Subscriber Fridays

30 Greatest Living Canadian Songwriters? A 2026 attempt

in which we actually name 80+ Canadian songwriters

I was looking for something fun and non-jazzfest related to send us off into the coming two weeks, and Dan Mangan provided it on Tuesday.

Mangan, who is in part the subject of one of my favourite podcast episodes I've ever made, led off an Instagram video with the following message:

"So recently, The New York Times released a list of the 30 greatest American songwriters. And there was a lot of anger, and there was a lot of excitement, and a lot of people disagreeing or agreeing or whatever, and they're saying, oh, you missed this person, whatever. I was thinking about Canadian songwriters, and I know so many great Canadian songwriters, people that I would love to put on this list."

Mangan then turned the video into a plug for his upcoming show with Joel Plaskett, a songwriter he'd want on the list.

But that got me to start thinking and typing down names. On my 30 Greatest Living Canadian Songwriters list, who would make it?

Wait: there's one more detail. It's for living songwriters only, which Mangan doesn't say while talking but does note in his video's text. That means many hall-of-famers, including all the following people, aren't eligible: Gord Downie, Gordon Lightfoot, John Mann, Leonard Cohen, Rita MacNeil, Robbie Robertson, Ruth Lowe, Stan Rogers, and Stompin' Tom Connors.

On my list, I leave off Drake, Justin Bieber, and The Weeknd, though I do represent their music with a couple collaborators. I also leave off Mangan and Plaskett, but let's chalk that up to clearing two valuable spaces for additional names, since we already mentioned them today. Also, I exclude U.S.-born songwriters (even if they're Canadian citizens) while allowing immigrants who came to Canada from elsewhere in the world.

Here's my list, in alphabetical order:

Will's 30 Greatest Living Canadian Songwriters (2026 edition)

Alanis Morissette
Anna McGarrigle (to share with her sister Kate, who has passed)
Avril Lavigne
Bruce Cockburn
Burton Cummings (to share with Randy Bachman)
Chantal Kreviazuk
Daniel Caesar
David Foster
Feist
Geddy Lee (to share with Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart, who has passed)
Gilles Vigneault
Gordie Sampson (writer with Carrie Underwood, Rascal Flatts, and more)
Jane Siberry
Jeremy Dutcher
Jim Cuddy (to share with Greg Keelor)
Jim Vallance (writer with Bryan Adams, Heart, and more)
Joni Mitchell
Michel Normandeau (with Harmonium; the band's frontman Serge Fiori has passed)
Neil Young
Nelly Furtado
Noah “40” Shebib (producer with Drake, Lil Wayne, and more)
Paul Anka
Ron Sexsmith
Ruth Moody
Sarah McLachlan
Shad
Shania Twain
Susan Aglukark
Sylvia Tyson (to share with Ian Tyson, who has passed)
Tobias Jesso Jr. (writer with Justin Bieber, Adele, and more)