The Audiophile’s Voter’s Choice & Top 51 Tracks of 2013

Musicheads,

The votes are in and everything has been counted.  This year a lot of talented artists put out a lot of good music, some in bunches, some in one singular piece of musical goodness.  To keep this vote interesting I only chose 1 song per group for the list (although I could have easily thrown in a number of tracks from a few certain artists to round out my top 51).  But what did YOU, the reader select for your favorite track of the year?  It seemed to be a common theme among the voters.  2013 was a year for robots!

That’s right, Daft Punk’s smash single Get Lucky took the crown for this year’s top track of 2013.  With over 100 million streams of the track on Spotify alone, the French duo took the world by storm with its hard to forget beat and easily danceable sound.  Partnering up with legendary guitarist Nile Rodgers and the smooth-voiced Pharrell Williams, the robots had a hit machine in the works before the album even dropped.  Partnered with the incredible publicity campaign full of track snippets (see Daft Punk…a decade without) and even a 30-sec looped promo teaser that even made its way around the internet and even radio for a week before being labelled for what it was.  This song continues to be incredibly catchy and just makes you want to do and sing along.  Just look, even Colbert is doing it!

http://vimeo.com/71943827

That right there is why people love it and that is why it won in the voter’s ears and why I believe it rightly deserves the top place of honor as 2013’s Song Of The Year!

A close second in my book was the Scottish trio CHVRCHES‘ incredibly catchy tune The Mother We Share.

Listening to this song, you are not only uplifted, but want to dance and sing along to the synthesized notes and vocal samples.  It’s an instant mood changer and the pixie-ish lead singer, Lauren Mayberry, you can’t help but smile at. And the funniest/ironic part? It’s actually a very lyrically melancholy song.  This was actually the goal of the group on the song, to make a song that, while lyrically sad, tricks you with a false feeling of empowerment and excitement built in the music.  It really is quite a feat, and one the Scots pull off very well.

Feel free to continue to enjoy the Spotify Playlist linked below and here is the complete list in order of the Audiophile’s top 51 tracks of 2013:

Playlist: The Audiophile: Top 51 Tracks of 2013

1. Daft Punk – Get Lucky (feat. Pharell Williams)
2. CHVRCHES – The Mother We Share
3. Vampire Weekend – Step
4. Bastille – Pompeii
5. Arctic Monkeys – Do I Wanna Know?
6. Haim – The Wire
7. Local Natives – Heavy Feet
8. Savages – Shut Up
9. Jake Bugg – Lightning Bolt
10. NONONO – Pumpin Blood
11. Bat For Lashes – All Your Gold
12. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Sacrilege
13. Foals – My Number
14. London Grammar – Strong
15. Classixx – Holding On
16. Phosphorescent – Song For Zula
17. Wild Cub – Thunder Clatter
18. Lorde – Royals
19. St. Lucia – All Eyes On You
20. San Fermin – Sonsick
21. The Head & The Heart – Shake
22. The Knocks – Modern Hearts (feat. St. Lucia)
23. Crystal Fighters – You & I
24. RAC – Let Go (feat. Kele, MNDR)
25. MS MR – Hurricane
26. Paramore – Still Into You
27. Phoenix – Trying To Be Cool
28. Arcade Fire – Afterlife
29. Cut Copy – We Are Explorers
30. Jagwar Ma – Come Save Me
31. Capital Cities – Safe and Sound
32. Frank Turner – Recovery
33. Steve Martin & Edie Brickell – Love Has Come For You
34. The 1975 – Chocolate
35. Noah And The Whale – There Will Come A Time
36. The Naked And Famous – Hearts Like Ours
37. Small Black – No Stranger
38. Everything Everything – Cough Cough
39. Atlas Genius – Trojans
40. Lord Huron – Time To Run
41. James Blake – Retrograde
42. Leagues – Spotlight
43. Cage The Elephant – Come A Little Closer
44. Royal Teeth – Wild
45. Rudimental – Feel The Love (feat. John Newman)
46. The Limousines – Love Is A Dog From Hell
47. Temples – Shelter Song
48. Kings Of Leon – Supersoaker
49. Cayucas – High School Lover
50. Disclosure – Latch
51. New Politics – Harlem

I look forward to everything to come in 2014 and hopefully our ears will have the pleasure to have just as competitive a list to determine next year!

Feel like I missed someone or left them off the list?  Let me know.  Discussion is always appreciated.

and don’t forget to follow on Facebook and on Twitter @AudiofileAkwitz at to get even more music updates that don’t make the posts.

–Akwitz

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