30 Greatest Living Canadian Songwriters? A 2026 attempt

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 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)

Discussion

Random fun points about who's on my list

Starting off with my Mount Rushmore, not that anyone asked:

• Joni, Neil, Anka, Shania.
• I'd never heard of the McGarrigles, not even for the Rufus Wainwright connection, until I interviewed Nicky Schrire in 2023. The sisters wrote my favourite song on Schrire's album, "Heart Like a Wheel" (featuring Laila Biali).
• The youngest person I chose is Daniel Caesar, who is the same age as me. That means I chose no one under 30. I feel like that's fine.
• David Foster and Noah "40" Shebib have common ground in how they expand the definition of "songwriting" to arranging and production in a contemporary studio world. Notwithstanding Foster's out-and-out song credits for Earth, Wind, and Fire and the like, Foster's arranging and 40's production alone definitely make them worthy. (I didn't consider Daniel Lanois, deeming him a step too far outside these lines.)
• I've met only one person on the list: Jim Cuddy. My former band played before his headlining set at the 2019 Salmon Arm Roots & Blues festival, and it remains the biggest gig I've ever played as a leader or co-leader. The only others I've seen live are Randy Bachman and Jeremy Dutcher.
• My case for Ruth Moody is bolstered by her song "One Voice", a perennial classic for music teachers and school choirs across the country.

Regrets

Every list has weaknesses, and mine will surely become clearer with time. My biggest regrets as of now are:

1. Acknowledging that this is Rhythm Changes, I didn't (yet?) develop a theory of how to include composers of our music, for lack of a better term. My list is thus basically one of popular/commercial music. How many people like Chelsea McBride, Darcy James Argue, and John Korsrud could we include even if there was a reasonable way to compare them with those 30?
2. I left off many of my favourite folkies, like Fred Eaglesmith, James Keelaghan, Pharis & Jason Romero, Serena Ryder, and Stephen Fearing. (Ruth Moody made it, however, for the reason mentioned above.) I can't feel out how I'd triage who among them would get into limited spots or whom I'd take off for them.
3. I represented Québécois music with only two choices. I have no doubt there are multiple French-language legends I've missed due to my own ignorance.
4. There's one name I spent the most time thinking about, and I ultimately left her off: k.d. lang. She's definitely one of the greatest living Canadian singers, interpreting other Canadians' songs on her best album and at our Olympics. (I left off Anne Murray too, perhaps due to ignorance, since I don't even really know how relevant it is to drop her name here.) And she's written at least one hit. But at the end of the day, I decided k.d. lang wasn't a match for this list.

More names

The only people who came to mind as ones I'd actively argue against: Chad Kroeger, Michael Bublé, and Win Butler.

People I thought of who don't make the cut in my opinion: Alan Doyle, Carly Rae Jepsen, Corey Hart, Deryck Whibley, Mike Reno, Raine Maida, Ryan Guldemond, and Tegan and Sara.

A "bubble" of people I left off who are great candidates: Andy Shauf, Cadence Weapon, Christopher Ward, Corb Lund, Dallas Green, Dan Bejar, Donovan Woods, Frazey Ford, John K. Samson, Josh Ramsay (who, speaking of Jepsen, co-wrote "Call Me Maybe"), Kim Mitchell (and/or Pye Dubois), Mac DeMarco, Tanya Tagaq, Tom Cochrane, and William Prince.

Now tell me what you think!