The Board's Top Songs of 2018 (Results)

[monasterymonochrome]

This is my first time doing one of these lists / posting a thread at all, so go easy on me, y'all.  We had 17 lists this year - featuring songs from 265 different artists, and I think the end result is a pretty great collection of tracks from what was mostly a hellscape of a year.  

100 (ish) through 51 will be presented in list form, but for numbers 50 to 1, I'll be posting the best live video (or just music video, if a live one didn't exist) that I could find of the song....followed by the best or worst or Youtubyist comment I could find in the deepest recesses of the comment sections.  This was probably the most harrowing part of this experience - "indie" comment sections are probably tamer than average, but I felt like taking a shower after several of these.  I've left out the awful ones to save y'all, and in their stead chose something strange, funny, apt, or sad.  

Alright enough of that - here we go!

(Presented in format - "Artist - Song Title: Points total")


51. Julia Holter - I Shall Love 2: 81
52. Superorganism - Everybody Wants To Be Famous: 80
53. Low - Always Trying To Work It Out: 79
54. (tie) Earl Sweatshirt - Nowehere2go: 78
54. (tie) US Girls - Incidental Boogie: 78
56. (tie) Boygenius - Bite The Hand: 77
56. (tie) Lana Del Rey - Venice Bitch: 77
58. Parquet Courts - Almost Had To Start A Fight: 76
59. Cardi B - Get Up 10: 74
60. (tie) Chance the Rapper - I Might Need Security: 74
60. (tie) Courtney Barnett - Need A Little Time: 74
60. (tie) Hop Along - How Simple: 74
60. (tie) Iceage - Catch It: 74
60. (tie) Sharon Van Etten - Comeback Kid: 74
60. (tie) Young Fathers - In My View: 74
66. Ghost - Faith: 73
67. Joey Purp - Godbody Pt. 2: 72
68. (tie) The Internet - Come Over: 71
68. (tie) Pusha T - Come Back Baby: 71
70. Yves Tumor - Noid: 69
71. (tie) Caroline Rose - Jeannie Becomes A Mom: 68
71. (tie) US Girls - MAH: 68
71. (tie) Zeal & Ardor - Row Row: 68
74. Robyn - Honey: 67
75. Soccer Mommy - Wildflowers: 65
76. (tie) Mitski - Geyser: 64
76. (tie) Tirzah - Holding On: 64
78. Viagra Boys - Sports: 63
79. Boygenius - Salt in the Wound: 62
80. (tie) ASAP Rocky - Purity: 61
80. (tie) Kacey Musgraves - Velvet Elvis: 61
80. (tie) Parquet Courts - Tenderness: 61
80. (tie) Soccer Mommy - Cool: 61
80. (tie) Spiritualized - Here It Comes (The Road) Let’s Go: 61
85. (tie) Brockhampton - Wildfire 1999: 59
85. (tie) Cardi B - I Like It: 59
87. (tie) Phosphorescent - C’est La Vie No. 2: 58
87. (tie) Teenage Wrist - Dweeb: 58
89. Sons of Kemet - My Queen Is Harriet Tubman: 56
90. Cupcakke - Duck Duck Goose: 55
91. Amen Dunes - Blue Rose: 54
92. Parquet Courts - Total Football 53
93. (tie) The 1975 - Sincerity is Scary: 50;
93. (tie) Kanye West - Yikes: 50;
93. (tie) Lonnie Holley - I Woke Up In A Fucked Up America: 50;
93. (tie) Pinegrove - Angelina: 50;
97. (tie) Beach House - Dark Spring: 49 
97. (tie) Blood Orange - Saint: 49
97. (tie) Brockhampton - Tonya: 49
97. (tie) Deafheaven - Canary Yellow: 49
97. (tie) Ghost - Dance Macabre: 49
97. (tie) Janelle Monae - Pynk: 49
97. (tie) Sir Babygirl - Heels: 49
97. (tie) Teyana Taylor - Rose In Harlem: 49

[monasterymonochrome]

50. Childish Gambino - This Is America: 82 pts.

"No this is Patrick."




49. Beach House - Drunk In LA: 83 pts.

"I love the Ronan the Accuser look Victoria is going for."




47. (tie) Hop Along - One That Suits Me: 85 pts.

"Every time Frances’ voice cracks, an angel gets its wings"




47. (tie) Beach House - Dive: 85 pts.

"Beach House and John Waters make Baltimore look good. And that's not easy to do."




46. Nine Inch Nails - God Break Down The Door: 87 pts.

"industrial. jazz."

[monasterymonochrome]

42. (tie) Teenage Wrist - Stoned, Alone: 88 pts.

"If it was 1993 this would be on top of the billboards right now."




42. (tie) Moses Sumney - Rank & File: 88 pts.

"What the f…. Goat."




42. (tie) Courtney Barnett - Charity: 88 pts.

(In response to some dismissive comments): "Tuning is a myth. Seriously these dorks in the comments probably spent years running scales and buffing floors while struggling to get a gig. It’s about attitude, y’all are just lost in the sauce. Play a power chord for once NERD!"




42. (tie) Ariana Grande - Blazed: 88 pts.

"Ariana are you ok? ♡ She maybe uploading "raindrops" for the tears because she maybe sad , "pete davidson" sad cuz pete&her broke up, "better off" cuz she's better off without him and "blazed" cuz she's blazed about that♡ So this is my theory about why she uploading this 4 songs♡"




38. (tie) MGMT - Me and Michael: 89 pts.

"I will never understand why this 90's kids always take the 80"s as a reference when they actually were born sooo far away from the decade. So many movies, cartoons, music, image, fashion and general culture has been overused, starting with the music videos and the sound... YOU ARE FROM THE 90'S!! get over it"

[monasterymonochrome]

38. (tie) IDLES - Colussus: 89 pts.

"His stage presence and posture is a cross between Iggy and (forgive for saying this) Mike Love."




38. (tie) Haley Heynderickx - Oom Sha La La: 89 pts.

"My question is... Did she start that garden? It's almost spring."




38. (tie) The 1975 - Love It If We Made It: 89 pts.

"That broccoli seems rather emotional."




37. Spiritualized - A Perfect Miracle: 90 pts.

"Best band in the last 30 years,talent just oozes from the spaceman….."




36. Snail Mail - Heat Wave: 91 pts.

"I really hate the post mac apocalypse she has alot of potential."

[monasterymonochrome]

34. (tie) Soccer Mommy - Your Dog: 92 pts.

"Holy sh`t.. reverb on guitar and then BANG vocals RIGHT in MA FACE with no reverb.. Good song still."




34. (tie) Kacey Musgraves - High Horse: 92 pts.

"Yes I’m a yeehaw stan and where I live it’s legal."




32. (tie) Preoccupations - Espionage: 93 pts.

"Thanks God they're still so much better at making music than naming the band!"




32. (tie) Amen Dunes - Miki Dora: 93 pts.

"Hey pretentious drummers, this is how it's done."

Also: Did y'all know Miki Dora was a surfer in the 50s/60s? I had no idea - here's Damon from Amen Dunes on him: "Miki Dora was arguably the most gifted and innovative surfer of his generation and the foremost opponent of surfing’s commercialization. He was also a lifelong criminal and retrograde: a true embodiment of the distorted male psyche. He was a living contradiction; both a symbol of free-living and inspiration, and of the false heroics American culture has always celebrated. With lyrics of regret and redemption at the end of one’s youth, the song is about Dora, and myself, but ultimately it is a reflection on all manifestations of mythical heroic maleness and its illusions."




31. Deafheaven - You Without End: 95 pts.

"I hear some Eric Clapton in that Piano."

[monasterymonochrome]

30. Yves Tumor - Lifetime: 98 pts

"This track is ominous, touching, powerful and mysterious."




27. (tie) Kids See Ghosts - Reborn: 100 pts.

"Damn it now seems like Cudi Is the normal out of the two."




27. (tie) IDLES - Danny Nedelko: 100 pts.

"A lot of comments on here about 'punk' and 'fake punk' ~ so which one of you entitled & elitist chodes now wants to explain the difference & then expand on why Idles here aren't 'real punk'. Punk as it was, as you remember it, is dead & gone, it's finished ~ good riddance to it. It's evolved & moved on while you fossils are still stuck it it's past. Right now we have the likes of the fabulous Idles here and guys like Sleaford Mods too who are out there charging the punk thing up again, albeit properly ~ unlike the shite you write it off as. The difference between you & us lot who really get Idles & their likes is that we don't give a fuck about you & your toxic narrow minded nostalgia. It's just music, get over it & get over yourself ~ nobody cares about your elitist angry attitude."




27. (tie) David Byrne - Everybody's Coming To My House: 100 pts.

"Sounds like a Talking Heads classic. David Byrne is a beautiful, unique genius. He might have just escaped from an asylum, but I'm so happy he did."




26. Travis Scott - Sicko Mode: 106 pts

"Producer: So I have 3 beats. Which one do...
Travis: yes."

[monasterymonochrome]

25. Snail Mail - Pristine: 119 pts.

"Kids barely born in the 90's are not supposed to be able to write 90's indie pop rock brilliance as great as this. Lindsey Jordan is the past and the future of alternative rock. "




24. US Girls - Pearly Gates: 120 pts.

Ok, so I couldn't find a decent comment here, so I'll just reiterate that the chorus here always gets Warren G's "Regulate" stuck in my head.




22. (tie) Kids See Ghosts - Feel The Love: 121 pts.

"rrraa gagagahh rraa dah"




22. (tie) Arctic Monkeys - Four Out Of Five: 121 pts.

"He looks like a Italian mafia coke dad having a minor seizure and I kinda like it ??"




20. (tie) The Carters - Apeshit: 124 pts

"... so this is why the louvre was closed when i visited"

[monasterymonochrome]

And that's it for now - I'll be back in few hours with the top 20!

[Deleted]

actually surprised to see how much of my top 50 was on that. fun list so far!

thanks for all the hard work, monastery!

[Tweet]

Bold to go 50-100 instead of 100-50.

Boarderline goodson not knowing how ties work IMO

[sthubbins]

wish i'd done a list, there were some good songs this year

[sthubbins]

can't believe nobody voted for Mooo or Go to Town

[monasterymonochrome]

20. (tie) The 1975 - It's Not Living If It's Not With You: 124 pts

"This reminds me of 'Heaven is a place on earth’"




19. Thom Yorke - Suspirium: 125 pts

"Because of that switch to parallel major at 2.15, Thom sure is a serious candidate for the nobel peace prize."




18. Young Fathers - Toy: 127 pts

"these guys are the epitome of forward thinking pop music. I want these guys to be bigger than one direction every other boy band can perish for all I care."




17. Car Seat Headrest - Bodys: 129 pts

"Is it the chorus yet? Yes, cos we're on live tv and only have 4 minutes to perform”




16. Kendrick Lamar & SZA - All The Stars: 130 pts

"(Black panther is better than aquaman)"

[monasterymonochrome]

15. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Talking Straight: 136 pts

"Regresó el rock n roll !!!!!!!!!"




14. Car Seat Headrest - Sober To Death: 138 pts

"sick mclovin"




13. Deerhunter - Death In Midsummer: 140 pts

"Remember when he had a part in Dallas Buyers Club? That was neat."




12. The Beths - Future Me Hates Me: 142 pts

"finally we know what Napoleon Dynamite did after high school."




11. Iceage - Painkiller: 143 pts

"I thought it was a Judas priest cover, but is really awesome anyway."

[monasterymonochrome]

Top Ten coming in another hour - I have to leave work and head to LGA woooooo!

[monasterymonochrome]

10. Kanye West feat. Kid Cudi and 070Shake - Ghost Town: 165pts

"KaNyE iS cAnCeLeD.... LMAO. Tell that to the 10s of thousands who are shouting lyrics to his entire album. Legend. Love Kanye!!"




9. Robyn - Missing U: 168 pts.

"Only Robyn can make you want to dance while your broken heart is bleeding all over the dance floor."




8. Mitski - Nobody: 183 pts.

"I'm not sure what to do with my hands. -Mitski"




7. Phosphorescent - New Birth In New England: 187 pts.

"A drunk coldplay."




6. Lucy Dacus - Night Shift: 238 pts

"My inspiration, my queen."

[monasterymonochrome]

Here it is! The Board Dot's Top 5 Tracks of 2018!!!

5. Boygenius - Me And My Dog: 262 pts

"The harmony scream from the white haired one at the end….."

[monasterymonochrome]

4. Drake - Nice For What

"Whos here in December, 2018"

[monasterymonochrome]

3. Father John Misty - Mr. Tillman: 340 pts

"My two passions finally collide - FJM and stock photography."

[monasterymonochrome]

2. Pusha T - If You Know You Know: 361 pts

"No pink hair, booty huggers, face tats, mumbling or throwing money bags of money at strippers. Just good hip hop. Thank you."

(ed. note: so sorry about this one, but there were SO many of these comments that I had to include just one)

[monasterymonochrome]

AND NOW YOUR SONG OF THE YEAR.........

[monasterymonochrome]

1. Janelle Monae - Make Me Feel: 412 pts

"9 dislikes from people who can't dance. Boo hoo."

[monasterymonochrome]

And now for the Top 50 playlist and some random stats:







Artist/Album With Most Songs Voted On:

• Ariana Grande: 7
• Kacey Musgraves: 7
• Car Seat Headrest: 6
• Kids See Ghosts: 6
• The 1975: 5
• Beach House: 5
• Courtney Barnett: 5
• Dirty Projectors: 5
• Hop Along: 5
• Iceage: 5
• Janelle Monae: 5
• Lucy Dacus: 5
• Mitski: 5
• Soccer Mommy: 5
• Superorganism: 5
• Vince Staples: 5

Artists with Multiple Songs in the Top 50

• Car Seat Headrest: 2
• The 1975: 2
• Kids See Ghosts: 2 (note, Kanye / Cudi in here 3 times)
• IDLES: 2
• Snail Mail: 2
• Beach House: 2

Song with most individual boarders casting votes

• Make Me Feel: 10
• If You Know You Know: 10
• Mr. Tillman: 9
• Me & My Dog: 7
• Nice For What: 7
• Night Shift: 7

Highest placing songs on a list w/o placing on any others

• 1975: Sincerity Is Scary
• Kanye West: Yikes
• Lonnie Holley: I Woke Up In A Fucked Up America
• Pinegrove: Angelina

Short Albums That Fuckin’ Killed It This Year (# songs receiving vote / total)

• Boygenius 4/6
• Kids See Ghosts 6/7
• Pusha T 3/7
• Vince Staples 5/11

[monasterymonochrome]

Thanks for everyone who participated! This was super fun to pull together and I found some cool new tracks from it that I'd previously overlooked - gotta catch a flight now, happy 2018 y'all!

[Tweet]

I don't hate this list. Good job, everyone. Especially MMM for putting this thing together

[andrewvb]

what is this fucking list. where is thank u, next.

[Deleted]

“sweetener” is a better song

[Tweet]

I don’t know I think an omission of one of the most popular, talked about songs of the year is some real Old School Boarding and I’m about it

[Deleted]

Dec 28, 2018 20:57:51 GMT -6 andrewvb said:

what is this fucking list. where is thank u, next.

Yeah that Sondre cover was lit. 

[Deleted]

Fun fact: Sondre's cover of that song was the first time I'd heard it. And it's in Norwegian. And I still haven't bothered to listen to the original song. And I love Ariana Grande.