May 5May 5 Author (59-80-103-126) J.I.D. feat. 21 Savage & Baby Tate - Surround Sound(40-60-83-105-127) TWICE - The Feels(68-89-115-128) Maisie Peters - Cate’s Brother(13-27-50-74-124-129) Watsky feat. Raquel Rodriguez - Undermine(x-107-130) AJ Tracey - Wifey Riddim 4-(NE) Maisie Peters - Say My Name In Your Sleep(110-132) LISA - Rockstar(93-108-133) Sabrina Carpenter - Feather(81-109-134) The Weeknd & Ariana Grande - Die For You(21-35-53-79-111-135) J. Cole - Lion King On Ice(23-38-58-85-114-136) Spillage Village - Shiva(28-47-70-97-118-137) Childish Gambino - 35.31(61-91-116-138) Taylor Swift - Lavender Haze(107-135-139) Olivia Rodrigo - get him back!(87-119-140) Madison Beer - 17-(49-71-98-130-141) Olivia Rodrigo - All I Want(105-120-142) Taylor Swift - I Can See You(167-143) ROSÉ - toxic till the end(126-144) Jade - Angel Of My Dreams(12-44-67-96-129-145) BLACKPINK & Selena Gomez - Ice Cream(NE) Addison Rae - Fame is a Gun(60-39-55-82-112-147) Abra Cadabra feat. RV, Kush, Double Lz, Bandokay, Lowkey & Dezzie - On Deck(63-84-122-148) Dove Cameron - Breakfast(136-149) Kendrick Lamar - wacced out murals(NE) Gracie Abrams - Close To YouThree songs from 2025 make their debuts in this section, coming from Gracie Abrams, Addison Rae and Maisie Peters.Wacced out murals is one of my favourite productions in a long time. Its so dark and foreboding and an insane way to open an album. it gets you attention from the start and lets you know that you’re in for something special. It’s so raw and Kendrick sounds composed, but you can still feel the anger in his delivery. This captures a mood so well: pure menace. To show how much rap has fallen off for me, this is still the most recent rap #1 in my charts. The highest placement for dove, Breakfast really builds on the sound she uncovered in ‘Boyfriend’ with her smoky, breathy vocals really hitting hard for me. It’s starting to fall down the list rapidly and I don’t go back to it as much as the others in this section but the ‘I eat boys’ bridge will eternally be stuck in the back of my mind. In my opinion, On Deck, especially the remix, is the greatest drill song ever released. The remix pulls together all of OFB’s finest for a masterclass in the posse-cut. Abra has the perfect voice for this genre and the guest features have a surprisingly high hit rate. Just look at that climb this had in its first two years. Reality is starting to hit but still a great showing for a song that was #60 in my 2020 EOY chart. Ice Cream is not particularly a shining light in either of their discographies (even with an Ariana Grande co-write) but I’m really starting to appreciate it more now the hype surrounding the collab has calmed down. I like the bright colours and summery aesthetic and LISA’s rap and the closing bridge are both strong.Angel of my Dreams was an admiralty creative and risky way to start a solo-career. It shown from the get-go that JADE had bigger ambitions. Musically, it’s all over the place, shifting from hard-hitting techno beats to angelic R&B vocals in the blink of an eye. I love the vitality she puts into performances of this song and it was the perfect centrepiece for her tour last year. toxic till the end was a much more traditional attempt at a solo girl-group song but no worse for it. Evan Blair’s synthy production is buoyantly bouncy and the hook is memorable. Everything you need for a good pop song! I Can See You was one of the surprise tracks from my tour date of the Eras Tour. I was very happy to hear it as it's certainly her strongest ‘from the vault’ track. This doesn’t feel at all like was recorded for ‘Fearless’ so I have to imagine the demos would have sounded a lot different than what we got. I think it came out at the right time where her voice has matured and the world is more ready for suggestive Taylor. All I Want is a rare song in this list that was released before 2020, coming from Olivia’s time on Disney+ show ‘High School Music: The Musical: The Series’. It’s a very Disney-esque pop ballad in many ways but it is just so catchy. Her songwriting has definitely matured but this was a lot better than it had any right to be. really loved hearing this in her delayed Manchester show on tour last year. While we weren’t all famous and under intense media scrutiny in our teenage years, I think everyone can relate to having regret at not appreciating the freedom and excitement of our younger years and Madison hits upon that feeling perfectly in 17. A mix of both nostalgia and mourning time lost. get him back! is a song designed to be an arena anthem if I’ve ever heard one and I can confirm this it does indeed go off in that setting with the whole crowd shouting along. I love the wordplay from Olivia on this one with the dual meanings of the titular phrase being explored in some creatively amusing ways. While I imagine most would say ‘folklore’, ‘Midnights’ is my favourite Taylor album of the 2020s and it's opening track, Lavender Haze, lured me in from the start. It was a sonically adventurous song from Taylor with the pounding bassline paired with ambient sounds and a slower pace. It felt really exciting and the falsetto parts are very satisfying. 35.31 now has an official title of ‘Little Foot Big Foot’ (and unnecessary Young Nudy feature) since Gambino released his 3.15.20 in fully completed form as ‘Atavista’ in 2024. I still prefer the original release but that’s long gone from streaming now. A bit like ‘Hey Ya’ in how deceivingly dark the lyrics are, this is a song about a drug dealer who feels stuck in the world but is sung with a country twang, with a huge smile and in a nursery rhyme metre. It feels like a TikTok hit that went away, despite the eventual music video release giving it a second chance. It was produced by an Oscar winning composer which is some pedigree. JID & EARTHGANG never miss together and there’ll be more evidence of that to come but now now we've got Shiva by their occasional supergroup, Spillage Village. Doctor Dot is like butter on the chorus, the production is so jazzy and relaxing and feels straight out of an older era of rap that I love and Jurdan Bryant, Johnny Venus, Benji., JID & Dot all make their verses sound effortless while hitting on some really big, introspective topics. Dot takes away the MVP award but it’s a song where everyone it firing on all cylinders. It really calms me down when it comes on. Lion King On Ice is matured evolution of Cole’s ‘Simba’ tracks and was released on the Lewis Street EP alongside another song which is still to come. They both have a great sound. The soulful production with a muted trap beat and pitched sample is a well-trodden path but Cole finds a great pocket to make it feel fresh. I’m a big fan of the STARBOY album but I can’t say that Die For You was ever a huge favourite. But with an added Ariana verse? - A new classic! Their fourth collaboration, they just never miss when they get together. They both know how to sing and their chemistry is always off the charts. I think this is better than the Save Your Tears remixFeather was Sabrina’s first song to crack the UK top 20. I’m sure no doubt in part to its campy, murderous (and controversial) music video that led to the iconic ‘Jesus was a carpenter’ quip. It has a really hummable melody and the spoken ‘I’m so sorry for your loss’ in the second pre-chorus is delivered perfectly. I can see why they based the whole concept of the video off just that one line. Rockstar is the most ‘LISA’ LISA single to date. It's like a mix of her first two songs (MONEY and LALISA) blended together and is exactly what you think a solo single of hers would sound. Confidence for days with a boastful rap, dance chorography and bold visuals. It might not be too original but she oozes star-qualify and you can’t take your eyes off her. As the title suggests, Wifey Riddim 4 is the fourth edition of AJ’s ‘Wifey Riddim’ series and, in my opinion, is the best of the bunch. I love the production here, the pitched sample of Lous and The Yakuza's 'Interpol' is addictive and would be a banger even without AJ flowing on top. But he does his job too with his classic sound with multiple anime references and a Japan-filmed video. Watsky is an artist that I associate with my teenage years but even in my 20s, he’s still bagged three entries in my top 150 with his first being ‘Undermine’. I think it’s 13th position in my 2020 EOY was a bit too high but this is still a really nice listen. He’s more in his singing bag here and it works but it really the ending rap that sticks with me most. A fun titbit for fact fans: the music video was filmed at the same location that Tame Impala went on to use for the cover of his ‘The Slow Rush’ albumCate's Brother is an ironically unhinged moment in Maisie’s career. This is a very unsubtle song about creating a fake relationship with her friend’s brother in a pop-punk Avril Lavigne styling. It’s silly but my god does it put my in a good mood. Sometimes you just want your songs to be fun with no deeper meaning and that’s ok. Don’t be surprised this to climb by the final chart in 2030. Speaking of songs that are just bundles of fun with not a cynical bone in it's body, how could you not smile listening to The Feels? It’s bubble-gum at its absolute sweetest and purist and I absolutely love every second. I know the K-POP Demon Hunters finally saw them make a UK top 40 breakthrough but it should have been this! I was officially ahead of the curve with Surround Sound with it already hitting #1 in my chart and bagging itself an EOY top 20 placement before it even had a sniff of the UK chart. JID sounds as unique as ever, going through about 40 different flows, many of which no other rapper would have never even dare considerm but it’s Baby Tate’s short-and-sweet couple of bars that steal the show for me. She sounds angelic and makes the beat switch more palatable.
May 14May 14 Author (30-37-47-64-83-101) Dua Lipa feat. DaBaby - Levitating(41-57-69-87-102) Camila Cabello - Don’t Go Yet(NE) Hilary Duff - Mature(52-73-104) Noa Kirel - Unicorn(49-66-85-105) Pharrell Williams, 21 Savage & Tyler, The Creator - Cash In Cash Out(90-106) Freddie Gibbs - It’s Your Anniversary(x- 48-65-88-107) Madison Beer - Homesick(56-73-89-108) Stormzy - Mel Made Me Do It(86-71-91-109) Rebecca Black - Crumbs(94-110) Perrie - You Go Your Way~(42-62-86-96-111) Kacey Musgraves - breadwinner(99-112) Olivia Rodrigo - obsessed(113-113) Charli XCX - Von dutch(77-93-114) Ayra Starr - Rush(NE) JID, Ciara & EARTHGANG - Sk8(20-33-52-76-95-116) Halsey - You should be sad(97-117) Ashe - Running Out Of Time(98-118) ¥$ feat. Freddie Gibbs - BACK TO ME(95-101-119) Maisie Peters - Wendy(90-106-120) Tate McRae - exes~(17-30-51-75-100-121) Selena Gomez - Rare(NE) Alessi Rose - imsochillandcool(104-123) Dua Lipa - Training Season(94-117-124) Olivia Rodrigo - vampire(11-26-43-78-102-125) Megan Thee Stallion & Normani - DiamondsThree songs from 2025 make their debuts in this section, coming from Alessi Rose, JID/EARTHGANG/Ciara & Hilary Duff.From the Birds Of Prey soundtrack, Diamonds really nails the tone of the film. Normani does her thing with the ‘Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend’ sample (and recreation of the movie scene). Megan’s verses have good energy and attitude but are probably not her best on a technical level. A #1 hit in my chart in Jan 2020, this feels like it's already 6-years old. I remember being really intrigued to see what sounds Olivia would comeback with after the huge success of her debut. Would it be a ballad or pop-punk? In the end she found a theatrical in-between with vampire that starts off like a piano ballad but quickly evolves into something more unique and chaotic. Such a cool song that solidified her as an absolute top-tier artist. Training Season might feel a tad safe without the heavier dance interlude that ‘Houdini’ had but itis incredibly polished and has more than enough to get you grooving. The synths hit hard without being too overpowering and her vocals are particularly strong in the chorus. Rare was one of the first smash hits of the decade in my chart but, unlike Diamonds, this still feels really fresh. Selena doesn’t have the strongest vocals so she sounds best when the production feels like it was made specifically for her and this certainly does. It’s dreamy but fairly understated and allows her to have a punchy delivery that feels heavier than it is. While her newest album is such a step up in quality from her earlier, the singles can’t compare to Tate's previous era.On exes, Tate fully embraces the 00s pop sound with a sexy, unapologetic, choreography-led banger. Apparently written in just 30-minutes, it shows that sometimes just not overthinking things can lead to gold. Taylor released a similar song song in the same year but I know which ‘Peter Pan’ inspired ballad from a blonde-haired pop girlie I prefer and it's Wendy. My top-rated album track from (the standard version of) The Good Witch, the lyrics here really linger with you and its one of my favourite songs to hear live from her. It was a maligned album but there’s one song from 'Vultures 1' that really connected with me, BACK TO ME. The sample of a line of dialogue from ‘Dogma’ will really annoy most and Kanye’s inexplicable repetition of said phrase is objectively awful but it’s so stupid that it works for me. Freddie Gibbs is the secret sauce of the track though. He makes the phrase somehow sound cool and his verse is like butter. It was meant to feature Quavo originally but I can’t imagine enjoying this without Freddie star-making performance. It ended up being Freddie's first Billboard Hot 100 entry. Running Out Of Time is such a summery track, it feels like the sun should be shining every time it’s on. I’m not sure I’m ready to embrace morality as well as Ashe has here lol. love the little guitar lick in here. It’s a little touch that helps elevate this from a good song to a great song.You should be sad was one of the earliest signs of country resurgence in the UK charts, and is easily the best song Halsey’s ever made. The country twang elevates the song and gives it its addictive edge. It makes savage lines like ‘I’m so glad I never ever had a baby with you’ stupidly danceable which is a huge achievement in itself. It’s the same vibe as 'Not Like Us' making calling Drake a p***o into a club banger. Rush is my favourite afrobeats crossover of modern times and was my go-to song to put me in a good mood for a while. The beat is infectious; you can’t help but sway when it’s on. Ayra shines like a star in what should have been career-kickstarting performance. Her vocals are lovely (there’s one little adblib/run that I really love) and she had so much confidence for someone so young. Von dutch is a non-mover year-on-year and I’m loving it more now than I did when it was first released. The embodiment of BRAT, this was the perfect way to introduce the world-dominating era. It sounds generic at first but upon relistens, you really start to hear its genius. I think there’s a chance that this eventually becomes THE Charli song for me. The best rock star of her times. I love when Olivia leans more into the pop-punk vibes and her delivery in obsessed is perfect. I appreciate the self-deprecation and think this really nails a playful tone whichwas a breath of fresh air for the deluxe after the serious songs that close the regular edition of the album.'star-crossed' remains a criminally underappreciated album. breadwinner was (until this year) Kacey's only #1 in my chart and it was all due to how impossibly catchy I found its chorus. It has quite understated production but still manages to feel quite groovy. I love how light and unbothered Kacey’s vocals are. It really makes her sound so cool and more of a boss like the lyrics lay-out. You Go Your Way is my favourite Little Mix solo track so far. I was really disappointed to see this fall flat on release. It feels like something the group would have released with it's very danceable sound and singalong hook. The really impressive one-take video where Perrie had to learn full choreography shows how much she really pushed for this and it deserved so much more. The moment where I started taking Rebecca seriously. Crumbs is obviously very inspired by the hyperpop sound that was matured in the years before and I think it’s a sound she was born to make. I love the industrial beats before the final chorus particularly. Mel Made Me Do It was the biggest tease an artist has released for a long time. Stormzy came back with his relentless 7:21 rap assault where he seemed determined to remind everyone just how clean he is when it comes to rapping, just to then drop an experimental R&B album where he hardly raps once. The video’s full of cameos galore and Stormzy’s frequent masterful flow changes make it feel like it goes by in a flash.Taking the concept of feeling alienated to very literal lengths, Homesick became such an important song to me after the first time I saw Madison live. As part of the ‘Life Support’ tour, she performed this on a swing which just so happened to be right in front of where I was standing for my show and it connected with me so much. I'm so sad this looks like its left of the setlist for the current tour as I would kill to experience it live again. It’s Your Anniversary is maybe the only song I’ve downloaded in the 2020s. It was removed from streaming services (as Gibbs never cleared the sample) but was still available to buy from his store. It’s a devilish track where he flips the original sample to be about a grieving mother of a rapper that Gibbs has ‘killed’. His harmonising with his out-of-tune vocals is perfect. It feels so nonchalant and makes the diss land even harder. Cash In Cash Out has the single most creative music video of the 2020s and doesn’t half have a decent song to accompany it. A couple of years later and they would have made it poorly with AI which would have been so sad. It has the distinctive Pharrell production but he lets 21 and Tyler do the heavy lifting with the vocals and they don’t disappoint. I quite enjoy the disparate styles of the two MCs clashing together. The hook could be stronger but it’s certainly memorable through its repetitiveness and everything else being so well thought through well makes up for any shortcomings there.This is the first time I’ve listed to Unicorn in about 2-years and yeah, I still find it (as a song) to be so fun and a massive banger. It’s the only song that comes close to Eleni Foureira's 'Fuego' to be my favourite Eurovision song. But the way this song (and all of her countries entries) are used as propaganda pieces is very uncomfortable and puts a huge shadow over my enjoyment of this song. I’m not even bothering watching the show this year which is disappointing. I really enjoy it when Camila embraces her Latin roots in her music, especially when the vibes are as positive and upbeat as in Don't Go Yet. It just makes you feel good and I cannot help but sing along with the chorus. This deserved to be one of her biggest hits The ‘future nostalgia’ tag is already proving to be very accurate as Levitating already brings upon such a strong feeling of a different time. It was already a very retro-inspired song but she added enough newer sounds the funk it contains will never get old. It’s been a while since I’ve listened to the DaBaby remix but I think it still holds up.
June 4Jun 4 Author (49-67-76) JENNIE - You & Me(60-77) Ariana Grande - the boy is mine(65-78) bbno$ - lil’ freak(71-80-79) Maisie Peters - Lost The Breakup(38-48-62-80) Camila Cabello & María Becerra - Hasta Los Dientes-(47-66-81) Watsky feat. Rachel Zegler - MILE AWAY(24-36-50-68-82) Summer Walker feat. JT - Ex For A Reason(46-54-69-83) Kendrick Lamar - N95(31-43-61-84) Anitta - Boys Don’t Cry(NE) Ariana Grande - twilight zone(25-39-58-70-86) ITZY - LOCO(77-87) Ashe & Suki Waterhouse - Pushing Daisies(51-71-88) Madison Beer - Spinnin(41-53-72-89) Charli XCX feat. Rina Sawayama - Beg for You(NE) JENNIE feat. Dominic Fike - Love Hangover-(34-42-60-75-91) ROSÉ - On The Ground(62-76-92) Tate McRae - greedy(81-93) JENNIE - Mantra(40-59-74-94) BLACKPINK - Ready For Love(61-78-95) Dave & Central Cee - Sprinter(67-79-96) Avelino - Daily Duppy(45-63-82-97) Dave - Starlight(64-70-86-98) Sabrina Carpenter - Nonsense(36-54-68-84-99) grouptherapy. - raise it up!(92-100) Charli XCX - GuessTwo songs from 2025 make their debuts in this section, coming from JENNIE and Ariana Grande.I'm more of a solo-fan but the Billie remix of Guess has grown on me too. I think she feels slightly awkward on the track but it just about works. It’s not a deep song in any way and was only tagged on to the deluxe version of ‘BRAT’ but I was on board with its bluntness straight away. The Dare does a good job on the production making it sound fresh. Now called PARTYOF2 after two of their members left leaving them as a duo, grouptherapy. had the best song I ever submitted to BJSC so it still stings that it was done dirty. The chorus of raise it up! does sound a little goofy the first time you hear it but it really charmed me and become one of my biggest earworms of recent times. An experimental rap track, the instrumental is delightfully off-kilter with the poppy-bleeps adding so much personality. Of course it was another song to come that really broke Sabrina through, but Nonsense is, in my opinion, the root of the current sounds of pop music. I have to be honest, the ‘bleh-bah-blee’ line did put my off on my first listen but everything else is just so camply perfect and on-the-nose that it didn’t take me long to fall in love. This was the moment pop music dared to be fun again and it’s all the better for it. The different outros for each night of the tour were iconic and I’m so glad I got on the Sabrina train early enough to hear a couple of them live. Dave proved that he can really do it all Starlight; a laidback, love song over a relaxing pitched sample of ‘Fly Me To The Moon’. It’s not the hard-hitting, social-consciousness of a‘Black’ or nor the club-ready banger of a ‘Funky Friday or but he’s perfected this sound too with ‘Raindance’ being further proof. He can really do it all and still finds chance to throw in some of his stereotypically great bars while crooning. The Daily Duppy series has given us some great freestyles over the years (Fredo & J Hus’s are two I go back to regularly) but Avelino’s second is undoubtedly the strongest. This is just four-and-a-half minutes of pure brilliance. There’s not a single wasted line and Avelino deliveries it expertly in his signature deadpan style. He makes this feel effortless with some schemes (the rapper scheme, the Nas album scheme) pushed way beyond where you feel is possible. This is absolutely elite lyricism which leaves you thinking about it for weeks afterwards. He’s not the most popular on this website, but Cench stepped up for his joint-EP with Dave with Sprinter becoming THE UK rap song of the 2020s. It’s more Central Cee than Dave but that doesn’t mean that Dave doesn’t fit like a glove showing off some of his more braggadocious lyrics. The perfect song for the summer, the Latin vibes in the production is different for these two. Ready For Love feels like BLACKPINK on auto-pilot and could have easily been released 5 years before it was but it was the first track they released in 2-years so the hype ensured that I loved it. It’s ‘KILL THIS LOVE’ lite but it still has everything I love about the group. Being on the album saved it because I think I would have forgotten it amogst their discography otherwise. Poor JISOO has been dirty by the animators in the video, the other 3 have strong resemblance but she looks like someone else completely. JENNIE gets her bad-bitch anthem with Mantra which also feels like a pretty typical BLACKPINK track which is what made it the perfect lead single for the album where she experimental with many different inspirations with a particularly R&B twinge. I can see why she named the song the way she did as it does feel like a set of affirmations to make yourself more confident. It wasn’t her first hit but greedy was the star-making performance from Tate. It’s so confident that you find it hard to believe it comes form the same person who made low-fi sad-girl hits like ‘you broke me first’ and ‘feel like shit’. While she’s not adverse to dipping back into that well, I’m so happy that she’s committed to the full choreo, unashamedly-pop banger style because it suits her skills so well. Amy Allen, Ryan Tedder and Jasper Harris handle the production and they certainly have a fair few hits between them. I don’t think it’s any secret that I’m a BLACKPINK stan, but it’s still a lot that On The Ground makes it 4 out of the last 5 to be related to them. With 3 albums and an EP last year, it’s now hard to remember that a solo track from the girls was a rare occurrence. This was only the 2nd solo song ever, coming three years after JENNIE’s ‘SOLO’ became the first so my excitement was off the charts and it delivered, spending 3 weeks atop my chart. Being the only native English speaker, it’s no surprise that this feels like the most ‘western’ of their efforts (especially with Amy Allen popping up again, this time on writing duty) and it’s slower, soft-rock vibes feels very her. Charli’s ironic sell-out era was, ironically, just really good with Beg For You proving that nostalgia-bait interpolations can be done very well. Dance classic ‘Cry for You’ by September is used but with a Garage twist. If I were to share one criticism, I think their vocals sound so similar that it negates the point of a feature in some ways. I do love how ‘classic’ Spinnin feels. There are definitely some modern additions but the core of the actual song feels like it could have been released at any point. It has a timeless feel and Madison sounds gorgeous. She’s massively underrated when it comes to vocals in the current batch of pop girls. The video is very classy too.Pushing Daisies was released as a one-off single only a few months after an album, I wasn’t expecting to love this so much. I’ve never quite clicked with Suki’s voice before and I’m still not 100% sold on this but the chorus has just worked its way into my soul and her vocals actually sounds great when harmonising with Ashe’s. For a song with a dark lyrical metaphor, it bops along so nicely and feels so warm. I do find it difficult to articulate exactly what I love about my favourite K-Pop songs sometimes. I like just how fun they are and appreciate how maximalist and experimental and diverse the influences in the production are but those qualities usually apply to the one’s I don’t enjoy too. I guess that sometimes it just works more than with others and LOCO certainly works. The chorus is probably safer than some of their others and has quite a traditional feel but it very catchy. There’s some guitar and keyboards you can hear in the back which elevate it for me.Anitta really seemed to try to crack American in 2022 and released this English-language bop (there’s even a Miley Cyrus remix). Boys Don't Cry is basic as hell and was definitely trend-chasing with The Weeknd and Dua Lipa making this 80s synth-revival all the range but my god if it isn’t infectious. I haven’t gone back to it much which is which is why it is low for an EOY top 10-er but, listening to it now, it is going OFF. Banger! N95 finished 7-positions behind Anitta in my 2022 chart but has remained a firm favourite in my Spotify playlists and honestly feels like it hasn’t aged a day. It gets me just as hyped listening to it today than it did 4-years ago. There’s some pretty dense material in the lyrics if that’s your thing (using the idea of the COVID mask to talk about the other ‘masks’ we were) but the genius of the song is how well it also works as an explosive, work-out jam if you don’t listen to the words. It was the perfect choice for lead single. I love a lot of Summer’s more traditional R&B songs but I’m all here for her raising the tempo and going pop. Ex For A Reason is so danceable and the hook stays in your head for weeks to come. There’s something so fun about mixing Summer’s heavenly vocals and JT’s rachet, fierce verse sitting next to each other. Not that Summer is averse to going into some very messy areas lyrically. She may be very unpopular on certain areas on the internet but I think Rachel Zegler is wonderful so I was very intrigued to see her feature with one of my favourite underground artists of my teenage years, especially with this coming so early in her career. She is very theatrical with her vocals coming from the stage so it felt like an odd combo but MILE AWAY really works. Watsky’s conversational raps about a lost love feel all the more impactful when Zegler belts out the chorus. Unrelated to the song, but I was lucky enough to see her in Evita last year and she deserves all the awards! Camila’s top song for me this decade, Haste Los Dientes was a rare fully-foreign language track to smash in my charts. With the Korean tracks, there’s usually a smutting of English so I can work out the message but I have no clue what this one’s about really. It has a great, hummable melody and has come more classic Latin vibes which really feel quite different for her. Argentinian artist, Maria Becerra is a great addition too and very briefly became a massive crush for me. I haven’t really jelled with any other music I’ve heard from her though unfortunately. A rarity in the fact that Lost The Breakup was the big single off my favourite album of the decade but never reached #1 in my chart. It’s made up for it by having some brilliant holds in this list, including this small climb. You can see why it’s a fan favourite. The joy of building up to “I won the breakup” line and then going straight into the final chorus is pure euphoria. lil’ freak is completely goofy and the sample feels like it could have easily overpowered the song but it somehow works a treat. bbno$ knows what he’s making. He’s all about being tongue-in-cheek and viral-ready. It can be annoying when it doesn’t work but it’s irrefutably fun when it does. The flow is actually decent and there’s some standout lines but it’s the sample and the singalong hook that makes it. Now one where the sample isn’t as obvious. the boy is mine reimagines the Brandy and Monica track of the same name and even got them on board for a remix. It was the obvious choice for the third-single but it wasn’t until the music video until I was fully sold on how great it is. While it’s nowhere near the craziness of her old albums, it was great to hear Ari with some incredibly high-pitched vocals that she makes sound so silky. A bit of a ‘baddie’ song by her and makes me wish we could have got a 90s R&B album from her. She would have killed that era. It felt like You & Me was teased for so long. I heard it performed thrice by JENNIE as part of the BORN PINK World Tour and Hyde Park Festival before it was officially released but it left a great impression on me and I was so ready to love the studio version. The highlight from the live performances was the choreo so I was delighted to see this kept for the video. The verses are really good, especially the final rap but the one criticism some had was the weird sound effect in the back of the chorus. It’s pretty marmite and it would be the production choice I would have chosen but the greatness of JENNIE on the hook outweighs any weirdness.
June 18Jun 18 Author (40-51) Sabrina Carpenter - Taste(4-14-20-34-49-52) Little Mix - Break Up Song(41-53) Madison Beer - 15 MINUTES(18-9-13-30-42-54) J. Cole - t h e . c l i m b . b a c k (32-44-55) JISOO - All Eyes On Me(35-38-46-56) Baby Queen - Want Me(9-17-25-33-43-57) Chloe x Halle - Forgive Me(21-28-37-50-58) Tyler, The Creator feat. YoungBoy Never Broke Again & Ty Dolla $ign - WUSYANAME(20-26-35-45-59) Fredo feat. Dave - Money Talks(29-39-51-60) Tate McRae - what would you do?-(10-22-33-44-55-61) Lady Gaga & Ariana Grande - Rain On Me(69-30-40-52-62) Madison Beer - Sour Times(NE) Maisie Peters - Audrey Hepburn(42-53-64) Rebecca Black - Sick To My Stomach(NE) Reneé Rapp - Leave Me Alone(54-66) Renée Rapp & Megan Thee Stallion - Not My Fault(31-34-45-56-67) Pete & Bas & Fumez The Engineer - Plugged In(16-28-37-46-59-68) AJ Tracey feat. MoStack - Dinner Guest(NE) Ariana Grande - dandelion(64-70) ROSÉ & Bruno Mars - APT.-(56-57-71) Maisie Peters - Holy Revival(57-58-72) Maisie Peters - Guy On A Horse(NE) HAIM - Relationships(29-44-55-63-74) Chlöe - Have Mercy(NE) Alessi Rose - That Could Be MeFive songs from 2025 make their debuts in this section, coming from Alessi Rose, HAIM, Ariana Grande, Maisie Peters and Reneé Rapp.It’s a shame when an artist debuts with their strongest song and then spends the rest of their (solo in this case) career trying to live up to it but that’s what Chlöe did with Have Mercy which this being her sole UK Top 100 entry (#72) and only real Billboard hit (#28). It was the perfect way to introduce herself as a solo artist and shred the more child-appropriate image she gained as part of the duo with her sister. The Murda Beatz production is killer (I really enjoy the slightly-extended version in the music video) and the sample is used brilliantly. A perfect pop/R&B blend! On my first listen of Guy On A Horse, I thought it was going to be the first Maisie song that I didn’t like. The production is messy, the vocals are awkward and the chorus is so disorientating and off-putting at first but after I acclimatised, that started to become its greatest strength. It’s so unique that you can’t help but remember it. It’s punky in a way but still has an absolutely massive crowd-sing-a-long chorus. These last two tracks are so connected in my head. They were both off the deluxe version of ‘The Good Witch’ and took it turns having spells at #1 in my chart. The only thing that gives Holy Revival the slight advantage is that I heard it performed live before it was released. I do love how she added some oddities for the deluxe tracks, including the use of a cowbell in this. The Andrew line will live on forever as being one of her most iconic. ROSÉ recruited Bruno for APT.; the biggest K-Pop solo track of all-time and the biggest BLACPINK related song worldwide. And she did it by releasing a distinctly non-K-Pop sounding track that shares more elements with a ‘Mickey’ by Toni Basil than anything else. But it does keep a Korean flavour with the interpolation of the Korean drinking game. It’s a pretty basic song really, relying on that insane catchy hook but I think that’s why it connected with so many. It’s a shame that she went back to her standard ballad type tracks for the majority of the rest of her album.Ah, 6 years ago when UK Rap was a chart force and ‘Push The Feeling On’ samples were everywhere! In fact, MIST & Fredo released their collab adapting the same source on the same day as Dinner Guest! You have to shout out The Elements for making the production here sound so fresh despite the done-to-death sample. AJ and MoStack are a combo that don’t miss and I think we really needed this little slice of fun during the lockdowns. It’s a crime that the original upload of Pete & Bas's Plugged In was taken down. There is absolutely no irony in my love of this song. I legitimately think its some of the best rapping of the decade that does the Fugees/Enya beat justice. Bas’s vocals are pure butter, they’re like silk on the ears and Pete has great bars. When they go back and forth, line-by-line, the chemistry is off the charts. The whole track is so quotable (the Turkish Barber line being my particular favourite, Abra would be jealous of that) and was well worth the 20 million+ views that the original video used to have. I think I would have a good shot of rapping this from start to finish had I ever be in a position that I need to. Rachel McAdams is big shoes for anyone to fill but Renée did s a sterling job in the musical remake of ‘Mean Girl’s and captures the character of Regina well in Not My Fault. The chorus does sound a tad clunky with it trying to fit in the quote from the film (“It’s not my fault you’re like in love with me[...]”) but the bouncy production makes it work. Megan really shows up with her feature too. You wouldn’t blame her for half-arseing a feature for a soundtrack but this is actually one of my favourite verses from her. She does claim to be ‘the black Regina George’ and, on this basis, I’m happy to give it to her. Rebecca Black bagged a shock EOY top 10 hit for me in 2023 with this wonderful slice of subdued synth-pop. Sick To My Stomach was released on the latter stages of the 80s-inspired revival we had in the early 2020s and was one of the strongest of the whole bunch. Really raw compared to the hyper-pop excellence of her other two entries, this shown a different side to her and was a sign of a good artist. I hadn’t gone back to this for a while and it’s really sounding good today.Released on my 22nd birthday in 2022, I listened to and enjoyed the Life Support album but it didn’t become a regular in rotation for me at the time and Sour Times was not an instant highlight. But then Madison did an online concert and posted a video of her performing this and ‘Follow The White Rabbit’ on to YouTube. FTWR was a favourite of mine so I watched the video and it was instead her performance of this song that completely won me over and convinced me that I needed to see her live on her next tour. Four concerts later, multiple songs still to come in this list and ‘Life Support’ now being one of the most important albums in my life, it’s fair to say that was an impactful YouTube watch lol. I’m still a little salty that this was one of the options for the surprise song at my stop of her tour last weeks but the fan chose ‘Default’ instead. Big name collabs have a tendency to struggle to live up to the hype but Rain On Me certainly delivered. Coming a year after ‘thank u, next’ and just before Ari released ‘positions’, she was firmly in her R&B era so to get this pure pop banger with actual choreography was a very welcome treat, especially coming right in the middle of lockdown. Still makes you want to move to this day. what would you do? is the highest Tate song and he only EOY top 10 hit so far, perhaps influenced by her reluctance to include it in recent tours, it would no longer be my go-to Tate track. However, I still love the little beat switch in the bridge where it gets a lot rockier and punchier. The video features a cute little narrative of her being a valet on the run but also some b-scenes of her doing some of her most provocative dance moves in a skintight outfit which feels like an odd combination. has become an underrated gem amongst her discography. If the last music video feels inconsistent in tone, Money Talks’s video is expertly crafted and feels like an award-winning short movie in itself. The whole video plays in reverse but it’s no gimmick, it’s the perfect way to tell the story of a £50 note and its murky journey throughout the London nightlife. It’s epic and thankfully the song that goes with it can match it. Dave produces the beat and goes back and forth with Fredo with verses that carry on getting better throughout. Dave pairs up with anyone but his Fredo connection is special. He always forced Fred to bring his A-game.Talking about inspiring artist to bring their A-game, NBA Youngboy isn’t an artist that usually inspires much hope but he sounds like butter on WUSYANAME. This song and this song only is what he was born to do. I’m a sucker for a pitched sample and this is about as good as it gets with Ty’s crooning vocals over the top adding another layer that elevates the song further. It’s only 2 minutes long but they make full advantage of every second. It’s the perfect summer anthem. To show how perfectly performed this song is, Tyler’s opening line is ‘Girl, you look malnourished’ but it’s still the smoothest thing you’ve heard all year and you have no doubt that he’s going to get the girl. They’ve both had solo hits in this list but my favourite song from the sisters, Forgive Me, came when they were still a duo where their differing styles (Halle’s angelic vocals and Chloe’s fierce, bolder delivery) complement each other so perfectly. You can feel the togetherness between them which helps their harmonies sound effortless. The chorus is such an earworm too which kept it on rotation. One of the strongest one-hit wonders in my chart, Want Me came to my attention as I saw Baby Queen perform as the support act for Olivia Rodrigo. The rest of her set was decent but it was this closing track that really caught my attention. The French bridge was intriguing but the chorus was undeniable. A proper crowd-pleaser. It’s rare for me that a song completely wins me over on first listen but this did that night in Manchester. I’m yet to have the same connection with any of her other songs. It was an agonisingly long wait to get solo music from my favourite BLACKPINK member and I was bound to love whatever we got. And what we got was two songs that couldn’t sound much different to each other. With the classically catchy chorus, EDM dance break and English, All Eyes On Me felt like the obvious lead single and, you know what, it probably should have been. This would have been a bigger single because it’s just a really solid, traditional pop song but you have to admire the ambition of going with FLOWER.t h e . c l i m b . b a c k is everything I love about Cole and why he is my favourite rapper ahead of Kendrick. There’s an air of simplicity and effortlessness in his music, especially when it comes to the hooks, that rarely exists in Kendrick’s work. Cole produced this beat himself and it’s the exact sound I love. Bass-heavy with the pitched sample but still dreamy and smooth, it’s the perfect accompaniment for the bars. It feels quite nostalgic in the way just to hear Cole spit two brilliantly crafted verses full of intricate entendres with a great viewpoint that brings you into the picture he’s painting. The outro is probably my favourite of the 20s too. Conversely to her other song in this section, 16 MINUTES was a song that I was delighted did get played in her recent show, especially as it was cruelly left off the album. It felt like a brilliant development of the sound she carved out on ‘Make You Mine’. She sounds gorgeous as ever with the moody, punchy production being the song’s secret weapon. It’s a banger. The particular style of 80s synth revival that ‘Blinding Lights’ brought about in the early 20s already sounds dated, but I’m glad Little Mix jumped on the trend with Break Up Song to get a decent sized hit in this. Not particularly innovative but, as with all of their songs, the vocals really deliver and you can’t help but be won over by the blinding optimism and positivity of their messages. There was a reason why this style was so dominate and that’s because it just sounds good. Sabrina’s 2024 was something special and Taste was an example of an artist right at the top of her game. The lyrics melodies are great and the lyrics were made to go instantly viral, especially when paired with a campy, kitsch, uber-violent video starring another extremely on-trend celebrity in Jenna Ortega.
July 7Jul 7 Author (x-19-7-10-19-26) Madison Beer - BOYSHIT(22-27) Madison Beer - make you mine(10-12-14-21-28) Digga D & AJ Tracey - Bringing It Back(10-15-23-29) Charli XCX - Lightning(16-25-30) Dua Lipa - Dance The Night-(24-28-31) Olivia Rodrigo - bad idea right?(14-23-19-19-26-32) Madison Beer - Baby(NE) Madison Beer - yes baby(NE) Alessi Rose - Same Mouth(27-35) beabadoobee - Take A Bite(8-11-16-21-29-36) Doja Cat - Say So(30-37) Ariana Grande - we can’t be friends (wait for your love)(31-38) ITZY - UNTOUCHABLE(12-15-20-32-39) Olivia Rodrigo - deja vu(5-18-27-36-47-40) BLACKPINK - How You Like That-(NE) Hailee Steinfeld - Dangerous(7-16-18-22-33-42) Eminem feat. Juice WRLD - Godzilla(31-34-43) J Hus - It’s Crazy(32-41-48-44) Ashe - Another Man’s Jeans(NE) LISA feat. Doja Cat & RAYE - Born Again(19-15-21-26-35-46) EVERGLOW - LA DI DA(13-17-25-36-47) J. Cole & Lil Baby - p r i d e . i s . t h e . d e v i l(28-39-48) JISOO - FLOWER(24-27-37-49) Kendrick Lamar feat. Taylour Paige - We Cry Together(x-29-38-50) Watsky feat. Hollis & Gifted Gab - AWW SHiTFour songs from 2025 make their debuts in this section, coming from LISA/Doja Cat/RAYE, Hailee Steinfeld, Alessi Rose and Madison Beer.The lead single to his final studio album, AWW SHiT felt like of a throwback to Watsky's earlier sound with a proper rapped verses in his pacy flow. Gifted Gab provides a solid guest verse and Hollis sounds lovely on the hook. Alongside a playful video which nods to those of his past, this just feels very nostalgic to me and brings back to my early teenage years in a way that no other song released in the 2020s does.Essentially a showpiece track from a gritty kitchen-sink musical play, We Cry Together is just as a piece of performance art than it is a song. For whatever reason though, this 6-minute track that consists of a couple arguing and very little else doesn’t sound uncomfortable at all and earned a place in my playlists. The performances are wonderful and you have to give a lot of credit to Taylour Paige for stealing so much of the spotlight away from Kendrick on a track like this. The looped piano is such a confrontational sound too and only adds to the tenseness. FLOWER making JISOO the first of BLACKPINK to get a solo UK top 40 hit remains one of my favourite chart moments of the decade. It really was not an obvious choice for her to launch her solo career with the lyrics being 95% in Korean, the drop really acting as the chorus and quite a relaxed tempo. Her little accompanying dance to this song now feels really iconic for her and I’ve loved seeing her perform it on tour With the features originally being hidden when the album dropped, I was not expecting Lil Baby to drop in early in the second verse of p r i d e . i s . t h e . d e v i l and then was even more surprised to see him absolutely kill it. Not known for his strong lyrical ability, Baby brought his a-game here and Cole cleverly starts off the verse aping his signature flow which allows the transition between the two to be one of the smoothest I’ve ever heard. Cole’s verse is full of great lines and its exploration of the impact of proudness is such an interesting perspective.In the slew of 80s inspired synth-pop we got in the wake of ‘Blinding Lights’, I think LA DI DA might just be the apex. The sound got a bit tired but this still sounds so fresh to me. It’s just one of those rare tracks where every decision made pays off in spades. When to throw in a high note, when to go more baritone, when to add some claps. It’s just perfection. I don’t use TikTok so I usually miss out on when an artist releases a clip of their song before release to build hype but I ended up seeing the snippet Ashe released of the bridge to Another Man's Jeans months before its official release and I was obsessed. Thankfully the full track did not disappoint and I adore the relaxing, summery production. Hus’s most recent album was a big disappointment overall; made even worse by how brilliant the lead single, It's Crazy, was. He makes some great chilled out tracks but he’s never been afraid to get aggressive and the horror-core style matches his style flawlessly. The visuals in the video are top notch as well and there are not many other artists how can make this sound so respectable that they would get away with the ‘murder gives me a boner’ line. Godzilla bagged Eminem his 10th UK #1 single in 2020 with a great help from the late Juice WRLD on what was his first posthumous release. While I knew that Juice idolised Eminem, it still sounds like an eclectic mix of styles but one that just about works. Eminem has his late-career standard mix of good bars and cringy punchlines but it’s the better ones that stick in the memory. It’s notable for helping Eminem breaking his own record (from ‘Rap God’) for the fastest verse on a hit single. Another one of those songs that is intrinsically linked to memories of a certain time of my life. Releasing in summer 2020, How You Like That is of course a lockdown anthem but it was actually released one month into me training (from home) for my first job post uni degree so it has an even more specific memories attached to it. It’s maybe not my favourite single for them but I’m much more on board with it again now than I was even a couple of years ago, really helped by their tour last year being my favourite from them yet.deja vu will maybe end up being best remembered for starting the hinted-at beef between Olivia and Taylor, but I have to admit, I still can’t hear the ‘Cruel Summer’ interpolation which earned Taylor’s team retroactive writing credits. It has a great off-kilter production style where the song builds to the crescendo of the bridge where she lets loose. It’s such a great song for someone to release so young and so early into their career. After 5 years of solid success in my chart, ITZY finally released their magnum-opus track, UNTOUCHABLE, to bag their first EOY top 10 in my chart in 2024 and ironically, it was while my favourite member, LIA, was on hiatus. This helped YUNA to overtake as my bias but, now LIA is back established, she’s won the crown back. It’s one of their most standard sounding productions but the it sounds so smooth and the melodies are so well-written that it still stands out. They retain the attitude of their crazier tracks. We did eventually get a version of this song with added LIA vocals too!It’s just hitting me now that I will be hearing we can’t be friends (wait for your love) live next month. 🥳 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is an amazing film and Ari uses imagery from that film to brilliant effect throughout the album and the parallels conjured between that and this song are masterfully done. It’s quite understated but still packs a huge punch. Mainly thanks to Ari’s vocals. They’re not the powerhouse, show-offy vocals were used to from earlier albums but she uses all of her experience to shine just as much without needing to exert herself. The first new #1 of the 2020s in my chart, Say So is still holding strong in the decade-to-date top 40. It was very deserving of being the big breakthrough for Doja into the mainstream with it’s retro-disco stylings complimenting her breathy, airy vocals. And when she picks the pace up and shows off her rapping ability, it lands all the harder. Doja’s great strength is her versatility and its all on display here.I was a casual fan of bea before but it was Take A Bite that made me sit up and properly take notice. It’s fairly monotonous in style and Rick Rubin’s production is quite grungy and unclean but I find it so addictive to listen to. As soon as it ends, I want to press replay. I love Bea’s sweet vocals and they work in grounding this song and giving you something to catch on to. The melody in the chorus is just particularly memorable for me and I constantly find myself humming its tune. Landing just above 'yes baby', Baby was a great R&B-Pop blend which certainly caught my attention back in 2020. It earned her many Ariana comparisons but I think she adds enough of her own personality to make it her own. Listening to it straight after yb, its clear how much crisper and cleaner the production has gotten in her music as how much sharper her vocals are as she has matured but there’s something about this era that connected with me so much that it has a massive place in my heart. bad idea right? is one of Olivia's most experimental tracks and an unconventional choice for a single, bad idea right? sees Olivia put on a quite Wet Leg-eqsue delivery and incorporating some of their trademark conversational, humorous songwriting over some 90s-inspired garage rock distorted guitars. The instrumental bridge is so wacky but I adore it and would rank it amongst my favourite musical moments of the 20s. I was a little late getting on board with the singles to ‘Future Nostalgia’ but I was given another chance to get on board after Dua’s track for the world-dominating Barbie soundtrack, Dance The Night, sounded like it was straight off the album. It was an instant #1 for me and almost an EOY #1 too. Dua can make this disco-pop records with ease and this is more proof that she’s mastered that craft. Mark Ronson is amongst the producers too and he also certainly has history in making danceable floor fillers. It’s use in the film is perfect too and elevated it from a great pop song to something even more specialI forgot just how good Lightning is! It did end up at #2 in my 2022 EOY chart but I just haven’t gone back to it much which has seen it drop lower than you’d expect here. I said LA DI DA might be the best of the 80s synthpop nostalgia wave but I was omitting this. It’s so striking and manic that it feels like a punch as soon as you turn it on. It’s excessive and overly energetic with the vocoder, the punching synths and heavy bass but you can’t stop listening, anticipating where it’s going to go next. There’s one synth in here that is placed perfectly and always gives me chills. Definitely one that you need to listen to with good headphones to appreciate all of the little flourishes. I think Bring It Back is the highest rap song in this list and it’s quite funny that it’s a song that relies heavily on the two artists’ pasts. This saw Digga and AJ borrow the flows (and recreate the videos) from the songs that first saw them breakthrough (CGM’s ‘Next Up Freestyle’ and AJ’s ‘Packages’ respectively) and they still sound brilliant to the day. Digga isn’t an all-time favourite of mine but his interplay with AJ is so fun and he’s created something bigger than himself here. Some really nice bars from AJ too. It’s really Madison’s section and she finishes off with her second pair of back-to-back songs. make you mine has been on rotation a lot this year too with its delayed inclusion on her recent album and said album’s tour. This is maybe the song where she perfected her dark dance-pop sound and it almost became a UK top 40 hit. It’s was the highlight of her tour two years ago and it was another standout this time around. It’s a bit of a fan fave and the audience is always really up for it. BOYSHIT, on the other hand, may be older and less advanced but you can still here signs of the direction she was going to head in. It’s much more pop than dance but there’s little bits of distortion and more cinematic production that make it still killer. The conceit of the song is fun and she does a lot with the concept with a great singalong chorus.
July 18Jul 18 Author (1-2-2-1-1-1) BLACKPINK - Lovesick Girls(1-1-2-2-2) Olivia Rodrigo - good 4 u(3-4-4-3-3) Maisie Peters - Psycho(23-5-4) Maisie Peters - Body Better(NE) BLACKPINK - JUMP(4-3-3-4-6) Charli XCX feat. Christine and the Queens & Caroline Polachek - New Shapes(6-7) Ariana Grande - yes, and?(5-5-7-8) BLACKPINK - Pink Venom(NE) Sabrina Carpenter - Manchild(22-6-8-10) Madison Beer - Showed Me (How I Fell In Love With You)-(17-10-11) Madison Beer - Home To Another One(7-9-12) Maisie Peters - Run(6-8-8-11-11-13) Ariana Grande - positions(12-14) Taylor Swift - I Can Do It With a Broken Heart(13-15) Sabrina Carpenter - Juno(23-8-14-16) Maisie Peters - Not Another Rockstar(15-17) Sabrina Carpenter - Espresso(2-5-9-13-16-18) Ariana Grande - 34+35(NE) Alessi Rose - First Original Thought(NE) JISOO - earthquake-(18-21) LISA feat. ROSALÍA- New Woman(14-12-20-22) BLACKPINK - Shut Down(3-7-11-18-24-23) Little Mix - Sweet Melody(NE) Maisie Peters - You You You(6-6-9-17-25) LISA - LALISAFive songs from 2025 make their debuts in this section, coming from Maisie Peters, JISOO, Alessi Rose, Sabrina Carpenter and BLACKPINK.You have to have some self-confidence to self-title your debut single but that’s certainly not an area where LISA lacks and she manages to sell LALISA well. The hook may be slightly repetitive but it keeps it interesting by the constantly changing production with the introduction of some traditional Thai instruments giving it some originality and smartly honouring her heritage. Little Mix had one last hit up their sleeve as a foursome in 2020 with Sweet Melody becoming their final #1 single, and in many people’s eyes, one of their all-time best. The harmonies are always on point when it comes to Little Mix and they sound brilliant together here. But it’s the hook that got everyone hooked and it just feels like the perfect pop chorus: Instantly memorable and sure to have you singing along for days to come. The killer choreo brings the video to life and was a great effort considering it was still lockdown times. BLACKPINK mix traditional and modern sounds on Shut Down using a classic classical sample alongside the trap beats. It sounds so good and is one of their most rap-heavy tracks with JENNIE and LISA both getting verses. It’s also very self-referential with the classic catchphrases (‘BLACKPINK in your area’) and video where they recreate some of the older videos. It very much appeals to me as a huge stan. JISOO with the umbrella again was enough for me. New Woman - It does kinda feel like they’ve recorded two completely different songs and just merged them together afterwards but there’s a certain charm in that and the transition between the two artists in the video of New Woman is much cleaner. Like all good popstars before her, LISA hired Max Martin and Ilya to produce and Dave Meyers to direct the video and it rewarded her with one of her best songs. I always think the outros are always standout in BLACKPINK’s discography and this is one of the finest related to them.Provocative title and lyrics with sugary sweet production and heavenly vocals is a well-trodden path for Ariana, but she knocks it out of the park every time. What makes 34+35 more special is the music video where we got some real choreography (with splits) for one of the few times in her career. I might start a petition to get this added to the setlist before she visits London. It’s a bit to early to say for definite but it feels almost inevitable that when people think back of the 2020s in the future, Espresso is going to be one of the defining songs of the decade. The ultimate summer anthem, its so light and breezy and instantly transports you to a beach in your head. It’s a masterclass in personably pop with the lyrics erring on the side of playfulness without ever feeling too forced or cringy and its rewarded Sabrina by practically making her the biggest pop star in the world overnight. Maisie went full on rockstar with the Avril Lavigne sounding Not Another Rockstar. What I love about this is how un-rocky her voice actually is. It’s a weird juxtaposition with everything else the song is doing which I found so addictive. It’s rapid-pace, stirring and so punchy which makes it feel like it’s over even quicker than the already brief 2:30 runtime would suggest. It’s rare that a song truly lands with me on first listen. I often think a song’s pretty cool but I can never usually tell what’s going to be a song that I will go on to love. But on my first listen of Juno, specifically when we got the guitar solo on the bridge, I knew it was going to be one of my favourite songs of that year. It’s so epic yet still so silly and cheeky. You can see why she made it such a centre-piece of the Short n’ Sweet World Tour with her iconic poses (“Have you ever tried this one?”) being so fun. I can’t even put into words to describe her one for my show lol.A very theatrical moment from Taylor’s eleventh album, I think I Can Do It With a Broken Heart is one of her most successful concept songs. The click track is the perfect little flourish to help sell you on the feeling that this is Taylor giving herself a little pep talk before going out on stage. Ultra sad lyrics and upbeat, carefree production and melodies is certainly not a new concept but there aren’t many better than this. If there was ever a time where a ‘tour footage’ music video feels earned, it’s probably this one with the Eras Tour. While I don’t think I’m capable of not loving an Ariana lead-single, I do remember thinking at the time that positions wasn’t quite on the level of her others but its just got better and better for me with each passing year and now I would rank it amongst her very best. As evidenced by it still being my 13th top song of the decade six years in after it only landed at #6 in my 2020 EOY chart, overtaking ‘34+35’ which had landed at #2 in the process. It’s just bounces along so freely with the added strings just being the icing on the cake. It feels effortless for Ari layered vocals just being so fun. The first EOY #1 to depart, Run remains a banger but would no longer be my go-track from The Good Witch with another song from that album being one of the two 2023 songs that have now climbed above this. In many ways, a potential victim of its own success, I perhaps spammed this a bit too much that it lost a little of its magic for me. But now Florescence has become my album on repeat instead of her previous, this is starting to really sound good again. It’s not quite 3-minutes but it packs a strong punch with its relentless, punching energy sweeping you along for the ride. One of the 2023 tracks to overtake Run, Home To Another one is another song that doesn’t quite hit the dizzying length of 3-minutes but maybe that has helped it never even earning a hint of staleness in my eyes. Madison always put a lot of effort in her videos and this is one of her finest where she uses some alien imagery, a key notion all thoughout her discography. The production is so dreamy while the chimes(?) making it feel like its from another dimension. Her vocals are so sweet during the verses which makes the explosion of the chorus all the more impactful. I just adore her whole schtick.With 7 weeks atop my chart, Showed Me (How I Fell In Love With You) is one of the longest running #1s of the decade and just about remains as her top song with a YTD top 10 placement. It’s much more sultry and low-fi than the previous song and feels quite timeless, in no small part thanks to its interpolation of the Turtles’s ‘You Showed Me’. It’s a little darker than my other faves from her but she proves that she can do it all (with or without a broken heart). 2022 becomes the first year to drop out completely with that year’s #1, and the first of three BLACKPINK songs in the top 10, Pink Venom drops out at #8. This is a comeback from them that had so many iconic moments, ROSÉ’s leather dress, JENNIE wearing a Man Utd shirt, 50 Cent and Notorious B.I.G. references, the opening chant. I could go on! My favourite part however is JENNIE’S rap because the flow is so tight that it’s stronger than what most actual popular rappers have been giving us recently. She was always meant to be the main rapper of BLACKPINK but LISA has kinda taken her spot over the years so it was great to see her deliver something like this. Sonically, very much not in line with everything else on the album, yes, and? was still chosen as Ariana’s big comeback single after 3 years away. Over a house beat, Ariana channels her inner-Madonna to deliver this self-defiant message against her critics. It’s the highest song for Ari but is probably not necessarily my favourite song from her this decade. It just had that special moment of being her first song for a large gap where she had hinted of moving away from music so the excitement has carried it higher.New Shapes, Charli’s international collaboration with French artist Christine and the Queens and American Caroline Polachek, was a rare 9-week #1 in my chart and is another of those 80s inspired synth anthems. They are particularly nasty here and played with the same force as the strings in the most intense classical track you know. It’s electrifying with all three artists playing their part. I love Caroline’s slower bridge and Christine’s manically positive energy but Charli steals the show with her thoroughly dedicated performance.It’s insane that Body Better only debuted at #7 in my chart and took 4 weeks to climb to top spot. I think the fact that Maisie announced it as the lead single, meaning her other recent singles that I loved were not going to be on the album, left me feeling salty at first. I love how this hooks you in from second one with the melodically-leasing ‘oh ooh’s making it instantly recognisable. It’s a song I always look forward to in her shows and has become my go-to Maisie track nowadays. However... Psycho is one of those songs that are so good that you instantly become a stan of the artist. I love the rest of the album with slightly more indie-leaning but I’m a sucker for a big, bubble-gum pop moment so this was right up my alley. The music video is so fun with Maisie being replaced by increasingly diverse girls while her boyfriend remans unaware and her cherry jumper, red lips, leather trouser look is is iconic. Maisie’s biggest (non-Christmas) hit in the charts, I am determined to hear it live at some point (fingers crossed at the O2 show) because, despite seeing her 5 times (three this year), it isn’t one of her own favourites so she hasn’t performed it. good 4 u is the equal longest running #1 hit in my chart with 11 weeks, and was made all the more impressive by doing them consecutively and gaining 2 years as my favourite song of the decade in the process. What an insane way to complete the trilogy of singles that saw her achieve world domination. ‘drivers license’ was a great ballad, ‘deja vu’ was great experimental pop but the rockier song is where Olivia excels and that’s what she delivers in spades here. The Paramore comparisons were unavoidable but I have to say, I think Olivia’s perfected the style here. The chorus demands that you shout along with it every time and the energy in Olivia’s performance doesn’t let up throughout. She has the perfect voice for this style and I don’t think I will ever tire of this song. But for its longevity, my first EOY #1 of the decade, Lovesick Girls, remains atop the chart five years later. Although it is bad timing as June became the first month since its release that it didn’t earn a scrobble in my last.fm stats. I find this song to be so addictive. As soon as it ends, I want to put it back on straight away. The chorus is the best of their careers. It’s so melodic and anthemic without relying on the massive production of some of their other songs. The harmony’s all sound fantastic and they all get moments to shine on their own. As far as I’m concerned, it’s THE BLACKPINK song and certainly my favourite song of the 2020s.
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