I love making playlists. I used to look forward to making year’s end “Best of …” mix CDs for all my friends every December. And of course, I adored making mix tapes! I made mixes with various themes (sleepytime, vitamins, places).

Recently, I sought to add to my already five-hour-long NYC playlist because the husband and I were driving down to see Waiting for Godot, starring Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, on Broadway. I posted ten random songs from my playlist and asked folks to share their favorite NYC tunes. I ended up with a bunch of recommendations, so I thought I’d share my whole NYC playlist here, since I don’t do streaming*. I use what used to be iTunes and have been putting my CD collection and digital Bandcamp purchases on it. When I can’t get something from Bandcamp, I’ll buy the digital version from Apple Music.

*Update: I now use Apple Music and my NYC playlist can be found here!

Here’s my NYC playlist!

• “Manhattan Skyline” – a-ha
• “New York, New York” – Ryan Adams
• “My Blue Manhattan” – Ryan Adams
• “New York” – Richard Ashcroft
• “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” – Beastie Boys
• “An Open Letter to NYC” – Beastie Boys
• “Working Boy In New York City” – Belle and Sebastian
• “New York’s In Love” – David Bowie
• “Manhattan” – Cat Power
• “New York City” – The Chainsmokers
• “Another Rainy Day In New York City” – Chicago
• “Manhattan” – Cinerama
• “9th Ave. Limbo” – Julee Cruise
• “Diet Mountain Dew” – Lana Del Rey
• “Brooklyn Baby” – Lana Del Rey
• “Brooklyn Roads” – Neil Diamond
• “N.Y.” – Doves
• “N.Y.C.” – Steve Earle
• “New York Morning” – Elbow
• “New York City” – Emigrate
• “New York” – Ex:Re
• “New York’s Alright If You Like Saxophones” – Fear
• “Survival Car” – Fountains of Wayne
• “Acela” – Fountains of Wayne
• “New York Groove” – Ace Frehley
• “New York Town” – Woody Guthrie
• “You Said Something” – PJ Harvey
• “Brooklyn Is Burning” – Head Automatica
• “Bridge and Tunnel” – Holy Ghost!
• “NYC” – Interpol
• “P.S. New York Is Burning” – Jawbreaker
• “Empire State of Mind (Explicit)” – Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys
• “New York City” – The Jesus and Mary Chain
• “New York State of Mind” – Billy Joel
• “Cousin In the Bronx” – Kaiser Chiefs
• “NYC Baby” – Karen O
• “What New York Used to Be” – The Kills
• “N.Y. Hotel” – The Knife
• “New York” – Alex Lahey
• “New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down” – LCD Soundsystem
• “My My Metrocard” – Le Tigre
• “Stars of New York” – Look Park
• “I Love New York” – Madonna
• “The Luckiest Guy On the Lower East Side” – The Magnetic Fields
• “Brooklyn” – Jesse Malin
• “Silver Manhattan” – Jesse Malin
• “Brooklyn, You’re Killing Me” – Andrew McMahon In The Wilderness
• “Remember Manhattan” – Richard Marx
• “Central Park East” – Mercury Rev
• “Going to Queens” – The Mountain Goats
• “N.Y. State of Mind” – Nas
• “Little Faith” – The National
• “Chelsea Girls” – Nico
• “I Guess the Lord Must Be In New York City” – Harry Nilsson
• “O’Oh” – Ono feat. Shitake Monkey
• “Breakfast In NYC” – Oppenheimer
• “New York City Boy” – Pet Shop Boys
• “ABCs of New York” – Princess Nokia
• “53rd & 3rd” – Ramones
• “New York Was Great” – The Raveonettes
• “Coney Island Baby” – Lou Reed
• “Walk On the Wild Side” – Lou Reed
• “New York Telephone Conversation” – Lou Reed
• “Brooklyn” – Silverbird
• “Bleecker Street” – Simon & Garfunkel
• “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)” – Simon & Garfunkel
• “The Only Living Boy in New York” – Simon & Garfunkel
• “(Theme From) New York, New York” – Frank Sinatra
• “New York Blackout” – Soul Asylum
• “New York” – St. Vincent
• “New York City Cops” – The Strokes
• “Ever Since New York” – Harry Styles
• “Welcome to New York” – Taylor Swift
• “Maroon” – Taylor Swift
• “Coney Island” – Taylor Swift feat. The National
• “Long Island” – that dog
• “New York City” – They Might Be Giants
• “Summer In New York” – Sofi Tukker
• “I’m Waiting for the Man” – The Velvet Underground
• “I Love New York City” – Andrew W.K.
• “A Madman From Manhattan” – Jack White
• “You Took the Sunshine From New York” – The Wildhearts
• “Across 110th Street” – Bobby Womack
• “New York Rain” – Ken Yates
• “Yeah! New York” – Yeah Yeah Yeahs