131 296 2011 Example - Changed The Way You Kiss Me 143 42 3.405 ( 185 - 267 - 319 - 296 - 131 )

132 216 2014 Paloma Faith - Only Love Can Hurt Like This 136 42 3.238 ( 216 - 132 )

133 154 2012 Florence & The Machine - Spectrum 135 42 3.214 ( 84 - 81 - 154 - 133 )

134 171 2010 Edward Maya (feat. Vika Jigulina) - Stereo Love 131 42 3.119 ( X - X - 269 - 179 - 171 - 134 )

135 116 2007 Timbaland (feat. Keri Hilson & DOE) - The Way I Are 130 42 3.095 ( 88 - 93 - 124 - 42 - 237 - 108 - 184 - 116 - 135 )

136 148 2006 Madonna - Sorry 129 42 3.071 ( 118 - X - X - X - 158 - 257 - 225 - 327 - 148 - 136 )

137 57 2010 Hurts - Wonderful Life 129 42 3.071 ( X - 42 - 174 - 135 - 57 - 137 )

138 142 2014 Charli XCX - Boom Clap 129 42 3.071 ( 142 - 138 )

139 147 2006 Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars 125 42 2.976 ( 9 - 6 - 29 - 102 - 329 - 217 - 135 - 133 - 147 - 139 )

140 457 2010 Ellie Goulding - The Writer 125 42 2.976 ( X - 379 - X - 338 - 457 - 140 )

 

Ellie Goulding is the artist I'd nominate this year for really seeing a huge boost and that can be demonstrated from the huge jump The Writer has had this year, I can scarcely believe a lovely and emotional but otherwise unremarkable song when her whole discography is looked at could be so high and it was one of the ones that the semi-final claimed but this is a much better performance than ever before. Similar stories although less extreme for an Example #1 and most loved song on here, and Paloma Faith's big radio hit from a couple of years ago.

 

It's a peak for Stereo Love too, something that's slowly been growing in popularity, which is unusual as it does feel like a song confined to its time but I'm just going to put it down to it being brilliant and being a perfectly preserved time capsule of 2010. I always wonder why dance songs don't do as well in ROTD, if we had more dance fans I think Stereo Love has the potential to reach the final if not more. One dance song that hasn't quite reached the final but has always been around the edge (2014 and before the final only held 60) is Spectrum, which has a VASTLY SUPERIOR original version but thanks to a dance remix managed to be one of our greatest and unexpected #1s. So that's that.

 

It's goodbye to Chasing Cars, twice top 10 at the start of this although it has had very mixed fortunes since then, and Madonna's Sorry, peaking in its first year but manages to go out at its second highest position ever, which is a very good last hurrah for the old dear, I doubt she'll ever be quite this high again, 4 Minutes and future singles are really not as popular.

 

Boom Clap shifts up a bit and Wonderful Life falls 80 places from last year to a rather middling result for it, it's a song I've always enjoyed seeing do well here as Hurts weren't even that big yet Wonderful Life has remained very loved on here quite consistently.

 

121 107 2013 Lana Del Rey vs Cedric Gervais - Summertime Sadness 147 42 3.500 ( 31 - 107 - 121 )

122 68 2013 Icona Pop (feat. Charli XCX) - I Love It 147 42 3.500 ( 65 - 68 - 122 )

123 NE 2015 Demi Lovato - Cool For The Summer 147 42 3.500 ( 123 )

124 143 2014 Ariana Grande (feat. Zedd) - Break Free 147 42 3.500 ( 143 - 124 )

125 102 2014 Taylor Swift - Shake It Off 146 42 3.476 ( 102 - 125 )

126 243 2012 Fun. (feat. Janelle Monae) - We Are Young 146 42 3.476 ( 137 - 379 - 243 - 126 )

127 271 2008 P!nk - So What 145 42 3.452 ( 32 - 171 - 244 - 372 - 233 - 221 - 271 - 127 )

128 201 2009 AR Rahman & Pussycat Dolls - Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny) 145 42 3.452 ( 157 - 457 - 332 - 219 - 180 - 201 - 128 )

129 81 2008 Sam Sparro - Black And Gold 143 42 3.405 ( X - 170 - 222 - 255 - 155 - 92 - 81 - 129 )

130 444 2013 Rihanna (feat. Mikky Ekko) - Stay 143 42 3.405 ( 310 - 444 - 130 )

 

It's a peak and the furthest notable Pussycat Dolls collab Jai Ho has ever made by quite a way, I didn't think it'd get anywhere near the semi-finals but it made it fairly far within those. Similarly for Stay which really outperformed what I'd previously seen as a surprising underperformance and a performance standard I expected it'd always be relegated to, but now it has a top 200 place. It's one of the better recent Rihanna songs so it's nice to see it up much higher than it was previously.

 

Big rises for We Are Young and So What are also on the cards, the latter being just about everywhere in the past but now back at its peak ever since its first try all the way back in 2009. On the other hand, there are big falls for I Love It, which was in the final last time but falls short, as well as Summertime Sadness which debuted as the highest 2013 song but is now no longer anywhere near that.

 

Break Free rises a bit, just behind another Disney star debuting with one of her best songs in recent times, Cool For The Summer is a great pop anthem and I'm actually excited to see it debut well, maybe it can build on that in the future.

 

Finally, Black And Gold and Shake It Off slip a bit, Shake It Off just missing the final like it did last year but with Taylor's fanbase on here I'm sure it'll push past some of her better songs to get in one year, while Black And Gold saw its first final run, towards the lower end, last year and dips slightly to a result that's still really good for it, it's shown a good rise in the last few years.

 

111 289 2007 Fergie - Big Girls Don't Cry 160 42 3.810 ( 140 - 128 - 156 - 137 - 223 - 101 - 116 - 289 - 111 )

112 249 2008 Killers - Human 158 42 3.762 ( 46 - 73 - 109 - 113 - 200 - 154 - 249 - 112 )

113 NE 2015 Drake - Hotline Bling 154 42 3.667 ( 113 )

114 76 2009 David Guetta (feat. Kelly Rowland) - When Love Takes Over 153 42 3.643 ( 72 - 172 - 235 - 80 - 234 - 76 - 114 )

115 135 2006 Rihanna - Unfaithful 152 42 3.619 ( X - 102 - X - X - 78 - 171 - 83 - 21 - 135 - 115 )

116 125 2013 Paramore - Still Into You 150 42 3.571 ( X - 125 - 116 )

117 97 2010 Alicia Keys - Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart 150 42 3.571 ( 33 - 33 - 58 - 91 - 97 - 117 )

118 93 2009 Veronicas - Untouched 149 42 3.548 ( X - 386 - 215 - 286 - 243 - 93 - 118 )

119 80 2008 Saturdays - Up 148 42 3.524 ( 173 - 112 - 43 - 106 - 53 - 19 - 80 - 119 )

120 262 2009 Girls Aloud - Untouchable 148 42 3.524 ( X - 39 - 147 - 199 - 207 - 262 - 120 )

 

Spare a thought for Fergie, peaking at #101 a few years ago with Big Girls Don't Cry. It had its worst year ever last year falling out of the top 200 for only the second time but has bounced back to ten away from its peak. Still not in the final though. She won't cry, I promise. A ballad a little bit more flaky but more adept at getting into the top 100 is Rihanna's third #2, Unfaithful, on its final appearance in this game. It peaked at an amazing 21st two years ago, I'm still not quite sure how that happened but that couldn't hold up and it's spent its final two years at slightly more modest heights, getting knocked out in the semi-final. It IS still one of my favourite ballads though.

 

Paramore snatch another peak for Still Into You as it continues to be one of 2013's more loved songs on here to go along with being what I think is pretty much Paramore's biggest hit now. It is so lovely, I'm so pleased it's starting up a successful run. Also very lovely (seriously, this is a great section) is Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart but in this case this has seen continual slippage that sees no sign of abating and so... it will HAVE to keep falling from here (actually it's probably more likely this is just an off year and it'll be back in the final later, don't any Keys fans worry).

 

Untouched and Untouchable have seemed rather inseparable this year, isn't that funny. Because like, they nearly have the same name and so it looks weird when they're together. Well, it is a pretty good year for both of them although not the best they've ever done, I'm sure they'd be glad to part ways soon (particularly as that GA track couldn't hold a candle to The Veronicas). In between them is another U track, but it's actually going DOWN (I'm hilarious) The Saturdays grasping onto one remaining track in the top 200 as it plummets down from that top 20 position it once achieved. It's at points like this when I start to actually feel sorry for them.

 

Human had an amazing first couple of years here, I'm slightly surprised to see that because I can never remember it doing as well as it deserves like that. This year... it still hasn't done as well as it deserves, it nearly went straight to the final and couldn't survive a round in the semis, but it's at least much more of an improvement from last time. Finally, David Guetta's first superstar hit When Love Takes Over continues its oscillating and Hotline Bling registers a remarkably good debut for the type of song it is, all hail Drake, master of the house right now.

 

(btw, when I post the next section, it will be tonight at around midnight I think, ROTD will close so if you haven't voted already, do that!!!)

About to start my votes now ;0 wait 4 me

Yeah, amazing debut for Hotline Bling there. I'd like to see One Dance at least that high next year as long as it hasn't driven everyone crazy by still being in the top 40.

 

And I love Untouched and Untouchable being almost next to each other! Plus Up and Unfaithful make four one-word U titles in the same section, now THAT'S impressive.

Well when I say 'midnight' I of course mean just over 18 hours later. Voting is officially closed and we have a winner now though!

 

 

101 19 2011 M83 - Midnight City 173 42 4.119 ( 13 - 15 - 44 - 19 - 101 )

102 185 2011 Florence & The Machine - Shake It Out 173 42 4.119 ( 38 - 82 - 58 - 185 - 102 )

103 98 2011 Katy Perry (feat. Kanye West) - E.T. 172 42 4.095 ( 165 - 114 - 61 - 98 - 103 )

104 159 2006 Lily Allen - Smile 171 42 4.071 ( X - 136 - X - 106 - 323 - 219 - 176 - 208 - 159 - 104 )

105 136 2011 Drake (feat. Rihanna) - Take Care 169 42 4.024 ( 244 - 236 - 132 - 136 - 105 )

106 174 2009 Calvin Harris - I'm Not Alone 169 42 4.024 ( 181 - 48 - 51 - 75 - 155 - 174 - 106 )

107 453 2010 Ellie Goulding - Guns And Horses 168 42 4.000 ( 325 - 249 - 242 - 324 - 453 - 107 )

108 61 2009 La Roux - In For The Kill 166 42 3.952 ( X - 181 - 94 - 294 - 176 - 61 - 108 )

109 111 2014 Iggy Azalea (feat. Charli XCX) - Fancy 165 42 3.929 ( 111 - 109 )

110 NE 2015 Jess Glynne - Hold My Hand 161 42 3.833 ( 110 )

 

The debut of Hold My Hand has done a lot better than I would have ever expected, Jess Glynne's popularity as anything more than a cipher for talented producers to use for vocals has rather passed me by. But some of you like Hold My Hand a lot, so it joins the last ten to have NEARLY made the final. Just ahead of it, the popularity of Fancy also never ceases to amaze me as it pretty much holds steady outside of the top 100.

 

For one song that just missed, it was the last time it would be able to have a go. Lily Allen's Smile has been pretty much everywhere but the top 100 in this game, peaking at 106 in one of the early runs. It had never gotten back to that height until this year, which has actually seen a small rise in the popularity of Lily Allen on select songs, and it finishes 4 from the final. In For The Kill falls out from the final last time, leaving only the one La Roux song to battle for the title of best L artist of 2009 (a battle which they CLEARLY win, don't they?), while Calvin Harris rises back to a better position for I'm Not Alone after spending the last two years outside even the semis. It's not the highest Calvin song for once though.

 

Guns And Horses is another strong Ellie song seeing a huge (and lovely) rise this year, all the way up from #453 this time. That is the third-largest rise this year, I forgot to note the other two, with Gecko (Overdrive) rising one more place than Guns And Horses and Royals outperforming both of them with a huge 373 place rise. Another Drake song falls short of the top 100 and leaves Drizzy out of the final this year although, yeah, he'll probably make it with something in the future.

 

The last three songs are all from 2011, but no, that's not the year with the least final representation, that's 2010 with only 6, nearly the minimum possible! E.T. slips out from the bottom of the final last time into only just missing it this time, while Shake It Out and Midnight City are two final regulars who got denied a place this year, Midnight City for the first time. Midnight City was the track I entered to BJSC's 10-year contest because it's a track I really associate with Buzzjack and a huge part of that is its amazing run here despite lack of huge commercial success compared to the other tracks that regularly make the final.

 

Right, I'll start the proper countdown later this evening once I've tallied and checked everything.

FINAL RESULTS BEGIN HERE

 

 

91 202 2013 Mariah Carey (feat. Miguel) - #Beautiful 253 ( 249 - 202 - 91 )

92 79 2013 Taylor Swift - I Knew You Were Trouble 252 ( 73 - 79 - 92 )

93 28 2014 Taylor Swift - Blank Space 238 ( 28 - 93 )

94 NE 2015 Ellie Goulding - Love Me Like You Do 235 ( - 94 )

95 72 2006 Justin Timberlake (feat. Timbaland) - SexyBack 225 ( 116 - 63 - X - 150 - 303 - 155 - 49 - 123 - 72 - 95 )

96 112 2014 Ariana Grande (feat. Iggy Azalea) - Problem 222 ( 112 - 96 )

97 90 2007 Amy Winehouse - Tears Dry On Their Own 221 ( 128 - X - X - 232 - 310 - 283 - 255 - 90 - 97 )

98 75 2008 Katy Perry - Hot N Cold 220 ( 88 - 42 - 18 - 41 - 43 - 38 - 75 - 98 )

99 117 2014 Katy Perry (feat. Juicy J) - Dark Horse 216 ( 117 - 99 )

100 123 2006 Rihanna - SOS 216 ( 43 - X - X - 71 - 151 - 273 - 138 - 118 - 123 - 100 )

 

SOOO.... dead bottom of the final is, a tie. Each on 216 points. Which I've broken because I feel like it which makes SOS finish bottom of the final on its last go at this game - but does this mean we'll see the final bookended by songs leaving ROTD? Who knows (I do). Just beating it out is Katy Perry's first of three songs, her modern classic and Seven fave, Dark Horse. It moves into the final for the first time on only its second go so it perhaps could be one to rise at some point in the future.

 

Yeah, poor Katy really is the whipping girl of ROTD when it comes to massive faves and it's never been made more clear than right now when her usual strongest challenger, Hot N Cold finishes off her having two of the bottom three. It HAS never been out of the top 100 before but this is really testing it, it has two more years to complete the run.

 

Tears Dry On Their Own was the song I thought was going to end up at the bottom for quite a while, not gaining anywhere near as many points as the other Amy song, but a couple of fans towards the end pushed her up to get her second best result, it's secured itself a strong position as the secondary Winehouse song around here lately.

 

Like Dark Horse, Problem rises from just outside the final to just in it. This one got pretty much all of its points from the high pop contingent (I'll take both meanings of that phrase) and so was never going to quite match the other tracks in this final which do tend to have at least some form of crossover appeal.

 

SexyBack I mistakenly announced at #148 because of a clerical error that saw me add during the semi-final stage instead of Madonna's Sorry, yeah. That's part of what I have to say about it but we also need to say farewell to Justin's announcement of bringing sexy and huge Timbaland beats back. It's not quite at 2013 levels but going out on your third-highest performance is no bad result either.

 

One of the FOUR Ellie songs in the final (we really overloaded on her this time didn't we) is up next as the lowest 2015 final debut. One of Ellie's biggest hits now, I'm sure this will have a bright future (even if she has better).

 

I knew the bottom section would be squeezing out some of the pop songs that couldn't grab huge fanbases but I really didn't expect Taylor to be one of the first casualties - with two of her best big hits no less. I Knew You Were Trouble has been stuck around here before but that's a sharp drop for Blank Space nevertheless. This means Taylor is out already, I'm so sorry Ultraviolence. Jahq is also the first person to lose his top score with I Knew You Were Trouble.

 

#Beautiful's huge rise is a little unusual and unexpected for me so I'll take that, I never saw it getting universal acclaim enough to reach the final so I think it's done very well for itself. Even if that performance does mean finishing in the bottom 10. You can't win them all, especially when you're Mariah and always doomed to lose the war that approaches as the first vestiges of festivity start to make themselves known.

Ellie :wub:

 

81 56 2014 Ella Henderson - Ghost 293 ( 56 - 81 )

82 198 2013 Disclosure (feat. AlunaGeorge) - White Noise 281 ( 441 - 198 - 82 )

83 89 2009 Beyoncé - Halo 281 ( 134 - 51 - 124 - 66 - 82 - 89 - 83 )

84 133 2006 Beyoncé - Irreplaceable 281 ( 105 - 176 - 55 - 31 - 44 - 79 - 78 - 75 - 133 - 84 )

85 192 2006 Gnarls Barkley - Crazy 275 ( 103 - 48 - 98 - 86 - 119 - 37 - 52 - 115 - 192 - 85 )

86 46 2012 Disclosure (feat. Sam Smith) - Latch 272 ( 102 - 71 - 46 - 86 )

87 181 2008 MGMT - Kids 272 ( X - 12 - 112 - 53 - 189 - 139 - 181 - 87 )

88 328 2012 Calvin Harris (feat. Florence Welch) - Sweet Nothing 259 ( 107 - 117 - 328 - 88 )

89 186 2008 Estelle (feat. Kanye West) - American Boy 256 ( X - 135 - 147 - 196 - 119 - 168 - 186 - 89 )

90 62 2009 Kelly Clarkson - My Life Would Suck Without You 255 ( 28 - 138 - 87 - 168 - 112 - 62 - 90 )

 

Kelly Clarkson, stripped of her three 2005 powerhouses that served her so reliably in the past, is the next big name out of contention with the comparatively weaker My Life..., which did beat a couple of those 2005 songs sometimes, but has only managed a height of #62 in the days since its 'omg this recent song is the best thing ever' hype.

 

A couple of songs reaching the top 100 for the first time and they're both songs I wouldn't have expected to see this far... ever really. American Boy was a big radio hit back in the day but it always screamed 'middling Buzzjack fave that we always ignore in favour of brasher pop women', like the rest of the world did to Estelle's career after this. Against that, Calvin and Florence have sustained and grown their careers since but against the otherwise huge anti-Florence tide, Sweet Nothing recovers from that rather anomalous looking dip it had last year and registers a massive climb.

 

Kids has had a rough time lately, once a huge ROTD big hitter for about... one year it's had to settle for regular top 200 appearances. Here also marks the first of the 'indie hits', if you can call psychedelic pop true indie, that is. Compared to the REST anyway... But yeah, this is where the bare minimum of indie power reaches you and as that's more concentrated than pop, we might see a few more of them start to tumble out and letting the true pop queens move ahead (like they deserve to?).

 

Coincidentally, or not, indie-dance electronic music duo Disclosure are out next with both of their songs, wonderful wonderful tracks. Latch drops 40 places away from its strongest position but White Noise is seeing the top 100 for the first time, and ABOUT TIME. These two were struggling to get off the bottom but thankfully they got a few points enabling them to move well clear of that bottom ten.

 

Two Beyoncé songs are also here, the wonderful Halo continuing to wander around the 80s very consistently while Irreplaceable returns to the top 100 after a year's break to finish on a fairly decent position that's just a bit lower than the 70s it was more familiar with. This means that only one (lead) Beyoncé track is left - see, we are hitting the icons hard.

 

It's also a sad farewell to Gnarls Barkley, one of the more recent huge long #1 runners, but as it reaches 10 years of age now, it's getting kicked out. This was a 2006 everpresent and despite not being totally to Buzzjack's taste it's remained so for a decade, so all good there.

 

And finally what I had pinned to be the 2014 juggernaut, Ella Henderson doesn't quite live up to that and flops down a bit to land at #81 with just under 300 points. Still plenty of time for it to change but no win contender for Ghost today.

Great countdown! The reversal of fortunes of Ellie and Florence this year really is bizarre and fascinating! Especially given Ellie's big hit last year isn't even leading the way

 

71 64 2011 Lady Gaga - The Edge Of Glory 321 ( 77 - 88 - 102 - 64 - 71 )

72 NE 2015 Little Mix - Black Magic 320 ( - 72 )

73 67 2014 Beyoncé (feat. Jay-Z) - Drunk In Love 320 ( 67 - 73 )

74 253 2009 Agnes - Release Me 315 ( X - 314 - 226 - 64 - 140 - 253 - 74 )

75 NE 2015 Justin Bieber - Sorry 313 ( 75 )

76 NE 2015 Mark Ronson (feat. Bruno Mars) - Uptown Funk 306 ( 76 )

77 59 2010 Katy Perry - Teenage Dream 306 ( 154 - 161 - 77 - 84 - 59 - 77 )

78 NE 2015 Galantis - Runaway (U&I) 304 ( 78 )

79 NE 2015 Adele - Hello 298 ( 79 )

80 88 2011 Adele - Set Fire To The Rain 296 ( 131 - 109 - 67 - 88 - 80 )

 

Adele makes her first big appearance in this and like with other artists so far (what is it with ROTD and doing this a lot of the time), it's two of her songs together. Two of her three in the final to be more precise. Set Fire To The Rain moves a bit uninterestingly up to #80. That's cool, but what's more notable to talk about is the AMOUNT of new entries in this section. Half of them are new songs. And one of them was the big new Adele song that spawned a meme at the end of last year, and we all love for that. And I suppose it's a rather good song. Maybe. But it did storm through the rounds to get all the way up here, joined by Justin Bieber's debut appearance in the ROTD final with his dance-pop song Sorry that made TOO MANY people start loving him. For what it is. It starts our top 75.

 

Just behind that is Galantis, one of the best Scandi-dance exports of recent times with their wonderful emotional breakthrough hit Runaway (U&I) that basically defined 2015's summer for me, and given how badly dance can do here, that's an amazing start for it, may it only continue to climb. Just ahead of it is the fourth new entry, just about THE biggest song of the year, Mark Ronson bringing funk back into the uptown and one I'm sure will be a familiar face around here for years to come given how it managed to refine the pop landscape into something pretty special for a short time (oh god, one year Fleur is going to actually beat it isn't she?)

 

The final new entry is Little Mix's Black Magic, which Buzzjack likes a lot because it's a strong girlband song. I guess soon we'll have loads of Little Mix songs instead of loads of Girls Aloud songs - I suppose that's an upgrade.

 

It's no good news for Beyoncé and Katy Perry as their final songs fall just a couple of sections ahead of their already announced songs. Teenage Dream looks to maybe have taken away the title of 'best KP prospect in ROTD' from Hot N Cold and it's certainly a strong contender, but maybe it doesn't quite have the reach to be truly great in this competition. Maybe. The landscape of voters can always change. It has before. Meanwhile Drunk On Love is very new and may have to be the best Beyoncé can hope for in the future as all of her Sasha Fierce and 4 songs are just a bit too divisive to reach high aside from Halo. Drunk On Love also has a very cool appeal to it that does help it along, it's not really my sort of thing but I can easily get swept up in it regardless. That's what you want for a song to get a wide audience.

 

Agnes bounces back from her fall last year to register another top 100 place after it looked like the first might be a fluke. This must actually be then the first ROTD final for Release Me and I must say, it's done rather well, even if it was towards the bottom for a lot of it, it managed to pull clear of the bottom 20 in the end.

 

The first Gaga song, I didn't expect it to be The Edge Of Glory, I mentally note where tracks were during the adding process and Edge was far higher in my mind than this. The only representation from Born This Way to get this far, one of Gaga's more simple and epic songs has always got some sort of audience and registers its fourth year in the top 100 out of 5. All good for the first lady of ROTD so far...

 

(And that's it for tonight! I'll resume this tomorrow, speculate away, discuss what tracks have appeared, what tracks haven't appeared yet, all that)

I think Bad Romance will regain its crown. 'Black Magic' wasn't really a fan of this at first but it has become one of the biggest girl band songs in the UK in the last 2 years deserves a place in the Top75.

I'm stoked to see what the top song of each year will be and if there'll be any changes or surprises there...

Loving so so many of these, all my favourites seem to fall early! Love Me Like You Do, Release Me, Ghost and Hot N Cold are my highlights of the ones that have fallen, the latter in particular should be much higher!

So many favorites out already. :nocheer:

I'm surprised Uptown Funk has done this well, thought Buzzjack as a whole would still be tired of it from how long it was in the charts. Especially since Pharrell's Happy doesn't seem to be here at all and that's the closest equivalent I can think of. I've said it already but this shows it really could go either way for One Dance next year.

 

61 36 2012 Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe 340 ( 47 - 32 - 36 - 61 )

62 96 2014 G.R.L - Ugly Heart 334 ( 96 - 62 )

63 173 2014 Kiesza - Hideaway 332 ( 173 - 63 )

64 310 2011 Coldplay - Paradise 330 ( 66 - 123 - 222 - 310 - 64 )

65 164 2012 Ellie Goulding - Anything Could Happen 328 ( 55 - 149 - 164 - 65 )

66 275 2011 Chase & Status (feat. Liam Bailey) - Blind Faith 328 ( 279 - 216 - 217 - 275 - 66 )

67 87 2009 Lady Gaga - Poker Face 325 ( 2 - 34 - 40 - 22 - 55 - 87 - 67 )

68 187 2008 Elbow - One Day Like This 324 ( X - X - 227 - 140 - 115 - 120 - 187 - 68 )

69 55 2013 Justin Timberlake - Mirrors 322 ( 57 - 55 - 69 )

70 RE 2010 Owl City - Fireflies 322 ( 259 - 164 - 309 - 434 - X - 70 )

 

Fireflies takes probably the biggest jump from last year as it makes a massive re-entry that's far higher than it's ever been before. I gave this a 40 as it is definitely my favourite song in this competition and one of my favourite songs ever (the perfect geek-pop anthem to insomnia) but I'm very happy it even got this far because I'm used to it reporting a performance similar to what happened in the past three years.

 

It's not the only one seeing a huge improvement in fortunes, Paradise sees the highest climb barring re-entries after a poor year for Coldplay last year, it's bounced back and grabs a peak by two places. Coldplay's second #1, it's also their second-highest song here and it has become one of their most well-loved modern tracks.

 

Blind Faith moves up from continuous 200s placings to a top 100 place and like with Fireflies, I'm not sure how it managed to come straight to the final but I'm incredibly pleased it did so, one of the most excellent parts of the dubstep wave of the turn of the decade, it managed to get enough points to get a decent position, again one I thought would struggle in the final but it's done very well to get up here.

 

Hideaway moves way up from last year as Buzzjack recalls just how great Hideaway really was at the time, and yet even that isn't the final song in this section seeing the top 100 to the first time - the song with the longest wait for it goes to Elbow's One Day Like This. Always in recent times a top 200 regular, it nearly got enough to go to the semis for the first time last year but didn't quite (on account of RFC missing that round) but this time it managed both semis and final with ease. It's the lowest song on the list to have gotten two top scores, which really shows how concentrated the love for this was.

 

On songs that were in the top 100 before, we say goodbye to Justin Timberlake in this competition as his new strongest performer, Mirrors, slips a bit, Poker Face continues its performances of being one of the less strong Gaga songs in the final after coming second one year, and Ugly Heart shows that not all girlband songs are doomed to fall when Saturdays fans leave us, they can actually climb if they have excellent hooks.

 

Finally, Carly Rae Jepsen may be out a bit early as Call Me Maybe has its worst ever result, but unlike before, this time she has another song in this fight and it's one people have touted as a contender, so perhaps that's just points transference talking...

 

 

51 245 2013 HAIM - Falling 361 ( X - 245 - 51 )

52 73 2008 Britney Spears - Piece Of Me 361 ( 102 - 85 - 272 - 173 - 163 - 161 - 73 - 52 )

53 26 2013 Arctic Monkeys - Do I Wanna Know? 360 ( 66 - 26 - 53 )

54 27 2012 Azealia Banks - 212 360 ( 50 - 26 - 27 - 54 )

55 82 2008 Alphabeat - Fascination 360 ( X - 159 - 351 - 128 - 90 - 87 - 82 - 55 )

56 119 2009 Little Boots - Remedy 352 ( 45 - 50 - 84 - 150 - 83 - 119 - 56 )

57 38 2013 Little Mix - Move 349 ( 40 - 38 - 57 )

58 63 2007 Kate Nash - Foundations 343 ( 159 - X - X - 125 - 138 - 81 - 56 - 63 - 58 )

59 31 2010 Rihanna (feat. Drake) - What's My Name 342 ( 36 - 65 - 60 - 23 - 31 - 59 )

60 137 2007 Paramore - Misery Business 341 ( X - X - X - 487 - 286 - 386 - 204 - 137 - 60 )

 

Again starting off a section with a huge fave of mine that's got itself a huge huge peak this year, it's MISERY BUSINESS. I was so excited to see this get to the final as Paramore never have before and with only two years left I was wondering whether its constant improvement would ever let me be able to reward it with so many points. That run is really quite beautiful to look at and it shows just how songs can age well and find greater audiences on here as the makeup of Buzzjack slowly changes.

 

I did get it wrong earlier, Drake does have some representation in the final but it's the same representation he's been having for years, being featured on a Rihanna song. What's My Name is one of the many Rihanna songs in this final, she's actually got more than Gaga this year, but it was one of the ones that wasn't going to be doing as well as some others from the start, despite its impressive run.

 

Already we're getting to songs that I had seen go really high at some point in the adding stage and Remedy is definitely one of those. It was always way higher than the similar looking Little Mix tracks but in the end it only finishes just ahead, this final is tight. Remedy bounces back into the final for the first time since 2010 in actual fact which seems surprising for a song that is loved so much, it's good to see it back at these heights anyway. Move has never had a problem getting to the final on the other hand and while it drops to its lowest position yet it's not a bad position by any means and there's plenty of life left in it I'msure.

 

Foundations nearly reaches a new peak but in any case seems pretty comfortable around this new high, it was also looking to be a bit higher than this but like Remedy, faltered a bit in points collecting towards the end.

 

Then we reach the 360 point mark and there are three A artists on a tie. I find that very pleasing. And... two of them have peaked at #26. Do I Wanna Know and 212 couldn't really be more different in terms of song sound but they seem stuck together for ROTD lately (and they ARE both massive faves). Fascination is obviously a little older but is a song that's only started to really get appreciated by Buzzjack properly in recent years - it always used to land just outside my votes in 2008 terms, this year, it snuck in. A more joyful pop song you could scarcely imagine.

 

Speaking of long-serving sufferers getting a peak, Piece Of Me, which has had to suffer through me and/or Bre shading it every time it shows up in this game, gets itself a peak for the second year in a row. I suppose it is one of the few huge Britney prospects left available to Britney stans and people who don't host ROTD seem to rather like it (at least in recent years, RFC does like it, I remember he dislikes a different Brit song in this final, one that's higher). For myself, I'm just incredibly pleased that THE QUEENS OF MUSIC (AND GIRLBAND RATES) HAIM have not disgraced themselves on their first final appearance and Falling has finished far higher than I thought it would throughout adding up with tons of people towards the end giving it high points. And this isn't even their final song, meaning that HAIM have a song in the top half of the final. :cheer:

Catching up:

 

MUSICAL LEGENDS HAIM killing it! :o the demand for that new material appears bigger than ever

 

Quen Kiesza and Elbow entering the Top 100 :cheer:

 

Midnight City & Latch way too low :rolleyes:

 

Piece Of Shit way too high :puke:

 

Dark Horse 2nd last in the final lol

That last section is incredible!

Piece Of Me, Foundations, Move, Fascination and Misery Business are all 10/10 fabulous and Remedy is in my top 10 of all time so great to see most of those climbing :wub: