31 Songs isn’t super formal but we do use guidelines to help us wrangle all the music we could include into a list we can process. Here’s the criteria we use to create our playlists:

Must Be From an Album or EP

We consider songs from named releases (like “Court and Spark” or “Fantasize Your Ghost”). The release – an album or EP – must contain either 5 or more songs or 25 total minutes of playtime. The release can be physical or digital.

Recently Released

Albums released in the prior year through October 31 of the current year are eligible. For example, our 2021 playlist included albums released between January 1 2020 and October 31 2021.

We leave the prior year open as there’s just sooooo much music available we, sometimes, miss an album only to discover it the following year. Arguably we could review any album – regardless of actual release date – that we discover in a given calendar year. The thing is, that list gets long and it may unfairly bias us against new artists.

For the most part, though, songs on the list are from the relevant year.

New Studio Recordings Only

Covers are fine, even if the artist is covering their older work. But the recording must be recently released (see above).

Live tracks are not considered as they often have a different dynamic than studio tracks.

The One Best Song from One Great Album (or EP)

Selected tracks are picked from albums (or EPs) with lots of great tracks. Even though we choose but one to represent, listeners are encouraged to give the full release a listen.

We do this as any given year could have more than 100 albums considered. Many of those albums have several great tracks. If we did purely songs it might be that you’d see the same artist several times on the same playlist. Heck, some albums are so brilliant their entire contents could be on a best-song playlist.

So the list is less 31 Songs we absolutely love (although we do) but a sample of 31 great albums (or EPs) that you should really check out.