Very much agree with you on Monody and the two Alan Walker hits, all three have been such great soundtracks to my year - and the new Alan Walker track is sounding great too, he's incredible, great seeing him so high for you. That 'nearly trance' sound is so good while sounding so fresh and modern (and he chooses such great vocalists for his songs too), I can't really get enough of it.

 

I have great memories with enjoying Kizunguzungu at the start of this year, what a great highlight from Melfest. Will definitely keep up and see what you've got in the top 20.

Thank you for all the kind comments, I shall get back to those and return the favour in the coming days! In the meantime:

 

Singles

 

20-11

 

20. Delta Goodrem - Dear Life

19. All Saints - One Woman Man

18. Pixie Paris - Es Rappelt Im Karton

17. Frans - If I Were Sorry

16. EFF - Stimme

15. Little Mix - Shout Out To My Ex

14. Real Lies - North Circular

13. Olivia - I'm Not Your Lady

12. Sia feat Kendrick Lamar - The Greatest

11. Natalia Nykiel - Error

 

Delta Goodrem - Dear Life

 

 

All Saints - One Woman Man

 

 

EFF - Stimme

 

 

Olivia - I'm Not Your Lady

 

 

Natalia Nykiel - Error

 

 

Kicking off this year's top 20 is Delta Goodrem's Dear Life. A rather lush string-laden ballad with very relateable lyrics, it was very much in the 'classic Delta' mould and no doubt helped to sell the album to those traditional fans who somehow weren't won over by Wings. It worked, with the song going top three in Aus and helping the album to a #1 debut.

 

All Saints made a second comeback this year. In 2006 they managed a top three hit with Rock Steady but this year they somehow chalked up a top three album instead, and from that album were a number of sublime pop gems, including the tropical house influenced One Woman Man. They were absolutely mad not to release this as a second single as it's the probably the most relevant thing they've done since Black Coffee. Shaznay sounds especially fantastic on this track which, once again, sounds like a great lost #1 from 2000, yet remains fresh and current at the same time.

 

No less than four of my BJSC entries from this year appear in this section. At #18 is the German novelty pop track Es Rappelt Im Karton by Pixie Paris, from towards the start of the year. The fun, colourful and quirky track soundtracked a sex toy ad in Germany and I was gobsmacked when it came top 20 in BJSC after the odds wrote it off completely!

 

Eurovision! It's barely represented in the top 20 this year somehow, with only two entries making it this far. But at #17 is the second highest entry of the season and, indeed, the highest entry from Melodifestivalen this year (the first time no MF track has finished in my top 10 of the year since 2007! Even 2013 produced the stunning Heartstrings!). Frans was a bit of an unknown quantity, he'd had #1 hits as a kid in Sweden but becoming a teen star was an entirely different prospect and his vocal style turned out to be something quite unique. The track divided opinion after becoming the instant favourite as soon as he'd finished his first performance. Many old fashioned fans hated it but for me it was a breath of fresh air and more proof that Sweden just 'get it' when it comes to delivering a contemporary track for Eurovision. I haven't been able to get that chorus and his pronunciation of 'glory' out of my head since I first heard it. A deserved 5th place at Eurovision marking Sweden's fifth top five in six years astonshingly! And the fifth MF winner in a row to chart officially in the UK top 75, it deserved so much more though but at least it became something of a Euro hit too.

 

Back to the German language theme for a moment, EFF's Stimme will go down as one of 2016's great lost dance hits. Lost in the sense that it was never translated and therefore never made it out of the Germanic speaking countries. But seriously, if you like tropical house then check it out, this is one of the very finest that the genre has to offer with a powerful chorus and killer production. And it has pedigree as EFF consists of UK hitmaker Felix Jaehn and 'should be a UK hitmaker' Mark Forster.

 

The UK #1s this year were few and far between and, for the most part, average. Up until Q4 I only really cared for 7 Years and, to a lesser extent, Closer. But the ladies of Little Mix upped the ante when they came storming back with Shout Out To My Ex. Proving that they are currently in their imperial phase, the song debuted at #1 on a stellar sale on just four days sales, and it deserved to. Classic gutsy pop that brought something different to a market awash with a pop landscape that only seems interested in pretending that it's tropical house. Lets hope they reign supreme for years to come, fantastic track from a brilliant group.

 

Back to BJSC and my girlfriend introduced me to Real Lies, after hearing her favourite band Pet Shop Boys raving over a track called North Circular. I decided to investigate and was very pleased to have done so. A beautiful electronic/rap hybrid that was very PSB-esque itself in the production, though the vocal delivery was more akin to The Streets or Example. The North Circular road is quite close to where I'm living now too, which makes it slightly more interesting though I obviously haven't grown up near it so it doesn't have the same nostalgic connotations as it does for the band. But the melancholy is so strong here that it almost feels like my nostalgia. It was a flop in BJSC of course - it was obviously not going to have widespread appeal - but I had to send it in the hopes that somebody would make a discovery from it like I did and I was pretty content with a final placing for it.

 

Not a flop, however, was Olivia's storming Scandipop anthem I'm Not Your Lady. The brassy production and Olivia's killer vox were like early Christina Aguilera or Agnes. I absolutely love this girl's attitude, and 'gotta play your cards right when you're dealing with the queen' is one of my favourite lyrics of the year, kicking off an absolutely stomping middle eight. And then there's that chorus. For a pure pop fan this is pretty glorious, an old skool style Scandipop song of a type that I didn't even know still existed. Luckily there are lots of pure pop fans in BJSC and the track came a very respectable 7th, despite sounding pretty out of date and something that would have fit better as a winner back in 2010, aka 'the Scandipop era'.

 

Sia has had an absolutely incredible year and for reasons I'm still yet to work out, she decided to re-release the brilliant This Is Acting for Q4, complete with a load of new bonus tracks. It's unclear as to whether these tracks were also written for other artists and, if not, what on earth they're doing on this album. And if these songs were indeed written for other artists, which idiot turned down The Greatest? Anyway, all this pales into insignificance somewhat when considering the quality of these new songs. The best of the newies was the single, The Greatest, featuring Kendrick Lamar. The verses, bridge and Sia's chorus are, naturally, pop perfection, but Kendrick's middle eight is just as important, the Sia only version sounding rather hollow in comparison.

 

And missing the top ten by a whisker is another of my BJSC entries, and my most recent, Error by Polish singer Natalia Nykiel. This was one I was sitting on for a few months, having heard it randomly on iTunes back in the summer. I immediately downloaded it and it was on my potentials list for a while before I finally decided that it needed its time to shine (and realised it wasn't quite as completely unknown as I'd envisaged, with supporters immediately making themselves known!). A No.1 single in her home country, Error has that futuristic four to the floor type production that makes most UK pop coming out at the moment seem completely old hat. I don't speak a word of Polish but this song had me absolutely hooked and I love attempting to sing along to it. Natalia's style, personality and vocal delivery also adds so much to the track and the video is fantastic too.

If I Were Sorry was one of the best Eurovision tracks this year :D

 

Stimme is amazing as well! Love the instruments in that track :music:

Ok here's the top 40 albums recap, and...the all important top ten!

 

40. The Weeknd - Starboy

39. Charly Cole - Gotcha

38. Jem - Beachwood Canyon

37. Netsky - 3

36. The Shires - My Universe

35. Scala & Kolacny Brothers - Solstice

34. K3 - 10,000 Luchtballonnen

33. Douwe Bob - Fool Bar

32. Gwen Stefani - This Is What The Truth Feels Like

31. Justice - Woman

30. Ariana Grande - Dangerous Woman

29. Robbie Williams - The Heavy Entertainment Show

28. Kygo - Cloud Nine

27. Lauren Aquilina - Isn't It Strange?

26. Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Familia

25. Colbie Caillat - The Malibu Sessions

24. Bastille - Wild World

23. Tove Lo - Lady Wood

22. Måns Zelmerlöw - Chameleon

21. Lukas Graham - Lukas Graham

20. Rihanna - Anti

19. Ward Thomas - Cartwheels

18. Birdy - Beautiful Lies

17. Carly Rae Jepsen - Emotion Side B

16. Tom Odell - Wrong Crowd

15. Fifth Harmony - 7/27

14. Rachel Platten - Wildfire

13. Christine and the Queens - Chaleur Humaine

12. Emeli Sandé - Long Live The Angels

11. Real Lies - Real Life

 

---------------------------------------------

 

10. KT Tunstall - Kin

 

 

Kicking off the top ten is the shockingly good new album by KT Tunstall. I've loved KT since Eye To The Telescope but, for me personally, it's been diminishing returns from that point onwards. But the Scottish singer-songwriter rediscovered the magic this time around and the spirit of that fantastic debut album is present and correct here. I'd recommend checking out Hard Girls (complete with a great video featuring Melanie C), Maybe It's A Good Thing, Evil Eye, It Took Me So Long To Get Here, But Here I Am and the late ABBA-esque end of album beauty Everything Has Its Shape. Also check out the song All Or Nothing, which was on an EP released by KT earlier in the year and would have also made a great addition to this album.

 

9. Pet Shop Boys - Super

 

 

The legendary electronic duo consisting of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe returned with the follow-up to 2013's fantastic Electric this year and Super - another Stuart Price produced effort - was more of the same, but a bit brighter, more colourful and more poptastic. Though Super might not quite hit the heights of Electric, it has its fair share of brilliance and is a great example of why acts in their 60s shouldn't feel the need to only release covers or MOR blandness - this album proves that if you still have a creative flair then you should exploit it. My highlights are singles The Pop Kids and the Reggaeton-inspired Twenty-Something, Burn - which could have been on Kylie's Light Years or an 80s PSB album, the more melancholy Sad Robot World and the lyrically excellent The Dictator Decides.

 

8. Beyoncé - Lemonade

 

http://www.at40.com/cimages/var/plain_site/storage/images/repository/news/music-news/5-moments-from-beyonce-s-lemonade-everyone-is-still-talking-about/478566-1-eng-US/5-Moments-From-Beyonce-s-Lemonade-Everyone-is-STILL-Talking-About.jpg

 

Beyoncé is becoming a pretty incredible albums artist and the brilliant Lemonade was a more than worthy follow-up to her self-titled 2013 album. So good lyrically for reasons covered at length elsewhere and the narrative flow of the album is also superb, making the accompanying film something not to be missed. My highlights are Hold Up, the fantastic and unexpected country track Daddy Lessons, All Night and Sorry, but the whole thing is a work of genius.

 

7. Britney Spears - Glory

 

http://www.vogue.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/03/00-holding-square-homepage-300x300.jpg

 

2013's Britney Jean was nice in parts but sounded very cheaply produced and not really worthy of Britney's legendary status. But Glory happily marks the return of the Britney that was so critcially lauded on Blackout. The production here is slick and excellent and Britney's vocals have regained the magic, character and personality that made her such a star in the first place. Do You Wanna Come Over? could have been a smash in 2004 - yet still sounds relevant now - singles Make Me and Slumber Party are sultry slow jams, Man On The Moon and Just Luv Me are standout album tracks while Better - Britney's attempt at tropical house - and Liar are so good that it's astonishing they didn't make it onto the main album.

 

6. Lady Gaga - Joanne

 

 

Joanne is a breath of fresh air from Lady Gaga. 2013's Artpop was extremely good in places but perhaps just a bit too wacky on the whole for me to go back to over and over again. Joanne is the complete opposite to that album. A paired back, stripped down offering that is quite unlike the Gaga that the public is now used to. It's surprisingly the ballads that are my highlights on here, considering Gaga is not exactly well known as a balladeer. The title track Joanne and the current single Million Reasons are absolutely gorgeous. Of the more uptempo tracks, Diamond Heart, John Wayne, Dancin' In Circles and Just Another Day are all fantastic. This album should be huge but then this Gaga is a very different propsect to the enigma that the public fell in love with in 2009. I would urge people to give her new sound a chance though, she really is still one of the most talented artists around.

 

5. Craig David - Following My Intuition

 

http://i.picresize.com/images/2016/12/31/nOP9q.jpg

 

Turn of the century star Craig David was inescapable from late 1999 to about 2003. He was at the forefront of the UK garage scene for years but quickly disappeared from the limelight after that save for the odd hit later in the decade. After years in the wilderness, in 2016 he has essentially coming back to sell his old style to a brand new, younger fanbase, many of whom do not remember his previous success. A very unusual propsect to see an artist essentially pushing the reset button on his career and seeing almost the same level of success second time around, with the same sort of music (lest we forget Take That became mature balladeers in their second iteration), but it's a fantastic comeback story. Anyway, Following My Intuition is clearly Craig David's best album since his debut, Born To Do It, melding relevant and brilliant production, strong melodies, Craig's vocal/rapping hybrid style and featuring a range of genres, much like that 2000 opus. Aside from the many excellent hit singles pulled from this album, the fantastic 16 - a mash up of Fill Me In and Skrillex, Diplo and Bieber's Where Are Ü Now - and Don't Go are my other highlights, both are absolutely huge.

 

4. All Saints - Red Flag

 

 

Studio 1 was cruelly underrated when All Saints made their first comeback in 2006, so I was really pleased to see them get another chance and this time the public took to them much more warmly, this album going top three in the UK. Perhaps 2006 was just too soon to come back, by 2016 many of their original fans will have made the transition to Radio 2 and be happy to hear one of their favourite acts of their youth back on the airwaves with strong new material. This was an album with less street style and attitude than Studio 1, and an altogether more mature prospect, but then All Saints always had that classy air about them anyway with hit singles like Never Ever, Pure Shores and Black Coffee. That sound very much continues on this album with the gorgeous lead single One Strike, as well as This Is A War and Who Hurt Who. Tropical house influenced One Woman Man is what All Saints would sound like if they were starting out in 2016 while Ratchet Behaviour is not too far removed from some of their more beat-driven singles from the late 90s, like Bootie Call.

 

3. Little Mix - Glory Days

 

 

From one UK girlband to another, but to one very much at the stage of their career where All Saints were between 1998 and 2000, i.e. the imperial phase. X Factor 2011 winners Little Mix have gone from strength to strength over the years, they could have so easily fizzled out slowly after second album DNA but instead came back charged up on 2015's Get Weird, and its lead single Black Magic, which took them up into a new gear. They've taken that success and gone one further with Glory Days, which is an even bigger and brighter pop album laiden with huge hooks, stunning harmonies and a minimal amount of tropical house. Bandwagon jumping is not really Little Mix's style, they've very much got their own distinct sound and it's shown here on the likes of lead single Shout Out To My Ex, Touch, Private Show and Power. Co-writers make their own presence felt on the likes of Oops and You Gotta Not, which are very clearly Charlie Puth and Meghan Trainor songs, though both are pretty good. No More Sad Songs is the sole tropical bop and an obvious candidate for future single, while Nothing Else Matters is a lovely mid-tempo offering. A fantastic collection and I'm intrigued to see how big the girls can get from here...it's hard to see what's left to achieve in the UK so worldwide domination is surely next?

 

2. Sia - This Is Acting

 

 

An album of songs rejected by other people might not sound like the most exciting album concept but even Sia's rejected songs are a million times better than songs most people could ever dream of writing. I've been willing Sia to become huge for almost two decades and when she finally became so a couple of years ago she released 1000 Forms Of Fear, which was good, but not really as much my cup of tea as a lot of her earlier albums. But 2016's This Is Acting marks the return of the melodic Sia I've loved for so long, sounding so energised. It really is hit after hit, and it's astonishing that some of these were turned down. Who in their right mind, other than Rihanna, who can just about get away with it, would pass on Cheap Thrills and Reaper? And was it really a good idea for Shakira to say no to the astounding Move Your Body? Alive, Broken Glass, Bird Set Free and One Million Bullets are also excellent...and then came the deluxe edition. This album was made even better in Q4 with the additions of fantastic single The Greatest, the hit version of Cheap Thrills with Sean Paul, Alan Walker's Eurodance reworking of Move Your Body and the lovely Confetti. Without doubt my favourite Sia album to date and one that has positioned her even more as one of the world's biggest new superstars. In a hugely ageist music industry, that's no mean feat at 41 years old.

 

1. Delta Goodrem - Wings Of The Wild

 

 

In a year that there's an album released by Delta Goodrem, it's usually a safe bet to top my end of year chart (2007's Delta excepted). And it's no different in 2016, with the Australian legend returning in the summer with her fifth studio album, Wings Of The Wild. Immediately my favourite album of hers since 2004's dark opus Mistaken Identity, Wings Of The Wild had a few familiar tracks on it before release, with the career revitalising Aussie #1 Wings, the lovely piano ballad Only Human and gorgeous string-laden ballad Dear Life.

 

Enough is my favourite track on the album other than Wings, very much in the template of the 2007 epic Believe Again, but with verses from female rapper Gizzle, so a very different prospect for Delta indeed. Elsehwere it's probably easier to list what I don't love than what I do. I suppose I could live without I'm Not Giving Up, In The Name Of Love and Encore, though all three are good. But the rest of the album is stunning. Feline and Hold On are in the sublime vein of Wings, her cover of I Believe In A Thing Called Love by The Darkness is seriously beautiful, Heavy is a classic Delta ballad, The River is thumping power pop reminiscent of the Mistaken Identity era and Just Call is really uplifitng and joyful. Overall this album just further confirms why Delta will likely forever remain my favourite artist, her quality just never dips.

Edited December 31, 20168 yr by gooddelta

Singles

 

10-1

 

Coming up...

10. Sia - Move Your Body (Alan Walker Remix)

 

 

I really couldn't let 2016 end without a Sia song in my top ten, such as been her dominance this year. When This Is Acting came out at the start of the year my instant favourite was Move Your Body, a frantic club song that Shakira reportedly turned down. Not that this is a surprise, Sia does her best impression of the Colombian superstar on the track, so it already sort of sounds like a long lost Shakira hit. Up to October it had been tracking to finish at about #40 in my end of year chart, but then came the leg up into the top ten that I had no idea it needed. Norwegian producer Alan Walker remixed the song to great effect, with thoroughly 2016 production on the verses but synths on top of the chrous that make it sound like an Eiffel 65 production from 2000. I'm dearly hoping this remix is pushed as a single next year and that it brings the Eurodance genre kicking and screaming back into the charts.

Dear Life is gorgeous, classic Delta but feels right in 2016 too! Shout Out To My Ex and I'm Not Your Lady are particularly brilliant from that section too.

 

 

I cannot stand the Move Your Body remix though :( It's probably because I love the original SO much (it's possibly my fave song of hers and I've loved her since I fell in love with We Are Born so it's no mean feat) and don't particular like the genre Alan Walker remixed it to :lol:)

9. Pegboard Nerds - Emoji

 

 

I've felt completely revitalised in BJSC in 2016 and having seven of my entries in my top 20 of the year shows how much I love what I've been sending (last year only one of my 10 entries made my end of year top 20!). The third highest of those is my very first entry of 2016, the dubstep influenced wonder that is Emoji by Danish act Pegboard Nerds.

 

I previously used a track of theirs called Ingen Anden Drøm in Unknown Pleasures in 2012 - an utterly gorgeous track but it flopped - and had kept one eye on their output ever since. As 2015 drew to an end Emoji surfaced (reaching as high as #90 in my 2015 EOY chart) and I was instantly won over by it. The track blends mournful chipmunk vocals and a slightly sad melody on top of frantic production and with a brilliant video (a Groundhog Day inspired love story featuring people wearing large emoji heads, naturally). I decided to give it a go for BJSC and it bagged a top 15 placing, which was a great start to the year and not bad for a song from a genre that slipped out of style as quickly as it had come in.

Edited December 31, 20168 yr by gooddelta

8. Ortiga - Ilumbarada

 

 

Last year I decided to start investing every now and then in an old Bravo Hits compilation (Germany's equivalent to the NOW series). Roll on summer this year and I got round to buying Bravo Hits 32, originally released in Germany in 2000. As was usual with these albums, I rediscovered some of the hits that were big everywhere, vaguely recalled some of the songs only big on the continent that I'd briefly heard many years ago, and then made some great new discoveries of songs I'd never come across before. Prior to widespread internet access it was hard to keep track on what was smashing everywhere. It was even harder to keep track of local flops, of which Ilumbarada was one. Perhaps that's unfair because the Germany-based band of Chilean brothers had some albums success in Germany I believe, and Ilumbarada was obviously the track that was pushed to radio or performed on TV etc.

 

I was instantly won over by the majesty and beauty of the world music track, sounding like the best song Enigma never released. Slightly haunting male vocals in the verses gave way to a really stunning chorus of female voices singing the main hook, and there was even room for a key change towards the end! I flirted with the idea of sending it to BJSC but decided to sit on it as I couldn't imagine it really appealing to many people and thought it would probably win the award for 'most misguided entry' and DNQ horrendously, despite my love for it (remember - I sent a Christian gospel song in 2014 purely because it was my favourite song at that moment, so I make crazy decisions like that). I pressed forward with the fantastic I'm Not Your Lady, which smashed in 7th place, and then had nothing to send the following month so decided to make what I felt at the time was a mad decision to confirm Ilumbarada. Safe to say the hype it whipped up astounded me and it turns out that there were a lot of people who saw the same magic in this ancient flop compilation track as I did, and against the odds it somehow managed a top five finish and made the final of TBO! So once again I've learnt to never try to second guess BJSC, certain sounding hits can flop horribly while songs that sound like DNQs (and let's face it, in 2010 Ilumbarada would have died on its arse) can smash unexpectedly, such is the varied makeup of the participants in the competition these days. Viva variety *.*

7. KOLAJ - The Touch

 

 

My highest BJSC entry is also one of the two that performed best in the contest, finishing fifth, showing that my tastes in that respect were in line with the general BJSC tastes. The Touch by US act KOLAJ is a sublime example of 2016 blogpop done to a high standard. The gorgeous folky verses give way to a lovely falsetto chorus and a fantastic sun drenched drop that sounded so good in the summer. I don't really have much more to say about it other than I love it, and it remained very high in my affections right through from about April when I first heard it to about August. I feel like this could be a big Spotify hit if it was ever given a push, it's certainly very on trend.

Edited December 31, 20168 yr by gooddelta

6. All Saints - One Strike

 

 

After the fantastic Studio 1 and Rock Steady (which was #2 in my 2006 EOY chart) I was quite intrigued to see what All Saints would come back with a decade later, and nearly two decades after they were first big. A more mature sound was expected, and for sure One Strike is that, but it's also a natural progression from some of their William Orbit produced hits in 2000.

 

A really gorgeous track that really shows off Mel and Shaznay's honeyed vocals on the chorus while Natalie's middle eight is also really effective. All Saints came back rejuvenated this year and it actually felt like they were doing it for the music, and because they had re-established friendships, rather than just for the money. But then with Shaznay on board, they're never going to turn up with a crap lead single, definitely one of the best pop songwriters of the past two decades and it's incredible to me that she's not asked to write for the world's biggest stars. I just wish Radio 1 had still been on board, not that I expected them to be, it's just a crying shame that such a relevant yet melodic single such as One Strike can be left off the playlist (and therefore left to flop...) just because of the age of the band.

5. Daithí - Mary Keanes Introduction

 

 

A real oddity but a goodie to kick off the top five of 2016. As summer died out I first heard Asked Me To Dance by Al Gibbs (#50), which I believed to be a one of a kind sort of house record that featured spoken word samples of an Irish woman remembering her youth. Turns out the track was actually ripping off an idea by young Irish producer Daithí, who had released Mary Keanes Introduction (his lack of apostrophe in Keane's, arrgh) last November.

 

The song is wayyyy better than the Al Gibbs song, not just because it was first but also because it was clearly more lovingly created, the lady in question being sampled - Mary Keane - being Daithí's own grandmother. The fact that he put a track about her telling her life story to what is actually a very good original dance song is so sweet and also complete genius. The story behind it means that it just escapes being a novelty song, but more of a tribute. Daithí also plays the violin on the track, which lifts it above being a generic house production. For me this track is completely beautiful, but I imagine a lot of people just won't 'get it', though for people growing up in the area of Ireland referenced in the track I could imagine it having huge nostalgic appeal.

Edited December 31, 20168 yr by gooddelta

YASSSSSSSSS the Old Granny *.* what a TUNE!!

4. Frances - Don't Worry About Me

 

 

Frances, a young singer-songwriter from Newbury in Berkshire, is so cruelly underrated it's not even funny, so I hope she can take comfort in scoring an EOY top five placing! Clearly this year's Rae Morris - one of those UK female artists that sounds so commercial, and that I love, but who just doesn't catch on - fellow ginger Frances released Don't Worry About Me at the beginning of the year, to follow up a few promising singles released last year. To me this track is a classic piano ballad that should have been hammered on the radio all year and overused as a soundbed on X Factor and I simply can't believe that it wasn't a hit, though apparently it got good airplay in Belgium and went top 100 in Australia.

 

Frances' voice is heartbreaking and the vocal production on the track is so gorgous, with absolutely beautiful harmonies/backing vocals. Lyrically the song could be applied to so many situations, and in harder times this year it's been known to make me quite emotional, though the touching video helps with that. An album is due from Frances in March but I dare say I can't really see her ever breaking into the big time, which is a shame because the evidence so far points to a huge talent that the world is currently missing out on.

3. Delta Goodrem feat Gizzle - Enough

 

 

Ending up one place lower than Wings managed last year, it's nevertheless yet ANOTHER top three finish for the living, breathing Aussie icon that is Delta Goodrem. Wings was already an 11/10 moment and Dear Life was an easy 10/10 so I didn't necessarily NEED another track of that calibre to make Wings Of The Wild worth releasing, but a treat was in store in the form of Enough. This song was released to trail the album in the summer and was a bit of a surprise, with an American female rapper called Gizzle taking on the verses, with Delta singing the gorgeous bridge and the completely anthemic chorus. Sadly the song didn't really catch fire, peaking only at #27 in Australia, but for me it shares the sonic spirt of Believe Again, which means I was always going to be obsessed with it. Classy, beautiful, catchy and different yet faithful to Delta's roots at the same time but so so damn good from start to finish. Another year gone and yet another masterpiece created by my favourite ever singer.

2. Poli Genova - If Love Was A Crime

 

 

The lineup for Eurovision 2016 looked pretty good but for the first time since about 2005, there was no one 11/10 moment in the lineup for me (with Frans looking to be my favourite of the year and Sweden on top of my rankings again). The only country left to reveal their entry were Bulgaria, but it's not honestly a nation I look to to deliver the goods, and I hadn't really raved over Poli Genova's 2011 entry Na Inat, so I wasn't really expecting anything too interesting.

 

But then I heard it. Basically the Bulgarian Kylie taking on a slowed down version of ATC's Around The World, with relevant 2016 production and a sax thrown in for good measure, it was an instant hit to my ears. The mix of the English verses and Bulgarian/English chorus, meaning that some national heritage was retained, plus Poli's unique style and bubbly personality made this absolutely irresistible. But of course the odds and predictions were against it. So what if it was the best song in the contest by a country mile, it wouldn't do well for such an unassuming nation as Bulgaria would it? Wrong, Europe fell hook, line and sinker for Poli's song, charisma and quite amazing costume and staging (clearly done on a budget compared to richer nations, but it still looked so good), and the song got a shock fourth place, doing extremely well in both the jury vote and televote, and bagging me about £100 as I had an each-way bet on it. Glorious pop song, and I couldn't be happier for Poli that she had such success with it.

 

Though all this does mean that for only the third time this decade I don't have a Eurovision related song atop my EOY chart.

Edited December 31, 20168 yr by gooddelta

1. Clean Bandit feat Sean Paul and Anne-Marie - Rockabye

 

 

I don't think I've had a song top my EOY chart that's been released in Q4 since The Corrs' So Young back in 1998. But here we are, I was quite happy with Poli Genova atop the chart but I hadn't really banked on one of the UK's finest acts maintaining the astonishingly high quality that they've kept up over the past few years. I thought Tears was a pretty strong comeback single, a ballad/disco hybrid sounding like a 70s classic, with a clever use of Louisa Johnson on vocals.

 

But Rockabye was a quite different propsect, this time the group, now without violinist Neil, looked to the 90s for inspiration and more specifically the music of Ace Of Base. I mean this track could have been the follow-up to The Sign. With rising UK star Anne-Marie providing some very strong, almost Rihanna-esque vocals and the legendary Sean 'daily struggle' Paul providing some memorable catchphrases, it could hardly miss, especially when Clean Bandit provided an absolutely gorgeous soundscape complete with a string outro and, of course, probably the best pop chorus of the year. Ina Wroldsen once again provided something incredibly special here and the song has so much more lyrical depth than the majority of hit singles this year, it was really refreshing to hear a story being told in the song.

 

Anyway, the song made a strong top ten debut before sweeping up to #1 a couple of weeks later and staying there ever since, no mean feat at all in the packed Q4, especially considering it became the first regular song to be Xmas #1 in well over a decade (and won me and some others a nice amount of money in the process!). Just an absolutely enormous pop song that manages to be on trend while also appealing to the nostalgic sensibilities of those growing up in the 90s and the 00s (with Sean Paul's input). Perhaps the best song to go to #1 in the UK since...Rather Be :lol: (#5 in my EOY 2014 chart). But actually, I even prefer it to that and I'd go as far back as saying it's my favourite UK #1 since the glory days of 2011 when On The Floor and We Found Love both topped the chart. I'm not even close to being slightly bored of it, after what is nearly three months of hammering it now.

Edited December 31, 20168 yr by gooddelta

Thank you for all the comments so far and to come and I shall be reading and commenting on others in the coming days too :D

 

Here is a full recap!

 

Singles

 

1. Clean Bandit feat Sean Paul and Anne-Marie - Rockabye

2. Poli Genova - If Love Was A Crime

3. Delta Goodrem feat Gizzle - Enough

4. Frances - Don't Worry About Me

5. Daithi - Mary Keanes Introduction

6. All Saints - One Strike

7. KOLAJ - The Touch

8. Ortiga - Ilumbarada

9. Pegboard Nerds - Emoji

10. Sia - Move Your Body (Alan Walker Remix)

11. Natalia Nykiel - Error

12. Sia feat Kendrick Lamar - The Greatest

13. Olivia - I'm Not Your Lady

14. Real Lies - North Circular

15. Little Mix - Shout Out To My Ex

16. EFF - Stimme

17. Frans - If I Were Sorry

18. Pixie Paris - Es Rappelt Im Karton

19. All Saints - One Woman Man

20. Delta Goodrem - Dear Life

21. Alan Walker - Sing Me To Sleep

22. Jonas Blue feat JP Cooper - Perfect Strangers

23. Alan Walker - Faded

24. K3 - 10.000 Luchtballonnen

25. Sia feat Sean Paul - Cheap Thrills

26. The Weeknd feat Daft Punk - I Feel It Coming

27. Imany - Don't Be So Shy (Filatov & Karas Remix)

28. Starley - Call On Me (Ryan Riback Remix)

29. TheFatRat feat Laura Brehm - Monody

30. Joe and Jake - You're Not Alone

31. Douwe Bob - Jacob's Song

32. Theia - Roam

33. Tigertown - Papernote

34. Zara Larsson - Lush Life

35. The Veronicas - In My Blood

36. SaRaha - Kizunguzungu

37. Jorja Smith - Blue Lights

38. Lukas Graham - 7 Years

39. Blonde & Craig David - Nothing Like This

40. Lady Gaga - Million Reasons

41. Robin Bengtsson - Constellation Prize

42. Kosmonova - Danse Avec Moi

43. Ellie Goulding - Still Falling For You

44. Amir - J'ai Cherché

45. KOLAJ - Hitchhike

46. Ward Thomas - Boomerang

47. Kate Rusby - Big Brave Bill

48. NEIKED feat Dyo - Sexual

49. Little Mix - Touch

50. Al Gibbs - Asked Me To Dance

51. Stereoact feat Kerstin Ott - Die Immer Lacht

52. Alyss - T S I E R

53. Matt Simons - Catch & Release (Deepend Remix)

54. Christine and the Queens - Tilted

55. The Strumbellas - Spirits

56. Craig David & Sigala - Ain't Giving Up

57. The Corrs - I Do What I Like

58. Sigala feat John Newman & Nile Rodgers - Give Me Your Love

59. Danny L Harle - Broken Flowers

60. Shotgun Fakes - Out Of The Blue

61. 99 Souls feat Destiny's Child & Brandy - The Girl Is Mine

62. All Saints - This Is A War

63. Wiktoria - Save Me

64. Matoma & Becky Hill - False Alarm

65. Sheppard - We Belong

66. Justin Bieber - What Do You Mean It's 1985

67. Lauren Aquilina - Thinking About

68. Honey Ryder - Years From Now

69. Shotgun Fakes - Slow Motion

70. Ira Losco - Walk On Water

71. Delta Goodrem - The River

72. Craig David & Big Narstie - When The Bassline Drops

73. Scala & Kolacny Brothers - Barbie Girl

74. Sigma feat Take That - Cry

75. Offaiah - Trouble

76. Lady Gaga - Perfect Illusion

77. Douwe Bob - Slow Down

78. Clean Bandit feat Louisa Johnson - Tears

79. ROMANS feat Rejjie Snow - Prisoner

80. Charly Cole - February 29 (Marry Me)

81. Only Girl - Remains

82. Frances - Say It Again

83. Emeli Sandé - Breathing Underwater

84. The Flavor - Shosholoza

85. Måns Zelmerlöw - Glorious

86. The Rhythm Method - Party Politics

87. Smith & Thell - Row

88. The Chainsmokers feat Halsey - Closer

89. Craig David - 16

90. Delta Goodrem - Just Call

91. Kungs vs. Cookin' On 3 Burners - This Girl

92. Alan Walker - Alone

93. Sigala feat Imani & DJ Fresh - Say You Do

94. Little Mix feat Jason Derulo - Secret Love Song

95. Darline - Until Tomorrow

96. Sia - Never Give Up

97. Calvin Harris feat Rihanna - This Is What You Came For

98. LP - Lost On You

99. Real Lies - One Club Town

100. Chloe Rose - For Me

 

Albums

 

1. Delta Goodrem - Wings Of The Wild

2. Sia - This Is Acting

3. Little Mix - Glory Days

4. All Saints - Red Flag

5. Craig David - Following My Intuition

6. Lady Gaga - Joanne

7. Britney Spears - Glory

8. Beyoncé - Lemonade

9. Pet Shop Boys - Super

10. KT Tunstall - Kin

11. Real Lies - Real Life

12. Emeli Sandé - Long Live The Angels

13. Christine and the Queens - Chaleur Humaine

14. Rachel Platten - Wildfire

15. Fifth Harmony - 7/27

16. Tom Odell - Wrong Crowd

17. Carly Rae Jepsen - Emotion Side B

18. Birdy - Beautiful Lies

19. Ward Thomas - Cartwheels

20. Rihanna - Anti

21. Lukas Graham - Lukas Graham

22. Måns Zelmerlöw - Chameleon

23. Tove Lo - Lady Wood

24. Bastille - Wild World

25. Colbie Caillat - The Malibu Sessions

26. Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Familia

27. Lauren Aquilina - Isn't It Strange?

28. Kygo - Cloud Nine

29. Robbie Williams - The Heavy Entertainment Show

30. Ariana Grande - Dangerous Woman

31. Justice - Woman

32. Gwen Stefani - This Is What The Truth Feels Like

33. Douwe Bob - Fool Bar

34. K3 - 10,000 Luchtballonnen

35. Scala & Kolacny Brothers - Solstice

36. The Shires - My Universe

37. Netsky - 3

38. Jem - Beachwood Canyon

39. Charly Cole - Gotcha

40. The Weeknd - Starboy

hi Rich!

 

my faves in the top 40:

 

1. Clean Bandit feat Sean Paul and Anne-Marie - Rockabye great number one, amazing to see it spend so long at UK #1 also, still loving it a lot

7. KOLAJ - The Touch

10. Sia - Move Your Body (Alan Walker Remix) the Alan Walker domination :music: he's really amazing, and so talented for his age too

12. Sia feat Kendrick Lamar - The Greatest

14. Real Lies - North Circular

16. EFF - Stimme just wish it got an English translation, probably would've liked it even more if..

17. Frans - If I Were Sorry

18. Pixie Paris - Es Rappelt Im Karton

21. Alan Walker - Sing Me To Sleep

22. Jonas Blue feat JP Cooper - Perfect Strangers

23. Alan Walker - Faded

25. Sia feat Sean Paul - Cheap Thrills

26. The Weeknd feat Daft Punk - I Feel It Coming

27. Imany - Don't Be So Shy (Filatov & Karas Remix)

28. Starley - Call On Me (Ryan Riback Remix) i can see this being big next year

29. TheFatRat feat Laura Brehm - Monody yes what a choon!!

34. Zara Larsson - Lush Life

35. The Veronicas - In My Blood

37. Jorja Smith - Blue Lights

38. Lukas Graham - 7 Years

39. Blonde & Craig David - Nothing Like This

 

great chart~

Wonderful #1 and #2, Rockabye has been one of the only things in the chart that I've been actually interested by and from an act I never thought would top Rather Be, they've certainly, I don't know which I'd say is better right now but they've certainly done a good job of trying. And If Love Was A Crime was one of the undisputed highlights of Eurovision this year, I can definitely see why it'd come so close to the top for you. And the descriptions of them both are on point, and very interesting to read, both songs with rather unique and outstanding compositions.

 

KOLAJ, Pegboard Nerds and especially Ortiga were great BJSC highlights from you this year, definitely glad to see them in your top 10.