Top 100 Songs of 2017

2017 was quite the year, and we couldn’t have gotten through it without these songs.

Songs are like friends for us. When we hear a song that we love at The Wild Honey Pie, it becomes an integral part of our lives. I remember having contests in the office to see who could transcribe the lyrics to “Mary” by Big Thief first, or who could belt out “Don’t Kill My Vibe” by Sigrid the hardest. These songs have been the soundtrack of so many changes in our lives, and have given us those truly special moments of realizing that we are not alone.

Though it is pretty much impossible to fully dive into every song that came out this year and hold them up against one another, these are, quite simply, the ones that have found their way into our lives and have not left. These are our favorites of 2017 – the ones that have gotten us through the hardest times, and gave us a little bit of hope through it all.

Please let us know if we missed any of your favorites, and click here for our Top 30 Albums of 2017!

Playlist

100-81

100. Palehound – “Room” – Listen
99. Yebba – “Evergreen” – Listen
98. Middle Kids – “Your Love” – Listen
97. Now, Now – “SGL” – Listen
96. Waxahatchee – “Silver” – Listen
95. NIGHT FLIGHT – “Death Rattle” – Listen
94. Cut Worms – “Don’t Want To Say Good-Bye” – Listen
93. Nicole Atkins – “Darkness Falls So Quiet” – Listen
92. Penny and Sparrow – “Wendigo” – Listen
91. James Vincent McMorrow – “National” – Listen
90. Camp Howard – “Juice” – Listen
89. Haux – “Touch” – Listen
88. PARC – “4U” – Listen
87. LPX – “Tightrope” – Listen
86. Tashaki Miyaki – “Girls On TV” – Listen
85. Faye Webster – “She Won’t Go Away” – Listen
84. Said The Whale – “Step Into Darkness” – Listen
83. The Staves and yMusic – “Trouble On My Mind” – Listen
82. Half Waif – “Severed Logic” – Listen
81. Generationals – “Catahoula Man” – Listen

80-61

80. Japanese Breakfast – “Boyish” – Listen
79. Noah Gundersen – “DRY YEAR” – Listen
78. Alex Cameron – “Stranger’s Kiss (Duet with Angel Olsen)” – Listen
77. Lomelda – “Interstate Vision” – Listen
76. Iron & Wine – “Last Night” – Listen
75. Land of Talk – “This Time” – Listen
74. Gordi – “Can We Work It Out” – Listen
73. Yoke Lore – “Beige” – Listen
72. Pearla – “Somewhere” – Listen
71. Julia Jacklin – “Cold Caller” – Listen
70. Chimney – “Paintings Are The Only Place You Never Lied To Me” – Listen
69. Kllo – “Dissolve” – Listen
68. Cape Francis – “Iditarod” – Listen
67. Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile – “Over Everything” – Listen
66. HAIM – “Found It In The Silence” – Listen
65. Middle Kids – “Edge Of Town” – Listen
64. Maggie Rogers – “On+Off” – Listen
63. WHY? – “Easy” – Listen
62. Wilder Maker – “New Streets” – Listen
61. Lucy Rose – “Strangest of Ways” – Listen

60-41

60. Wilsen – “Final” – Listen
59. Father John Misty – “Pure Comedy” – Listen
58. Valerie June – “Astral Plane” – Listen
57. Ibeyi – “Deathless” – Listen
56. Dirty Projectors – “Cool Your Heart” – Listen
55. The War On Drugs – “Strangest Thing” – Listen
54. Laura Marling – “Soothing” – Listen
53. Real Estate – “Darling” – Listen
52. MUNA – “I Know A Place” – Listen
51. Jessie Ware – “Alone” – Listen
50. Nilüfer Yanya – “Sliding Doors” – Listen
49. Carly Rae Jepson – “Cut To The Feeling” – Listen
48. Alvvays – “In Undertow” – Listen
47. San Fermin – “Bride” – Listen
46. Weaves – “Walkaway” – Listen
45. Laura Marling – “Wild Fire” – Listen
44. Grizzly Bear – “Mourning Sound” – Listen
43. Arcade Fire – “Everything Now” – Listen
42. alt-J – “Deadcrush” – Listen
41. King Krule – “Dum Surfer” – Listen

40-21

40. Henry Jamison – “The Wilds” – Listen
39. Slowdive – “Sugar For The Pill” – Listen
38. Cigarettes After Sex – “Sweet” – Listen
37. Vagabon – “The Embers” – Listen
36. Sigrid – “Don’t Kill My Vibe” – Listen
35. LCD Soundsystem – “oh baby” – Listen
34. Portugal. The Man – “Feel It Still” – Listen
33. Big Thief – “Mythological Beauty” – Listen
32. Tourist – “Apart” – Listen
31. Overcoats – “Leave The Light On” – Listen
30. St. Vincent – “Los Ageless” – Listen
29. Feist – “Pleasure” – Listen
28. Fleet Foxes – “If You Need To, Keep Time On Me” – Listen
27. Sylvan Esso – “Die Young” – Listen
26. Julie Byrne – “Natural Blue” – Listen
25. Overcoats – “23” – Listen
24. Ryan Adams – “Shiver and Shake” – Listen
23. Phoebe Bridgers – “Scott Street” – Listen
22. (Sandy) Alex G – “Bobby” – Listen
21. SZA – “The Weekend” – Listen

20. Perfume Genius – “Slip Away”

19. Jay Som – “The Bus Song”

18. Julia Jacklin – “Eastwick”

17. Vince Staples – “Big Fish”

16. Phoebe Bridgers – “Would You Rather”

15. Lorde – “The Louvre”

14. Mount Eerie – “Real Death”

13. HAIM – “Want You Back”

12. Beck – “Colors”

11, Bjork, Arca – “The Gate”

10. Frank Ocean – “Chanel”

9. Moses Sumney – “Plastic”

8. Julien Baker – “Appointments”

7. Big Thief – “Shark Smile”

6. SZA – “Love Galore”

5. Sufjan Stevens – “Tonya Harding”

4. St. Vincent – “New York”

3. Kendrick Lamar – “DNA.”

2. Big Thief – “Mary”

1. Phoebe Bridgers – “Motion Sickness”

Gathering our favorite albums of the year is always such a challenge. 2017 was a year where our society may have taken a few steps backwards – exclusionary politics threatened personal freedoms and made some of us feel unwelcome within our own homes. It was 2017’s music – a combination of bright newcomers and longtime favorites – that kept us going forward. Moses Sumney made his eclectic debut with Aromanticism, a genre-defying collection of strummed guitars, twisting synth lines and buzzing harmonies. St. Vincent reworked her labyrinthine tendencies into chrome-clad future pop and Julien Baker exposed the darkest shadows of her psyche to give us all appreciation for every beam of light. Meanwhile, Kendrick Lamar and Bjork invited us into their unique and awe-inspiring worlds.

And though this pursuit was a challenge, looking back on this year’s music has been quite therapeutic for us. The Wild Honey Pie has come together to list the albums that allowed us to escape to places where each one of us felt welcome and understood. There’s no theme to this year’s list, but our top albums do have one thing in common: in their own special way, each of these artists broke down boundaries to remind us that we are all more similar than we might think.

We’d like to invite you into some of these places, where we hope you’ll feel welcome, too. These are our favorite albums of 2017.

Playlist

30. (Sandy) Alex G – Rocket

29. Tyler, The Creator – Flower Boy

28. Jessie Ware – Glasshouse

27. Priests – Nothing Feels Natural

26. Jay Som – Everybody Works

25. Ryan Adams – Prisoner

24. Perfume Genius – No Shape

23. Slowdive – Slowdive

22. King Krule – The OOZ

21. Sylvan Esso – What Now

20. LCD Soundsystem – American Dream

19. Julie Byrne – Not Even Happiness

18. Vagabon – Infinite Worlds

17. Vince Staples – Big Fish Theory

16. Henry Jamison – The Wilds

15. Fleet Foxes – Crack-Up

14. HAIM – Something To Tell You

13. alt-J – Relaxer

12. SZA – Ctrl

11. Cigarettes After Sex – Cigarettes After Sex

10. Mount Eerie – A Crow Looked at Me

Phil Elverum of Mount Eerie recently lost his wife, fellow musician and comic-book artist Geneviève Castrée, to a heartbreaking battle with cancer. This concept album is dedicated to her, and does not shy away from painful details of their story. A Crow Looked at Me is not just about the way sickness and death infiltrate life, but it is an exploration of what it means to carry on. Elverum says, “there is an echo of Geneviève that still rings, a reminder of the love and infinity beneath all of this obliteration.” This album so beautifully captures that echo.

9. Overcoats – YOUNG

Young is a folk-pop testament to friendship, built from the tightly wound voices of Hana and JJ, and fortified in their dancy and electronic production. This album is about what happens when an unhealthy relationship slowly eats away at who you are. Hana and JJ show us that in friendship and harmony, we can find ourselves again and help to build each other back up. Watching these two grow has been an honor for us, whether they were performing in front of a campfire at our very own Welcome Campers or embracing each other on stage in front of a sold-out audience at Bowery Ballroom.

8. Kendrick Lamar – DAMN.

Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. is a statement piece — an effort that not only showcases the rapper’s immense talent for spitting rhymes that tackle complex social issues, but one that also sets aside Lamar from his contemporaries as a brave voice never lacking honesty in its approach. DAMN. is as bombastic as lead single “HUMBLE.”, as tightly coiled and cutting in meaning as standout track “DNA.” and as expansive as its collaborations with Rihanna, Zacari and U2 might suggest. DAMN. is a much-needed, explosive force, as conspicuous and unabashed as the caps lock and requisite punctuation of its title.

7. Julien Baker – Turn Out the Lights

This album by Julien Baker is a special one. Baker so candidly shares stories of addiction and what it means to be truly consumed in darkness. However, as she brings us into this place, she infuses it with beauty and grace, delivering so many chilling moments of release. She does not sugar-coat the repeated moments of pain and disappointment, but she does find hope within them, belting out her words so powerfully as if they themselves contain the source of the light (and maybe they do). This album has meant so much to us and I’m sure it has to so many others as well.

6. St. Vincent – MASSEDUCTION

Prefaced by the gently ridged heartbreak and teetering chords of “New York,” St. Vincent’s fifth studio album served as a concentrated break into pop music. Masseduction is a rollercoaster filled with twists and turns that allow Annie Clark to extend her repertoire — slipping into the role of abandoned lover, disco queen, enabler – all without sacrificing her love for rougher edges. Behind the iron-clad pop hooks lies an album full of complex emotional and social machinery, where Clark can convincingly rouse adrenaline-driven love, or evaporate the shadow of a lover between the swelling of a string orchestra and her own breath.

5. Lorde – Melodrama

If any moment captures the tender heartbreak behind Melodrama best, it’s the exact midpoint of the album, where, in the midst of the outro to the first part of “Hard Feelings/Loveless,” the song kicks back into one last verse. “Three years loved you every single day, it made me weak…Now I’ll fake it every single day ‘till I don’t need fantasy, ‘til I feel you leave,” Lorde sings, as memories of the rush of first love well up involuntarily. Melodrama is about accepting these pieces as they come back to you, even when doing so is so difficult. The album serves as a beautifully constructed, often pained reminder that even after momentous loss, you are still whole.

4. Bjork – Utopia

It’s no surprise that Bjork made this list, as her innovation has essentially changed music forever. But what does “utopia” sound like for Bjork? This is an album of love songs, a romantic journal containing flutes, choirs and birds that elevate us beyond the reality that we know. She sings of paradise after healing, giving and receiving love unabashedly. She feels lighter here, which is reflected in the airy instrumentals. Bjork sings, “loss of love, we all have suffered / how we make up for it defines who we, who we are” a realization that seems to be the centerpiece of Utopia.

3. Phoebe Bridgers – Stranger In The Alps

Phoebe Bridgers is one of our favorite new artists of the year. Every song on this album feels like a late-night conversation with a trusted friend. Bridgers drops us directly into her world, tackling feelings of unexplainable sadness, friendship and death. Bridgers has a true gift for finding the right words and remaining brutally honest, transforming the mundane into the alluring, making a “stack of mail and a tall can” sound so profound. This album contains echoes of intimacy and morbidity, reminiscent of her emo/folk predecessors Elliot Smith and tourmate/collaborator Conor Oberst. Ultimately, this is an album that we have found so soothing, so inescapably truthful and so reflective of the times.

2. Moses Sumney – Aromanticism

This debut LP from Moses Sumney stretches wide across space and time. Sumney transcends genre in Aromanticism, weaving together ambient synths, acoustic guitars and soulful melodies. The songs on this album take on many different forms – some just a few sentences spoken above a horn section and some with no lyrics at all, just winding melodies cradled in Sumney’s silky voice. Contrary to many of the albums on this list, this one is not about love but rather the lack thereof. Sumney writes in pure poetry about the relationship to the body and its role in romance and identity. He turns the body to liquid and wings to plastic, disassembling it until it becomes clear that we cannot be defined by our bodies, nor can we be defined by our relationships or our past. Aromanticism may be showing us that we are not meant to be defined at all, but rather, we are just meant to be.

1. Big Thief – Capacity

We chose Capacity as our number 1 album of the year because it is the one we’ve had on repeat since it came out, and it has personally meant the most to us this year. Big Thief continues to amaze us, whether it is the tactful and imagistic storytelling of Adrianne Lenker or the pure magic they create on stage, this band is truly hypnotizing, and Capacity is an excellent portrait of their strengths. I remember the first time I heard the lyrics “there are no enemies / we’re make-believing everything” from the title track. Capacity is a storybook containing several of these wisdom-filled moments. This record is imaginative, emotional and timeless, and we hold it very close to our hearts here at The Wild Honey Pie.

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BEST OF 2017