March 17, 20178 yr Heaven is such a great track, by far my favourite of INNAs! I especially like the vocals in the chorus! If Love Was a Crime was a great Eurovision entry as well! Even if the lyrics 'If love was a crime, then we would be criminals' are some of the worst ever :lol: (Cheesecake & Hunting for Stars had worse though)
March 19, 20178 yr Author You're right Pete! I'm so looking forward to seeing what INNA puts out in 2017! Yeah, that's true about Poli...ESL pop at its finest! Now, the top 10 is coming up, so just before it, I figured I should give a mention (and link!) to some of the also-rans that came close this year - as well as a spolier of what's not yet to come - yes, no Lush Life in the top 10 for me this year! These tracks came pretty close to the lower reaches of the top 100 but ultimately just missed the cutoff! Petite Meller – Lil Love (Pnau mix) Zara Larsson – (#91 in 2015) Marian Hill – Grimes – Realiti (album version) Zayn – Sabrina Carpenter – Uppermost ft. Lisa Alma – Sia ft. Kendrick Lamar – Jones – Wild Cardiknox – Kygo ft. Julia Michaels – Agnete – Wet – CHVRCHES – Little Mix – Pink – Rihanna – Love On the Brain BlackPink – Tegan and Sara – M.O – Youngr – I must say, it's nice to see some of these artists and tracks now seeing success in 2017! I feel ahead of the curve haha Top 10 kicking off up next! Anyone want to guess what might be up there? Edited March 19, 20178 yr by 360Jupiter
March 19, 20178 yr I Remember is a superb track from them! That slick production just elevates above anything else they've done in recent years. And great to see another INNA fan :cheer: generally LOVE her music (and her, what a beaut :wub:) Heaven was a solid track but have you heard her new one this year called Gimme Gimme? A top 10 in my Chart last month :music: Looking forward to your top 10, really enjoyed the variation in this list so expecting some big tunes :D
March 22, 20178 yr Author I Remember is a superb track from them! That slick production just elevates above anything else they've done in recent years. And great to see another INNA fan :cheer: generally LOVE her music (and her, what a beaut :wub:) Heaven was a solid track but have you heard her new one this year called Gimme Gimme? A top 10 in my Chart last month :music: Looking forward to your top 10, really enjoyed the variation in this list so expecting some big tunes :D Thank you Dobbo! Gimme Gimme will be impacting for me next week I expect! Thanks for the heads up ;) Should be kicking off the top 10 later tonight! We do go more towards pop but there's also some surprises as you say!
March 22, 20178 yr Out of My System is a great track! Hope Youngr can be a household name in the future! Nice to see Just Like Fire here as well - really catchy!
March 22, 20178 yr Author 10) JONAS BLUE FT. DAKOTA – FAST CAR 5yXQJBU8A28 Jonas Blue 2016: Fast Car Dakota 2016: Fast Car Kicking the top 10 off, it’s a controversial pick, the divisive Jonas Blue edition of Fast Car. It’s a track I myself was torn on at first, but this was helped by being released at about the same time as another remake of the same track which is far inferior. Released early on in the year it was a consistent collector of plays throughout 2016, although it picked up a large chunk of its plays in those first few months. Although this is both a cover and a dance-ified cover which I’m usually mixed on (the current Cloudbusting cover is an abomination in my book), I really liked it. The vocal and instrumentation are both shimmery, and its release was a perfect sound for the time of year it came out in. It’s smooth and unthreatening, and I felt, just provides a different interpretation of the Tracy Chapman original song than seeking to replace it altogether. Although, I do think I like this one more now, all in all! :$ Edited March 22, 20178 yr by 360Jupiter
March 23, 20178 yr Author 9) MIKE POSNER X SEEB – I TOOK A PILL IN IBIZA foE1mO2yM04 Mike Posner 2016: I Took a Pill in Ibiza x SeeB SeeB: 2016: I Took a Pill in Ibiza The second-highest official UK chart #1 remaining in the countdown, and one of only a few (this, Rockabye, and was Cheap Thrills a #1? and a yet-to-be-revealed entry) official #1s to chart for me this year, although a lot of that blame can be levelled at Drake’s 15-week stranglehold on the position. Mike Posner’s previous claim to fame with me is, embarrassingly, his random feature on Cher Lloyd’s With Ur Love from back in the early 2010s. SeeB, on the other hand, is just about completely new, although also racked up some plays this year with , which I’ve ruled ineligible for the countdown due to its release date. It’s a pretty solid dance track, and a good re-imagining of the original, more acoustic pessimistic track, in the process making a song that’s just the kind of track that Posner’s lyrics criticize. Ibiza-ception! Like many of the tracks in this countdown, although I hadn’t started doing weekly charts when this was released, I feel it wouldn’t’ve been a #1 on my personals at the time. Most of the tracks up at this end now have been consistent rackers-up of plays through the year instead of flash-in-the-pans. I was glad to see this successful in the official chart, too. Edited March 23, 20178 yr by 360Jupiter
March 23, 20178 yr Author 8) ZAYN – PILLOWTALK C_3d6GntKbk Zayn 2016: PILLOWTALK I was much more impressed by this than I expected to be when it was announced, silly title notwithstanding. I was never a fan of One Direction, both from my age – out of their target market – and never particularly being that much a fan of pure pop, excepting some notable exceptions. Thus, the solo material was almost my introduction to the boys, or rather, the men they’ve become. Perhaps it was cliché for the one non-white member of 1D to go the R&B route, and to move away from the bubblegum guitar pop the band were consistenly known for, but it’s a choice that Zayn carries off well. The singer narrowly missed charting a double in this EOY (‘ ’ was just past the cutoff), and to debut in the top 10, especially as a male act, and especially as an act ex- of a boyband is pretty damn impressive. The video of course tries hard to be outrageous and has Miley Cyrus levels of controversial for controversial’s sake with it’s lurid visuals and sexual overtones, and of course, Zayn’s new bleach-blond do and look of carefully maintained disinterest. He’s just too cool. Having said that, I did really enjoy the track; he shows a strong vocal, there’s an interesting structure to the track, and more polished sounding style and instrumentation than I expected to come from any ex-Syco star, even allowing for the huge budget an ex-Directioner no doubt had to work with. Zayn’s also this year’s second-highest Brit to appear, good show. Edited March 24, 20178 yr by 360Jupiter
March 24, 20178 yr Hey! :D Pillowtalk was a strong debut for Zayn, I've still not checked out his album though! I Took a Pill in Ibiza was one of my favourite dance tracks of the year. :wub: I quite enjoyed Fast Car, although I preferred both of his follow ups. Looking forward to the rest of the Top 10!
March 24, 20178 yr Author Thanks folks! This has really been a blast doing this, 1500 views, wow! Yes, I've held off commenting until I was ready to post it, but I also preferred Perfect Strangers although Fast Car was also very good... what a surprise to see a one-hit-wonder looking new dance act actually improve on their debut and keep going!
March 24, 20178 yr Author 7) JONAS BLUE FT. JP COOPER – PERFECT STRANGERS Ey_hgKCCYU4 Jonas Blue 2016: Fast Car, Perfect Strangers JP Cooper 2016: Perfect Strangers Jonas Blue’s second top 10 of 2016, an impressive feat for a new artist, and much as I like Fast Car, I like Perfect Strangers much more. It’s a track I first came across entirely thanks to Ellie Goulding, who posted a video on her social media of herself dancing to the song which led me to seek it out. Of course, it later also became a UK #2 hit… but that was after I’d already been enjoying it for a month or so. It’s a really solid, energetic party track that also works in lots of settings, whether you’re powerwalking, at the gym, or using it as a wake-up alarm song. It basically takes the place held in 2015; pumping, frantic dance music that somehow also manages to not be too in-your-face or aggressive. It’s one of only a few tracks released in 2016 that made it into my all-time top 500. The track also marks JP Cooper’s biggest chart success for me to date. Edited March 24, 20178 yr by 360Jupiter
March 29, 20178 yr Author Cheers DT! One more now and then it's just the top 5 ... 5 songs, 4 artists to go, any guesses who's still to come? :D
March 29, 20178 yr Author 6) BROOKE CANDY FT. JACK ANTONOFF OF BLEACHERS – CHANGES tA1-U3ToTKk Brooke Candy 2014: Opulence 2015: Rubber Band Stacks 2016: Happy Days, Changes Jack Antonoff/Bleachers 2016: Changes #6 goes to the one that (nearly) got away; when I was first compiling the chart, I mistakenly knocked this one out of eligibility at first, thinking it had been a 2015 release that I took to late. Nope, and it becomes Brooke Candy’s third year running to chart a track in the year-end top 500. Not bad for a niche act who’s yet to see any mainstream success whatsoever, yet still manages to keep releasing – and landing some high-powered collaborators and projects, too! Her new song with Sia releases soon. I’d love to see her in the coming years move towards challenging Iggy’s spot as the only white girl rap success. In an inversion to what's become the common rap/sung collab format, Changes has a male providing the vocal hook to a female’s raps. Bleachers – and Jack Antonoff – have come close to charting in previous EOYs with the tracks I Wanna Get Better, Shadow featuring Carly Rae Jepsen, and Entropy alongside Grimes, but until now have fallen flat. The track’s a slight departure from the kind of edgy, aggressive, dark rap-pop Ms. Candy usually favours, falling more towards a traditional rap/sung format a la Love The Way You Lie, Live Your Life, or the recent Bad Things. It’s a track with a solid empowerment/self-respect/beating the odds theme, and came upon me at a time when everything in my life was going pear-shaped, and so really resonated. It’s also, I think, as this year’s #6, the highest charter Brooke Candy’s ever landed. Kudos to her.
March 30, 20178 yr Great to see Perfect Strangers here! A great piece of music, JP Cooper's vocals are amazing :music:
April 2, 20178 yr Author 5) RIHANNA – KISS IT BETTER 49lY0HqqUVc Rihanna 2015: Pour It Up 2016: 2016: Yeah I Said It, Consideration f/ SZA, Woo, Sledgehammer, Nothing Is Promised, This Is What You Came For, Too Good, Needed Me, Kiss It Better She Rih-turns and makes her top 5 debut on my personals this year. As I’ve discussed in previous posts, I’ve been a mixed fan of Rihanna in the past. After a later surge, Pour It Up made the top 100 in the low 50s in 2015, and until now, that was the highest position Rihanna managed. Come this year, and she’s comprising over 10% of the whole list – quite an achievement and a turnaround. Kiss It Better is really a pinnacle musically and as, for Rihanna, a staking-her-claim moment in her career. It was always going to have a mixed reception as a single, being so different to anything she’d put out before, and wasn’t helped by deciding to forgo the lush, high-concept, cinematic Lana Del Rey lite video the track was calling out for, and instead going for a black-and-white minimalist nude hot mess. Nevertheless, it immediately stood out on the album, and showed the world that Rihanna can do different things when given the chance and opportunity. The instrumentation is lush, luxurious, and reminiscent, probably deliberately, of something Prince or one of the older greats would have picked, and Rihanna’s vocal is strong too. All in all, a really solid track that I expect to be strong on her live setlists for years to come.
April 20, 20178 yr Author 4) WILLOW – STAR BfLv_D3xcE0 Willow 2016: Wait A Minute, Star It’s been a while, but I really need to finish this off! #4 of 2016 goes to the most unexpected entry, a second by Willow Smith, no longer a cute sassy child, but now an angsty, and unexpectedly indie teenager, going straight down the other end of the spectrum from the party pop&B that originally brought her success. Willow’s ARDIPITHECUS is very much the singer’s Miley Cyrus and Her Dead Petz moment, and saw the light of day only a few short months after Miley’s surprise release of the latter. It’s a hit and miss album full of references to the cosmos, aliens, world peace and freedom, but does hit some gems. Willow goes back to basics on this one, Star, a simple, cute, empowering love song, delivered with the sassy and confident edge that we remember from her as a kid star. I listened to it a whole lot before I even realised the artist was Willow Smith, now she’s going by just Willow I assumed it was by an up-and-coming new indie act. Once you get past the slightly self-indulgent – maybe I’m just too old for it – intro, there’s a surprisingly solid little song in there - with some really inventive lyrics, too. It’s also helped to be so high by being a song I grabbed on literally New Year’s Day 2016, giving it more time than I think any other track on the list to rack up the plays. Not quite enough to best any of these next three though…
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