The 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters

Stefan ruiz ^ | 4-27-26 | New York Times

[MarlonRando]

A list of the 30 greatest American living songwriters. on the list:

Young Thug, Bad Bunny, Jay-Z and more!!!

[MarlonRando]

Paul Williams. Is he still alive? Great guy and good sense of humor

[Major Matt Mason]

Numbers 13-20 are interesting choices. Maybe Swift belongs on there, but the others? And Springsteen hasn't done much of note since the mid-80's.

[plain talk]

Ultra heavy on black and women songwriters. Garbage DEI list with a few exceptions.

Yeah Paul Simon wrote some good songs with Simon and Garfunkel. But when he went solo he went African tribal and his songs entered the suck realm with the possible exception of “Call me Al” only because I liked the video.

[Dr. Sivana]

But when he went solo he went African tribal Not immediately. "There Goes Rhymin' Simon" includes "Kodachrome" and "Loves Me Like a Rock". "Still Crazy" has the title track, "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover", and "Gone at Last" which has a black gospel sound, but not really an African rhythm.

[stanne]

“ Almost 90% of the comments on Beato’s video are people pointing out either dead people, or non-Americans.”

This sentence doesn’t make sense

If you meant most are dead- name any

You can’t

[pkajj]

Dean Dillon wrote songs for Toby Keith, and numerous others. Dean is alive and is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. I was aware Toby Keith passed away awhile back.

[equaviator]

Leon Russell

[plain talk]

Kodachrome was OK I guess. I guess I had little use for his solo stuff when there was much more interesting stuff elsewhere. Of course everyone has different tastes.

BTW it is not that unusual for songwriters to taper off in quality and inspiration as they age. Not all but many.

[MotorCityBuck]

Ahh.
I missed that. Thanks.

[Does so]

McCartny—but (like Jim Croce) Lennon doesn’t count because the is of LIVING composers.

[Grammy]

I agree with Paul Williams and will add Randy Goodrum.

[MarlonRando]

yeah. Sting did the same thing. Africa and middle eastern yoga crap

[Beowulf9]

Realized my mistake earlier. See post 47.

[SunkenCiv]

In this episode, I react to the NYT music critics defending their terrible list of the 30 greatest living American songwriters. 

Watch This NYT "Music Critic" Embarrass Himself...AGAIN | 8:50 
Rick Beato | 5.61M subscribers | 48,426 views | May 11, 2026