1 hour ago, Jade said:

'Good Times' feels like quite a sellout moment from all involved but I still have a bit of a nostalgic soft spot for it. That euphoric chorus is a perfect 'recession pop' time capsule. I still vividly remember my dad asking me what the "champagne popping, high street boppin song" is (as he'd seen it performed on a TV show) and having no clue what he was on about, until it was suddenly everywhere my peers went nuts for it at school.

Not much to add on 'Bad Romance' that I didn't already say in Jim's thread but I'm glad it made your top 5 at least. My #1 prediction for you is still standing!

Good Times is certainly full of lyrical nuggets.

'bad times can't match it'!

Oh I forgot Bad Romance was still to come, I guess by default it was my favourite No.1 of the year then! A classic pop gem in every way and nice that it had that second wind in the new year.

Edited Sunday at 17:103 days by gooddelta

I’d probably have Bad Romance at 2, which is pretty similar where it would be in 2009 (2 or even 1 for that year), so having it lower down is fair given it topped the 2009 rate.

By far her best song of course and rightfully a classic.

'Bad Romance', probably said it already in the 2009 #1 thread, what an incredible pop song and video from Lady Gaga. Still tops over 'Telephone' for me.

Bad Romance is obviously great, definitely top 5 in both 2009 & 2010, I’m now wondering if your number one is going to be the same as mine?

Bad Romance was an instant floorfiller to bung on back at that time when I was on holiday in Gran Canaria, and I can see why, it's got hooks galore, a party classic. Maybe that's why I prefer hearing less-played big Gaga hits from Fame Monster, but my new fave Gaga track is Die With A Smile, thats just grown and grown on me. 2020's Classic.

It's such an undeniable barnstormer that just hits like a ten ton brick every time.

This ain't a lovesong this is goodbye still remains one of my best from SFG such a tune deserved top and feels right being this high

Good time is good for a few listens but gets annoying fast should be a lot lower

Bad romance a decent enough song but i do think it was overexposed at the tike , one of her weaker nunber ones for me

Bad Romance is absolutely fantastic, one of Lady Gaga’s best ever songs.

4. Rihanna – Only Girl (In The World)

2 weeks at #1 (entered 31^st October, #1 on week beginning 6^th November): 02-01-01-04-05-07-05-07-06-06-09-12-21-24-26-30-25-26-32-34-41-38-39-38-52-56-55-52-64-65-74-74-74-72-69-82-89-89-89-98-58-54-66

Kept off #1: Take That – The Flood

EOY #4

When I joined Buzzjack and for those of you who weren’t here in 2011 this may seem odd, I was notably a very devoted fan of a red-haired singer, who appeared in my avatar and signature. I was the fan of this artist on the board, citing her unique voice, heartfelt lyrics and perhaps a bit of attraction. Particularly this was because of a very upbeat dance-pop song produced and written by the Norwegian production duo Stargate that I was completely obsessed with such that it helped my teenage self with a bit of a guiding philosophy through the usual problems of adolescence, how to feel like the only girl in the world.

That song was ‘Happiness’, the guiding philosophy was ‘be happy’, and the singer was Alexis Jordan, new at #3 the week that ‘Only Girl (In The World)’ climbed to #1. One consequence of my 2010 chart obsession was becoming a fan of Alexis’ short-lived career as she was in just the right time and place for me to feel connected to her. What also connected with me was the monstrously huge and reasonably similar dance-pop song that was at #1 that week, which I love nearly as much - and forgive me, because it's an important distinction, Alexis was cute, Rihanna was sexy. clears that Katy Perry video too

So after the Rihanna behemoth fully overpowered the aforementioned 'Promise This' as it became clear which was the more widely enjoyed and better selling song, holding on for two weeks and selling bucketloads in the last month of the year, even as 'Happiness' didn't entirely disgrace itself either, it was clear at the time who was the top girl of the charts at the end of 2010, even as nonsense from TV shows came through the charts, I don't think any song from the final quarter of 2010 holds up as well as 'Only Girl' does.

I’ve actually kept my Rihanna love under wraps on this site a lot more than I ever did the somewhat ephemeral Jordan, who was dropped from her label after trying to launch her second album and quit music. Rihanna, who has definitely not quit music, ninth album coming soon guys promise, was for a long time my most played artist ever and I was obsessed with all of her first five albums as a teenager, up to and through the point that she launched her sixth. Her uniquely accented voice made her songs stand out among the rest of pop music, she created a huge variety of exciting and fun songs to listen to, and for a while, she had every bit of the magic touch that you would wish for a popstar, not a foot wrong, insane album production quality and a reliable navy of fans ready to bow to their queen's every whim.

I was just in the process of getting obsessed with and worming every bit of the wonderful Rated R album (actually the first album I ever bought for myself on CD!) into my brain when 'Only Girl' came out, a new, bold, fresh and bright look to lead off an ultimately killer pop album, Loud. Also Stargate produced, as my intro was getting at, at the peak of their powers between this, 'Happiness' and Katy Perry's 'Firework', it's a rip-roaring pop song that hits every beat perfectly to emphasise Rihanna as an object of perfection, demanding your attention. As that chart run, and as anyone who has listened to it can attest, it is a showstopper of a song. As someone whose girl was Rihanna in the big popstar wars of the time, it was something I played a lot, and while ultimately I'd always get attached to her slower emotional songs slightly more, this is one of her best efforts at an upbeat barnstormer.

There's a few pop songs of the time that can compete with this on production and vocal quality, but not many. 'Only Girl' makes good use of every second of its runtime, everything sounds so well put together, you can really believe Rihanna as she lifts towards 'want you to make me feel' that she absolutely means it, that for this moment it's just you and her, and that's all that matters. The bubbling undercurrent means it never slows down and just moves on perfectly to the next part of the song, I could honestly never stop listening to it. On a technical level, this is probably the best pop song in the countdown and controversially I'm including 'Bad Romance' in that, I think the expertise of this song is so well-done that there was nothing else in 2010 that was quite so... perfect. No slight to it, technical brilliance isn't the only thing we're ranking on here, but it is really really good at being a dancefloor pop song.

This and the rest of Loud would be a constant soundtrack to my life for the next 2 years or so, I loved Rihanna's red-haired turn even as much as I'd loved her darker stint on Rated R, I think when you truly love an artist, you appreciate them no matter the vibe of the music they are selling, and while Rihanna was certainly not the only girl, ahem, popstar, I was into at this juncture, by listening to this song, you could easily think that she was.

I loved “Only Girl” at the time too - not as much now but it’s still effortlessly superior to most of this list.

I put “Bad Romance” at #3 in the 2009 list and I’m not sure where I’ll end up putting it when I do this one yet.

It’s an interesting and diverse top 3 - I’m a fan of all of them.

I love Only Girl, a real banger. I still find it amazing how Rihanna kept up that record of every first single from each new album being brilliant! Such quality control.

For ages I thought this was average and generic, but a few months later it hooked me in. It's a classic banger now.

Yeah Stargate reviving the 2002 eurotrance sound in the chorus for this.

I liked it but got a bit bored of it on music channels a lot. I like it again now.

Only girl is one of rihannas absolute best (heck the whole loud era was) was fuming at the time that Cheryl blocked her first week but greatness prevails

And arguably it should be number 1 here too

Only Girl is indeed a right banger.

It’s a shame The Flood couldn’t have been number 1 as well, but there was no stopping Rihanna in 2010.

Oooh - thought "Only Girl" would easily go top 3 here - it is a banger.

Yes Only Girl another classic club pop track of the time, put on loud in a club (or your bedroom) and jiggle along, strong song and production and still sounds fresh to me. I didnt necessarily love every Rihanna track, but a quick check shows she had a dozen top 10's (including this) and 2 massive chart-toppers, Umbrella and Stay and a host of lesser tracks non-stop pretty much.

Is there a more iconic pop era/look than Rihanna's Loud era in the last 20 years?

I had just moved up to north Wales at this point and from about November through to March, every time I went out I saw maybe 30 or more women with the exact same shade of dyed red hair, it was such an influential look.

It helps that Loud is also one of the best pop albums of the last 20 years and Only Girl is a banger indeed although was quite low down in my end of year chart at the time as it felt a bit pedestrian in many ways initially, but Rihanna elevated what could have been quite a generic song in the hands of many others. I still remember one of my cheesier friends actually trying to chat a girl up with the immortal line 'I wanna make you feel like you're the only girl in the world'. It didn't work.

I'll get to my favourite song on the album in the 2011 thread, but the combined force of Only Girl, What's My Name, Who's That Chick, S&M and the still lingering Love The Way You Lie really made it feel like Rihanna was constantly everywhere for about a year, yet it was all good, the songs were high quality and she was a force. I miss her imperial phase a lot - one of the best pop music ever saw.

Fab start to top 5 with 'Bad Romance' whilst a repeat in these. Timeless Gaga.

'Only Girl (In The World)' is a tricky one as it is indeed a banger but can't deny the chorus does grind a bit on me a fair bit so it would come down to like but not love it personally. It is by far best her best era and am glad to have the accompanying album as the only one of hers I own. The red hair look is her best look by far.

'Happiness' is a bop also.

There were a couple I couldn't figure out when trying to work out what was in the top 10, they were Scouting For Girls and Diana Vickers, so understandable to me. I do question the 'rock' element of the former, I don't see how it's any more rocky than Paradise really, and would never have considered them amongst the landfill element of indie - it felt like the likes of them, The Hoosiers, The Feeling were very much apart from what was typical landfill, your Enemies, Pigeon Detectives, Automatics etc. This Ain't A Love Song is considerably better than their previous bigger hits but not to the extent that I care for it in any way. Once... meh, I get what you say about the likes of Ellie and Marina but for me it's way behind even their most mediocre.

Great to see We No Speak Americano in the top 3, Roll Deep as stated before is class and think it'd sneak into the top 5 for me. Written In The Stars is about right, do like it but it's the weakest of his big 4 from that era, including Miami 2 Ibiza there too. Only Girl is decent but not a Rihanna song I've really gone back to over the last decade - I think it would be contending with Bad Romance and Bruno Mars for the final position in my top 10.

I have a huge favourite of what is left, I suspect I can guess what your #1 is and it wouldn't be shared, but it'd make the top 10.