1Bob Dylan<\/p>\n
Dylan was on our critics\u2019 list<\/a>.<\/p>\n Talk about consensus: A full third of all voters included Dylan on their ballots. (Even the one who noted that \u201cI kinda blame him for things I hate about my parents\u2019 generation.\u201d) Dylan\u2019s 8,265 votes outstripped the runner-up by nearly 2,000 votes. One ballot even wrote in votes for several Dylan pseudonyms, including Blind Boy Grunt, Tedham Porterhouse and Boo Wilbury.<\/p>\n 2Paul Simon<\/p>\n Simon was on our critics\u2019 list<\/a>.<\/p>\n His lyrics, one voter said, are \u201csometimes flirty, often playful, always insightful\u201d and \u201cfloat across melodies like river water rippling over rocks.\u201d A quarter of all ballots included Simon.<\/p>\n 3Bruce Springsteen<\/p>\n Springsteen was on our critics\u2019 list<\/a>.<\/p>\n As one voter wrote: \u201cHe doesn\u2019t feed you a story. He makes you feel it.\u201d Looking at correlations among votes for readers\u2019 top 200 songwriters, we found that ballots including Motown writers (Lionel Richie, Smokey Robinson, Brian and Eddie Holland) were disproportionately likely to also include Springsteen.<\/p>\n 4Carole King<\/p>\n King was on our critics\u2019 list<\/a>.<\/p>\n Judging by the comments that came with them, votes for King were based largely on the songs she performed as a singer-songwriter \u2014 leaving aside 1960s classics she co-wrote, like \u201cPleasant Valley Sunday\u201d and \u201cWill You Love Me Tomorrow.\u201d She\u2019s one of only four people on this list to appear on more than 20 percent of ballots.<\/p>\n 5Billy Joel<\/p>\n Joel was not on our critics\u2019 list.<\/p>\n Joel is the highest-ranked songwriter who did not appear on our critics\u2019 list. Readers made their dismay about his absence abundantly clear to us, starting about two minutes after our list\u2019s publication. (One representative remark from a reader ballot: \u201cShame on you for leaving off the Piano Man. For shame.\u201d) Joel was particularly likely to be chosen by people who voted for Garth Brooks, Don McLean or Barry Manilow. <\/p>\n 6Stevie Wonder<\/p>\n Wonder was on our critics\u2019 list<\/a>.<\/p>\n One voter described the way Wonder\u2019s music was in \u201cmy soul, my psyche, my consciousness, my heart, my mind, my everything. He lives inside me.\u201d Erykah Badu said something similar<\/a> in her lovely appreciation of Wonder for our project.<\/p>\n 7Taylor Swift<\/p>\n Swift was on our critics\u2019 list<\/a>.<\/p>\n Swift, the youngest person in readers\u2019 top 30, was a polarizing figure among those who commented on our critics\u2019 list, but she has earned the admiration of 16 percent of voters \u2014 almost half of whom put her in their top 10 alongside Bob Dylan.<\/p>\n 8Dolly Parton<\/p>\n Parton was on our critics\u2019 list<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cHer songs speak to the \u2018everyperson\u2019 in all of us,\u201d one voter wrote, \u201cand her voice backs up the integrity of the lyrics.\u201d (Gillian Welch said something similar<\/a> in her appreciation of Parton for our project.) Parton appeared on 14 percent of ballots overall, but on nearly half of all ballots that included Missy Elliott, who appeared on our critics\u2019 list but did not make readers\u2019 top 100.<\/p>\n 9James Taylor<\/p>\n Taylor was not on our critics\u2019 list.<\/p>\n Taylor is the second-highest-ranking writer not to have appeared on our critics\u2019 list. \u201cHis music doesn\u2019t demand attention,\u201d one voter said \u2014 \u201cit earns it, lingering long after it ends.\u201d Taylor received especially strong support from people who voted for Kenny Loggins, appearing on more than half of their ballots.<\/p>\n 10Willie Nelson<\/p>\n Nelson was on our critics\u2019 list<\/a>.<\/p>\n Nelson, who is 93, is the oldest songwriter to figure in readers\u2019 top 100; among the voters most likely to name Nelson were those who had chosen Rodney Crowell, Emmylou Harris or Paul Anka. \u201cI\u2019ve listened to \u2018On the Road Again\u2019 religiously for three-quarters of my life,\u201d one voter said, \u201cand it still puts a smile on my face every time I hear the intro.\u201d<\/p>\n 11Jackson Browne<\/p>\n Browne was not on our critics\u2019 list.<\/p>\n A lot of admirers mentioned \u201cThe Pretender<\/a>\u201d on their ballots \u2014 as well as \u201cThese Days,\u201d written by a 16-year-old Browne and first recorded by Nico in 1967<\/a>. Browne was overrepresented on ballots that named some of his old associates in the Eagles, with whom he wrote \u201cTake It Easy<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Listen to the 30 Greatest American Songwriters playlist: 12Tom Waits<\/p>\n Waits was not on our critics\u2019 list.<\/p>\n Many Waits voters were keen to acknowledge the role of his wife and musical partner, Kathleen Brennan, in his writing. (One vote was registered for \u201cKathleen Brennan, Without Whom We Wouldn\u2019t Really Care That Much About Tom Waits, Much as It Pains Me to Say So.\u201d) The choices linked to votes for Waits cross genres but certainly suggest a type of listener: There\u2019s overlap with Randy Newman, Jonathan Richman, Will Oldham, Suzanne Vega and Public Enemy, among others. Readers admired countless Waits songs, including \u201cTime<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n 13Smokey Robinson<\/p>\n Robinson was on our critics\u2019 list<\/a>.<\/p>\n A geographic breakdown of readers\u2019 top 100 finds one state punching well above its weight in the production of great songwriters: Michigan is surpassed only by the much-more-populous New York and California, thanks in part (but not exclusively) to Motown writers like Robinson. <\/p>\n 14Randy Newman<\/p>\n Newman was not on our critics\u2019 list.<\/p>\n One reader said he could write an entire essay about how Newman is not only the best but also the most American songwriter: \u201cNo one has explored the themes of race, capitalism, religion, exceptionalism and the idea of America itself, in all its ironies and complexities, as frequently or as skillfully.\u201d (Another mentioned the biting \u201cPolitical Science<\/a>\u201d and said it \u201ccould have been written by Donald Trump \u2014 if he had Newman\u2019s genius.\u201d) Newman tended to appear on ballots from those who also chose Rickie Lee Jones, Jimmy Webb or Todd Rundgren. <\/p>\n 15David Byrne<\/p>\n Byrne was not on our critics\u2019 list.<\/p>\n A sizable bloc of voters focused on music that emerged from a punk or indie-rock lineage. That bloc contributed to the larger consensus around Byrne, whose vast body of work stretches from Talking Heads into art-rock, world beat and experimental music. One reader said he \u201ctilts the room until you notice the strangeness of being alive\u201d; another ranked him with Kurt Vonnegut and Richard Pryor among \u201cAmerica\u2019s great satirists.\u201d Votes were especially likely to come from those who chose Iggy Pop, Chrissie Hynde, Beck, Patti Smith, Parliament-Funkadelic or R.E.M.<\/p>\n 16Stevie Nicks<\/p>\n Nicks was not on our critics\u2019 list.<\/p>\n Sometimes readers\u2019 choices were difficult to disentangle. How do you apportion votes for Stevie Nicks, for Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks together, for Fleetwood Mac as a collective? (Plus individual votes for Buckingham or Christine McVie?) This entry reflects votes specifically for Nicks; various ways of treating related groupings might have moved her up slightly, but not more than a few spots. Nicks was disproportionately likely to get votes from fans of Madonna, Paramore, Jack Antonoff or SZA.<\/p>\n 17Kendrick Lamar<\/p>\n Lamar was on our critics\u2019 list<\/a>.<\/p>\n Lamar is the highest-ranked rapper on the readers\u2019 list. One voter called his albums \u201caudio cultural landmarks,\u201d praising the track \u201cThe Heart Part 5\u201d in particular. Some voters mentioned his lyrical battle with Drake \u2014 though 13 ballots included both Lamar and Drake.<\/p>\n 18Lucinda Williams<\/p>\n Williams was on our critics\u2019 list<\/a>.<\/p>\n The album \u201cCar Wheels on a Gravel Road,\u201d one voter said, captures memory in an intensely physical way. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t just describe a life \u2014 it reconstructs it, briefly, so you can step back inside.\u201d<\/p>\n 19Jason Isbell<\/p>\n Isbell was not on our critics\u2019 list.<\/p>\n Readers showed strong support for a few different songwriters to have been involved in the band Drive-By Truckers, with both Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley coming within striking distance of the top 250 names. The standout, though, was Isbell, who drew nearly 1,500 votes with songs like \u201cCast Iron Skillet<\/a>\u201d and \u201cElephant<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n 20Jeff Tweedy<\/p>\n Tweedy was not on our critics\u2019 list.<\/p>\n The Wilco frontman was buoyed by support from both an indie-rock contingent (like voters for Stephen Malkmus or Robert Pollard) and a country-Americana one (like voters for Gillian Welch or Sturgill Simpson). Remarkably, the poll\u2019s lone vote for Bhad Bhabie \u2014 Danielle Bregoli, of \u201ccatch me outside\u201d fame \u2014 appeared on a seemingly earnest ballot that also included Tweedy.<\/p>\n 21Brandi Carlile<\/p>\n Carlile was not on our critics\u2019 list.<\/p>\n Including or excluding votes for Carlile\u2019s collaborators Phil and Tim Hanseroth would not change her position, but it\u2019s notable that a clutch of readers praised all three, or the Hanseroths specifically. A few voters mentioned the song \u201cThe Joke<\/a>.\u201d Carlile was especially likely to win the votes of those who chose Indigo Girls, the Avett Brothers, Pink or Sara Bareilles.<\/p>\n 22Donald Fagen<\/p>\n Fagen was not on our critics\u2019 list.<\/p>\n This entry also reflects votes for Steely Dan as a partnership, including individual votes for Walter Becker, who died in 2017. (Though at least one ballot said Fagen\u2019s first solo album, \u201cThe Nightfly<\/a>,\u201d was evidence that Steely Dan\u2019s \u201cmusical signatures\u201d were his.) Fagen\u2019s songs, one voter said, \u201csound like the seediest, most stylish \u201970s neo-noir I\u2019ve ever seen\u201d; he was a prominent vote among those who also chose Todd Rundgren or members of the Doobie Brothers.<\/p>\n 23Neil Diamond<\/p>\n Diamond was not on our critics\u2019 list.<\/p>\n Critics and snobs, one voter said, might consider him campy, but \u201cyou know they can sing every single word of \u2018Sweet Caroline\u2019 at the top of their lungs.\u201d Judging from voters\u2019 comments, their love for Diamond might not even much depend on his songs that were made more famous by others, like \u201cI\u2019m a Believer<\/a>\u201d and \u201cRed Red Wine<\/a>.\u201d Diamond received just over 1,000 votes \u2014 a good indicator of just how quickly consensus evaporates as you move away from Dylan\u2019s more than 8,000.<\/p>\n 24John Fogerty<\/p>\n Fogerty was not on our critics\u2019 list.<\/p>\n One voter noted that the Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman\u2019s work \u201cfrom \u201968 through \u201970 (six whole albums!) is perhaps the single most prolific period of sustained songwriting brilliance we have ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n 25R.E.M.<\/p>\n R.E.M. was not on our critics\u2019 list.<\/p>\n The band\u2019s songs were always credited, democratically, to all four members \u2014 Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe \u2014 each of whom also received individual votes. One voter called the group \u201cthe absolute blueprint for channeling articulate discontent into cryptic, melancholic and structurally perfect alt-rock.\u201d The songs readers mentioned ranged across the band\u2019s career, from \u201cSo. Central Rain<\/a>\u201d and \u201cCuyahoga<\/a>\u201d to \u201cYou Are the Everything<\/a>\u201d and \u201cNightswimming<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n 27Don Henley<\/p>\n Henley was not on our critics\u2019 list.<\/p>\n Another web of votes that was hard to disentangle involved the Eagles, with ballots naming the band as a whole as well as various individual writers or combinations thereof \u2014 Henley, Glenn Frey, Henley and Frey, Don Felder, Joe Walsh, Randy Meisner and so on. If you combined the vote totals of the band and everyone who ever wrote or co-wrote an original Eagles song (including Jack Tempchin, J.D. Souther and Bob Seger), the sum would just barely miss readers\u2019 top 10, though nearly half of those votes would arrive via Jackson Browne. <\/p>\n 28Lionel Richie<\/p>\n Richie was on our critics\u2019 list<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cSo emotional, he\u2019s played at weddings, engagements and even funerals,\u201d one voter said. Comments on our critics\u2019 list sometimes balked at Richie\u2019s presence \u2014 one person even voted for \u201canyone who is not Lionel Richie\u201d \u2014 but many, many readers shared an admiration for the monumental tenderness of songs like \u201cEasy<\/a>\u201d and \u201cHello<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n 29Brian & Eddie Holland<\/p>\n Brian & Eddie Holland were on our critics\u2019 list<\/a>.<\/p>\n It took some time to collate the countless ways people indicated votes for the two surviving members of Motown\u2019s Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team \u2014 including one truly surreal moment of ambiguity involving Dexter Holland of the Offspring.<\/p>\n 30Jimmy Webb<\/p>\n Webb was not on our critics\u2019 list.<\/p>\n Webb is the highest-ranking person on the readers\u2019 list who is best known as a writer of songs performed by others. Ballots were full of praise for various Webb classics: Those made famous by Glen Campbell were particular favorites (\u201cWichita Lineman<\/a>,\u201d \u201cGalveston<\/a>\u201d), but there was also plenty of love for songs like \u201cBy the Time I Get to Phoenix<\/a>\u201d (first recorded by Johnny Rivers) and \u201cMacArthur Park<\/a>\u201d (first recorded by the Irish actor \u2014 and future Dumbledore \u2014 Richard Harris).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"1Bob Dylan Dylan was on our critics\u2019 list. Talk about consensus: A full third of all voters included…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254962,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[83911,54849,1613,99273,2538,9,11,10,99274,20075,6161,83914,99275,99277,99276],"class_list":["post-254961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-americansongwriters2026","tag-billy","tag-country-music","tag-joel","tag-music","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-nicks","tag-pop-and-rock-music","tag-rap-and-hip-hop","tag-rhythm-and-blues-music","tag-stevie","tag-tom","tag-waits"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}