Jade

As long as they avoid ‘The Millennium Prayer’

Spotify is unsurprisingly littered with impact from their 'New Year's Eve 2025' playlist today. Position boosts from that playlist in the top 50 alone: 03 Taylor Swift - The Fate Of Ophelia (+1) 04 HUNTR/X, EJAE, AUDREY NUNA, REI AMI & KPop Demon Hunters Cast - Golden (+1) 05 Disco Lines, Tinashe - No Broke Boys (+5) 08 Chappell Roan - Pink Pony Club (+20) 10 sombr - 12 to 12 (+3) 13 The Killers - Mr. Brightside (+3) 14 Ravyn Lenae - Love Me Not (+11) 15 Sabrina Carpenter - Manchild (+7) 16 Sabrina Carpenter - Espresso (+38) 19 ABBA - Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) (re-entry) 20 ROSÉ, Bruno Mars - APT. (+55) 23 Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) (+156) 27 Tate McRae - Sports car (+45) 28 Rihanna, Calvin Harris - We Found Love (+168) 31 Tears For Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule the World (+6) 32 Tyla - CHANEL (+14) 34 Taylor Swift - Opalite (+1) 37 Shaboozey - A Bar Song (Tipsy) (+83) 42 Lola Young - Messy (+17) 44 Lady Gaga - Abracadabra (re-entry) 46 Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Murder On The Dancefloor (re-entry) 50 The Weeknd, Ariana Grande - Save Your Tears (Remix) (re-entry)

BJSC 180 ResultsDeath Hags - Oublie Moi DNQ - 23rd | 36 points We were hoping to round off 2025 with a full house of qualifiers but that didn't quite go to plan! Jadakissnia unleashed French experimental dark synth entry 'Oublie Moi' from LA based artist Death Hags. This song was recorded for a Twin Peaks homage compilation and quickly hooked me in with its moody atmosphere and build-up of synths. 'Oublie Moi' was placed 6th in semi final 1 but sadly fell short of advancing to the final stage, finishing 23rd with 36 points. This was a particularly gutting time to DNQ as we were 3rd place in the latest YTD update, potentially on course for a new personal best, but this result was now guaranteed to boot us back down at the final hurdle. It was revealed yesterday that our EOY position is a frustrating 11th (with 1623 points) however this is still an improvement on last year's 16th. Overall, we cannot grumble about 2025, as 9 qualifiers is still a strong result and we took home a win, plus three further top 10 results. So, thank you to all of the support shown to Jadakissnia during our 10th anniversary year! We look forward to hopefully coming back strong in 2026 with a classic gothic sound up our sleeve for the next contest. Jadakissnians may have watched the final from the sidelines but still had plenty to root for in FSR Rontvia. The host nation continued to work their magic on our people as we awarded them an unprecedented 4th (!) set of 18 points this year, with the glorious 'Only Girl' by Man/Woman/Chainsaw. We did know and love this song pre-contest but had to give it all of our support nevertheless. This AQ finished in a respectable 13th place. Somehow, we were merely FSR Rontvia's second biggest fan this year despite the onslaught of top points, with Skall showing them even more love. Elsewhere, our silver medal went to A-Konohagakure, our highest points to this nation to date by far. This was for their latest pick 'Tumbal Proyek' by Sukatani. The pounding, gothic, post-punk sound was immediate Jadakissnia bait but the love spread far and wide, as 'Tumbal Proyek' achieved an impressive 7th place finish! Our podium was rounded off with the song that placed just ahead of Sukatani. This was Skall's gorgeous downtempo entry 'Rodl Glide' by Oneohtrix Point Never, achieving 241 points for that 6th place result. The winning song was ultimately revealed as Austra's 'Fallen Cloud'. This track fell short of our votes but was a commiseration nevertheless. Congrats to Danæviia on the victory, we look forward to your nation taking on hosting duties! Thank you to FSR Rontvia for their fabulous hospitality. These were our BJSC 180 final votes in full: 18 FSR Rontvia: Man/Woman/Chainsaw - Only Girl 15 A-Konohagakure: Sukatani - Tumbal Proyek 13 Skall: Oneohtrix Point Never - Rodl Glide 12 Utopia: Daniel Avery & Ellie - Haze 11 Neliönoir: Rakky Ripper - Las Cosas De Antes 10 Kathaldazia: XRUSTALIC - 892SICK 09 Terra Avium: ANOTHER; COUNTRY $$$$ - TETHER 08 Cumulonimbia: Narciss - Ludmilla 07 Sovarasma: paco te quiero - qué más da 06 Elëdan: Amaia - Aralar 05 Pestolia: Sassy 009 - Enemy 04 Aelandor: Saltillo - A Hair On The Head Of John The Baptist 03 Aeroche: DOVE & Kehina - CHROMA 009 KR36 02 Bronzil: The Hellp - Live Forever 01 Fljótavík: Tori Amos - Spark Thank you to the following nations for these points in semi final: 12 - Pestolia 10 - Deandria 8 - East Rukahavian 3 - Scotland 2 1 - Aeroche, FARC + The Spodic Empire We lost these in the semi, rude: 10 Macromia: Ea Othilde - I'm Ready For Love 02 Scotland 2: bassvictim - 27a Pitfield St 01 Deandria: Blacky - Ööö Jadakissnia's 2025 run: 171 ● Oklou - choke enough (10th | 203 pts) 172 ● Vioflesh - Spring Nostalgia (4th | 222 pts) 173 ● Kraftwerk - Europe Endless {100th anniversary entry} (4th | 232 pts) 174 ● goneMUNE - AMNESIA (25th | 153 pts) 175 ● EQ - B.S.A.S. (Si Alguna Vez Te Sentís Sola De Noche) (27th | 120 pts) 176 ● uvula - ty' i tvoya ten' (16th | 160 pts) 177 ● S1RENA - DNA 1NTERLUDE / DNA (20th | 152 pts) 178 ● Erin LeCount - 808 HYMN (1st | 269 pts) ★ 179 ● Sara Zozaya - Blu (32nd | 112 pts) 180 ● Death Hags - Oublie Moi (DNQ) EOY = 11th (1623 pts) EOY run: 42*-05-11-05-10-13-10-18-10-16-11 (*28 unadjusted) 🫶

Oops only just seen this thread but my favourite on the list is ‘The Sofa’ so good job Radio X listeners

Hi Joseph looking forward to following this! Quite a few albums I've heard in your list so far but Addison is unsurprisingly my favourite *.* an unexpected highlight of the year was her being announced as my support act for Lana when my stanning was at its peak...!! intrigued to see if any of the singles pop up in your countdown.

Wow I opened this thread as 'If Tomorrow Never Comes' was playing on the TV, as Ronan is currently doing the New Year's Eve party on BBC1 spooky!

Pleased 'Ghosts' came out on top for you as it's the case for me too! It's remarkable that something so left-field was their biggest hit, although anything is possible, with some of the other oddities we've encountered in these '80s chart so far. Love the haunting, dissonant synths and the rather heartbreaking rug pull conveyed in the chorus. That Visage song would be my next favourite... more sad synth goodness. Agreed that it's their best since the incomparable all-timer that is 'Fade to Grey', fingers crossed that does well in the #8s rate. Classix Nouveaux would be on my podium as well, so same three songs slightly shuffled! Something a bit more serious from Chas and Dave now following 'Stars Over 45' as mentioned on SyncTube it reminds me so much of '(Just Like) Starting Over'!

argh if only I was one place higher this year

Looking forward to this series dipping into the 1980s now 🙌 intrigued to see your placings and thoughts.

Oh my, spotting myself on quite a few of these recent biggest fan podiums *.* Congratulations blacksquare on a phenomenal run this year and thanks Bré/Rob for delivering this to us!

ready for more Sovarasma faves in 2026! Glad you enjoyed your live experience and I hope you have the best time at the O2 as well just checked my own stats and she was 9th for me this year! Oh yes the (OG) 'Striptease' erasure is also a massive WTF moment!! Less gutted about 'Childlike Things' Thank you for reminding me of it <3 I think I first discovered it on plug.dj before I'd properly got into her! . Agreed that the vocals are lovely <3 a nice tonic to all the chaos that went into hosting that contest (but loveable chaos ) Thank you all for the comments - Happy New Year ❤️ xx

Great to see HAAi and co. in that first section she was sent to BJSC this year albeit with a different song!

Chez, Happy New Year, looking forward to following your countdown as always! portals//polarities is a fantastic choice of favourite album and also made my top 10 when I quickly chucked a list together ❤️ I also really enjoyed those projects from Ethel Cain x2, Snapped Ankles, Sudan Archives, Lily Allen and of course, Jadakissnia alumnus Oklou - so taste on point as ever. I wanted to love The Clearing more, as the bar was so high from previous projects, but it does still have its moments. You planning a ROSALÍA deep dive is music to my ears 😍 her last three albums have been my AOTY for 2018, 2022 and 2025 (just to balance out the stanning, her more flamenco style first album isn't quite as earth-shattering for me, but still solid and contains the BJSC DNQ 'Catalina') so I hope you enjoy them even a fraction as much. At some point I'd definitely recommend a deep dive of Dave's three albums too. All critically acclaimed with a lot of interesting commentary, wordplay and beautiful piano/string instrumentation. So I think you could potentially enjoy them as well even if rap isn't usually your genre of choice. I've really slowed down the movie watching recently due to BJSC hosting, getting ill, 2006 #1s and now EOY planning oops but I'll aim to get back on top of it in the new year, Oscar season is usually good motivation. From your list I've only seen One Battle After Another and The Brutalist but will expand on that, especially Flow!! My favourite songs to appear so far are: 'I Like It Like That', 'It's Almost Like You're Here' and 'Hair on the Head of John the Baptist' <3 love that those two entries performed so well too, especially for two nations who don't end up in that top tier very much.

Oh 3rd -> 11th is a cruel drop 😭 …although still an improvement on last year

I wasn't expecting to start this so soon but I got to finish work early and was in the mood to write while I have a couple of free hours so why not... TOP 100 SONGS: 100-91 100. ARGO - Korku | 154 points 99. Wet Leg - catch these fists | 155 points 98. FKA twigs - Sushi | 156 points 97. ROSALÍA - Mio Cristo Piange Diamanti | 158 points 96. Cynthia Erivo - Defying Gravity (feat. Ariana Grande) | 159 points 95. KennyHoopla - NORTHERN LIGHTS// | 163 points (peak: #13) 94. Madison Beer - yes baby | 163 points (peak: #3) 93. Oklou & FKA twigs - viscus | 164 points 92. Confidence Man & JADE - gossip | 165 points (peak: #13) 91. Lemondaze - o(type) | 165 points (peak: #9) The mysterious ARGO highlights the beauty of the BuzzJack Song Contest. @gooddelta's nation FSR Rontvia unleashed their song 'Korku' to the 177th edition back in September. Little is known about this Turkish rock act, with just 78 monthly listeners at the time of typing, but they were plucked from obscurity (courtesy of a New Music Friday playlist) and incredibly finished as high as 2nd in the contest. I helped out this entry as much as I could, with top marks, FSR Rontvia's third consecutive gold from my nation in an unprecedented hot streak. I cannot profess to know much Turkish (although understand the title of this song translates to 'Fear') but I was instantly hooked on the post-punk style drum loop, epic guitars and passionate vocals that become all the more intense as the song builds. A top 40 single unfortunately continues to evade Wet Leg but sophomore album moisturizer was another #1 record for the band. This era was introduced by lead single 'catch these fists' back in April this year. I was pleasantly surprised to hear they'd chosen a dance-punk direction for the instrumental and noted that an idiosyncratic band name team-up of Wet Leg and Viagra Boys now seemed plausible. This refreshed sonic makeover is coupled with lyrics inspired by men who obnoxiously interrupt a girl who is having fun with her friendship circle on a night out, to try and pick her up. The words have bite but are also peppered with humorous Wet Leg wordplay such as "he don't get puss, he get the boot, I saw him sipping on Dark Fruit". What a takedown. 2025 was a prolific and slightly confusing year to follow in the world of FKA Twigs. She released her third studio album Eusexua in January to much acclaim and even a top 3 chart placing here! However, later in the year she put out an edited version of Eusexua which removed some of the original track list (justice for 'Girl Feels Good') and slotted in some new songs. In addition to this, she also dropped an entirely new album called Eusexua Afterglow which promised to "extend the high into the afters". Phew. 'Sushi' was an immediate highlight from this project for me. It is like an alt girl update on Craig David's '7 Days' as Twigs excitedly details what her week of dates will look like - of course going for sushi, but also karaoke (her song of choice is revealed as 'Gasolina' by Daddy Yankee) and even heading to Paris. Elsewhere, the line "no, I still can't drive" particularly speaks to me when I had to delay my test until 2026. There is also a callback to the earlier discography highlight 'Glass & Patron' (recently entered to the Bop Idol 5 song contest by @Josh!) with the line "now hold that pose for me". My ultimate highlight of this song is how it morphs into a ballroom breakdown towards the end, which samples a commentator named Precious. That transition is always a rush. I saw someone comparing this song to Beyoncé's 'PURE/HONEY' and can definitely see the vision. That album track was my favourite moment on Renaissance so it makes sense that I would also enjoy the structure of this song quite a bit. This year it was a delight to witness one of my favourite artists ROSALÍA achieving notable commercial success, on top of her usual critical praise. I predicted that she would achieve her first top 40 album in 2025 but never in my wildest dreams did I expect LUX to land in the top 5, just incredible. She is always an ambitious artist but this project included the extra challenging layer of incorporating 14 different languages. I was intrigued to hear 'Mio Cristo Piange Diamanti' as Italian is one of my favourites. This song is about the spiritual union between two people that is not necessarily romantic, as it was inspired by Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Clare of Assisi, who had a strong, platonic bond. The songwriting is passionate and dramatic from the word go, with the opening lines translating to "you are the most beautiful hurricane that I have ever seen" in English. ROSALÍA plays with religious themes throughout and illustrates her thoughts with poetic imagery. The song opens with lowkey piano playing but evolves throughout, with added flourishes and intense strings in places. Her voice is to die for here, particularly the final note, which is my favourite vocal moment on the whole of LUX. The transition between the end of this song and 'Berghain' is the best segue on the album for me, also. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande placed at #70 in my 2024 EOY list with 'Defying Gravity' and they're back once more, this time at the lower #96, thanks to its chart run extending into the start of this year. I won't bore you all by repeating my commentary from last time but might as well add that the sequel to this movie, Wicked: For Good, has since come out. Unfortunately, it did not quite live up to the strength of the first film for me, but 'For Good' was an impressive musical moment between the two again, just three spots out from making this year's countdown. Ariana Grande still has more to come thanks to the release of her eternal sunshine: brighter days deluxe album this year too, in another busy year for her career. KennyHoopla is an American musician who was born exactly 1 day after me! I have stayed on top of his music pretty well as his releases are often pushed on my Release Radar playlist. I'm particularly grateful to have spotted and checked out 'NORTHERN LIGHTS//' this year. KennyHoopla, real name Kenneth La'ron Beasley, was inspired by '90s shoegaze and post-rock bands when creating this song, especially mentioning Ride and Sonic Youth as acts who saved his life during a difficult time. He was dealing with the loss of his mum and also becoming an independent artist. 'NORTHERN LIGHTS//' is about achieving what you can with what you have and not necessarily the path that was expected. The most standout lyric to me is "in outer heaven, weightless and hardcore" which illustrates feeling lost in a striking way. I love the psychedelic end result of his muffled vocals mixed with the loud, layered fuzzy guitars and driving percussion. Madison Beer originally caught my attention when she featured on the Europa single 'All Day and Night' back in 2019, a #1 in my personal chart. Her career stretches a lot further back than that, with Justin Bieber endorsing her in 2013, but her own music as the main artist hadn't really grabbed me. However, Madison's dark dance-pop pivot in recent years has been a godsend. 'Make You Mine' was a bit of a slow burner but 'yes baby' immediately hit me. The electropop sound is catnip to my ears so I'm pleased if the Brat era is opening up more artists to experiment with this lane. On top of the pulsating synths, the sensual lyrics are good fun and confidently delivered, plus Madison exudes star quality in the video, even if the backing dancers seem to be doing most of the work! I'll let her off for running on the treadmill in heels. Here's hoping she gets a Sabrina Carpenter-esque break one day as she has all the makings of a big pop girl. French singer, producer and DJ Oklou teamed up with FKA Twigs, back for a second appearance in this section, on a track for the deluxe version of her debut album choke enough. Both of these talented women provided two of my favourite albums of the year so I was unsurprisingly hyped for this team-up. 'viscus' originally existed as an unreleased solo song that had been performed live, but Oklou later called up FKA twigs to invite her on to it as a feature, allowing full creative freedom. I appreciate how vulnerable this collaboration is, alluding to themes like seasonal depression and even body dysmorphia on Twigs' verse, with lines such as "avoiding myself naked in the bath, just to touch my body in the dark" painting a heartbreaking picture. I feel Oklou has already carved out a particular electronic sound, so the main synth is reliably great, but I appreciate the texture of added ambience too. Twigs handing Oklou her much-loved flute in the music video was cinema, also. Another collaboration that filled me with excitement was Confidence Man and JADE coming together! The two acts crossed paths thanks to the Rolling Stone U.K. awards (a magazine I subscribe to) and JADE later debuted the track live at Glastonbury, a month before its release. I'm a big fan of Basement Jaxx and their work appears to be a bit of a template here, which unsurprisingly gets a thumbs up from me. There is definitely a bit of 'Oh My Gosh' in there while the Mexican guitar provides some added drama similar to their highest charting song, 'Rendez-vu'. The acid house elements of the production appeal to me a lot too. The playful lyrics, an ode to the art of gossiping (if only Dot Cotton was still with us), are brimming with sass and get particularly cheeky when JADE drops a c-bomb during the bridge. This meeting of pop and electronic worlds thankfully delivered! This section is book-ended with two songs that received my top marks in the BuzzJack Song Contest. The 179th edition was particularly special to me as I got the chance to host for the first time in 4 years, following victory for my nation Jadakissnia, in BJSC 178. I was suitably impressed by the quality of the entries and my favourite of the lot was 'o(type)' by Lemondaze, sent by @uhsting's nation Sovarasma. This song instantly blew me away with its gazing-at-shoes qualities while creating recap videos and remained my best-loved entry throughout the entirety of the contest. It experienced a slow start during the results but finished in a respectable 16th place by the end. The group are inspired by shoegaze royalty Slowdive but also the likes of Radiohead and Wolf Alice. The moody, droning production and muffled vocals during the verses perfectly contrast against the build-up of dramatic guitars, crashing drums and clear "you're still there" delivery in the chorus. The music video is a stunning watch, with its mix of emotive close-ups and outdoor shots in front of towering trees.

I own the following: 1 THE LIFE OF A SHOWGIRL TAYLOR SWIFT 3 WHAT'S THE STORY MORNING GLORY OASIS 8 ROMANCE FONTAINES DC 10 DEFINITELY MAYBE OASIS 11 OK COMPUTER RADIOHEAD 12 AM ARCTIC MONKEYS 13 HIT ME HARD AND SOFT BILLIE EILISH 15 MAYHEM LADY GAGA 16 THE RISE AND FALL OF A MIDWEST PRINCESS CHAPPELL ROAN 18 THE CLEARING WOLF ALICE 21 BACK TO BLACK AMY WINEHOUSE 24 THE BOY WHO PLAYED THE HARP DAVE 25 WHATEVER PEOPLE SAY I AM THAT'S WHAT I'M ARCTIC MONKEYS 37 SKINTY FIA FONTAINES DC 39 VIRGIN LORDE 40 BORN TO DIE LANA DEL REY So a handful from this year. I bought the 'Good Luck, Babe!' and 'The Subway' singles too (sorry 'The Giver' x)

'Stateside' has climbed again on Spotify today: 84. PinkPantheress, Zara Larsson - Stateside (+8) 🩷 keep going!

I expected 'Let's Have A Party' to be my lowest placing vote but it was a different instrumental in the end. Winifred was such a charming piano player!

The end of an era! The modern MTV brand has felt loosely associated with music for a while now anyway despite its name but I guess that’s the final nail in the coffin for the countries affected There’s been a real purge of music channels since last year with the Channel 4 owned ones like The Box, Kerrang etc. going as well. It’s a shame there’s not many specialising in current music now, although not entirely surprising, with the shift in viewing/listening habits over the decades and music videos being viewed as a less relevant tool than they once were. I actually have Now 90s & 00s on right now during my lunch break while working from home. One that only launched last year but has the nostalgia market. So I still like dipping my toes into them sometimes even if not as much as when I was a kid.

That is easily Nickelback's best song for me but Sophie is my champion here!

Thanks Sergej, that's very kind! I'm all up to date on yours now yay 🥳

Hi Sergej just been playing catch-up with your EOY so far! Kendrick is a fantastic choice of AOTY 🤩 I remember that and the Wicked soundtrack being released on the same week, so two (very different!) albums wrestling for my attention. But this quickly cemented itself as another strong moment in his catalogue - with the Super Bowl only helping this, as 'squabble up' clicked for me after that. My favourite songs to show up so far are 'heart pt. 6', 'ICH KOMME' and 'Bluebird' <3 shame Erika shockingly missed out on a top 10 placing in the Eurovision final!

Thank you for the support in here each year, Pete! Much appreciated :)

Looking forward to following this! 'Lullaby' is a lovely #1 to round off the year with.

Oh there was me wondering if Baz Luhrmann would contend earlier but ATB feels like such an obvious winner now I come to think of it, as I recall you raving about it in the past. Great pick, love that distinctive bendy guitar, the sensual vocals and trance elements. However, Britney is my favourite of your top 3! One of the most perfectly pitched pop launches ever, with a legendary video to boot, that Britney apparently had a hand in shaping. It's wild to think that it could've gone to another artist. The Eiffel 65 song is also good and obviously iconic but not quite as much of a favourite for me. Thank you for another highly enjoyable thread, @gooddelta! I enjoyed reading all of your opinions and memories. I was a bit too young to appreciate the '90s at the time so it's really interesting for me to hear people's lived music / chart experiences from the period as it was happening. My own top 10 for 1999 #1s would look like this nowadays: Baz Luhrmann - Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen) Christina Aguilera - Genie in A Bottle Fatboy Slim - Praise You Britney Spears - …Baby One More Time Shanks and Bigfoot - Sweet Like Chocolate Armand Van Helden - You Don’t Know Me (feat. Duane Harden) ATB - 9PM (Til I Come) Wamdue Project - King of My Castle Five - Keep On Movin’ Mr. Oizo - Flat Beat so very dance heavy but with a few pop gems in the mix too.