Commentary, Pt. 4: Pitchfork Top 500 of the 2000s

There's not much more to talk about with this list (especially since most people probably couldn't care less), but we want to end with looking at some of the artists that made multiple appearances. Although a lot of groups had at least two songs on the Top 500, no one had more than four; which is surprising when you consider how Pitchfork often plays favorites. Below is a list of the artists with 3 songs in the Top 500 (average ranking in parentheses):

• LCD Soundsystem (12)
• Hot Chip (50)
• Daft Punk (56)
• The White Stripes (68)
• M.I.A. (84)
• Arcade Fire (117)
• Missy Elliott (117)
• Spoon (122)
• Clipse (134)
• Belle and Sebastian (144)
• Phoenix (144)
• Eminem (177)
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs (182)
• Grizzly Bear (202)
• Sufjan Stevens (215)
• The Strokes (219)
• Cat Power (242)

Anyone who reads Pitchfork knows that they have a dance-music infatuation, and that's clearly evident with LCD Soundsystem, Hot Chip, and Daft Punk garnering the highest average rankings of artists with three songs. As you move down the list (and the picks become more arbitrary), you start seeing other Pitchfork favorites. Still, if you'd told me that Sufjan's average song rank would be 215, I'm not sure I'd believe you.

Although 17 artists nabbed three songs selections on the Top 500, only 6 found four of their tracks on the list:

• Jay-Z (44)
• Animal Collective (59)
• Outkast (69)
• Radiohead (86)
• Kanye West (101)
• Destiny's Child/Beyonce (138)

It may be a little surprising to see four of the six artists fall into the hip-hop/R&B genre, especially for this cadre of critics. Animal Collective notwithstanding, I don't think anyone would argue with this group being some of the most hit-worthy in the industry, and they're custom-built for any Best-Of list for individual tracks.

If nothing else, we hope these posts have inspired you to go back in your music library and re-listen to some songs that've maybe laid dormant for a while. As always, lists like these (and their non-scientific analyses) have to be taken with a grain of salt. But they're fun to talk about, and with the invention of music services like Lala and Imeem, you actually get to listen to each of them and make your own decisions. Have a great Labor Day, stay safe, and listen to great music!