Thanks a lot for all the kind messages so far. Before I decided on the top 50 I thought it would be a more mainstream list than in previous years, but it turns out that I was slightly wrong in that, so thanks for sticking by. Hopefully you all discover at least one new track here that you'd previously never heard before, or get a chance to re-evaluate a track that you previously hadn't.

 

Hey Chris! Very interesting list so far: of the ones that I've heard I really liked “Heroine”, “Cause I’m A Man”, “Chunky”, “Can't Feel My Face” and the tracks from Hooton Tennis Club and Swim Deep.

 

Hoping for some more Tame Impala high up as well as C Duncan’s brilliant “Garden” and maybe some Chemical Brothers or PSB or Everything Everything. :D

 

Thanks. I can confirm that you will be at least 50% satisfied with what's to come :P

#20

Come The Night

In An Instant

 

 

Album: N/A

 

Having only dropped this single last week, In An Instant were literally the last act to make it into the top 50 list, and they’ve done it with some style. The Bangor trio mesh rock and electro-dance so seamlessly on “Come The Night”, a track which is as infectious as it is enjoyable. They’ve been threatening to make a major breakthrough of late, this track might be the one that does it for them.

 

Previous chart positions:

2013 All Binds Fall Undone - #21

2014 Something Right & Something Real - #9

#19

Go

Pleasure Beach

 

 

Album: Dreamer To The Dawn E.P

 

Up next are Northern Irish quintet Pleasure Beach, who formed from the ashes of beloved local act Yes Cadets and count a Wonder Villains keyboardist among their members who were recently shortlisted for the Blog Sound of 2016 (which is an alternative to the BBC Sound of… where the panel are all UK music bloggers). The song that made people sit up and take notice of them was “Go”, a song that calls to mind the sound of The War on Drugs or Bruce Springsteen with an more electronic-y ring to it.

#18

Kotae Awase

nano.Ripe

 

 

Album: Nanairo Megane no Himitsu

 

And my favourite Japanese band who sing in Japanese, nano.RIPE, make their third appearance in my yearly rundowns, and for the first time it is for a song that doesn’t feature in an anime TV series. “Kotae Awase” (which I believe translates from the Japanese as “Find the Answer”) is the sort of song that would have hogged the upper reaches of the charts here had it been in English, with it’s infectious chants and easy to love instrumentation. Kimiko’s vocals do take a bit of getting used to if you’re not immediately familiar with them, but once you get over that you’ll find something that you’ll genuinely treasure.

 

Previous chart positions:

2012 Real World - #47

2013 Tsuki Hana- #25

#17

Dream Lover

Destroyer

 

 

Album: Poison Season

 

Canadian New Pornographers off-shoot Destroyer next with the wonderful “Dream Lover”, a song that ever so slightly reminds me of a hipper version of OMC’s “How Bizarre”. Classy, infectious, and a wee bit Britpop - what’s not to love?

#16

Peanut Butter Jelly

Galantis

 

 

Album: Pharmacy

 

Now this is how you do filter-house! Swedish group Galantis had a monster hit with Peanut Butter Jelly, which took samples from an old disco record and repurposed them into the funkiest track of 2015. It has been slightly overplayed, and can get a bit annoying after a while, but dear goodness, those strings are marvellous, and when we get to the first “chorus”, I just can’t help it but bop around like a complete madman.

SPREAD IT LIKE PEANUT BUTTER JELLY :cheer: :music: :yahoo:

Tracks 15 to 11 coming up forthwith. Potential spoiler - some of you will be somewhat surprised by my #13.

#15

What Went Down

Foals

 

 

Album: What Went Down

 

I alway find that Foals are at their best when they’re at their most vicious and direct, which was why it was wonderful to hear “What Went Down”. The song is similar in style to their career-best “Inhaler”, with its forceful sound building up into a mighty crescendo at the end.

 

Previous chart positions:

2008 Cassius- #50

2012 Inhaler - #6

2013 My Number- #35

#14

Charlemagne

Blossoms

 

 

Album: Charlemagne E.P

 

“Charlemagne” is the song that market young upstarts Blossoms as one of the bands to watch in 2016, and it is so easy to hear why. Mixing Jan Hammer-esque synths with irresistible guitar hooks and historically-inflected lyrics make for a wonderful mixture of musical yumminess.

#13

I Really Like You

Carly Rae Jepsen

 

 

Album: E.MO.TION

 

This one might come as a bit of a surprise to many of you, bar those of you who saw me go crazy over it on plug.dj (R.I.P, may its soul and the souls of all the faithful etc…).

 

“I Really Like You” is a song that gives a voice to a human emotion that has been so much overlooked in pop music - that feeling when you are head over heels for someone, yet you still don’t feel strongly that you can sincerely call it love. It’s an irresistible piece of well crafted, euphoric bubblegum pop, which is par for the course for a song by Carly Rae Jepsen, one of the few ‘pure pop’ acts I genuinely enjoy, and I have no shame in saying that I really, really, really, really like it.

#12

Garden

C Duncan

 

 

Album: Architect

 

At one point this was a contender for the overall #1 position at mid-year, but due to the sheer quality of music absorbed since then it has to make do with the still-respectable #12 position. Scottish singer/songwriter Christopher Duncan (who shortened his Christian name to C for presumably Twitter-related reasons) bowled me over with “Garden” a song that mixes the Beach Boys with psychedelia and vocals that remind me of Britpop also-rans Geneva into a wonderfully absorbing package. The entire album apparently cost £40 to record, which means that this song is perhaps the greatest £3 ever spent.

#11

Dreams

Beck

 

 

Album: Non-album single

 

After the damp squib that was his “Morning Phase” album (even beating Kanye to the Grammy didn’t convince me otherwise), Beck got back on track and released something that really got me excited for him again. “Dreams” is the catchiest song that Mr Hansen’s released in quite some time (perhaps since another non-album single, “Timebomb” in 2007), which reminds me of MGMT before they stopped making proper music.

 

Previous chart positions:

2008 Chemtrails - #14

“What Went Down”, “Dreams” and “Garden”. All v v v good!

 

Two of those went to #1 for me, Foals for 4 weeks! Album was a bit disappointing tho.

#10

All I Want From You Is Everything

The School

 

 

Album: Wasting Away and Wondering

 

Welsh collective The School made one of the most sumptuous indie-pop songs of the year with "All I Want From You Is Everything", a pure slice of uncynical, jangly pop goodness.

#9

Pedestrian At Best

Courtney Barnett

 

 

Album: Sometimes I Sit & Think, Sometimes I Just Sit

 

"Pedestrian At Best" is a song that shows Courtney Barnett at her most self-depreciational, with her stream-of-consciousness yet smart and snarling lyrics really hitting the mark. It's somewhat ironic that a song about not being as good as other people believe you to be features as one of our favourite songs of the year, but when you're faced with such an irresistible rock monster like this, you can only really react to it one way, with adoration.

#8

Go!

Public Service Broadcasting

 

 

Album: The Race For Space

 

"Go!" was the standout track from PSB's wonderful sophomore album. The song is built around samples taken from the NASA control room during Apollo 11's successful attempt to reach the moon. The repeated exultations of "Go!" transform from merely perfunctory to triumphant as the song builds and progresses towards one of mankind's greatest achievements.

 

Previous chart positions:

2012 Spitfire - #3

2012 ROYGBIV - #19

2013 Signal 30 - #1

#7

The Sea

Silences

 

 

Album: N/A

 

With the release of "The Sea", 2015 became the year that Silences went from merely one of Northern Ireland's most promising young bands to becoming one that should be on the verge of a national breakthrough. The song is a wonderful example of 'emotional indie' in the style of Kodaline, with the song building up slowly into a satisfying and powerful denouement.

#6

Outsiders

Suede

 

 

Album: Night Thoughts

 

A new single from the greatest band of all-time is always going to feature highly on our countdowns, and "Outsiders" is no exception. It pulls of the trick that has given us the post satisfying post-reunion Suede songs, in that it recognisably a Suede song, yet is not one that relies purely on the sounds of their heyday. With a new album and feature film planned for next year, don't be surprised if they feature highly on next year's lists as well.

 

Previous chart positions:

2013 It Starts & Ends With You- #3

2008 Hit Me- #13

Adore Peanut Butter Jelly, I Really Like You and Pedestrian At Best :heart:

Peanut Butter Jelly is one of the most fun songs of the year and the video is also so fun, such a great track!

I Really Like You is really as you said, pure pop at its best, easily one of the best of the year :wub:

Pedestrian At Best is also such a good track but not heard it for a couple of months now, need to give it a listen!