Posted December 19, 201212 yr Welcome to my review of 2012! Over the next two weeks, I'll be having a look back over the year in music and selecting my Top 40 Singles and Top 5 Albums for each month. This will culminate in a list of my definitive Top 50 Singles and Top 20 Albums of for the entire year of 2012 on New Year's Eve. So, let's start with a look back at what happened at the start of the year in... January January means mostly one thing - Eurovision National Final season gets into full swing! Across the continent, from Iceland to Cyprus, various contests and shows start to take place to find the 40+ entries that will represent their countries at the Eurovision Song Contest. Most of my top 40 songs from January come from these selections, but dotted in between are some UK hits and other discoveries from across the globe. January in general is a relatively quiet month for releases and for me, the quality of the following list of top 40 songs for that month reflects that. In terms of song quality, overall this is one of the weakest lists I have compiled for the months of 2012. The best was very much still to come! Top 40 Singles: 01-10 http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/LaLaLove_zps78da554f.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/Overflow_zps3f97f3fd.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/HelloHello_zpsd862a25f.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/YouAndI_zps99895839.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/MunduEfterMer_zps87b20f69.jpg 01 Ivi Adamou - La La Love 02 Ditte Marie - Overflow 03 Bic Runga - Hello Hello 04 Minnie-Oh - You And I 05 Gréta Salóme & Jónsi - Mundu Eftir Mér 06 Soluna Samay - Should've Known Better 07 War Of Words - Panic 08 Lana Del Rey - Born To Die 09 Tooji - Stay 10 Íris Hólm - Leyndarmál Top of the pile is a well loved fan favourite of this year's Eurovision courtesy of Cyprus and Ivi Adamou. La La Love is an infectious Mediterranean pop song and it earned Cyprus a rare but very much well deserved place in the Eurovision final and achieving their best result since 2004. Runner up to Ivi is a wonderful song from the Danish Eurovision selection. Ditte Marie is joined in the top 10 by fellow Danish competitor and eventual winner of Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, Soluna Samay who is 6th on this list. Norway and Iceland put in two appearances each in this list as well. The original Icelandic version Gréta Salóme & Jónsi's Eurovision entry appears at #5 with fellow Icelandic competitor Íris Hólm at #10. From Norway we have their Eurovision entry from Tooji at #9 and the rather underrated effort from Minnie-Oh at #4. Aside from the Eurovision related happenings, we have New Zealander and a former Unknown Pleasures entry of mine from Bic Runga at #3, the rather sombre but sensational Popjustice release from War Of Words at #7 and Lana Del Rey's first big single of 2012 appearing at #8. 11-20 11 Map Of Moscow - Sleep Alone 12 Karen Viuff - Universe 13 Michel Teló - Ai Se Eu Te Pego 14 The Young Professionals - Video Games 15 SoSo - Who's Gonna Love Me 16 Iiris - Melyse 17 Oh Land - Speak Out Now 18 Aura - Hands Up 19 John The Valiant feat. Peti Puskás - Holdfény 20 Martin Rolinski - Blame It On A Decent Matter Just missing out on a place in the top 10 is Swedish electro-alternative band Map Of Moscow. Fellow Swedes SoSo and former BWO frontman Martin Rolinski also make an appearance inside the top 20. There's more Eurovision related tunes here too with Danish candidate Karen Viuff at #12 and an entry from the Belarussian national final at #18. Brazilian sensation Michel Teló makes it to #13 with his worldwide smash hit, Israeli electronica duo The Young Professionals at at #14 with their fantastic cover of the Lana Del Rey single and Estonian experimental artist Iiris is at #16. Danish singer Oh Land makes it to #17 with the impressive Speak Out Now and Hungarian artist Peti Puskás makes it to #19 with John The Valiant's dance track which he features on. 21-30 21 Lena - Who'd Want To Find Love 22 Kelly Clarkson - What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger) 23 Donkeyboy - City Boy 24 Alyssa Reid - Alone Again 25 Pastora - Jungla 26 Unique - Ugye Mindig Itt Leszel 27 Sunday Girl - Where Is My Mind? 28 Emma Lewin - No Excuses 29 Graziella Schazad - Safe 30 Marlon Roudette - New Age Former German Eurovision winner, Lena reaches #21 with a song from her re-release of the Good News album. Who'd Want To Find Love is co-written by Ellie Goulding. Big hits from Kelly Clarkson, Alyssa Reid and Marlon Roudette also make an appearance here alongside Norwegian favourites, Donkeyboy, Hungarian dance act Unique and former Sheelah and Caracola singer Emma Lewin. Spanish electronica act Pastora make it to #25 whilst Sunday Girl's Pixies cover, Where Is My Mind? is at #27. Finally German violinist and singer Graziella Schazad appears at #29. 31-40 31 Reidun Sæther - High On Love 32 Jesper Nohrstedt - Take Our Hearts 33 Malin - Crush 34 Lise Karlsnes - Sailors 35 Don Omar feat. Lucenzo - Danza Kuduro 36 Romanița - Te Ador 37 Silya Nymoen - Euphoria 38 Jools Holland and his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra feat. Caro Emerald - Mad About The Boy 39 Jessie J - Domino 40 Pokey LaFarge And The South City Three - La La Blues Eurovision related songs dominate this group. Entries into the Norwegian selection from Reidun Sæther, Malin, Lise Karlsnes and Silya Nymoen appear as does Jesper Nohrstedt's entry into the Danish National Final and Romanita from Moldova's selection, Eurodance stomper Danza Kuduro is at #35 and Jessie J's monster hit Domino reaches #39. Finally two fantastic songs performed on Jools Holland's Hootenanny appear at #38 and #40. Top 5 Albums: http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/Kasiotone_zps0b30f57c.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/DarkAdrenaline_zpsdbef00b4.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/MGP2012_zpse648c598.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/DMGP2012_zpsced46ac3.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/YoungLondon_zpsb65787da.jpg 01 Kid Kasio - Kasiotone Top Tracks: Telephone Line, Not For Turning 02 Lacuna Coil - Dark Adrenaline Top Tracks: Losing My Religion, Trip The Darkness 03 Various Artists - Melodi Grand Prix 2012 Top Tracks: You And I, Stay 04 Various Artists - Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2012 Top Tracks: Overflow, Should've Known Better 05 Young London - Young London Top Tracks: Let Me Go, Celebrity January is a fairly quiet time for new album releases. My favourite album of the month came from ex-The Modern keyboardist and singer, Kid Kasio. His 80's inspired electronica album was sorely underrated. The sixth studio album from Lacuna Coil is second and followed on really well from their previous LP, Shallow Life. Two Eurovision related compilations trail in 3rd and 4th, these albums featuring all the songs participating in the Norwegian and Danish National Finals respectively. Rounding off the top 5 is the debut self-titled album from American duo, Young London.
December 19, 201212 yr Lovely way of doing this! Bic Runga and Ivi make for excellent starters to the tops of the list too. It'll be interesting to see which month you think is the best. I forgot that songs like Never Forget and Should've Known Better won their NFs in January too. They still seem like May songs to me.
December 19, 201212 yr Author Considering it's a given what my year end #1 is going to be, I thought I'd present my end of year chart this way in an attempt to make it a bit more interesting :lol: Never Forget will make an appearance later on too! Which will be higher in the 2012 chart remains to be seen however! :D
December 20, 201212 yr Author February After the fairly barren month of January follows February and it's abundance of Eurovision related tunes. More selections get underway including the best of them all, Sweden's Melodifestivalen. Melodifestivalen contains some of the very best songs Sweden has to offer in the year and 12 of my top 40 for February are entries into that contest. February is also the key time for new and returning artists to attempt to chart high within the UK chart and a number of entries here are from artists who wanted to breakthrough in 2012. Top 40 Singles: 01-10 http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/Euphoria_zps9f99c1c8.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/StormandeHav_zpscd6e5c1c.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/EchoYouAndI_zps77c5d570.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/Sever_zpsb6e8ba26.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/Amazing_zps7c9bfbae.jpg 01 Loreen - Euphoria 02 Timoteij - Stormande Hav 03 Anggun - Echo (You And I) 04 iamamiwhoami - sever 05 Danny Saucedo - Amazing 06 The Storm - My Crown 07 Lisa Miskovsky - Why Start A Fire? 08 Foxes - Youth 09 Love Generation - Just A Little Bit 10 Darin - Nobody Knows Unsurprisingly, the Queen of Eurovision and Queen of Life itself, Loreen tops the February top 40 with the sensational Euphoria. A monster hit across Europe and in my (and others) personal chart, racking up 22 weeks at #1 and still going strong within the top 20 over 40 weeks on. Euphoria indeed won Melodifestivalen and some of it's competition also appears in this group including runner up, Danny Saucedo with his entry Amazing. I do believe that had Sweden selected Amazing over Euphoria then they still would have walked away with the Eurovision title. Other Melodifestivalen entries in the top 10 here come from girl group Timoteij, acoustic soloist Lisa Miskovsky and female trio Love Generation (now known as Stockholm Syndrome - more from them later!) The rather unfortunate "nul points in the televote" entry from France is third in this list, Echo (You And I) reminded me of Madonna's Beautiful Stranger somewhat. The first of 9 singles in 2012 from iamamiwhoami appears at #4 - all 9 singles made up their debut album, kin. BJSC favourites The Storm are at #6 and a former BJSC winner from Foxes makes it to #8. Finally the top 10 is rounded off by Swedish singer, Darin with the fantastic Nobody Knows. 11-20 11 Amanda Mair - Sense 12 Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) 13 Gaitana - Be My Guest 14 Sol Heilo - Hold On 15 Lena Philipsson - Live Tomorrow 16 High Contrast feat. Selah Corbin - The Agony & The Ecstasy 17 Icona Pop - Nights Like Bonita 18 Elisa's - Linjen I Min Hand 19 Afro-Dite - The Boy Can Dance 20 Tone Damli - Look Back Amanda Mair just misses out on a spot in the top 10 with her quirky tune, Sense. Canadian alternative act Arcade Fire are at 12 with Sprawl II, their dip into a more electro sound than usual. Eurovision rears it's head again, this time courtesy of Ukrainian entrant, Gaitana and there's more Melodifestivalen at #19 thanks to Afro-Dite who made their return to the competition following their 2002 Eurovision entry. One quarter of Katzenjammer is at #14 with her interesting cover of a SBTRKT song and another former Swedish Eurovision entrant follows at #15 with a dance cover of Laleh's memorable track. Drum & Bass makes an appearance here too thanks to High Contrast, as does a good old powerful schlager track from Elisa's. A mash-up (proper one, not the X Factor sense of the word) between Icona Pop's Nights Like This and Madonna's La Isla Bonita is at #17 and Norwegian pop star Tone Damli rounds off the top 20 with Look Back. 21-30 21 Gotye feat. Kimbra - Somebody That I Used To Know 22 Värttinä - Tuuterin Tyttäret 23 Charlotte Perrelli - The Girl 24 Carolina Wallin Pérez - Sanningen 25 Reverend And The Makers - Bassline 26 David Lindgren - Shout It Out 27 Marie Serneholt - Salt & Pepper 28 3 Daft Monkeys - Days Of The Dance 29 Hanna Lindblad - Gossebumps 30 Gabrielle - Høster Lower down the chart we see one of the biggest UK chart hits from Gotye and many more Melodifestivalen entries from 1999 Eurovision winner Charlotte Perrelli, Carolina Wallin Pérez, David Lindgren, former A*Teen Marie Serneholt and Hanna Lindblad. Folk music plays it's part here too with appearances from Finnish act Värttinä and Cornish act 3 Daft Monkeys. Meanwhile the return single from Reverend And The Makers is at #25 and one of many singles from the amazing Norwegian artist Gabrielle finishes off the top 30 nicely. 31-40 31 Nightwish - Turn Loose The Mermaids 32 The Király's - Untried 33 Nabiha - Never Played The Bass 34 Jess Mills - Pixelated People 35 MNDR - #1 In Heaven 36 Sonja Aldén - I Din Himmel 37 First Aid Kit - Emmylou 38 Hej Matematik - Livet I Plastik 39 Ian Carey & Rosette feat. Timbaland & Brasco - Amnesia 40 Paulina Rubio - Heat Of The Night The final batch of singles in the top 40 opens with a wonderful, almost Celtic sounding BJSC entry from Nightwish. There's yet more Eurovision related tunes from Hungary's Kiraly family and the final Melodifestivalen appearance here from Sonja Aldén. There's three more Scandinavian hits here from Nabiha, First Ait Kit and Hej Matematik as well as some great pop and dance tunes from Jess Mills, MNDR, Ian Carey and Paulina Rubio. Top 5 Albums: http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/VarldenSnurrar_zpsf5a9e253.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/DanceOrDie_zps8fd93546.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/GreatestHits-AnnaAbreu_zpsfa50772e.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/OurVersionOfEvents_zpsd4494e65.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/Utu_zps8d5c1559.jpg 01 Lena Philipsson - Världen Snurrar Top Tracks: Live Tomorrow, Du Följer Väl Med 02 Lise Karlsnes - Dance Or Die Top Tracks: Red Hot, Here We Go 03 Anna Abreu - Greatest Hits Top Tracks: Music Everywhere, Vinegar 04 Emeli Sandé - Our Version Of Events Top Tracks: Clown, Read All About It (Part Million) 05 Värttinä - Utu Top Tracks: Tuuterin tyttäret, Utuneito Another quiet month for albums in February and all but one of these albums comes from the Nordic region. Lena Philipsson's fabulous pop album Världen Snurrar deservedly takes the top spot here just ahead of Norwegian pop artist, Lise Karlsnes whose album came with very high expectations that were sadly not achieved. Third place goes to the Greatest Hits compilation from Finnish singer Anna Abrue and the face of music on literally every TV show going, Emeli Sandé is 4th with her decent debut offering. Fifth spot goes to Finnish folk act, Värttinä
December 20, 201212 yr LOADS to love there. Euphoria, Stormande hav and sever are all fantastic fantastic songs, yay for Turn Loose The Mermaids making waves here, and then Why Start A Fire, Sprawl II, Somebody That I Used To Know and so many others bolster it up. Yeah, February was a good month.
December 21, 201212 yr Author LOADS to love there. Euphoria, Stormande hav and sever are all fantastic fantastic songs, yay for Turn Loose The Mermaids making waves here, and then Why Start A Fire, Sprawl II, Somebody That I Used To Know and so many others bolster it up. Yeah, February was a good month. February was indeed a very a good month! :D
December 21, 201212 yr Author March March offered a right mixed back of new singles and a fairly sizeable dollop of Eurovision entries yet again also. Eurovision selections came to a close in March and the majority of ESC related stuff here are the eventual chosen entries for their respective countries. An impressive edition of BJSC also makes it's impact here as do continued single releases from iamamiwhoami and some new tunes from some of the local talent of my area. Top 40 Singles: 01-10 http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/WhiteFoxes_zpse9f297cb.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/Drops_zpsd00b7da7.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/NeverForget_zpsa6781df7.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/YouAndMe_zps8ffefaf4.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/ShowMe_zpsc793b7a4.jpg 01 Susanne Sundfør - White Foxes 02 iamamiwhoami - drops 03 Gréta Salóme & Jónsi - Never Forget 04 Joan Franka - You And Me 05 Team Me - Show Me 06 iamamiwhoami - good worker 07 Mandinga - Zaleilah 08 Rona Nishliu - Suus 09 Pastora Soler - Quédate Conmigo (Stay With Me) 10 Pasha Parfeny - Lăutar My entry into BJSC 43 opens up this month's top 40 and it comes from the strikingly brilliant Norwegian artist, Susanne Sundfør. She is joined in the top 10 by fellow Scandinavian acts Team Me, who were my entry into an edition of Unknown Pleasures earlier this year and iamamiwhoami who appear twice with their second and third singles from the kin album. Icelandic Eurovision entrants Gréta Salóme & Jónsi make their second appearance in the 2012 review with the English version of their entry and they are joined by other Eurovision acts Joan Franka from The Netherlands who sent their best entry in years and was utterly robbed by the jury, Romanian dance troop Mandinga, Rona Nishliu from Albania, Pastora Soler from Spain and Moldovan singer Pasha Parfeny. 11-20 11 Frida Hyvönen - Terribly Dark 12 Eva Boto - Verjamem 13 Alphabeat - Vacation 14 Sofi Marinova - Love Unlimted 15 Kamaliya - Rising Up 16 I Am A Camera - Factory Boys 17 Alexandra Burke feat. Erick Morillo - Elephant 18 Eleftheria Eleftheriou - Aphrodisiac 19 Lena Philipsson - Du Följer Väl Med? 20 Engelbert Humperdinck - Love Will Set You Free Although deserving of a position within the top 10, Frida Hyvönen sadly misses out by one place with the Echo Beach esque, Terribly Dark. Danish pop group Alphabeat are at #13 with their summer anthem Vacation (released a little too early in the year imo!) and Ukrainian artist and Steps support act Kamaliya is at #15. Lena Philipsson makes yet another appearance in the 2012 review at #19 and Britain is represented well by electro duo I Am A Camera and X Factor winner Alexandra Burke. Britain's Eurovision entry also appears here at #20. A nice song that was sadly not striking enough to appeal to the Eurovision juries and the majority of Eurovision voters. Other Eurovision entries appearing here include the Slovenian entry at #12, Bulgaria's Sofi Marinova at #14 and Eleftheria Eleftheriou's Greek entry at #18. 21-30 21 Mirami - Miramimania 22 Nina Zilli - L'Amore È Femmina (Out Of Love) 23 Set Sail - The Boat Song 24 Svenstrup & Vendelboe feat. Nadia Malm - Glemmer Dig Aldrig 25 Laleh - Some Die Young 26 Eisblume - Für Immer 27 Sinéad O’Connor - The Wolf Is Getting Married 28 The Skints - Ratatat 29 Stooshe feat. Travie McCoy - Love Me 30 Jedward - Waterline Ukrainian girl group Mirami narrowly miss out on a place in the top 20 here with their catchy pop tune and Italian Eurovision entrant and early pre-contest favourite to win Nina Zilli is at #22. Indie-pop from Set Sail makes it to #23 whilst Danish dance act Svenstrup & Vendelboe appear at #24. BJSC favourite Some Die Young by Laleh makes it to #25 ahead of German act Eisblume who sampled Jasper Forks for their single Für Immer. Ireland is represented in this group by their Eurovision entry from Jedward and a surprisingly very decent single from Sinéad O’Connor. London ska and reggae band The Skints are at #28 and the UK hit Love Me from Stooshe is at #29. 31-40 31 Will Young - Losing Myself 32 Niki & The Dove - DJ, Ease My Mind 33 Moa Lignell - When I Held Ya 34 Supergene - A Division In Class 35 Random Perception - 84 36 Bjorn Ranelid feat. Sara Li - Mirakel 37 Nightwish - The Crow, The Owl And The Dove 38 Charlotte Thorstvedt feat. Margaret Berger - Arrhythmia 39 Laura Wright - Stronger As One 40 Evdokia Kadi - Taxidepse Me At the lower end of a magnificent top 40 we have Pop Idol winner Will Young, Radio 1 favourites Niki & The Dove, Swedish Idol alumnus Moa Lignell and West Wales rock acts Supergene and Random Perception Melodifestivalen fan favourites Bjorn Ranelid & Sara Li just about manage to make it in at #36 with their hilarious entry Mirakel whilst Nightwish slot in just below with the second single from their Imaginaerum album. A subtle dance track from Charlotte Thorstvedt & Margaret Berger makes it to #38 whilst an anthem for the Diamond Jubilee by former All Angels singer Laura Wright appears at #39. Finally, closing the top 40 is former Cypriot Eurovision entrant Evdokia Kadi with her rather interesting song, Taxidepse Me. Top 5 Albums: http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/MildtSagt_zpsb760fb4e.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/Melodifestivalen2012_zpsa37fa478.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/ToTheTreetops_zps00a6f246.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/SilverMoon_zpsb8040852.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/TheGirl_zps83bc21de.jpg 01 Gabrielle - Mildt Sagt Top Tracks: Bordet, Løkken 02 Various Artists - Melodifestivalen 2012 Top Tracks: Euphoria, Stormande Hav 03 Team Me - To The Treetops Top Tracks: Show Me, With My Hands Covering Both of My Eyes I Am Too Scared to Have a Look At You Now 04 Donkeyboy - Silver Moon Top Tracks: Silver Moon, City Boy 05 Charlotte Perrelli - The Girl Top Tracks: Little Braveheart, The Girl March was a much better month for albums than it's two predecessors and top of the pile, rather comfortably is the debut LP from Norwegian singer, Gabrielle. What a fantastic set of tunes it is! I‘d highly recommend it. Gabrille’s stunning debut pushes the brilliant Melodifestivalen compilation down into 2nd place just ahead of Norway’s version of Arcade Fire, Team Me. Norway is represented for a fourth time at #4 with the second album from pop act Donkeyboy and Charlotte Perrelli completes an all Scandinavian top 5 with The Girl.
December 22, 201212 yr Author April Apart from a small selection of songs, April was quite the lull in quality of new music. iamamiwhoami managed to keep things interesting with three new tracks which helped make up for the end of the Eurovision selections. There were a couple of really brilliant new UK singles, but aside from that everything was a bit average during April. Top 40 Singles: 01-10 http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/IdleTalk_zpsa39fa531.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/LoveIsNotEnough_zps81aa0e8e.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/WaitingForTheFeeling_zps83a16951.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/Primadonna_zps46cde21a.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/Forever_zps70f426cd.jpg 01 iamamiwhoami - idle talk 02 Above & Beyond feat. Zoë Johnston - Love Is Not Enough 03 Bright Light Bright Light - Waiting For The Feeling 04 Marina And The Diamonds - Primadonna 05 Medina - Forever 06 iamamiwhoami - play 07 iamamiwhoami - in due order 08 Kate McGill - Replaced 09 Ivy Quainoo - Do You Like What You See? 10 Dragonette - Let It Go iamamiwhoami easily top this month's top 40 with the moving and magnificent idle talk. It beats down competition from UK dance act Above & Beyond with their atmospheric offering Love Is Not Enough. The song acted as my entry into BJSC 44. Welsh musician Bright Light Bright Light comes third with the brilliant single, Waiting For The Feeling whilst fellow Welsh singer Marina And The Diamonds is 4th with Primadonna. Danish singer Medina is at #5 with what was at the time the long awaited English version of last year's hit, For Altid. There's more iamamiwhoami at #6 and #7 and another offering from Wales from Kate McGill at #8. The winner from the German version of The Voice and former BJSC entry from Espen is at #9 beating off former BJSC winner Dragonette in 10th. 11-20 11 Rebecca Stella - Give Me That O 12 Gabrielle - Løkken 13 Paulina Rubio - Boys Will Be Boys 14 Linkin Park - Burn It Down 15 Helen Guttara - Tongues Of Fire 16 Ren Harvieu & Karen Elson - The Train Song 17 Tone Damli feat. Eric Saade - Imagine 18 Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe 19 Vanbot - Lost Without You 20 Delain - Get The Devil Out Of Me The second group opens with a spot of trashy pop from Rebecca Stella at #11 and Norwegian singer Gabrielle at #12 with a brilliant choice of single in the shape of Løkken. Mexican singer Paulina Rubio makes it to #13 with the RedOne produced single Boys Will Be Boys and Linkin Park are at #14 after a return to form with Burn It Down. Swedish singer Helen Guttara finds herself at #15 and a cover of Vashti Bunyan's The Train Song by Ren Harvieu and Karen Elson is at #16. A fantastic duet between Tone Damli and Eric Saade is at #17 and just below is the monster hit from Carly Rae Jepsen. Finally, closing the top 20 are Swedish electro-pop artist Vanbot and Dutch metal group Delain. 21-30 21 Pernilla - När Jag Blundar 22 The Destroyers - Hole In The Universe 23 Pupkulies & Rebecca - Ici 24 Anmary - Beautiful Song 25 Olly Murs - Oh My Goodness 26 The School - Never Thought I'd See The Day 27 BIGkids - Drum In Your Chest 28 Jace Everett - Bad Things 29 Lise Karlsnes - Here We Go 30 Tove Styrke - Bad Time For A Good Time The Finnish Eurovision entry, an enchanting if slightly repetitive number from Pernilla just misses out on a spot in the top 20. UK folk collective The Destroyers are at #22 with the raucous Hole In The Universe and there's some subtle French electronica from Pupkulies & Rebecca at #23. Latvia's Eurovision entry, the endearingly terrible Beautiful Song is at #24 just ahead of Olly Murs' Oh My Goodness. Cardiff-based alt-pop band The School are at #26 and the new project from Mr Hudson and Rosie Oddie, BIGkids make their debut entry into this countdown with Drum In Your Chest. The theme tune from True Blood makes a belated entry at #28 and the third single release from Lise Karlsnes' Dance Or Die is at #29 ahead of a similar sounding track from Swedish singer, Tove Styrke. 31-40 31 Cascada - Summer Of Love 32 Michael Rune feat. Cecilie Fleur - Væk I Natten 33 Madonna - Girl Gone Wild 34 Kati Wolf - The Last Time 35 Kato - Suits You Well 36 Sunday Girl - High And Low 37 Elena - Your Captain Tonight 38 Planet R - Kärleken (Det Var Då) 39 Caro Emerald - Dr. Wanna Do 40 Paulina Starborn - Never Gonna Let Me Go Cascada's Summer Of Love opens the final group in April's top 40 and just below that is a collaboration between Danish artists Michael Rune and Cecilie Fleur - it's definitely one for fans of the saxophone. Madonna's Girl Gone Wild is at #33 and former Hungarian Eurovision entrant Kati Wolf is at #34 with her Celine Dion esque ballad, The Last Time. Quirky Belgian singer Kato is at #35 whilst another new musical direction and attempt at chart success by Sunday Girl makes it to #36. Romanian singer Elena is at #37 ahead of a new act formed a former member of Thermostatic, Planet R. Caro Emerald's final single from Deleted Scenes From The Cutting Room Floor is at #39 whilst Paulina Starborn closes the top 40. Top 5 Albums: http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/ElectraHeart_zps63bb4920.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/Replaced_zps8595594d.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/TheVisitors_zps7e0cc8c8.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/LookingBack_zps6a87c522.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/TheSiliconeVeil_zps9694a3cd.jpg 01 Marina And The Diamonds - Electra Heart Top Tracks: Primadonna, Power And Control 02 Kate McGill - Replaced Top Tracks: Replaced, Cursed 03 ABBA - The Visitors (Deluxe Edition) Top Tracks: The Day Before You Came, Cassandra 04 Tone Damli - Looking Back Top Tracks: Butterflies, Imagine 05 Susanne Sundfør - The Silicone Veil Top Tracks: White Foxes, The Silicone Veil Despite April being fairly drab for new singles, there were a number of very decent album releases. Top of the pile is the sophomore release from Marina And The Diamonds. Kate McGill's rather interesting and lovely Book+CD release, Replaced comes second ahead of another re-released version of ABBA's The Visitors which this time featured a never heard before demo track. Tone Damli's best of compilation, Looking Back, is 4th and it is a wonderful collection of songs spanning her career so far. Closing the top 5 is the impressive second album from Norwegian artist, Susanne Sundfør.
December 23, 201212 yr Author May May means Eurovision month and it was mainly entries into the contest that took over my weekly chart for the entire month. A number of entries grew on me after seeing the contest and many of those can be found here. Aside from Eurovision, May was another relatively quiet month and there is sadly quite a lot of filler tracks here. Top 40 Singles: 01-10 http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/LandOfConfusion_zps12703368.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/30Days_zps804383cc.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/DanceAgain_zpsaa448c23.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/LittleBraveheart_zpsf87d41a6.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/Kill_zps32e26da0.jpg 01 Katzenjammer - Land Of Confusion 02 The Saturdays - 30 Days 03 Jennifer Lopez - Dance Again 04 Charlotte Perrelli feat. Kate Ryan - Little Braveheart 05 iamamiwhoami - kill 06 iamamiwhoami - rascal 07 Amy Macdonald - Slow It Down 08 Izabo - Time 09 Queen Of Hearts - Neon 10 Honey Ryder - Marley's Chains Katzenjammer top the month of May with their cover of the Genesis song, which might be more familiar to some people via Alcazar's This Is The World We Live In. The Saturdays come second with the fantastic 30 Days. Two fairly similar tracks, Dance Again and Little Braveheart slot into numbers 3 and 4 respectively, the latter in particular being a surprisingly fantastic and sorely underrated single from Charlotte Perrelli and Kate Ryan. iamamiwhoami complete the top 5 with fan favourite, kill. There's more iamamiwhoami at #6 with kills predecessor, rascal. Amy Macdonald returned in 2012 with Slow It Down, a fairly decent track but the album was to contain better songs. Israel's Eurovision entry follows at #8 and Neon by Queen Of Hearts makes it to #9, seamlessly ripping off Goldfrapp in the process. Finally, the top 10 is rounded off by a nice slice of country-pop from British trio, Honey Ryder. 11-20 11 Bimbo Boy - Die From A Broken Heart 12 Paper Aeroplanes - Multiple Love 13 Radio Killer - Calling You 14 Zeljko Joksimovic - Nije Ljubav Stvar 15 Kaliopi - Crno E Belo 16 The Sound Of Arrows - Conquest 17 Mark Ronson & Katy B - Anywhere In The World 18 Mandy Capristo - Hurricane 19 Ott Lepland - Kuula 20 Sabina Babayeva - When The Music Dies At #11 we have one of my favourite Numayanian entries of 2012 from Bimbo Boy and West Walian duo Paper Aeroplanes are at #12. Romanian dance act Radio Killer make it to #13 just ahead of the Serbian and Macedonian Eurovision entries, the latter of which grew on me the most post-contest. Swedish electro duo The Sound Of Arrows are at #16 and the Coca Cola Olympic track from Mark Ronson & Katy B is one place lower. Former Monrose singer Mandy Capristo makes it to #18 with the punchy Hurricane and closing the top 20 are two Eurovision entries from Estonia and 2012 hosts Azerbaijan. 21-30 21 The Wanted - Chasing The Sun 22 A1 & Annie Khalid - Just 3 Words 23 Can Bonomo - Love Me Back 24 Rumer - P.F. Sloan 25 Silhouette - Can't Keep Up 26 Pikachunes feat. Princess Chelsea - Castle On A Cloud 27 Kurt Calleja - This Is The Night 28 Paloma Faith - Picking Up The Pieces 29 Jessie J - Laserlight 30 Compact Disco - Sound Of Our Hearts British boyband The Wanted just miss out on a place in the top 20 with summer anthem Chasing The Sun and one place lower is another boyband who appear to have had their day in the UK sadly, A1 with the rather great Just 3 Words which was a collaboration with Annie Khalid. The Turkish Eurovision entry is at #23 and the soothing sounds of Rumer are at #24. Northern Ireland's finest, Silhouette appear at #25 with a former Unknown Pleasures entry and a tragically underrated BJSC entry from Palmyra makes it to #26. At #27 is the Maltese Eurovision entry and just below that are big UK hits from Paloma Faith and Jessie J. Finally, the top 30 is completed by the Hungarian Eurovision entry. 31-40 31 Buranovskiye Babushki - Party For Everybody 32 Roman Lob - Standing Still 33 Tulisa - Young 34 Delain - Smalltown Boy 35 Sinplus - Unbreakable 36 Filipa Sousa - Vida Minha 37 Donny Montell - Love Is Blind 38 Iris - Would You? 39 Karin Park - Restless 40 Jessica Lowndes - The Other Girl The infamous Russian grannies are at #31 just ahead of the German entry for Baku. Tulisa makes a random appearance with Young (By this point you can tell I just had gaps to fill). Dutch metal group Delain reach #34 with their Bronski Beat cover and the Swiss, Portuguese, Lithuanian and Belgian entries to Eurovision follow. Finally, the top 40 is completed by Karin Park and Jessica Lowndes, both of which were entered into BJSC. Top 5 Albums: http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/EurovisionBaku_zpscf4d9099.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/Tabu_zpse86299d9.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/LiveInHamburg_zps200ae152.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/GetStarted_zpsd7da3b1c.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/ClubDeMandinga_zps6e4ecfe0.jpg 01 Various Artists - Eurovision Song Contest: Baku 2012 Top Tracks: Euphoria, La La Love 02 Timoteij - Tabu Top Tracks: Stormande Hav, Het 03 Katzenjammer - Live In Hamburg Top Tracks: To The Sea, Lady Marlene 04 David Lindgren - Get Started Top Tracks: Rendezvous, Shout It Out 05 Mandinga - Club De Mandinga Top Tracks: Zaleilah, Colours May was quite a decent month for albums but clearly the best to be released during this month was the annual Eurovision compilation. Swedish girl group Timoteij come second with their sophomore release, Tabu whilst Norwegian girl group Katzenjammer come third with their fantastic live album. Melodifestivalen favourite David Lindgren makes it to #4 with his album of Danny Saucedo rejects and in 5th place is the Romanian Eurovision entrant, Mandinga.
December 24, 201212 yr Author June June marked a very prominent change in my life which meant I'd be spending a lot of my time travelling by bus across West Wales. This meant my music listening habits changed dramatically and I suddenly had a lot more time to listen carefully to a lot more songs. This means that from June onwards, I tended to fall in love with a lot more songs and therefore the latter half of 2012 contains a huge amount of my favourites tracks across the year. Compiling the chart for June proved to be one of the hardest of the 12 months and lots of tracks here are a lot lower in the chart than deserved. Top 40 Singles: 01-10 http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/Goods_zps44547645.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/SingUntoMe_zps2c17b6a7.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/LoveStuck_zps2e28dc46.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/UseMyBody_zpsca74f6f0.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/ComeAgain_zpscc066d96.jpg 01 iamamiwhoami - goods 02 Moulettes - Sing Unto Me 03 Dream Beats feat. The Face - Love Stuck 04 Rebekka Karijord - Use My Body While It's Still Young 05 Soluna Samay - Come Again (The Quetzal) 06 Mary N'Diaye - Big Dreamer 07 Cheryl - Call My Name 08 Kamaliya - Arrhythmia 09 Tal - Le Sens De La Vie 10 Timoteij - Tabu The final single of 2012 from iamamiwhoami comes out on top here. goods is a joyous burst of electro-pop divineness and was sensational to see performed live later in the year. The silver medal for June goes to progressive tinged folk act, Moulettes. Sing Unto Me went on to become one of my favourite entries into BJSC in 2012, but sadly it failed to impress the majority of listeners and become on of the five Caerfyrddian DNQs. A huge BJSC hit on the other hand comes third courtesy of Swedish producers Dream Beats and UK pop trio, The Face. Norwegian artist Rebekka Karijord is at #4 with a track similar in sound to that of some of Bjork's previous singles and Danish singer Soluna Samay is at #5 with her bouncy Latin inspired acoustic-pop track Come Again (The Quetzal). Another highly successful BJSC entry from Greenfroze enters at #6. Mary N'Diaye came to notoriety from Sweden's The Voice. Pop megastar Cheryl is at #7 with her huge UK hit, Call My Name and Ukrainian singer Kamaliya is at #8 with a really rather decent dance tune. French singer Tal makes it to #9 with another popular BJSC entry (It was a good edition wasn't it?) and in 10th is Timoteij with Tabu. 11-20 11 Marina And The Diamonds - Power And Control 12 Agnes - One Last Time 13 Kylie Minogue - Timebomb 14 Icona Pop - I Love It 15 Infernal - Love Is All... 16 WTF! - Da Bop 17 Diandra - Outta My Head 18 Clara Sofie - Brænd Mig Helst 19 Woodkid - Run Boy Run 20 Clara Sagström - Kalifornien Although deserving of a top 10 position, Marina And The Diamonds with have to settle with #11 for Power And Control and the wonderful ballad, One Last Time, from Agnes is at #12. Kylie's rather random non-album and non-best of track Timebomb makes it to number 13 and barmy Swedish female duo Icona Pop reach #14 with I Love It, surely they are ones to watch for 2013 as far as the UK charts go? A remix and re-release of Love Is All... by Infernal makes it to #15 followed by WTF! (or Ultrabeat if you like) at #16 with the quirky dance tune, Da Bop. Finnish singer Diandra is at #17 with Outta My Head whilst Danish soloist Clara Sofie makes it to #18 with the edgy Brænd Mig Helst. Former BJSC winner Woodkid appears at #19 and Caerfyrddian BJSC flop (A deserved one in hindsight) Clara Sagström reaches #20. 21-30 21 Alexandra Stan - Lemonade 22 Bright Light Bright Light - A New Word To Say 23 Aiden Grimshaw - Is This Love? 24 Delta Goodrem - Sitting On Top Of The World 25 fun. feat. Janelle Monáe - We Are Young 26 Gathania - Nobody's Breaking Me 27 Timoteij - Ta Mig Till Sommaren 28 Elena - Amar Tu Vida 29 Lacuna Coil - Fire 30 Gabby Young & Other Animals - In Your Head Popular Romanian singer Alexandra Stan is at #21 with her summery, Ace Of Base esque track Lemonade just ahead of another brilliant single from Bright Light Bright Light. Former X Factor contestant, Aiden Grimshaw is at #23 and Australian soloist Delta Goodrem is at #24 with her accidental (we assume) tribute to Arcade Fire. Smash hit We Are Young makes it to #25 and Swedish singer Gathania is at #26. A second entry into this top 40 from Timoteij reaches #27, the intro letting it down somewhat and another Romanian star, Elena is #28. Italian metal group Lacuna Coil appear at #29 with the punchy track, Fire and cooky UK act Gabby Young & Other Animals close the top 30. 31-40 31 Paulina Rubio - All Around The World 32 Alina Devecerski - Flytta På Dej 33 Marquess - Bienvenido 34 Mimi-Oh - Festen Som Vi Hatar Imorrn 35 Kate Ryan - Broken 36 Ane Brun - One 37 Dead By April - Crossroads 38 Orion - In The End 39 Kenza Farah - Quelque Part 40 Sam Sparro - I Wish I Never Met You Mexican singer Paulina Rubio pops up again, this time with All Around The World and the rather intense dance track from Alina Devecerski reaches #32. One has to be in the mood to listen to that song. German latin-inspired group Marquess are at #33 ahead of 80's inspired Swedish singer Mimi-Oh. Belgian chanteuse Kate Ryan is at #35 with Broken and Ane Brun appears at #36 with One. There's more from Sweden at #37 and #38 courtesy of rock group Dead By April and dance act Orion. French singer Kenza Farah enters at #39 and Sam Sparro closes the top 40 with what was comfortably the best song on his second album. Top 5 Albums: http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/Kin_zpsf67fc35a.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/MakeMeBelieveInHope_zps9da01a42.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/LifeInABeautifulLight_zpsede914d0.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/AmandaMair_zps19fa2bf1.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/Union_zpsad69a56c.jpg 01 iamamiwhoami - kin Top Tracks: idle talk, goods 02 Bright Light Bright Light - Make Me Believe In Hope Top Tracks: Waiting For The Feeling, Feel It 03 Amy Macdonald - Life In A Beautiful Light Top Tracks: Pride, Human Spirit 04 Amanda Mair - Amanda Mair Top Tracks: Sense, Doubt 05 Saint Saviour - Union Top Tracks: The Rain Falls On The Just, Tightrope June was a fantastic month for albums. The debut LP from iamamiwhoami was finally released as an entire collection of songs following the gradual release of all the tracks as singles over the previous four months or so. The long-awaited album from Welsh singer Bright Light Bright Light was also released to much praise and Amy Macdonald returned with Life In A Beautiful Light - an album that was a vast improvement on her second release, A Curious Thing. Amanda Mair's self-titled album got it's UK release in June and proved to be a very pleasant listen indeed whilst the almost equally as good album from Saint Saviour capped off what was a fantastic month for music.
December 25, 201212 yr I'm largely agreeing with the tracks going in front of Jonna. Not all of them but some of them are better than her. That June top 3 - so much love for that (Moulettes have recently grown on me a lot, probably my second fave of the Caerfyrddian 10 this year) and of course I love Love Stuck and goods.
December 25, 201212 yr Author It was so hard to separate the tracks at the top of the charts, I love most of them equally so Jonna does sometimes end up a bit lower than deserved :( For me, it's all about kin. We'll just have to see if it can beat Heal to the top of the EOY albums chart! Glad Moulettes have grown on you since BJSC Iz :D
December 25, 201212 yr Interesting way to run this down Ghosty, I have been watching, kudos for finding 480 songs for this feature :o Will you do a top 20/40/50 at the end?
December 25, 201212 yr Interesting way to run this down Ghosty, I have been watching, kudos for finding 480 songs for this feature :o Will you do a top 20/40/50 at the end? omg indeed. I didn't even realise that at first! :o
December 25, 201212 yr Author Interesting way to run this down Ghosty, I have been watching, kudos for finding 480 songs for this feature :o Will you do a top 20/40/50 at the end? Thanks Rich! About 20 of those 480 were filler tracks admittedly, but there were a HUGE amount of songs I loved in 2012. There will be top 50 singles and top 20 albums charts at the end and those are going to be an absolute nightmare to compile as so many great releases will miss out :drama:
December 25, 201212 yr Author July July was another reasonably strong month for music on the whole but did generally lack in brilliant highlights. Aside from the very top few positions, most of the top 40 singles here could have been placed in any order. July proved to be quite a decent month as far as music from more obscure artists went with very few UK and international hits appearing here. Top 40 Singles: 01-10 http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/Raver_zps82c0c088.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/Hurricane_zps86640726.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/FeelsLikeSummer_zps351dd0a0.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/CountablyInfinite_zps537861a6.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/SummertimeSadness_zps1ea1d0a9.jpg 01 The Storm - Raver 02 MS MR - Hurricane 03 The Brilliant Things - Feels Like Summer 04 A.G. Trio feat. M. Zahradnicek - Countably Infinite 05 Lana Del Rey - Summertime Sadness 06 Donkeyboy - Silver Moon 07 ISA - Bomb 08 Little Dragon - Sunshine 09 Mathieu Bouthier feat. Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Beautiful 10 Charli XCX - You're The One Danish metal-pop group The Storm come out on top here with their as yet non-album single, Raver. I'm really hoping we'll see a new album from them in the early part of 2013. Hurricane by MS MR comes second and it is so far the only song I was beaten to when wanting to submit an entry for BJSC. Damn you Umiiruka! :P Irish pop group The Brilliant Things are at #3 with their feelgood summer anthem and Austrian electonica group A.G. Trio are at #4 followed by Lana Del Rey with Summertime Sadness. Lower down the top 10 we have Norwegian pop group Donkeyboy with their brilliant track Silver Moon, Swedish acts ISA and Little Dragon, a fantastic new single from Mathieu Bouthier which featured Sophie Ellis-Bextor and the awfully underrated Charli XCX 11-20 11 Ivy Quainoo - You Got Me 12 David Lindgren - Rendezvous 13 Florence + The Machine - Spectrum (Say My Name) 14 Hampenberg feat. Jesper Norhstedt - Glorious 15 Oceana - Endless Summer 16 Marietta Fafouti - Kookoobadi 17 Ask Embla - Father's Eyes 18 Ruby Frost - Porcupine 19 Cinnamon Girl - Devil In Me 20 Us - In The End Winner of the German version of The Voice, Ivy Quainoo reaches number 11 with her jaunty second single and Melodifestivalen favourite David Lindgren is at #12 with a single I actually preferred to his MF entry. The monster hit, the biggest in this month's list, the Calvin Harris produced mix of Spectrum (Say My Name) by Florence + The Machine is at #13 ahead of former DMGP participant Jesper Norhstedt and Hampenberg. The Euro 2012 anthem from Oceana is at #15 and the kooky Kookoobadi from Greek singer Marietta Fafouti is at #16. Norwegian duo Ask Embla reach #17 with the divine Father's Eyes and a sorely underrated BJSC entry from Seyetana is at #18 (WHY did that not make the final?!). Cinnamon Girl is at #19 with electropop track Devil In Me and an acoustic version of Linkin Park's In The End makes it to #20. 21-30 21 Katie Melua - Moonshine 22 Adam Lambert - Never Close Our Eyes 23 Muse - Survival 24 Duran Duran - Before The Rain 25 Lucy Rose - Lines 26 Kerkko Koskinen Kollektiivi - Laura Palmer 27 Milena Vučić - Samo Moj 28 Fredrik - Chrome Cavities 29 Karolina Kozak - Mimochodem 30 Charlotte Qvale - The Beginning Of The End Katie Melua makes an appearance at #21 with the wonderful Moonshine and former American Idol contestant Adam Lambert is at #22 with Never Close Our Eyes. The official Olympic anthem from Muse is at #23 and a fantastic release from Duran Duran's All You Need Is Now album makes it to #24. An intricate and intriguing acoustic track from Lucy Rose appears at #25 just ahead of another fantastically interesting jazzy track from Finnish act Kerkko Koskinen Kollektiivi. Montenegro came up trumps once this year with Milena Vučić's Samo Moj (It really should have been their Eurovision entry) and the song from the Kopparberg advert makes it to #28. Polish singer Karolina Kozak appear at #29 with her mysterious song Mimochodem. An English version was also released called Embrace It and at #30 is BJSC favourite The Beginning Of The End by Charlotte Qvale. 31-40 31 Celine Dion - Parler à mon père 32 Basshunter - Northern Light 33 Alizée - A Cause De L'automne 34 Rachel Platten - Work Of Art 35 Celeste Buckingham - Run Run Run 36 Pet Shop Boys - Winner 37 Newton Faulkner - Clouds 38 Orla Gartland - Devil On My Shoulder 39 Lydmor - Lamppost Light 40 Tal - Je Prends Le Large The final group in July's top 40 is headed up by Celine Dion and her wonderful French track Parler à mon père. Basshunter reaches #32 with Northern Light and another French track from Alizée appears at #33. Former BJSC winner Rachel Platten is at #34 with Work Of Art, a track introduced to me by Eyes as part of the CD swap. Celeste Buckingham is at #35 with Run Run Run, another track that deserved to do better in BJSC and Pet Shop Boys' attempt at a Eurovision entry and Olympic anthem, Winner, makes it to #36. I'm a little relieved it ended up as neither to be honest, far from their best work. Newton Faulkner makes it to #37 with the catchy track, Clouds and Irish singer Orla Gartland is at #38. Danish group Lydmor reach #39 and closing the top 40 is Tal with Je Prends Le Large. Top 5 Albums: http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/Electroshock_zps263c12f6.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/ForeverAlbum_zps2f677318.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/Volition_zps0a5d4446.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/BearsRevenge_zpsf24b6484.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/Cameleon_zps60a9d45e.jpg 01 Kate Ryan - Electroshock Top Tracks: Little Braveheart, Everytime 02 Medina - Forever Top Tracks: Forever, Black Lights 03 Ruby Frost - Volition Top Tracks: Porcupine, Volition 04 Moulettes - The Bear's Revenge Top Tracks: Sing Unto Me, Unlock The Doors 05 Shy'm - Caméléon Top Tracks: On Se Fout De Nous, Elle July was quite an average month for albums, certainly compared to June anyway! Topping the list this month is the long-awaited new release from Belgian singer, Kate Ryan. Electroshock was a commerical failure in general but it does contain some fantastic pop tunes, some of which are produced by Le Kid. Ruby Frost comes second with Volition and the second English album from Danish singer Medina is third. Folk act, Moulettes pick up 4th place with their second album and French artist Shy'm completes the top 5 with Caméléon
December 27, 201212 yr Author August August was all very much about the Olympics and a number of entries here are from the opening and closing ceremonies. There are also one or two tracks here where you can tell they were written as an attempt to become an official anthem of the games. August was quite a decent month for dance music too with a number of entries in the top 10 coming from the genre. Top 40 Singles: 01-10 http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/BomBom_zpsa7781d9c.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/Isporta_zpsa384cd57.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/WhateverTheyDo_zps8b4a05f1.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/Lies_zps83a4fd11.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/YoureGonnaLoveAgain_zpsb710d642.jpg 01 Sam And The Womp - Bom Bom 02 Erdem Kınay feat. Aynur Aydın - İşporta 03 Moa Lignell - Whatever They Do 04 CHVRCHES - Lies 05 NERVO - You're Gonna Love Again 06 Thomas Holm - Byen Kalder 07 Amy Macdonald - Pride 08 Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) [2012 Remix] 09 ItaLove - Strangers In The Night 10 Kamaliya - Butterflies Topping the chart for August are Sam And The Womp with their Balkan inspired and completely crazy tune, Bom Bom. A surprisingly huge UK hit, it sounded more like something Moldova would send to Eurovision. Proof that Eurovision, if given the right promotion, could produce quite a high number of UK hits. Second to Bom Bom is former Caerfyrddian BJSC entry and one of the finest hits from Turkey this year, İşporta. Swedish Idol contestant Moa Lignell is at #3 with the wonderful Whatever They Do and in 4th place is Scottish act and ones to watch for 2013, CHVRCHES. Australian dance act NERVO are 5th and a similar sounding tune from Danish singer Thomas Holm is at #6. Amy Macdonald's Pride (Surely one of the contenders for Official Olympic Anthem?) is at #7 and a "re-mix" of Running Up That Hill which was used during the Closing Ceremony makes it to #8 - WHY couldn't Kate Bush at least have turned up there?! BJSC favourite Strangers In The Night appears at #9 and closing the top 10 is Ukrainian singer Kamaliya with her opera-dance track, Butterflies. 11-20 11 Michel Teló - Bara Bara Bere Bere 12 Nikos Ganos - Say My Name 13 Delta Goodrem - Dancing With A Broken Heart 14 Noisettes - That Girl 15 Parade - Light Me Up 16 Glasperlenspiel - Freundschaft 17 Alphabeat - Love Sea 18 David Guetta feat. Sia - She Wolf (Falling To Pieces) 19 Elisabeth Carew - The Feeling 20 Emeli Sandé - Read All About It (Part III) Brazilian superstar Michel Teló is at #11 with his follow up single to the huge Ai Se Eu Te Pego and Greek vocalist Nikos Ganos makes it to #12 with a pleasant dance-pop tune. Delta Goodrem's Dancing With A Broken Heart is at #13 - it could easily have been an MF entry for Sanna Nielsen and Noisettes are at #14 with That Girl. Girl group, Parade are at #15 just ahead of German duo Glasperlenspiel. Danish group Alphabeat make it to #17 with Love Sea and a second collaboration from David Guetta & Sia makes it to #18. I actually prefer She Wolf to Titanium, but I know I'm pretty much alone in having that opinion. Norwegian singer Elisabeth Carew is at #19 with The Feeling and the song no-one could escape in 2012, Read All About It, closes the top 20. 21-30 21 Susanne Sundfør - The Silicone Veil 22 Underworld feat. Dockhead Choir, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Only Men Aloud, Elizabeth Roberts, Esme Smith and Alex Trimble - Caliban's Dream 23 Kate McGill - Cursed 24 Drumsound & Bassline Smith - Through The Night 25 Leslie Clio - Told You So 26 Anda Adam - Say Goodbye 27 Two Door Cinema Club - Sleep Alone 28 PSY - Gangnam Style 29 ItaloBrothers - My Life Is A Party 30 Sinine feat. Sandra Nurmsalu - Sel Teel Norway know how to produce great female vocalists and opening this group is one of their finest, Susanne Sundfør. She appears just above a track from Underworld and a host of other artists that was performed in the Olympic opening ceremony. Kate McGill is at #23 with the very cute track, Cursed and there's some good old Bassline from Drumsound & Bassline Smith at #24. Germany's attempt at recreating Adele is at #25, Told You So is actually a pretty decent tune and Romanian artist Anda Adam is at #26 with the fairly generic but decent Say Goodbye (Not an S Club cover). Two Door Cinema Club appear at #27 with a surprisingly great single and the HUGE hit Gangnam Style makes it to #28. ItaloBrother's My Life Is A Party sampled O-Zone's Dragostea Din Tei to decent effect and is at #29 and the top 30 is completed by a stunning electro track from Estonian act Sinine featuring Urban Symphony vocalist, Sandra Nurmsalu. 31-40 31 Owl City feat. Carly Rae Jepsen - Good Time 32 Pink Noisy feat. Radio Killer - Mestral 33 Lawson - Taking Over Me 34 Rebecca Ferguson - Glitter & Gold 35 Paloma Faith - 30 Minute Love Affair 36 Sarah West - If Pain Could Talk 37 Taio Cruz - World In Our Hands 38 Lemar - Invincible 39 Emeli Sandé - Abide With Me 40 Jennifer Lopez feat. Flo-Rida - Goin' In Owl City and Carly Rae Jepsen's collaboration just misses out on a place in the top 30 and Radio Killer are at #32 featuring on Pink Noisy's Mestral. Popular new boyband Lawson are at #33 ahead of other popular UK acts Rebecca Ferguson and Paloma Faith. A former BJSC entry from Greenfroze by Sarah West is at #36 ahead of more possible Olympic anthems from Taio Cruz and Lemar and Emeli Sandé's Abide With Me which was performed at the Opening Ceremony. Finally closing the top 50 is Goin' In by J.Lo and Flo-Rida. Top 5 Albums: http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/Kamaliya_zpsafa064ad.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/Contact_zpsd3aa7207.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/MarleysChains_zpsaf99e080.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/MyHeadIsAnAnimal_zps233c8f60.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o166/Ghosthunter233/ClublandEurodance_zpsf4352977.jpg 01 Kamaliya - Kamaliya Top Tracks: Arrhythmia, Rising Up 02 Noisettes - Contact Top Tracks: That Girl, Final Call 03 Honey Ryder - Marley's Chains Top Tracks: Marley's Chains, You Can't Say That 04 Of Monsters And Men - My Head Is An Animal Top Tracks: Mountain Sound, Little Talks 05 Various Artists - Clubland Eurodance Top Tracks: Euphoria, Release Me August lacked special albums but was fairly decent at the same time. Topping the pile is Kamaliya's debut which was released free through OK! magazine (iirc) and for a free album, it was actually quite brilliant! Coming second is the third release from Noisettes and it picked up where their excellent second album left off. UK country act Honey Ryder are third with Marley's Chains. Severely underrated here, maybe they'd have more success if they tried their luck across the pond. Icelandic act Of Monsters And Men are at #4 just ahead of the fantastic Clubland Eurodance compilation.
December 27, 201212 yr A great way of doing this Ghosty! A friend of mine at work gave me that Kamaylia album but I never listened to it, will have to check it out now!
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