HSQB's Favorite Hit Songs of 2014

[jonpin]

This was a year when the music on the radio could make you Happy, get you acting Fancy, or feel the need to Say Something. And now I want to know what music the people of HSQB liked and what they wish they'd never heard.

I did this two years ago and then forgot to do it last year, so here's the return of the HSQB Best/Worst Hit Song of the Year Poll.
I know some of you may have your eclectic tastes, but I'm looking for common ground, and that means just the hits. Specifically, Billboard's top 100 songs of the year*. Pick your top 10 and/or bottom 10 of those songs, and either post in thread or (preferred) PM me. All the better if you have some sort of remarks as to why you've picked the songs you have.

Some ground rules:
1. Re: that * above. Looking at the list of the Year-End 100 from this year and from 2013, there are 11 songs that overlap. Some of these are songs that became huge hits in 2014 (or December 2013, which Billboard considers part of 2014), but several of them really are last year's hits that just took a while to fade away. You may not select "Blurred Lines", "Hold On, We're Going Home", "Radioactive", "Roar", "Royals", "Wake Me Up!", or "Wrecking Ball". You may pick "Brave", "Counting Stars", "Demons", or "Let Her Go" as each ranks higher on the 2014 list than it did last year.
2. You must RANK your picks. You can't just send me a list of 10 songs and say "I love all of these!"
3. You may choose only to make a list of good songs, only a list of bad songs, or both. Whichever list(s) you make, you must list between 5 and 10 songs. If you just say "ANACONDA IS MY NUMBER ONE AND THAT'S ALL I'M RANKING" you will be ignored.
4. There are two songs on the list called "Animals", one by Maroon 5 and one (essentially lyric-less) by Martin Garrix. If picking one of these, please specify which one. Likewise, "Let Her Go" and "Let It Go" are two different songs.

If you find yourself looking at the list and wondering "wait, what song is that?", you might find this video helpful.

[1992 in spaceflight]

I guess I'll go ahead and start off the embarrassing portrayal of my music tastes. Have fun, everyone!

Best:
1. Latch by Disclosure ft. Sam Smith-Sam Smith's voice is great in this song. Also, I wish I could transition as seemlessly from falsetto to chest voice as Smith can.
2. Stay with Me by Sam Smith-Yeah, I may love Sam Smith's music. This song suffered a bit from overplay for me, but it's still an enjoyable song.
3. Burn by Ellie Golding- I just love the beat and the lyrics of this song. Not much more to say.
4. Not A Bad Thing-It's Justin Timberlake.
5. The Man-I love Blacc's vocals, and the backstory for how he came up with the opening is a great story.
6. Cool Kids-Yeah, this song basically sums up how I felt my freshman and sophomore years of high school.
7. Love Runs Out-I like that One Republic is being more adventurous in their beats and lyrics lately. It's cool to see.
8. Sweater Weather-This song makes cold weather much more attractive.
9. Pompei by Bastile-I really enjoyed this song.
10. Talk Dirty-I'm more amused by this song's existence than having anything concrete to say.

Honorable Mention:
Do What U Want-easily the best song Lady Gaga has written in years. Only reason it's not on the top 10 is that I still feel slightly uncomfortable thinking of R. Kelly "doing what he wants" with someone's body.
Classic-Earwormy and different from a lot of songs that charted last year.
Ain't It Fun-Really catchy song. Better than Still Into You, which is the only other Paramore song I hear at my job (unfortunately).

Worst:
1. Anaconda-If I felt the need to get trolled, I'd go to Reddit or 4chan (the bad website). Not listen to music.
2. All About That Bass-Jesus. H. Christ. Why do people like this song. Meghan Trainor sounds like a chipette on acid.
3. Dark Horse-I don't think Katy Perry knows who or what Aphrodite is. Plus Juicy J's basically a poor man's version of Lil Wayne now.
4. Let Her Go-Yeah, this song is awful. Just....the lyrics suck. Plus white guy with acoustic guitar is my favorite genre, you know.
5. Shake It Off-That giggle after she says "I go on too many dates." Worst pop song moment of 2014.
6. Demons-Imagine Dragons went from Radioactive and It's Time to a lighters in the air Coldplay-style song about having demons (Thank you Todd in the Shadows). Just....no.
7. Bang Bang-"Booty like a Cadillac." All I want to say.
8. Maps-You know, I remember when Maroon 5 was at least interesting. Instead of putting me to sleep with their awful songs.
9. Loyal-Yeah, no. CHRIS BROWN of all people does not need to complain about women not being loyal.
10. Boom Clap-I just don't think Charli XCX's vocal style works with the instruments. But I really don't care about this song's existence.

Honorable Mentions:
Lifestyle-Just....boring.
Me and My Broken Heart-Oh hey, the Maroon 5 imitators are starting to make it onto the charts now!
My Hitta-Man, Lil Wayne has to be angry at YG now.
23-I like to pretend this didn't happen. But yeah, Rob's right. AVOID like the plague.

[Harpie's Feather Duster]

Unfortunately, the Year-End Top 100 List doesn't include the only correct answer for the best hit of 2014, "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars. I'll edit a power ranking into this post once I analyze the year-end list a bit more.

Super Cool Fun Fact: For a whole THREE MONTHS up until "Take Me to Church" took the number 2 spot today, the number 1 and 2 spots were occupied by some combination of Taylor Swift and Meghan Trainor. Talk about dominance.

[jonpin]

1. Anaconda-If I felt the need to get trolled, I'd go to Reddit something very terrible that should not be acknowledged. Not listen to music.

I'll remind everyone that there's also "recognition" for the song with the most polarized reaction. I would feel like this is a shoe-in, but I'm not sure how many people will admit to liking it.

2. All About That Bass-Jesus. H. Christ. Why do people like this song.

I like how this wasn't posed as a question.

4. Let Her Go-Yeah, this song is awful. Just....the lyrics suck. Plus white guy with acoustic guitar is my favorite genre, you know.

Looks like SOMEbody's a Todd in the---

6. Demons-Imagine Dragons went from Radioactive and It's Time to a lighters in the air Coldplay-style song about having demons (Thank you Todd in the Shadows).

Oh. OK. Well, then, carry on.

[1992 in spaceflight]

I, uh, actually just realized I screwed up the song titles on one of my choices. Whoops. Editing that in now.

EDIT: Actually, never mind. I'm just being stupid.

[Auks Ran Ova]

I might edit in some commentary on the top 10 later, but here's my list.

TOP
1. Paramore - "Ain't it Fun"
2. Taylor Swift - "Shake it Off"
3. MAGIC! - "Rude"
4. Idina Menzel - "Let it Go"
5. Bastille - "Pompeii"
6. Charli XCX - "Boom Clap"
7. Maybe He Should Mackle Less - "White Walls"
8. Eminem/Rihanna - "The Monster"
9. Clean Bandit - "Rather Be"
10. Ellie Goulding - "Burn"

HONORABLE MENTIONS
Aloe Blacc - "The Man"; MKTO - "Classic": First two out.
Jason Derulo - "Trumpets": This song has a cool brass riff, and in my book that at least balances out some of its unfortunate lyrical abortions.
Sarah Bareilles - "Brave": A good song completely ruined by that omnipresent Nokia ad. My apologies to David Seal.

BOTTOM
It's always easier to pick a top ten than a bottom ten, because there are so many songs I don't really care for that I haven't heard enough (or at all) to really rank.
10. Disclosure feat. Sam Smith - "Latch": There's just nothing here that appeals to me.
9. Imagine Dragons - "Demons": Like Jacob, I think this is a bad song. Unlike Jacob, I don't think it's a step down.
8. 5 Seconds of Summer - "Amnesia": Second-worst song with lead vocals by a Bryan Berend doppelganger of 2014.
7. 5SoS - "She Looks So Perfect": Why, no, I don't want to imagine a 16-year-old's American Apparel (ON-BRAND!) underwear. Thank you, though.
6. Igloo Australia/Rita Ora - "Black Widow": It's like Nicki Minaj and Rihanna's "Fly", but with every aspect of the song replaced with a worse version of itself!
5. Chris Brown - "Loyal": Lacks punchiness, features a surprisingly lackluster beat. Overall, a slap to the face that leaves an unfortunate bruise on 2014's pop music scene.
4. White Chicks Stunt Double feat. Charli XCX - "Fancy": Charli XCX has had a weird hitmaking career, whipsawing between great and awful top-10 songs. The less said about this the better.
3. Meghan Trainor - "All About that Bass": Irritatingly earwormish for such a plainly bad song. Usually I can appreciate a well-crafted pop song's infectiousness, but if I catch myself mumbling the chorus to this song I just get mad.
2. Mike Will Made It, et al. - "23": Some heinously bad Miley-rapping here, and a workmanlike Wiz Khalifa verse does nothing to save it. Avoid!
1. (TIE) Florida Georgia Line feat. Luke Bryan - "This is How We Roll"; Jason Aldean - "Burnin' It Down"; Florida Georgia Line - "Dirt"; Brantley Gilbert - "Bottoms Up"; Kenny Chesney - "American Kids"; Dierks Bentley - "Drunk on a Plane"; Lady Antebellum - "Bartender"; Jake Owen - "Beachin'"; Lee Brice - "I Don't Dance"; Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood - "Somethin' Bad": (hits country music industry with a rolled-up newspaper)

Special Dishonorable Mention: One Direction - "Story of My Life": A solidly average song that commits the mortal sin of making it slightly harder for me to find the vastly superior Social Distortion song of the same title. If they'd just covered Social D they'd have the top song of the year!

[Auroni]

Top 10

1. "Love Never Felt So Good" - Michael Jackson and Justin Timberlake - It's up to the caliber of Jackson's best songs, and it's Justin Timberlake at his finest. Good stuff.
2. "Sing" - Ed Sheeran (ft. Pharrell Williams, who makes the song but is uncredited for some reason) - This is as good as you're going to get with an acoustic guitar in TYOOL 2014. There's a lot of cool elements here that build on one another.
3. "Brave" - Sara Bareilles - Unlike Rob Carson, I have no compunctions about including this one, because I don't watch TV and therefore am not exposed to commercials. It's punchy and it has an unpretentious video in which (a) David Seal (lookalike) dances. Also, in spite of the above, as quizbowl's actual biggest Sara Bareilles fan, I am offended.
4. "Ain't it Fun" - Paramore - A solid, well-composed rock song.
5. "Sweater Weather" - The Neighbourhood - The second-best sweater related song in all of music (better than "Undone - The Sweater Song," but not quite as good as "Autumn Sweater")
6. "Habits (Stay High)" - Tove Lo - A surprisingly plaintive and deep song in a place where you might not have expected to encounter one.
7. "Pompeii" - Bastille - A catchy song with a nice conceit.
8. "Partition" - Beyonce - Decided to go with this one rather than "Drunk in Love" from that excellent album: it packets more of a punch per second of track length.
9. "Counting Stars" - OneRepublic - Now that I've decided to seek out this song of my own volition rather than skip it on my usual sojourn to the excellent Nujabes track of the same title, I can tell you that it's a pleasant song that's both catchy and well-composed.
10. "Talk Dirty" - Jason Derulo ft. 2 Cheynez - The instrumental portion is great, and 2 Cheynez is involved.

Bottom 1

1. "Anaconda" - Nicki Minaj - The line "My anaconda don't want none unless you got buns, hon" used to be fun to pull out/refer to/incorporate in jokes about various things. But this song ensured that I can't do that any more.

[Adventure Temple Trail]

Turn down for "Turn Down for What".

[Skepticism and Animal Feed]

1) Counting Stars – OneRepublic. This song really spoke to me. I spent basically two months listening to it every day while powerwalking over my lunch break. I don’t think I would have won my skeeball league championship in March if not for this song being there for me.
2) Shake It Off – really the only song on this album that I like, but I like it a lot
3) Turn Down for What – the iconic song that will be played in future movies when they want to establish that it is the summer of 2014. Huge pop culture phenomenon. Respect this.
4) Bang Bang – this is a really fun song. It sounds like they recorded it at a party.
5) Monster - I didn't like this at first, but grew to love it. Also Russell Wilson probably grew up listening to Eminem and it must be unreal for him to listen to it now and hear himself mentioned
6) Pompeii - I really liked this song at first, but it does not hold up well months later
7) Dark Horse – Egypt-themed video gets a plus from me. I really really really like the Katy Perry parts of this song, the Juicy J parts are mediocre
8) Ain’t It Fun – I can’t get over a nagging fear that this is a diss song about me, but it was really catchy.
9) Demons – I don’t normally like this genre of music, but I liked this song.
10) Timber – this is a fun song that does not hold up well months later, but it was sure fun to listen to for a while

Songs I hated

5) Fancy. I actually would have ranked Black Widow at #11 or #12, but I hated this song. Just makes it sound like everyone involved in the lyrics is an annoying person.
4) All About That Bass.
3) Wiggle – possibly the worst Snoop Dogg song to ever get radio play
2) Trumpets – Oh my god, is this the same Jason DeRulo whose music I couldn’t stop listening to in 2010? What the hell happened here. Something horrible.
1) All of Me – I hate this entire genre of music.

[Off To See The Lizard]

Bottom 10:
1) Fancy by Iggy Azalea - I hate how much this song tarnished "Clueless" for me. Unforgivable.
2) Black Widow by Iggy Azalea ft. Rita Ora - I'll just continue being mad at Igloo
3) Bang Bang by Jesse J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj
4) Maps by Maroon 5 - They stopped being good a loooong time ago.
5) Timber by Pitbull ft. Kesha
6) Let it Go by Idina Menzel
7) Animals by Maroon 5 - see #4
8) Rude by MAGIC! - The lyrics are eerily reminiscent of bad Bollywood movies.
9) Problem by Ariana Grande ft. Iggy Azalea - As a friend of mine puts it "I stopped liking this song when I realized that the song isn't sung by a 12 year old and it isn't about a math problem."
10) A Sky Full of Stars - Coldplay

Top 10:
1) Stay With Me by Sam Smith
2) Rather Be by Clean Bandit ft. Jess Glynne
3) Team by Lorde - I don't know if this should count since I consider it more of a 2013 hit.
4) Bailando by Enrique Iglesias ft. Descemer Bueno and Gente De Zona (and Sean Paul?!) - I can't decide if I like the Spanish version or English version better. One's in Spanish, the other features Sean Paul. Tough choices.
5) Sweater Weather by The Neighborhood
6) Break Free by Ariana Grande ft. Zedd - I was really surprised by her vocal range here. Sounded completely different
7) Classic by MKTO - Insanely catchy
8) Summer by Calvin Harris
9) Anaconda by Nicki Minaj - I love this song mainly because of all the inside jokes I've come to associate with it. Otherwise it's just horrible.
10) Latch by Disclosure ft. Sam Smith

Honorable Mentions:
2 On by Tinashe ft. Schoolboy Q; Sing by Ed Sheeran; The Man by Aloe Blacc; Pompeii by Bastille; Stay High by Tove Lo;

I'm sad Riptide didn't make the Top 100, I would have put it as #1.

[Rococo A Go Go]

Special Dishonorable Mention: One Direction - "Story of My Life": A solidly average song that commits the mortal sin of making it slightly harder for me to find the vastly superior Social Distortion song of the same title. If they'd just covered Social D they'd have the top song of the year!

I was going to say something along these lines, but you saved me a couple minutes by doing it first. I'll be back with rankings later, once I narrow my bottom 94 down to just 10.

[Aaron's Rod]

I really fell behind with pop music this year, so in my defense I didn't know like half the song on that list.

Top 5
5. "Best Day of my Life" - American Authors. Catchy, fun to sing along with. Maybe tied with "Shake it Off" - Taylor Swift
4. "Radioactive" - Imagine Dragons
3. "Team" - Lorde
2. "Ain't it Fun" - Paramore
1. "Pompeii" - Imagine Dragons. I think "Radioactive" is better lyrically, but the chorus of this one is better.

Honorable Mentions to Defend Unpopular Songs
"Talk Dirty" Jason Derulo (I might even defend that one without a hint of irony), "Dark Horse" - Katy Perry, "Turn Down for What" - Lil Jon, "Anaconda" - Nicki Minaj (Hated it the first time I heard it, but it grew on me in a big way)

Hardly masterpieces, but some of us are still undergrads with sorority formals to attend...

Bottom 5
5. "All About That Bass" - Meghan Trainor
4. "Let Her Go" - Passenger
3. "All of Me" - John Legend. Yeah, I really hate this genre as well. It's whiny.
2. "Stay With Me" - Stan Smith.
1. "Fancy" - Iggy Azalea. You have not known hell unless you heard North Shore junior high kids this song all summer like I did (TA for a gifted program).

...wow. I never realized how much I hated sad dude music until this moment. All of those really grind my gears.

[Cody]

TOP. TEN.

1. Drunk in Love / Beyoncé feat. Jay Z. I can, and have, listened to this song on repeat for multiple days. It is the best.
2. Habits (Stay High) / Tove Lo. Same justification as Drunk in Love, just to a lesser extent. I also have unparalleled respect for anyone binging on all their Twinkies.
3. Chandelier / Sia. If you don’t like this song, you’re a buttless communist. It also speaks to my life philosophy.
4. Bang Bang / Jessie J, Ariana Grande & Nicki Minaj. Three amazing vocal performances and “booty like a Cadillac” hits all the “evocative” checkboxes.
5. Boom Clap / Charli XCX. Charli XCX is the bomb. Boom Clap is the bomb. The Fault in Our Stars is not the bomb.
6. Fancy / Iggy Azalea feat. Charli XCX. I don’t quite understand the hate for this song. It’s delightful on all the levels, its beat is ace, and it features Charli XCX!
7. Break Free / Ariana Grande feat. Zedd. The music video to this song is really great and adds a lot. At times, there’s a little too much fucking Zedd for my taste, but I can get past that.
8. Shake it Off / Taylor Swift. Like my list would be missing a T. Swizzy song! It’s unfortunate that Blank Space didn’t make the cut.
9. Shower / Becky G. I had no idea she’d released an album this year, so this song has me super-hyped.
10. Brave / Sara Bareilles. Since I don’t listen to radio or watch TV, this also has not been spoiled for me. It’s a good song.

[ryanrosenberg]

Best:
1. "Drunk in Love" -- Beyoncé. I didn't get the Bey hype until this album, but...wow. This is quite possibly my favorite song of the year.
2. "Anaconda" -- Nicki Minaj. The song is amusing but the jokes associated with it push it up here.
3. "Dark Horse" -- Katy Perry. I'm actually a big Katy Perry fan.
4. "Pompeii" -- Bastille. Fun and very listenable.
5. "All About that Bass" -- Meghan Trainor. Don't hate; this was super-earwormy but also light and enjoyable.

Worst:
1. "Let It Go" -- Idina Menzel. God, I never want to hear this again.
2. "Let Her Go" -- Passenger.
3. "Turn Down For What" -- DJ Snake and Lil Jon. Made worse by being the UNC football team's intro music during a pretty disappointing season.
4. "Timber" -- Pitbull.
5. "Fancy" -- Iggy Azalea. Iggy and Swaggy P are a cool couple, but the song's just annoying.

[Cody]

a new category:
Top 6 Amusingly Terrible Songs

1. Anaconda / Nicki Minaj. There's really nothing more than needs to be said here.
2. Wiggle / Jason Derulo feat. Snoop Dogg. Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle.
3. Trumpets / Jason Derulo. "Is it weird that your ass / Remind me of a Kanye West song?"
4. All About That Bass / Meghan Trainor. "Cause I got that boom boom that all the boys chase". "Boys, they like a little more booty to hold at night".
5. Birthday / Katy Perry. I actually find this one just really bad, but I'm pretty sure that, minus some anti-Katy Perry bias, I would find it both terrible and hilarious.
6. Turn Down for What / DJ Snake & Lil Jon. It's literally just "Turn down for what" and "Fire up loud / Another round of shots", but somehow it's amusing to me.

[Halved Xenon Stinging]

Best:
Dark Horse by Katy Perry
Birthday by Katy Perry
This is how we do by Katy Perry
Anaconda by Nicki Minaj
Pompeii by Bastille
Buzz God by Slim Shrady

Worst:
Shake if Off - Taylor Swift

[Blackboard Monitor Vimes]

Top Ten

1. The Monster – Eminem feat. Rihanna: Far and away my favorite song of the past two years. These two should collaborate more often; it always ends in awesome.
2. Bang Bang – Jessie J, Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj: This is probably my #1 blare-in-the-car-while-highway-driving song.
3. Rather Be – Clean Bandit feat. Jess Glynne: Those strings though.
4. Don’t – Ed Sheeran: Love his voice, love the video, love this song.
5. La La La – Naughty Boy feat. Sam Smith: This song made the summer at home with my dad a pinch more tolerable.
6. Chandelier – Sia: I have run out of energy for comments, but I like these next few songs too.
7. Sweater Weather – The Neighbourhood:
8. Ain’t It Fun – Paramore:
9. Habits (Stay High) – Tove Lo:
10. Boom Clap – Charli XCX: What Cody said.

Bottom Ten

1. Wiggle – Jason Derulo feat. Snoop Dogg: Every time I’m too slow changing the station on this song, I lose a few brain cells.
2. Demons – Imagine Dragons: The reason I had to stop listening to my favorite local radio station for weeks.
3. Fancy – Iggy Azalea ft. Charli XCX: No, Iggy, you are not fancy. You are terrible.
4. Brave – Sara Bareilles: I can never distinguish this song from Roar on the radio, but that doesn’t matter because I change the station anyway.
5. Birthday – Katy Perry: This song is an absolute lyrical disaster.
6. Rude – MAGIC!: So many problems with this one. If you must take part in the antiquated, sexist ritual of asking a man for his daughter’s hand, you open yourself up to the possibility of him saying no. Also this dude’s voice irritates me.
7. Stay with Me – Sam Smith: I have no patience for whiny white boys.
8. Black Widow – Iggy Azalea feat. Rita Ora: I like Rita Ora, but Iggy is just so terrible.
9. Shake It Off – Taylor Swift: I can count the number of TSwift songs I enjoy on one hand. On this particular track, I find her voice very annoying.
10. Trumpets – Jason Derulo: Yes, Jaron Derulo, it is weird that her eyes remind you of a Coldplay song. Also this song makes my radio sound like it’s having a seizure thanks to the weird triangle thing. Stop.

[yeah viv talk nah]

No mention of "Happy" yet?

[Dirty Water]

Top Ten:

1. Disclosure ft. Sam Smith, Latch- Disclosure is good. This isn't even their best song from their album(the F for You remix ft. Mary J. Blige was my favorite, but it didn't have much of an impact on this side of the Atlantic). I loved the 6/8 and Disclosure's production style blends so well with everything. Add the rookie of the year and you've got a winner.
2. Michael Jackson, Love Never Felt So Good- Note that I left out JT; I have nothing against him, but I liked the original instrumentation much better than the Timbaland mix. I was surprised that this song was so good considering MJ's material in the latter period of his career but I wouldn't shy away from putting this as one of his better songs. At first I put this track at #10 but then I realized how I could listen to this over and over again and enjoy it every time.
3. John Legend, All of Me- Piano ballads are hard to make well, and just as hard to be a hit. This did both. Not as good as Someone Like You or When I Was Your Man, but this was one of the better slow songs of the year.
4. Ariana Grande ft. My-Name-Rhymes-With-Biggie, Problem- The sax riff got me from the start, and Ariana's voice didn't get as annoying as the pitch would suggest. Why is Iggy here?
5. MAGIC!, Rude- This got really old really fast, but it was really good while it was still fresh. Really nice to hear something really different from everything else on the radio. Really.
6. Nico & Vinz, Am I Wrong- Like Rude, it was a new sound that was pleasant to hear inbetween the bass-heavy hip-hop and the bass-heavy EDM. Hopefully N&V can put out more good songs without them all being copies of one another.
7. Tinashe ft. ScHoolboy Q (& DJ Mustard), 2 On- DJ Mustard is doing great this year, and I've liked Tinashe's performance on this song and Nick Jonas(!)'s "Jealous". Personally I like Drake's remix verse, but ScHoolboy Q is keeping TDE strong.
8. One Direction, Story of My Life- I was waiting for 1D to put out a good song, and I think they finally did right here. Still lyrically not-so-great, but creds to whoever wrote and produced the music.
9. Sia, Chandelier- Ah yes! Sia finally has a solo hit! I never liked the Eminem songs she's featured on, but her collaborations with Guetta were pretty likable. I'm still amazed by her voice.
10. Imagine Dragons, Demons- Am I the only one who liked this song?

Honorable Mentions: OneRepublic, Counting Stars; DJ Snake & Lil Jon, Turn Down for What; Ellie Goulding, Burn; Naughty Boy ft. Sam Smith, La La La.

Bottom Ten:

Dishonorable Mentions: Iggy Azalea ft. Charli XCX, Fancy; Pitbull ft. Kesha, Timber; Jessie J, Ariana Grande & Nicki Minaj, Bang Bang.

10. Aloe Blacc, The Man- It's not that bad of a song, I just don't like his voice anywhere. The Beats by Dre commercials made it even worse.
9. Taylor Swift, Shake It Off- Eh. Got progressively worse over time.
8. Katy Perry ft. Juicy J, Dark Horse- I'm sick of Katy Perry. Firework and Unconditional were good, but I've never really enjoyed anything else.
7. Ariana Grande ft. Zedd, Break Free- Oh, Ariana. Pick better collaborators. EDM isn't for you. Also, I'M SURE YOU CAN FIND A WORD THAT RHYMES WITH HEART AND RETAINS CORRECT GRAMMAR. I are certain of this.
6. Katy Perry, Birthday- What? Did she jumble notes and beats and metaphors and similes together and call it a song? Again?
5. Iggy Eucalyptus ft. Rita Ora, Black Widow- Rita Ora wasn't enough to save you.
4. T.I. ft. I-G-G-Y, No Mediocre- ...and T.I. didn't help you one bit.
3. Nicki Minaj, Anaconda- Nicki Minaj has wonderful, fantastic songs with verse-of-the-year moments, but she also has a track or two (or three or four or...) that just doesn't make sense. This is a case of the latter.
2. Jason Derulo ft. Snoop Dogg, Wiggle- This is a new low for both of them, especially Derulo.
1. Jason Derulo, Trumpets- Nevermind!

[jonpin]

No mention of "Happy" yet?

Wow, it is conspicuous in its absence. I guess there's just not enough THERE there to form a strong opinion about that song.

Unfortunately, the Year-End Top 100 List doesn't include the only correct answer for the best hit of 2014, "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars. I'll edit a power ranking into this post once I analyze the year-end list a bit more.

It'll be on the 2015 list, no doubt. Songs that premiere after September have a very difficult time gaining enough credit by Dec 1 to make the top 100 for the year. As such, every year I have 1-2 songs I have to hold over to my list for the following year. Currently I'm being very thankful I have another 12 months to consider before I have to decide how much I like "Blank Space".

7. 5SoS - "She Looks So Perfect": Why, no, I don't want to imagine a 16-year-old's American Apparel (ON-BRAND!) underwear. Thank you, though.
6. Igloo Australia/Rita Ora - "Black Widow": It's like Nicki Minaj and Rihanna's "Fly", but with every aspect of the song replaced with a worse version of itself!
1. (TIE) Florida Georgia Line feat. Luke Bryan - "This is How We Roll"; Jason Aldean - "Burnin' It Down"; Florida Georgia Line - "Dirt"; Brantley Gilbert - "Bottoms Up"; Kenny Chesney - "American Kids"; Dierks Bentley - "Drunk on a Plane"; Lady Antebellum - "Bartender"; Jake Owen - "Beachin'"; Lee Brice - "I Don't Dance"; Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood - "Somethin' Bad": (hits country music industry with a rolled-up newspaper)

Re: 7. It's worse. It's not HER underwear. Re: 6. Best nickname of the year. Re: 1. Point taken, but, uh, pick the worst offender.

5. "Best Day of my Life" - American Authors. Catchy, fun to sing along with. Maybe tied with "Shake it Off" - Taylor Swift
4. "Radioactive" - Imagine Dragons

"Radioactive" doesn't count as a 2014 song. I'm upgrading BDOML to #4 for you and installing "Shake" at #5. Because I said so.

a new category: Top 6 Amusingly Terrible Songs

I love it. As to the Derulo mentions, in my personal list, I have what I originally called the Kesha Rule where I won't put more than one song from a single artist on my worst list (my reasoning at the time being "I could list every Kesha song from the year, but that would be neither interesting nor fun"). That said, I am having a damn hard time picking my Derulo entry on my worst list.

[Auks Ran Ova]

Re: 7. It's worse. It's not HER underwear. [...] Re: 1. Point taken, but, uh, pick the worst offender.

Oh I know! It's really off-putting. And it's my opinion that the continued existence of bad pop-country is the worst thing that the 2014 Billboard Hot 100 has to offer. If it helps, I don't think it'll affect the results much--you'll notice that no one else is even bothering to list, or think about, any of those songs.

[Unicolored Jay]

So since I've heard about or listened to almost none of these songs (I think - I've never went out of my way to do so and I keep my car radio on classical music almost all the time), I'm going to marathon my way through the entire list in the next several days and make what should be, more or less, a first impressions list, and help me keep up with what's hip and trendy these days. Editing this post once I make it all the way through.

[Ndg]

So since I've heard about or listened to almost none of these songs (I think - I've never went out of my way to do so and I keep my car radio on classical music almost all the time), I'm going to marathon my way through the entire list in the next several days and make what should be, more or less, a first impressions list, and help me keep up with what's hip and trendy these days. Editing this post once I make it all the way through.

Hey, that's exactly what I did. So here goes....

1. Chandelier, Sia
2. Team, Lorde
3. Break Free, Ariana Grande
4. Problem, Ariana Grande - might be even higher if Iggy weren't involved.
5. Shower, Becky G
6. Habits (Stay High), Tove Lo
7. Bang Bang, Jessie J/Ariana Grande/Nicki Minaj - really grew on me after several listens.
8. Rather Be, Clean Bandit
9. Can't Remember to Forget You, Shakira
10. Come With Me Now, Kongos - never even heard of the band before, but I really like this.
Honorable mentions:
Boom Clap, Charli XCX - really hard to leave off
Brave, Sara Bareilles - "hey, this is a pretty good son--- Oh, it's that song." But still really good.

...

Dishonorable mention:
Drunk on a Plane, Dierks Bently - this is my shout out to the general lousiness of country music --- none of it makes the bottom 10 because mostly this stuff is too bland to really complain about, but not bland enough to warrant complaining about its blandness.
91. Adore You, Miley Cyrus
92. Birthday, Katy Perry - not so bad on the first listen, but I suspected it would really get on my nerves once I listened to it a few more times. I was right.
93. Partition, Beyonce
94. Trumpets, Jason Derulo - the melody, the lyrics, the instrumentation --- the number of ways in which this song sucks is kind of impressive.
95. Say something, A Great Big World/Christina Aguilera - Just really, really, boring.
"Painfully bad rap" section:
96. My Hitta, YG - ending 95 percent of your lines with the same word puts you in my bottom 10.
97. Lifestyle, Rich Gang
98. 23, Mike Will Made It
2014 in Butts:
99. Wiggle, Jason Derulo
100. Anaconda, Nicki Minaj - well, now I kind of hate this thread for apprising me of this song's existence.

[Rococo A Go Go]

I think last year we talked about what we all felt was the actual best music of 2013, which I found much more enjoyable. But since we need a narrowly defined list to vote on, let's dispense with discussing the pile of crap that people listened to on the radio this year. First I'll highlight a few songs that ranged from "enjoyable" to "tolerable" this year:

Top 10
1. Shake It Off- Taylor Swift: This song was actually really fun, and serves as a nice middle finger to people who dump on Taylor Swift for sometimes justifiable reasons. It's not easy to be laugh off criticism while also taking some mild shots at yourself, but the video for Shake It Off does that perfectly.
2. Pompeii- Bastille: A good, catchy concept with some solid lyrics. This is one of the few songs on this list that I simply really enjoyed listening to this year.
3. Sweater Weather- The Neighbourhood: I can basically repeat what I said about Pompeii here.
4. My Hitta- YG, Jeezy, and Rich Homie Quan: Fun, catchy songs about being loyal to your friends is something hip hop's been doing for a long time. This song doesn't stray far from the formula, but sometimes it's enough to not mess with a good thing.
5. Stay Wth Me- Sam Smith: I actually thought this was a solid song that highlighted some serious vocal talent. I don't know if Sam Smith is going to become a superstar because he seems (even in this song) a bit bland, but he can at least sing.
6. All About That Bass- Meghan Trainor: I know this song gets a lot of hate for having a kind of dumb concept, but it's catchier than most pop songs and lyrically seems to be a small amount better than most of the crap on this list.
7. Counting Stars- OneRepublic: Every time I hear a OneRepublic song I have to convince myself I don't like them. I don't, but their songs are just catchy and non-offensive enough for me to always get them caught in my head.
8. Me and My Broken Heart- Rixton: I don't know who Rixton is and won't bother to find out, but this song found its way into my head just like plenty of OneRepublic and Maroon 5 songs.
9. Sing- Ed Sheeran: This song wasn't awful, I guess.
10. American Kids- Kenny Chesney: Country music is a solid genre whose mainstream industry leaders have perfected the art of pushing the most generic, cliched, patronizing crap on its listeners. The other popular music genres aren't far behind. Chesney tends to stay within that same range as most of his contemporaries, but this song is actually a pretty innocent piece of nostalgia and a refreshing break from the bro-country that's been dominating the genre for a few years.

Bottom 10
10. Beachin'- Jake Owen: Speaking of bro-country, here it is again. I think I hate the beach, since it's apparently overloaded with Bud-Light swilling morons listening to this crap.
9. Boom Clap- Charli XCX: This song just doesn't have any substance to it. Charli XCX has been a part of several atrocities lately, which I guess I'd be more upset about if I knew who that was.
8. Rude- MAGIC!: I thought this song was just really annoying, and I hope the narrator's fiance breaks up with him because of how annoying he is and not because her dad's a jerk.
7. Come With Me Now- Kongos: I'm pretty confident this song only got play because the band uses mildly adventurous instrumentation. They're not particularly good at playing those instruments though. It might be a bit extreme to call Kongos "the accordion rock version of Mumford and Sons," but that's what I typed isn't it?
6. Wiggle- Jason Derulo: This song is so bad that I don't think I could smoke enough of Snoop's weed to enjoy it.
5. Fancy- Iggy Azalea and Charli XCX: This was actually the most annoying song of the year, largely because it got really popular and now we all have to endure more Iggy Azalea. There are worse songs at least, but every time I hear "I'm so fancy..." I'm willing to jump out of whatever window and/or moving vehicle to escape it.
4. Anaconda- Nicki Minaj: This was a horrible idea for everybody involved, even ignoring the fact that Nicki is singing about exchanging sex for cocaine. This was disappointing because I think Nicki is capable of making music I enjoy, and oh boy this was not it.
3. This is How We Roll- Florida Georgia Line and Luke Bryan: So this is the kind of music that's exclusively catered to every redneck that I have to put up with on a regular basis. But not only is this a prime example of the booming genre of Bad Country, it's actually badly written Bad Country. For a genre that's built upon simple-minded reinforcements of a certain lifestyle, this song has a lot of words in it.
2. No Mediocre- T.I. and Iggy Azalea: I would say this song was mediocre, because that's an easy joke, but holy cow this song is awful. Iggy shows up to sing about whatever the hell she ever sings about, which seems like a bad parody of Nicki Minaj's worst songs. But T.I. says some really reprehensible stuff in this song about how he only wants to sleep with hot women, and apparently justified this with "For me I think it was something to uplift women. It’s a get-your-sh—together-type of-record."
1. Loyal- Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, et al: This is a song where a man with a history of domestic violence complains about how women aren't loyal to him. I'm not even sure I need to say anything else.

[kayli]

I'm a little surprised people are throwing so much shade on Anaconda. The lyrics are fun, the beat is catchy, and its music video is undeniably one of the most important to come out in the past decade. There's already a decent amount of discourse about it (two favorites), and I think we'll look back at it in five to ten years as a real watershed moment for popular culture.

[Auks Ran Ova]

In what world is "it produced a lot of overwrought thinkpieces!!" an argument for a song's quality?

[jonpin]

To pull from my list of "one-liner" responses to songs that don't merit inclusion on my top 10 or bottom 10:

"Anaconda" - As an art project and/or social statement? Great. As a song? Not enough original content, and Minaj's cackle in the coda is so off-putting.

I don't think it's as terrible as many are claiming, though. Certainly not the worst butt-related song of the year.

[blizzard]

I didn't hate enough songs to make a bottom 10, but I liked enough to extend honorable mentions to 25

1. Partition-Beyoncé: Best lines of the year ("I sneezed on the beat and the beat got sicker," Monica Lewinsky), perfectly raunchy, proves Bey's supremacy over us all.

2. Drunk In Love-Beyoncé feat. Jay Z: I wasn't going to put Beyoncé in the top two songs, but then I thought, "Surfbort" and did it anyway.

3. Latch-Disclosure feat. Sam Smith: The best song of both Disclosure and Sam Smith finally got the attention it deserves and good lord am I glad it did.

4. Anaconda-Nicki Minaj. Thus song rocks; Nicki kills it. Boy Toy Named Troy and Dude Named Michael will never be forgotten. And don't forget that glorious cackle.

5. 2 On-Tinashe feat. Schoolboy Q. A great song from my favorite artists of 2014 who put out an incredible debut album. 2 On is by far not the best on the album (Cold Sweat, anyone?), but shows Tinashe's depth by making the top 5 on this list.

6. Break Free-Ariana Grande feat. Zedd: Love Me Harder is Ari's best song to date, but Break Free still makes me sing at the top of my lungs every time I hear it.

7. Fancy-Iggy Azalea feat. Charli XCX: The perfect video. Charli's attitude ("Classic, expensive, you don't get to touch, AOWW!!"). Oh and Iggy's alright here.

8. Birthday-Katy Perry: Katy's best since Teenage Dream, her deliver is EVERYTHING. No shame.

9. Habits (Stay High)-Tove Lo: I need to move to Sweden just for the music. Off-puttingly honest with a killer chorus.

10. Shake It Off-Taylor Swift: My favorite musical moment of the year was screaming along to this song with my brother while driving with the windows down. Love the bridge too.

Honorable Mentions

11. Boom Clap-Charli XCX
12. Stay With Me-Sam Smith
13. Problem-Ariana Grande feat. Iggy Azalea
14. Don't Tell 'Em-Jeremih feat. YG
15. Shower-Becky G
16. Ain't It Fun-Paramore
17. New Flame-Chris Brown feat. Usher and Rick Ross
18. Do What U Want-Lady Gaga feat. R. Kelly
19. Team-Lorde
20. Chandelier-Sia
21. Story of My Life-One Direction
22. She Looks So Perfect-5 Seconds of Summer
23. Love Never Felt So Good- Michael Jackson feat. Justin Timberlake
24. 0-100/The Catch Up- Drake
25. Bailando-Enrique Iglesias feat. some other people

[Muriel Axon]

Top 10:

10. "Happy" by Pharrell: Tolerable. But clearly Pharrell hasn't read Thomas Nagel's paper, "What Is it Like to Be a Room Without a Roof?"
9. "Ain't It Fun" by Paramore
8. "Problem" by Ariana Grande: Ariana is an excellent singer, for a 12-year-old.
7. "Boom Clap" by Charli XCX: Genuinely disappointed this isn’t Cody’s #1.
6. "Counting Stars" by OneRepublic: Mostly for wildly exceeding any reasonable expectations for a OneRepublic song.
5. "2 On" by Tinashe ft. Schoolboy Q
4. "Rude" by MAGIC!: I think Sameen nails it when he says this is just a cheap Bollywood movie. But for me, that's a good thing.
3. "Latch" by Disclosure ft. Sam Smith: Impressed that Disclosure has enough fun, wonky beats for at least one decent album, which is one more than most electronic musicians.
2. "Let It Go" by Idina Menzel: In the words of someone on Tumblr (probably), "oh the feels"
1. "Team" by Lorde: The novelty of "Royals" wore off fast, but this is actually a great song.

Honorable Mentions:
"Can’t Remember to Forget You" by Shakira ft. Rihanna – A timely reminder of how much potential Shakira is wasting by being in the (English) hit-making business
"Brave" by Sara Bareilles

Bottom 10:

10. "Turn Down For What" by DJ Snake and Lil Jon
9. "Demons" by Imagine Dragons: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…(to be continued)
8. "All of Me" by John Legend: …zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
7. "Dark Horse" by Katy Perry
6. "Me and My Broken Heart" by Rixton: I wonder what was going through the head of the corporate executive who thought "Lonely No More" was such a dynamite hit that he needed to form a boy band just to plagiarize it.
5. "Let Her Go" by Passenger: Play this song for someone who’s never heard the song and pause it before the end of each rhyme. There’s about a 99% chance they’ll be able to fill in each one.
4. "Trumpets" by Jason Derulo
3. "Wiggle" by Jason Derulo and Snoop Dogg: In the words of Ezra Pound, filth.
2. "Anaconda" by Nicki Minaj: Will 2014 go down in history as the year of butts?
1. "Best Day of My Life" by American Authors: Kill me now.

Dishonorable mention:
"Talk Dirty" by Jason Derulo and 2 Chainz: A terrible Jason Derulo song salvaged by a great sample? Not the first.
"Shake It Off" by Taylor Swift
"Dirt" by Florida-Georgia Line: My forgetful sister calls these guys "Mason-Dixon Line," which probably makes more sense than assuming they come from the Okefenokee Swamp.
Probably most of the songs I didn’t listen to

[Ndg]

10. "Happy" by Pharrell: Tolerable. But clearly Pharrell hasn't read Thomas Nagel's paper, "What Is it Like to Be a Room Without a Roof?"

"Even without the benefit of philosophical reflection, anyone who has spent some time in an enclosed space with a Happy room-without-a-roof knows what it is to encounter a fundamentally alien form of life."

[coldstonesteveaustin]

Top 10:
1. Latch by Disclosure ft. Sam Smith: Disclosure's awesome beat plus Sam's falsetto makes this number one for me. Unfortunately, Sam Smith's acoustic version is not as good. However, my sister told me that this song was much more popular in the summer of 2013, but oh well, that's what happens when it takes two years for a sleeper hit to reach the US charts.
2. Chandelier by Sia: The lyrics are wonderfully deep, Sia's voice is really really good, and I also like the music video.
3. Team by Lorde: I like the lyrics and especially Lorde's voice, but the music video is confusing.
4. La La La by Naughty Boy ft. Sam Smith: Love Sam's vocals and the music video is fantastic, but the little boy saying "la la la" gets on my nerves sometimes.
5. Counting Stars by OneRepublic: This got old and overplayed for me but the chorus is good to jam to.
I am now replacing this with Rather Be by Clean Bandit ft. Jess Glynne.
6. Boom Clap by Charli XCX: Did not realize this was Charli until I did this list. I haven't watched TFIOS, but yeah this is a good showcase of Charli's talent without being tainted by Iggy.
7. The Man by Aloe Blacc: Good verses, catchy chorus, original music video. Also good to jam to. Also, not on this list but also good: the acoustic version of Wake Me Up.
8. Love Never Felt So Good by Michael Jackson and Justin Timberlake: JT's voice is usually super smooth, but it's overpowered by MJ's already amazing song. If JT made a mashup of this and Suit and Tie instead, that would be higher. In any case, this still lands in the top 10.
9. Sweater Weather by The Neighbourhood: Just like Boom Clap, I heard this song's chorus a lot, but I didn't find out what this was until this list. I really like this mellow thing or whatever they're doing here. Lyrics are kind of sketchy though.
10. Sing by Ed Sheeran: Ed's falsetto in the chorus makes this song.

Honorable Mentions:
11. Rude by MAGIC!: Ok, the lyrics could be a little better, but I like that it told a story. Also, the best part was the first two lines of the chorus, which was the core and totally not about blessings or anything until they made it into a full song. I also really like the reggae influence into pop music, and that should continue to be a trend.
12. Turn Down for What by DJ Snake and Lil Jon: When I'm feeling down and I need to laugh, this song and especially its music video cheer me up. Good job to DJ Snake for the beat.
13. Dark Horse by Katy Perry ft. Juicy J: Love the beat. In my opinion, this is comparable to Black Widow, but Juicy J is a slightly better rapper than Iggy. Sorry Rita Ora. The music videos for both of them are disappointing though.
14. Pompeii by Bastille: Chorus is meh, but the "eh eh oh eh oh" was great. Music video made no sense.
15. Stay with Me by Sam Smith: As with Latch and La La La, I like Sam's voice, but I'm not into Sam Smith ballads. That said, it's still a good song?

Popular but boring songs that might still be good:
Happy by Pharrell Williams: The music video is good and the song is catchy, but the lyrics are a bit simplistic.
Shake It Off by Taylor Swift: I don't care about Taylor's haters (hey that rhymed).
Summer by Calvin Harris: Really good the first time, got old really fast. Also, music video is bad.
Burn by Ellie Goulding: Like her voice, but she has better songs, so did not meet my expectations.
Cool Kids by Echosmith: Love the sound but the lyrics are so boring and the music video is so bland.

Bottom 10:
91. Wiggle by Jason Derulo ft. Snoop Dogg: This has terrible lyrics but it still has an entertainingly catchy beat.
92. Anaconda by Nicki Minaj: I sort of understand what Nicki is trying to do here, but yeah this is hilariously bad.
93. All About That Bass by Meghan Trainor: The verses send the same message as Anaconda but in a much nicer way. However, that chorus is horrendously unlistenable and makes no sense, not sure what musical metaphor you're trying to pull here Meghan.
94. Hot N*gga by Bobby Shmurda: This is just a really boring rap song and the airhorn in the background is annoying.
95. Bartender by Lady Antebellum: It's mostly just the terrible lyrics; singing about drinking and dancing is beating a dead horse, and Lady Ant already did Need You Now.
96. Somethin' Bad by Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood: How is it possible that two supposedly good country singers could produce such a steaming pile of somethin' bad?
97. No Mediocre by T.I. ft. Iggy Azalea: This isn't mediocre, this is worse than mediocre. The chorus repeats mediocre too often, and Iggy's mediocre rap is mediocre.
98. Loyal by Chris Brown ft. Lil Wayne et al.: This is such an insulting song.
99. Lifestyle by Rich Gang ft. Young Thug and Rich Homie Quan: Wow the lyrics are terribly bland and YT's voice is torture to my ear.
100. 23 by Mike WiLL Made-It ft. Miley Cyrus, Wiz Khalifa, and Juicy J: What the actual is this??

[Adventure Temple Trail]

I don't really have a top 10, but I want to add one more in the Best column for Sia's "Chandelier" and one more in the Worst column for "Bang Bang." The reason for both of those is based on the same metric: As computer-assisted distortion of voices becomes the norm in pop music, and notes that humans don't hit without computer assistance become a regular part of what aspiring singers hear, the ability to make those super-extreme notes cohere with the rest of a track so they sound credible and awesome, rather than out-of-place or obviously hacked in, is an important part of sound engineering. It seems to me like the artificially high notes on "chandeliiiier"/"exiiiist" add power to an already punchy song (perhaps because her voice on the whole track sounds sort of colder and a bit more mechanical?), whereas the obviously impossibly high belt on "bad girl to blow your mind" just seems like it was cheaply tacked on, and sinks a song which was already in iceberg-laden water to start with.

Do any of the linguists around here know if there's been a phonological analysis of Katy Perry's vowel system? It's very strange. Somehow a very large number of her vowels reduce to /ʌ/, so that all the vowels in "California Gurls", "firework," "colors burst", "as you shoot across the sky, y, y", "ready for anyone," and "dark horse" all end up basically the same.

[Aaron's Rod]

I'm a little surprised people are throwing so much shade on Anaconda. The lyrics are fun, the beat is catchy, and its music video is undeniably one of the most important to come out in the past decade. There's already a decent amount of discourse about it (two favorites), and I think we'll look back at it in five to ten years as a real watershed moment for popular culture.

I like that we live in a world where Drake being used as a prop in a music video is important, although I don't disagree with the whole "reclaiming twerking" argument. For as catchy as "Shake it Off" (my new #5 song) is, the whole "ghetto clothes" twerking section of the music video is really racist and generally in poor taste.

[Muriel Axon]

Considering that Bobby Shmurda isn't the dude's real name, he must be trying hard for the least pop star-like name of anyone to get a hit in the last 10 years. Maybe trying to beat Mike Posner?

[frankfurter]

The 10 Most Sinister Works of Popular Music in 2014:

1. Pharrell Williams - "Happy"
Happiness is obsolete: uneconomic.

2. Florida Georgia Line - "This Is How We Roll"
To say ‘we’ and mean ‘I’ is one of the most recondite insults.

3. Idina Menzel - "Let It Go"
Insane sects grow with the same rhythm as big organizations. It is the rhythm of total destruction.

4. Disclosure feat. Sam Smith - "Latch"
In the end, glorification of splendid underdogs is nothing other than glorification of the splendid system that makes them so.

5. Jason Derulo - "Wiggle"
Work while you work, play while you play - this is a basic rule of repressive self-discipline.

6. Beyonce - "Drunk in Love"
There is no love that is not an echo.

7. Imagine Dragons - "Demons"
In the enlightened world, mythology has entered into the profane. In its blank purity, the reality which has been cleansed of demons and their conceptual descendants assumes the numinous character which the ancient world attributed to demons.

8. Shakira feat. Rihanna - "Can't Remember to Forget You"
Pleasure always means not to think about anything, to forget suffering even where it is shown. Basically it is helplessness. It is flight; not, as is asserted, flight from a wretched reality, but from the last remaining thought of resistance.

9. Magic! - "Rude"
Art is magic delivered from the lie of being truth.

10. TIE: Taylor Swift - "Shake It Off," Maroon 5 - "Maps"
The standardized average of late liberal taste, dictated with threats from above.

[Vainamoinen]

1. "Break Free" by Ariana Grande- I think my repeats on listenonrepeat for this song is in the 1000s
2. "Bang Bang" by Jessie J / Ariana / Nicki - Jessie J hasn't been relevant since Domino, so this was a surprise. This song would be a lot lower if not for Ariana Grande.
3. "Black Widow" by Iggy Azalea and Rita Ora- there's too much Iggy hating on this thread
4. "The Monster" by Eminem and RiRi- Both of their best since Love the Way You Lie
5. "Dark Horse" by Katy Perry- This was not a good year for kween Katy imo, but she still manages to make the top 5
6. "Problem" by Ariana Grande and Iggy Azalea- I mean it has both Ariana and Iggy
7. "Fancy" by Iggy Azalea- yay more eggy
8. "Anaconda" by Nicki Minaj- It made homecoming somewhat interesting
9. "Hey Brother" by Avicii- it's catchy
10. "Birthday" by Katy Perry- this list needs more Katy

[Auks Ran Ova]

1. "Break Free" by Ariana Grande- I think my repeats on listenonrepeat for this song is in the 1000s
2. "Bang Bang" by Jessie J / Ariana / Nicki - Jessie J hasn't been relevant since Domino, so this was a surprise. This song would be a lot lower if not for Ariana Grande.
3. "Black Widow" by Iggy Azalea and Rita Ora- there's too much Iggy hating on this thread
4. "The Monster" by Eminem and RiRi- Both of their best since Love the Way You Lie
5. "Dark Horse" by Katy Perry- This was not a good year for kween Katy imo, but she still manages to make the top 5
6. "Problem" by Ariana Grande and Iggy Azalea- I mean it has both Ariana and Iggy
7. "Fancy" by Iggy Azalea- yay more eggy
8. "Anaconda" by Nicki Minaj- It made homecoming somewhat interesting
9. "Hey Brother" by Avicii- it's catchy
10. "Birthday" by Katy Perry- this list needs more Katy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG2KMkQLZmI

[RexSueciae]

Roll of Honor
1. DJ Snake and Lil Jon - Turn Down For What: If this song isn't a timeless hit, I shall eat my hat.
2. Sia - Chandelier: Haunting. Beautiful. Stylish.
3. Katy Perry ft. Juicy J - Dark Horse: Powering a tossup on this song at the last HSNCT of my high school career was something of a high note.
4. Taylor Swift - Shake It Off: Nobody does it like the great T-Swizzle. (It's a shame Blank Space isn't on this list. I concur with Cody.)
5. Lorde - Team: Praise be.
6. American Authors - Best Day of My Life: The song that played on all the Spotify advertisements was actually pretty good.
7. Ellie Goulding - Burn: Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Ellie Goulding R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.
8: Pharrell - Happy: Kinda surprised he hasn't gotten more recognition in this thread.
9. Jason Derulo ft. 2 Chainz - Talk Dirty: Either it grew on me, or I'm experiencing the effects of Stockholm Syndrome.
10. Jeremih - Don't Tell 'Em: Honestly, I like this song because Lorde did a live cover on a radio show.

Hall of Shame
1. Meghan Trainor - All About That Bass: A two-year-old could write a better song than this, jesu maria.
2. Chris Brown ft. people who should know better - Loyal: I am ashamed to have lived for many years in Tappahannock, the sleepy little town that was disgraced forever by Chris Brown's birth.
3. Idina Menzel - Let It Go: This song is the proverbial dead horse in so many ways.
4. Eminem ft. Rihanna - The Monster: My dear friend Will Overman more or less inspired me to participate, so I'm putting his favorite musical artist in the Hall of Shame. Bwahahaha. Sorry, Will.
5. Jason Derulo ft. Snoop Dogg - Wiggle: ...
6. Chris Brown ft. more people who should know better - New Flame: Yeah, screw you, Chris Brown.
7. 5 Seconds of Summer - She Looks So Perfect: Such a catchy, yet inane, little number.
8. Nicki Minaj - Anaconda: If you think this song was good, then you must be on some mad shit.
9. Jason Derulo - Trumpets: "And the trumpets, they--" NO.
10. MAGIC! - Rude: Just...this song weirds me out.

[Steeve Ho You Fat]

So I just went down the list listening to them all. Here are all the songs I have a strong opinion of, ranked from worst to best:

100: Best Day of My Life - I cannot stand to hear another "Whoa oh oh oh oh". Maybe if you weren't a failure than you'd actually have some accomplishments you could remember rather than just thinking any random day is the best day of your life? Not even a mandolin can save it.
99: Rude - This song is not very good (including the poor attempt at a reggae beat). It also doesn't make sense! Why are you even bothering asking the father if you don't intend to listen to his advice? Why are you asking him if you don't know him well enough to be assured of a favorable answer?
98: This is How We Roll - Modern country is best described as "all hat, no cattle". I'm not one to pine for the good old days, but I don't understand how we got something like this from something like this
97: Loyal - This is worse than bad rap - this is boring rap.
96: Timber - Maybe I'm biased because the first time I heard this was at like 2 PM in a marina when some guy in a boat was playing it really loudly and I don't think this song is designed to be listened to outdoors during the daytime.
95: A Sky Full of Stars - Coldplay not bad enough for you? Let's have some Coldplay with a weird dubstep-inspired beat!
94: Play It Again - Apparently the song's subject doesn't live in the 21st century, since she has to sit around all night waiting for a specific song to come on the radio. But then, once the speaker hears it, he apparently has access to a mobile device and aux cable, since he can instantly play the song?
93: Dirt - Oh boy I cannot stand modern country.
92: Fancy - I don't actually hate this song, it's just kind of boring and goes on and on while never managing to do anything new.
91: Bottoms Up - When I looked this up, the first result was for the music video. If any of you ever show up at a party I host wearing a sport coat over a wife beater or carrying a microphone with brass knuckles on it, I will ask you to leave, even if you're escorted by machine-gun carrying goons hanging onto a car.
90: Break Free - This falls in the same trap of "is the same thing over and over for many minutes".
89: 0 to 100 - No Drake, you are not a better shooter than Steph Curry. Based on videos from the Warriors' postgame plane, he's a better rapper than you are too.
88: Maps - This song isn't memorable enough for me to come up with an insulting comment about it.
87: Beachin' - This isn't country rap, the verses are literally just the guy talking. Not rapping, not singing, not even screaming, just talking. Also, why does Corona sell a product that everyone knows is so disgusting you can't consume it without masking the flavor with lime? And more importantly, why do so many people just accept this and purchase their product anyway?
86: Birthday - Guys, there are birthday songs by The Beatles, Destiny's Child, AND 2 Chainz. You have better choices.
85: Demons - Kendrick seriously collaborated with these fools? Why? Why? How many more? (Hopefully none).

---63 songs that didn't make a strong enough impression omitted---

Good:
14: Shake it Off - I had never yet heard a Taylor Swift song that I actually found myself feeling unintentionally. Well done!
13: Problem - Unlike Fancy, this song does a good job at changing things up to keep it interesting. I freely admit that it's an overplayed pop trope, but the chorus does the "build up female vocalist --> rapping" thing fairly well.
12: Not a Bad Thing - I wasn't a big JT fan back in the day, but this song and the last song with him that I heard (Magna Carta) are both kind of good.
11: Can't Remember to Forget You - Shakira is still around? This is news to me. Regardless, while this isn't vintage Shakira, it's certainly a good song.
10: Am I Wrong - This song kind of epitomizes what a pop song should be: lyrics that are interesting without being too complicated to distract me in a crowded room, with a beat just funky enough to get something going. Unfortunately, the "yeah yeah yeah" part kind of gets on my nerves.
9: Talk Dirty to Me - This song is objectively terrible! And it's great! And 2 CHAINZ!
8: Sweater Weather - Is there a reason why my mind always conflates this song and Black Out Days by Phantogram? I'm not sure, but they're both good songs.
7: Hey Brother - Guys, Dan Tyminski is awesome! I had not idea this song existed, but it's great! Even Avicci is totally acceptable.
6: Chandelier - I had never listened to this song before. That was a mistake.
5: Let It Go - Penalty for rhyming "know" with itself: at least two places.
4: The Monster - I'm not one of the people who thinks Eminem is the greatest ever, but even a mid-tier Eminem song is better than lots of other stuff.
3: Happy - Am I going to defend this song as a great piece of music? No. Am I going to defend this song as a harmless piece of music that makes it easy to follow its instructions and can help a bad day? Absolutely.
2: Drunk in Love - I'm honestly unsure whether I prefer this or Crazy in Love, but the fact that it's even a question speaks well of this song.
1: Partition - Queen Bey in battle rap mode? The best one liner of the year? The centerpiece of one of the, if not the, best albums of 2013? How does anyone not listen to this song a dozen times a week?

[Harpie's Feather Duster]

I've decided to just make a new post so more people have a better chance of reading my list. Here goes nothing!

THE GOOD:

1. "Latch" by Disclosure feat. Sam Smith: I pretty much knew this would be the song of the year for me the moment I heard it: Disclosure absolutely kill it here with a phenomenal track that's pretty damn unconventional as far as "mainstream" dance music has been recently. One of the best buildups to a chorus I've heard in ages, and it's almost impossible for me to resist the urge to go full falsetto when the the chorus actually comes. I like Sam Smith but I think his talent is often wasted on incredibly dull material (I'm looking at you, "Stay With Me"), but he was a perfect fit here. Listen to this whole album if you haven't, and then listen to it again.

2. "Talk Dirty" by Jason Derulo feat. 2 Chainz: 2014 in pop was lacking in good samples, but this one hit it out of the park. 2 Chainz is hilarious as usual, and Jason Derulo manages to be entertaining enough. The production/sample alone here was enough to put this at #2. Too good to even be a guilty pleasure.

3. "Rather Be" by Clean Bandit feat. Jess Glynne: Perfect combination of electronica with strings/piano. I love how pretty much the whole song is based on the opening section in some way, but Clean Bandit manages to vary it enough to always be interesting. Jess Glynne is a great vocalist for this kind of music, it's a shame that "My Love" wasn't a hit at all in the US.

4. "Break Free" by Ariana Grande feat. Zedd: Zedd is easily my favorite of the "mainstream EDM" DJ's, and Ariana Grande doesn't oversing too much for once. One of the best songs to turn up all the way and sing along to, no shame here.

5. "Hot Boy" by Bobby Shmurda: In a 2014 ruled by DJ Mustard, this song was much needed. It's pretty much the anti-2014 rap hit, with the slow, plodding beat and lack of any sense of a chorus or song structure. I'm still mildly surprised that this got as popular as it did in the first place, but I'm not complaining.

6. "Partition" by Beyonce: I usually am not too into Beyonce but this track was great, especially the full version with the "Yonce" intro. Queen Bey delivers some of the best, most Gambino-esque one-liners of the year as well.

7. "Anaconda" by Nicki Minaj: I'll probably defend this song for the rest of my life. I'd consider it one of the best examples of "so bad it's good" ever created. I get the impression that Nicki was TRYING to make this as awful as possible, and it worked wonderfully. This was a breath of fresh air in a 2014 that was simply not weird enough.

8. "Come With Me Now" by Kongos: Anything that's as repetitive as this is should be awful, but there's something about this song that makes me enjoy it every time it comes on. Must be the sick accordion break.

9. "2 On" by Tinashe feat. Schoolboy Q: Tinashe is great in general, and DJ Mustard finally reaches his full potential here with his best beat since "Rack City." Crisp and dark, but still manages to be interesting enough to not tire me quickly.

10. "Do What U Want" by Lady Gaga and R. Kelly: This song was WAY overlooked in my opinion. Lady Gaga is best when she isn't trying to make some grand artistic statement, and it certainly feels like she isn't here. R. Kelly's verse is probably my favorite guest verse of the year.

Just Missed the List: White Walls, Love Never Felt So Good, Hey Brother, Pompeii

THE BAD:

1. "Cool Kids" by Echosmith: Ever wonder what it would sound like if Taylor Swift sang really lame "indie rock"? I have absolutely nothing good to say about this piece of trash.

2. "Demons" by Imagine Dragons: The most boring song on what will mostly be a list of boring songs. At least it's short.

3. "This is How We Roll" by Florida Georgia Line feat. Luke Bryan: I just picked 1 "bro country" song to put on this list, but they all belong about here. The stupification of country music this year was appalling.

4. "Stay With Me" by Sam Smith: Wasted use of a talented artist here. Only slightly more engaging that watching paint dry, the only good part of this song are the gospel vocals in the chorus.

5. "Say Something" by A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera: Pretty much interchangable with "Stay With Me" except for much less raw talent to be wasted here.

6. "Amnesia" by 5 Seconds of Summer: I actually didn't mind "She Looks So Perfect." While very stupid in some parts, at least the guys sounded like they were having fun. Too bad their followup is this whiny mess which feels like it belongs from about a decade ago.

7. "Shake it Off" by Taylor Swift: Most of this song is at least bearable, but the sheer stupidity of the bridge section (This. Sick. Beat.) is enough to put it on the list. Not to mention the insensitive music video.

8. "Animals" by Maroon 5: Textbook post-sellout song by what's pretty much become Adam Levine and a bunch of other dudes. Something about the way he says "Animals-mals" like 500 times in the song is incredibly amusing, but that doesn't save this one.

9. "A Sky Full of Stars" by Coldplay: Blah. I don't usually like Coldplay too much anyways, but this is an unspectacular Coldplay song produced by an obviously underperforming Avicii! Something about this song is just weird.

10. "Let it Go" by Idina Menzel: I'm not a big fan of show tunes anyways, but man did I get tired of hearing this on the radio fast. It's just... not what I ever want to hear when I'm tuned into a pop station.

[ndikkala]

I guess I'll go ahead and start off the embarrassing portrayal of my music tastes. Have fun, everyone!

3. Burn by Ellie Golding- I just love the beat and the lyrics of this song. Not much more to say.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. This came out in 2013, and summer 2013 at that.

3) Team by Lorde - I don't know if this should count since I consider it more of a 2013 hit.

Team was released as a single in September 2013. I don't think that counts as a 2014 song.

[jonpin]

I guess I'll go ahead and start off the embarrassing portrayal of my music tastes. Have fun, everyone!

3. Burn by Ellie Golding- I just love the beat and the lyrics of this song. Not much more to say.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. This came out in 2013, and summer 2013 at that.

3) Team by Lorde - I don't know if this should count since I consider it more of a 2013 hit.

Team was released as a single in September 2013. I don't think that counts as a 2014 song.

As per the rules, we go by Billboard's Year-End Hot 100 for 2014. This provides a mediocre definition of "2014" which includes songs which premiered in the second half of 2013 but peaked or were "on the charts" for large parts of calendar-2014, while excluding songs that premiered late in 2014 but did not earn enough credit to make the list. And, further, to permit the publication of such lists in December when everyone is talking about "the best of this year" (rather than January when last year is old news), Billboard uses a cutoff of December 1, 2013 - November 30, 2014 for the 2014 list (more or less). As such, December premieres (like Beyonce last year) or even fall premiers (like "Blank Space" this year) can't make the list.
"Burn" peaked in late December 2013 and stayed on the list for quite a while. "Team" hit the top ten in February 2014 and peaked in March.

[Kafkaesque]

Best

1. "Problem [feat. Iggy Azalea]" by Ariana Grande. Iggy's verse predictably sucks, but that doesn't stop this sleek, stylish banger from becoming one of the best hits of 2014. Grande has the range and charm of a young Mariah Carey. Props to Disney for finding this talent.

2. "Chandelier" by Sia. Oddly, I didn't even know the name of this song until about a week ago. But Sia's voice just soars here. An inspiring song and accompanying story.

3. "Partition" by Beyoncé. Her album was great all the way through. Flawless and Drunk in Love are both great songs, but my favorite of the bunch is this song, mostly because of the "sneezed on the beat" line.

4. "Latch [feat. Sam Smith]" by Disclosure. As mentioned, not the best on the album, but I'm a big fan of this duo, and Sam Smith delivers a great performance on this song.

5. "Happy" by Pharrell. Was there a more joyous song in 2014? Everything about the track perfectly exudes its central emotion.

Worst

1. "Cool Kids" by Echosmith. I threw up in my mouth the first time I heard its chorus. "I wish that I could be like the cool kids, 'Cause all the cool kids, they seem to fit in. I wish that I could be like the cool kids, like the cool kids." Oh god, it's one of the absolute worst things I've heard in a long while.

2. "Let It Go" by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez. Decent the first time I heard it. Progressively more painful each time after that. I won't deny its catchiness, but that won't stop me from loathing it.

3. "A Sky Full of Stars" by Coldplay. Forgettable trash. The direction this band took for Ghost Stories is the *exact opposite* of where they needed to go to rid themselves of their bland, toothless reputation. What happened to A Rush of Blood to the Head? Goodness, this song and album just suck. How this broke the Billboard Top 10 is beyond me.

4. "Pompeii" by Bastille. The vocal-less indie rock hook has been done countless times before, and it's been done a whole lot better (this song is no "Wake Up"). One of the most boring songs of 2014.

5. "Radioactive" by Imagine Dragons. Jesus, this song is still around? I can't decide what I dislike most about this song. Is it the melodramatic half-shouted vocals (which, might I remind you, are part of EVERY SINGLE IMAGINE DRAGONS SONG EVER)? Is it the completely useless lyrics (hey guys, let's pick a random word and then stretch it out as best we can over four and a half minutes)? Oh yeah, and more of those wordless "whoa-oh" lyrics. One definite upside of the earth's being engulfed by the sun in approx. 8 billion years is that all memory of this miserable band will be erased.

[yeah viv talk nah]

5. "Radioactive" by Imagine Dragons. Jesus, this song is still around? I can't decide what I dislike most about this song. Is it the melodramatic half-shouted vocals (which, might I remind you, are part of EVERY SINGLE IMAGINE DRAGONS SONG EVER)? Is it the completely useless lyrics (hey guys, let's pick a random word and then stretch it out as best we can over four and a half minutes)? Oh yeah, and more of those wordless "whoa-oh" lyrics. One definite upside of the earth's being engulfed by the sun in approx. 8 billion years is that all memory of this miserable band will be erased.

You may not select "Blurred Lines", "Hold On, We're Going Home", "Radioactive", "Roar", "Royals", "Wake Me Up!", or "Wrecking Ball".

Although I did enjoy the scathing criticism of Imagine Dragons

[Kafkaesque]

My bad! I'll switch it out with "Demons" since it's basically the same song.

[Unicolored Jay]

Finally managed to get through them all. Here are my lists:

Top 10

1. "Counting Stars" by OneRepublic
2. "The Monster" by Eminem featuring Rihanna
3. "Rather Be" by Clean Bandit featuring Jess Glynne
4. "Brave" by Sara Bareilles
5. "Happy" by Pharrell Williams
6. "Love Never Felt So Good" by Michael Jackson and Justin Timberlake
7. "Come with Me Now" by KONGOS
8. "Pompeii" by Bastille
9. "Let It Go" by Idina Menzel
10. "La La La" by Naughty Boy featuring Sam Smith

Bottom 10

1. "23" by Mike WiLL Made-It featuring Miley Cyrus, Wiz Khalifa, and Juicy J
2. "Turn Down for What" by DJ Snake and Lil Jon
3. "Trumpets" Jason Derulo
4. "Anaconda" by Nicki Minaj
5. "Wiggle" by Jason Derulo featuring Snoop Dogg
6. "No Mediocre" by T.I. featuring Iggy Azalea
7. "All About That Bass" by Meghan Trainor
8. "Loyal" by Chris Brown featuring Lil Wayne and French Montana, Too Short, or Tyga
9. "Hot Boy" by Bobby Shmurda
10. "Drunk on a Plane" by Dierks Bentley

[jonpin]

My top 10:
10. "Rather Be", Clean Bandit f/ Jess Glynne. Beautiful instrumentation, and a great vocal performance.
9. "Stay the Night", Zedd f/ Hayley Williams. I didn't like this Zedd track as much as "Clarity" but this year's pool is a bit shallower than 2013's.
8. "Can't Remember to Forget You", Shakira f/ Rihanna. I think we'd forgotten about Shakira. And no, that wasn't an intended pun.
7. "Me and My Broken Heart", Rixton. I've seen people complain that Rixton is an imitation of Maroon 5. Maybe, but they're an imitation of Maroon 5 back when Maroon 5 didn't suck.
6. "Timber", Pitbull f/ Kesha. Last year, I felt dirty about including "Die Young" on my top 15 list. I do not feel dirty about including this song on my list at all.
5. "Bang Bang", Jessie J f/ Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj. Nor this track, because my goodness are they FUN. And, something I never thought I'd say, Nicki Minaj kills it. In a good way.
4. "Classic", MKTO. The two members of this duo have clearly separate styles that come together nicely. I'm not sure how I feel about the line "Baby, you're class, and baby you're sick", though.
3. "Ain't It Fun", Paramore. Paramore's self-titled album was one of my favorite albums of the year, and it had a solid theme of leaving the past behind and setting out on your own. It's well-exemplified here. The album version has a slightly longer outro with a bit more from the gospel singers, and I like it better.
2. "The Man", Aloe Blacc. My initial reaction to this song was "Who the hell told you you could take Elton John's lyric from a self-deprecating song, and turn it into a self-aggrandizing statement?" I still kinda have that reaction, but you know, he made it work.
1. "Don't", Ed Sheeran. I did not think this would be my #1 pick, but this is a pretty crummy year in retrospect. After a great debut with "The A Team", Ed had fallen off my list of interesting singers until this number came up. Turns out he didn't need Pharrell Williams to make him cool, he just needed a break-up with Ellie Goulding.

Honorable Mention
"Sky Full of Stars" - With both ESPN and CBC using this track for their post-World Cup videos, it's official: Coldplay is the official band of sports montages. This is not necessarily a bad thing.
"Brave" - I considered it for (and didn't put it on) my top 15 list last year, and it's far from my favorite song on Blessed Unrest, but up against this year's crop, it almost made the top ten.
"Chandelier" - A great performance from Sia, and unlike "Habits", this song takes ownership for the main character's problems. It's not "Oh, I'm getting high because you dumped me", it's "I'm getting wasted out of my mind because that's just what I do."

Assorted Snark and Dishonorable Mention
"Talk Dirty" - A "victim" of my rule that I can only have one song from an artist on my Worst list. Atrocious and unforgiveable lyrically, but that sax riff saves it from being completely worthless.
"Shake it Off" - Not the worst song of the year by any stretch, but maybe the worst MOMENT of the pop-music year. "This. Sick. Beat."
"Say Something" - The most cloying thing on the radio, and adding Christina Aguilera didn't make it better. I would have more respect for this song if it was titled "I Want Everyone Listening to This Song to Start Crying".
"Team" - We get it, Lorde. You don't like your hometown.
"Boom Clap" - I praised "I Don't Care" last year, but this was thoroughly mediocre. The best thing it accomplished was the "In My Mum's Car" remix.
"Anaconda" - As an art project and/or social statement? Great. As a song? Not enough original content, and Minaj's cackle in the coda is so off-putting.
"Not a Bad Thing" - Not even Justin Timberlake can make damning yourself with faint praise cool. How he went from the swagger of "Suit & Tie" to this is beyond me.
"Trumpets" - This song feels like it might be decent in another person's hands, but "I wrote this song just looking at you" sounds a lot more creepy than complimentary.
"Shower" - Not as bad as I was expecting. I guess this is only annoying when my nieces sing it over and over.
"Drunk on a Plane" - Once I actually listened to this, I somewhat softened on it because there's actually a plot to the song, and a reason to get drunk, and then the refrain came on and it was terrible. If I had any fear I would ever run into this song on the radio, it'd probably still be in my bottom 10.
"Birthday" - I would say Katy Perry should stick to what she's good at, but I'm not sure what that is anymore.
"I Don't Dance" - Meeeeeeeeeeeeh. I thought this was going to be a dad/daughter wedding song, but it's not even that. Just straight up meh.

Songs that I haaaaate
10. "Break Free", Ariana Grande f/ Zedd. This is not Ariana's fault. This is the fault of Max Martin and every person behind the scenes. I primarily respond to music through the lyrics, and when you have people intentionally writing lyrics that make no sense, I get angry.
9. "Burn", Ellie Goulding. SPEAKING OF WHICH. I gave her a pass on "Lights", but no more. "We burning one hell of a something". What am I supposed to do with that? Also, she slurs her words too much, so even the lyrics that are meaningful are near-impossible to comprehend.
8. "Come with Me Now", KONGOS. It's an "eh" song but I lost any ability to take it seriously when it was used for an MSNBC commercial. ROAR COME WITH ME NOW [Picture of baby-faced Chris Hayes] I'M GONNA SHOW YOU HOW [Picture of Joe Scarborough].
7. "Stay With Me", Sam Smith. There are some songs and some singers who get to invoke gospel accompaniment. White guy pleading with his one-night stand that he needs her to stick around is not on that list.
6. "Story of My Life", One Direction. Oh no, I love all these girls but they don't love me back even after all the effort I put into it. Woe is me.
5. "She Looks So Perfect", 5 Seconds of Summer. I hope American Apparel didn't pay for that product placement, because everything about this song is terrible. "I got her name tattooed in an arrow heart" may be the LEAST douchey thing in the refrain.
4. "Dirt", Florida Georgia Line. It's an anthem. For dirt. Literal soil. country music. And another thing, if you're building your house from scratch, do you really need a "10-percent-down" mortgage?
3. "Dark Horse", Katy Perry f/ Juicy J. Apparently, as far as Katy is concerned, any word or phrase can be used as a euphemism for whatever she wants it to be. To the rest of us, "perfect storm" and "dark horse" have meanings.
2. "Animals", Maroon 5. To be this high on the list, you not only need to be musically incompetent but often morally reprehensible as well. "I'm preying you tonight / Hunt you down, eat you alive" meets the second criteria. Thinking that "mals" and "side" are syllables that you can repeat in the same manner as "la" or "yeah" meets the first criteria.
1. "Wiggle", Jason Derulo f/ Snoop Dogg. You know what to do with that big fat mouth? Shut it! [plays a third-grade level tune on my recorder]

I'm totaling the votes and will post the winners and losers in the first few days of 2015. Last chance to get your selections in.

[1992 in spaceflight]

Unfortunately, the Year-End Top 100 List doesn't include the only correct answer for the best hit of 2014, "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars. I'll edit a power ranking into this post once I analyze the year-end list a bit more.

Considering Uptown Funk just took the top spot on the Hot 100, I think it's on the right track to be the correct answer for the best hit of 2015.

[jonpin]

Unfortunately, the Year-End Top 100 List doesn't include the only correct answer for the best hit of 2014, "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars. I'll edit a power ranking into this post once I analyze the year-end list a bit more.

Considering Uptown Funk just took the top spot on the Hot 100, I think it's on the right track to be the correct answer for the best hit of 2015.

Hotdamn!

But seriously, here were the top and bottom songs as voted on by YOU... and me.

Top 11 (not because this list goes to eleven, but because we had a tie) Songs. Parenthetical notes are (# of points, # of voters, # of #1 votes)
11. "Break Free" (39, 6, 1), Ariana Grande featuring Zedd
10. "Drunk in Love" (39, 4, 3, no hate), Beyoncé featuring Jay-Z
9. "Bang Bang" (42, 6), Jessie J, Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj
8. "The Monster" (42, 6, 1), Eminem featuring Rihanna
7. "Rather Be" (45, 8, no hate), Clean Bandit featuring Jess Glynne
6. "Pompeii" (46, 8, 1), Bastille featuring oh wait never mind
5. "Ain't it Fun" (47, 8, 1, no hate), Paramore. "I can’t get over a nagging fear that this is a diss song about me, but it was really catchy."
4. "Team" (49, 6, 1, no hate), Lorde. "Praise be."
3. "Shake it Off" (51, 8, 1), Taylor Swift. "This song was actually really fun, and serves as a nice middle finger to people who dump on Taylor Swift for sometimes justifiable reasons." "Nobody does it like the great T-Swizzle."
2. "Chandelier" (57, 8, 1, no hate), Sia. "Sia's voice just soars here. An inspiring song and accompanying story." "If you don’t like this song, you’re a buttless communist." "Haunting. Beautiful. Stylish."
1. "Latch" (64, 8, 4), Disclosure featuring Sam Smith. "One of the best buildups to a chorus I've heard in ages". "I wish I could transition as seemlessly from falsetto to chest voice as Smith can." "Disclosure is good. This isn't even their best song from their album"

Honorable Mentions (receiving votes from 5+ people): "Sweater Weather" (7); "Partition", "Problem", "Counting Stars", "Anaconda", "Happy", "Habits", "Boom Clap", "Talk Dirty"
In all, 64 of the 93 eligible songs received a positive vote.

Bottom 10 (and it's full of bottoms)
10. "Demons" (33, 6), Imagine Dragons
9. "Let it Go" (33, 5, 1), Idina Menzel
8. "Dark Horse" (33, 5, 1), Katy Perry featuring Juicy J
7. "23" (37, 4, 2, no love), Mike Will Made It et al.
6. "Trumpets" (41, 7, 1, no love), Jason Derulo
5. "Loyal" (45, 7, 1, no love), Chris Brown featuring Lil Wayne et al. "This is worse than bad rap - this is boring rap." "Lacks punchiness, features a surprisingly lackluster beat."
4. "All About that Bass" (49, 8, 1), Meghan Trainor. "Jesus. H. Christ. Why do people like this song."
3. "Fancy" (55, 8, 2), Iggy Azalea featuring Charli XCX. "Just makes it sound like everyone involved in the lyrics is an annoying person." "[E]very time I hear 'I'm so fancy...' I'm willing to jump out of whatever window and/or moving vehicle to escape it."
2. "Anaconda" (65, 9, 2), Nicki Minaj. "Well, now I kind of hate this thread for apprising me of this song's existence." "This was a horrible idea for everybody involved."
1. "Wiggle" (73, 11, 2, no love), Jason Derulo featuring Snoop Dogg. "In the words of Ezra Pound, filth." "Every time I’m too slow changing the station on this song, I lose a few brain cells." "[plays a third-grade level tune on my recorder]"

Dishonorable Mention (received votes from 4+ people): "Black Widow", "Rude" (5); "Let Her Go", "No Mediocre", "Turn Down for What", "Stay With Me", "Birthday", "A Sky Full of Stars", "Shake it Off".
I also want to note that "Best Day of My Life" and "Cool Kids" both got two votes for worst song of all and no other negative votes.
In all, 56 songs received negative votes.

And now, out of the 36 songs that got both love and hate, here were the songs with the most mixed reaction, as calculated by a formula that I pulled out of my ass two years ago. Parenthetical notes are (+ points/+ votes/#1 votes, - points/- votes/#100 votes, SCORE)
6. "Shake it Off" (51/8/1, 14/4/0, 13.65)
5. "Fancy" (14/4/0, 55/8/2, 13.83)
4. "Stay with Me" (25/3/1, 24/4/0, 13.96)
3. "Let it Go" (24/4/0, 33/5/1, 16.12)
2. "Dark Horse" (26/4/0, 33/5/1, 16.76)
1. "Anaconda" (25/5/0, 65/9/2, 21.27)