Best Children's Songs List
There is some great dance music out there, but not all of it's appropriate for children or even teenagers. Here is a list of our top 10 clean songs for you to choose from for your kids' next party. They all feature compelling dance beats along with positive messages that are free of profanity and suggestive lyrics.
When it came time to cultivate a list of the all-time best children's books, we polled our co-workers to ensure a list that's comprehensive, including everything from old classics to newfound.
Justin Timberlake - 'Can't Stop the Feeling'
Justin Timberlake's song from the movie 'Trolls' is arguably the catchiest danceable track of 2016. You only need to hear this once to recognize what an instant classic it is. Timberlake put it together with pop masters Shellback and Max Martin, who was responsible for writing some of the hits that made Britney Spears, NSYNC, and Backstreet Boys famous. 'Can't Stop the Feeling' debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S., and it also went on to be a top hit on adult pop and contemporary radio.
Selena Gomez - 'Kill 'Em With Kindness'
This slick, danceable tune is the fourth hit single from the pop sensation's album 'Revival.' In addition to its irresistible whistling hook, it features a much-needed message for difficult times. Here, Gomez encourages everyone to tone down the negativity, 'put out the fire before igniting,' and 'Kill 'Em With Kindness.'
Shawn Mendes - 'Treat You Better'
When Canadian pop star Shawn Mendes hit in 2015, he was only 17 years old. That year, his debut album, 'Handwritten,' went to No. 1 on the pop album chart, and the single 'Stitches' peaked at No. 4. 'Treat You Better' is the first single from his second album, 'Illuminate,' released in 2016. It positions Mendes as a young man who believes the object of his affection deserves better than the lousy guy she's currently with: 'And any girl like you deserves a gentleman.'
Zara Larsson - 'Lush Life'
Zara Larsson is a rising pop star from Sweden. She won the Swedish TV talent show 'Talang' in 2008 at age 10, and won a Kid's Choice Award for Favorite Swedish Star in 2016, when she was only 18 years old. 'Lush Life,' her follow-up to the breakthrough U.S. hit, 'Never Forget You,' is a bright, catchy song about the power of crushes—and leaving them behind to be your own person.
Sia - 'Cheap Thrills'
Sia has proved that her breakthrough pop mainstream album '1000 Forms of Fear' from 2014 was no fluke. Mixing synth pop and reggae beats, 'Cheap Thrills' celebrates the ability to have a good time without spending a lot of money. It is the second single from the Australian singer's 2016 album 'This Is Acting,' and the remix featuring Jamaican musical artist Sean Paul became her first No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 10. It was also nominated for a Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.
Alessia Cara - 'Wild Things'
Canadian artist Alessia Cara is a musical hero for those who find themselves just a bit outside the mainstream. Her breakthrough single 'Here' was one of the biggest sleeper hits of 2015. It eventually ended up at No. 5 on the U.S. pop chart. 'Wild Things' is a celebration for those who aren't 'cool kids' and one of those rare mainstream teen hits that also found a home at adult pop radio.
Bahari - 'Dancing On the Sun'
Best Children's Songs List
Bahari are a Southern-California-based female trio who aim to create a youth-oriented celebration of contemporary coastal culture. Their single 'Dancing On the Sun' borrows classic pop sounds from artists like the Mama and the Papas, the Bangles, and Sheryl Crow. Bahari are aiming, according to their own publicity, to offer listeners a sense of what it's like to be spirited, independent-minded young women.
Little Big Town - 'One Of Those Days'
Country music superstars Little Big Town took a risk with the 'One Of Those Days' single, as it steps well outside the country mainstream. The group worked with powerhouse performer-writer-producer Pharrell Williams ('Happy') to put the track together, and it is an uplifting pop party song about world empowerment.
Daya - 'Sit Still, Look Pretty'
Daya broke into the pop mainstream in 2015 when she was 17 years old. She had a hit the following year with 'Hide Away,' and climbed into the top 10 as vocalist for The Chainsmokers smash 'Don't Let Me Down.' Her solo follow-up was 'Sit Still, Look Pretty,' sung from the perspective of a pretty girl who is not satisfied with being recognized solely for her looks.
Marshmello - 'Alone'
DJ Marshmello follows in the tradition of other electronic dance music artists like Deadmau5 and Daft Punk by not revealing his individual identity. He makes public appearances in a marshmallow mask. 2015 was his breakthrough year. 'Alone' is a thoroughly contemporary party track incorporating many elements of trap music.
One-off collaborations, movie soundtracks and internet upstarts provided some of the most exciting music this year.
Jon Pareles’s List Jon Caramanica’s List
Jon Pareles
Unbridled Ambition and Self-Preservation
In a swirl of harplike arpeggios over a stubborn beat, Matty Healy rails at hypocrisy and disinformation, complaining “Modernity has failed us,” and admits to individual ambition despite it all: a millennial’s plight.
2. Sade, ‘The Big Unknown’
Desolate lost love haunts the verses before determined self-preservation lifts the choruses, all at a tempo so slow only a singer like Sade would dare it.
3. Rosanne Cash featuring Sam Phillips, ‘She Remembers Everything’
Roots rock goes noir, with tolling piano and reverbed guitar, in a ballad about a lasting trauma, unnamed but inescapable.
4. Jorja Smith, ‘Blue Lights’
Over mournful electric-piano chords, Jorja Smith warns that in a rough neighborhood, panic can be deadly, counseling, “Don’t you run when you hear the sirens coming.”
5. The Internet, ‘Look What U Started’
Post-breakup revenge is served cold, unforgiving and viscous in “Look What U Started,” from its skulking bass line and squishy rhythm guitar to the chilling whisper of Syd’s vocal.
6. Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, ‘Shallow’
A perfectly calibrated power ballad, with the Lady Gaga chorus trademark of repeated syllables, does movie-musical triple duty as love song, vocal showcase and plot pivot.
7. Kendrick Lamar, ‘Black Panther’
Far more ambitious than a movie theme has to be, and far more abrasive, “Black Panther” celebrates a broad African heritage over a track that broods, stomps and bristles.
8. Fatoumata Diawara, ‘Nterini’
Fatouma Diawara, a Paris-based singer who grew up in Mali, sings about love for an emigrant who may never return, lacing Malian rhythms with tendrils of guitar.
9. Richard Thompson, ‘The Storm Won’t Come’
Over a Bo Diddley beat, Richard Thompson longs for a cleansing apocalypse, and summons it with a wailing, clawing guitar solo.
10. Cardi B featuring Bad Bunny and J Balvin, ‘I Like It’
With guests from Puerto Rico and Colombia over a sample of Pete Rodriguez’s 1966 boogaloo “I Like It Like That,” Cardi B flaunts Latin roots while making designer-label materialism sound like self-realization.
11. Sudan Archives, ‘Nont for Sale’
Loops of plucked violin and layers of vocals add up to a statement of no-nonsense, matter-of-fact individualism from Brittney Parks, who records as the one-woman electronic band Sudan Archives.
12. Anderson .Paak, ‘6 Summers’
The vamp is insistently jaunty, the rhymes are delivered with a jokey cadence and there are melodic interludes, but the recurring subject is serious: gun violence.
13. boygenius, ‘Bite the Hand’
The indie-rock songwriters Lucy Dacus, Julien Baker and Phoebe Bridgers, collaborating as boygenius, share a not-exactly-love song that passionately questions itself.
14. Marie Davidson, ‘Work It’
As her production taps out cross-rhythms like a flock of woodpeckers, Marie Davidson’s spoken words demand nonstop work: a gig-economy ultimatum.
15. Yo La Tengo, ‘Shades of Blue’
Loneliness and moderate depression find a tambourine-tapping equilibrium, with distant hints of the Beach Boys.
16. Oneohtrix Point Never, ‘The Station’
17. Sophie, ‘It’s Okay to Cry’
18. Courtney Barnett, ‘Nameless, Faceless’
19. I’m With Her, ‘Game to Lose’
20. Wye Oak, ‘Symmetry’
21. Julia Holter, ‘I Shall Love 2’
22. Spiritualized, ‘A Perfect Miracle’
23. Balún, ‘Años Atrás’
24. Sidi Touré, ‘Heyyeya’
25. Gaby Moreno and Van Dyke Parks, ‘The Immigrants’
[See the critics’ lists of the best albums of 2018.]
Jon Caramanica
The Bad Bunny Takeover
1. Bad Bunny, ‘Estamos Bien’; Bad Bunny featuring Drake, ‘Mia’; Cardi B featuring Bad Bunny and J Balvin, ‘I Like It’; Nio García, Darell and Casper Magico featuring Bad Bunny, Nicky Jam and Ozuna, ‘Te Boté (Remix)’
With no album or even a mixtape to speak of, Bad Bunny made himself indispensable this year by way of strategic collaborations and scene-stealing, rug-pulling moments. These songs represent only a fraction of his high points, but capture the range of his influence — from the definitive Spanish-language song of the summer to getting Drake to rap in Spanish to topping the Billboard Hot 100. In a year in which Spanish-speaking artists teamed with English-speaking artists in droves hoping to make an aftermarket “Despacito,” Bad Bunny stayed his course, and the world came to him.
2. BlocBoy JB featuring Drake, ‘Look Alive’
Cutting, spare, wide-eyed, seismic.
3. Ella Mai, ‘Boo’d Up’ and ‘Trip’
The return of 1994 R&B.
4. Sheck Wes, ‘Mo Bamba’ and ‘Live Sheck Wes’
Head-stomp koans for runways and back alleys alike.
5. Anuel AA featuring Romeo Santos, ‘Ella Quiere Beber (Remix)’
The sweet spot where vocalists blur into each other, and words blur into raw feeling.
6. Bradley Cooper, ‘Maybe It’s Time’; Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, ‘Shallow’
From “A Star Is Born,” the place where misery meets triumph.
7. ASAP Rocky and Tyler, the Creator, ‘Potato Salad’
An unhinged loosie from two unbothered buddies.
8. Project Youngin x Einer Bankz, ‘Thug Souljas Acoustic’
A stripped-bare evocation of street-corner grief.
9. girl in red, ‘I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend’
Not a plea, but an insistent statement of purpose.
10. Shoreline Mafia, ‘Bands’
Spooky and unflustered tough talk.
11. Carrie Underwood, ‘Cry Pretty’
Howitzer vocals applied to the realization that not everything can be solved with Howitzer vocals.
Best Children' S Songs List 2016
12. Gallant, ‘Gentleman’
The sound of blood rushing through arteries and sweat forming at the brow.
13. Lil Tjay, ‘Brothers’
Proof that tremendous sweetness can be extracted from deep angst.
14. William Michael Morgan, ‘Brokenhearted’
Internal Nashville critique that’s both comedic and laser precise.
List Of Children's Songs
15. Tomberlin, ‘Seventeen’
What a soothing, worrisome, hopeful whisper.