# Best #1 single of 2013? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 19, 2013, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-2013/676703 "2013-12-19T08:49:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2014, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-2013/676703/41 "2014-09-04T20:01:22Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > “Royals” by a mile. Lorde is Gode. Damn straight. I don’t hear many songs anymore that I fall in love with instantly. This was one of them. ---
**Author:** ![GoodOmens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@GoodOmens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoodOmens)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-2013/676703/42 "2014-09-05T11:42:20Z")
I figure this was a coinflip between “Royals” and “Monster.” ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-2013/676703/43 "2014-09-05T18:06:23Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > YMMV. I love how it sounds like great disco made by human hands. Nile Rogers guitar is absolutely _perfect_ groove-funk skanky rhythm guitar. Pharrell Williams’ voice is a nice falsetto that has a bit of slop to it - he’s not a great singer, but _is_ a great frontman/salesman. It just goes down so smooth, and I can listen to it forever without it getting old - which _did_ happen, fast, with Blurred Lines. I respect how perfectly _crafted_ it is, for what it is trying to be. > > How’s that? It’s helpful but doesn’t change my opinion too much. I disliked the song the first time I heard it, and liked it even less the many times since (my gym plays all of these songs on what has to be a continuous loop, and very little else). I find it generic and repetitive. I do still like Royals and Monster, though; I’m not sick of them yet. And Blurred Lines has a pretty danceable beat. If we were voting on the most morally responsible song of 2013 that one would probably lose, but we’re not, and it’s damn catchy. I’d probably go with Royals. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2014, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-2013/676703/44 "2014-10-04T16:39:46Z")
Musically, Miley Cyrus’ Wrecking Ball" actually has some merit – an unexpected chord in there, and poignantly confident-yet-vulnerable vocal style. Nearly all the others are boring, been-there-done-that crap, _musically_. I recognize they may have other sorts of merits. Like others, I would have voted for “Get Lucky” if possible. I heard it the week it was released over the PA at a local public beach (lake), and knew instantly it would define 2013. ---
**Author:** ![dba\_Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c37758/32.png) [@dba\_Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dba_Fred)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2014, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-2013/676703/45 "2014-10-04T18:31:45Z")
\ “ **Play _Freebird_**!” ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2014, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-2013/676703/46 "2014-10-04T21:17:30Z")
“Thrift Shop” is my favorite non-Kesha song in a very long time, so it was an easy pick. “Harlem Shake” is dead-ass last and isn’t even a real song. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2014, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-2013/676703/47 "2014-10-04T21:29:02Z")
Since I apparently never commented on this one when I first posted it, I’d just like to say that my vote was for “Thrift Shop”. It’s a funny song with a strong anti-corporate message, the first-ever rap song released on an independent label to make it to #1, and the first #1 from a Seattle-area artist in 22 years (preceded by Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back”.) ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-2013/676703/48 "2014-10-05T11:43:53Z")
Here’s [an indie-rock Top 100 list](http://www.wrnr.com/music/top-103-1-songs-of-2013) (actually, top 103.1, since that’s their frequency, Kenneth) from 2013. I think the only thing it has in common with the Billboard list of #1’s is “Royals.” But if your tastes run more towards Arcade Fire or Pearl Jam, it gives you an idea of what was going on in 2013 from that perspective. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-2013/676703/49 "2014-10-05T13:26:02Z")
“Royals” will doubtless win this poll, but it’s a terrible song, droning and monotonous to the point it’s barely a song at all. It is different, however, so it’ll win a lot of votes for that. I find this really hard to do just because we don’t know which if any of these songs will hold up. Looking back at 1964, 1969 or 1978, I can use years of history to decide which songs hold up, which were influential, which define that time. You can’t do that with 2013; will “Royals” actually change anything or will it end up being a one-off fluke? In any case, as has been pointed out, the song of the year without question was “Get Lucky,” and you can’t vote for it because the way they decide #1 hits now is really weird. So I’ll vote for Bruno Mars, at least he can sing. NOTE: Did anyone else think Harlem Shake was from, like, four years ago? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-2013/676703/50 "2014-10-05T15:27:27Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I find this really hard to do just because we don’t know which if any of these songs will hold up. Looking back at 1964, 1969 or 1978, I can use years of history to decide which songs hold up, which were influential, which define that time. You can’t do that with 2013; will “Royals” actually change anything or will it end up being a one-off fluke? Well, since there’s no closing date on the poll, we can always come back in 50 years and see how the results have weighed out. 🙂 > [@](#): > > NOTE: Did anyone else think Harlem Shake was from, like, four years ago? Wikipedia says it was released in 2012 and incorporates samples of stuff recorded as early as 2001. It’s really one of those amazing flukes in the history of the Hot 100 - the week in which Billboard started counting streaming video views in their formula for the list was right at the peak of the “Do the Harlem Shake” meme on Youtube, and so it jumped right to #1 after having not even been on the chart for nine months since its release. ---
**Author:** ![snuffleupagus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@snuffleupagus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snuffleupagus)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-2013/676703/51 "2014-10-05T15:41:02Z")
I went with Monster, but Roar and Wrecking Ball (unfairly maligned IMO, I think it’s a really good song that was overshadowed by the wtf video and Miley’s VMA/other antics) are a close second. I actually liked all the songs on the list except Harlem Shake. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-2013/676703/52 "2014-10-05T19:51:58Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > “Royals” will doubtless win this poll, but it’s a terrible song, droning and monotonous to the point it’s barely a song at all. We’ll have to agree to disagree on that. Ever listen to any madrigal music? Lorde’s songs are like an updating of that whole tradition, especially with the all-but-_a capella_ spareness to the instrumentation. FWIW, Springsteen thought “Royals” was worth doing a cover of. I don’t think it will be influential in the sense of other artists trying to do stuff in a style that owes to Lorde’s. Few people can pull that style off very well (aside from performances of 1419’s greatest hits) by the standards of those of us who believe Lorde succeeded. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-2013/676703/53 "2014-10-05T21:20:38Z")
Sorry, I’m not hearing either. I had never heard of that song until now (“Royals”); now I’ve heard it, and it’s terrible. There’s nothing there. I - flat VII - IV - I… _again?_ ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2014, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-2013/676703/54 "2014-11-23T09:46:27Z")
**Lorde** - _Royals_ but I gladly would have voted for another song if I’d had the choice. I’d been exposed to the hype about **Lorde** for months before I finally heard the song and I was sorely underwhelmed. It just isn’t that great. However, I must admit that it’s _different_. And it’s a real achievement given her age. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2014, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-2013/676703/55 "2014-11-23T16:08:09Z")
The Postmodern Jukebox [cover of “Royals”](http://youtu.be/VBmCJEehYtU) is one of my favorite things ever. What looks like it should be just a gimmicky/jokey cover turns out to be quite an emotive performance, in my opinion. (Perhaps slightly maudlin, but it still gives me goosebumps.) ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2014, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-2013/676703/56 "2014-11-23T16:11:35Z")
Looking back just a year later seems “Royals” was only a good song not great. Chances are she will be forgotten in the nick of time. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2014, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-2013/676703/57 "2014-11-23T18:32:38Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > The Postmodern Jukebox [cover of “Royals”](http://youtu.be/VBmCJEehYtU) is one of my favorite things ever. What looks like it should be just a gimmicky/jokey cover turns out to be quite an emotive performance, in my opinion. (Perhaps slightly maudlin, but it still gives me goosebumps.) I like Weird Al’s version, myself. I had never heard the original before I heard the Weird Al version. Yeah, I’m kind of out of the loop on modern music. But I also heard Al’s version of “Radioactive” by Imagine Dragons and liked it so much I had to buy the original. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-2013/676703.md?page=2)