In case you missed it, a bunch of really talented, hard working, 21st century enthusiast music writers got together to discuss the 250 best albums of the 21st century. While the blurbs are all well written and shed new, fresh light on these albums, they were missing an audible accompaniment, a way to experience the ’00s on the go. So, the writers teamed up to pick one song from every album — not necessarily the “hit” of the album, but the writer’s top pick. The playlist can be found here, and the starred tracks below denote those that were unavailable on Spotify.

  1. Air France – “Collapsing Outside Your Doorstep” (No Way Down EP)
  2. Blood Orange – “Augustine” (Freetown Sound)
  3. The Other People Place – “You Said You Want Me” (Lifestyles of the Laptop Cafe)
  4. Love Is All – “Make Out. Fall Out. Make Up” (Nine Times That Same Song)
  5. Father John Misty – “Chateau Lobby #4 (In C for 2 Virgins)” (I Love You, Honeybear)
  6. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Dull Life” (It’s Blitz)
  7. The Flaming Lips – “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt. 1” (Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots)
  8. Mitski – “Your Best American Girl” (Puberty 2)
  9. Young Thug – “Check” (Barter 6)
  10. Los Campesinos! – “You! Me! Dancing!” (Hold on Now, Youngster…)
  11. HAIM – “Falling” (Days Are Gone)
  12. The National – “All the Wine” (Alligator)
  13. Earl Sweatshirt – “Cold Summers” (Some Rap Songs)
  14. Lil Wayne – “Cannon (AMG Remix)” (Dedication 2)
  15. Taylor Swift – “Clean” (1989)
  16. James Blake – “Unluck” (James Blake)
  17. The War on Drugs – “Pain” (A Deeper Understanding)
  18. Snail Mail – “Heat Wave” (Lush)
  19. Andy Stott – “Numb” (Luxury Problems)
  20. St. Vincent – “Just the Same But Brand New” (Actor)
  21. Fucked Up – “Crooked Head” (The Chemistry of Common Life)
  22. Ricardo Villalobos – “Easy Lee” (Alcachofa)*
  23. Jens Lekman – “A Postcard to Nina” (Night Falls over Kortedala)
  24. Studio – “Self Service” (Yearbook 1)
  25. Michael Mayer – “Rocket No. 3 (A Rocket in Dub)” (Immer)*
  26. Sky Ferreira – “Boys” (Night Time, My Time)
  27. The Hold Steady – “Stuck Between Stations” (Boys and Girls in America)
  28. Air – “Run” (Talkie Walkie)
  29. Perfume Genius – “Grid” (Too Bright)
  30. Four Tet – “Unspoken” (Rounds)
  31. Cannibal Ox – “Iron Galaxy” (The Cold Vein)
  32. Majical Cloudz – “I Do Sing for You” (Impersonator)
  33. No Age – “Eraser” (Nouns)
  34. Stars of the Lid – “Requiem for Dying Mothers, Pt. 2” (The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid)
  35. A Tribe Called Quest – “Dis Generation” (Thank You 4 Your Service…We Got It From Here)
  36. Low – “Sunflower” (Things We Lost in the Fire)
  37. The Postal Service – “Clark Gable” (Give Up)
  38. Fleet Foxes – “Blue Ridge Mountains” (Fleet Foxes)
  39. Caribou – “Can’t Do Without You” (Our Love)
  40. The-Dream – “Rockin’ That Shit” (Love vs. Money)
  41. Wolf Parade – “I’ll Believe in Anything” (Apologies to the Queen Mary)
  42. Oneohtrix Point Never – “Sticky Drama” (Garden of Delete)
  43. The Rapture – “House of Jealous Lovers” (Echoes)
  44. Noname (feat. Ravyn Lenae) – “Montego Bae” (Room 25)
  45. Battles – “Tonto” (Mirrored)
  46. Future – “Turn on the Lights” (Pluto)
  47. Ghostface Killah (feat. Theodore Unit, Cappadonna, Shawn Wigs, & Trife) – “Jellyfish” (Fishscale)
  48. Aphex Twin – “CIRCLONT6A [141.98][syrobonkus mix]” (Syro)
  49. Death Grips – “Bitch Please” (The Money Store)
  50. Carly Rae Jepsen – “Making the Most of the Night” (Emotion)
  51. Grizzly Bear – “Ready, Able” (Veckatimest)
  52. Arcade Fire – “Suburban War” (The Suburbs)
  53. Fiona Apple – “O’ Sailor” (Extraordinary Machine)
  54. Gang Gang Dance – “Nomad for Love” (God’s Money)
  55. Julia Holter – “Sea Calls Me Home” (Have You in My Wilderness)
  56. Vampire Weekend – “Run” (Contra)
  57. GAS – “Pop 1” (Pop)
  58. Robyn – “Honey” (Honey)
  59. Bat for Lashes – “Pearl’s Dream” (Two Suns)
  60. Chromatics – “Lady” (Kill for Love)
  61. Lightning Bolt – “Dracula Mountain” (Wonderful Rainbow)*
  62. Spoon – “Chicago at Night” (Girls Can Tell)
  63. Kurt Vile – “Girl Called Alex” (Wakin’ on a Pretty Daze)
  64. Beach House – “Troublemaker” (Bloom)
  65. M83 – “Kim & Jessie” (Saturdays = Youth)
  66. Deerhunter – “Hazel St.” (Cryptograms)
  67. The Fiery Furnaces – “Blueberry Boat” (Blueberry Boat)
  68. Jay-Z & Kanye West – “Murder to Excellence” (Watch the Throne)*
  69. McLusky – “The World Loves Us and Is Our Bitch” (McLusky Do Dallas)
  70. Erykah Badu – “The Healer” (New Amerykah Part One (4th World War))
  71. Moses Sumney – “Make Out in My Car” (Aromanticism)
  72. Jlin – “Holy Child” (Black Origami)
  73. Waka Flocka Flame – “Hard in Da Paint” (Flockaveli)
  74. Rihanna – “Kiss it Better” (Anti)
  75. Bon Iver – “Flume” (For Emma, Forever Ago)
  76. Vince Staples – “Bagbak” (Big Fish Theory)
  77. Fever Ray – “Red Trails” (Plunge)
  78. Todd Terje (feat. Bryan Ferry) – “Johnny & Mary” (It’s Album Time)
  79. Rosalia – “MALAMENTE – Cap.1: Augrio” (El Mal Querer)
  80. Bill Callahan – “Jim Cain” (Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle)
  81. Black Dice – “Things Will Never Be the Same” (Beaches & Canyons)
  82. Broadcast – “Look Outside” (The Noise Made by People)
  83. ANOHNI – “Drone Bomb Me” (Hopelessness)
  84. The Shins – “Gone for Good” (Chutes Too Narrow)
  85. Sun Kil Moon – “I Watched the Film the Song Remains the Same” (Benji)
  86. Missy Elliott – “Work It” (Under Construction)
  87. Arthur Russell – “That’s Us/Wild Combination” (Calling Out of Context)
  88. Destroyer – “Rubies” (Destroyer’s Rubies)
  89. DJ Rashad (feat. Spinn) – “Double Cup” (Double Cup)
  90. Dirty Projectors – “Stillness Is the Move” (Bitte Orca)
  91. Drake – “Hold On, We’re Going Home” (Nothing Was the Same)
  92. Andrew W.K. – “Party Hard” (I Get Wet)
  93. T.I. – “Rubber Band Man” (Trap Muzik)
  94. EMA – “California” (Past Life Martyred Saints)
  95. Kurt Vile – “Baby’s Arms” (Smoke Ring for My Halo)
  96. Animal Collective – “The Purple Bottle” (Feels)
  97. Angel Olsen – “Shut Up Kiss Me” (My Woman)
  98. Death Cab for Cutie – “Title And Registration” (Transatlanticism)
  99. Kanye West (feat. Sampha) – “Saint Pablo” (The Life of Pablo)
  100. The-Dream – “Falsetto” (Love/Hate)
  101. Danny Brown – “Radio Song” (XXX)
  102. Queens of the Stone Age – “God Is In The Radio” (Songs for the Deaf)
  103. The Field – “Over the Ice” (From Here We Go Sublime)
  104. M.I.A./Diplo – “Galangaton (Diplo Mix)” (Piracy Funds Terrorism Volume 1)*
  105. LCD Soundsystem – “Daft Punk Is Playing at My House” (LCD Soundsystem)
  106. Eminem – “The Real Slim Shady” (The Marshall Mathers LP)
  107. Jay Reatard – “My Shadow” (Blood Visions)
  108. Spoon – “Don’t You Evah” (Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga)
  109. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – “Menopause Man” (Before Today)
  110. Erykah Badu – “…& On” (Mama’s Gun)
  111. Kamasi Washington – “Miss Understanding” (The Epic)
  112. Vampire Weekend – “Oxford Comma” (Vampire Weekend)
  113. Phoenix – “Consolation Prizes” (It’s Never Been Like That)
  114. Courtney Barnett – “Depreston” (Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit)
  115. Kacey Musgraves – “Butterflies” (Golden Hour)
  116. Life Without Buildings – “The Leanover” (Any Other City)
  117. Franz Ferdinand – “Take Me Out” (Franz Ferdinand)
  118. My Bloody Valentine – “She Found Now” (m b v)*
  119. Bon Iver – “Towers” (Bon Iver)
  120. PJ Harvey – “We Float” (Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea)
  121. Radiohead – “Knives Out” (Amnesiac)
  122. Japandroids – “Younger Us” (Celebration Rock)
  123. Daft Punk – “Instant Crush” (Random Access Memories)
  124. Real Estate – “Municipality” (Days)
  125. Clipse – “Re-Up Intro” (We Got It 4 Cheap, Vol. 2)
  126. Kelela – “LMK” (Take Me Apart)
  127. Grouper – “Clearing” (Ruins)
  128. The Swans – “Lunacy” (The Seer)
  129. Sufjan Stevens – “Casimir Pulaski Day” (Illinois)
  130. Lorde – “Supercut” (Melodrama)
  131. Portishead – “The Rip” (Third)
  132. Junior Boys – “Birthday” (Last Exit)
  133. Disclosure (feat. Alunageorge) – “White Noise” (Settle)
  134. Cut Copy – “Hearts on Fire” (In Ghost Colours)
  135. Chance the Rapper (feat. Future) – “Smoke Break” (Coloring Book)
  136. Flying Lotus – “Pickled!” (Cosmogramma)
  137. Fever Ray – “When I Grow Up” (Fever Ray)
  138. Jay-Z – “Lucifer” (The Black Album)*
  139. Beck – “Guess I’m Doing Fine” (Sea Change)
  140. Kanye West – “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” (Graduation)
  141. Bill Callahan – “America!” (Apocalypse)
  142. King Krule – “Dum Surfer” (The Ooz)
  143. Lil Wayne – “Fireman” (Tha Carter II)
  144. M.I.A. – “Bucky Done Gun” (Arular)
  145. Robyn – “We Dance to the Beat” (Body Talk)
  146. Clinic – “Distortions” (Internal Wrangler)
  147. Deafheaven – “Dream House” (Sunbather)
  148. M83 – “Midnight City” (Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming)
  149. The War on Drugs – “An Ocean in Between the Waves” (Lost in the Dream)
  150. D’Angelo – “The Charade” (Black Messiah)
  151. Sonic Youth – “The Empty Page” (Murray Street)
  152. TV on the Radio – “Tonight” (Return to Cookie Mountain)
  153. Joanna Newsom – “In California” (Have One on Me)*
  154. Ted Leo & the Pharmacists – “Biomusicology” (The Tyranny of Distance)
  155. Godspeed You! Black Emperor – “Storm” (Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven)
  156. Grouper – “Heavy Water/I’d Rather Be Sleeping” (Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill)
  157. The Mountain Goats – “No Children” (Tallahassee)
  158. Sufjan Stevens – “Should Have Known Better” (Carrie & Lowell)
  159. Liars – “Let’s Not Wrestle Mt. Heart Attack” (Drum’s Not Dead)
  160. Boards of Canada – “Sunshine Recorder” (Geogaddi)
  161. The Hold Steady – “Chicago Seemed Tired Last Night” (Separation Sunday)
  162. Cam’ron – “Soap Opera” (Purple Haze)
  163. Kanye West – “Love Lockdown” (808s & Heartbreak)
  164. The Shins – “Caring Is Creepy” (Oh, Inverted World)
  165. St. Vincent – “Surgeon” (Strange Mercy)
  166. The White Stripes – “Ball and Biscuit” (Elephant)
  167. Antony and the Johnsons – “Man Is the Baby” (I Am a Bird Now)
  168. The New Pornographers – “The Mary Martin Show” (Mass Romantic)
  169. Hot Chip – “Boy from School” (The Warning)
  170. The Exploding Hearts – “Modern Kicks” (Guitar Romantic)
  171. Mitski – “Washing Machine Heart” (Be the Cowboy)
  172. Broken Social Scene – “Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl” (You Forgot It in People)
  173. Phoenix – “Fences” (Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix)
  174. Beyonce (feat. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)  – “***Flawless” (Beyonce)
  175. Aaliyah – “Extra Smooth” (Aaliyah)*
  176. Justin Timberlake – “LoveStoned / I Think She Knows (Interlude)” (FutureSex/LoveSounds)
  177. Broadcast – “Winter Now” (Haha Sound)
  178. Tame Impala – “Eventually” (Currents)
  179. Joanna Newsom – “Sawdust and Diamonds” (Ys)*
  180. Clipse – “Hello New World” (Hell Hath No Fury)
  181. LCD Soundsystem – “Dance Yrself Clean” (This Is Happening)
  182. The Streets – “Weak Become Heroes” (Original Pirate Material)
  183. The Microphones – “The Moon” (The Glow, Pt. 2)
  184. Grimes – “Infinite Love Without Fulfillment” (Visions)
  185. Yo La Tengo – “Let’s Save Tony Orlando’s House” (And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out)
  186. Destroyer – “Song for America” (Kaputt)
  187. FKA Twigs – “Two Weeks” (LP1)
  188. Deerhunter – “Agoraphobia” (Microcastle)
  189. David Bowie – “Dollar Days” (Blackstar)
  190. Robyn – “With Every Heartbeat” (Robyn)
  191. SZA – “Anything” (CTRL)
  192. Animal Collective – “Good Lovin’ Outside” (Sung Tongs)
  193. Drake – “Shot for Me” (Take Care)
  194. Luomo – “Tessio” (Vocalcity)
  195. Run the Jewels – “All My Life” (Run the Jewels 2)
  196. Sleater-Kinney – “Modern Girl” (The Woods)
  197. The xx – “Intro” (xx)
  198. Bjork – “Hidden Place” (Vespertine)
  199. Interpol – “Obstacle 1” (Turn on the Bright Lights)
  200. Vince Staples – “Lift Me Up” (Summertime ‘06)
  201. Fennesz – “Caecilia” (Endless Summer)
  202. Cat Power – “Good Woman” (You Are Free)
  203. Kanye West (feat. Syleena Johnson) – “All Falls Down” (The College Dropout)
  204. Beyonce (feat. Kendrick Lamar) – “Freedom” (Lemonade)
  205. Tame Impala – “Apocalypse Dreams” (Lonerism)
  206. Clipse – “Grindin’” (Lord Willin’)
  207. Joanna Newsom – “The Sprout and the Bean” (The Milk-Eyed Mender)*
  208. Grimes – “Pin” (Art Angels)
  209. Spoon – “Small Stakes” (Kill the Moonlight)
  210. Jamie xx (feat. Romy) – “Loud Places” (In Colour)
  211. Basement Jaxx – “Romeo” (Rooty)
  212. Lil Wayne – “I Can’t Feel My Face” (Da Drought 3)*
  213. Fiona Apple – “Valentine” (The Idler Wheel…)
  214. Radiohead – “House of Cards” (In Rainbows)
  215. Kendrick Lamar – “DNA.” (DAMN.)
  216. Madvillain – “Curls” (Madvillainy)
  217. Kanye West – “On Sight” (Yeezus)
  218. William Basinski – “dlp 2.1” (The Disintegration Loops)
  219. Animal Collective – “My Girls” (Merriweather Post Pavilion)
  220. Vampire Weekend – “Diane Young” (Modern Vampires of the City)
  221. Modest Mouse – “Gravity Rides Everything” (The Moon & Antarctica)
  222. Frank Ocean – “Thinkin Bout You” (Channel Orange)
  223. Solange (feat. Lil Wayne) – “Mad” (A Seat at the Table)
  224. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Maps” (Fever to Tell)
  225. Deerhunter – “Sailing” (Halcyon Digest)
  226. M.I.A. – “Paper Planes” (Kala)
  227. Kanye West (feat. Lupe Fiasco) – “Touch the Sky” (Late Registration)
  228. Missy Elliott – “Get Ur Freak On” (Miss E…So Addictive)
  229. Arcade Fire – “Crown of Love” (Funeral)
  230. Kendrick Lamar (feat. Dr. Dre) – “The Recipe” (good kid, m.A.A.d. city)
  231. Beach House – “Silver Soul” (Teen Dream)
  232. The Knife – “Silent Shout” (Silent Shout)
  233. Frank Ocean – “Solo” (Blonde)
  234. Fugazi – “Cashout” (The Argument)
  235. J Dilla – “The Diff’rence” (Donuts)
  236. D’Angelo – “Send It On” (Voodoo)
  237. Burial – “Archangel” (Untrue)
  238. The White Stripes – “Fell in Love with a Girl” (White Blood Cells)
  239. LCD Soundsystem – “Someone Great” (Sound of Silver)
  240. Panda Bear – “Search for Delicious” (Person Pitch)
  241. Kendrick Lamar – “King Kunta” (To Pimp a Butterfly)
  242. OutKast – “So Fresh, So Clean” (Stankonia)
  243. Wilco – “Jesus, etc.” (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot)
  244. Ghostface Killah (feat. Method Man, Redman, & Cappadonna) – “Buck 50” (Supreme Clientele)
  245. The Avalanches – “Since I Left You” (Since I Left You)
  246. The Strokes – “The Modern Age” (Is This It)
  247. Jay-Z – “Song Cry” (The Blueprint)*
  248. Daft Punk – “One More Time” (Discovery)
  249. Kanye West (feat. Bon Iver) – “Lost in the World” (My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy)
  250. Radiohead – “Motion Picture Soundtrack” (Kid A)