The Music Writers Pick Our Top 10 Songs Of The Year

1. Beyonce — Formation

There were few other songs this year as powerful as Beyonce's Formation. A tribute to Beyonce's Southern roots: the lyrics are laced with references to African-American Southern culture and the video itself is a beautiful, politically charged and sometimes haunting paean to the American South.

It is no longer possible to discuss Beyonce's music without reference to the visual element. Since her self-titled visual album in 2013, she has melded visuals with music in a way unsurpassed by other mainstream musicians.

It opens with a sample from a murdered young African American: Messy Mya, a New Orleans YouTube star popular with the queer community. He asks: "What happened at the New Wi'lins [New Orleans]?" as we see Beyonce, crouched on a New Orleans police cruiser as it slowly sinks underwater — raising the spectre of the racism exposed by the response to Hurricane Katrina. Later, a little boy dances before a line of police officers in riot gear who slowly raise their hands in surrender. The camera scans to graffiti on a wall: "Stop shooting us", a visual tribute to the Black Lives Matter movement. But the political is rendered deeply personal here as well. Beyonce observes: "I like my baby hair with baby hair and afros". This is an expression of mother love, but also a reference to the cruel media discussion of her daughter's natural hair.

Just as her feminist anthem Flawless did, it draws from seemingly disparate elements — an odd trap beat from Mike WiLL Made-it, samples from Messy Mya and gay New Orleans bounce icon Big Freedia, an almost atonal chorus, and exquisitely breathy and lilting talk-singing - and deftly melds them. It's a love song to black culture underpinned by simmering rage. It is a statement of empowerment, "I go hard, get what's mine... Cos I slay", that embraces female sexuality, "When he fuck me good, I take his ass to Red Lobster", while celebrating black queer culture.

2. Kanye West featuring Ty Dolla $ign — Real Friends

Kanye West swings to take both #2 and #3 with tracks from his release The Life Of Pablo, making him the first person to score consecutive entries in our Writers' Poll. In the second spot Ty Dolla $ign gives voice to Yeezy's lost and broken connections in the remorseful Real Friends. Choral, drum-driven exploration of faith, Ultralight Beam, follows on the list.