Top 20 lists of 2009

With the decade quickly rolling to a close, dozens of “Top 10” lists are coming out. Whether authored in a magazine, on a blog, or on facebook, these lists are obviously subjective to who is writing them. I looked at multiple lists from different sources, and found diverse rankings everywhere I went. Yes, some places showed the same songs in different spots on the chart, but often times I would find that certain songs didn’t even show up on the different lists. This made me think – why do we insist on making these rankings? If everyone has a different opinion on music anyways, can we as a population get anything out of these lists? What makes people get a thrill out of seeing songs placed in a particular order? Does it make one feel “cool” if they like a song that shows up on the chart? Honestly, I think part of it is that people like having easy and simple things to read. Instead of reading an intelligent article in a magazine, like “The Economist,” they can opt for less confusing dialect that still gives them something to think and converse about. People are also prone to judge everything they see, so by looking into these rankings, people are able to judge the songs, the author, and the magazine in general in simple ways that don’t require too much brainpower. While this is a negative view of the situation, I do think someone needed to put that out there.

It is fun, though, to look through these charts and wonder what kind of person put them together. As I read them, I always think to myself, “This person loves their rock music,” or, “The person who wrote this article is obviously biased towards heavy metal.” In truth, people like to know things about other people, and a good way to get to know someone is by reading articles that state said person’s opinions! We as humans are naturally inquisitive, and are always interested to know more about others, so this “list-making” gets us one step closer to finding out something about one more person in this large world. After all, when you are first getting to know someone, doesn’t music usually come up? In most of my encounters, it does. Not only does it let us have internal discussions, but also these charts bring people together over their music. By mentioning a “Top 10” list, you instantly started what could be an hour-long conversation, delving into why the author picked the songs they did and why. In essence, these lists bring people together – who doesn’t want that?