Oh my, I'd have never called that to be your #1 album. It's an album that's really high up on my listening list, I'd have expected to get it after I was briefly obsessed with Can't Deny My Love back when that was out but I never got quite around to it and it just remained 'quite high' up my yet-to-listen to list. I'll have to take a listen now.

 

From your top 10, CHVRCHES and Susanne Sundfor are nearly matched to where I put them so that's of course very lovely, I'd somehow forgotten you were a fan of CHVRCHES, but yes all the same.

 

IMPAKT *.*

 

I never had you down as a Brandon fan ohmy.gif

 

I do believe I have mentioned it from time to time, but it's nice to know I'm still capable of a surprise or two!!

Love how many EOY countdowns Carly has ended up at #2 in, on BJ and the wider world *.*

 

Much prefer your Rebel Heart edit, it really is a 60% brilliant and 40% tragic album. Could have been a Madonna classic without all the shite.

 

Kicking off my top 100 songs of the year we have a slice of bonafide Scandi pop magic. Kassandra has a really good voice too and a few other solid tracks, but nothing as striking or instant as this.

 

 

The first of EIGHT (!) Madonna tracks in my top 100 is Inside Out. Showing that she still has the ability to titillate and be sexual/seductive without being sleazy or cheap, Inside Out perhaps isn't the highest of the highs on Rebel Heart but its much, much closer to what Madonna should be about in 2015 than some of the tripe she seems to prefer to it.

 

 

Purity Ring missed out an album placing in my top 10, on account of the whole affair being a little basic compared to their previous stuff, but Bodyache is absolutely undeniable. It's a 3 minute rush of pure pop joy and adrenaline.

 

 

Now, this one took a long time to grow on me. Indeed it still is, come back in a few months and I'd wager it would be about 50 places higher. The chorus struck me as too shouty for a long time, especially compared to the likes of When I Needed You, Your Type and Love Again which are not only dripping in melody, but have been deep fried and battered in melody. Anyway, I have since come to my senses and realise that rather than shouty, it is emphatic and urgent. Joyous and punchy, everything I could want really.

 

 

Never ones to shy from changing up what is expected, Miike Snow returned after a too long hiatus with a frankly bizarre track. It's one part something you'd expect to hear on Scandal, draped in soulful vocals, and a heavy dose of their own brand of slightly left field pop. It comes together into a bold, but incredibly catchy and interesting, listen.

 

 

The first Altyr BJSC entry (and first of 17 BJSC entries total, in fact) we have the only DNQ of the year, yet a song I still have much love for. It's not my usual sort of thing at all really, it's quite simple and repetitive really, but that hook and production are just undeniable and infectious. Sadly few got infected and many denied its joys.

 

 

I think it's perhaps best to ignore the lyrics to this one. As with much of the album it is pulled from it is absolute FILTH, but not the nasty kind you'd find being peddled on some kind of ITV2 late night ''entertainment'' show which is likely to infect you with an STD. No, this is more seductive and filthy, the sort that's likely to leave you sore in the morning for sure, but still filled with joy that it happened. Lost? So am I.

 

 

One of the most unique efforts in Eurovision this year, or indeed of recent years, Love Injected is the kind of song that demands you pay attention, love it or hate it. The chorus follows a few seconds of quiet for maximum impact and hits you like an icy sledgehammer between the ears. It rightly smashed on the night too, coming 6th in a very strong top 10. More of this please Latvia.

 

#092 - Tourist - Holding On (Feat. Josef Salvat & Niia)

 

In a year of great duets (the first of 7 here) Tourist took hold of the not miniscule talents of Josef Salvat and Niia for this duet. It's a perfect matching of vocals and production, creating a very strong and effortless song with some very good lyrics to boot.

 

 

If one sound summed up 2015, it would have to be the invasion of house into popular/mainstream music. And so who were Altyr to argue, especially when it's such a good example. An instant and natural instrumental which sounds like a sample (and unlike to many in the genre, it actually ISN'T) and a great, soulful, vibrant vocal on top all add up to a winner. Or rather, a 6th placer. Me, bitter? Oh no dear.

 

Love how many EOY countdowns Carly has ended up at #2 in, on BJ and the wider world *.*

 

Much prefer your Rebel Heart edit, it really is a 60% brilliant and 40% tragic album. Could have been a Madonna classic without all the shite.

 

The eternal bridesmaid is a role MADE for R Carly, really.

 

And 100%, if only she had the confidence and interest in making a proper body of work album these days. I'm just glad we got so many great songs, truthfully, that we could make a great edited version. I can only imagine the horrors if she HAD to choose 12/13 tracks for an actual album.

Tourist, Carly, Jermone, Purity Ring :heart:

 

Another UP SMASH for me early in 2015, this one has stayed with me all year. It's a perfect mix of big pop chorus and exciting production.

 

 

Grimes spent most of the last few years faffing around writing stuff for other people (most of which wasn't used, it would seem) so she cobbled together her best album to date out of the wreckage. This is a pretty perfect blend of her specific brand of weirdness and just plain great pop music. It's great.

 

#088 - VS - Loner

 

I don't know anything else from this guy at all, but even if he never made another song this would be a great one and done. It's got amazing production and a great hook.

 

 

Delirium has to be one of the most disappointing albums of the year, after the enormous promise of Love Me Like You Do and her clear effort to go full on pop, I had expected an album of massive pop songs. Instead we got middling efforts galore. Lost And Found is one of the few real standouts. A simple chorus, executed perfectly and a great match for her voice. Surely a single not too far down the line.

 

 

Another unknown, but another brilliant pop song. Great lyrics, great production and one hell of a chorus. What more could anyone want?

 

 

One of the few songs on this list with/destined for chart success. Rob Schneider's daughter's ode to being, y'know, super desirable and impossible to move on from is, itself, pretty impossible to get out of your head once you've heard it. Her slightly rough vocals lift the song from what could otherwise be a bit bland and run of the mill, I'm not sure I'll ever investigate further, but this is certainly a statement piece.

 

 

Ellen was one of the success stories of MF14, so naturally she returned in 2015 with a completely different sound and it all went pear shaped. Except musically, where this is streets ahead. Yes it's something we've heard many times before, but in a time when MF seems to be consciously moving away from purely focusing on good music to ''variety'' or ''credibility'' or whatever nonsense idea, this is a beacon of joy and hope. It's just a plain great dance/pop, sang brilliantly and super catchy.

 

 

In a year where 1D ''went on a break'', it was easy for them to just fart out that contractually obligated last album and, for the most part, that's exactly what they did. But unlike many of their post-first album slower numbers, Perfect isn't pandering of offensive (Little Things) or bland beyond words (most of the rest). They do sound more detached from it than usual, but that's perhaps to be expected. It's got a great build into the chorus and then it just takes off. Not the worst note to end on, really (I'm not choosing to accept History as itrs awful).

 

 

With vocals as weighty as hydrogen, Shura are quite an exciting and different musical act to many around right now. Breathy, whispered electropop is nothing new, but it's been taking a back seat for some time now, Shura are determined to bring that back. This isn't their only inclusion on the list and I hope 2016 brings even more glorious softly spoken electro gems.

 

 

Despite rapidly approaching her 100th year, Florence is still pumping out quality music. The third album was a pretty long awaited affair, but it was largely worth the wait. Delilah being my major standout, not quite a traditional song structure, with lots of pieces which seem to be slightly out of order, but it works and as always Flo is on fine vocal form shrieking all over everything.

 

Ellie, Grimes, Elle, Florence and Shura :heart:

 

Proving once again that she can write some pretty incisive lyrics and couple them with amazing pop melodies and sugary sweet vocals, to make the perfect pop confection. Carly marks her second appearance on this list with Love Again. Vocally she reminds me SO MUCH of Alesha Dixon on this, I literally can't unhear it now that I've noticed. Not that that's really a bad thing.

 

 

In 10 years time people will look back and assume Jason was one of the biggest stars of the last few years, given he has managed the not minuscule feat of having a #1 from each of his first FOUR albums. It's quite baffling on paper, but when you hear the tunes it makes a lot more sense. Want To Want Me sounds like it was lifted straight from the 80's (and unlike so many of his songs, it actually doesn't feature a sample). It's just a brilliant, catchy, well sung pop song which is ever so refreshing in this age of chart music.

 

#78 - OMFG - Ice Cream

 

On now to my third BJSC entry on this list and a rare flop for Altyr in the year of smashes. I still 100% stand behind this slice of pop lunacy. It's infectious, fun and totally different to anything else on this list. It never fails to make me smile.

 

 

So, from the ridiculous, to the shocking. If I had never been aware of this song I would have assumed it was from 2005 and even then it was a top 10 hit at best. For this to hit #1 in 2015 was as inexplicable as it was amazing. It's very much of the Kelly Clarkson, uplifting, self help pop rock mould. A rousing chorus, with some great vocals, and a lick or two of guitar all wrapped up in perfect pop packaging make this one of the best number one singles of the year. Yet it isn't her best track of the year.

 

 

A rather odd number once again here, very theatrical, very Sia, yet also very Eurovision. Proving that song and putting on a good show are more important than any politics nonsense for the 576th time this ended up at 4th in a very strong top 10 back in May. It has really stuck with me, unlike many others from the contest. It's got a really interesting hook and some surprising and quirky production and Loic sells it all with his wonderful vocals.

 

 

As mentioned in my album review, CHVRCHES managed the feat of moving their sound forward whilst keeping firm grasp of what made them so good first time round perfectly on album #2. Empty Threat is a great example of that, the production is a little beefier, a little more 80's, but the hooks are just as massive and the vocals just as crystal clear and laser focused. The chorus smacks you round the face immediately and is a proper ear worm.

 

 

Another Ellie track, this time it's something a little bit different from her. It's very much in the vein of her new mould as a pop princess, but unlike many tracks on the album it's a very successful mix of old Ellie and new Ellie, mixing both to maximum potential. Sure to be a proper UK single at some point down the line, this one has a pretty undeniable chorus which owes rather a lot to Love Me Like You Do in terms of sound and structure, but there are many, many, many worse songs to ape.

 

 

The Weeknd marks his final appearance with a song which sees him in full MJ mode. As a result it's an intoxicating mix of 80's production and effortless vocals, all with a massive dollop of amazing chorus piled on top. A rightful smash for him.

 

 

Spawned from the ultimately disappointing comeback album from Giorgio, this was the second single and one of the definite album hightlights. Sia's delivery really helps elevate the song, which would otherwise have been good, but not stand out good. It's a nice mix of his traditional styles, with a slightly more up to date pop sensibility from one of today's go to writers.

 

 

One of the most exciting new pop talents around, Troye announced himself on the world proper with this number, the first in a very effective trilogy. Lyrically it's hardly rewriting the book, but it's his little production flourishes and clear love of pop that help raise him up to one to watch in 2016. Plus he's a gayer and it's nice to see a popstar just release a love song about another guy and it not be a thing (even if I've just made it a thing).

The ballads are definitely the stand outs on Rebel Heart but I'd personally find it too much if only those were the tracks on the album. I like the variety it has to offer yet it doesn't feel like it's all mish-mash, mainly because it feels Madonna knows what she wanted to achieve with each track and they all fit under the collective message of the album. That's what makes the likes of 'Unapologetic Bitch', 'Illuminati' and 'Holy Water' better tracks than, say, a reasonably inoffensive track like 'Superstar' from MDNA.

 

I've seen rave reviews for Carly and Brandon's albums but I've not actually listened to either of them, which is surprising in the case of Carly's because that should have screamed out to me straight away. I shall get round to it eventually!

 

Lots of great songs in your countdown already: 'Inside Out', 'Run Away With Me', 'Ex's & Oh's', and 'Déjà Vu' to name just a few. Definitely agree in regards to 'Something in the Way You Move' that it is a successful blend of Ellie of old and new. If she insists on becoming more commercial then she should definitely be making big pop moments like this (basically just use 'Love Me Like You Do' as the basis; like you say, it isn't a bad song to copy!).

 

I'm glad you too like 'Want to Want Me' because it makes me feel a hell of lot less guilty for loving it too.

I'm not sure I can accept any argument which raises Holy Water up as anything other than a career low. I actually think it's quite TRAGIC that she clearly put effort and thought into it, it's so far beneath her and so awful it defies belief that she thinks that's what she should be doing. Illuminati is similarly misguided, but marginally less offensive. I do agree on the rest though, I just think an album of ballads would be highly preferable to an album of the alternative.

 

A 7 minute EPIC, Shura's second (and final) entry in the list once again matches a killer chorus up to their sublime, soothing vocals, but this time it a little bit retro, a little bit more disco, a little more amazing.

 

 

And so at #69, we once again land back in Altyr, for my 4th BJSC entry to make the list. I've grown a little less fond of this as the year has gone on, but it still does the trick. As a whole Shamir's album/shtick is all a bit TOO MUCH for little old me, but this one takes the ratchet stylings and adds more than hefty dollop of basic bitch pop to the mix too (and slaps a dirty great hook right on top too, in lieu of a cherry) and all adds up to a great song.

 

 

Another one from CHVRCHES. There's an almost chantlike quality to this one, especially in the chorus, with the vocals and production keeping the same pace throughout. Once again the vocals are real star here, but with some excellent production and lovely melodic touches it's just one hell of a pop song.

 

#67 - Samantha Urbani - 1 2 3 4

 

Landing in 67th place is the first of a number of NON-ALTYR BJSC entries, though this was strongly considered to be one, in the form of Samantha Urbani and her glorious 80's throwback 1 2 3 4. Yet more on point production work from Dev Hynes and a just-detached-enough-to-work vocal from Samantha and some clever lyrics all make this one a keeper.

 

#66 - Phoebe Ryan - Dead (Louis Vivet Remix)

 

Phoebe Ryan's delicate, doll like vocals are best suited to quite sparse productions, for the most part. This remix from Louis Vivet is a slight exception to that rule, it's not a raved up mess or anything, but it subtly adds in some more synths and a bit more bass without taking away from what makes the original a good song (but not a great one, as it doesn't make this list).

 

 

Ellie might have struggled a little gaining momentum with the singles from this album, but Army finally seems to be doing the trick. It's 'classic' (if such a thing can be said of someone so early in her career) Ellie, but also blended successfully with the LMLYD template once again, teasing you with the chorus a few times early on, before finally unleashing it in full force halfway through the song when the whole thing takes off. It's got that great euphoric quality, an uplifting message and is a proper earworm. Surely this should do very well for her.

 

 

Phoebe pops up again (and for the last time), this time with her marvelous, sparse, duet with Jaymes Young. They both have a restrained vocal style so their voices work together on this lament on facing up to the realities that they just ain't gonna work together. There's a slightly ominous constant 'drone' in the background, which nicely sets the tone for the song.

 

#63 - Rikard Soderberg & Elize Ryd - One By One

 

In 2015 this type of pop lunacy couldn't really exist outside MF/ESC. Even there it was largely overlooked, but I hope that doesn't mean we won't be getting more in the future. Pairing an obese opera/stage star with a pretty young pop thing might not have worked visually (it REALLY didn't work) but the resulting song is melodramatic pop as it's best. It doesn't ease you into the chorus or the song, it starts at 11 and just gets bigger and more insane from there on.

 

 

A slow burn duet isn't always the best bet for success at Eurovision, but this one excels through a great pairing of the vocalists and a rousing chorus (when it does eventually come round) and a dramatic performance and some excellent staging.

 

 

Devil Pray, perhaps more than any song on Rebel Heart, shows the duality of where Madonna is right now. It manages to successfully straddle the two as well, it starts off as a fairly standard midtempo, before she starts dropping references to all manners of drugs and other substances people can use/abuse. Then it all drops out, in the most 2015 moment of all, for a trap post chorus. Yet it all works. Those true fans among us know she can still keep up with the trends, but she needs to take the example of this and augment them into her sound, not wholesale rip them off with lesser results.

Shura, Shamir and Ellie :yahoo: all good songs