One Hundred Favorite Living American Songwriters

(I keep being suckered into arguing with the New York Times, so as soon as they published their list of the Thirty Greatest Living American Songwriters, I knew I would take the bait. I’ve arranged this list alphabetically by artist, with the songwriters who made the NYT’s list in bold. I’ve also placed asterisks beside the thirteen or so I can currently sense lobbying for a place in my top ten.)

  1. Tori Amos

  2. Laurie Anderson

  3. Anohni [Anohni and the Johnsons (formerly Antony and the Johnsons)]

  4. Fiona Apple

  5. Azure Ray [Orenda Fink and Maria Taylor]

  6. Julien Baker

  7. Eef Barzelay [Clem Snide]

  8. Jim Bianco

  9. Andrew Bird

  10. Hugh Blumenfeld

  11. Phoebe Bridgers *

  12. Greg Brown *

  13. David Byrne [Talking Heads] *

  14. Tracy Chapman

  15. Marshall Crenshaw

  16. John Darnielle [The Mountain Goats]

  17. DeBarge [El, James, Randy, Bunny, and Mark DeBarge]

  18. Iris DeMent *

  19. Devo [Mark Mothersbaugh, Bob Mothersbaugh, and Gerald Casale, with occasional others]

  20. Don Dixon

  21. Bob Dylan

  22. John Flansburgh [They Might be Giants] *

  23. Diamanda Galás

  24. Gordon Gano [Violent Femmes]

  25. Ben Gibbard [Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service]

  26. John Gorka

  27. Al Green

  28. Patty Griffin

  29. Indy Grotto and Jason Weinheimer [Boondogs]

  30. Daryl Hall [Hall & Oates]

  31. Joe Henry

  32. Kristin Hersh [Throwing Muses]

  33. Brian and Eddie Holland [Holland-Dozier-Holland]

  34. Janis Ian

  35. Billy Joel

  36. Al Jourgensen [Ministry]

  37. Gary Jules

  38. Si Kahn

  39. Carole King

  40. Lenny Kravitz

  41. Ray LaMontagne

  42. Amy LaVere

  43. Jenny Lewis [often with Blake Sennett as Rilo Kiley] *

  44. Arto Lindsay [DNA and Ambitious Lovers]

  45. John Linnell [They Might Be Giants] *

  46. Lyle Lovett

  47. Ron and Russell Mael [Sparks]

  48. Jeff Mangum [Neutral Milk Hotel]

  49. Aimee Mann

  50. David Massengill

  51. Maxwell

  52. Nellie McKay

  53. John Mellencamp

  54. Colin Meloy [The Decemberists]

  55. Stephin Merritt [The Magnetic Fields/Future Bible Heroes] *

  56. Willie Nelson

  57. Joanna Newsom

  58. Randy Newman *

  59. Rick Nielsen [Cheap Trick]

  60. Conor Oberst [Bright Eyes]

  61. Will Oldham [Bonnie “Prince” Billy]

  62. Dolly Parton

  63. Ellis Paul

  64. Michael Penn

  65. Joel RL Phelps [The Downer Trio]

  66. Poe

  67. Amy Ray [Indigo Girls]

  68. R.E.M. [Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Michael Stipe]

  69. Vernon Reid [Living Colour]

  70. Trent Reznor [Nine Inch Nails]

  71. Lionel Richie

  72. Jonathan Richman [The Modern Lovers]

  73. Josh Ritter

  74. Smokey Robinson

  75. Emily Saliers [Indigo Girls]

  76. Jill Scott

  77. Bob Seger

  78. Serpentwithfeet [Josiah Wise]

  79. Richard Shindell *

  80. Paul Simon

  81. Sonic Youth [Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, and Steve Shelley]

  82. Bruce Springsteen

  83. Sufjan Stevens

  84. St. Vincent

  85. Jazmine Sullivan

  86. Swamp Dogg

  87. Frank Tedesso *

  88. Tuxedomoon [Steven Brown, Peter Dachert, and Blaine Reininger]

  89. Suzanne Vega

  90. Loudon Wainwright III

  91. Rufus Wainwright

  92. Tom Waits [often with Kathleen Brennan] *

  93. David and Don Was [Was (Not Was)]

  94. Gillian Welch [usually with David Rawlings]

  95. Susan Werner

  96. Cheryl Wheeler

  97. Dar Williams

  98. Lucinda Williams

  99. Paul Williams

  100. Stevie Wonder *

— May 13, 2026


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