Merry Xmas everyone! It's finally time for me to post my end of year charts for 2017.

 

As I have no weekly personal chart or chart runs anymore this has been worked out via a combination of personal opinion and Spotify plays, but is a completely reflective list of my favourites of the year.

 

For me 2017 was a far far better year than 2016 for chart music, and a few huge UK hits have made the cut, some very high up. Elsewhere there's the usual mix of Eurovision, BJSC, random album tracks or Spotify or blog finds, a big grab bag of everything essentially.

 

The singles chart will be a top 100 while the album chart will be a top 40 - far from a great year for albums but I've got a top ten I'm very pleased with in the end.

Edited December 31, 20177 yr by gooddelta

To kick off, there are 32 songs this year that failed to make the cut. The majority of these actually did make it into my top 100 most played of the year on Spotify but just missed the cut in terms of my personal opinion ranking. Make no mistake though, for me there were 132 great songs in 2017 and these deserve a mention.

 

Alex Christensen and The Berlin Orchestra - L'amour Toujours

Ariana Grande - One Last Time

Bella & Filippa - Crucified

Blanche - City Lights

Courage My Love - Constant Craving

Cymbals - Splitting

Elk Road feat Natalie Foster - Hanging By A Thread

Grace Davies - Roots

Helena Paparizou - Haide

Himig Heswita - Come One And All

James Hype feat Kelli-Leigh - More Than Friends

Katy Perry feat Migos - Bon Appetit

Kosmonova - Danse Avec Moi*

La La Land Cast - Another Day Of Sun

Logic feat Alessia Cara and Khalid - 1-800-273-8255

Mabel feat Kojo Funds - Finders Keepers

Marble Sounds - If You Stay Then I Can't Go

My Indigo - My Indigo

Nike Jemiyo - Dive

Norma John - Blackbird

P!nk - Beautiful Trauma

Pegboard Nerds - Melodymania

Pop Chorus - Always

Rae Morris - Atletico (The Only One)

Shells - Gold

Sheppard - Coming Home

Sia - Free Me

Sigrid - Don't Kill My Vibe

Someone - Say Something

The Veronicas - The Only High

Yasar Gaga feat Dilber Ay - Adina Da Derler Sex

Zara Larsson - Funeral

 

*This has appeared in previous end of year charts, many years ago, so has been excluded despite being about 40th in my most played songs of the year.

Edited December 31, 20177 yr by gooddelta

My Indigo :wub: Discovered this a couple of weeks back, such a great song and hope it can be in your Top 100 next year!

 

1-800 is great also, such a good message and not something I usually expect in that style of track!

 

Coming Home is also rather nice although Keep Me Crazy and Edge of the Night were much better imo!

 

My Indigo :wub: Discovered this a couple of weeks back, such a great song and hope it can be in your Top 100 next year!

 

1-800 is great also, such a good message and not something I usually expect in that style of track!

 

Coming Home is also rather nice although Keep Me Crazy and Edge of the Night were much better imo!

 

Thanks Pete, yes it's a brill track! Looking forward to My Indigo's album in the new year!

 

Yes very true, rather surprising that 1-800 wasn't a UK top five hit.

 

I agree that Edge of the Night is better, I think Coming Home is probably their attempt to recreate Geronimo though it's nowhere near as good as that.

Albums

 

40-11

 

40. Nelly Furtado – The Ride

39. Francesco Gabbani – Magellan

38. Walk The Moon – What If Nothing

37. Frida Sundemo – Flashbacks & Futures

36. Public Service Broadcasting – Every Valley

35. Maroon 5 – Red Pill Blues

34. Yaşar Gaga – Alakasiz Sarkilar, Vol.1

33. St. Vincent – MASSEDUCTION

32. Hey Violet – From The Outside

31. RAT BOY – SCUM

30. Nerina Pallot – Stay Lucky

29. Ten Fé – Hit The Light

28. Galantis – The Aviary

27. P!nk – Beautiful Trauma

26. Loreen – Ride

25. La La Land OST

24. The Sound of Arrows – Stay Free

23. Pete Tong & The Heritage Orchestra – Ibiza Classics

22. Helene Fischer – Helene Fischer

21. Sia – Everyday Is Christmas

20. Hurts - Desire

19. Beauty & The Beast OST

18. Jessie Ware – Glasshouse

17. Shakira – El Dorado

16. Kelly Clarkson – The Meaning Of Life

15. Saint Etienne – Home Counties

14. Lorde – Melodrama

13. The Fizz – The F-Z Of Pop

12. Lana Del Rey – Lust For Life

11. Alex Christensen & The Berlin Orchestra – Classical 90s Dance

 

Kicking off the chart of the year with my favourite albums, from 40 down to 11.

 

While it was hardly a vintage year for amazing albums, it was a great year for good albums and I did have to leave out a good 20 or so pretty strong collections. And I do love everything in the top 40 to some extent.

 

Highlights in this section include German producer Alex Christensen's (aka hitmaker Alek K and Alex Swings of Eurovision fame) take on the classical dance craze. To me this album is better than either of the Pete Tong collections, largely due to a more inspired and interesting song choice. However Pete's new album also appears here, another strong effort.

 

Returning pop females include Lana Del Rey, with my favourite album of hers since Born To Die, Lorde, with a fantastic second collection, Kelly Clarkson with a brave but decent soul influenced album, Shakira with a slightly disappointing Spanish language album, but I do still have a huge soft spot for it, being the major Shakira stan that I am. Also, Jessie Ware's new album which is a fantastic, much more melodic and commercial effort than her previous outing, Nerina Pallot with a rather lovely album and Loreen with a very different beast to her debut, but one which packs plenty of highlights.

 

I also enjoyed Nelly Furtado's The Ride, Frida Sundemo's gorgeous Flashbacks & Futures, St Vincent's critically acclaimed MASSEDUCTION and the strong new albums by the ever reliable P!nk and Helene Fischer.

 

Two movie soundtracks make the grade in the way of Beauty and the Beast and La La Land, two great musical films from 2017.

 

Maroon 5's Red Pill Blues is a more generic step down from previous efforts but still packed with some decent melodies, The Fizz, formerly Bucks Fizz, returned with a surprisingly strong pure pop album, and Saint Etienne's ode to middle class suburban Britain was a really engaging and relateable listen. Hey Violet's From The Outside reminded me of early Kelly Clarkson/The Veronicas while other highlights came from Hurts and Galantis who both delivered albums that surprised me in a good way after not being wild about either act's previous albums.

Singles

 

100-81

 

100. Katy Perry feat Nicki Minaj – Swish Swish

99. Rasmus Seebach – Bli' Her Lidt Endnu

98. Ten Fé – Another Way

97. Lido feat THEY. - Not Enough

96. Sheppard – Edge Of The Night

95. Tone Damli - Pinnacle

94. Choirs With Purpose feat Michelle McManus – We All Stand Together

93. Kelde – No Reason

92. Pound Shop Boys – Fireman Sam (It's Pontypandemonium)

91. Enrique Iglesias feat Sean Paul & Matt Terry – Subeme La Radio

90. Little Mix – Is Your Love Enough?

89. Jessica Mauboy - High

88. Shotgun Fakes – Depression Intervention

87. Mariette – A Million Years

86. Sigala feat Ella Eyre – Came Here For Love

85. Kamaliya feat Anne Judith Stokke Wik – Plastic Cup

84. PANG! - One Big Laugh

83. Dacia – Muistot

82. Alyss – Pyramid

81. The Corrs – Road To Eden

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kicking off my top 100 of the year is Katy Perry's eventual hit single Swish Swish, not my usual cup of tea in terms of Katy singles but I can't deny that infectious 'swish swish bish, another in the casket' hook and quite a good Fatboy Slim sample too. Danish singer Rasmus Seebach delivered a gorgeous melody on Bli' Her Lidt Endnu, with an 80s-esque piano that brings to mind another song that I can't put my finger on. Also lovely is Michelle McManus' (!) take on Paul McCartney's We All Stand Together! I'm a sucker for choral music but this has particularly lovely almost magical sounding production.

 

UK hits in this section come from Sigala with Came Here For Love, a decent sized hit for the dance star of 2017, and I'm yet to not love one of his singles. Also Enrique Iglesias was due a hit and finally achieved another with Subeme La Radio, taking advantage of the latin bandwagon to score a smash, along with Sean Paul and a shoehorned in Matt Terry.

 

Little Mix's hopefully future single Is Your Love Enough makes an appearance, as does the myth and legend of 2017 on iTunes, Kamaliya, with an actually really good pop song, Plastic Cup, which is reminiscent of Party in the USA.

 

Former BJSC entrant of mine Alyss impressed again with Pyramid, No.1 in 2014 but No.96 three years later are Sheppard with recent funky single Edge Of The Night and also from Aus, and ready for Eurovision next year is a rather random appearance by Jessica Mauboy with a cover of High by the Lighthouse Family! This is taken from the soundtrack to The Secret Daughter - who knew the original was a No.1 hit down under?

 

Dating back to 2006 and finally making an appearance in my EOY chart 11 years later is Finnish dance act Dacia with the pulsating Muistot, which sadly crashed and burned for me in BJSC. On the other end of the scale with a surprising smash in BJFestivalen was Pound Shop Boys, a Pet Shop Boys tribute act, with their brilliant electronic take on the Fireman Sam theme tune.

 

Also in this section, The Corrs with the first of four tracks, Road To Eden, Mariette's Melodifestivalen effort A Million Years, Tone Damli's dark and brooding Pinnacle and another BJSC entry, Not Enough, a great Nnew jack swing throwback courtesy of Lido and THEY.

 

Representing tropical house, as there was still plenty to go around, is Kelde's very good No Reason and the incredibly catchy One Big Laugh by PANG! And finally, South African duo Shotgun Fakes, including one half of The Arrows, Pam Myburgh, delivered a juxtaposingly cheery track about dealing with mental health, Depression Intervention.

Singles

 

80-61

 

80. RAM & Arctic Moon with Stine Grove – A Billion Stars Above

79. Oonagh – Aulë Und Yavanna

78. FO&O – Gotta Thing About You

77. CNCO feat Little Mix – Reggaeton Lento (Remix)

76. Lucie Jones – Never Give Up On You

75. Owe Thornqvist – Boogieman Blues

74. Taylor Swift – Dancing With Our Hands Tied

73. Saint Etienne – Obvious

72. Carly Rae Jepsen – Cut To The Feeling

71. Illusion – Run

70. Hannah Jane Lewis – Raincheck

69. Alan Walker – Alone

68. Dua Lipa – Be The One

67. The Kelly Family – No Lies

66. Steps – September Sun

65. French Montana feat Swae Lee – Unforgettable

64. Oh Laura – (Re) Release Me

63. Lorde – Green Light

62. Troll – Jimmy Dean

61. O'Neill Hudson – Lucky

 

 

 

 

 

 

This section features major UK hits from Dua Lipa, Lorde and CNCO feat Little Mix, who also rode the latino wave to score a major hit with Reggaeton Lento. Perhaps the most surprising UK hit here though is Unforgettable by French Montana and Swae Lee. Far from my usual cup of tea, there's something incredibly infectious about this and seeing Swae Lee perform it live at Wireless festival in the scorching sunshine definitely helped its cause. A really fantastic beat that sounds like it could have fit into the wonderful urban soundscape of the early 00s.

 

Steps appear for the first time in the countdown with summer tinged September Sun, from the reissue of Tears On The Dancefloor. A bit of an ode to old Buzz album track Paradise Lost, it was a great addition to an already excellent album.

 

BJSC is represented a few times, by Troll's iconic Jimmy Dean, a #1 hit in Sweden as the 80s drew to a close but one I'd missed hearing until this year, Oonagh's majestic folk number Aulë Und Yavanna, and the brilliant pure pop of Raincheck by Hannah Jane Lewis.

 

I managed to see the Melodifestivalen final live in Stockholm's Friends Arena for the first time since 2009 this year and this undoubtedly helped the cause of some songs that may not usually appear in my top 100. But I couldn't deny the Chieron-esque early 00s pop of FO&O's Gotta Thing About You and 87-year-old Owe Thornqvist's surprise earworm Boogieman Blues. The live performance was possibly one of the most bizarre things I've witnessed.

 

The only Eurovision entry in this section is the UK offering, Never Give Up On You by Lucie Jones. It was never my favourite song in the national final, or in the competition as a whole, but it's rather lovely in its own way and Lucie delivered a storming performance which helped it up to 15th in the scoreboard, thanks to a decent jury score. Televoters ignored it but I don't think many people would rank it as their overall favourite this year, so it was not exactly a surprise.

 

Some blog/Spotify finds are also in this section - Illusion's Run, which has a fantastic piano intro, O'Neill Hudson's Lucky, a glorious country influenced ballad with a huge melody, and Oh Laura's Re (Release Me), a cleverly titled reissue of a very old Herzebanian BJSC entry from 2008. Spruced up and given an electro makeover, I even prefer it to the original.

 

Elsewhere in this bunch - trance track A Billion Stars Above by RAMelia legend RAM, underrated Taylor Swift album track Dancing With Our Hands Tied - those verses are seriously gorgeous, lovely Saint Etienne b-side Obvious, left off the parent album for reasons I've not been able to fathom, and Carly Rae Jepsen's cruel flop Cut To The Feeling. Alan Walker's Alone grabs a second consecutive year in the countdown with Alone, which crept in at the last minute to the 2016 countdown to before doing more damage at the start of this year, and finally Irish family band The Kelly Family make the chart with the new version of No Lies - more on them later.

Edited December 27, 20177 yr by gooddelta

Pound Shop Boys! :lol: Really should have won BJFest :P

 

Great to see Edge of the Night here as well, really think it could have done something in the UK if it was given the right push :(

Glad to see P!NK, Hurts, Lorde, Jessie Ware, Kelly Clarkson and Lana in your album countdown.

 

Yes to Swish Swish, Pinnacle, Subeme La Radio, Is Your Love Enough, Came Here For Love, Reggaeton Lento, Never Give Up On You, Dancing With Our Hands Tied, Cut To The Feeling, Raincheck, Be The One, Green Light and Jimmy Dean!

Pound Shop Boys! :lol: Really should have won BJFest :P

 

Great to see Edge of the Night here as well, really think it could have done something in the UK if it was given the right push :(

 

Haha, while it would have been great I expected it to crash out in the first round, i don't think I'd ever before had a BJFest finalist *.*

 

Yes you're possibly right there.

 

Glad to see P!NK, Hurts, Lorde, Jessie Ware, Kelly Clarkson and Lana in your album countdown.

 

Yes to Swish Swish, Pinnacle, Subeme La Radio, Is Your Love Enough, Came Here For Love, Reggaeton Lento, Never Give Up On You, Dancing With Our Hands Tied, Cut To The Feeling, Raincheck, Be The One, Green Light and Jimmy Dean!

 

Thanks Harry!

Singles

 

60-41

 

60. Steps – Dancing With A Broken Heart

59. ALI – Cocoon

58. FOOL – Outcast

57. Steps – Firefly

56. Emma Watson, Luke Evans & Ensemble – Belle

55. The Fizz – Up For The Fight

54. Wiktoria – I Won't Stand In Your Way

53. Jowst – Grab The Moment

52. Take That - Giants

51. Salvador Sobral – Amar Pelos Dois

50. Missy Higgins – Torchlight

49. Saint Etienne – Sweet Arcadia

48. Jonas Blue feat William Singe – Mama

47. The Corrs – Dear Life

46. Taylor Swift – Look What You Made Me Do

45. Robin Bengtsson – I Can't Go On

44. Rak-Su feat Wyclef Jean & Naughty Boy - Dimelo

43. Steps – Dear Santa

42. Clean Bandit feat Zara Larsson – Symphony

41. Loreen - Statements

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just missing out on the top 40, but all incredibly good songs, are this lot. This section features three songs from Steps - the original album track Firefly, the rather lovely Christmas deluxe edition addition, Dear Santa, and the deluxe edition single, a cover of Delta Goodrem's Dancing With A Broken Heart. Delta's original was actually never one of my favourite singles of hers though it did make it into my top 40 of 2012. The Steps version was perfectly enjoyable but their weakest single this year.

 

A few Eurovision entries in this bunch, including the eventual winner, Portugal's first ever victor Salvador Sobral with the very beautiful Amar Pelos Dois - this was a late grower for sure, hitting me properly in the semis, but I did have a bit of a soft spot for it from the firs time I heard it. Norway's surprise top 10 hit Grab The Moment by Jowst, I say surprise even though I actually had money on it to come top 10, but I don't think I actually expected it to do so - never underestimate a Spotify-friendly sounding song in today's market, it was probably the most 'relevant' song the contest had to offer in terms of sound this year.

 

And the Melodifestivalen winner and therefore Swedish entry I Can't Go On by Robin Bengtsson just missed the top 40. His Melfest entry last year, Constellation Prize, actually made my top 40 of 2016, so this was a little step down, but still a perfectly credible and catchy entry that continued Sweden's top five streak, just probably the weakest winner of Melfest since the last Robin (Bengtsson) won in 2013. Still, we could have had the horribly overrated Nano...*shudders*

 

Also from Melodifestivalen but sensationally crashing out in Andra Chansen, Loreen's daring Statements. A great track but obviously nowhere near touching Euphoria, though it's hard to compare such different beasts. It is a shame that she left it off her new album, I do think it would have sonically fit perfectly. It would have been interesting to see this at Eurovision, but I get the feeling it would have been no match for Salvador, and probably would have missed the top five altogether.

 

A smattering of UK hits in this bunch including Symphony - Clean Bandit's follow up to my EOY 2016 #1 Rockabye. Another rather sublime track fronted by Zara Larsson, and another deserved chart topper for one of the UK's best and most creative acts. Take That's comeback single Giants had a brief top 20 visit on release thanks to decent download sales - another soaring and anthemic track from them but their time in the singles charts has now finally passed I would imagine.

 

One of the bigger dance tracks of the year was Mama by Jonas Blue and William Singe, another top notch track from the British producer and one of the best tropical offerings of 2017 to my ears. Also in this section are Taylor Swift's divisive comeback single Look What You Made Me Do - a song that I actually probably prefer to Shake It Off, but one which could have been a contender for top 10 with a more explosive chorus. And X Factor winners Rak-Su just miss the top 40 with their winning song Dimelo, a great party track inspired by the current latin craze and Shakira's Hips Don't Lie, with a callback hook to that from the featured artist on both, Wyclef Jean. I can't really explain why I love this track quite so much but for me it's the best winner's single since Leona's A Moment Like This, and fingers crossed the next winner can take a leaf out of Rak-Su's book with an infectious original song.

 

Cocoon by ALI is something I discovered back in 2013 and made a brief impression but this year it took a hold on me again in a much bigger way when I played it for the first time since then, hence its belated appearance in the end of year listings. Outcast by FOOL is a single by a Danish vocal/rap act that reminds me of Mattafix/Marlon Roudette, and is something I could easily see being a big UK hit, but there's no chance it would ever get a push here.

 

Probably my favourite film of the year, the live action remake of Beauty and the Beast, Belle is probably my all-time favourite Disney song and Emma Watson did a stellar job with the track, so earns a surprise entry with her rendition of it here.

 

One of the best comebacks of the year was The Fizz, formerly Bucks Fizz. The lead single Dancing In The Rain was decent enough but for me the campaign highlight was Up For The Fight which kicks off sounding like a video game or TV gameshow before launching into a classic pop melody with a great chorus.

 

Otherwise unmentioned are Australian singer Missy Higgins with the beautiful ballad Torchlight, The Corrs with album track highlight Dear Life, sounding like something that could have come from their debut album Forgiven, Not Forgotten and Saint Etienne with the spoken album track Sweet Arcadia, namechecking a number of small suburban towns including hilariously my old home Peacehaven. This is very much a successor to 2012 track Over The Border, and while not quite as great as that song, it's still a lovely and unique listen. And finally, Swedish popstrel Wiktoria with I Won't Stand In Your Way, the Love Yourself-esque follow-up to her Melodifestivalen entry.

Nice to see I Can't Go On here! A bit of a step down from the recent Swedish entries for me but still incredible catchy

 

Dimelo entering as well - I've probably mentioned it already but I do think this is by far my favourite Winner's Single

Singles

 

40-21

 

40. Balbina – Die Regenwolke

39. Jax Jones feat Demi Lovato & Stefflon Don – Instruction

38. Alma - Requiem

37. Bella & Filippa – I Think Of Yesterday

36. Delta Goodrem – Take Me Home

35. E^ST – Life Goes On

34. Huntza – Aldapan Gora

33. Emma Bale – Worth It

32. Steps - Happy

31. Calvin Harris feat Pharrell Williams, Katy Perry & Big Sean – Feels

30. Sanna Nielsen – Inte Ok

29. The Kelly Family – Fell In Love With An Alien

28. The Corrs – Son Of Solomon

27. Ace Wilder – Wild Child

26. Heavy K feat Bucie & Nokwazi – Inde

25. Francesco Gabbani - Occidentali's Karma

24. Black Motion feat Nokwazi – Imali

23. Ed Sheeran – Castle On The Hill

22. Katy Perry feat Skip Marley - Chained To The Rhythm

21. Ed Sheeran – Galway Girl

 

 

 

 

 

 

A rather strange artist with an odd songs kicks off the top 40 this year, German singer Balbina is a bit of an oddball but the stunted strings of Die Regenwolke have appealed to me massively ever since I first heard it right at the very start of 2017.

 

39 is the incredibly infectious Instruction by Jax Jones with Demi Lovato and Stefflon Don, a bit of a slow burner in the UK chart that never really reached its full potential, I'm not entirely sure how this fierce life anthem didn't make the top 10. Perhaps the 90s girl power style chorus is just too big for the 2017 landscape?

 

France once again turned in a sublime Eurovision entry this year, courtesy of Alma's Requiem, a big modern pop song with more than a hint of classic chanson to it. I do prefer the version in full French as opposed to the eventual Franglish Eurovision version.

 

While Melodifestivalen entry Crucified just missed out on a place in the top 100, Swedish duo Bella and Filippa impressively make the top 40 with its follow-up, I Think Of Yesterday. The sort of melodic, breezy, uplifting radio country that always makes me smile with a joyous chorus, a classic Scandipop verse structure and harmonies and fun backing vocals, I feel this would have done even better for them in Melodifestivalen.

 

Onto BJSC and for the 100th contest, and my 100th anniversary, I of course decided to celebrate by sending Delta Goodrem, with a song I technically could have sent to the very first contest. While it was the b-side to 2007 single In This Life, I reactivated this William Orbit-esque epic ballad this year and fell in love with it all over again. The piano flourishes and the huge, euphoric chorus make this song very special indeed, and it remains an utter mystery as to how it was left off the sub-par Delta album 10 years ago.

 

Australian singer E^ST hopefully has a bright 2018 ahead of her if Life Goes On is anything to go by - an incredibly instant mid-tempo pop song with a memorable piano intro and backing, and her Aussie twang vocal is the most wonderfully authentic accent I've heard since Courtney Barnett a couple of years ago.

 

Back to BJSC for the next couple and its only right that my two consecutive 26th placers line up next to each other now. Hailing from the Basque region of northern Spain, but sounding more Eastern European, Huntza's Aldapan Gora is an eccentric delight, sounding like something Sam and the Womp should have followed up Bom Bom with five years ago.

 

And Belgian singer Emma Bale's Worth It is just a classic Europop song, in the vein of Eurovision meets a Delta track, that outperformed expectations by reaching the semi finals of The Best Of BJSC recently. It may only have a few fans, but they clearly love it as much as I do.

 

Steps are up next with another of their whopping eight entries. Happy, an album track from the original release of Tears on the Dancefloor, won me over straight away and had always been one of my mid pack favourites, but the tour performance last month elevated it another level for me. It sounded wonderful live and I adored the very literal use of people walking up and down steps in the backdrop graphics. The bittersweet lyrics are quite Robyn-esque, but belted out by Claire of course sound rather dramatic, which adds to the effect.

 

And just missing out on the top 30 is Calvin Harris, Katy Perry, Pharrell Williams and Big Sean with their mega collaboration Feels. A very funky track, this was easily the highlight of his current era for me, with breezy verses from Pharrell, a great rap from Big Sean and a relatively nondescript but very enjoyable and catchy chorus from Katy.

 

Sanna Nielsen's Swedish language track Inte Ok, about how she was bullied at high school, is quite an affecting listen, even though I barely speak the language, but Sanna's emotion pours out of this one and it's her finest non-Melodifestivalen moment for quite some time for me.

 

And a bit of an oddity at No.29, this year Irish family band and general musical enigma The Kelly Family regrouped to deliver a new album, packed with new versions of all of their old tracks. Working very well, the highest of these is the 2017 retread of 1996 single Fell In Love With An Alien. Possibly one of the biggest, most memorable yet most ridiculous songs around, this made my top five most played of the year on Spotify, which is no surprise as it's an earworm that I have no shame in returning to over and over again.

 

The first appearance in the top 40 for The Corrs this year is the first track that we heard from new album Jupiter Calling. The stripped back and plodding Son of Solomon is not exactly commercial but is classic Corrs in sound, once again feeling like something from their debut album. A very strong, classic melody is actually hidden away under the marching beat too.

 

Onto Melodifestivalen, and one of the highlights, as ever, for me was perennial runner-up Ace Wilder, who participated for the third time in four years with Don't Worry. To me this song is her best yet but the Swedes have clearly tired of her and while it made the final, she didn't get much of a crowd reaction at the Friends Arena. Shame, because this is the best Lion King soundtrack castoff/unused Nickelodeon 90s kids TV show theme I've ever heard and Ace sounds as effortless and brilliant as ever on it.

 

Over to South Africa for No.26 and No.24, which have one more than one thing in common. Both Afro House songs of more than six minutes in length, each song also features the incredibly charismatic singer Nokwazi. First Up, Heavy K's Inde, which also features Bucie, builds up slowly and never really explodes but that's not really the point of Afro House. The bassline and chord sequences are completely gorgeous and Bucie and Nokwazi's very different vocal styles complement each other perfectly.

 

And my first BJSC entry of the year was Black Motion's Imali, also featuring Nokwazi, which is a slightly different beast, slightly more tribal sounding that Inde but with absolutely gorgeous string flourishes throughout. I was pretty disappointed that this DNQd, hence why I've never tried out Inde in BJSC, I don't really get why people sleep on these songs because to me they're quite glorious.

 

Sandwiched between these two is the Italian Eurovision entry and San Remo winner Occidentali's Karma by Francesco Gabbani. For a long time this was the favourite to win, though eventually it came sixth, not really coming across as epic on the Eurovision stage, but more bizarre novelty, which is a shame because the song itself certainly sounds like a winner. A soaring and memorable Italian pop song, taking the bassline from The Wanted's Chasing The Sun but adding plenty of iconic quotable moments. Namasté! Alé!

 

Three major UK hits just miss out on the top 20, firstly two of four appearances (sorry Buzzjack) from the year's undisputed biggest star by a mile, Ed Sheeran. It should come as no particular surprise that these tracks are here, I've supported Ed since around early 2010, way before the public had any idea who he was, and he has previously had huge hits in my end of year 2011 and 2014 charts, The A Team making it to No.2 in the 2011 list.

 

Anthemic indie pop track Castle On The Hill was famously released simultaneously with Shape Of You right at the start of the year. A tale of Ed's past, it's quite a charming tale of his former life and reminded me of some of his very early material from the EPs he released prior to his debut album + in 2011. Though it couldn't match the hugeness of the much more chart friendly Shape Of You (in a 2017 context at least, Castle would have been No.1 for weeks in 2007), the track is nevertheless the third biggest seller of the year, which is pretty impressive for a song of its ilk.

 

Talking of unfashionable sounds made into huge hits by Ed, there can be no clearer evidence that he could literally smash with anything than the case of Galway Girl, which is No.21 here. Taking inspiration from The Corrs, I was only ever going to adore this, it's been a very long time since a mainstream artist has delivered an Irish jig and I was delighted to hear this rap/jig hybrid first time I heard Divide. The fifth biggest selling single of 2017, really only Ed could get kids into fiddles.

 

And in the middle of the Ed sandwich is Katy Perry's Chained To The Rhythm, which suffered a bit from the Ed chart domination in March, getting knocked out of the way while it was at its sales and popularity peak. Nevertheless, the song, which features Skip Marley, was an interesting move from Katy. Still a huge pop song with a massive chorus, it had more lyrical bite than usual and Skip's reggae middle eight was quite unique too, though a touch that I personally loved. Katy may have fallen out of favour with the public a lot this year, but for me this was as good as anything Prism had to offer.

Nice to see I Can't Go On here! A bit of a step down from the recent Swedish entries for me but still incredible catchy

 

Dimelo entering as well - I've probably mentioned it already but I do think this is by far my favourite Winner's Single

 

I guess it helped a bit that I saw it live in March at Melodifestivalen and it sort of became synonymous with my trip, the song was played so much everywhere. Yes, a great song, but not a classic Swedish entry by any means.

 

Agree with you, it's a brillaint winner's single, sounds like a song that would smash on its own without any winner's hype, which can't really be said about any other winner's single in the last decade or so.

Albums

 

10-1

 

10. Take That – Wonderland

9. Frances – Things I've Never Said

8. Dua Lipa – Dua Lipa

7. Zara Larsson – So Good

6. The Kelly Family – We Got Love

5. Taylor Swift – Reputation

4. Katy Perry - Witness

3. The Corrs – Jupiter Calling

2. Ed Sheeran - ÷

1. Steps – Tears On The Dancefloor

 

 

Kicking off my top 10 albums of 2017 is Take That with Wonderland. The group's fifth album since returning in spectacular fashion in the mid 00s, it was also their least successful, selling little over 200k in the UK despite a bumper opening week. It's also my least favourite album of theirs since their return, yet they are still probably my favourite group of the last decade or so overall and it's another strong collection, with highlights including Giants, the Sigma collaboration Cry and the title track, amongst others. Hopefully for the next album, or greatest hits, there is a really killer single though, as that's what this album lacked.

 

No.9 is UK singer-songwriter Frances with her debut album Things I've Never said. Still very underrated, she's managed no commercial breakthrough in 2017 despite this fantastic collection, including the beautiful Don't Worry About Me (No.4 in my 2016 EOY singles chart) and other excellent singles including Grow, No Matter and Say It Again. Other album highlights for me are Cloud 9 and Drifting.

 

Dua Lipa's long-awaited eponymous debut album is at No.8, it's true that we'd already heard the majority of the good stuff before it even hit the shops but does it matter when it was all such high quality, meaning the album came across as a greatest hits of sort? And that's before New Rules, hidden away towards the back end of the album, was unleashed on an unsuspecting world, elevating Dua's star to the next level.

 

Zara Larsson was faced with the same criticism, except with many feeling that her album So Good had nothing at all to offer beyond the singles. I disagree - the singles are pretty much all 9/10 or 10/10 moments, apart from the abortive title track, but the likes of Funeral and Only You were up there with the singles in terms of quality too.

 

An unexpected oddity at No.6. Hailing from Ireland, The Kelly Family have had success in Europe, mostly Germany, since the 1970s, and were particularly huge in the 1990s with hits such as An Angel and Fell In Love With An Alien. Being a family band, various members pop in and out of the group at various times of their lives, and depending on other commitments at the time. In 2017, six members of the family regrouped to release We Got Love, a re-recorded Greatest Hits package, and went on tour in Germany. This was huge - on the scale of Steps in the UK, and the album has put them back on the map for the first time in about 20 years. Corny as the concept and music itself is, I can't help but have a huge soft spot for the Kellys, the aforementioned tracks as well as No Lies, Good Neighbor, Who'll Come With Me (David's Song) are timeless tracks that nobody else would dare try and emulate. But that's why they are unique.

 

Kicking off the top five, I was expecting to be underwhelmed by Taylor Swift's Reputation, but wasn't at all. It's not quite up there with 1989 in terms of quality, but what is? The lead single, Look What You Made Me Do, was a divisive effort but one that I enjoyed, and I also liked Gorgeous quite a lot. But despite some tiresome lyrical themes, melodically Taylor is just as strong as ever and the production is great throughout. Particular favourites of mine include End Game, Getaway Car, Dancing With Our Hands Tied, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things and the unexpectedly beautiful New Year's Day, harking back to the Taylor of a decade ago.

 

Taylor's arch-nemesis Katy Perry just edges her out for No.4 with her own new album, Witness. This was by all accounts a commercial disaster in comparison to the almighty Teenage Dream, and even Prism, but for me personally it's better than the latter and really doesn't deserve the criticism it gets. The three singles are all decent, particularly Chained To The Rhythm, and Witness and Roulette have single potential. The latter in particular is a great 80s inspired track that could have been a surprise UK hit. Pendulum is unexpected gospel-tinged fun towards the end of the album and I also enjoy the slower moments, Into Me You See and Save As Draft.

 

Surpisingly only third, probably the first time ever that a new Corrs album hasn't been finished at either No.1 or No.2 in my end of year chart, is Jupiter Calling, the family foursome's new offering, released last month. A more traditional, organic offering than the band's previous few albums, it had to battle against two very strong albums that I've had most of the year to enjoy, but there's no denying that it's not as good as White Light or Borrowed Heaven. Nevertheless, a lesser Corrs album for me is still better than most albums by anybody else and there are plenty of gorgeous highlights on here - SOS, Son of Solomon, Dear Life and Road To Eden are my absolute favourites but Bulletproof Love, Chasing Shadows, Butter Flutter and Hit My Ground Running are also all very good. And their return to the Royal Albert Hall, where they played many of these tracks for the first time ever, was one of my favourite gigs for a while.

 

At No.2 is Ed Sheeran with ÷. As a fan of Ed for coming up to a decade, it's been great to see him grow and grow, I don't think anybody would have expected him to become the world's biggest male artist. And ÷ is definitely the sound of an artist at their peak, every song sounding like a hit (and actually becoming one...) despite most of them also sounding quite different to everything in the charts at the same time. ÷ is a grab bag of styles and gave me plenty to enjoy this year, ensuring Ed beats the third places he achieved on my EOY 2011 and 2014 charts respectively with + and x. Along with the four giant hit singles that don't really need mentioning, my favourites include Dive, What Do I Know, Supermarket Flowers and Nancy Mulligan.

 

And at No.1 - the album I never expected to happen, but one that has completely defined and dominated my years and is probably my favourite album released by anyone since Sheppard's Bombs Away in 2014. 90s pop band Steps released a disastrous Christmas album, Light Up The World, in 2012, which limped into the top 40, and it looked as if that would be it in terms of new music from them. But the demand for brand new, original material was clearly still evident in 2017 and it turns out the band had been beavering away on preparing a new album to coincide with a 20th anniversary tour in 2017.

 

Everything about this campaign was perfect for them - Scared In The Dark was a monster lead single up there with their all-time best while the album was packed with songs just as good, including the other singles Neon Blue and Story Of A Heart. But it was far from filler beyond that - Happy and Firefly are both triumphant modern pop while I Will Love Again is a soaring cover of the Lara Fabian song. Glitter and Gold and No More Tears On The Dancefloor were amongst the other highlights. Later in the year Faye, Claire, H, Lisa and Lee released a deluxe edition, and made the best even better by covering a Delta Goodrem track to lead the re-release with. This was joined by a beautiful Xmas song, Dear Santa, and the excellent September Sun, along with a couple of other nice new songs. The tour was an absolute moment, complete perfection and perhaps the best concert I've seen in years with great new versions of the classics, many of the aforementioned tracks from this album, stellar live vocals and incredible staging.

 

It's odd to say that in 2017 Steps defined my year, but this is their best album yet for me and by a mile is my No.1 album of the year.

Singles

 

20-11

 

20. Tina Guo – Super Mario Bros.

19. Jasmine Thompson – Old Friends (Jonas Blue Remix)

18. Nicki French – Teardrops (On The Discofloor)

17. Ed Sheeran - Perfect

16. O'G3NE – Lights & Shadows

15. Yaşar Gaga & Sezen Aksu - Şahane Bir Şey Yaşamak

14. Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee feat Justin Bieber – Despacito

13. Kamferdrops – Jag Trodde Änglarna Fanns

12. Tom Fall - Kaamos

11. The Corrs – SOS

 

 

 

 

 

 

BJSC central in this section, which kicks off with violinist Tina Guo with her incredible take on various themes from the Super Mario universe. I first heard this track when flicking through her album Game On, which features tracks of much the same style. As a Mario fan since the age of about five, this was always going to appeal to me and the switch in styles through the track, even switching to metal for the level 1-2 music, is complete genius. It managed a respectable 12th place finish for me in BJSC, which I was very pleased with.

 

And onto an entry I discovered through the BJFestivalen spin-off, courtesy of Ramrynia, I'd have probably saved it for the main contest it's that good, but I guess it would have quite probably been vetoed from that. Jasmine Thompson has been around for a few years, scoring a few hits in Europe and a big hit here with her cover of Ain't Nobody. Old Friends is a ballad from her new album that was given a tropical house spruce up by Jonas Blue, and turned into a great dancefloor anthem. Jonas Blue has completely nailed the tropical house sound, his own style of it feels so much bigger and glossier than 99% of the stuff out there and he definitely made his mark on this song, yet still retains the sorrow and longing in Jasmine's voice, particularly in the chord sequence just prior to the drop.

 

Nicki French represented the UK in Eurovision 2000 and of course had a huge US and UK smash with her cover of Total Eclipse Of The Heart in 1995. This year she released her best single probably since that moment, Teardrops On The Discofloor. Sonically and lyrically not a million miles away from the Steps singles this year, Nicki first aired the track at the Eurovision Preview Party, which she co-hosts ever April at Cafe De Paris in London. I was hankering to hear it again because it sounded so great and the studio version didn't disappoint when it finally surfaced a few months later. Cheddar cheese of the highgest order for sure, but this a great disco throwback anthem.

 

Ed Sheeran's Perfect is a song that has grown and grown on me throughout the year, though I always liked it as an album track. The single release gave it a greater impetus in my affections, perhaps due to the time of year as it is a classic winter ballad, of the sort Westlife and Boyzone used to churn out in the late 90s. This is no bad thing, I have great respect for anybody that can get a string laden ballad into today's charts and the fact that it made Xmas No.1 when having clocked up about a million sales beforehand is quite an achievement.

 

Somewhat surprisingly, the highest Eurovision entry finishes at a lowly No.16 this year. Eurovision entries often top my end of year chart, or at least secure two or three positions in the top five/10. A quick check back tells me that the last time none made my top 10 was back in 2005, coincidentally when the contest was last held in Ukraine. Not that this was a bad year in terms of quality by any means, just that no one song had a life changing impact on me this time around. Having said that, this is not to discredit Dutch act O'G3NE because I would have loved Lights and Shadows no matter what. Basically taking its entire sonic influence from Wilson Phillips' seminal early 90s hit Hold On, the track is a power ballad with epic harmonies from the trio of sisters, who delivered a completely flawless performance on the Eurovision stage, but sadly just missed out on the top 10, finishing 11th, which is still impressive for what is essentially a very dated track (with a killer middle eight and key change).

 

Over to Turkey for No.15, with the Turkish language summer dance banger Şahane Bir Şey Yaşamak by Yaşar Gaga and Sezen Aksu. I randomly came across this when scouring New Music Friday Turkey and I was hooked from the word go. It seemed odd to find a melody this huge in such an unexpected place, but then I later find out that the track is a cover of 2012 European hit C'est La Vie by Khalid, written by...RedOne! Anyway, I had heard that song in passing a few years ago looking back, but clearly the production on this version appealed to me so much more, with glorious Turkish instrumental flourishes, and the language sounds so exotic on it. The production is on point and the song almost feels like it could have been a global World Cup anthem. I couldn't resist sending it to BJSC, where it finished in a brilliant 9th place.

 

Onto the world's biggest hit of the year, the Spanish-language phenomenon that was Despacito by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee. The version here is the Justin Bieber feature, made to cross the song over into UK markets though I feel it would have been a major smash without Justin's input if it had been given a push. Nevertheless, it's this version I enjoy the most and this was one of my most played songs over the summer, and still hasn't really got old at all for me, which may surprise many people, seeing as it has been completely ubiquitous since about May. It's hard to say why I love this so much but I think I appreciated hearing something different doing well, mostly in a different language, and the return of the reggaeton and latin music to the charts. And that mega chorus is undeniable.

 

Back to BJSC, and a song I had actually discovered before the contest, but its appearance in the contest definitely helped to shove it up my affections as I listened to it more and more. Jag Trodde Änglarna Fanns is a tropical cover of an old dansband song by Norwegian act Kamferdrops. The track is drenched in joy and brings a huge smile to my face, especially when paired with the gloriously ridiculous music video, which are probably my favourite visuals in many years. The sax player's golden wings flying away alone should have surely made the song and video go viral? And you can never go wrong with pastel/rainbow colours, unicorns and a bear with a top hat riding a unicycle. I guess its 30+ million streams are testament enough to the song's quality though.

 

No.12 is Finnish trance producer Tom Fall with the mammoth Kaamos, which I heard on Armin Van Buuren's A State of Trance album and just had to send to BJSC, where it finished sixth, very narrowly missing the top five. Those huge stabbing synths are like the classic trance melodies of yesteryear, a massively uplifting melody that evokes memories of Mauro Picotto and the like at their peak. The supporting piano, twinkling in all the right places, just adds to the euphoria, and this is easily the best instrumental track of the year for me.

 

And just missing the top ten this year, though it was close between this and No.10, is The Corrs with lead single from Jupiter Calling, SOS. The easy album highlight, this ballad has thoughtful, political lyrics, a classic Corrs bridge and chorus and a beautiful violin interlude from Sharon. I couldn't ask for anything more.

Edited December 30, 20177 yr by gooddelta

For me new Steps album was a big disappointment (only one good song "Story Of My Heart"), same about "Reputation".

 

Bucks Fizz had the best comeback in the year of comebacks. :)

 

No Shania Twain in both charts. :(

Edited December 30, 20177 yr by Good Old Days

For me new Steps album was a big disappointment (only one good song "Story Of My Heart"), same about "Reputation".

 

Bucks Fizz had the best comeback in the year of comebacks. :)

 

No Shania Twain in both charts. :(

 

I do love Story of a heart. Did you like any of the bonus tracks on the deluxe edition, they were more similar to 90s Steps material.

 

I did enjoy the Bucks Fizz comeback a lot, great album.

 

Sadly not, I dont really like her voice as much anymore. Now did have some good songs though - Soldier and Swingin’...

Kamferdrops! Didn't think much of it at first but it really grew on me, that video as well :lol:

Kamferdrops! Didn't think much of it at first but it really grew on me, that video as well :lol:

 

It's certainly a song that worms its way into your head Pete, but yes the video helps no end, just hilarious :lol: