These are the top 20 songs from albums released between December 1, 2001 and November 30, 2002 in the United States. As I do every year, I factored in the following criteria when ranking the top songs: originality, composition/arrangement/production, lyrics, catchiness/memorability, energy, emotion.

1. Eminem “Lose Yourself” 8 Mile Original Soundtrack (Interscope)

2. Nas “What Goes Around” Stillmatic (Ill Will/Columbia)

3. Sleater-Kinney “One Beat” One Beat (Kill Rock Stars)

4. Nas “My Country” Stillmatic (Ill Will/Columbia)

5. Eminem “White America” The Eminem Show (Interscope)

6. Bright Eyes “Bowl of Oranges” Lifted or The Story Is In the Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground (Saddle Creek)

7. Abandon Jalopy “Speed Bumps” Mercy (Stank Face Laboratories)

8. Sonic Youth “Disconnection Notice” Murray St. (Geffen/Interscope)

9. Mr. Lif “Home of the Brave” Emergency Rations EP (Definitive Jux)

10. Eminem “Cleanin’ Out My Closet” The Eminem Show (Interscope)

11. Wilco “Jesus Etc.” Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Nonesuch)

12. Queens of the Stone Age “No One Knows” Songs for the Deaf (Interscope)

13. Chemical Brothers “Come With Us” Come With Us (Astralwerks)

14. Bright Eyes “Method Acting” Lifted or The Story Is In the Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground (Saddle Creek)

15. Pretty Girls Make Graves “Speakers Push the Air” Good Health (Lookout!)

16. Scarface “On My Block” The Fix (Def Jam)

17. The Flaming Lips “Fight Test” Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (Warner Brothers)

18. Liars “Mr. Your On Fire Mr.” They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument On Top (Mute)

19. Avril Lavigne “Complicated” Let Go (Arista)

20. Justin Timberlake “Cry Me a River” Justified (Jive)