While the music industry mutates into whatever it’s becoming, we’ve fallen upon a dark age of sort in music video. Yes, the internet has given bands and directors more media outlets to showcase their videos, and yes we’ve benefited from Moore’s Law in that we can afford amazing cameras and edit from home in our underwear using Final Cut Pro for cheap. But here is the unfortunate paradox…music video budgets are the lowest they’ve ever been.

With MTV no longer a factor, labels just can’t figure out how to make money on YouTube hits. Sure there are the 10 or so artists (some included in this list) which labels still give a nice sized budget to, but the million dollar budget era of music video is dead, buried and being pissed on by drunk teens in deep cable cemeteries.

With all this gloom staining the landscape, music video isn’t going anywhere. It’s simply streamlining itself and dropping the dead weight. “Blank Check” budgets don’t necessarily make great videos anyway. I refuse to concede to the idea that this is a dying art form and the following works testify this sentiment. Here are my top 10 videos of the year:

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10) A Place To Bury Strangers – “In Your Heart” // Director: Adam Grabarnick

What? I’m not typically a shameless self-promoter, but this video is dope.

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9) The Big Pink – “Dominoes” // Director: Timothy Saccenti

Performance videos are my personal favorite. You can come up with the most clever idea in the universe, but I could care less. All I want to see is my favorite band killing it. There’s nothing more thrilling than when a director does the performance video right…and this is a perfect specimen. There’s such an intensity to this simple video. It literally explodes with drama. The cinematography and lighting is lush, and that slow motion is really effective. The entire piece is seriously sharp. It doesn’t hurt that the song’s hook is catchy as hell. Saccenti always comes correct with his videos and he really hit a home run with this one. It’s one of those that you can watch over and over again.

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8) Major Lazer – “Hold The Line” // Director: Ferry Gouw

As someone who grew up worshipping cartoons in the 80′s this video really hits home with me. It’s on some M.A.S.K. and Silverhawks shit and the tone is dead on target. I love the mythology surrounding Major Lazer and this video makes me wish a cartoon really existed.

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7) Eminem – “3AM” // Director: Syndrome

Amazing production value, cinematic photography and a smart use of visual effects make this one of the most overlooked videos of the year. Every single shot is exciting. Syndrome did a great job in reigning in their usual “Look how big our dicks are” video effects and created a grizzly world in celebration of Shady’s more disturbed side.

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6) Coldplay – “Strawberry Swing” // Director: Shynola

Even with the passing of one of the directing collective’s members, Shynola continue to create some of the most gorgeous music videos around. This video was executed beautifully, and the magic of the storyline makes me happy. I want to hug my friends and make lifelong promises to my wife right now.

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5) Kanye West – “Welcome to Heartbreak” // Director: Nabil

Don’t Chairlift me to death on this pick. Regardless of who aped Takeshi Murata first, the fact is that both of those directors are repped by Partizan, so who gives a shit? What matters is who did it better…and it was Kanye West and Nabil. This video is too cool.

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4) The Dead Weather – “Treat Me Like Your Mother” // Director: Jonathan Glazer

Holy shit is this video sexy! Glazer reminds us of his visionary genius with this brave and uncompromised promo. There’s so much vibe in this that it hurts! 3:02 – 3:27 makes me want to give up on life… I lavishly gushed over it when it first dropped and you can check that out here.

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3) Lady Gaga – “Bad Romance” // Director: Francis Lawrence

That whole schtick I was spitting about budgets never being lower doesn’t seem to apply to Lady Gaga Inc…or Francis Lawrence for that matter. What did they have like a week to shoot this? Regardless of the financial advantage this apparently has over the other contenders it’s really stunning. An iconic example of a big budget producing greatness. Great art direction/set design, exciting fashion, and A+ cinematography. Francis Lawrence also did a dope Britney vid this year too.

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2) Fever Ray – “Triangle Walks” // Director: Mikel Cee Karlsson

Talk about a musician who has made every right decision possible in the visual representation of their art! This is the most fearless video I’ve ever seen…you don’t see anyone, yet you see everything! The risky shotlist and lighting scheme paid off huge for Mikel Cee Karlsson.

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1) Fever Ray – “If I Had A Heart” // Director: Andreas Nilsson

That’s right…#2 and #1. This is one of the greatest videos of all time. Seriously, OF ALL TIME. The slow icy pace and atmospheric dread moves me with each viewing…and I watch it a lot. I’ll say it again because it’s worth repeating…every choice Karin Dreijer Andersson has made for Fever Ray, from costumes to director collaboration to stage show, has been absolutely perfect. She destroyed it this year!

- Cornbluth