Compiling a decade list is no small feat. 2000 to the present is compact enough to feel relevant to betterPropaganda's history, but stretches far enough back to include the artists who inspired us to start a site like this in the first place.
Nominating, ordering and solidifying the lists was nothing less than a loving clusterfuck of a process. After dumping all of our favorites into a spreadsheet, we shifted to wallpapering our office with a couple hundred post-it notes, arranged and (sometimes sneakily) rearranged from 1-100 over the course of a few months. The result is a pair of countdowns marked by eclecticism and charming quirks, entries which would be ten or twenty or forty positions higher than on other, safer lists. It is, we feel, more compelling than other countdowns of its ilk - we have avoided favoring the drudgery of rigid democracy and diplomacy that would have stamped out the sense of individualism that defines betterPropaganda.
In selecting our top 100 artists of the decade, we kept our eye on cultural and musical distinctiveness (yes, it's subjective - we know), innovation, longevity, and influence in the industry. Of course, in arguing for our favorites, we turned toward any number of intangibles, and in the end we went with our gut. It was a process driven by frequent spars, plenty of well-intentioned but biting sarcasm, a couple booze-fueled marathon ordering sessions, and - owing to our love of the music - a desire to get things just right. We're happy with the result.
View our Top 100 Albums of the Decade here.
Click on the below images to read our commentary and download mp3s.
 #100 Joanna Newsom - Our 100th most influential artist of the decade is probably the most unique artist on the entire list, in a worldly/otherworldly sort of way.
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 #99 Devendra Banhart - Yes, Devendra Banhart is next after Joanna Newsom, but, no, this is not going to be a list of 100 freak-folk artists.
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 #98 Kinky - It would be hard to find a more exciting live band than Kinky. Unlike many great live bands, though, all the energy, range, and diversity of their performances also infuse their studio efforts.
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 #97 Feist - Her voice is so amazing – not just some girl singing pop hits – but, amazing, like some sort of instrument that nobody else knows how to play.
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 #96 Cassius - Ostensibly a hard-edged electronic dance act, Cassius plays across multiple genres and musical textures.
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 #95 DFA 1979 - Jesse Keeler and Sebastien Grainger, the duo that is Death From Above 1979, are notable for their versatility.
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 #94 Xiu Xiu - Xiu Xiu's most definitive characteristics are unpredictability and defiance.
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 #93 Mum - Mum is basically strange and skewed childhood wonder in a bottle.
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 #92 Interpol - Interpol championed this decade's revival of dark and dreary rock, a gate they opened up for droves of imitators.
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 #91 The Strokes - Before they ever released their debut full-length, The Strokes toured the UK - twice - on the strength of a three song EP.
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 #90 The Microphones - The Microphones released intimate bedroom recordings that were as introverted as they were transparent.
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 #89 Deerhoof - Since Reveille, Deerhoof has been consistently releasing records that have challenged the standard structures of music.
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 #88 The Books - The Books cobble together stunningly romantic narratives out of found bits and pieces of audio.
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 #87 Blonde Redhead - The four-year hiatus after Blonde Redhead's Melody... was the result of a much-documented accident.
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 #86 The Streets - The Streets' debut album was a breath of fresh air, uninfluenced by genre trends and ironic detachment.
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 #85 Basement Jaxx - While the UK was turning to host new, stripped down stylings, the Basement Jaxx continually push the other direction, making albums that were increasingly melodic and eclectic - a direction that has become more significant than ever.
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 #84 Liars - Liars' debut album, 2001's They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck A Monument on Top, garnered much acclaim for it's driving sound, which fit neatly into the post-punk revival that was occurring in NYC at the time.
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 #83 Spoon - Britt Daniel has built a career on flipping the commonplace into the strange, and then flipping it back again into some compelling understandable thing.
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 #82 Common - A lot of people don't know this, but Common's been releasing albums since 1992. That's right. He had been releasing records for eight years before the "The Light" came out in 2000, which is when his career really began to soar.
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 #81 Cinematic Orchestra - One of Swinscoe's best attributes as a composer, which was evident on both Everyday and Ma Fleur, is his patience.
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 #80 Godspeed You! Black Emperor - The reason Godspeed is such a bewildering collective is because listening to them is unquestionably a singular experience.
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 #79 Goldfrapp - Alison Goldfrapp worked as stage and studio singer for Orbital and Tricky early in her career (she appears on Maxinquaye).
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 #78 Panda Bear - For the longest time it was hard to separate Panda Bear (Noah Lennox) from his Animal Collective brethren.
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 #77 Girl Talk - He didn't do it first, but he's a classic example of doing it best. Ever since Night Ripper - his breakthrough after a couple of glitchy, clunky DJ albums – Girl Talk's been posterized as America's DJ.
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 #76 The Rapture - For better or worse, The Rapture became the posterboys of dance-punk when they came out with the 12 inch House of Jealous Lovers.
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 #75 Spencer Krug - Spencer Krug rips apart language like a vulture handles roadkill.
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