fact that SPIN sucks.

Posted By Lenny

06.02.10 9:12 AM

Like it

Cheers
Lenny

Posted By VW fan

05.17.10 9:13 PM

LIKE

Posted By Anonymous

05.12.10 7:20 PM

karen o makes me hate life.

Posted By Anonymous

05.08.10 9:47 PM

not bad choices but kings of leon suck and that song is a gigantic rip off of 'dont save us from the flames' by the lovely m83. and i like that girls song, but above my girls and walkabout...hell naw. girls are a little overrated in my opinion (sounds weird to say haha), but they still have some decent stuff.

Posted By sophie

05.05.10 1:55 PM

2009 was the best year for music i would say :)
it was all just so amazing for me!!

Posted By Anonymous

05.04.10 6:10 PM

I Just love the comment you gave man.... because people like you'll there... it rains...

Posted By Smellslikeacorpse

04.26.10 10:08 PM

whats wrong with you people???
these songs arent personally my picks for best song of 2009
but they are pretty good and 100 quintillion times better than anything that was or still is playing on kiss fm
or everyone on myspace is ****ting about while taking duckface pictures of themselves and uploading it on the internet!
so if you absolutely believe that the black eye peas, Ke$ha, paramore, taylor swift, justin beiber or any of those bastards and whores for musicians deserve a spot on this real critical listing
you better go back to reading more seventeen and watching 16 and pregnant
**** off and have a great day you ingnorant teenagers!

Posted By Smellslikeacorpse

04.26.10 9:59 PM

kid this site and maganize isnt for you then.
if you like taylor swift go to tiger beat or seventeen for some downloads.

Posted By Anonymous

04.26.10 3:45 PM

I feel that these songs are the type where you listen to them for a month straight and may never listen to them again. I would have enjoyed seeing maybe some Passion Pit, Vampire Weekend, Arcade Fire, or Band of Horses ect. I really enjoyed seeing Animal Collective that high up on the list, but i disagree on the number one spot. Yes, it is a great song, but is it the greatest song of the year 2009?

Posted By Anonymous

04.24.10 5:28 PM

These songs don't make me go; 'wow, that's 2009'.

Posted By Anonymous

04.24.10 5:13 PM

Hmm, not my pick, but still nothing bad on there

Posted By Anonymous

04.18.10 9:31 PM

Wonder why nothing from Octahedron by The Mars Volta isn't on that list.. Oh yeah.. Spin hates TMV..

Posted By Anonymous

04.18.10 12:43 AM

Damn, no Los Campesinos or Japandroids? Way too much synth-pop. Phoenix is a good one to have in the top 5 but try to make it a little more diverse next year Spin.

Posted By Anonymous

04.11.10 10:01 PM

I second this comment

Posted By eateremm

04.10.10 5:51 PM

where the heck r the arctic monkeys? greetings from mexicou

Posted By Anonymous

04.09.10 6:37 PM

I like songs by Taylor Swift.

Posted By asmita

04.06.10 6:44 AM

good job.but where's the best songs. great joke.

Posted By Anonymous

03.29.10 11:55 AM

Alot of good choices, but I agree with glisterine, the track successful is the most polluting piece of aural diarrhea I've ever heard, evidenced by the fact that Trey Songz (yes good name), thinks that cars and clothes are a measure of success. This lust for material things is the most insidious vaporous not to mention damaging element in music and western society and so prominent in rap (importantly not hip hop). This music makes me want to self harm.

Posted By Anonymous

03.28.10 4:45 AM

"Are they listening to the same radio stations that I am?"
radio stations?
With youtube, myspace, itunes, and ipods, radio stations are becoming a thing of the past as I'm concerned.

Posted By Anonymous

03.27.10 10:20 PM

I love the Top 40 lovers! People who are wondering about the whereabouts of Green Day, Black Eyed Peas and Linkin Park, read the heading: "Best Songs of 2009." They would have had to have written/performed a GOOD song to make the list. Green Day hasn't written a good song since 39/Smooth, Kerplunk and even Dookie. The other 2 acts have never written a good song especially Linkin Park.

Posted By Anonymous

03.26.10 5:01 PM

Green Day?

Posted By Anonymous

03.22.10 8:53 PM

agreee!!!!!

Posted By Anon

03.21.10 8:47 PM

I find your comment hilarious because you sound entirely dim. The point of this list was that it was an opinion of what this author thought to be the best of 2009, and if I may shove my own opinion in here, why would the Black Eyed Peas even be on a "Best of 2009" list anyways? The author of this picked songs that were for the most part unknown and still very very good, and with actual depth to them, rather than moronic but catchy songs such as "Party In The USA," anything by Ke$ha, and by your apparent favorite band "I Gotta Feeling."

Posted By Anonymous

03.17.10 9:53 AM

"So here, with a regal hip check, she strides off by her lonesome, resplendent synth riff all aquiver, cooing, "Get your leather on," as we gambol on the grave of 2009’s tragic, orgiastic flimflam."

Anyone who knows anything about writing would tear this apart.

Resplendent?

Gambol?

Orgiastic flim-flam?

You're almost trying to sound like a hack. I hope that's what your aim is.

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