Chez Wombat

01; Jessie Ware - If You're Never Gonna Move 02; Dido - Take My Hand 03; Adele - Rolling in the Deep 04; Robyn - Hang With Me 05; MARINA - Froot 06; Kate Bush - The Man With the Child in His Eyes 07; Milica Pavlović - Crna jutra (Balkan S&M) 08; Leona Lewis - Come Alive 09; Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Me and My Imagination 10; Agnes – EGO 11; Zara Larsson - Ain't My Fault Much better from Jessie, my favourite song from her <3 I really liked that Dido song when I heard it in Bop Idol and it was sounding beautiful now as well, hope it can withstand all these last places x Adele obviously great too, though definitely feels a bit too early for that! Robyn and Marina also very good ones I wasn't that familiar with. Feel a bit bad putting Kate that low, but I still really like it. Sorry Zara, this still isn't it x

01; Calvin Harris – Summer 02; Gary Numan - I Die: You Die 03; Sam Fender – Saturday 04; Roosevelt - Take Me Back (Midnight Version) 05; Damien Rice - Woman Like a Man 06; Calvin Harris & Sam Smith – Promises 07; Tom Grennan - Before You 08; Darin feat. Kat DeLuna - Breathing Your Love 09; Lewis Capaldi - Forget Me 10; HRVY - 1 Day 2 Nights 11; Mackenzy Mackay - London Not much changes in my top picks (Calvin still sending some nostalgic favourites <3 I do like Promises too but it did tire on me quite quickly), but did enjoy this Sam Fender song a lot more, Super Hans in the video was a nice surprise as well x I didn't know Mackenzy Mackay was also a rapper, I think he should probably stick to singing...

Will replace with these x 2024 Vampire Weekend - Mary Boone 2025 Florence & The Machine - Everybody Scream

Excellent top 2, that would probably be my own as well! Royals is still one of my favourite songs and it was a real moment seeing that go all the way to number 1, the minimalist sound was very unique and lyrics very pointed ('tigers on a gold leash' in none too veiled a reference) so I'm not surprised it blew up and it's great she's continued to make good music since even without as much mainstream success in comparison, and yes it finished second to last all the way back in the 53rd BJSC, although I'm proud to say I did point it them (all of 3 points) so no following trends for me x (Suffice to say, the best of the year that followed saw quite an improvement in it's position). Get Lucky is bittersweet to hear now as apart from the Weeknd collaborations, it was the last solo project they ever did (and seemingly will ever do) before their abrupt end, but it was a wonderful way to go out, it's such a brilliant merging of their robot sound and the retro glam-disco kind of sound, it never got old for me either despite how long it hung around, and the parent album was really good too, I especially liked Instant Crush. Quite insane that it stayed as big as it did without an official music video as well. Thanks Jaz, this has been really interesting to follow, this would be my own estimate at a top 10: 01. Daft Punk feat. Pharrel Williams - Get Lucky 02. Lorde - Royals 03. Justin Timberlake - Mirrors 04. Naughty Boy feat. Sam Smith - La La La 05. Icona Pop feat. Charli XCX - I Love It 06. OneRepublic - Counting Stars 07. Miley Cyrus - Wrecking Ball 08. Calvin Harris feat. Hurts - Under Control 09. Storm Queen - Look Right Through 10. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Wanz - Thrift Shop

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! Robert Miles - Children Dario G - Sunchyme Chemical Brothers - Setting Sun Fatboy Slim - Right Here Right Now Manic Street Preachers - If You Tolerate This, Your Children Will Be Next Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy Oasis - Don't Look Back in Anger Pulp - Common People William Orbit - Barber's Adagio for Strings (Ferry Corsten Mix) 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

I was never that big a fan of Just Give Me a Reason and overplay didn't help, but I really like the other four of those #2 picks. White Noise is my favourite, Disclosure's first album was a big favourite for me back in the day, Latch and You & Me were also wonderful singles I still enjoy today. Of course, Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead is probably the most notable just for how much of a unique, polarising chart event it was, the news announcement in the place of the song was quite something to behold, entirely impossible to judge it purely musically in the circumstances, but a great one for chart historians. For the number 1s, I Love It and Mirrors are both great songs that managed to survive the Kiss FM overplay, for how amazing Macklemore's come across recently, I've never been that big on his music, Can't Hold Us got ludicrously overplayed, Thrift Shop is his best though, still very fun and quotable.

I really thought the Robyn one couldn't be any more self-explanatory, but I don't think I ever get the most guessed right! Congrats to the winners and thanks Mango, these are always fun!

Witchcraft there too x (I mean the penguins could've in theory been bowling for soup x I also considered Coldplay but couldn't find a song that fit)

Ah the closest I got to #7 was 'The Family Stone', would never have made that connection to Roxette, I knew the song was related to Heart but that was too much to narrow down. Would never have made that connection with #8 either, although does make sense. I honestly thought they looked more like homeless people than preachers, oops! That answer for #10 is....not very obvious to say the least, I am convinced witchcraft was involved with anyone getting that right x

#3 took ages to click, there was so many things going on in that image, it was hard to know what to focus on (the goat was the biggest curveball) but thankfully worked it out in the end! The first half of this was much harder than the second, intrigued to see what some of those I missed were, they'll probably be obvious x

I've broken it, quick x

So I see my one pointer that narrowly beat out the song that was winning won in the end, I suppose that keeps my voting streak of winners up x Congrats Blacksquare! Was a good song and did sound like a big hit, I actually hadn't noticed you hadn't already won this year such is your dominance! I do hope Persephonia isn't doomed to 2nd forever but a great achievement following a DNQ streak nonetheless. Seems Ane Brun did ultimately do similarly to how she did in PFSC overall, though HMLTD did quite a bit better which checks out x I only voted for Spodic Empire and Skall in the top 10, but that is a great looking 11-15 section! Sadly still not a unique position in 37th but as said, I had no expectations here so pleasantly surprised for the steady run of points from various nations, thank you all who voted and remember not to switch on the news as everything is always normal B-) (also think that maybe my first votes from Herbilore? Unless I'm forgetting something, nice x) Ooft though I didn't notice my 18 was only just next to me, that's really harsh for Lankum especially as they did much better last time. Jadakissnia also deserved better x Many thanks Iz (and blacksquare) for a great contest, have really enjoyed the presentation throughout.

Gosh, my points really did come in waves here x (Thank you all! Here's to passing 100 x)

I mean 40th or 42nd would be unique positions so... Any of that top 3 would be a great winner, although it would be long overdue for Persephonia.

POPHub were literally the last one I cut, I didn't expect to see them this far ahead, but I'd be on board with it! The descent resumes *__