Touch is another brilliant single from Little Mix. They really haven't released a dud single in ages. The whole album is 10/10 but this was the standout out the grats released.

Starving is one I didn't expect to love so much. I heard Love Myself once and it didn't really leave any impression on me and Zedd''s pretty hit and miss but this just works so well. I'm excited to see what she releases next now.

Also obvious amaze to see Queen Ari finish 3rd in your artists countdown. :wub:

Body (y) Far from my fave from Benjamin but still a banga x

 

Trevor (no) *burps*

Poor Trevor x

 

Thanks Ball *.*

 

Touch is another brilliant single from Little Mix. They really haven't released a dud single in ages. The whole album is 10/10 but this was the standout out the grats released.

Starving is one I didn't expect to love so much. I heard Love Myself once and it didn't really leave any impression on me and Zedd''s pretty hit and miss but this just works so well. I'm excited to see what she releases next now.

Also obvious amaze to see Queen Ari finish 3rd in your artists countdown. :wub:

Thanks Lewis! :D

 

Little Mix really have been on form for a while now :wub:

I totally agree about Starving! Zedd's patchy normally but this is one of his shining moments for sure.

Songs

 

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28 One Direction - History - 2-2-3-4-5-6-6-10-11-13-20-25-32-40-X (14 weeks)

 

One Direction only have one entry on 2016's list, due to the fact they're currently on hiatus, but their "goodbye for now" single History makes it to a very good #28. History failed to become the boys' 12th #1 on my chart, instead being blocked by Louisa Johnson's Forever Young for two weeks, but it had a pretty lengthy top 10 run in the end, an improvement on the previous single Perfect although not as good as Drag Me Down, which finished at #2 EOY in 2015. History was a bit of a grower for me, I wasn't sure of it at first, but it makes perfect sense as the last pre-hiatus single and it worked well as an album closer on Made In the A.M. too, it's got a bit of classic 1D mixed with their newfound mature sound, evidenced by other tracks on the album. 1D are sorely missed by me so far, so let's hope Harry Styles manages to fill the void with his solo material this year, eh?

 

 

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27 Louisa Johnson - Forever Young - 1-1-2-5-12-21-32-X (7 weeks)

 

Speak of the devil! The song that blocked History from the top is only one place above it here. Forever Young was Lousia Johnson's X Factor winning single, and it became the least successful winning single to date on the official chart, peaking only at #9 with 2 weeks top 40. I can see why it didn't click with the public, it doesn't offer anything new as a winning single and Louisa did give much better performances on the show. However, I have a real soft spot for this track. Partially because Louisa was the first winner that I had backed right from the start (in all 11 prior series, my favourite never won, even Leona and Alexandra weren't my initial favourites and I didn't like Little Mix for a period of time! :lol:), but also I just really quite like the track. Louisa's vocal is great, the song is pleasant and it captured the "winter ballad" vibe really well. Aside from Little Mix's Touch, which could only get a maximum of 2 weeks before the cut-off point, Forever Young has the shortest chart run of any song in my top 40, but it managed two big weeks at #1! Also, Louisa has two more songs still to come, making her the artist with the most songs in my EOY top 40! :o

 

Back again!

 

Louisa's vocals on 'Forever Young' are very impressive and I think that's the only reason the song hasn't totally fallen into obscurity for me. Other than that, it's a very drawn out song that doesn't have anything particularly special to make up for the fact the song doesn't ever peak composition-wise. I wasn't a fan of 2016's winner's single either, but at least it seems X Factor have realised their old format was very tired.

 

I don't think I'll ever be able to take Meghan Trainor seriously as a pop artist but I have to admit that she's released some catchy tunes. 'NO' was a great throwback to early 00s pop that was just so irresistible, despite the monotone vocals and a video that Meghan looked completely bored and dead-behind-the-eyes in.

 

I never got completely on board with Jojo's 'Fuck Apologies' but it's hard to deny it would be a hit if radio played it or someone else recorded it. I did hear it play in a club once and it went down well.

 

'Touch' seems set to be huge given the way it has exploded up the chart, despite no video and no constant promo. It's another insanely catchy pop song from the girls and easily a Glory Days highlight - as is the acoustic version which I'd say was only second to 'F.U.' for best ballad on the album.

Back again!

 

Louisa's vocals on 'Forever Young' are very impressive and I think that's the only reason the song hasn't totally fallen into obscurity for me. Other than that, it's a very drawn out song that doesn't have anything particularly special to make up for the fact the song doesn't ever peak composition-wise. I wasn't a fan of 2016's winner's single either, but at least it seems X Factor have realised their old format was very tired.

 

I don't think I'll ever be able to take Meghan Trainor seriously as a pop artist but I have to admit that she's released some catchy tunes. 'NO' was a great throwback to early 00s pop that was just so irresistible, despite the monotone vocals and a video that Meghan looked completely bored and dead-behind-the-eyes in.

 

I never got completely on board with Jojo's 'Fuck Apologies' but it's hard to deny it would be a hit if radio played it or someone else recorded it. I did hear it play in a club once and it went down well.

 

'Touch' seems set to be huge given the way it has exploded up the chart, despite no video and no constant promo. It's another insanely catchy pop song from the girls and easily a Glory Days highlight - as is the acoustic version which I'd say was only second to 'F.U.' for best ballad on the album.

Thanks very much Liam! :D

 

Yeah I can totally see what you mean about Forever Young, I don't really know what they were thinking by picking that song as the winning single, commercially speaking :lol: but aside from that I do think it's a really lovely song, showcases Louisa's voice pretty well, and I don't think it's worthy of being the only winning single not to chart top 3. Matt's song was pretty nice, certainly better than the trio of James, Sam and Ben's winning singles were for me.

 

Touch is going to stick around for ages I feel, it's holding up so well and it's still not peaked in terms of airplay (especially, like you say, with no video so no TV airplay). I can't see it becoming another #1 for them but regardless it will be a long runner and continue to keep the album selling, so no complaints from me! The acoustic is my favourite ballad on the album, although F.U. is another highlight too. Other than them, the ballads aren't as strong as they're usually capable of I don't think :( which is basically my only criticism of the album!

Songs

 

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26 Grace - You Don't Own Me (feat. G-Eazy) - 4-7-12-14-17-21-28-30-32-X-29-3-1-3-3-4-6-9-13-19-27-33-38-X (22 non-consecutive weeks)

 

OK so here's an interesting one! Grace made my EOY last year, actually a little bit higher at #23, mainly thanks to its first run in my top 40 above (although I remember initially placing it lower and increasing its placing later). You Don't Own Me came back for seconds thanks to its UK chart success, where it finally made #1, after initially peaking at #4. Thanks to its two separate runs in my chart, it accumulated a huge 22 weeks in my chart, including 9 in the top 10. It was the second eligible #1 for my EOY, dethroning The Vamps' Rest Your Love at the end of 2015. Grace has failed to scale the same heights since, with follow-up Hell of a Girl only making the low top 40 of my chart and the album being quite disappointing and samey on the whole, but featured artist G-Eazy has a second #1 still to come thanks to Britney Spears' Make Me..., which hit the top spot in July. Interestingly however, Grace was behind three songs by her brother Conrad Sewell in last year's EOY, and this time, is 64 places above his highest track (Remind Me at #90) :magic:

 

 

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25 Fifth Harmony - All In My Head (Flex) [feat. Fetty Wap] - 1-2-3-5-8-10-12-14-16-19-22-29-37-X (13 weeks)

 

Fifth Harmony pop up again now, with the second of their three singles in 2016. All In My Head (Flex) leaked online about a week before the release of the 7/27 album, and I rather liked it on first listen. Over the course of the week however, it just grew and grew on me, eventually building up to a #1 debut, just ahead of Clean Bandit's Tears (although the two swapped places the week after and Tears is higher in my EOY). It became the girl group's third #1 following BO$$ and Work from Home (the latter of which is still to come), and earns them a very good placing of 25th in my EOY. Fetty Wap gets a #1 hit to his name too, and he's part of an exclusive club of artists who have only ever charted as a feature. I hated his part at first but nowadays it's all part of the fun - you could make a game out of guessing what he's trying to say :') The track was the perfect summer anthem and it's a shame it wasn't more of a hit in the chart I think.

 

You Don't Own Me is a nice track. But I had completely forgot about it, even with it being in Suicide Squad this year.

All In My Head (Flex) :wub: This took longer than the rest of their songs to grow on me but I fell in love with it finally. I would say their other 2 singles this year have been better though. I'm interested to see what they're going to do next without Camila.

You Don't Own Me is a nice track. But I had completely forgot about it, even with it being in Suicide Squad this year.

All In My Head (Flex) :wub: This took longer than the rest of their songs to grow on me but I fell in love with it finally. I would say their other 2 singles this year have been better though. I'm interested to see what they're going to do next without Camila.

Thanks Lewis! :D I only prefer Work from Home to Flex, but I've loved all three singles from 7/27 :wub: Camila was my favourite tbh :lol: but I'll be very intrigued to see what direction they go down next!

Songs

 

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24 All Saints - One Strike - 6-9-9-12-11-12-13-3-4-6-8-14-19-28-34-39-X-37-X (17 non-consecutive weeks)

 

This is one of the big surprise hits of the year for me. I said before that I've been an All Saints fan for a long time, but despite that, I didn't think a comeback single of theirs could be this good. In fact, despite a strong start in my chart, it actually proved to be a bit of a grower too. I liked One Strike on first listen but it really hit me a few weeks later where I came to really appreciate the mature sound and lyrics offered by the group. It's classy and slick, with some current production too, and its strong iTunes performance surely suggests it could've been a hit if it were by a more "current" act? Regardless, I'm just glad All Saints reformed and gave us this beauty of a track, something worthy of sitting alongside classics like Never Ever and Pure Shores.

 

 

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23 Troye Sivan - YOUTH - 10-13-18-16-20-26-20-15-2-2-4-8-14-15-18-23-30-32-35-35-35-40-22-24-31-38-X (26 weeks)

 

I've been singing Troye Sivan's praises for a while now, since he delivered the beautiful Blue Neighbourhood album and totally blew me away with how great it was. YOUTH preceded the album by just a few weeks, serving as the second instant grat from the album after TALK ME DOWN. It was later promoted to the official second single of course. It peaked at #10 in my chart from the instant grat exposure alone, and eventually reclimbed the chart and spent a couple of weeks at #2, behind Shawn Mendes' Stitches. YOUTH is one of the happier moments on the album, asking loads of "what if" questions throughout the verses, aimed at Troye's lover. It's a really fantastic song and really should've been a huge worldwide hit, but unfortunately, commercial radio doesn't seem interested in Troye in the UK. Nevertheless, it was great to see this give Troye his first hit in the US! Hopefully plenty more to come too.

 

History is k

Huisa ;o

You Don't Own Me is k *makes me think of DAHHHNTAAAAAAN gal lmao*

All In My Head <333 always takes me straight back to last summer and good memories *.*

One Strike is incredible - a powerful message delivered expertly.

YOUTH and TROYE in general is babe obviously. What a song, person, album, everything everything <3 :'(

 

xx

Good to see YOUTH appear so high, that one really impressed me on first listen.

 

You Don't Own Me was a good track, although by the time it took off officially I had long gotten over it, the cons of being ahead of the game I s'pose :lol:

 

Listening back Forever Young wasn't all that bad at all really given the reception it received? Certainly a league above the winner's single this year.

History is k

Huisa ;o

You Don't Own Me is k *makes me think of DAHHHNTAAAAAAN gal lmao*

All In My Head <333 always takes me straight back to last summer and good memories *.*

One Strike is incredible - a powerful message delivered expertly.

YOUTH and TROYE in general is babe obviously. What a song, person, album, everything everything <3 :'(

 

xx

DAHHNTAAAN !!

 

Thanks Ball :heart:

 

Good to see YOUTH appear so high, that one really impressed me on first listen.

 

You Don't Own Me was a good track, although by the time it took off officially I had long gotten over it, the cons of being ahead of the game I s'pose :lol:

 

Listening back Forever Young wasn't all that bad at all really given the reception it received? Certainly a league above the winner's single this year.

Thanks Dobbo! :D YOUTH gets loads of love online which it truly deserves but in terms of the general public, it's so underrated :(

 

I hadn't really listened to You Don't Own Me for a while before its commercial performance so it felt quite fresh to me again by then!

 

Forever Young gets a hard time I think, it's not bad I don't think but I guess it never really felt like a commercial smash!

Songs

 

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22 Major Lazer - Light It Up (feat. Nyla & Fuse ODG) - 17-13-9-7-5-11-14-18-14-21-24-19-13-17-19-20-23-33-37-X (19 weeks)

 

So here's one of the biggest surprise hits of 2016 for me! Light It Up got released at the tail end of 2015, and I heard it around Christmas Day that year. It became an instant hit in my books! Major Lazer had a minor hit in my chart with Lean On previously, a huge Buzzjack fave which I do like but I never really LOVED. The breakdown on Light It Up is just really infectious, top notch production from Major Lazer for sure. Fuse ODG adds a lot of fun to the track too, and achieved his third top 10 hit in my chart (and sixth top 20). Light It Up actually went on to become the biggest #5 hit my chart has ever seen, getting a huge 19 weeks in the chart, 14 of which in my top 20, 11 of which were between 11 and 20! It never tired on me which is impressive because a lot of hits reach a point where I stop listening out of choice and get tired of them on the radio, but this never reached that point really. I love a good surprise in music and this really defines that for me. Major Lazer delivered a less surprising smash alongside Justin Bieber & MØ later in 2016 and it's still to come.

 

 

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21 Little Mix - Secret Love Song (feat. Jason Derulo) - 34-22-14-12-9-5-1-1-3-7-16-21-29-32-39-38-X (16 weeks)

 

Finally, we reach the final Little Mix track. Secret Love Song saw a slow but steady climb up my chart at the start of the year, eventually reaching #1 in February and in doing so, it became their first ever #1 in my chart. The song really tugs on my heartstrings, thanks to emotional lyrics and superb vocals from all four girls, enhanced only by the amazing live performances where they just proved their vocal capabilities even more. Derulo is really hit and miss for me, but he also got his first #1 with this and his contribution to the track is pretty decent, although I think I go back to Pt 2 even more nowadays where the idea of Derulo loving "someone's baby" isn't forced and it's a much more vague concept of what the "secret love" entails. It's a gorgeous song in either form anyway and I'm a sucker for a huge ballad so this ticked that box nicely!

 

A reminder of the top 20:

 

Ariana Grande - Side To Side (feat. Nicki Minaj)

Benjamin - Man On the Moon (feat. Sweet California)

Britney Spears - Make Me... (feat. G-Eazy)

Charlie Puth - We Don’t Talk Anymore (feat. Selena Gomez)

Cheat Codes & Dante Klein - Let Me Hold You (Turn Me On)

Clean Bandit - Rockabye (feat. Sean Paul & Anne-Marie)

Clean Bandit - Tears (feat. Louisa Johnson)

Fifth Harmony - Work from Home (feat. Ty Dolla $ign)

Frans - If I Were Sorry

Jesper Jenset - High

Joel Adams - Please Don't Go

Louisa Johnson - So Good

Major Lazer - Cold Water (feat. Justin Bieber & MØ)

Maty Noyes - In My Mind

Ryan Lawrie - If Only

Shawn Mendes - Stitches

Shawn Mendes - Treat You Better

The Tide - Click My Fingers

The Vamps & Matoma - All Night

Tom Odell - Magnetised

Some amazing songs here, History not included. Looking forward to ha top 20 reveal. All Night, Tears and Make Me to slayyy.

Some amazing songs here, History not included. Looking forward to ha top 20 reveal. All Night, Tears and Make Me to slayyy.

 

Thank you Joe *.* :heart:

Artists

 

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2 Troye Sivan

 

I've spoken loads over the past year about why I love Troye Sivan, who won my #1 artist of 2015, and I stand by everything I've said because Troye is one of the brightest stars of our generation. Troye's not actually released any brand new songs since my last EOY, and that's why he misses out on #1 this time round, but he's #2 again pretty much on the basis of how strong the Blue Neighbourhood album is and how it's continued to define me and my music taste over the past year.

 

A bit of back story first. I first heard of Troye just weeks after I first heard of Shawn Mendes interestingly (I find this quite an intriguing fact because they're both totally dominating my tastes over 2 years later). Happy Little Pill was doing amazingly well on iTunes worldwide, although I'd never heard of him before so decided to check it out. I quite liked the track, it made a tiny impact in my chart, and I kinda forgot about him until he was entered into BJSC with Touch in early 2015. I liked that song more at the time and it got to #10 for me, but again it was short-lived. It wasn't until WILD happened in September 2015 that I became a fully fledged Troye fan. The song wasn't totally instant for me but it had that special spark, only helped by the video (part 1 of the incredible Blue Neighbourhood trilogy).

 

Blue Neighbourhood came along at the end of 2015, and much like most Troye songs, it wasn't particularly instant. I rather liked it but I didn't adore it, but I stuck with it and gave it more spins, and each track just slotted into place over time. It went on to spend 8 consecutive weeks at #1 in my chart, just one shy of the consecutive record, but it broke the overall record (also 9 weeks) by getting a further 7 weeks throughout 2016, bringing its total up to a pretty remarkable 15 weeks. It's also had a whopping 37 weeks in my top 5, out of a total of 61, which is just 14 shy of the 75 week record set by Tom Odell's Long Way Down.

 

Enough of the statistics now though, let's focus on just WHY I love Troye so much. Part of it comes from his down to earth persona. In interviews, on stage and on social media, he comes across as really friendly and personable, which can help a great deal if you're wanting music you can relate to. The rest of it, however, comes from the music of course. Across the album, Troye mainly discusses themes of love and sexuality, something he's always been very vocal about since he came out as gay in 2013. I've talked about HEAVEN already and it's easily the most notable on that topic, but also tracks like WILD and for him. talk about themes of love and I find it so relatable. Troye sings from the heart, and this is backed up by interesting and current production, which makes him stand out from the crowd because it's not just trend-hopping to get a hit, despite it being marketable and commercial. Other highlights on the album come from the rather dark sounding DKLA and TOO GOOD, as well as the gorgeous duet BLUE with his record producer Alex Hope.

 

Hearing the album live was one of my highlights of 2016. The vast majority of songs were played on the Blue Neighbourhood tour, and it just worked excellently - I was captivated the entire time, just getting lost in the music, and I would go again and again if I could. And if all of this wasn't enough, the album was accompanied by the aforementioned video trilogy of the same name. WILD, FOOLS and TALK ME DOWN got music videos playing out alongside a storyline of Troye's love interest having a homophobic father who disapproves of his sexual preferences and as a result, he has to get with a girl, and it's absolutely heartbreaking to see it portrayed. I've linked all three videos below so if you find the time to watch them, I really couldn't recommend them enough.

 

The album has gone on to receive critical acclaim and deservedly so, it's a stunning album and one I could sing the praises of all day. Unfortunately its commercial success hasn't quite matched the critical acclaim but who knows, maybe this will come in time. Having said that, as much as I want him to shift albums like Adele, it doesn't bother me because I'm still able to enjoy this music the way I would regardless, and it's everyone else's loss if they don't get to hear this album. Troye is one of the most promising artists around right now and I cannot wait to see what he brings out next, it's bound to be spectacular.

 

Recommendation

 

 

 

YOUTH is really good, I feel as though I haven't got into Troye as much as I should have - that and TALK ME DOWN, and WILD are all great tunes and I've been a fan of him as a YouTuber but I've never really tried to get into him (eg. had a full listen to Blue Neighborhood in one sitting), maybe I should change that :dance:

YOUTH is really good, I feel as though I haven't got into Troye as much as I should have - that and TALK ME DOWN, and WILD are all great tunes and I've been a fan of him as a YouTuber but I've never really tried to get into him (eg. had a full listen to Blue Neighborhood in one sitting), maybe I should change that :dance:

The album was one of the biggest growers I've heard so I really can't recommend a relisten enough :wub: thanks mdh!!

I would've thought we'd get new music from Fuse to capitalize on the success of 'Light It Up' :( He's leaving it way too late now but fingers crossed he eventually brings some more jams, and maybe even finishes his sweep of odd-number top-10 UK chart peaks *.*

 

For some reason I couldn't get into 'Secret Love Song' while it was charting but was very much won over when I re-listened like a week ago :o Regardless of that I was happy to see it do so well for Little Mix, fantastic third era for them on the whole!