Who we are

We’re a collective of pop music writers and critics, spanning six continents, a range of backgrounds, identities, and fandoms.

Currently, we review two to four songs every day during the first week of each month. For every song, at least six writers contributes blurbs and scores between [0] and [10]. We average these scores to two decimal places, which means that we have produced the most significant figures in music criticism ever!

In addition, every December we run Amnesty Week, in which we catch up on writers’ favorite songs of the year we haven’t covered, and occasionally songs from readers like you. Over the years, we’ve also done tribute posts for late artists, anniversary features, liveblogs, and plenty more pop writing.

Our philosophy

We don’t think that any one opinion on a song should be definitive, which is why we present a range of views on the music we discuss. We each approach music in different ways, and we definitely don’t always agree; there is no overarching Singles Jukebox editorial line.

We also don’t adhere to any particular genres or languages: if it got a lot of YouTube views, or a lot of chart buzz, or if it’s just a single that someone found really interesting, it’s something we might write about.

Our writers

Hundreds of music critics have traveled through these halls over the years, many of whom have gone on to write for other blogs, publications, present at events such as the MoPOP’s annual Pop Conference, and write books for series and publishing houses including Hachette and 33 1/3. Collectively, our writers have written for publications including Pitchfork, The New York Times, The New Yorker, MTV, Spin, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, Stereogum, Billboard, Freaky Trigger, The Wire, the Village Voice, Jezebel, The Ringer, The Awl, One Week One Band, and many more. You can find out more about individual writers, both current and past, via the sidebar on the right.

Our history

Andrew Unterberger and William Swygart began The Singles Jukebox in 2004 as a pair of columns on Stylus Magazine, one for UK singles and one for US singles. This series ran until Stylus closed in 2007.

A chance meeting between two writers in a pub led to a few emails going across the globe, and all of a sudden the band was back together, just like we’d never split up. Sure, our friends at Pitchfork began to focus on individual tracks in earnest a month earlier, stealing our thunder somewhat, but we’ll always have the extra decimal place.

The Jukebox went on hiatus in 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and re-launched as a monthly site in 2024.

We love hearing from you!

If you have any songs you think we should review, or if you’re interested in joining us as a writer, shoot us an email at info@thesinglesjukebox.com.