Top 10 Best Songs of 2014 According to Rolling Stone
For those not familiar with the concept: I am in the middle of retrospectively compiling my top ten songs of each year of the 2010s. Afterwards, I compare it to the top ten picks of three very different publications: Rolling Stone, laut.de, and Complex. Rolling Stone is probably the biggest music magazine worldwide and focuses on mainstream opinions. Laut.de is a well-known German music critic website that claims to have good taste in music, and Complex is a former magazine, now a website, that focuses on youth culture and music, and writes their lists subjectively.So, what is there to say about what Rolling Stone picked for their 2014 list?
Okay, that selection is... disappointing. I really have nothing against these artists, and not even against the songs, but what they chose as their top tracks are mostly... just solid. These are tracks that are a fun listen if you are into this kind of music, but nothing that is mind-blowingly outstanding. These are the types of songs that, if I enjoy them, I'd include somewhere in places 50 to 40, but definitely not in the top ten (unless it is such a massive earworm that I keep repeating it throughout the year).
While always commercially interested, they usually at least picked the better mainstream songs for their highest positions - those that left some sort of landmark in the decade's pop culture. Numbers one and ten are justified to be in the top ten from their point of view, although I doubt that their first place really was the greatest American mainstream song of the year.
About numbers three and seven... I am happy for these artists. They have influenced music history in the past and left a legacy of milestones and great songs. So yeah, their greatest time may be over, but they still are good.
My problem with this list is not so much that I don't think these songs are fine. It's more that I know exactly how much I enjoyed retrospectively listening through my 2014 music library to pick my ten favorites, and what a tough choice it was for me to decide which ones I had to kick out - and how uninteresting this list is.
I don't even expect them to dig deep into foreign markets or niche music. But at least pick the most memorable mainstream songs. For example: Linkin Park, Miranda Lambert, and Maroon 5 had commercially and critically successful albums in the US, all of which had something outstanding to offer. Linkin Park were intensely emotional, Miranda Lambert was cheeky and wild, and Maroon 5 offered the catchiest earworms of the year.
Why aren't they in the top ten? The latter two had a track at numbers 29 and 32, respectively, and the first one not at all.
Source: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/50-best-songs-of-2014-20141203, Created on 2/7/2018
The Top Ten
Drunk in Love - Beyoncé & Jay-Z
Turn Down For What - DJ Snake & Lil Jon
Every Breaking Wave - U2
Move That Dope - Future, Pharrell, Pusha T & Casino
Just One of the Guys - Jenny Lewis
Blank Space - Taylor Swift
Frankie Fell In Love - Bruce Springsteen
Every Time the Sun Comes Up - Sharon Van Etten
Seasons (Waiting On You) - Future Islands
i - Kendrick Lamar