The New York Times released a list of the 30 greatest living American songwriters in April, based on feedback from more than 250 music insiders and six Times critics. The list drew criticism from music fans, prompting the newspaper to give readers an opportunity to weigh in.
The Times has now released a readers’ choice list of the 100 greatest American songwriters, explaining, “As soon as we decided to make a list of the 30 greatest living American songwriters, we could guess how readers would respond to the results: with a combination of enthusiasm and outrage, quickly letting us know which of their favorites we had unconscionably forgotten.”
“We didn’t want all that passion to go undocumented. So we invited readers to assemble their own list — with a formal poll,” the publication added.
The new list is based on more than 25,000 ballots cast, which resulted in “nearly 12,000 distinct choices,” before being narrowed down to 100 songwriters.
Unlike the original list, the readers’ choice list ranks its selections. Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and Kendrick Lamar placed in the top 20, landing at #6, #13 and #17, respectively. All three were included on the original list, as were Lionel Richie, Jay-Z, Mariah Carey, Outkast and Babyface, whom fans voted onto the new ranking.
Among the artists excluded from the original list but included in the readers’ choice ranking are Eminem, Beyoncé, Frank Ocean, Ye, Lauryn Hill and Alicia Keys.
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