In Defense of the NYT ‘Greatest Songwriters’ List

After The New York Times Magazine published a list of the 30 greatest living American songwriters, the public outrage was inevitable. Two hundred and fifty music insiders submitted ballots. Six Times music critics and writers sorted through it all to get to 30.

For Wesley Morris, it was both daunting and thrilling. Luminaries like Bonnie Raitt, George Clinton, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Mariah Carey submitted ballots. How to honor those submissions while narrowing down and exercising a critic’s judgment?

Nearly 6,000 comments later, one thing is clear: Everybody’s a critic. Many are asking the nagging question, “How can you leave out so-and-so?!” Our critics included! So, Wesley invites a few of the project’s participants, Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli, the hosts of “Popcast,” and Sasha Weiss, a deputy editor of The Times Magazine, to rehash it all out.

Read "The 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters" list here

[00:00:00] How the NYT approached the impossible task of ranking songwriters

[00:03:39] Standing by the list

[00:07:41] Wesley’s passionate pick: Fiona Apple

[00:11:07] Jon's passionate picks: Jay-Z and Romeo Santos

[00:14:08] Joe's passionate pick: Outkast

[00:17:26] Defining greatness and the performer problem

[00:20:41] Heartbreaks: Joni Mitchell and Drake

[00:22:49] Regrets: Future versus Young Thug

[00:27:05] Regrets: Erykah Badu

[00:30:00] Other notable omissions

[00:34:45] What constitutes writing a song?

[00:37:21] The top five vote-getters

[00:40:18] Why was Beyoncé left off?

[00:42:48] Why was Billy Joel left off?

[00:46:06] Madonna, the underrated songwriter

[00:52:52] The list's legacy: a time capsule

“Cannonball” is a podcast from The New York Times, with the Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Wesley Morris. Every week, Wesley talks to writers, artists and friends about the culture that moves us — the good, the bad and whatever’s in between. Surprisingly personal and never obvious, new episodes drop on Thursdays.

Watch and subscribe to "Cannonball" and “Popcast” on YouTube, and listen wherever you get your podcasts.