List: The Best Songs of 2005

Photo: The Clientele - Strange Geometry

Last year, in rounding up my favorite songs* of the year, I missed a few -- namely, the Clientele's totally awesome "Since K Got Over Me," not to mention, uh, Amerie's "One Thing" and plenty of other stuff. So as we wind down 2006, here's a quick look back at 2005. The albums might not be trendy any more, but you can still jam this stuff on your iPod shuffle, right?

*On these kinds of lists, I tend to avoid tracks from the albums I really like because if I like the whole thing, how is a song going to stand out? So there's no Andrew Bird or Lewis & Clarke on this list, though songs from most of my top 10 did manage to find a spot on here.

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Unrankable: R. Kelly - "Trapped in the Closet"

1. The Clientele - "Since K Got Over Me" (mp3 (link removed))
2. Ryan Adams - "Starlite Diner"
3. Richard Hawley - "The Ocean" (mp3 (link removed))
4. Smog - "Drinking At The Dam" (mp3 (link removed))
5. Of Montreal - "The Party's Crashing Us" (mp3 (link removed))
6. Sea Snakes - "A Pall Bearer's Calendar" (mp3 (link removed))
7. Amerie - "One Thing"
8. Liam Singer - "One Day"
9. Mia Doi Todd - "What If We Do?" (mp3 (link removed))
10. Frida Hyvonen - "Drive My Friend"
11. LCD Soundsystem - "Daft Punk is Playing At My House"
12. Sufjan Stevens - "Casimir Pulaski Day"
13. New Buffalo - "I've Got You and You've Got Me" (mp3 (link removed))
14. Magic Numbers - "I See You, You See Me"
15. Broken Social Scene - "Swimmers"
16. Fiona Apple - "Not About Love" (mp3 (link removed))
17. Antony & The Johnsons - "My Lady Story"
18. Art Brut - "Good Weekend"
19. Akron/Family - "I'll Be On The Water"
20. Chad VanGaalen - "Traffic" (mp3 (link removed))
21. The Game (ft. 50 Cent) - "Hate It or Love It"
22. Iron & Wine and Calexico - "16, Maybe Less"
23. The National - "Secret Meeting"
24. Rogue Wave - "Love's Lost Guarantee" (mp3 (link removed))
25. The Decemberists - "The Sporting Life"
26. Wolf Parade - "Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts" --> segue --> "I'll Believe In Anything"
27. The Constantines - "Soon Enough"
28. Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - "Pangea" (mp3 (link removed))
29. Kelly Clarkson - "Since U Been Gone"
30. Spoon - "Sister Jack"
31. Bright Eyes - "First Day of My Life"
32. Bloc Party - "This Modern Love"
33. M. Ward - "Hi-Fi" (mp3 (link removed))
34. Field Music - "You're So Pretty..." (mp3 (link removed))
35. Ben Folds - "Prison Food"
36. Bonnie "Prince" Billy/Matt Sweeney - "Bed is For Sleeping"
37. Phil - "Left Coast"
38. Dean Drouillard - "4 a.m." (mp3 (link removed))
39. Holopaw - "Losing Light"
40. Fruit Bats - "Lives of Crime"
41. Gwen Stefani - "Hollaback Girl"
42. Margot & The Nuclear So-and-So's - "Dress Me Like A Clown"
43. Fog - "The Rabbit" (mp3 (link removed))
44. Daedalus - "Impending Doom (feat. MF Doom)" (mp3 (link removed))
45. AK-MOMO - "Return To N.Y."
46. Nada Surf - "Always Love"
47. Cardinal - "You've Lost Me There"
48. Acid House Kings - "I Write Summer Songs for No Reason"
49. Faris Nourallah - "I Run Faster Than You Can" (mp3 (link removed))

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There should be a Kanye West song on here too, but I can't choose between "Gone" and "We Major." Anything I missed?