Well it was 'Frozen' I had expected to appear in the top two, which was also a #1, but the other one I wasn't sure of and had thought maybe one of The Prodigy or Chemical Brothers' #1s, or just maybe one of that trilogy of #1s from early 1991. I hadn't really considered Depeche Mode, but 'Enjoy The Silence' is a fantastic pick for #1 - very dark and atmospheric, I enjoy the instrumental sections as mush as the song itself.

I'll draft my own 80s and 90s top 10s at some point - I realised I left 'The Model' out of the 70s but I'm not sure there'll be much room in the 80s either so may have to rejig the 70s too... anyhow I look forward to reading about your favourites of the 2000s!

18 hours ago, King Rollo said:

This would be my top 10 from the decade, I've saved Yes for now as their best song is from the 90s. No 'Born Slippy' as there's a better song from Underworld in another decade.

1. Endless Dream - Yes

2. One Night Stand (The Long Night And The Samba) - The Aloof

3. Lonely Soul - Unkle

4. No Connection (Demo Version) - Sophie B Hawkins

5. Unfinished Sympathy - Massive Attack

6. November Rain - Guns'n'Roses

7. Paranoid Android - Radiohead

8. Salva Mea (album version) - Faithless

9. Hey Boy Hey Girl - The Chemical Brothers

10. Vigil - Fish

Love that we both have the exact same choice for #5!

I'm currently listening to 'Paranoid Android' (as part of a general OK Computer re-listen) while typing this *.* love that, 'Lonely Soul' and 'Hey Boy Hey Girl' from your list too. There are a few here I'm unfamiliar with, so I think I'll go back and listen to all the lists everyone else has posted after I've finished counting down all my own choices.

13 hours ago, Chez Wombat said:

Enjoy the Silence was an early Buzzjack discovery for me (think it might have been dandy) and I still love it to this day, an incredibly haunting and atmospheric piece of synth music. Frozen is a great piece from a period of brilliant artistry by her (RIP William Orbit </3), it's close between Hung Up, Like a Prayer and that for my favourite from Madonna and can never quite decide which.

Right Here Right Now is an all time favourite and would be in my top 10 of the decade too, the strings and gradually evolving production are fantastic and I have always enjoyed the video too, I had never known where the samples came from either!

It took me a while to get into Radiohead too, but OK Computer was one of my favourite discoveries from my album bucket list and definitely made me wonder what the hell I was missing, it's such a timeless album thematically and with some gorgeous haunting and strikingly diverse moments, I think No Surprises would be my favourite, the riff and slow build is fantastic, though I could easily also give that title to Paranoid Android, Exit Music or Climbing Up the Walls too.

Unfinished Sympathy is what I first think of with that Trip Hop sound and still sounds phenomenal. As it turns out all of your top 5 are songs from albums on my first or second bucket list, I have heard and enjoyed You've Come a Long Way Baby and Blue Lines from my first, and Violator and Ray of Light from my second certainly sound like they'd be my thing x

Enjoy all of the rest of the top 10 too but keeping it brief so I'm not rambling too much...Oasis of course one of my favourite bands and Live Forever's a great pick (I first heard this in a video about gardens in a Geography lesson at school *__), I think I narrowly prefer Don't Look Back in Anger but it's close. Born Slippy (.NUXX though I never knew it as that originally) is an exhilarating listen and Trainspotting is a classic film that matches that. I was fairly late to get into Air (think I heard Moon Safari on a synctube listenthrough), but Sexy Boy and Kelly Watch The Stars are both trippy and great examples of how good 90s dance can be.

My own rough top 10 (again I have probably forgotten a ton) does look just a little different, but that goes to show how good the decade was!

1. Robert Miles - Children

2. Dario G - Sunchyme

3. Chemical Brothers - Setting Sun

4. Fatboy Slim - Right Here Right Now

5. Manic Street Preachers - If You Tolerate This, Your Children Will Be Next

6. Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy

7. Oasis - Don't Look Back in Anger

8. Pulp - Common People

9. William Orbit - Barber's Adagio for Strings (Ferry Corsten Mix)

10. The Cranberries - Zombie

    Sinead O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U

    Stardust - Music Sounds Better With You

    Air - Sexy Boy

    Radiohead - No Surprises

    Coolio feat. LV - Gangsta's Paradise

    Eiffel 65 - Blue (Da Ba Dee) (I have to give something to my childhood fondness here!)

    The KLF - Justified and Ancient

    Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit

Oh yes I seem to remember Dandy saying 'Enjoy the Silence' is his favourite song of all-time, or at least a contender, taste *.* 'Hung Up' is another great Madonna song, was pleased to read about your love of it when you ranked the 2005 #1s, would definitely be in my top 5 singles of hers. Those pull from: Ray of Light ('Frozen'), Like a Prayer ('Like a Prayer'), The Immaculate Collection ('Justify My Love'), Confessions on a Dancefloor ('Hung Up') and True Blue ('La Isla Bonita') - so a testament to how many strong periods she had! That's not even scratching the surface of the Music era either, which is one of her best bodies of work on the whole for me. I think you would love Ray of Light (as well as Violator!) so that's great they're set to appear on Bucket List #2.

So happy you appreciate 'Right Here, Right Now' just as much as me I've been listening to the source material of all samples in this countdown while composing my commentaries which has been really interesting in itself.

Glad it wasn't just me who took a while to get into Radiohead! I think I finally took the plunge with OK Computer after 'No Surprises' won the #4s rate on here and never looked back. Never has an album shot to all-time favourite status so quickly for me, it's just that good. I agree it's timeless and those highlights are all strong.

Absolutely love that Geography lesson anecdote 'Don't Look Back In Anger' is probably my second favourite of theirs <3 it has never tired on me despite being one of their more overplayed songs, including a play on the chart show just yesterday *_* I have shamefully never watched Trainspotting in full, only seen clips, but it's on my ever growing list that I'll get back to as soon as this countdown has finished! Excited to hear this amazing song in the context of that whole story for the first time. Oh yes I was there for that Moon Safari listening session as well! Can't go wrong with anything from that album <3

That is a really good top 10 🤩 an electronic heavy top 5 reflective of a strong time for dance. 'Sunchyme' was one of the very last songs I cut. Quite a few of yours were in my honourable mentions list but 'Children' and 'Zombie' are great shouts that I neglected to mention too. Eiffel 65 *.*

11 minutes ago, Julian_ said:

Every decade so far has had one slightly surprising choice at either #9 or #10, and this time it’s “Sexy Boy”. I love what I know of Air and I included “Kelly Watch The Stars” in my songs that peaked at their year minus 1980 quiz haha.

I’m very basic when it comes to favourite Oasis songs - “Don’t Loon Back In Anger” followed by “Wonderwall” followed by “Live Forever”, so I’m quite aligned with the streaming public.

“Born Slippy” received my gold in the favourite #2 of the ‘90s poll. “Frozen” is my favourite from Madonna and got my silver behind “Don’t Look Back In Anger” in the favourite #1 of the ‘90s one. “2 Become 1” was also high in my votes but I think “Viva Forever” is creeping up now. I actually had a period in my early teenage years when I only listened to classical music so I do have nostalgia for “2 Became 1” and only really got to know “Viva Forever” as an adult, but am coming round to it being superior now.

BJSC non qualifier “Unfinished Sympathy” is my other big favourite. That contest seems to have made some choices over the years!

Haha that's an interesting pattern! Shall see if it continues for the 2000s and beyond.

They are all classics for a reason tbh! I find 'Wonderwall' a bit overhated but can also understand why overplay might grate for some.

I'd forgotten what my votes looked like for BuzzJack's favourite #2 of the '90s, so just fetched them, my top 2 remain unchanged! This was my top 10:

+30 Right Here, Right Now Fatboy Slim

+29 Born Slippy Underworld

+28 Sunchyme Dario G

+27 Justified & Ancient The KLF Featuring Tammy Wynette

+26 Music Sounds Better With You Stardust

+25 Last Train To Trancentral The KLF

+24 Common People Pulp

+23 Confide In Me Kylie Minogue

+22 Mysterious Times Sash! Featuring Tina Cousins

+21 Children Robert Miles

^ I'd say 'A Design For Life' would probably knock either 'Mysterious Times' or 'Children' out now but generally static feelings four years on. Some classic #2s this decade

Pleased to hear 'Viva Forever' is creeping up in your affections. <3 Oh wow at the solely classical phase! I think Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata' wins the award for my favourite pre-20th century song 🤩

So much 'Unfinished Sympathy' love in this thread is wonderful to read. Truly robbed in BJSC back in the day indeed!

10 minutes ago, jimwatts said:

Well it was 'Frozen' I had expected to appear in the top two, which was also a #1, but the other one I wasn't sure of and had thought maybe one of The Prodigy or Chemical Brothers' #1s, or just maybe one of that trilogy of #1s from early 1991. I hadn't really considered Depeche Mode, but 'Enjoy The Silence' is a fantastic pick for #1 - very dark and atmospheric, I enjoy the instrumental sections as mush as the song itself.

I'll draft my own 80s and 90s top 10s at some point - I realised I left 'The Model' out of the 70s but I'm not sure there'll be much room in the 80s either so may have to rejig the 70s too... anyhow I look forward to reading about your favourites of the 2000s!

Haha I suppose my own love of 'Frozen', as well as BuzzJack's in general, is pretty well documented! Those other guesses were strong shouts, although it's fun to have provided a swerve in the end. Glad you also rate 'Enjoy the Silence' <3 I look forward to seeing what your own '80s and '90s top 10s look like ❤️ excited to kick off the 2000s shortly... *.*

2000s

Now we finally move on to a decade that I actually remember as it happened! Well, for the most part.

The first song I can ever recall hearing around its time of release is the #1 hit 'Toca's Miracle' by Fragma, which has recently featured on BBC4's 2000 TOTP repeats. I mostly loved pop and dance music while growing up and my taste only began to skew more alt in my later teen years.

I got into the Now! That's What I Call Music series as a 7-year-old, which mostly shaped my younger taste, in addition to some of the music my parents and peers were listening to. My first hint as to what is coming up is that my first ever volume, Now! 60, contains a song that will feature in this countdown. Okay, second hint - it's not Verbalicious, apologies.

I pored over the booklets in those Now! That's What I Call Music CDs but did not start listening to the official chart run down until 2007 for some reason. I recall 'About You Now' by Sugababes being announced at #1 in the first top 40 show I heard on Radio 1. A chart geek was soon born.

Some of the first artists I remember obsessing over as a little girl were Avril Lavigne (my first studio album was Let Go and I even made a fansite dedicated to her!) and Girls Aloud. I still have a place in my heart for both and even finally saw the latter act live in 2024, sans the much missed Sarah Harding. The girls were of course put together on a reality TV show which was a huge part of the 2000s music industry. Their coronation single was pleasingly refreshing but the general formula would soon become stale. There was still quite a lot of diversity in the top 40 during this decade elsewhere though - from pop, to dance, to landfill indie, to R&B, to nu-metal, to pop-punk, to hip-hop amongst other styles thriving to varying degrees at different times.

At the movies, the 2000s birthed two of my all-time favourite films in Spirited Away and Pan's Labyrinth 🖤

I have a soft spot for this decade, that I entered as a 2-year-old and exited at 12, due to nostalgia. Let's move on to this new millennium, which features some enduring childhood favourites, plus other picks I've come to appreciate more in adulthood...

#10 Alizée - 'Moi… Lolita' (2000)

#09 Sigur Rós - 'Hoppípolla' (2005)

Kicking off the 2000s is a pick that proves upbeat dance-pop music can in fact still scratch an itch in my brain too!

'Moi… Lolita' by Alizée is my first fully non-English language selection since Serge Gainsbourg's 'Cargo culte' from the 1970s. Like that song, this one also tackles a similarly taboo subject, drawing inspiration from the classic novel Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. I've watched the 1962 Kubrick adaptation (and since added 'Lolita Ya Ya' by Nelson Riddle to my chilled '60s playlist) but have never read the novel, although will endeavour to one day, as it is supposedly well written. The subject matter is disturbing though as the adult male protagonist falls for an underage girl, Lolita. Alizée sings from her perspective.

Alizée was taken under the wing of fellow French singer Mylène Farmer, who wrote 'Moi... Lolita'. Farmer spotted her on a talent show called Graines de star back in 1999. She, alongside the track's producer Laurent Boutonnat, was on the look out for a young, fresh face to front a new project and thought she fit the bill. Alizée was just 15 when approached by the duo and turned 17 around the time of 'Moi... Lolita's release.

This record is another that I appreciate for its duality. Alizée's fittingly youthful take on Lolita feels innocent yet there's a real darkness to the lyrics, given the contents of the subject matter. Similarly, the production consists of gorgeous, warm synths and strings with a particularly glorious middle 8 section, yet there is a dark undertone to the chosen chords too. I also think the French language makes this a standout hit. It's such an earworm and feels perfect to listen to in summer.

I don't think I discovered this song until I was an adult but it quickly wormed its way into my affections.

'Moi... Lolita' achieved a #9 peak in the U.K. which is pretty remarkable for a fully French language song here.

...

You wait for another non-English language song to appear and suddenly two show up at once!

'Hoppípolla' was released as the second single from Icelandic post-rock group Sigur Rós' fourth studio album Takk..., so naturally contains Icelandic lyrics, but also parts in their made up language Vonlenska (or 'Hopelandic' in English). The title translates to the rather whimsical "hopping into puddles" and the lyrics display a lot of child-like wonder. The group gave the song an early working title of 'The Money Song' as they were certain they'd written something that would achieve commercial success, a wise prediction.

Lead singer Jonsí provides a reliably ethereal falsetto vocal here. The production is similarly spectacular and cinematic. It opens with a hypnotic piano riff and expands to include stunning strings, driving percussion and horns. This track soars to epic heights and leaves me feeling emotional without fail.

My introduction to the world of this song was through the Chicane reworking 'Poppiholla' in 2009, which is great in its own way. But discovering the source material was particularly special. I've since listened to more work from the band and particularly adore their 2012 album Valtari. But 'Hoppípolla' remains their ultimate song for me and is a classic for a reason.

The track's cinematic nature meant it was a perfect fit for media and was chosen to soundtrack trailers for the Planet Earth series. This exposure lead to a re-release of 'Hoppípolla' in 2006, where it managed #24 in the U.K. chart, again not too shabby for a non-English language song here.

This is an excellent start to the 2000s.

I don’t remember hearing Moi... Lolita before but it sounds great. I absolutely love how French lyrics sound in songs and this is no different. That middle 8 is lovely you’re right, as are the strings.

Hoppípolla is gorgeous of course, I love that Sigur Rós sound like nobody else. Epic of course with those brilliant strings, but the lyrics and vocals feel like an instrument all of their own, adding to the whole beautiful soundscape.

Looking forward to the rest of the ten.