Music Archive
Albums of the Year
By The Top 13 on December 02, 2011
With 2011 now nothing but a memory, we reveal the Top 13 Albums of the Year, as selected by our readers. For the third straight year, we received far more submissions than... more
Albums of the Year (2010)
By The Top 13 on January 10, 2011
With 2010 now squarely in the rear-view mirror, we reveal the Top 13 Albums of the Year, as selected by our readers. We received more submissions for this Top 13 than we... more
Mad Musical Geniuses
By Matthew for the The Top 13 on May 19, 2010
The American entertainer Oscar Levant once said, "There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have crossed that line." Such has been the case for many artists both... more
Worst Musical Transformations
By The Top 13 on May 03, 2010
Whether it be out of sheer boredom, the need to reinvigorate one's career, or simply a desire to expand artistically, musicians are constantly transforming themselves.... more
Essential Live Albums
By Matthew for The Top 13 on April 27, 2010
The live concert album has long been a staple of jazz music, where it captures for a home listener the improvisation and synergy between musicians that define the best jazz... more
Favorite Song Titles | Guest List by Nick Thorburn
April 20, 2010
Songwriting can be tricky. Sometimes, it's sort of like a puzzle, and the more you pile on musically, the harder it can be to wedge words in afterwards. One approach that... more
Canadian Indie Rock Bands
By The Top 13 on April 12, 2010
Today marks the start of Juno Week, the seven-day Canadian music industry event that culminates this weekend with the presentation of the 2010 Juno Awards. The awards are... more
Favorite Songs of the Dallas Cowboys | Guest List by Martellus Bennett
April 08, 2010
Music is really important to us. Everyone's listening to their iPod before games, and when we come in at halftime, guys go straight back to their iPods before the coaches... more
Female MCs
By The Top 13 on March 30, 2010
Late last year, rapper of the moment Drake called his Young Money colleague and Lil Wayne protégé Nicki Minaj "the best female rapper alive" after watching her freestyle... more
Posthumous Albums
By The Top 13 on March 24, 2010
After the death of singer-songwriter Mark Linkous earlier this month, many wondered whether the Sparklehorse album he had recently recorded would be released. Already, one... more
Acting Performances by Musicians
By Matthew for The Top 13 on March 23, 2010
Historically, musicians have been best utilized in film roles by being limited to cameos (Keith Richards in Pirates of the Caribbean), having only one line (Dee Dee Ramone... more
Worst Songs by Professional Athletes
By The Top 13 on March 22, 2010
Last week, pound-for-pound boxing champ Manny Pacquiao was forced to cancel a concert planned for Hawaii because of meager ticket sales. Pacquiao's bizarre foray into... more
Hidden Tracks
By The Top 13 on March 16, 2010
The hidden track dates all the way back to The Beatles' Abbey Road, which includes "Her Majesty," a 23-second unlisted song at the end of the album's second side. Since... more
SXSW Day Parties
By The Top 13 on March 15, 2010
The South by Southwest Music Festival starts on Wednesday and we know that deciding which of the hundreds of shows to check out each day can be an overwhelming task. So we... more
Hair Metal Bands
By The Top 13 on March 09, 2010
Hair or glam metal, one of our very favorite genres of music from our youth, has seen a resurgence of sorts over the past few years. Many of the bands from that era have... more
Guru Songs
By The Top 13 on March 03, 2010
Earlier this week, legendary emcee Guru of the pioneering New York rap group Gang Starr suffered a severe heart attack that left him in a coma. Like the entire hip hop... more
Independent Record Labels
By The Top 13 on March 02, 2010
With the recent announcement that independent hip hop label Definitive Jux was shuttering its doors, we at the Top 13 wondered where El-P's famed New York indie fit in the... more
Grunge Albums
By The Top 13 on February 24, 2010
Just about twenty years after the birth of grunge and the Seattle Scene, a number of the most prominent bands of that era are back with tours and/or new albums.... more
Charity Songs
By The Top 13 on February 18, 2010
With the release last week of "We Are the World 25 for Haiti," a remake of the 1985 hit song for charity "We Are the World," we decided to take a look at the best of those... more
One-Album Wonders
By Matthew for The Top 13 on February 17, 2010
Though the topic of one-hit wonders in pop music is frequently debated, there is far less discussion about those artists who release one amazing hit album but never again... more
Videos from MTV's First Day
By The Top 13 on February 08, 2010
MTV debuted on a select few cable systems on August 1, 1981 with a limited roster of videos to choose from. Indeed, of the 62 videos that aired on that first day, five were... more
Hip Hop Albums of the 1990s | Reader List
February 03, 2010
Last month, Rapper Big Pooh from acclaimed North Carolina group Little Brother ranked his Top 13 Hip Hop Albums from the 1990s, which we think was the genre's best decade... more
Hip Hop Albums of the 1990s | Guest List by Rapper Big Pooh
January 19, 2010
Putting together these 13 albums proved to be a difficult task. I'm serious, so difficult it took me over a week to finally decide on these 13 albums. I had to go with the... more
Songs of the Decade
By The Top 13 on January 14, 2010
The Lollapalooza Message Board is a place of constant music discussion, discovery, and debate (among other things). With that in mind, dozens of message board members spent... more
Elvis Presley Songs
By Joe for The Top 13 on January 07, 2010
Tomorrow, Elvis Presley would have celebrated his 75th birthday. Unfortunately, he died in 1977 at the way-too-early age of 42. Still, he is the best-selling solo artist of... more
Music Festivals of the Year
By The Top 13 on January 05, 2010
After a period of substantial growth in the music festival industry, 2009 saw the beginning of a potential market correction, as several annual festival decided to take the... more
Albums of the Year (2009) | Reader List
January 04, 2010
Today, we present the results of our favorite reader list: The Top 13 Albums of the Year. Your Top 13 includes seven albums that made our Top 13 and six that did not. While... more
Pop Albums of the Decade
By The Top 13 on December 28, 2009
If you've listened to the radio during the past decade, you are undoubtedly familiar with several dozen songs off the albums on today's Top 13 - Pop Albums of the Decade.... more
Albums of the Year (2009)
By The Top 13 on December 07, 2009
It's The Top 13's favorite time of year, but that has nothing to do with the holiday season. We love the end of the year because of how much we enjoy making our year-end... more
Debut Albums of the Year
By The Top 13 on November 30, 2009
As the year has wound down, we've been considering what albums might make our year-end list of 2009's best. We found that there were many debut albums contending for spots... more
Hip Hop Albums of the Decade | Reader List
November 25, 2009
Earlier this month, Peter Rosenberg, one of the hosts of Hot 97's popular morning show, counted down his Top 13 Hip Hop Albums of the Decade. That day, we asked you to... more
Concert Films
By The Top 13 on November 19, 2009
This Is It, the documentary featuring footage of Michael Jackson's rehearsals for the tour he was preparing at the time of his death, is raking it in at the box office.... more
Hip Hop Albums of the Decade | Guest List by Peter Rosenberg
November 09, 2009
As the decade comes to a close, Peter Rosenberg counts down his Top 13 Hip Hop Albums of the Decade. While his Top 13 includes a few of the decade's most critically... more
Albums of the Decade | Reader List
November 05, 2009
As the end of the decade neared, The Top 13's predecessor site sought submissions from music fans to see what they collectively believed were The Top 13 Albums of the... more
Albums of the Decade
By The Top 13 on November 01, 2009
With less than two months remaining in the decade, The Top 13 takes a look at the best albums of the 2000s. While many have said that this decade saw the death of the album... more