"It’s not every day, or even every decade, that a song will become platinum certified, Grammy recognized, street ratified, activist endorsed, and a new nominee for Black National Anthem," PITCHFORK writes in proclaiming KENDRICK LAMAR's "ALRIGHT" the song of the decade. (Yup, it's that time already.) (And it seems like just yesterday we were dancing to GNARLS BARKLEY, OUTKAST and the WHITE STRIPES.) (No, actually, it doesn't. Those best-of-last-decade candidates all seem like they were a century ago, don't they? Recognizable pop music from an unrecognizable world.) (So, yeah, it's time.) In an era when cultural consensus seems to have long flown out the window, Pitchfork's team of 70-ish writers went for a consensus choice, a movement song for a decade that's been screaming for movement songs for nine years and nine months by my rough count. Absolutely no complaints here, even if nowhere in Pitchfork's three-paragraph essay on the song of the decade does the site say if it actually likes it, or what it sounds like. For the record, it sounds like this. Hip-hop gospel, constructed on cut-up bits of soul, jazz and a churchy choir, with one of the decade's most ambitious artists preaching about a light at the end of the world's longest, darkest tunnel. A musically generous song of hope for a world that could use some. You believe, as it plays, that things really are gonna be alright. Pitchfork's #2 song, for the record, is GRIMES' much more personal and private dance-pop single "OBLIVION," which is also #1 on GORILLA VS. BEAR's end-of-decade list, which arrived a few hours later, heavy on indie-pop, indie-rock and Pitchfork shade. Its list, GvB said, was the result of "no spreadsheets, no meetings, no overwrought blurbs, and absolutely no voting" (which makes light of this). Some consensus already, based on exactly two lists: Grimes, ROBYN, LANA DEL REY, FRANK OCEAN, a CARLY RAE JEPSEN song that isn't "CALL ME MAYBE." Also, DRAKE shows up seven times on Pitchfork's list of 200 songs... ITUNES, as in the music organizing software, has officially died with APPLE's release of its CATALINA OS on Monday. It will not be missed. ITUNES, as in the store where you can still buy MP3s, lives on in some kind of MAC purgatory. If you subscribe to APPLE MUSIC, the music store will be invisible in your computer, but there's a way to restore it from your settings (have fun). If you don't subscribe, the store will be a tab on your new MUSIC app. If you have an IPHONE, the iTunes store lives on and sells both music and video. TL;DR version: Managing music on your Apple device will continue to be at least a little annoying. But would you want it any other way? MusicSET: "Notes on the Long Anticipated, Not Quite Death of iTunes"... Some record companies, meantime, are "nervous" about the prospect of Apple bundling music subscriptions with its upcoming video subscription service, TV+, presumably at a discount (original story, paywalled, in the FINANCIAL TIMES)... A legit reason to be angry at JOKER, thanks to some controversial music supervision... Lots of music history at this endangered spot on the New York radio dial... ANNA NASTY, who records as OLIVIA NEUTRON-JOHN, is searching for a new name because do you even have to ask?... RIP JEFF SILBERMAN.