Apr 29, 2026 2:50pm PT

Where in the Actual Hell Is Randy Newman? And Other Questions Raised by the New York Times’ Greatest Living American Songwriters List

Chris Willman

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Chris Willman

Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic

ChrisWillman

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“Who’s Madeline?” is still the year’s preeminent pop-music question. But coming up close behind that: “Where the eff is Randy Newman on the New York Times’ list of the 30 greatest living American songwriters?” Or, you can fill in that blank with some other name of your chagrined choosing, like Tom Waits, Patti Smith, Billy Joel, Jimmy Webb, Jackson Browne, Stephen Schwartz, Beyonce or James Taylor.

There are several likely answers to that. One is that lists like this exist as rage-bait, deliberately or otherwise. (We here at Variety are inveterate listmakers… we are not unfamiliar with a good backlash.) Another is that representation is important, and lists like this easily drift toward whatever the opposite of recency bias is, if their curators aren’t careful. A list comprised almost entirely of 1970s veterans would earn more groans, justifiably, than this one is. So if a few white men over 70 have to be sacrificed to include a Bad Bunny or Mariah, so be it.

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Where in the Actual Hell Is Randy Newman? And Other Questions Raised by the New York Times' Greatest Living American Songwriters List