In Defense of the NYT's 'Greatest Songwriters' List

Cannonball with Wesley Morris

The New York Times

News, News Commentary, Arts, Society & Culture

4.7 • 9.4K Ratings

🗓️ 7 May 2026

⏱️ 62 minutes

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Summary

The public outrage was inevitable. The New York Times Magazine published a list of the 30 greatest living American songwriters. 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.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Wesley Morris and this is Cannonball today.
0:17.2	We did start the fire.
0:19.8	We did!
0:24.3	Yeah. We did start the fire. We did! I love lists. I love them. They can clarify and illuminate and surprise. If it's a list of greatness, it can introduce great art to people. It can reintroduce great art to people.
0:39.6	But you know how lists are.
0:42.3	No matter what, they will cause a scandal.
0:47.3	Last spring, the New York Times Magazine where I work,
0:51.2	they decided to compile this list of the greatest living American songwriters.
0:56.7	And we sent out hundreds of ballots to people in and around the music industry to people
1:01.7	like Bonnie Rae, Michelle Indigia cello, George Clinton, Mariah Carey, and basically their job
1:08.6	was to vote for their favorites.
1:15.9	And when the ballots came back, it was up to us to figure out what to do with them.
1:23.0	So, you know, for me, it was like the greatest thing I've ever been asked to do and the worst thing I've ever been asked to do.
1:28.8	Like, what am I supposed to do when Bonnie Raids submits or lits are the greatest songwriters, not obey her wishes?
1:39.9	But the assignment was to take all those ballots and then use our own critical judgment to nail down a list of 30.
1:58.6	So I, along with the reporter Joe Coscarelli, my fellow critics, Danielle Smith, Jody Rosen, John Caramanica, and Lindsay Zolads, we all hung out in a room, sequestered, and spent days talking it, shouting it, singing it all out.
2:03.5	Last week, we published the list.
2:06.6	The 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters.
2:09.2	And look, it went out into the world.
2:10.5	Y'all had feelings.
2:14.1	About 6,000 comments have come in so far,
2:15.6	mostly asking,
	...

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