The Top Songs Of The 2000s: 50-26

Here continues our journey through the top 150 songs of the past decade: 2000-2009.


50. 99 Problems - Jay-Z
Jay-Z is above women. Duh. Actually, this song is all pop. It's Jay-Z telling us how much better he is than us but how he actually wants a woman to love. But he's still a G.


49. Galang - M.I.A.
M.I.A. began here. Before Slumdog Millionare, before Paper Planes on MTV, before publicity, M.I.A. was a real hip hop artist. On a stage with a DJ just spitting whatever the heck she wanted. Now she's semi-sold out. I mean, she did a song with Kanye. Let's remember the goodness.


48. King Of The Rodeo - Kings Of Leon
This is the best example of indie rock gone great. I hate to use the term indie. In fact, you may have noticed that I've been avoiding it in this series but it's very difficult to describe this song as anything but straight up indie rock. When I hear this song I can imagine plaid shirt wearing kids with their Canon SLRs at a Kings Of Leon show wearing wrist bands from past concerts. Indie.


47. Alive With The Glory Of Love - Say Anything
This is a great love song. This is a great song.


46. Oh Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head! (Rebuild! Restore! Reconsider!) - Sufjan Stevens
Fast paced. Intricately orchestrated. Memorable and beautiful. This is an example of the variety of Sufjan's folk side.


45. New Slang - The Shins
This song turned me onto Garden State. Enough said.


44. Reptilia - The Strokes
Before I took up guitar I had my hand at bass. This was the first song I ever learned on bass. It really helped me examine the different levels of a song.


43. Either Way - Wilco
I don't know much about Wilco but I know that this song, and album, is the most optimistic love song of the past decade. So optimistic, it's sad. It's also the opening track to Wilco's best album which exemplifies the beginning of a grand album listening.


42. Ms. Jackson - OutKast
No matter what stage I was in, no matter who I was listening to, no matter who I loved, Ms. Jackson was always there. This song has been on the air waves and on my mix cds for the past 9 years. I honestly can't say I've ever met anyone who hasn't heard this song who was under 25.


41. Mornings Eleven - The Magic Numbers
A great example of what should be played on the radio. What quality musik should sound like.


40. Gobbledigook- Sigur Rós
I've met some new friends here at USC. One of which is named Mike Roberts. Mike showed me a video to this video and said, "It's just the band beating on drums." That may be Mike, but it's an effing great beat and a melody that makes an epic experimental song. Boom. Roasted.


39. Young Folks [ft. Victoria Bergsman] - Peter Bjorn And John
Great pop song... WITH WHISTLING! "Pullin' an Avie."


38. Chicago - Sufjan Stevens
Sufjan's most popular and most cinematically used song reminds us of Little Miss Sunshine and of Sufjan's whole goal of his CD: to allow us to connect with his set state.


37. The Zookeeper's Boy - Mew
Mew has an interesting title with me. They are the best underrated modern rock band. Not to say that they are the best modern rock band, no. They are the best modern rock band that no one knows about.


36. Hide And Seek - Imogen Heap
Only a vocoder. Amazing.


35. Roscoe - Midlake
Disregarding the lyrics, the dramatically memorable tone of the guitar or how amazing the rest of this album is: all I care about is that this song connected me with Austin Crane.


34. Emily - Joanna Newsom
12 minutes never felt so right, so dramatic and so quietly melodic.


33. Disorganized Fun - Ronald Jenkees
Ronald stands for a lot of things. He sounds like early edIT which is amazing enough since edIT is the best electronic hip hop artist of all time. I'm not sure if anything is wrong with Ronald Jenkees but if you hear this song you could never think it was possible. Lemme give you a little background: Ronald is a meme. He's famous only due to his massive amounts of views on YouTube. When he realized that people enjoyed watching him, Ronald decided to show the world his musik. This is the title track off of his 2nd produced album. Ronald went viral. He gives hope to all wannabe artists on YouTube.


32. Time Is Running Out - Muse
Muse rocks. This is probably the best rock single of the past decade. It presented a new era of Muse. They have always been very theatrical and over the top but this song marked the beginning of the rock of Muse.


31. John Wayne Gacy, Jr. - Sufjan Stevens
Sufjan explores Illinois' most hated secret. He does it well.


30. Me And Mia - Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
Ted Leo is underrated. Ted Leo is a great pop/rock artist. Ted Leo is what you need to listen to.


29. Crazy - Gnarls Barkley
Danger Mouse makea a genuine 2000s hip hop beat. Cee-lo hits a melody over it. That's a winning combination.


28. Hurt (Nine Inch Nails Cover) - Johnny Cash
Anyone who makes a Nine Inch Nails song sound good is.... wait. Johnny Cash? Johnny CASH made this song sound good? Oh. my. gosh.


27. I Thought I Saw Your Face Today - She & Him
M. Ward is a brilliant guitarist. Zooey Dechanel has a beautiful voice. This song has lyrics that we all wish we'd written.


26. Battling Go-Go Yubari In Downtown L.A. - edIT
I said it before, I'll say it again. edIT is the best electronic hip hop beat maker of all time. Just listen to that. If rappers would use this there would be a whole 'nother scene out there of quality modern rap. Please? Anyone?

Be sure to continue to come back for more of the list.
Sunday: 150-101
Monday:100-76
Tuesday: 75-51
Wednesday: 50-26
Thursday:25-11
Friday: 10 -1


Thanks to these guys for letting us steal their MP3s.
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