That number 1 definitely makes sense given how much I remember it in your chart back in the day. It's a great song and made my EOY for 2022 as well, got that classic 80s darkwave sound. I am quite surprised to hear you overlooked Billions at first but I'm glad you came round to it! It's got great Massive Attack vibes, I absolutely loved that era from her, I think I'd rank Welcome to My Island above this, but it was all really good, need the next album x

I have a lot of time for everything in that top 10 (admittedly I missed Good Days at the time, but I do recall liking it when I heard it), some great top 40 picks - Headphones On was an unexpected beauty from an artist who really surprised me after being pretty sure she wouldn't be my thing, I really liked the album too. Physical & Save Your Tears were excellent 80s throwbacks too, crazy how influential that sound was for a while, you could hear their DNA in so many songs after it.

Of the less big hits, I had always enjoyed FKA Twigs' music but Eusexua made me sit up and take notice and realise I really need to check out an album, it was a fantastic listen and the title track is still wonderful in it's haunting ambience and switch-ups. Similar story with Metric, I had always liked what I knew of them but was an incredibly standout moment with its dramatic shifts in style throughout, I have been enjoying some of their material this year as well. Retributions of an Awful Life really got me on board with Heartworms as well, love the intensity and darkness to that song, I agree there hasn't been anything anywhere near that good since though.

But the most love I have here is for The Last Man on Earth <3 <3 I vividly remember the first time I heard that groggily getting up for work one morning and it stopped me in my tracks with how epic and beautiful it was. The stripped back piano is a captivating start and the build-up to the string-led climax is amazing, I agree Ellie's vocals really add so much to it and the existential, spiritual feel of the lyrics add further layers. It's very rare there is a song I become quite instantly besotted with these days, but it pretty much single-handedly turned me into a big fan of theirs and loved the epic, melancholy sound of Blue Weekend in general, wasn't quite as into the most recent era, but I know that song will make me always look forward to them.

You can probably guess what my number 1 would be from that, but otherwise, this is a rough estimate of my own list, I have been keeping EOYs for every year so will largely base it off that.

1. Wolf Alice - The Last Man on Earth

2. Lankum - Go Dig My Grave

3. Highasakite - Can I Come Home

4. Chappell Roan - Good Luck Babe! (I charted The Subway as my #1 of 2025, but this has since overtook it, I did hear it fairly late)

5. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Wild God

6. The Weeknd - Blinding Lights (I know this is technically 2019 but it defined 2020 sooo)

7. Lawrence Rothman feat. Marissa Nadler - It's Hard to Be Human

8. Ethel Cain - Nettles

9. Night Tapes - drifting

10. Father John Misty - Screamland

I think the 2020s have so far been where I've slightly come out of the bubble of weird side of YouTube/song contest songs (although I still enter every one lol x) and became a bit more 6Music/critical favourite focused, albeit I'm often quite late to them as I go through EOY lists of the most acclaimed music of the year, ROSALIA's Berghain being a recent example of me missing the boat at the time but it since becoming a massive favourite (am quite surprised she missed out on being featured here as well, but makes sense as her albums work best together). My knowledge of chart hits is very fleeting now and I'm kind of alright with how this is, shall see how we go for the remainder of the decade x

-x-

Well done on completing this absolute behemoth of a task! I'm in awe of both how quickly how you went through it and how detailed and insightful your commentaries were, it's been wonderful to follow, makes me think I really should get back to my own Buzzjack project of my second album bucket list, will see if I have the motivation x

Sorry I fell behind with this but well done for finishing on schedule. I’m definitely going to check out the playlist as I don’t even know either of your latest top 2 oops!

20 hours ago, King Rollo said:

I've enjoyed following this from the 60s to the 20s, very well presented and your commentaries were always an interesting read. Out of your number 1s for each decade, I would choose 'Enjoy The Silence' as being the best one.

I know you're usually into 20th century music so I'll take it as an achievement that you felt engaged for the whole countdown! Thank you so much for the kind words and 'Enjoy The Silence' is an excellent choice. 🖤

14 hours ago, Chez Wombat said:

That number 1 definitely makes sense given how much I remember it in your chart back in the day. It's a great song and made my EOY for 2022 as well, got that classic 80s darkwave sound. I am quite surprised to hear you overlooked Billions at first but I'm glad you came round to it! It's got great Massive Attack vibes, I absolutely loved that era from her, I think I'd rank Welcome to My Island above this, but it was all really good, need the next album x

I have a lot of time for everything in that top 10 (admittedly I missed Good Days at the time, but I do recall liking it when I heard it), some great top 40 picks - Headphones On was an unexpected beauty from an artist who really surprised me after being pretty sure she wouldn't be my thing, I really liked the album too. Physical & Save Your Tears were excellent 80s throwbacks too, crazy how influential that sound was for a while, you could hear their DNA in so many songs after it.

Of the less big hits, I had always enjoyed FKA Twigs' music but Eusexua made me sit up and take notice and realise I really need to check out an album, it was a fantastic listen and the title track is still wonderful in it's haunting ambience and switch-ups. Similar story with Metric, I had always liked what I knew of them but was an incredibly standout moment with its dramatic shifts in style throughout, I have been enjoying some of their material this year as well. Retributions of an Awful Life really got me on board with Heartworms as well, love the intensity and darkness to that song, I agree there hasn't been anything anywhere near that good since though.

But the most love I have here is for The Last Man on Earth <3 <3 I vividly remember the first time I heard that groggily getting up for work one morning and it stopped me in my tracks with how epic and beautiful it was. The stripped back piano is a captivating start and the build-up to the string-led climax is amazing, I agree Ellie's vocals really add so much to it and the existential, spiritual feel of the lyrics add further layers. It's very rare there is a song I become quite instantly besotted with these days, but it pretty much single-handedly turned me into a big fan of theirs and loved the epic, melancholy sound of Blue Weekend in general, wasn't quite as into the most recent era, but I know that song will make me always look forward to them.

You can probably guess what my number 1 would be from that, but otherwise, this is a rough estimate of my own list, I have been keeping EOYs for every year so will largely base it off that.

1. Wolf Alice - The Last Man on Earth

2. Lankum - Go Dig My Grave

3. Highasakite - Can I Come Home

4. Chappell Roan - Good Luck Babe! (I charted The Subway as my #1 of 2025, but this has since overtook it, I did hear it fairly late)

5. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Wild God

6. The Weeknd - Blinding Lights (I know this is technically 2019 but it defined 2020 sooo)

7. Lawrence Rothman feat. Marissa Nadler - It's Hard to Be Human

8. Ethel Cain - Nettles

9. Night Tapes - drifting

10. Father John Misty - Screamland

I think the 2020s have so far been where I've slightly come out of the bubble of weird side of YouTube/song contest songs (although I still enter every one lol x) and became a bit more 6Music/critical favourite focused, albeit I'm often quite late to them as I go through EOY lists of the most acclaimed music of the year, ROSALIA's Berghain being a recent example of me missing the boat at the time but it since becoming a massive favourite (am quite surprised she missed out on being featured here as well, but makes sense as her albums work best together). My knowledge of chart hits is very fleeting now and I'm kind of alright with how this is, shall see how we go for the remainder of the decade x

-x-

Well done on completing this absolute behemoth of a task! I'm in awe of both how quickly how you went through it and how detailed and insightful your commentaries were, it's been wonderful to follow, makes me think I really should get back to my own Buzzjack project of my second album bucket list, will see if I have the motivation x

Haha well remembered I'd definitely recommend the new Working Men's Club single 'Devout' btw if you haven't got around to it yet <3 and I know right?! I honestly have no idea what I was thinking at first as it's right up my street with those trip-hop sounds you alluded to. But yeah, saw the light and am judging my past self x 'Welcome to My Island' is still an excellent choice of favourite and definitely next in line for me <3 I associate you with 'Sunset' too which is very charming. Bring on the next album indeed! Her excellent feature on Angèle's new album has me craving new music in addition to revisiting 'Billions' for this countdown.

Oh yeah, I think 'Good Days' came up on SyncTube for some reason so you might have heard it there. What a stunner <3 I felt really similar about Addison, especially after not really getting into an earlier song 'I got it bad' when it was in BJSC, but she's truly carved out a wonderful lane. She seems to have great, unexpectedly left-field taste, citing Arca as a favourite artist even quite a few years ago, plus Charli xcx singing her praises was always a good sign. But yeah, colour me pleasantly surprised too and I look forward to the direction of her next era. I agree that Dua and The Weeknd really lead the way for that '80s synth revival, which I was all for, until it naturally got a bit oversaturated.

I feel similar to you re. both Twigs and Metric! I was quite bad at seeking out new albums in the past anyway, pre-2020s, but am glad I changed my ways in time for Eusexua as it's a heavenly project. Pleased 'Retributions Of An Awful Life' got you on board with Heartworms. I was surprised by how much I got into my screamy Nuggets entry by her but can understand why that might have not been the most accessible entry point. But yeah, 'Retributions Of An Awful Life' was the perfect follow-up and I eagerly await any future material of that ilk.

🥰 love your love for 'The Last Man On Earth'. "Instantly besotted" sums up my own feelings perfectly too. It's usually me putting my brother onto new music but he was actually a bit ahead of me with Wolf Alice, after seeing them live as a support for Liam Gallagher. So they slowly trickled into my life but 'The Last Man On Earth' similarly turned me into a proper fan. I then went back and checked out their earlier albums and fell in love with those projects. I agree the new album was a step down from Blue Weekend, especially after the quirky 'Bloom Baby Bloom' was quite an unrepresentative lead in the end, although I do have such a soft spot for 'The Sofa'. Looking forward to seeing where they go next.

That is a fantastic choice of #1 if I say so myself xx Wonderful to see 'Nettles' in your top 10 already, that was a painful final cut :'( and 'Good Luck, Babe!' really got me into Chappell after not pointing any of her BJSC qualifiers pre-breakthrough. Ready for more Chappell music especially after hearing her new feature on Olivia Rodrigo's 'expectations' this morning, what a star. Just realised 'Nettles' and 'Good Luck, Babe!' both finished at #2 in my EOY countdowns for 2024 and 2025 at the time, even if they didn't quite make it here. 'Blinding Lights' was a welcome behemoth, 'Go Dig My Grave' is striking, love a bit of Night Tapes, 'Screamland' was a fab Terra winner (his 'Chateau Lobby #4' came on shuffle for me yesterday, which may have some of the most romantic lyrics I've ever heard) and I definitely associate 'Wild God' with you. I remember the Highisakite and Lawrence songs existing in song contests but can't immediately recall them, so will make sure to revisit.

6Music has been such a revelation for me this decade as well. You getting into ROSALÍA is a delight for me as a long time stan 🤩 I didn't even have to nominate 'MALAMENTE' in ROTD this year with you doing the honours, taste <3 'Berghain' floored me, moments like that going top 40 is why I still love following the charts, even if I rarely have more than a few top 40 hits in my own personal chart at one time (right now it's just Fontaines D.C.'s 'Marianne' and Ashe's 'Stop The Wedding!') ~ hooray for LUX being such a critical and commercial moment for her. She does feel like a glaring omission here, but yeah, El Mal Querer was my favourite album of 2018, MOTOMAMI for 2022 and LUX for 2025, so she would undoubtably dominate an albums list - an incredible artist.

Ahhhhh thank you so much for the appreciative words ❤️ I managed to somehow unlock a powerful, sustained state of hyper-focus and I think sticking to a schedule, with two days off each week also worked wonders for recharging. I'll look out for a potential return of that then ;o but if not then I suppose it's EOY season in a couple of months... *.*

11 hours ago, Julian_ said:

Sorry I fell behind with this but well done for finishing on schedule. I’m definitely going to check out the playlist as I don’t even know either of your latest top 2 oops!

Thanks Julian *.* No worries, I do feel like there's so much going on across the forum right now! Which is certainly not a bad thing, love a thriving BuzzJack, but a bit overwhelming oooooh okay, well I hope you make a good discovery or two out of that then <3

As expected a great top 10, and although I had an idea of some of what to expect, I'm very pleased with some of your choices!

'Doomscroller' was when I fist really took notice of Metric and it's an epic with all the switches in sound and tempo. I think 'False Dichotomy' on the same album has become my favourite of theirs, for repeat listens at least, and elsewhere of course I was behind one of the six BJSC entries too. The Heartworms one is also super ambitious - I did like a few tracks from last year's full length album, but it's hard to recapture the same dynamic thrust this has. 'Eusexua' is wonderful in how it starts so sparse and switches to a full-on electronic banger - 'Striptease' was also a big favourite for me from the parent album. 'Good Days' is a gorgeous setting for SZA's sad but hopeful lyrics which stretch out like a storybook - it's strange to think of it as from the same era as 'Kill Bill' which was more of a slow burner for me but it was fabulous to see it become such a hit for her.

'Headphones On' is a good song with its 90s influenced production and I charted it along with 'Aquamarine', although I feel like Addison's still developing as an artist. 'Save Your Tears' is another huge favourite of mine, and both versions with and without Ariana work brilliantly - that was a stellar run of singles for After Hours from 'Blinding Lights' onwards. Likewise 'Physical' is such an adrenaline rush, that 80s synth production delivered some real gems in the early decade, and this makes top 10 to date as well.

I remember hearing 'The Last Man On Earth' for the first time as it started that Wolf Alice era and was instantly A-listed by Radio 1 too, but it won me over straight away, such an epic. It would have made my own top 10, but for the fact another of their songs would go on to top it for me, as I'll mention below. I admired the Caroline Polachek album without having much of a route into it until 'Fly To You' won me over, but 'Billions' is one of many great tracks - albeit before it came up I was thinking 'Sympathy is a knife' might be in your top 2 instead. However no surprise at 'Widow' appearing as your number 1, a fantastic, dark and urgent synth-backed performance - and after 'Devout' I look forward to what WMC's new album brings.

My own top 10 so far could be something like:

1 Wolf Alice - Play It Out

2 Rose Gray - Ecstasy

3 MRD - Last Dance

4 Vampire Weekend - Capricorn

5 SAINt JHN - Roses (Imanbek Remix)

6 Sam Fender - Seventeen Going Under

7 Glass Animals - Heat Waves

8 Gerry Cinnamon - Where We're Going

9 Dua Lipa - Physical

10 Röyksopp feat. Susanne Sundfør - Stay Awhile

so to bring in 'Capricorn' I'd have to kick 'A-Punk' out of my 2000s list, which would make room there for 'Bad Romance'. I considered a few other of my BJSC entries, but the MRD one is some way in front as my favourite released this decade to date. On the Wolf Alice song, I've written some of this on my 2025 EOY although I kind of missed the boat with last year's EOYs as I posted mine in February, but here seems a good time to reprise my thoughts on it below:

While I would go along with the consensus that said parent album The Clearing was something of a comedown following their previous one, this track is one I am sure to keep close. The music is beautifully arranged around a homely piano, joined later on by bell sounds which evoke an almost Christmassy feel that maybe helped keep it high in my charts as the year drew to a close, accompanied by choral effects which recall some of the best of Pink Floyd, as befits the 70s retrospective feel to the project as a whole, and finishing with a muffled seaside organ. However at my current stage of life, it's the lyrics that hit me the most as Ellie Rowsell sets out the value of living the life that is right for her and not what society expects. It's a powerful message from a female perspective, but as one of a couple who have lived through many of the same doubts and reaffirmations, there's a real sense of validation from "I wanna age with excitement, feel my world expand", while "just watch me build castles in the hourglass sand" is a wonderful metaphor, and releasing the burden of expectation feels as if it's further symbolised by the vocals just before the final chorus which gently lift like a balloon into the night sky. I couldn't imagine a more fitting #1 for the year as a whole... and the same goes for the decade so far.

Thank you Jade for this thread and your commentaries and thoughts throughout, they've all been enjoyable to read!