The Best Songs of 2008

Most music dorks, whether professional or amateur, love end-of-the-year listmaking time. Clearly, your friendly neighborhood editors are nothing if not music dorks.

As such, we've put our heads together and nailed down our list of the best songs of 2008. It includes some ultra-familar tracks, like our chart-topper "American Boy," but we also fell in love with some less-well-known jams like the bluesy ramble of José James' "Spirits Up Above" and the slinky throwback funk of Menahan Street Band's "Make the Road by Walking," which Jay-Z sampled on one of our favorite songs of last year, "Roc Boys."

We let our customers vote with their wallets, and they overwhelmingly chose Katy Perry's summer-dominating ode to fashionable sexuality experiments, "I Kissed a Girl," as their favorite song of 2008. Some surprises on their list include "I'm Yours," the slow-starting, exceedingly pleasant single by Jason Mraz, and the sassy anachronistic soul of Duffy's "Mercy," both of which managed to edge out Idol-winner David Cook's coronation song, "The Time of My Life."

Here are our respective top-10 lists for your judging pleasure:

Top 10 Editor Favorites:

1. "American Boy," Estelle (feat. Kanye West)
2. "Love Lockdown," Kanye West
3. "The Most Beautiful Girl In The Room," Flight of the Conchords
4. "White Winter Hymnal," Fleet Foxes
5. "Make The Road By Walking," Menahan Street Band
6. "Swimming Pools," Thao Nguyen and the Get Down Stay Down
7. "Swagga Like Us," T.I., Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Lil' Wayne
8. "Spirits Up Above," José James
9. "Skinny Love," Bon Iver
10. "Rej (Peter Kruder Remix)," Christian Prommer's Drumlesson
    (See the rest of our top 100 Editor Favorites)

Top Ten Customer Favorites:

1. "I Kissed a Girl," Katy Perry
2. "Low," Flo Rida
3. "Viva la Vida," Coldplay
4. "Bleeding Love," Leona Lewis
5. "4 Minutes," Madonna (feat. Timbaland and Justin Timberlake)
6. "Pocketful of Sunshine," Natasha Bedingfield
7. "I'm Yours," Jason Mraz
8. "Disturbia," Rihanna
9. "Mercy," Duffy
10. "The Time of My Life," David Cook
    (See the rest of our top 100 Customer Favorites)

You can see both our top 100 editor picks or top 100 customer picks lists in their entirety, along with top-10 lists broken out by genre over at Amazon MP3's Best Songs of 2008 store. You can also click the play button on either of the below sample players to hear sample clips from all songs included on both lists.

And, of course, please tell us where we went horribly awry with our picks in the comments. Please note, though, we will have no truck with any talk about how we're bad editors because our tastes don't line up perfectly with our bestsellers. We like what we like!

-- Jeff Reguilon

Comments

[xlpharmacy on October 25, 2011 at 09:23 AM]

I agree, i will put some in a lower position but i guess that the list you made is very complete, thanks for share your opinion about this.

[bullet express on August 16, 2011 at 11:52 AM]

Most music dorks, whether professional or amateur, love end-of-the-year listmaking time. Clearly, your friendly neighborhood editors are nothing if not music dorks.

[reyn on April 02, 2009 at 05:12 PM]

i have to say i agree. although i would have put human by the killers on my list. :)

[Flap Jackson on November 13, 2008 at 09:01 PM]

As a hardcore music fan, and somebody that's heard a ton of the music of 2008, frankly, both lists are laughable. Sure, the customers are, what the customers are. But the editors list... Wow. "Love Lockdown?" That song is a mess that never got off the ground. "American Boy?" Good song, but not great.

Here's my top 10 of 2008.

1. "Love Song," Sara Bareilles
2. "Sex On Fire," Kings of Leon
3. "After Hours," We Are Scientists
4. "Daylight," Matt & Kim
5. "L.e.s. Artistes," Santogold
6. "Violet Hill," Coldplay/Pendulum
7. "Shut Up & Let Me Go," The Ting Tings
8. "Valerie Plame," The Decemberists
9. "Paper Planes," M.I.A.
10. "Good Day," Tally Hall

Why is radio hit "Love Song" the best song on my list? Because it appealed to everybody, it had a great tune, excellent songwriting, and most of all, people will remember it 30 years from now, in those 00s music compilations that us old people will buy to remember the good times in music.