13 hours ago, TheSnake said:

Like in Justin Beiber - Boyfriend! Nick Grimshaw on Radio 1 I remember talking about that

But Pure Shores is a way better song. Really lovely pop meets trip-hop song.

Oh my, I listened to Grimmy before school for a while back in the day but that had definitely escaped my memory

Glad you're also a fan of 'Pure Shores'! All Saints were another brilliant match for William Orbit much like Madonna.

12 hours ago, Jaz13music said:

I agree Bad Romance is my favourite Gaga single. Driving rhythm, darker subject matter and excellent vocals, it did seem a step up from the original Fame singles.

I love Pure Shores, gorgeous production and vocals, light and melodic. However my All Saints favourite is the absolutely beautiful Black Coffee, probably my fav girl group single of the century, along with Freak Like Me.

Yay for a snap Gaga favourite then 🤩 it's one of those songs that's massively popular on the forum, so always one to watch in rates but I definitely get the hype.

'Black Coffee' is another 10/10 tbh so can't knock that choice! I love the way it builds to that explosive outro. 'Freak Like Me' is also brilliant, my favourite Sugababes single and received my top marks in the Pop Princesses 2 rate <3 I suppose it has sort of appeared through its Tubeway Army source material so far at least

---

Thanks again for the comments <3 the noughties concludes this evening!

2000s

#02 Gorillaz - 'Feel Good Inc.' (2005)

#01 Roger Sanchez - 'Another Chance' (2001)

Claiming the runner-up spot for the 2000s is virtual band Gorillaz!

I first came across 'Feel Good Inc.' as part of the Now! 61 track list and it is the first song with an unconventional structure that I ever remember hearing, so that blew my mind as a kid. My love for it has only grown over the past two decades as I could appreciate its dark themes more. I got to witness 'Feel Good Inc.' live in 2017 when I attended their Humanz tour in Birmingham and the atmosphere was incredible during that song!

'Feel Good Inc.' was chosen as the lead single for the group's sophomore album Demon Days. Damon Albarn wrote the song while en route to performing at Coachella with Blur back in 2003. Hip-hop group De La Soul agreed to collaborate with Gorillaz as they were familiar with 'Clint Eastwood', which featured rapper Del the Funky Homosapien. They originally brainstormed rhymes for the track 'Kids With Guns', which would feature Neneh Cherry in its final form, but De La Soul member David Jolicoeur wanted to be part of the recording of 'Feel Good Inc.' after Albarn showed him the instrumental. He has a writing credit for the rap verse which he also performs, while fellow member Vincent Mason is behind the maniacal laugh throughout. De La Soul's Kelvin Mercer did not contribute to the song due to timing conflicts as he was working on material for his own group. Elsewhere, Danger Mouse is credited as a producer, a year before he would achieve a #1 hit as part of Gnarls Barkley. Gorillaz themselves, Jason Cox and James Dring also have additional production credits.

The lyricism throughout is sharp and Orwellian in style as Albarn criticises consumerist society and fake happiness. 'Feel Good Inc.' is a controlling, soulless corporation and De La Soul perform as representatives, with lines like "watch me while I navigate" illustrating their power. Albarn, as his Gorillaz character 2-D, is unhappily stuck in this corporation's tower in a "melancholy town where we never smile". I love his vocal delivery as he really nails the feeling of forced happiness, with underlying anxiety present, particularly the slogan-esque "feel good" parts. His character in the music video feels trapped and watches on as fellow Gorillaz member Noodle instead experiences freedom on her floating island. Adult me appreciates these visuals so much more than when I was a kid as those windmill scenes are clearly an homage to the film Castle in the Sky, from Studio Ghibli, an animation studio I've already gushed about several times in blurbs for this countdown.

This genre-bending track opens with a suitably menacing bassline while 2-D swiftly tells us the city's falling apart. The rap section is similarly haunting both lyrically and production-wise. Meanwhile, the song flips that mood on its head for the chorus, as Damon sings in a more wistful manner, with hopeful lines such as "love forever, love is free" contrasting the depression of a soulless, dystopian society. The production becomes more acoustic for this part to match that shift in mood. I adore how this song defies expectations both genre-wise and in terms of structure, what a triumph.

'Feel Good Inc.' settled for a #2 peak in the U.K. chart as Gorillaz were blocked by Akon's 'Lonely'. The song has truly stood the test of time, with over 1 billion YouTube views and 2.5 billion Spotify streams. 'Feel Good Inc'. even re-entered the top 40 for several weeks just last year.

...

I'm sure this #1 was predictable for those of you who have put up with me for years. 'Another Chance' may not be the writing masterclass of tracks like 'Feel Good Inc.', since it's based on a loopy sample, but sometimes an emotional connection can trump a technical one in my affections and that's exactly the case here - although it's still well crafted anyway!

This is an occasion where a song is enhanced by its music video. The visuals for 'Another Chance' are beautifully human and I've always felt a connection to them. A woman wanders the streets with a large plastic heart, a striking metaphorical image, that shrinks as she faces rejection. But it later grows again when hope re-enters the picture. Similarly, the one quality I've always liked about myself is that I have a big heart, but sadly this has been taken advantage of in the past on numerous occasions - moreso on a friendship level, than a romantic one. So the video always spoke to me in that way and made the song extra special by association. Those visuals seem to be well regarded in general and have even been referenced in other videos, with JADE's 'Plastic Box' coming to mind.

'Another Chance' is based around a sample of Toto's 'I Won't Hold You Back'. I've listened to the original on several occasions but the electronic presentation of Roger Sanchez's looped sample is a lot more to my personal taste. American DJ and producer Sanchez purchased several records from a shop in Montreal and one of them happened to be Toto's Toto IV album. He explored this record for sampling ideas and felt the "if I had another chance tonight" hook would work perfectly.

I love the regretful, yearning words and vocals as they also pack an emotional punch much like the video. The production is also wonderful with its swirly house sound and that impactful double drum kick. This single was one of the first electronic songs I loved, in amongst my rather poppy taste as a kid and evidently still hits me hard to this day!

'Another Chance' was a U.K. #1 hit for one week and dislodged 'Lady Marmalade' by Christina Aguilera and co. from the top in the process.

Congratulations to Roger Sanchez who joins The Ronettes, Kraftwerk, Visage and Depeche Mode in the hall of fame here now! Two more identities to reveal...

2000s

TOP 10 RECAP

#01 Roger Sanchez - 'Another Chance' (2001)

#02 Gorillaz - 'Feel Good Inc.' (2005)

#03 All Saints - 'Pure Shores' (2000)

#04 Lady Gaga - 'Bad Romance' (2009)

#05 Britney Spears - 'Toxic' (2003)

#06 The Bravery - 'An Honest Mistake' (2005)

#07 My Chemical Romance - 'Welcome to the Black Parade' (2006)

#08 Tomcraft - 'Loneliness' (2002)

#09 Sigur Rós - 'Hoppípolla' (2005)

#10 Alizée - 'Moi… Lolita' (2000)

Honourable mentions: 'Crazy' by Gnarls Barkley was the final song I cut, 'Hey Ya!' by OutKast, Eminem's 'Stan' and 'Move Your Feet' by Junior Senior also came very close, Girls Aloud's Tangled Up is my favourite ever girl group album so I wish I could've included something from that, although Sugababes were strong this decade too - both changed the face of early 2000s British pop music with their work alongside Xenomania, I already included plenty of chart toppers but 2000 housed many great dance ones in particular like Modjo, Sonique and Spiller, then there are some rockier faves like Green Day's 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams' and Franz Ferdinand's 'Take Me Out' that I would've loved to include, also some more electronic fave songs like Basement Jaxx's 'Romeo', Burial's 'Archangel', The Chemical Brothers' 'Star Guitar', Daft Punk's 'Digital Love', Reflekt's 'Need to Feel Love' and Zero 7's 'Destiny', LCD Soundsystem and Röyksopp are also pretty fab in general, then Arcade Fire's Funeral and Björk's Vespertine are a couple more favourite albums of the decade that have sprung to mind, The White Stripes have become a big favourite - especially 'Fell In Love With A Girl', Arctic Monkeys were off to a flying start this decade, The Killers peaked with 'Somebody Told Me' for me, Amy Winehouse released an iconic album featuring my favourite 'You Know I'm No Good', BuzzFave Kylie had some cracking songs this decade too, with 'Slow' my #1 single of hers, Robyn's 'With Every Heartbeat' also springs to mind as another painful cut amongst much more...

Time for another short break so see you at the weekend for the 2010s 🫶 I'd say the 2000s list was naturally the most commercial one yet (with 6 #1s!!) due to childhood nostalgia, but the 2010s and 2020s lists will contain a mix of both hits and less commercial stuff, as my taste evolved and I got better at searching outside of the mainstream, while still keeping an eye on the charts.

Gorillaz are a great shout. I’m a massive fan of Blur and particularly Damon Albarn, his many other projects have always seemed to bring something new and vibrant, continually reinventing himself. Gorillaz are no exception. De La Soul are one of my favourites rap acts, so of course I love the vibes of Feel Good Inc. Demon Days is their best album (see below for my favourite from it) though The Mountain now comes close.

I love your write up about Another Chance. Yes it’s a great song but mostly I like your personal attachment to it. I always feel those are the types of songs that have the greatest impact. The house styling is fantastic though, along with great vocals, and underneath it all it’s an excellent dance record too.

That’s another very enjoyable top 10, thank you!

My favourites of the decade would go something like this:

1. Stan (feat. Dido) – Eminem

2. Supermassive Black Hole – Muse

3. Ready for the Floor – Hot Chip

4. Digital Love – Daft Punk

5. Take Me Out – Franz Ferdinand

6. Fight Test – The Flaming Lips

7. In My Place – Coldplay

8. Dry Your Eyes – The Streets

9. America – Razorlight

10. DARE (feat. Shaun Ryder & Roses Gabor) – Gorillaz

11. Your Love Alone Is Not Enough – Manic Street Preachers & Nina Persson

12. Crazy – Gnarls Barkley

13. Hey Ya! – Outkast

14. Empire State Of Mind (feat Alicia Keys) – JAY-Z

15. Time to Pretend – MGMT

16. Paper Planes – M.I.A.

17. Out of Time – Blur

18. Caught Out There – Kelis

19. There Goes the Fear – Doves

20. No One Knows – Queens of the Stone Age

21. Cornerstone – Arctic Monkeys

22. One Day Like This – Elbow

23. Sing – Travis

24. Hard To Explain – The Strokes

25. Hotel Yorba – The White Stripes

26. Freak Like Me – Sugababes

27. All My Life – Foo Fighters

28. This Is the Last Time – Keane

29. In da Club – 50 Cent

30. American Idiot – Green Day

31. Two More Years – Bloc Party

32. Welcome to the Black Parade – My Chemical Romance

33. I Don't Feel Like Dancin' – Scissor Sisters

34. Rehab – Amy Winehouse

35. Hometown Glory – Adele

36. Foundations – Kate Nash

37. Dog Days Are Over – Florence + the Machine

38. Dance Wiv Me (feat. Calvin Harris – Dizzee Rascal

39. Bulletproof – La Roux

40. The Fear – Lily Allen

11 hours ago, Jaz13music said:

Gorillaz are a great shout. I’m a massive fan of Blur and particularly Damon Albarn, his many other projects have always seemed to bring something new and vibrant, continually reinventing himself. Gorillaz are no exception. De La Soul are one of my favourites rap acts, so of course I love the vibes of Feel Good Inc. Demon Days is their best album (see below for my favourite from it) though The Mountain now comes close.

I love your write up about Another Chance. Yes it’s a great song but mostly I like your personal attachment to it. I always feel those are the types of songs that have the greatest impact. The house styling is fantastic though, along with great vocals, and underneath it all it’s an excellent dance record too.

That’s another very enjoyable top 10, thank you!

My favourites of the decade would go something like this:

1. Stan (feat. Dido) – Eminem

2. Supermassive Black Hole – Muse

3. Ready for the Floor – Hot Chip

4. Digital Love – Daft Punk

5. Take Me Out – Franz Ferdinand

6. Fight Test – The Flaming Lips

7. In My Place – Coldplay

8. Dry Your Eyes – The Streets

9. America – Razorlight

10. DARE (feat. Shaun Ryder & Roses Gabor) – Gorillaz

11. Your Love Alone Is Not Enough – Manic Street Preachers & Nina Persson

12. Crazy – Gnarls Barkley

13. Hey Ya! – Outkast

14. Empire State Of Mind (feat Alicia Keys) – JAY-Z

15. Time to Pretend – MGMT

16. Paper Planes – M.I.A.

17. Out of Time – Blur

18. Caught Out There – Kelis

19. There Goes the Fear – Doves

20. No One Knows – Queens of the Stone Age

21. Cornerstone – Arctic Monkeys

22. One Day Like This – Elbow

23. Sing – Travis

24. Hard To Explain – The Strokes

25. Hotel Yorba – The White Stripes

26. Freak Like Me – Sugababes

27. All My Life – Foo Fighters

28. This Is the Last Time – Keane

29. In da Club – 50 Cent

30. American Idiot – Green Day

31. Two More Years – Bloc Party

32. Welcome to the Black Parade – My Chemical Romance

33. I Don't Feel Like Dancin' – Scissor Sisters

34. Rehab – Amy Winehouse

35. Hometown Glory – Adele

36. Foundations – Kate Nash

37. Dog Days Are Over – Florence + the Machine

38. Dance Wiv Me (feat. Calvin Harris – Dizzee Rascal

39. Bulletproof – La Roux

40. The Fear – Lily Allen

Yes love how versatile Damon is! I grew up in an Oasis household but could still appreciate their chart rivals too I unsurprisingly agree with you that Demon Days is the best Gorillaz project and 'DARE' is also a great pick! The Mountain is a triumph and certainly one of my favourite albums of 2026 so far.

Glad you enjoyed the commentary <3 felt a bit vulnerable writing that but it helps to explain why I feel so attached to it. A mighty fine dance record indeed!

Fabulous list once again with quite a few I had as honourable mentions like: 'Stan', 'Digital Love', 'Take Me Out', 'Crazy', 'Hey Ya!' etc. as well as the snap MCR love 🖤 'Stan' and 'Lose Yourself' are my favourites from Eminem so the public had good taste getting them both to #1. The storytelling, sample and production on the former are all hauntingly great.

Thank you for commenting <3

Another Chance and Pure Shores would me my favourites from 1 to 6 and that's a very good top 10 overall. This is my top 10 from the decade:

1. You Will Make It - Jem

2. Sao Paulo - Guillemots

3. Lights - Archive

4. In The Backseat - Arcade Fire

5. There Goes The Fear - Doves

6. Sex Born Poison - Air

7. Silver Screen Shower Scene (Thin White Duke Remix) - Felix Da Housecat

8. No Danger (album version) - The Delgados

9. Pray - Syntax

10. On A Day Like Today - Keane

Another Chance just brings such warm feelings about the Summer of 2001. It was played in all the bars and clubs when I had my first job and spent most weekends out with my workmates. Definitely one of my favorite dance songs of the decade.

Edited October 1Oct 1 by Colm

Of course nothing else was going to be your number 1! Another Chance is a beautiful song, a great example of a single line repurposed carrying the full weight of the song's meaning and it shows how emotional dance music can be. I love the video as well and think it has an, ahem, heart-warming message.

Feel Good Inc. is one I've always really liked, but have come to appreciate the lyricism and themes even more, and it still manages to be a real bop either way, I do think I prefer DARE overall, but both are fantastic from a time they were quite a force, it's a shame Gorillaz don't have as much commercial success these days but it's great that what was initially meant to be a temporary side-project for Albarn has blossomed into one of the most creative and versatile musical groups out there over two decades on.

Bad Romance is obviously great, I listened to the Fame Monster (with the Fame alongside) as part of my second albums project and it did make me appreciate how sophisticated and creative her sound became in a short space of time following what was a nice but slightly dated pop album, with it working as quite a good ying and yang. It shamefully took me ages to recognise they were Hitchcock references in the lyrics, but that obviously is a huge bonus x

Welcome to the Black Parade is probably my favourite in the top 10 and an all time favourite for me as well, that was one of the first songs I remember really loving and I remember how different it sounded to pretty much everything else played on the pop music channels (Exemplified by the fact I heard it almost as much on Kerrang! as I did on Chart Show TV!), I still absolutely love the epic nature of the song, the beautiful, tear-jerking piano intro and anthemic chorus and it getting to number 1 was so unexpected but a real moment. I definitely get how they're a band that sound a bit 'deeper' in your teens that you grow out of, but that one has always stuck with me. The album holds a lot of good memories for me as well.

Also love Hoppipolla, I'm naturally a big fan of Planet Earth and so that soundtracked it beautifully, but the song works independently of that with it's gorgeous piano riff and crescendo at the end, I also really like the music video with the old people playing as children and it complements the emotional, hopeful message really well.

Moi...Lolita is a surprise here as I didn't know how much you liked that! I've discovered that fairly recently and do really like it, it's got a really ominous vibe to it and has some great production and string section backing it up, Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita is on my reading list so I'm interested to see when I do, how it links up to it lyrically x

This would obviously be the hardest decade for me to be accurate about a top 10 with as it's the decade I grew up in and where I developed my chart and musical obsessions, but I'll try x

01. Coldplay - Fix You

02. My Chemical Romance - Welcome to the Black Parade

03. Elbow - One Day Like This

04. Daft Punk - One More Time

05. Snow Patrol - Run

06. U2 - Beautiful Day

07. Johnny Cash - Hurt

08. Muse - Hysteria

09. Linkin Park - Numb

10. MGMT - Time to Pretend

And I think I have to leave it there as I could genuinely list about 100 more! I was much more of a rock/alt-kid, yet did still avidly follow the charts in the last part of the decade. I think going forward, like you, this would be the most mainstream it gets though, I got increasingly disillusioned with chart music and was in my own little world musically!

I wasn't completely sure that 'Another Chance' would be your #1 for the decade, but it's great to see - as a dance record it's always had that emotional edge that you articulated so well. I bought it on release and it's always been in my top 10 for the year 2001 at least. My other favourites of your decade top 10 are 'Bad Romance', 'Welcome To The Black Parade' and 'Loneliness' (although it's the UK radio/video edit that's my preferred mix of the latter). I really enjoyed your commentary of 'Feel Good Inc.' too as I've always known the song but hadn't fully appreciated the Orwellian nature of the lyrics.

I think 'Bad Romance' would come closest to making my own top 10 these days, plus many others in your honourable mentions list ('Hey Ya!', 'Fell In Love With A Girl' and 'With Every Heartbeat' especially wouldn't be far away). Again I'm sure there's some I've missed, but my top 10 could be something like:

1 Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)

2 Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars

3 Muse - Starlight

4 Green Day - Jesus Of Suburbia

5 The Killers - When You Were Young

6 Mumford & Sons - The Cave

7 Vampire Weekend - A-Punk [although it would pain me to lose 'Capricorn' from the 2020s, may have to rethink that!]

8 Glasvegas - Daddy's Gone

9 PJ Harvey - Good Fortune

10 MGMT - Time To Pretend

so I echo the love on this page for 'Time To Pretend', and also 'Run' (which would make my 10 if 'Chasing Cars' didn't prevent it). Great shouts also for 'Hurt', 'Hard To Explain' as my favourite by The Strokes, and numerous others I could mention!

12 hours ago, King Rollo said:

Another Chance and Pure Shores would me my favourites from 1 to 6 and that's a very good top 10 overall. This is my top 10 from the decade:

1. You Will Make It - Jem

2. Sao Paulo - Guillemots

3. Lights - Archive

4. In The Backseat - Arcade Fire

5. There Goes The Fear - Doves

6. Sex Born Poison - Air

7. Silver Screen Shower Scene (Thin White Duke Remix) - Felix Da Housecat

8. No Danger (album version) - The Delgados

9. Pray - Syntax

10. On A Day Like Today - Keane

Yay, I'm especially pleased you singled out 'Another Chance' as a favourite from the #1-#6 section :)

Thanks for sharing your own top 10! You introduced me to 'Silver Screen Shower Scene (Thin White Duke Remix)' in BJSC, in addition to Archive in general, who were a great discovery - 'Bullets' is on my trip-hop / downtempo / ambient playlist 🖤

12 hours ago, Colm said:

Another Chance just brings such warm feelings about the Summer of 2001. It was played in all the bars and clubs when I had my first job and spent most weekends out with my workmates. Definitely one of my favorite dance songs of the decade.

Aw this comment really made me smile, wonderful memories! I'm glad 'Another Chance' has a special place in your heart too. ❤️

11 hours ago, Chez Wombat said:

Of course nothing else was going to be your number 1! Another Chance is a beautiful song, a great example of a single line repurposed carrying the full weight of the song's meaning and it shows how emotional dance music can be. I love the video as well and think it has an, ahem, heart-warming message.

Feel Good Inc. is one I've always really liked, but have come to appreciate the lyricism and themes even more, and it still manages to be a real bop either way, I do think I prefer DARE overall, but both are fantastic from a time they were quite a force, it's a shame Gorillaz don't have as much commercial success these days but it's great that what was initially meant to be a temporary side-project for Albarn has blossomed into one of the most creative and versatile musical groups out there over two decades on.

Bad Romance is obviously great, I listened to the Fame Monster (with the Fame alongside) as part of my second albums project and it did make me appreciate how sophisticated and creative her sound became in a short space of time following what was a nice but slightly dated pop album, with it working as quite a good ying and yang. It shamefully took me ages to recognise they were Hitchcock references in the lyrics, but that obviously is a huge bonus x

Welcome to the Black Parade is probably my favourite in the top 10 and an all time favourite for me as well, that was one of the first songs I remember really loving and I remember how different it sounded to pretty much everything else played on the pop music channels (Exemplified by the fact I heard it almost as much on Kerrang! as I did on Chart Show TV!), I still absolutely love the epic nature of the song, the beautiful, tear-jerking piano intro and anthemic chorus and it getting to number 1 was so unexpected but a real moment. I definitely get how they're a band that sound a bit 'deeper' in your teens that you grow out of, but that one has always stuck with me. The album holds a lot of good memories for me as well.

Also love Hoppipolla, I'm naturally a big fan of Planet Earth and so that soundtracked it beautifully, but the song works independently of that with it's gorgeous piano riff and crescendo at the end, I also really like the music video with the old people playing as children and it complements the emotional, hopeful message really well.

Moi...Lolita is a surprise here as I didn't know how much you liked that! I've discovered that fairly recently and do really like it, it's got a really ominous vibe to it and has some great production and string section backing it up, Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita is on my reading list so I'm interested to see when I do, how it links up to it lyrically x

This would obviously be the hardest decade for me to be accurate about a top 10 with as it's the decade I grew up in and where I developed my chart and musical obsessions, but I'll try x

01. Coldplay - Fix You

02. My Chemical Romance - Welcome to the Black Parade

03. Elbow - One Day Like This

04. Daft Punk - One More Time

05. Snow Patrol - Run

06. U2 - Beautiful Day

07. Johnny Cash - Hurt

08. Muse - Hysteria

09. Linkin Park - Numb

10. MGMT - Time to Pretend

And I think I have to leave it there as I could genuinely list about 100 more! I was much more of a rock/alt-kid, yet did still avidly follow the charts in the last part of the decade. I think going forward, like you, this would be the most mainstream it gets though, I got increasingly disillusioned with chart music and was in my own little world musically!

I'm glad you rate 'Another Chance' musically and visually too. Loopy dance music was so popular in the 2000s, but this and 'Loneliness' both rose to the top for me, as they indeed pack such an emotional punch when magnifying their source material.

I feel similar about 'Feel Good Inc.', as a kid I was mostly fascinated with its unusual structure, much like 'Biology' by Girls Aloud from the same year - but in time grew to really appreciate every aspect of it, the latest being the Castle in the Sky inspiration in the video now I've become such a Ghibli fan. Demon Days and Plastic Beach both seem to get a lot of love in the streaming era, which is great, but would indeed be cool if some of their 2020s material properly broke through as well. If only 'New Gold' had become a top 40 hit. Time for a reappraisal now Tame Impala seems to have finally cracked the code for achieving top 40s himself, I think

I still return to 'Poker Face' and 'Paparazzi' a lot (and love both of their music videos) but agree the project in full has not aged as well as The Fame Monster, which is wall-to-wall enduring greatness, maybe with the exception of 'Teeth' it took me a while to recognise the Hitchcock references as well but suddenly clicked one day! Love her passion for film throughout the project in general, like "find your Jesus, find your Kubrick" on 'Dance in the Dark' as well off the top of my head. However, my favourite Gaga album overall is Born this Way, an important era to me on a personal level, but also a real genre-blending triumph musically. But nothing quite tops the rush of 'Bad Romance' as a single song.

I did remember the specific 'DARE' love from your 2005 #1s countdown, but thought if there was any song here you'd particularly appreciate, it'd be 'Welcome to the Black Parade' 🖤 I agree it's a really unique chart-topper and stood out from the crowd even at the time, when the charts felt a bit more musically diverse. I recently embarked on a marathon of all the MCR albums, after concluding my 2006 #1s countdown and agree the accompanying album is their best - my top 5 from it would probably be: 01 Welcome to the Black Parade 02 Famous Last Words 03 The Sharpest Lives 04 Teenagers 05 Mama <3

I agree both the MCR and Sigur Rós songs have beautiful piano parts.

Yeah I'd definitely say 'Moi...Lolita' has been a slow burn favourite for me over the years, with a particular appreciation this decade! I found myself instantly gravitating towards it in summer and accepted it has now become a top tier song for me. It indeed has a dark edge to it though despite this desire to hear it at that particular time of year. I expect you'll probably get around to Lolita before me as I'm absolutely useless at keeping on top of my endless lists of books, TV shows and movies seeing the Kubrick film has given me enough of an idea but definitely intrigued to get around to the novel one day as everyone seems to rave about the quality of the writing, including our very own lotita.

I knew 'Fix You' was your favourite song (would be up there for me as well re. Coldplay although my #1 is probably 'The Scientist') but wasn't sure how the rest of your own top 10 would play out, wonderful to see MCR as high as #2 <3 'One More Time', 'Run' and 'Beautiful Day' also particularly stand out as songs I associate with you. Lots of great stuff there!

Yeah I feel you, I've kept a personal chart on and off since 2011 and there's quite a difference between the amount of mainstream stuff that was appearing at the start of the decade compared to the end and into the 2020s. I still enjoy following the charts (even if they're in a painfully slow period at the moment!) and there are definitely still some top 40 gems to talk about, but otherwise my world was truly opened up by online spaces like BJSC and less mainstream radio stations.

9 hours ago, jimwatts said:

I wasn't completely sure that 'Another Chance' would be your #1 for the decade, but it's great to see - as a dance record it's always had that emotional edge that you articulated so well. I bought it on release and it's always been in my top 10 for the year 2001 at least. My other favourites of your decade top 10 are 'Bad Romance', 'Welcome To The Black Parade' and 'Loneliness' (although it's the UK radio/video edit that's my preferred mix of the latter). I really enjoyed your commentary of 'Feel Good Inc.' too as I've always known the song but hadn't fully appreciated the Orwellian nature of the lyrics.

I think 'Bad Romance' would come closest to making my own top 10 these days, plus many others in your honourable mentions list ('Hey Ya!', 'Fell In Love With A Girl' and 'With Every Heartbeat' especially wouldn't be far away). Again I'm sure there's some I've missed, but my top 10 could be something like:

1 Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)

2 Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars

3 Muse - Starlight

4 Green Day - Jesus Of Suburbia

5 The Killers - When You Were Young

6 Mumford & Sons - The Cave

7 Vampire Weekend - A-Punk [although it would pain me to lose 'Capricorn' from the 2020s, may have to rethink that!]

8 Glasvegas - Daddy's Gone

9 PJ Harvey - Good Fortune

10 MGMT - Time To Pretend

so I echo the love on this page for 'Time To Pretend', and also 'Run' (which would make my 10 if 'Chasing Cars' didn't prevent it). Great shouts also for 'Hurt', 'Hard To Explain' as my favourite by The Strokes, and numerous others I could mention!

Thank you so much for the kind words about my commentaries for 'Another Chance' and 'Feel Good Inc.' ❤️ the lyricism and world building is so interesting and layered on the latter indeed. I wasn't sure how fond of 'Another Chance' you were but top 10 for 2001 is pretty good going, really happy to see all the appreciation for it in this thread. However, I did know you were a big fan of 'Bad Romance' thanks to your 2009 countdown, plus I recalled you having the same top 2 #1s of 2006 as me but just the other way round - taste!

Great top 10 there, Funeral is another album like OK Computer that I was a bit late to but was truly worth all the hype it gets. 'The Cave' is my favourite Mumford and Sons song as well and 'Jesus of Suburbia' definitely stands out as an American Idiot highlight.

Run is ok but Set the Fire to the Third Bar is definitely my favorite from Snow Patrol. And one of my favorite songs of the 00s. I don't really like Snow Patrol at all.

I was really into Feel Good Inc but I think I overplayed it. It doesn't do much for me now.

2010s

Next up is the penultimate decade of the countdown (where is time going?!) that I entered as a 12-year-old and exited at 22, so quite the transitional period.

Here we speed run through a lot of my memorable life stages - from the majority of secondary school, to two years of sixth form, to three years at University, before rounding off with a little over a year spent in the full-time working world. I was a majorly awkward teenager who found secondary school a challenge, with its societal pressures and some lessons I didn't care for, but I thrived a lot more in sixth form! My peers appeared to be more carefree, I loved specialising in the subjects I was passionate about and found a tight knit friendship group, so finally experienced a proper social life at this point. University was generally enjoyable and my journalism course took me down many interesting avenues, especially writing for a cat magazine! I left feeling quite lost about where to go next but wangled my way into a temporary, unexpected work situation that has ended up lasting a lot longer than planned.

I entered the 2010s still as passionate about music as ever and stumbled across a certain website called BuzzJack! I joined in January 2011 so was just about old enough to become a member here as per the rules. My early posts were... a choice, often writing about the movement of Glee songs in the iTunes thread when nobody cared, as the show was already on the decline. I also started my personal chart this year albeit through the medium of YouTube videos. I assume I didn't realise there was a relevant section on BuzzJack as I only ever camped out in the chart forum at that time. But I finally moved them across to this site in 2013. I was more active across the whole of BuzzJack by this point and won a 'best emerging poster' award. But I didn't properly fall in love with this place until 2015, after joining a plug.dj session one night, as it had been advertised in The Lounge. This was an off-site platform we used to listen to music before SyncTube. I made a lot of connections with people this way as we used to spend so much time on the site playing whatever we wanted, often until ungodly hours. Fun times! I feel like those sessions and the BuzzJack Song Contest, which I finally signed up to that year despite originally being approached about it two years prior, had the most significance on expanding my music taste.

Younger me was largely into pop and dance but I slowly found myself attracted to more alt music in time. I think this first began when I was really active on Tumblr during the early 2010s, as that site worshipped artists like Lana Del Rey, Lorde and The xx, so I found myself getting into them too. But BuzzJack took this newfound curiosity to the next level and you can really see the difference in my personal charts from the early 2010s compared to the end of the decade.

I began the 2010s still buying new CD singles and downloading songs on to my iPod, but switched to curating playlists by the end of it. However, the decade did also produce the vinyl revival. I'd say it exploded properly during the pandemic but I first got the vinyl bug back in 2014, after receiving a record player for my 17th birthday. I worked at HMV between that year and 2015 and recall our selection being soooo small, so it was fascinating to watch the rebirth of the format slowly playing out in real time, as nowadays there is so much choice.

On top of vinyl, I'd say another significant music interest this decade was concert going! I finally had student loan and proper adult money so could see many favourite acts from a range of genres. This included all sorts during the 2010s - from Spice Girls, to Kendrick Lamar, to The xx, to The Chemical Brothers. Good memories!

The streaming era certainly shifted what the charts could look like. At the beginning of the decade it was fair game for £1 Fish Man to score a top 40 hit but by 2019 that kind of novelty was rare, especially in a culture more averse to 'cringe', save for a family obsessed with sausage rolls for some reason. All sorts of trends happened during the decade - from 'hands in the air' EDM, to stomp clap music, to tropical house, to cursive whispering girlies and so on. Let's get into the hit makers and more underground favourites that have stood the test of time for me in amongst all the fads...

#10 Drab Majesty - 'Ellipsis' (2019)

#09 Ariana Grande - 'no tears left to cry' (2018)

The 2010s countdown begins on a pretty uncommercial note as darkwave band Drab Majesty have never appeared in the single or album charts, as far as I'm aware.

This duo first came into my life through their track '39 By Design' taken from sophomore album The Demonstration. That song was released in late 2016 although I found it in 2017. I vividly remember discovering '39 By Design' on Twitter, back when it was useable. I followed a local girl on there who DJed and had pretty impeccable music taste. Her 'darkwave' description instantly piqued my interest so I checked out this song and loved it. I briefly considered it as a song contest potential but ultimately scrapped that idea as I didn't think it'd find an audience at the time. Fast forward to 2018 and I hosted the 10th edition of Nuggets. To my amazement, 'Dot in the Sky' by Drab Majesty, from the same album as '39 by Design' was sent! I vowed to pay more attention to this duo as I really enjoyed this song as well.

The next year saw the release of third album Modern Mirror. I kept an eye on this project and charted lead single 'Ellipsis' but it didn't have a particularly spectacular run, which amazes me now. Leww's BJSC nation Aeroche ended up sending this song to the contest and won with it! By this point, 'Ellipsis' had grown on me more, receiving my 12 points. This was a good place to be in but it still needed time to blossom into an all-time favourite and I finally got there in the end, as it became an ultimate almighty post-contest grower...

Drab Majesty consists of vocalist, guitarist and drummer Andrew Clinco, under his androgynous alter ego Deb Demure, in addition to keyboardist and vocalist Alex Nicolaou who goes by Mona D. The project was originally a Clinco solo endeavour that began in 2011, but Mona D joined 5 years later. Clinco decided to adopt the alter ego as he felt he was listening back to someone else.

Third record Modern Mirror is an up to date interpretation of Ovid's myth of Narcissus. I apparently rather like this source material as I really enjoyed the groundbreaking '70s LGBTQ+ art house film Pink Narcissus too. 'Ellipsis' uses a phone screen as a modern version of Narcissus' pool, as a device where we obsess over and feel trapped in our digital personas.

'Ellipsis' focuses on the struggle of dating in the digital world. The title refers to the ellipsis that pops up when you're texting someone. "I watch you write" refers to waiting for that other person to reply, as the narrator observes the ellipsis appearing and disappearing, while the other party struggles to communicate. I think the "two modern minds won't say what they want to" lyric is particularly standout and evocative. Deb Demure delivers these words in pleasingly brooding fashion as ever.

The uptempo, gloriously '80s darkwave instrumental that is dripping in reverb was also a huge selling point for me. I love the driving drums, lo-fi guitar sound and of course those synths.

The pay off felt from the final chorus and instrumental outro after the build-up to that moment is incredible, what a rush.

...

Next up is a far more well-known song and one of the best pop packages of the 21st century for me!

My favourite Ariana song has changed a few times over the years but I'm confident it's 'no tears left to cry' now. I got the opportunity to see Ari live in London back in 2019 and her vocals were phenomenal in the flesh, with this song standing out as my overall favourite performance of the night. I'd been a casual fan as early as 2013 after a couple of school friends showed me 'The Way', a #41 $ma$h over here. She even followed me on Twitter around this time although (sensibly!) came off the platform years ago, so I no longer have proof of this, apart from a screenshot I took years ago. Third album Dangerous Woman became my favourite body of work from her overall, with the acclaimed thank u, next and eternal sunshine rounding out the trio. But the rather messy album sweetener produced a fantastic singles run nevertheless, with the lead 'no tears left to cry' starting off this project on an impressive note.

May 22nd 2017 was a deeply tragic day, as 22 Ariana fans lost their lives in the Manchester terrorist attack that targeted one of her Dangerous Woman tour shows. I vividly remember this story unfolding on social media at the time. At first, it was speculated that a speaker had blown, but soon the blood-curdling reality of what had actually happened was revealed. This would be devastating in any circumstance but particularly struck a chord with communities like ours who live and breathe concerts, especially those seen as an LGBTQ+ safe space. It was difficult to process and deeply upsetting. At the same time, it was reassuring to watch social media being used for good, as some kind people in Manchester were offering places to stay or free taxi rides for those stranded.

I couldn't even begin to imagine how the family and friends directly involved with those caught up in this horrific attack felt. Then there was Ariana herself. She unsurprisingly cancelled tour dates and initially laid low, dealing with the PTSD and depression that came with the trauma of the attack. But at just 23 years old she did something pretty remarkable and put together the One Love Manchester benefit concert. I watched this on TV at the time and began to appreciate her as a person more, in addition to her vocal talent, with a choked up rendition of 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow' especially moving me. She gained a lot of goodwill and her single 'One Last Time' even shot to #2 here. Both this and Oasis' 'Don't Look Back In Anger' became defining anthems for Manchester in the wake of this tragedy. Months passed and pop fans eagerly awaited Ariana's next move. 'no tears left to cry' would eventually be her musical statement and arrived in April 2018...

I clearly remember the release of 'no tears left to cry' as it came out on the day I submitted my dissertation! Ari's first release post-Manchester could have gone in a number of directions but I think the end product was perfectly pitched. It's a triumphant message of strength as she's cried all the tears she wants to but is now ready to move forward positively, not wanting hate to win out. The inspirational, resilient message really lands and doesn't feel at all forced. The song starts out as a ballad but morphs into an upbeat sad banger, using Gloria Gaynor's 'I Will Survive' as the blueprint. The accompanying music video, where Ariana's world is turned upside down and ends with a nod to Manchester with a worker bee, is her best visual for me in addition to the song. That video version of 'no tears left to cry' starts with a choral introduction that I wish was on streaming! Ari effectively uses light and shade throughout, with conversational talk-speak verses and a soaring chorus that really shows off her power as a vocalist.

The production was helmed by Max Martin and Ilya and also adds to the appeal. I particularly enjoy the unexpected shuffling U.K. garage influence on its sound, the dreamy synths throughout and stabby keyboards. It felt like new ground for an Ariana song and I've championed an ethereal soundscape for her ever since. In more recent years, 'we can't be friends (wait for your love)' and 'twilight zone' were both pretty effective returns to this kind of world for me.

'no tears left to cry' registered an impressive 74,290 units during its first week in the U.K. but was unlucky to run into the biggest song of the year, 'One Kiss' by Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa, so had to settle for a #2 peak much like 'One Last Time'. Still, it went on to become the 10th best selling song of the year here and an Ariana classic.

Wow, we’re moving quickly through the decades aren’t we?! That’s a lovely write up of your life in the 2010s. It seems that teens and twenties are most people’s formative years regarding music loves, they certainly are for me, so it was great to hear about yours.

A great start to the ten too. I hadn’t heard Ellipsis or anything by Drab Majesty in fact so that’s a new discovery for me, thanks!

I think it’s great too, I’m a sucker for a dark synth banger like this, love the driving rhythm vocals and outro.

I have to admit I have a difficult relationship with No Tears Left To Cry. I absolutely adore the song, that beautiful intro, the garage style shuffling rhythm Ariana’s fantastically understated vocals but most of all the gorgeous synths. My favourite song by far from her!

However, coming from the North West I have some harrowing memories of that fateful day in Manchester and the suffering of the bereaved and the injured following it. I have family and friends who were involved (though thankfully not physically injured) but also in a professional capacity, as part of my job, I dealt with the aftermath for the grieving and both the physically and emotionally affected. The song for me is forever tied to that event in history, but it has such a lovely way of comforting while also looking to the future and pointing the way to ‘carry on’ in life. I cannot imagine how Ariana must have felt with all the responsibility of responding for a community at her young age, but she did it humbly and fantastically and is loved in this part of the world for it.

But I’m afraid do find it hard to listen to even now, without getting upset and remembering those difficult times.

3 minutes ago, Jaz13music said:

Wow, we’re moving quickly through the decades aren’t we?! That’s a lovely write up of your life in the 2010s. It seems that teens and twenties are most people’s formative years regarding music loves, they certainly are for me, so it was great to hear about yours.

A great start to the ten too. I hadn’t heard Ellipsis or anything by Drab Majesty in fact so that’s a new discovery for me, thanks!

I think it’s great too, I’m a sucker for a dark synth banger like this, love the driving rhythm vocals and outro.

I have to admit I have a difficult relationship with No Tears Left To Cry. I absolutely adore the song, that beautiful intro, the garage style shuffling rhythm Ariana’s fantastically understated vocals but most of all the gorgeous synths. My favourite song by far from her!

However, coming from the North West I have some harrowing memories of that fateful day in Manchester and the suffering of the bereaved and the injured following it. I have family and friends who were involved (though thankfully not physically injured) but also in a professional capacity, as part of my job, I dealt with the aftermath for the grieving and both the physically and emotionally affected. The song for me is forever tied to that event in history, but it has such a lovely way of comforting while also looking to the future and pointing the way to ‘carry on’ in life. I cannot imagine how Ariana must have felt with all the responsibility of responding for a community at her young age, but she did it humbly and fantastically and is loved in this part of the world for it.

But I’m afraid do find it hard to listen to even now, without getting upset and remembering those difficult times.

Oh wow, I had no idea and am so sorry to hear about your personal connections to the tragedy - I do apologise if this was at all triggering 🫂 sounds like you did some amazing, admirable work in the aftermath. Crazy to think that almost a decade has passed now.

Understandable why 'no tears left to cry' would be a tough listen even if appreciating the song as a piece of music.

I'm glad you made a good discovery out of 'Ellipsis'! They haven't released an album since that 2019 era but did put out an EP a few years ago which included a great collab with Slowdive's Rachel Goswell, called 'Vanity' 🖤

19 minutes ago, Jade said:

Oh wow, I had no idea and am so sorry to hear about your personal connections to the tragedy - I do apologise if this was at all triggering 🫂 sounds like you did some amazing, admirable work in the aftermath. Crazy to think that almost a decade has passed now.

Understandable why 'no tears left to cry' would be a tough listen even if appreciating the song as a piece of music.

I'm glad you made a good discovery out of 'Ellipsis'! They haven't released an album since that 2019 era but did put out an EP a few years ago which included a great collab with Slowdive's Rachel Goswell, called 'Vanity' 🖤

Oh please don’t worry, I certainly didn’t want to make you feel bad. And thank you for you lovely comment, I wanted to express how the song has such a special meaning for me. 🙏

Also I love Slowdive, so I’ll definitely be checking that EP out. Thanks!

2010s

#08 Billie Eilish - 'when the party’s over' (2018)

#07 Vitalic feat. David Shaw and The Beat - 'Waiting For The Stars' (2016)

I first came across superstar Billie Eilish pre-breakthrough in 2016 when the Young Bombs remix of 'Ocean Eyes' was sent to BJSC. This didn't make too much of an impact in the contest and finished in 38th place. However, the next attempt to send her was a lot more successful, as 'bellyache' placed 8th the following year. I actually didn't point this song and instead got into Billie properly with the release of 'You Should See Me in A Crown' in summer 2018, the lead single from When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?. Little did I know how huge this era would go on to be! But this dark, Lorde-esque direction certainly interested me and I was now waiting to see what else she had to offer. Turns out I'd enjoy the following single even more...

'when the party's over' was written and produced by Billie's older brother Finneas O'Connell. He came to her with the track and the two of them decided to perform it live, but felt this was a mistake, as they had no idea how they would replicate its intimate sound in the studio. I can vouch for how incredible this song sounds in the flesh as I finally saw Billie live in London last year! She easily has the star power to play stadiums but I was glad she still chose arenas, as I felt that smaller scale suited her output well. She was such a talent live and the production values were impressive too. This was also the first concert I've attended where all the available food was plant based, to comply with her own ethos. 'when the party's over' was truly goosebump inducing live but I also think they nailed the studio version as well.

A 16-year-old Billie really put the work into crafting the vocals for this song and even recorded over 90 takes of just the opening word "don't", to start 'when the party's over' just right. She manages to sound wise beyond her years with a delicate, compelling performance. The vocal layering feels so rich and I adore the choral feel to the song as well. Eilish said this was inspired by singing in a choir as a child. She was also directly inspired by the songs 'Stand Still' by Sabrina Claudio, '715 - CRΣΣKS' by Bon Iver and Imogen Heap's 'Hide and Seek'. The Heap influence is evident, also an idol of Ariana from earlier in the countdown. I generally enjoy the works of Bon Iver and Sabrina Claudio but wasn't familiar with these specific songs, so just checked out both and can definitely hear their DNA too.

Goth-pop ballad 'when the party's over' is incredibly sparse as there are no accompanying instruments for the entire first minute of the song, a testament to Eilish's striking presence. She is then joined by hard-hitting sub-bass sounds and a beautiful piano. The less is more approach here is a perfect fit and results in maximum impact for all the little touches.

The visualiser for 'you should see me in a crown' freaked me out a bit with the spiders but I did warm to the equally striking video for 'when the party's over', where black tears flow down a blue-haired Billie's face after she drinks a cup full of black liquid. The concept was inspired by fan art where Billie had been drawn with leaky black eyes.

The lyrics of the song started to come to Finneas when he was quietly driving home late at night after leaving a date's house. He felt a mixture of unhappiness and comfort, as ending a relationship is always difficult, but he also felt a sense of safety from the lack of full investment. I think the whole song is beautifully written but particularly love the imagery and execution of the titular line during the second verse. The scene of two people barely being able to hear each other on the phone over the noise of a party is pretty atmospheric and the echoey, layered reverb effects help to convey a distant feel for that line before launching into the chorus. I'd say my favourite Billie album is HIT ME HARD AND SOFT (which now has the added touring memories) but there's still something so special about 'when the party's over' as a specific song.

'when the party's over' frustratingly stalled at #21 in the U.K. chart but was a top 40 breakthrough for Eilish nevertheless. It was incredible to witness her ascension in 2019 with 'bury a friend' and especially the success of 'bad guy'.

...

It has just dawned on me that I technically made an error nominating 'Waiting For The Stars' for 2017 in Record of the Decade! I so heavily associate this song with that year, as the music video dropped in January and the accompanying album also came out in 2017, but the song was first heard at the end of 2016. Oops. Ah well, I'm sure it won't go particularly far anyway.

I also link 'Waiting For The Stars' with 2017 as it was sent to BJSC that year, by John's nation Singerpurear. I'd actually already heard the song before that though as fellow BuzzJack member Lotti had played it on the aforementioned plug.dj platform. I believe she also had it as a song contest potential at the time. 'Waiting For The Stars' was a hit for Singerpurear as it finished in 5th place. Shockingly, I 'only' gave it 15 points, but do remember thinking it was easily my strongest silver medal of the year. 'Waiting For The Stars' made the top 10 of my 2017 BJSC EOY countdown when I used to put those together. Rolloland's 'Routine' by Steven Wilson beat it to my 18 points. That song is gorgeous and has a stunning music video as well, which tipped it over the line for me. I still adore that entry but long term I've found that I go back to 'Waiting For The Stars' more than pretty much any other song sent to the contest.

It's clear to see why this song would appeal to me so much as it calls back to the synth-pop music of the late '70s and '80s that I love. French producer Vitalic is also a huge fan of this era, with a penchant for Moog style disco bass and the epic voices of the new wave period. He also likes the appeal of imperfect music, so sometimes deliberately makes errors when sequencing drums, or programs sounds to be out of tune. His efforts resulted in a rippling, intergalactic Moroder-esque synth instrumental with a suitably shimmering music video to match.

British singer David Shaw, under his project David Shaw and The Beat, tackles the vocals with new wave era flair. He adopts that cold, detached style that appeals to me so much but also has some natural emotive charm at the same time. The vocals during the chorus feel quite layered with the added backing vocoder effects and synth choir patch, providing an epic sound. The lyrics throughout channel anxiety about the future as the narrator desperately hopes the stars will align in the end.

This song was featured in an advert for Peugeot SUV cars so might still be familiar to those who weren't in the BuzzJack Song Contest at the time for that reason.

I embedded the Vitalic video via Vimeo as it's age restricted on YouTube. Feel free to check it out there instead but the lack of proper embed was bothering me

My top 10 of the 2010s would be quite basic - I didn't take part in BJSC or the earlier rounds of RotD until this decade, and I've only picked up a smattering of 2010s favourites retrospectively as a result of the contests they were in. However I did vote for 'Waiting For The Stars' in the current round of RotD after seeking out the 20-odd songs I didn't know, and this one stood out! Only 1 point but still, that's something considering I don't recall hearing it before.

'no tears to cry' is undoubtedly one of Ariana's best songs and a very elegant way of addressing her psyche following what happened the previous year. I have more favourites from Billie in the current decade, but 'when the party's over' is her best 2010s moment for me.

Ah, ‘when the party’s over’ has always been my favourite Billie single. It was the first of her songs I noticed, and even with all the great stuff she’s done since, it remains the best. I love the understated sparse arrangement, I alluded to the influence of Lorde in the 2013 #1 rankings, and the gorgeous choral vocal layering. Loads of silences which add to the spine tingling effect. Beautiful!

I don’t think I’d heard ‘Waiting For The Stars‘ before so another new discovery for me. I’m definitely a sucker for a great dark synth pop banger like that. Love the driving rhythm, and the detached vocals, it reminds me a bit of the more uptempo Depeche Mode moments. I haven’t got involved with RotD this year . Last year I sent loads of obscure songs that I love and none even made it to the top 40 of their year 😆! I suppose my taste isn’t aligned with much of the Buzzjack faithful. Great choice here though!

19 hours ago, jimwatts said:

My top 10 of the 2010s would be quite basic - I didn't take part in BJSC or the earlier rounds of RotD until this decade, and I've only picked up a smattering of 2010s favourites retrospectively as a result of the contests they were in. However I did vote for 'Waiting For The Stars' in the current round of RotD after seeking out the 20-odd songs I didn't know, and this one stood out! Only 1 point but still, that's something considering I don't recall hearing it before.

'no tears to cry' is undoubtedly one of Ariana's best songs and a very elegant way of addressing her psyche following what happened the previous year. I have more favourites from Billie in the current decade, but 'when the party's over' is her best 2010s moment for me.

Oh yes, I unsurprisingly gave 'Waiting For The Stars' my top marks that round and watched as it didn't get anything else at all for a while (not too surprising when it wasn't a hit) until your votes came in, yay! Happy to hear it stood out enough from one listen to sneak into your votes <3

I think each Billie album has been stronger than the last (I remember being a bit concerned for Happier Than Ever when 'Lost Cause' was chosen as a pre-album release, as it didn't hit me as much as her songs usually did, but the project turned out to be great in full) even if 'when the party's over' is my overall favourite song of hers! I think my favourites from this decade would be 'Happier Than Ever' and 'CHIHIRO'.

17 hours ago, Jaz13music said:

Ah, ‘when the party’s over’ has always been my favourite Billie single. It was the first of her songs I noticed, and even with all the great stuff she’s done since, it remains the best. I love the understated sparse arrangement, I alluded to the influence of Lorde in the 2013 #1 rankings, and the gorgeous choral vocal layering. Loads of silences which add to the spine tingling effect. Beautiful!

I don’t think I’d heard ‘Waiting For The Stars‘ before so another new discovery for me. I’m definitely a sucker for a great dark synth pop banger like that. Love the driving rhythm, and the detached vocals, it reminds me a bit of the more uptempo Depeche Mode moments. I haven’t got involved with RotD this year . Last year I sent loads of obscure songs that I love and none even made it to the top 40 of their year 😆! I suppose my taste isn’t aligned with much of the Buzzjack faithful. Great choice here though!

Love that we have the exact same choice of #1 Billie song! As mentioned, 'you should see me in a crown' was the first song of hers that made me sit up and take notice, but she has some really stunning quieter moments as well like this song or 'everything i wanted'. The choral effects are indeed wonderful, the song 'GOLDWING' from her second album is also a big favourite for me for the same reason.

Really happy to hear that 'Waiting For The Stars' was a good discovery for you 🖤 can see the Depeche Mode comparison for sure. Big hits always do the best in ROTD but it's a shame the alt vote has collapsed so much over the past couple of years 🥺 can see why that experience would've been disheartening although I'll still be flogging some songs like a dead horse every year even if they bomb

2010s

#06 Hozier - 'Take Me To Church' (2013)

#05 Lorde - 'Ribs' (2013)

Irish singer-songwriter Hozier first unleashed 'Take Me To Church' as part of an EP of the same name in 2013. He was a struggling musician who wrote and recorded a rough demo of this song in his parents' attic, with a programmed backing track. Hozier and drummer Fiachra Kinder were the only musicians present on this recording. The demo caught the attention of independent label Rubyworks, who paired him with producer Rob Kirwan. The final version of 'Take Me To Church' was overdubbed with live instrumentation but the original vocals remained.

BuzzJack was ahead of the curve on this occasion as our very own gooddelta sent 'Take Me To Church' to BJSC towards the end of 2013. It performed solidly and finished 11th in the final. That result is perhaps a bit lower than I would've expected for a future chart smash but the contest had much worse casualties than this, like 'Pink Pony Club' DNQing, albeit with a deduction. I did not join BJSC until 2015, so found out this information retrospectively and would not discover 'Take Me To Church' until 2014, when it began to impact the chart.

I remember enjoying 'Take Me To Church' at the time, as it made an appearance in my personal chart, but I soon became sick of it as its chart run was so lengthy. I evidently needed a break from it for a while. This worked wonders, as in time I began to appreciate 'Take Me To Church' more than I ever did originally.

This song metaphorically compares a lover to religion and also acts as a critique of institutions that try to repress natural human desires. My favourite lyric is probably: "I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies", as a condemnation of those who vilify people for their sexuality, as it's a striking descriptor of blind loyalty. I also particularly like the reframing of the criticisms as "there is no sweeter innocence than our gentle sin". Hozier refers to a female partner in the song, but the music video instead takes an LGBTQ+ direction, as he wanted to bring attention to the persecution and repression faced by the gay community in Russia. I find the lynch mob attacking one of the men in a gay relationship an incredibly difficult watch, but it's certainly a powerful video.

Hozier also provides a lot of power with his commanding voice. I can see why this vocal performance survived from the demo right until the end.

The instrumental stays in a pretty similar lane throughout but I enjoy the appropriately cathedral-esque atmosphere it creates, from the organ to the gospel style piano and backing vocals. The guitars are also a pretty ominous touch.

'Take Me To Church' reached #2 in the U.K. for four non-consecutive weeks in early 2015. It was blocked from the top by the juggernaut 'Uptown Funk' by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars, as well as Ellie Goulding's 'Love Me Like You Do' for the latter three weeks. Hozier also stalled at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Incredibly, he would later achieve a #1 across both sides of the pond with 'Too Sweet', almost an entire decade later.

...

New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde is an incredibly special artist to me. I've always felt a particular connection to her to music, as she was born just 10 months before me and refers to age quite a lot in her lyrics, so I felt like I was growing up alongside her. Debut album Pure Heroine took me through sixth form, while sophomore record Melodrama was a University soundtrack and both are two of my favourite albums of all-time. I considered 'Tennis Court' to be my favourite Lorde song for years but it has now shifted to 'Ribs' in recent times. I always loved this song but there was something really special about hearing it live, in an intimate setting, during her Solar Power tour in 2022. The track also experienced some traction on TikTok last year and this reminded me how much I enjoyed it once again. So, while I could name a number of Lorde songs as favourites of the 2010s, I have settled on this as my #1 now.

Lorde blew up at just 16 years old when 'Royals' became an unconventional chart-topper. I remember the Pure Heroine album being absolutely everywhere on then very popular blogging website Tumblr, as the moody music and monochrome artwork slotted perfectly into the 'soft grunge' aesthetic on there. I was fascinated by Lorde's dark, introspective sound and thought she sounded incredibly unique in the charts at the time.

'Ribs' is track #4 on Pure Heroine and really spoke to me lyrically at the time, when I was a fellow 16-year-old, as it's about the bittersweet feeling of ageing into adulthood. Lorde was inspired to write it after she was given the responsibility to throw a house party, while her parents were away. This was an exciting prospect but also made her fearful, as this was a step closer to adulthood, so did this mean there was no going back to the more carefree times of childhood now? I highly related to this sentiment at the time even if I wasn't throwing house parties myself. I did still attend quite a lot of them during sixth form, though! My feelings were mixed, as I was quite a socially awkward person, but did have fun with close friends at them and loved getting to control some of the music. I remember a washing machine getting damaged at one of them so no wonder my own parents weren't keen for me to host one!

The lyrics really take me back to those times, but I can still appreciate her perspective on the record even now I've been a fully-fledged adult for over a decade. There's a timeless, vulnerable quality to the songwriting and the sentiment "it feels so scary, getting old" is one that can apply to any stage of life. The refrain is gorgeously human and nostalgic with lines like: "you're the only friend I need" / "sharing beds like little kids" / "and laughing 'til our ribs get tough". This really paints a picture of more innocent times before we're all bogged down with adult responsibilities. Sometimes it would be nice to experience that totally carefree joy again indeed. I appreciate Lorde's fragile delivery of these words during the verses and the more soaring, frantic chorus.

Another incredibly standout and atmospheric feature of 'Ribs' is the layered, choral backing vocals that travel from one headphone channel to another. They feel overwhelmingly emotional and quite transcendental. I appreciate the minimalist synth production provided by Joel Little too. What a magical song.