Stereogum's 50 Most Popular MP3s Of 2008
Affordably priced music is great, but free, legal MP3s are even greater. And arguing anonymously with strangers on the MP3 blogosphere would be a lot less constructive without them. So again we've crunched the last twelve months of database activity and come up with a list of the fifty most downloaded promo tracks we've hosted this year. Several cuts come from your favorite albums of 2008 (Hercules And Love Affair, Los Campesinos!, She & Him, Okkervil River, Department Of Eagles, Ra Ra Riot, Sigur Rós, Wolf Parade, Fleet Foxes), but there are surprises, too (a recently posted single from Iran, two tunes from Band To Watch Fredrik, etc.). And it wouldn't be a 2008 playlist without "Time To Pretend" and a gratuitous "Paper Planes" remix. Collectively, these songs were downloaded over one million times from the Stereogum server, so what's a few thousand more? It's Hanukkah after all.
50 Radiohead - "Reckoner (Holden Remix)"
49 Love Is All - "Big Bangs, Black Holes, Meteorites"
48 Iran - "Buddy"
47 British Sea Power - "Atom"
46 Music Go Music - "Reach Out"
45 Annuals - "Confessor"
44 Hercules And Love Affair - "Hercules' Theme"
43 Sigur Ros - "Gobbledigook"
42 Radiohead - "Reckoner (Diplo Remix)"
41 The Kooks - "Tick Of Time"
40 Portastatic - "Some Small History"
39 French Kicks - "Trouble"
38 Empire Of The Sun - "Walking On A Dream"
37 Dan Friel - "Ghost Town (Pt. 1)"
36 Fredrik - "Black Fur"
35 Damien Jurado - "Gillian Was A Horse"
34 School Of Seven Bells - "Connjur"
33 Juana Molina - "Un Dia"
32 Fredrik - "Alina's Place"
31 Passion Pit - "Sleepyhead"
30 Fleet Foxes - "He Doesn't Know Why"
29 Final Fantasy - "The Butcher"
28 She And Him - "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here"
27 Chairlift - "Evident Utensil"
26 MGMT - "Time To Pretend"
25 Jennifer O'Connor - "Here With Me"
24 Ratatat - "Mirando (YACHT Remix)"
23 Stereolab - "Self Portrait With Electric Brain (YACHT Remix)"
22 Wolf Parade - "Call It A Ritual"
21 The Dead Science (Feat Craig Wedren) - "Make Mine Marvel (Craig Dub Plate Mix)"
20 +/- {Plus/Minus} - "Snowblind"
19 The Dead Science - "Make Mine Marvel"
18 Bowerbirds - "In Our Talons"
17 My Brightest Diamond - "Inside A Boy"
16 Shugo Tokumaru - "Green Rain"
15 Ssion - "Street Jizz (Ruff Ian Levine Remix)"
14 Crystal Stilts - "Crystal Stilts"
13 Gang Gang Dance - "House Jam"
12 MIA - "Paper Planes (Remix For The Children By Adrock)"
11 Department Of Eagles - "No One Does It Like You"
10 Human Highway - "Moody Motorcycle"
09 Ssion - "Credit In The Straight World"
08 Ra Ra Riot - "Dying Is Fine"
07 David Vandervelde - "Someone Like You"
06 Talkdemonic - "March Movement"
05 Okkervil River - "Lost Coastlines"
04 Los Campesinos! - "How I Taught Myself To Scream"
03 Yeasayer - "Sunrise"
02 Peter Bjorn And John - "Inland Empire"
01 Marnie Stern - "Transformer"
Thanks to these artists and their labels for recognizing the value in freebies, and thank you guys for all the tip offs. Download here: ZIP.
If you still want more, complete monthly archives of every song we've posted are available at stereogum.com/mp3.
Posted at 6:00 PM by Scott in MP3
I discovered Stereogum (and Videogum) just this year and owe a serious debt of gratitude for some of the great music I've been exposed to from the free stuff you guys post. Particularly Department of Eagles who are apparently being ignored by every music publication here at the end of the year but are #2 on my "Best of 08" list. I heard "No One Does It Like You" totally by accident, after checking out another song in the sidebar media player and forgetting that it skips to the next track after the one you're listening to is over. A pleasant surprise indeed.
I also quite liked Passion Pit, who I heard here and nowhere else. "Sleepyhead" is one of the best songs of the year.
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Hopefully I have them all. I'm too lazy to go through and make sure. I've been introduced to a lot of great music here. I adore 'Lost Coastlines', and I hated 'Sleepyhead', but now I'm listening to it again it's really growing on me.
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Awesome, very cool.
Well, except for #44 Hercules And Love Affair-- I just cannot comprehend why anyone likes them. Good thing this track for the most part is mostly instrumental.
I'll echo moonmaster's sentiment, without stereogum, I probably wouldn't have bought as much music as I did this year since frequenting the site. Cheers.
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Lionel!!
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What's funny is he hates indie rock
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people actually listen to ssion? maybe i should give them a chance...
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good list
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I do not know if I should "lol" or agree.
I chose both.
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http://mine.icanhascheezburger.com/view.aspx?ciid=2945262
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Nice!
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Good list! I should totally download it. One of the things that I love about Stereogum is the free MP3age.
Question: Are you going to do what you did last year and reupload every MP3 that you put up? You havd it organized by month, I think, and the total size was in the gigabytes. You did it close to New Years. That's all I remember. Are you going to do it again?
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Reread the original post. nvm.
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WTF!!! jk lulz; what about rostam's 'campus' that shit was tight
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Thanks, Scott. Happy holidays to all the Stereogum crew.
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Wow, there's only one song I like; see if you can guess which.
>>
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RE: Marnie Stern - "Transformer"
This song is alright. Peppy and zippy; kinda like being amped up on Pop Rocks and Coca-Cola.
But number one song of the year?
Is one of the editors seeking a lifetime to pass to Marnie's kissing booth?
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Ever better than the coterie of beards & bellies :14 seconds into this video, is the guy getting his groove on at 2:24.
I swear she's chanting, "Amrit ... Amrit ...:" around 2:07.
I can dig it. Sidepockets. Backpockets. Your pockets. My pockets.
Cash. Galleries. Events. Speakeasies. Transactions. Contraband.
I asked her out and she told me she's a lesbian but I think she's fucking with me.
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Errrrr...This video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tF77_yU39g
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They did not say it was #1 song of the year, simply that it was downloaded the most times. It has nothing to do with the "editors" at stereogum, it was the readers downloading the file.
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amen to marnie stern. good to see some top recognition for her.
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Thanks guys for sharing this list.
Bowerbirds - "In Our Talons" rocks )
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yummy! thank you.
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