Hello Jim, my favourites to make your top 40 so far are as follows:

 

#37 FKA twigs - Eusexua [#4, Sep]

#35 Sky Ferreira - Leash [#3, Dec]

#34 Ethel Cain - American Teenager [#3, Nov]

#32 Adrianne Lenker - Ruined [#3, Jan]

#27 Pixel Grip - Stamina [#3, Oct]

#23 Seycara Orchestral - If You Were Mine [#2, Jan]

#17 Twin Tribes - Monolith [#2, Jun]

#16 akiaura, LONOWN & STM - Sleepwalker [#2, Mar]

#13 TR/ST - Slug [#2, Feb]

#11 Chelsea Wolfe - Everything Turns Blue [#1, Jan]

#10 The Horrors - Lotus Eater [#1, Dec]

#9 Etta Marcus - Skin Parade [#1, Nov]

 

Delighted that you enjoyed Seycara Orchestral and Twin Tribes so much :wub: the former was a bit of a pivot for my nation (I think maybe only my 2nd ever orchestral entry) but I fell in love with it and was going through a particularly intense classical phase at the time - top 20 was a respectable finish. 'Monolith' is far more typically up my street and extra special as it finally gave me a 4th place hit after 9 years of trying :lol: thanks for all of the BJSC support last year!

 

'Eusexua' was my longest running #1 of 2024 and is still flying high, just incredible. I'm glad the accompanying album didn't disappoint!

 

'Sleepwalker' was an 18 for me in the contest and 'Destruction Age' by the same artist is also very good <3

 

This latest Horrors era roll-out has been generally great, bring on the album.

 

Looking forward to finding out what has made your top 5!

^ Seycara Orchestral was a lovely choice for a foray into classical and the Twin Tribes one was very much up my street too, happy to give both maximum points in BJSC!

 

'Eusexua' is fabulous and #37 here doesn't do it justice - indeed the album has many highlights, and 'Striptease' is well on the way to an appearance in my EOY for 2025.

 

Cool to share an 18 with 'Sleepwalker' B-) I have also listened to 'Destruction Age' and had other akiaura songs come up on autoplay for me, I think Kath chose well though. Similarly with The Horrors, 'Lotus Eater' is their only song I've really got into so far, but I'm interested to see what else they have on the album.

 

Thanks Jade ^_^ OK here it comes!

 

 

 

(warning: flashing images in the next video)

Edited February 19Feb 19 by jimwatts

 

Monthly #1s (continued)

 

#5 Sleater-Kinney - Crusader [special Interest Remix] [#1, Jun]

#4 GusGus, Högni, Earth - Breaking Down [#1, Apr]

#3 Jain - Nobody Knows [#1, Aug]

 

Starting the top 5 is my previous BJSC entry from Sleater-Kinney remixed by Special Interest which came third from last in the final, but I'd have regretted not sending it at all - once I was entranced by the haunting soundscape around the distorted vocals, I sought out the original, but I still prefer this remix as the kicking beats and darkwavey guitar make the chorus sound huge. My current BJSC entry is next, from Icelandic producers GusGus with the vocals of Högni and Earth duetting on a gorgeous euphoric tune - we'll see how it does. There are another two BJSC entries to come, but I sent them last year before charting them - and one of them lands in third place in this countdown, a fabulous 2:50 of synth-powered dance pop from Jain with the theme of dancing through distress perfectly encapsulated by the video which I love almost as much as the song. It finished 13th in BJSC 167 with 24 voters which in itself is very pleasing, even if the reveal of the results had it on course for something much bigger until right at the death.

 

 

#2 Echoberyl - Weird Boy [#1, Jul]

 

That leaves my favourite BJSC entry of the year which inspired the subtitle of this thread, and though it has to settle for the runner-up spot here, my most played song of 2024 is this one by Echoberyl where the bassy synths evoke 'Fade To Grey' and the alluring vocals of Cecilia Dassonneville declare her interest in the titular character, but also question his existence as the lines between reality and fantasy become blurred. It received 26 voters in BJSC 166, the joint 4th most of that contest, however an average of less than 7 points from each of those voters meant it wound up in 16th place. I can recommend the parent album Through The Chaos although I would say this is comfortably its standout moment, and my favourite song of the year not connected to an album to make the UK chart.

 

 

#1 Vampire Weekend - Capricorn [#1, Feb]

 

And it's congratulations to Vampire Weekend who produced my favourite song of 2008 in 'A-Punk', and 16 years later have for me another EOY #1 :cheer: On first listen I thought it a good comeback from them, on the second I thought this will be a high charter for me, and on the third I decided this was the best thing I'd heard in ages - the chamber style arrangement with the odd instrumental quirk in the post-choruses is a welcoming listen, but the sympathetic delivery of lyrics such as "Who builds the future? Do they care why?", "I looked for answers there, they weren't mine to find", and "sifting through centuries for moments of your own" strike a chord with me about the passage of time, and identity, and memories - not so much to feel sad about it as to think and re-evaluate things a bit. It was my #1 for February and it was tempting to break from the new songs only rule to bring it back a month or two later but I resisted, whereas in a weekly chart I'm sure it would have beaten my current record of 5 weeks at #1, so topping this countdown is the least it deserves.

from your monthly #1s my faves of those are Attractive Chaos, Rosé, GusGus and Echoberyl!

Great picks - thanks Dan, and everyone else who has commented or followed along. I'll say that as a countdown, I'm a little unsatisfied with the order as it all feels too arbitrary with each song having only had one chart appearance as a starting point, but as a set of 120 songs to represent the year, I'm pretty happy with it. Now that I've returned to a regular weekly chart, I could revert to the tried and trusted scoring method I used in 2023 when I compile the next one, but I'll see how the year turns out first!

 

My EOY top 120 of 2024 in full:

 

#1 Vampire Weekend - Capricorn 

#2 Echoberyl - Weird Boy 

#3 Jain - Nobody Knows 

#4 GusGus, Högni, Earth - Breaking Down 

#5 Sleater-Kinney - Crusader [special Interest Remix] 

#6 ROSÉ & Bruno Mars - APT. 

#7 Attractive Chaos - Words On A Letter 

#8 Gabby Martin - Cologne 

#9 Etta Marcus - Skin Parade 

#10 The Horrors - Lotus Eater 

#11 Chelsea Wolfe - Everything Turns Blue 

#12 Sunday (1994) - Blonde 

#13 TR/ST - Slug 

#14 JJ Wilde - Best Of Me 

#15 Anthony McCaffrey - The Dark 

#16 akiaura, LONOWN & STM - Sleepwalker 

#17 Twin Tribes - Monolith 

#18 Kalte Liebe - Tränen stillen keinen Durst 

#19 Manic Street Preachers - Decline & Fall 

#20 Syntronix, Warptronic - Soulless 

#21 Ehrah, LAU - Everything I Want 

#22 jacket., Bunny X, Jenny Bates - Any Day And Every Night 

#23 Seycara Orchestral - If You Were Mine 

#24 Daniel Merriweather - Orbit 

#25 Valencia Grace - Skin 

#26 Requiem's Embrace - Nightmares 

#27 Pixel Grip - Stamina 

#28 Castle Rat - Cry For Me 

#29 Calva Louise - Over The Threshold 

#30 The Decemberists, James Mercer - Burial Ground 

#31 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Long Dark Night 

#32 Adrianne Lenker - Ruined 

#33 anna luna - house 

#34 Ethel Cain - American Teenager 

#35 Sky Ferreira - Leash 

#36 Third Party - Believe 

#37 FKA twigs - Eusexua 

#38 Florrie - Kissing In The Cold 

#39 Kim Wilde - Trail Of Destruction 

#40 Debbii Dawson - Happy World 

#41 The Happy Fits - Achey Bones 

#42 Cage The Elephant - Neon Pill 

#43 Social Order - Miss You 

#44 Christopher Anton - Don't Cry Tonight 

#45 Billie Eilish - CHIHIRO 

#46 Ela Minus - BROKEN 

#47 Lewis Capaldi - A Cure For Minds Unwell 

#48 Lady Gaga - Disease 

#49 Chelsea Wolfe - House Of Self-Undoing 

#50 Violent Vickie, Echoberyl - Gaslight 

#51 Talking To Shadows - Valentina 

#52 DJ_Dave - World's Hardest Game 

#53 Izzy Camina - Seraphim 

#54 Vintage Culture - Find A Way 

#55 Rose Gray - Angel Of Satisfaction 

#56 Funk Tribu - Viento 

#57 Pom Pom Squad - Downhill 

#58 Mandaworld - U CANT STOP ME NOW 

#59 Glass Animals - A Tear In Space (Airlock) 

#60 Otik - Downcast 

#61 Safe Mind, Boy Harsher, LUCY - 6' Pole 

#62 TR/ST, Cecile Believe - Run 

#63 april june - carry you on my broken wings 

#64 Camera Obscura - The Light Nights 

#65 Blondshell feat. Bully - Docket 

#66 Father John Misty - Q4 

#67 Celestial Skies - Forget Me Not 

#68 Ben Hemsley, Rose Gray - Tidal 

#69 MRD, Flawless Issues - i fall apart 

#70 Felix Jaehn, Leony - Waking Up 

#71 Suite Simone - Hazed Blue 

#72 Butschi - Don't You Feel My Heart 

#73 Fontaines D.C. - Starburster 

#74 beabadoobee - Beaches 

#75 NERO - Draw Energy 

#76 Machinedrum - Stairzzzzzz 

#77 NTO & Vitalic - Cœur Noir 

#78 Sharon Van Etten - Afterlife 

#79 James Blake - Thrown Around 

#80 Block & Crown - Raise The Roof 

#81 No Mana - Solarpunk 

#82 Baby Jane - Cemetery Date 

#83 Von Bikräv, TDJ - Saut De L'Ange 

#84 Armin van Buuren, Agents Of Time, ORKID - Love Is Eternity 

#85 The Beaches - Blame Brett 

#86 Tove Lo - No One Dies From Love 

#87 Fazerdaze - Cherry Pie 

#88 Dua Lipa - Falling Forever 

#89 Pictureplane - Velvet Lies (Metallic Garden) 

#90 Marlon Hoffstadt, DJ Daddy Trance - Move Your Feet 

#91 Shygirl, Danny L Harle, Club Shy - encore 

#92 Swiss Portrait - Paralyzed 

#93 Lankum - Newcastle 

#94 Alok, Ely Oaks - Tsunami 

#95 JJ Wilde - Arizona 

#96 Allie X - Weird World 

#97 Mindspeak - The Chase 

#98 Annie - The Sky Is Blue 

#99 Jockstrap - Concrete Over Water 

#100 Dua Lipa - Training Season 

#101 The Marías - No One Noticed 

#102 Mura Masa, Cherish - FLY 

#103 Wings Of Desire - Some Old Place I Used To Know 

#104 Fat Dog - Running 

#105 Khruangbin - May Ninth 

#106 The Vaccines - Hometown Of Jupiter 

#107 MINTTT - Bom Dia, Mentira 

#108 Moonchild Sanelly - Do My Dance 

#109 Tinlicker feat. Brian Molko - Nowhere To Go 

#110 The Beaches - What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Paranoid 

#111 Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars - Die With A Smile 

#112 Grum - Voyager2 

#113 Ariana Grande - we can't be friends (wait for your love) 

#114 Everything Everything - The End Of The Contender 

#115 The Cure - Alone 

#116 Charli xcx - So I 

#117 Sam Quealy - Watch Me Now 

#118 Patty Gurdy - Brighter Days Come 

#119 Sara Landry, Shlømo - Play With Me 

#120 Gracie Abrams - Close To You 

That's an excellent top 3, Capricorn is a wonderfully dreamy song and an instant standout on first listen (and I'm hoping I can finally get round to the album soon, timely as ever x) and Weird Boy was one of my favourite BJSC discoveries this year, anything that evokes Fade to Grey is going to be up my alley, and some great BJSC picks throughout (from what I remember :kink:)

 

Some other selected comments from ones I know (oh there turned out to be a lot here x)

 

#6 ROSÉ & Bruno Mars - APT. (chart hits don't normally click with me much these days, but this was pretty fun and catchy x)

#19 Manic Street Preachers - Decline & Fall (My first thought was this is so by the numbers for them, yet I have grown to like it. It's nice that they're still just doing what they want to do thirty years on)

#31 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Long Dark Night (I think this came at the wrong time as I was quite stressed irl, but I have grown to really appreciate it, the whole album is beautiful)

#34 Ethel Cain - American Teenager (I listened to this album recently, does drag just a tad but the highlights are big and this was a great single that I definitely should've given more points to at the time, I did enjoy the Americana songs though the experimental part starting with Ptolamea is my favourite, not sure if you've checked out her new EP but it's...an experience for sure x)

#35 Sky Ferreira - Leash (Great soundtrack song (and better than the film itself x))

#37 FKA twigs - Eusexua (beautiful stuff, another artist I feel I need to check out more from)

#45 Billie Eilish - CHIHIRO (Highlight from the album <3)

#66 Father John Misty - Q4 (Did prefer his material this year, but great to see him here nonetheless, this was the song that introduced me to him)

#78 Sharon Van Etten - Afterlife (6Music hammered this one, but it's lovely, got a lot of time for what I know from Sharon)

#93 Lankum - Newcastle (A more underrated highlight from the album next to the intense songs I sent to BJSC and UP)

#99 Jockstrap - Concrete Over Water (I also got to this quite late, but love it, the album was just my kind of experimental)

#113 Ariana Grande - we can't be friends (wait for your love) (My favourite from her this year, love the Eternal Sunshine themed video)

#115 The Cure - Alone (what a comeback <3)

Oh yay 'Capricorn' is a marvellous EOY #1 :wub: great that we share that in our top 3.

 

'Weird Boy' was my biggest 'would've been an 18 in pretty much any other contest' moment since Vitalic's amazing 'Waiting For The Stars' had to settle for a silver medal for me way back in 2017, as it was up against Steven Wilson's 'Routine'. I of course sent Echoberyl to BJSC Halloween a couple of years ago but hadn't come across this era, so thanks for the great discovery and I'll endeavour to check the whole album out soon as their sound is right up my street in general.

 

Congrats on completing this :cheer: I enjoyed following along.

On 20/02/2025 at 21:05, Chez Wombat said:

That's an excellent top 3, Capricorn is a wonderfully dreamy song and an instant standout on first listen (and I'm hoping I can finally get round to the album soon, timely as ever x) and Weird Boy was one of my favourite BJSC discoveries this year, anything that evokes Fade to Grey is going to be up my alley, and some great BJSC picks throughout (from what I remember :kink:)

 

Some other selected comments from ones I know (oh there turned out to be a lot here x)

 

#6 ROSÉ & Bruno Mars - APT. (chart hits don't normally click with me much these days, but this was pretty fun and catchy x)

#19 Manic Street Preachers - Decline & Fall (My first thought was this is so by the numbers for them, yet I have grown to like it. It's nice that they're still just doing what they want to do thirty years on)

#31 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Long Dark Night (I think this came at the wrong time as I was quite stressed irl, but I have grown to really appreciate it, the whole album is beautiful)

#34 Ethel Cain - American Teenager (I listened to this album recently, does drag just a tad but the highlights are big and this was a great single that I definitely should've given more points to at the time, I did enjoy the Americana songs though the experimental part starting with Ptolamea is my favourite, not sure if you've checked out her new EP but it's...an experience for sure x)

#35 Sky Ferreira - Leash (Great soundtrack song (and better than the film itself x))

#37 FKA twigs - Eusexua (beautiful stuff, another artist I feel I need to check out more from)

#45 Billie Eilish - CHIHIRO (Highlight from the album <3)

#66 Father John Misty - Q4 (Did prefer his material this year, but great to see him here nonetheless, this was the song that introduced me to him)

#78 Sharon Van Etten - Afterlife (6Music hammered this one, but it's lovely, got a lot of time for what I know from Sharon)

#93 Lankum - Newcastle (A more underrated highlight from the album next to the intense songs I sent to BJSC and UP)

#99 Jockstrap - Concrete Over Water (I also got to this quite late, but love it, the album was just my kind of experimental)

#113 Ariana Grande - we can't be friends (wait for your love) (My favourite from her this year, love the Eternal Sunshine themed video)

#115 The Cure - Alone (what a comeback <3)

Very happy to see so many of these being highlights for you too. 'APT.' is so catchy and an imaginative concept for a pop song. 'Decline & Fall' may be within the comfort zone for The Manics but it was refreshing to hear them reflect on their legacy - unlucky for them to end up with a 6th #2 album though. I hadn't realised 'American Teenager' was in BJSC, just before my time it seems - a new favourite Trifoski entry for me perhaps. I did give her new album Perverts a listen albeit not in the best setting, but have since appreciated the quiet intensity of 'Amber Waves' almost as much as 'Punish' from pre-album. Sharon Van Etten's album is really good, a couple more of its tracks could pop up in such a list for 2025. The Lankum and Jockstrap songs I found from your EOY of 2023, I may have heard the latter before but it was a delight when it fell into place, intrigued for what they come up with next.

On 23/02/2025 at 17:39, Jade said:

Oh yay 'Capricorn' is a marvellous EOY #1 :wub: great that we share that in our top 3.

 

'Weird Boy' was my biggest 'would've been an 18 in pretty much any other contest' moment since Vitalic's amazing 'Waiting For The Stars' had to settle for a silver medal for me way back in 2017, as it was up against Steven Wilson's 'Routine'. I of course sent Echoberyl to BJSC Halloween a couple of years ago but hadn't come across this era, so thanks for the great discovery and I'll endeavour to check the whole album out soon as their sound is right up my street in general.

 

Congrats on completing this :cheer: I enjoyed following along.

Delighted to see the top 2 were so much to your and Chez's liking 'Capricorn' is gorgeous, fab to see it high up in your EOY too, and wow that is praise indeed for 'Weird Boy' as a 15 pointer happy to have discovered it from laurent pons and been able to give it a platform in BJSC - I think you'd like the album, their darkwave sound is strong throughout. So glad you enjoyed following this!

Thanks both 😊

my percentage scores 😄:

10% of the top 10 made my year-end 100 (APT)

8 of the 120 did too, but quite a few more made my charts. so 6.5% overall top 100 and 13% I bought with actual cash 🙂

Nice to see "APT" in your top 10 of the year and "Capricorn" as the song of the year with you.

Great list! I need to finish my list at some point too.