Do, exploring new music can never ever hurt, and if you know where to look it can be amazing. Oh don't worry, my number one is AMAZING (naturally) although I don't THINK you hate anything left unless I've forgotten something obvious. (and you gave 12 points to Turn Loose The Mermaids so unless you've majorly gone off it that's included too)

 

I didn't notice until it got pointed out to me in a BJSC thread when I referred to them as a girlband. :lol: But it is fairly obvious once you know.

 

I think maybe getting back into BJSC a bit more (like you have) could be the key here as it is a gold mine of undiscovered music! Yep 'Turn Loose The Mermaids' is still my favourite entry of yours and Diamonds is lush too, as is the rest of your announced top 10 so far :D

10. dream beats feat. The F▲CE - Love Stuck

This is the best thing to emerge from the underground British scene this year, helped along by some canny Scandinavian producers - so lets hear a bit more from The F▲CE fairly sharpish, although there's been nothing since this and 3 demos (and the extended mix of Love Stuck, which just adds to the joy of the radio edit *.*) so I'm not holding out too much hope. :(

 

They've announced on their facebook that they've split up. :( http://www.facebook.com/thefacetheband/posts/501162393260468

:( Well that's awful. I'll just hope for some solo material then.

BJSC needs more of that, sometimes songs getting big means they lose some of their 'uniqueness' that I like in entries but it is awesome seeing them get big, makes me feel so hipsterish that I knew them prior (and proves we are tastemakers and that other more incredible songs in BJSC have dat hit potential). And some of yours are impressive, if I have my BJSC history right you entered Pixie a full year before she hit #1, not bad, not bad.

 

Correct, seeing her blow up (and seeing Boys & Girls go to #1) was the most surreal thing ever for me, she was just a random MySpace find! :lol:

 

That Nightwish song remains amazing, was in my top 110 but just missed my top 100 of the year, so close!

HOME STRETCH NOW:

 

5. Lana Del Rey - Ride

 

 

01-01-02-04-08-16-16-11-10-09-11

 

'been trying hard not to get into trouble but I, I got a war in my mind'

 

The first in my top 5 to fall is the newest, the huge surprise to me that was Ride. Like I said in my Born To Die commentary, I was quite sure she would never better that and yet when she released her Paradise EP - this jumped out as the lead single. Haunting, beautiful and inspiring completely, Lana's delivery on the highlighted lyric, among others, gives me chills like nothing else - and here more than anything else, Lana seems so connected with what she is singing. It also hints at something brighter in the future, and a way to relax your troubles until that future comes. Absolutely incredible song - it may be Lana-by-numbers but it is the cream of the crop from that formula.

 

The image of her on that tyre swing along with the song itself - beautiful.

4. Cover Drive - Sparks

 

 

04-01-01-01-02-03-06-07-06-16-20-37

 

'we got no games to play, so we got no rules'

 

And this one sold me on Cover Drive - if Twilight had opened up my love for them that is. My real tune of the summer here - as summer came early with a Tenerife holiday, and it's a song that's just so sweet and warm I had to fall in love with it. Amanda's vocals sound incredibly sexy and inviting, and it sounds a lot fuller and more powerful that Twilight, as great as that was. A video still adorned my signature for many weeks, simply because it feels delightful - like a summer evening relaxation by a pool. In a period where Euphoria was dominating my chart and hype was sweeping Buzzjack for that, it managed to sneak three full weeks on top, all completely deserved.

 

It gives me the same feelings as I felt when I fell for Alexis Jordan's Happiness, as far as I am concerned both Alexis and Cover Drive are cut from the same cloth, bubblegum pop masquerading as RnB, and all of that 'genre' is just fantastic. Given the rest of Bajan Style sounds much like this but inferior, it's a triumph from a group I was a bit bemused by when they first appeared, and one of my favourite songs from this year and likely to enter my all-time favourites in time.

3. Of Monsters And Men - Little Talks

 

 

29-27-44-x-53-35-41-x-01-01-01-01-03-03-04-08-16-14-21-28

 

'now wait wait wait for me, please hang around, I'll see you when I fall asleep'

 

And now for a song that completely passed me by the first time I heard it. Well, not exactly - I liked it in BJSC and was quite adamant it would end up top 10 - and then it finished 20th and surprised me, because it sounded even then like a smash in the making. I only gave it one point though. :( Anyway, fast forward seven months and it's beginning to smash and a new version surfaces, which took me a while to get used to, but once it hit me, I began to love it far far more than I had originally. And it re-entered my chart and spent a month at #1. Because that's incredibly usual and stuff. If Sparks was the tune of the early summer, this was the one of the late summer - August in particular. A mainstream, indie-rock song with both male and female voices intertwining perfectly, singing about ships and shores and lots of epic stuff like that, how was I ever not going to like this? It currently sits at 6th in my all-time last.fm song plays, and that's quite deserved. While Of Monsters And Men haven't done anything else quite topping this, they've certainly tried.

My only wish is that this had somehow gone top 10 here, like in Ireland and a lot of other places.

 

The middle 8 still gives me chills.

 

Top 2 coming soon, can anyone guess?

25. Alyssa Reid - Alone Again

 

 

17-18-16-22-41-48-55-58-50-31-12-12-06-10-06-01-02-09-25-41-65

 

'and the night goes by so very slow'

 

I prefer P Reign. I first heard this last year, along with 'The Game' when I entered that one into BJSC - and while it wasn't quite as good as Heart's original, it was not entirely a disgrace to the original, I thought it was quite a good tribute actually, Alyssa puts so much emotion into it, at least from my point of view. It was something I never imagined would get big so it was quite surreal seeing a song that I'd discovered and played loads suddenly start receiving airplay and hype from radio stations across the country. I imagine this would have been even more pronounced had I entered this instead of The Game to BJSC - I can only imagine how Ryan or Hits feel (although it was heartbreaking to see BJ have a generally negative reaction to it, firstly, where were the people who gave 'The Game' points, secondly, YOU NORMALLY GO FOR THE CHEAP POP SONG BUZZJACK WHY NOT THIS TIME? and to bum Rita Ora/Tulisa at the same time just gives me a feeling of INCREDULITY :(). If anything, this was far more of a surprise hit than Carly or Gotye, already charting well internationally when they were entered, while Alone Again was only a quick top 10 hit or something in Canada (yes I know I didn't enter this exact song but The Game sounds extremely similar so work with me hurr). The UK release eventually found me giving this song a week at #1. Yeah, mainstreamness gave me more love for it. I am a mainstream whore. COOL. Joseph, back me up here, we seem to be its only fans.

 

Only just seen this. Best song in the whole countdown TBH. It was the UK release that made me discover this masterpiece. I actually prefer it to Heart's original. *takes cover*

 

Oh and EUPHORIA FOR #1 PL0X

Edited January 6, 201312 yr by JosephSimpson

2. Owl City feat. Carly Rae Jepsen - Good Time

 

 

01-01-01-04-06-03-04-04-07-09-13-14-14-13-13-18-29-30-x-33-27-14-15-13 (still charting)

 

'good morning and good night, I wake up at twilight'

 

And now the song of the middle summer. It was INCREDIBLY close between this and Little Talks for the number 2, not so close with this to the number 1, giving Owl City his second top 2 finish here in 3 years. It was incredibly surprising originally to see Owl City and Carly collaborating but the result was about the happiest song I could have hoped for, which was good as I was worried just prior to this that Owl City was headed down a rocky direction that didn't suit him at all, and thankfully this proved me wrong. And we all know I like happy songs. I keep coming back to the video for when I want to see Carly at her best but the real triumph here is its longevity - I got slightly bored of Little Talks recently, not so of this, which might be because I haven't played it near as much. It still sounds incredible every single time though - and perfectly singable. Even when it's played at 'cheesy nights' - which I don't mind at all, they normally play good music there.

 

It's doubtful it'll do anything for their careers but it was nice seeing them get a smash again. At least I got the duet of the year out of it.

 

1. Loreen - Euphoria

 

 

02-03-04-03-01-01-01-02-02-02-01-01-02-04-02-02-01-02-03-03-06-07-13-12-20-33-x-32

 

'an everlasting piece of art, a beating love within my heart'

 

And Loreen claims yet ANOTHER End of Year #1 in these countdowns (is that like 10 of these now, she is omnipresent :o), and yes, I have the same top 2 as gooddelta. It was all I could do to keep from saying it when Rich finished his countdown. What can I say, we both have fabulous taste.

I wasn't sure at times during the year whether this would hold out long enough to be my number one of the year, unlike people such as gooddelta, Ghosty and Jonjo who I know were sure - it was absolutely excellent but so were a number of other songs. And I know I'm not seen as the biggest fan of Euphoria (although probably in the secondary level) but I AM. I WAS THERE FROM THE BEGINNING. I even had a Loreen signature for a bit so I'm clearly her #1 fan. Oh yes.

 

Everything to do with this song is fantastic - the instrumental is a moment on its own, Loreen performing live is incredible, the song in studio form feels special, its utter destruction of Melodifestivalen and then Eurovision a joy to watch, Loreen managing to become a mini-celebrity from it and it hitting #1 in tens of places, even into the Eurovisionphobic UK's top 3, and the album version adding some extra strings to make the intro sound far more epic - it's a whirlwind of achievements. Even some of us spreading love for it onto Buzzjack and attracting a little bit of hate from overhype was good at the time. I have played it almost 200 times, no song has come close to that in number of plays since I started last.fm aside from my last year's #1, Titanium, which it sounds oddly like, and Turn Loose The Mermaids, which is just special. In the end, it wasn't close to Good Time and with it spending a massive 14 weeks in my top 2 alone, it deserves no less. Time will tell how well it fits into my top 100 songs ever, I've provisionally put it at around #21 but I'll properly sort it when I next update it, and whether it'll stand up to Waterloo and Drip Drop as my favourite Eurovision winner and song respectively, I don't know, but it's getting pretty close to them.

 

So that's twice in a row my End Of Year has fallen to incredibly-produced dance songs - will another one come along next year? Thanks all who commented and I'll get up a list in just a minute.

Fantastic winner! It really is an everlasting piece of art. :wub:

Top half of my EOY, copied straight from my spreadsheet so I hope there are no spelling mistakes in there:

 

1 Euphoria Loreen

2 Good Time Owl City/Carly Rae Jepsen

3 Little Talks Of Monsters And Men

4 Sparks Cover Drive

5 Ride Lana Del Rey

6 Diamonds Rihanna

7 Turn Loose The Mermaids Nightwish

8 Where Have You Been Rihanna

9 Somebody That I Used To Know Gotye ft. Kimbra

10 Love Stuck Dream Beats

 

11 Don't You Worry Child Swedish House Mafia

12 The Crow, The Owl And The Dove Nightwish

13 Twilight Cover Drive

14 Emmylou First Aid Kit

15 Beneath Your Beautiful Labrinth ft. Emeli Sande

16 Some Die Young Laleh

17 Spectrum Florence & The Machine

18 We Are Never Getting Back Together Taylor Swift

19 Born To Die Lana Del Rey

20 Stormande hav Timoteij

 

21 212 Azealia Banks

22 Gangnam Style PSY

23 Figure 8 Ellie Goulding

24 Cannonball Little Mix

25 Talk Me Down/Alone Again Alyssa Reid

26 Disparate Youth Santigold

27 Water To Ice Ruby Frost

28 The Beginning Of The End Charlotte Qvale

29 Starting Fires Years Away

30 My Heart Is Refusing Me Loreen

 

31 Primadonna Marina & The Diamonds

32 sever iamamiwhoami

33 Avalon Professor Green ft. Sierra

34 DNA Little Mix

35 Never Forget Greta Salome & Jonsi

36 Bad Girls M.I.A

37 Why Start A Fire? Lisa Miskovsky

38 Aphrodisiac Eleftheria Eleftheriou

39 50 Ways To Say Goodbye Train

40 Wings Little Mix

 

41 September St. Lucia

42 Eyes Open Taylor Swift

43 Don't Go Rae Morris

44 La La Love Ivi Adamou

45 goods iamamiwhoami

46 Bruises Train

47 Castles of Verona

48 Wide Awake Katy Perry

49 Summer Paradise Simple Plan ft. Sean Paul

50 Billy The Kid Dia Frampton

 

51 Na Jag Blundar Pernilla Karlsson

52 110% Jessie Ware

53 Chasing The Sun The Wanted

54 Titanium David Guetta ft. Sia

55 Crystallize Lindsey Stirling

56 Midnight City M83

57 Wolf First Aid Kit

58 Call Me Maybe Carly Rae Jepsen

59 Hyperventilating Ronya

60 Honey And The Bee Owl City

 

61 National Anthem Lana Del Rey

62 Runaways The Killers

63 The Fog Rachel Sermanni

64 Feel The Love Rudimental

65 Latch Disclosure

66 Vapaa Kaija Koo

67 Silhouette Owl City

68 Tabu Timoteij

69 Vampire Smile Kyla La Grange

70 Troublemaker Olly Murs

 

71 To The End Florrie

72 I Know You Too Well Cover Drive

73 Only The Horses Scissor Sisters

74 Nar Mitt Blod Pumpar I Dig Nordpolen

75 What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger) Kelly Clarkson

76 Obedear Purity Ring

77 Anymore Seo In Young

78 I Miss The Misery Halestorm

79 The Lion's Roar First Aid Kit

80 The Rain Falls On The Just Saint Saviour

 

81 Show Me Team Me

82 Terribly Dark Frida Hyvonen

83 Explode Cover Drive

84 Phone Sex Blood Diamonds ft. Grimes

85 Bombshell Blonde Owl City

86 Habits Maria Mena & Mads Langer

87 Galaxy Sep

88 Shady Love Scissor Sisters

89 L'amore è Femmina Nina Zilli

90 Love Actually Cady Groves

 

91 Happiness DJ Andi ft. Stella

92 Undo Your Mind Eivor

93 Get Out My Head Redlight

94 Boys Will Be Boys Paulina Rubio

95 Young Ruby Frost

96 Ode To The Bouncer Studio Killers

97 I Will Show You Ailee

98 Little Braveheart Charlotte Perelli ft. Kate Ryan

99 Some Nights Fun

100 Live Tomorrow Lena Philipsson

 

101 Your Drums Your Love AlunaGeorge

102 Sovereign Light Cafe Keane

103 Maailman Toisella Puolen Haloo Helsinki

104 Skyfall Adele

105 Safe And Sound Taylor Swift

106 Sign In, Dream On, Drop Out Poppy & The Jezebels

 

Wow, I didn't expect anybody to have the same EOY top two as me! What a stunning end to a brilliant chart. Like or love the rest of your top five, Sparks being the weakest link for me but it's still a nice enough song.

Also surprised to hear that Waterloo and Drip Drop are in your all time top 20, I love the former for kickstarting their career and schlager/Swedish pop in general but it's probably not even in my top five ABBA songs :o

Good Time aside (i do like it, but never got the mad love it recieved here), that is an incredible top 5, Sparks and all! (with my favourite at #1 :wub:)

Wow, I didn't expect anybody to have the same EOY top two as me! What a stunning end to a brilliant chart. Like or love the rest of your top five, Sparks being the weakest link for me but it's still a nice enough song.

 

Neither did I if I'm honest - I thought Good Time would be a bit lower for you before you posted it based on your chart, but they are both fantastic songs.

 

Also surprised to hear that Waterloo and Drip Drop are in your all time top 20, I love the former for kickstarting their career and schlager/Swedish pop in general but it's probably not even in my top five ABBA songs :o

 

I'm in the process of reforming it and Euphoria, Waterloo and Drip Drop are all around the same sort of area - so it might not actually be in my top 20 but it's definitely up there as my favourite Eurovision winner, or was until Euphoria won - still a little unsure on how this is going to end up. Waterloo was nowhere near it last time I did it but that's just because I hadn't thought about it, always loved it since I was a child and began to love it more this past year, although I grew up with ABBA playing around me so I'm sure that influenced my musical tastes somewhat.

 

Drip Drop was in there the last time I posted it at least though.

Neither did I if I'm honest - I thought Good Time would be a bit lower for you before you posted it based on your chart, but they are both fantastic songs.

 

I'm in the process of reforming it and Euphoria, Waterloo and Drip Drop are all around the same sort of area - so it might not actually be in my top 20 but it's definitely up there as my favourite Eurovision winner, or was until Euphoria won - still a little unsure on how this is going to end up. Waterloo was nowhere near it last time I did it but that's just because I hadn't thought about it, always loved it since I was a child and began to love it more this past year, although I grew up with ABBA playing around me so I'm sure that influenced my musical tastes somewhat.

 

Drip Drop was in there the last time I posted it at least though.

 

Euphoria's chart run sort of made everything else look average, but Good Time spent almost 4 months in my top ten including 8 weeks top 2 and had three separate runs at #1, so did pretty well! Hunters & The Wolves got 6 weeks at #1 but in the end Good Time was more definitive of the year for me, it absolutely ruled my mid-late summer :wub: It only didn't have longer at #1 because that pesky Taylor kept getting in the way (they kept alternating at #1!).

 

At least Sweden's winners are bringing the goods for you, they should have won twice in a row by rights, Popular definitely felt like the entry that made the most impact in 2011, save for Jedward but thank god they didn't win! Listening to ABBA's Gold is like a masterpiece in how to write a perfect pop song, Waterloo is the perfect Eurovision song for sure but as a more fleshed out sort of thing there are other songs I prefer (the 3 minute rule is the only thing I dislike about Eurovision, so many songs could do with extra time!).

Euphoria's chart run sort of made everything else look average, but Good Time spent almost 4 months in my top ten including 8 weeks top 2 and had three separate runs at #1, so did pretty well! Hunters & The Wolves got 6 weeks at #1 but in the end Good Time was more definitive of the year for me, it absolutely ruled my mid-late summer :wub: It only didn't have longer at #1 because that pesky Taylor kept getting in the way (they kept alternating at #1!).

 

At least Sweden's winners are bringing the goods for you, they should have won twice in a row by rights, Popular definitely felt like the entry that made the most impact in 2011, save for Jedward but thank god they didn't win! Listening to ABBA's Gold is like a masterpiece in how to write a perfect pop song, Waterloo is the perfect Eurovision song for sure but as a more fleshed out sort of thing there are other songs I prefer (the 3 minute rule is the only thing I dislike about Eurovision, so many songs could do with extra time!).

 

Same for me with Euphoria's run if you count #1 positions and #2 positions, I bet the only reason I didn't get labelled among the chief Euphoria loons was because I let Sparks and Where Have You Been take over for three weeks each in between Euphoria's runs at #1. It was quite tough deciding between Good Time and Little Talks, both ruled my summer but I let Good Time take it because it makes me slightly happier. Ha, Taylor gets in the way everywhere (she's blocked Stay having a 3-week #1 run in my unpublished chart right now), still love her though.

 

Not much from 2011 has held up well at all for me, it sounds such a dated contest looking back at it now, compared to the highs of 2010 and 2009, even Running Scared which I loved at the time is a little blander than it felt then. Popular could and maybe should have won but it's a tossup now whether I prefer that or Ell & Nikki. With Sweden's other winners, I only kinda know Take Me To Your Heaven, Carola's winner (which sounds fab) and the other one I don't know at all - so much Eurovision I have left to discover. :drama:

 

Oh indeed re: Gold, it was always changing which Abba song was my favourite but I think I've settled on Waterloo for the pure joy it brings, but pretty much everything on there is a solid gold (intended) 9+/10 pop song. Still listen to it very regularly.

Same for me with Euphoria's run if you count #1 positions and #2 positions, I bet the only reason I didn't get labelled among the chief Euphoria loons was because I let Sparks and Where Have You Been take over for three weeks each in between Euphoria's runs at #1. It was quite tough deciding between Good Time and Little Talks, both ruled my summer but I let Good Time take it because it makes me slightly happier. Ha, Taylor gets in the way everywhere (she's blocked Stay having a 3-week #1 run in my unpublished chart right now), still love her though.

 

Not much from 2011 has held up well at all for me, it sounds such a dated contest looking back at it now, compared to the highs of 2010 and 2009, even Running Scared which I loved at the time is a little blander than it felt then. Popular could and maybe should have won but it's a tossup now whether I prefer that or Ell & Nikki. With Sweden's other winners, I only kinda know Take Me To Your Heaven, Carola's winner (which sounds fab) and the other one I don't know at all - so much Eurovision I have left to discover. :drama:

 

Oh indeed re: Gold, it was always changing which Abba song was my favourite but I think I've settled on Waterloo for the pure joy it brings, but pretty much everything on there is a solid gold (intended) 9+/10 pop song. Still listen to it very regularly.

 

Even I wasn't as perfect as Ghosty/Jonjo, I obviously had to let Delta through with her comeback single and Rae Morris snuck a week too (thankfully so, would have regretted that not being a #1), but it did still manage 17 weeks at the top for me, I never thought anything would come anywhere close to that length of time at #1 or me!

 

I still hold a few songs from the contest dear - The Secret Is Love, Popular and I Can primarily, but yeah it was hardly a classic, and the results were absolutely DIRE for the most part, Running Scared was pure out of tune MOR live to me, although I had a small soft spot for the studio version, it didn't exactly light up my chart though, think it peaked in the mid 20s! Yes get discovering! Although Sweden's other winner isn't very good imo, Carola's winner is good, and check out her other entry Framling which is amazing! Take Me To Your Heaven is a classic, and a UK top 20 hit, at least the Swedish winners hit the UK charts more often than not!

 

Mine is either The Winner Takes It All or Lay All Your Love On Me, I can never quite decide! And More Gold hoovers up the missing gems, such as The Day Before You Came. If only Slipping Through My Fingers featured on it, it would be perfect!

Wonderful chart, Iz, some closing comments:

 

1 Euphoria Loreen Great choice of number 1! Its so criminally underrated on here :(

2 Good Time Owl City/Carly Rae Jepsen I agree she looks amazing in the video, but this never clicked with me. Little bit TOO sugary sweet for my liking I guess.

3 Little Talks Of Monsters And Men THIS though is excellent, so's their album, it doesn't look like they'll get another hit off it though :(

14 Emmylou First Aid Kit Not a lot I can say that you or myself in my commentary have already said but its so good :wub:

27 Water To Ice Ruby Frost My favourite entry of yours in BJSC, it was really unlucky to miss out on points that contest

33 Avalon Professor Green ft. Sierra I didn't actually know you liked this that much until I saw it in your sig, its a good song though, feels a lot more 'epic'.

41 September St. Lucia Such a unique composition of music, it seemed to appeal to a wide range of voters in BJSC which was unexpected but great!

55 Crystallize Lindsey Stirling I think my feelings on this are clear but lovely to see it in someone else's list :wub:

61 National Anthem Lana Del Rey Should've been a single, I much prefer this to Ride, which felt a bit by the numbers for me

78 I Miss The Misery Halestorm

90 Love Actually Cady Groves both of these are entries that I really loved, that I didn't feel I gave enough support too and stuck with me long after the contest. The former in particular was something I never expected to like

104 Skyfall Adele I find this certainly sounds a whole lot more tense after seeing the film :o

Edited January 7, 201312 yr by C.W