The Very Best Music Videos of 2016
Most music videos are merely slick, soulless, product-placement-crammed promos. But thankfully, some videos — including many that came out this year — transcend crass commercialism and stand alone as bona fide works of visual art. Here, in ascending order of awesomeness, are our picks for the top 27 greatest such artworks of 2016; the fact that we couldn’t stop at an even 25 shows just how good a year this was for music videos.
27. Classixx feat. T-Pain, “Whatever I Want”
Stop us if you’ve seen this one before. This GoPro-commissioned clip is actually a shot-for-shot recreation of the Smiths’ “Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One Before” video — with Auto-Tune icon T-Pain in the Morrissey role, and the L.A. neighborhood of Boyle Heights standing in for Manchester. You’re welcome.
26. Adore Delano, “Take Me There”
The RuPaul’s Drag Race all-star and After Party pop brat throws the house party of the year — think Miley Cyrus’s “We Can’t Stop” on a PBR budget — complete with a bathtub of Lucky Charms, naughty kissing games, and toilet bowls brimming with glitter-barf. We guarantee your New Year’s Eve soiree will not be this much fun.
25. The Chemical Brothers feat. Beck, “Wide Open”
Longtime Chems collaborators Dom & Nic create yet another video masterpiece for the block-rockin’ techno duo in which a contemporary dancer transforms into some sort of slinky cyborg skeleton. A full CG model of dancer Sonoya Mizuno, comprising 107 individual anatomic rigs, was created to make this magic happen. To quote one of Beck’s other song titles this year, wow.
24. Fergie, “M.I.L.F. $”
Milk sure does a body good. Fergie returns, looking fabulous and fully calcium-fortified as a proud 41-year-old mom, in this eye-popping, jaw-dropping, Internet-breaking clip. Kim Kardashian West, Chrissy Teigen, Ciara, and other hot celebrity mamas also star as cinch-waisted desperate housewives. Love it or hate it, you know you watched this video more than once in 2016; it has racked more than 141 million YouTube views so far.
23. Grimes, “Kill V. Maim”
Claire Boucher and her Day-Glo girl gang of video-game vampires rave on in this wild cyberpunk adventure. Grimes throws so much into this sensory-overloading opus, we wouldn’t be surprised if an actual kitchen sink showed up in one scene.
22. Gwen Stefani, “Make Me Like You”
Gwen and her video longtime director, Sophie Muller, make the list for shooting this video entirely live during the broadcast of the 58th annual Grammy Awards. Yes, it’s basically a Target commercial — but it’s way more entertaining than almost anything else that happened at the Grammys this year, and Gwen sure is a cute retro rollergirl.
21. Justice, “Fire”
Susan Sarandon came under fire (no pun intended) for her political commentary this year, but it’s still great to see her reprise her Louise role in this road-trippin’ vid, with the French electro duo jointly filling in for Thelma. And Susan still looks pretty stunning in a wet white T-shirt (not a white pantsuit, of course) too.
20. Tegan and Sara, “Faint of Heart”
A cast of LGBTQ kids honors Prince and Bowie in this charming synth-pop romp, which also features some fabulous Madonna, Grace Jones, and Elvis impersonations. And that Bowie kid’s Ziggy facepaint is on point! We dare you not to smile and lip-sync along to this karaoke jam.
19. Bonnie McKee, “I Want It All”
Either this is a Glee version of The Warriors, or it’s the best Samantha Fox video not actually starring the real Samantha Fox. Naughty girls still need love too, and we love Bonnie for making this video in the actual year 2016.
18. Years & Years, “Meteorite”
Is there anything more dazzling than watching the impossibly charismatic Olly Alexander, truly a magical unicorn of a person, fearlessly dance in a backless crystal unitard? Side note: We need that glittery outfit for our New Year’s Eve party.
17. M.I.A., “Borders”
The always political and outspoken Maya Arulpragasam makes another bold video statement with the self-directed “Borders,” which depicts refugees’ plight as M.I.A. explores a detention camp, sails on an overcrowded boat, and sings behind barbed wire. The clip is dedicated to her uncle, a former Tamil migrant who helped her own family flee Sri Lanka and relocate to the U.K. when she was 9 years old.
16. Massive Attack feat. Hope Sandoval, “The Spoils”
Shapeshifting actress Cate Blanchett morphs from gorgeously dewy SK-II skincare spokeswoman to freaky decomposing zombie robot in this disconcerting clip. Imagine Sinéad O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” mashed up with Lou Reed’s “No Money Down” for some idea of this video’s creepy impact.
15. Radiohead, “Daydreaming”
This Easter-egg-laden, Paul Thomas Anderson-directed minifilm has been the subject of much superfan speculation and quite a few subreddits; fans will probably still be analyzing it well into 2017. As Anderson’s camera trails Thom Yorke’s dreamlike stroll through a series of 23 doors, leading everywhere from laundromats and convenience stores to snowscapes and beaches, it’s impossible not to get sucked into Radiohead’s eerie, moon-shaped world.
14. Frank Ocean, “Nikes”
Part of a dizzyingly ambitious, multipart multimedia project that includes Ocean’s visual album Endless and the limited-edition Blonde fanzine, the kaleidoscopic, semi-NSFW “Nikes” — the elusive, reclusive singer’s first music video in years — is more than just a glitter- and dollar-bill-sprinkled street party. “Nikes” also features touching tributes to victims of gun violence A$AP Yams and Trayvon Martin. (Video contains brief nudity.)
13. Melanie Martinez, “Mrs. Potato Head”
The Voice wunderkind turned avant YouTube artist and voice of a teen-girl generation outdoes herself with this freakish, grotesque, self-directed statement on extreme dieting and even more extreme plastic surgery. Note to anyone considering going under the knife: If you see a man-sized bunny rabbit lurking in the operating room, run.
12. OK Go, “Upside Down & Inside Out”
OK Go have become so known for their viral videos, ever since they first stepped onto those treadmills, that it’s hard to even get excited about their videography anymore. “Oh, another groundbreaking, stunt-filled OK Go video. Whatever.” But GET EXCITED, doubters. The powerpop visionaries literally soar in this mile-high, zero-gravity, painstakingly choreographed acrobatic tour de force, which just earned a Grammy nomination for Best Video.
11. PUP, “Sleep in the Heat”
Stranger Things darling Finn Wolfhard stars in this heartstring-tugging tale of a boy and his dog. Stefan Babcock, frontman for Canadian punks PUP, wrote the song after his pet chameleon, Norman, died from a tongue infection, and anyone who has ever lost a pet will find it hard to get through this video without a box of tissues. But watch it anyway — and then go give your dog, cat, or chameleon a big hug.
10. Anohni, “Drone Bomb Me”
Supermodel Naomi Campbell has delivered some super music video performances in the past (George Michael’s “Freedom ’90,” Michael Jackson’s “Keep It in the Closet”), but none quite so memorable as this. In the stark and unsettling video by Oscar-nominated, Mercury Prize-winning transgender singer Anohni (formerly Antony Hegarty of Antony & the Johnsons), Campbell sobs in Sinéad-style close-up, the victim of what appears to be some sort of futuristic hostage/interrogation situation. Anohni told the BBC, “It’s a love song from the perspective of a girl in Afghanistan — say, a 9-year-old girl — whose family has been killed by a drone bomb. She’s kind of looking up at the sky, and she’s gotten herself to a place where she just wants to be killed by a drone bomb too.” Heavy stuff, indeed.
9. Oscar, “Sometimes”
Like a Wes Anderson travelogue of Los Angeles (or maybe a circa-2016 Wes Anderson remake of Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.”), this colorful, adorable clip is a “fantastic journey through the West.” Against an Instagramworthy pastel backdrop of famous California roadside attractions (the Cabazon Dinosaurs, Randy’s Donuts), charming U.K. troubadour Oscar Scheller joins “the finest clubs and organizations our great nation has to offer,” including the Cloudy Knights Vape Team and Cow Town Singles Squaredance Club. This video makes us want to become card-carrying lifetime members of the Oscar Fan Club.
8. The 1975, “Somebody Else”
Frontman Matt Healy makes love to his ego, so to speak, and drunkenly stumbles “through the murky world of Lynchian nighttime London” in this lonely-boy late-night tale of self-loathing, self-obsession, street fights, and strip clubs. In one dual-role scene of next-level narcissism, he even has sex with himself in the backseat of a car. Guess Healy doesn’t need “Somebody Else,” after all.
7. DJ Shadow feat. Run the Jewels, “Nobody Speak”
RTJ has never shied away from politics (the hip-hop duo’s Killer Mike was pop’s most vocal Bernie Sanders supporter), but this video collaboration with DJ Shadow may be its most ferocious political statement yet. A sort of “Two Tribes” for the modern age, the chilling “Nobody Speak” depiction of a bloody U.N. brawl seems all too realistic in 2016. “We wanted to make a positive, life-affirming video that captures politicians at their election-year best. We got this instead,” DJ Shadow ruefully writes in the video’s YouTube description.
6. Jamie XX, “Gosh”
This is an awe-inspiring stunner the likes of which we haven’t seen since the ’90s — when record labels still had big video budgets and artists as left-of-center as Mr. XX still received MTV airplay, thanks to 120 Minutes. As a cast of 400 people pulls off some seriously advanced choreography in the streets of Tianducheng (a Chinese town built as a facsimile of Paris, complete with a 354-foot-tall scale model of the Eiffel Tower), the sheer scope of the aptly titled “Gosh” will take your breath away — and it may take home Best Music Video at the Grammys in February.
5. Kanye West, “Fade”
Just as Gwen Stefani’s “Make Me Like You” was a highlight of the 2016 Grammys, one of the most talked-about moments of this year’s MTV Video Music Awards didn’t even take place on the Madison Square Garden stage. While everyone was eagerly anticipating performances by Rihanna and Britney, out of nowhere came “Fade” video girl Teyana Taylor — and she completely stole the show. Even more unexpected? This cardio-jam performance looks as if it could have taken place at the 1984 VMAs. Clad in a teeny-tiny, Jamie Lee Curtis-in-Perfect Jazzercise leotard seemingly held together with sweat and prayers, the incredibly lithe and limber, taut and toned Taylor totally gets her Flashdance on. She takes her passion and makes it happen; she’s a maniac, maniac on the floor. And every woman making a New Year’s fitness resolution will be looking to Teyana as inspo.
4. Beyoncé, “Formation”
Bey came to slay in 2016, starting with this Lemonade film teaser, which announced her arrival as a cultural commentator and political activist — a far cry from the light-hearted, leotarded reveler of “Single Ladies” of 2008. Raising her fist in a black power salute, defiantly reclining atop a sinking New Orleans cop car, demanding that police “Stop Shooting Us,” and celebrating her Creole and Southern heritage — and black women in general — Beyoncé makes an incredibly powerful statement here. This is a masterpiece from start to finish.
3. Miike Snow, “Genghis Khan”
If a classic ’60s Bond flick were reimagined as a movie-musical rom-com in which 007 and Dr. No fall hopelessly in love, this subversive romp would be the delightful result. After this, we’re totally rooting for Miike Snow to record the next James Bond theme.
2. Soda_Jerk & The Avalanches, “The Was”
This 14-minute fever dream from Australian mashup maestros the Avalanches is actually a bizarre, brilliant collage of no fewer than 129 different films and TV shows, in which characters are jarringly juxtaposed with humorous — and amazing — results. The cartoon kids from Daria, Beavis & Butt-Head, and The Simpsons hang out with famous faces from Taxi Driver, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and The Big Lebowski, for instance. (Mind. Blown.) This video requires repeat viewing to catch all of the pop-culture references, but it’s well worth your time.
1. David Bowie, “Lazarus”
On Jan. 7, David Bowie released this haunting, hospital-themed video. The following day — his 69th birthday — his 25th album, Blackstar, came out to widespread critical acclaim. And then, two days later … shockingly he died, after a secret 18-month battle with liver cancer. Suddenly, we all realized that in “Lazarus,” we’d just witnessed one of the greatest musical artists of all time chronicling and choreographing his own demise. (“His death was no different from his life — a work of Art. He made Blackstar for us, his parting gift,” Bowie’s longtime producer, Tony Visconti, posted on Facebook.) This is as close to an official goodbye as we’ll ever get from the elusive and enigmatic David Bowie. And maybe it’s the perfect goodbye.
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