In celebration of 2019’s remarkable music output, I put together a list of the sixty best songs so far.

Starting with entries 60 through 51, the list will be unveiled over the next few days. For each entry, I’ll highlight the best line, or lyric, best moment, and favorite fact about the artist.

Subscribe so you can read the next one as soon as it drops.

60. F&N – Future

Best Line

I just took an AK to a dinner date

Best Moment

Future’s best moment of 2019: the tectonic beat change at 2:00. He’s had a good year. This is the highlight.

Favorite Fact about Future

Future loves Shakespeare.

“When I went to school, I would read Shakespeare and just fell in love with how he mixed his words. I started playing around and writing poems, reading poems.”

59. Cold – Rico Nasty, Kenny Beats

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Best Line

Cross you just like a rosary

Best Moment

1:03-1:15. That lead-up to the chorus is filthy.

Favorite Fact about Rico Nasty

She has a four-year-old son named Cameron, meaning she is officially one of the coolest moms in the world. One more reason to support her.

58. Rattle at Will – Laura Stevenson

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Best Line

I’d say rattle at will, I’ve been drinking my milk

Best Moment

2:18-2:30. It perfectly encompasses what Laura Stevenson does so well.

Favorite Fact about Laura Stevenson

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She has a great Twitter.

57. Morrow – 070 Shake

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Best Line

I know it’s hard to swallow
I don’t know if I’ll be here tomorrow

Best Moment

The chorus, which absolutely soars.

Favorite Fact about 070 Shake

Her upcoming album, Modus Vivendi, is supposedly about “different smells.”

56. 1972 – Broken Social Scene

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Best Line

Life leads, eyes bless

Best Moment

1:00. The first time the warbling noise harmonizes with singer Ariel Engle. It’s the best kind of earworm.

Favorite Fact about Broken Social Scene

They are Maggie Rogers’s favorite band.

55. Rap Song Tutorial – Injury Reserve

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Best Line

I’ll be drape-draped up like Joaquin in Her

The sauce is undeniable.

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Best Moment

When I showed the song to a few of my more music-obsessed students without briefing them on the premise. . . They were blown away.

Favorite Fact about Injury Reserve

Because they’re from Phoenix (not exactly a hotbed for hip-hop), their zany brand of music is mostly influenced by the Internet. You know how New York has a sound? LA? Miami? Chicago? Injury Reserve is what happens when you’re not from one of those Meccas.

54. Pumpkin Attack on Mommy and Daddy – Xiu Xiu

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Best Line

What if the bear was just a dumbass?

Best Moment

:32, when all the experimental cacophony hits. It’s wild.

Favorite Fact about Xiu Xiu

“Normally I try to avoid making public any overt explanations as to what any of our records or songs are about lyrically. Whenever asked—and although it is quite fair to pose a band this question—I will usually say that it is not my business to define these things for the listener. One’s own thoughts don’t need any of my inane disruptions. Obviously I havemy own ideas about the lyrics, but the hope is that anyone who might check them out has their own experience: good or bad, expanded or null.”