Chez Wombat

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 *__

Oh my, from the last on 00 to top 10! That is most definitely temporary but thank you all!

This is probably the most surprised I've ever been by a qualifier so have no expectations and intrigued to see who my fans are! I'm hopeful for a slightly more open final than the odds are predicting.

No real surprise for Males and Groups, I'm wondering who sent Bladee as no one seemed to rank it highly (unless they didn't vote x) Dead or Alive I think got unlucky in a group this competitive, but they at least have You Spin Me Round... for the golden Gamu! Tove definitely the victim of a tough category with questionnable song choice, she could definitely be back though I imagine she'll have some tough competition depending on how many slots there are available!

I enjoyed this, although I do think it's the weakest of Zach Cregger's horror films so far, it was a little straightforward but tbf, it's a survival horror video game adaptation so I can get there isn't as much room for innovation as there is for original material. I did still think this worked very well though and definitely didn't outstay it's welcome, I liked that they kept the lead very recognisably human with his reactions and choices throughout all of it and the design of the monster/zombies looked really good, and it never took itself overly seriously too. Never played the games nor seen the movies (although don't feel like I'm missing out much on the latter) so can't comment on the Easter eggs/faithfulness, but it certainly felt very much like a video game in parts which is nice. Also, did he ever say a sentence that didn't have an f-bomb in it lol

2017 Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - Holy Mountain Sampha - (No One Knows Me Like) The Piano The Killers - The Man 2018 Camelphat feat. Jem Cooke - Breathe Grimes feat. HANA - We Appreciate Power ROSALIA - Malamente (Cap. I: Augurio) 2019 Cate Le Bon - Daylight Matters Haim - Now I'm In It Weyes Blood - Movies 2020 Camelphat feat. LOWES - Easier Haim - The Steps Phoebe Bridgers - I Know the End 2021 Coldplay - Coloratura Japanese Breakfast - Be Sweet Mitski - The Only Heartbreaker 2022 Arcade Fire - The Lightning Parts I & II Caroline Polachek - Billions Tove Lo - No One Dies From Love 2023 Bjork & ROSALIA - Oral Hemlocke Springs - Sever the Blight Lankum - Go Dig My Grave 2024 Father John Misty - I Guess Time Just Makes Fools of Us All Magdalena Bay - Death & Romance Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Wild God 2025 Ethel Cain - Nettles Oklou - Blade Bird ROSALÍA feat. Bjork & Yves Tumor - Berghain

2016 Glass Animals - Life Itself Rihanna - Love on the Brain Beyonce - Formation Will do the other years soon x

OK seriously, can we please keep to the subject at hand here and stop veering off into Ed Sheeran in the charts/popularity related things which are completely irrelevant to what's happening (there's a whole forum you can discuss that in), it completely undermines the seriousness of this topic and the healthy debate that's happening.

I don't believe it was that hard for him. An artist of Ed's stature standing by Macklemore and making it clear that he is to continue as a show of solidarity for not necessarily Palestine, but just general freedom of speech would've been a powerful statement, he may have lost some of his venues but he's in a position where he can take that hit and find alternatives, while it would've doubtless still got negative coverage, it wouldn't have been blanket across the board and would've gained him a lot of new respect and would've shown that he had principles and that music takes precedence. You can't tell me that would be worse than this pure corporate shill, fence-sitting that has tried to please everyone and literally pleased no one.

He has, Tommy Robinson and Boy George - glowing endorsements indeed! It wasn't just a few fans, the prices for the tour falling dramatically suggests otherwise. He'll recover for sure but I think this has done him a lot more harm than good overall

Sadeness Part 1 is such a unique number 1, I was so taken aback that something like that could top the charts when I first heard it. It was great that something of that experimental early 90s new wave scene managed to break through. I quite like Everything I Do... too, I think I wouldn't have liked it at the time and it's definitely not 16 weeks at number 1 worthy, but I'll take it over One Dance and Rein Me In. His raspy voice works quite well and the instrumental is suitably cinematic and epic. I've never been as big a fan of the Queen song as the other side and their one still to come is better, but it is a fitting one in the wake of Freddie's death.

01; Dido - White Flag 02; Kate Bush - Hounds of Love 03; Robyn - Talk to Me 04; MARINA - Bubblegum Bitch 05; Leona Lewis - Better in Time (Single Mix) 06; Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Music Gets the Best of Me 07; Milica Pavlović - Ona nosi Pradu 08; Adele – Hello 09; Tove Lo feat. Wiz Khalifa – Influence 10; Zara Larsson - Love Me Land 11; Jessie Ware – Sauna 12; Agnes - Selfmade The weakest of the three rounds for me personally, but the top 2 are classics (I hope Dido's got a gameplan though as that's very early for this to appear! Maybe if a certain other collaboration's allowed x), the MARINA song was a good one I hadn't heard before and I've really enjoyed the singles from this current Robyn era. Most of these other artists do definitely all have better to hopefully come though. Milica Pavlovic with quite a decent song there too, we love an underdog x

01; Calvin Harris - Feel So Close (Radio Edit) 02; Gary Numan - We Are Glass 03; Roosevelt - Luna 04; Damien Rice - 9 Crimes 05; Tom Grennan - Found What I've Been Looking For 06; Sam Fender - Chin Up 07; Lewis Capaldi - Hold Me While You Wait 08; Sam Smith – Diamonds 09; HRVY & Malú Trevejo - Hasta Luego 10; Bladee - Cartier’god Icedancer (Intermission) 11; Darin – Lovekiller 12; Mackenzy Mackay - Want You For Life My favourite Calvin song <3 I know and enjoy the Gary Numan one as well Been hearing quite a bit of his songs in the Synctube 80s sessions and a lot of them are good so interested to see if he has any deeper cuts. I really like the little I know of Roosevelt and this one was great too, I sent him to one of the end of year PFSCs so hopefully some of what I already know get a chance to shine x Really liked the Damien Rice song, haven't really checked him out beyond Cannonball, the next four artists all generally miss more than hit for me sadly, but I'll say I quite liked all of these, I guess the Bladee song has some interesting production? Just trying to soften the blow x

01; M83 feat. Susanne Sundfør – Oblivion 02; Fontaines D.C. - A Lucid Dream 03; Ultravox - Sleepwalk 04; Vengaboys - We Like to Party! (The Vengabus) 05; Depeche Mode - See You 06; New Order - Ruined in a Day 07; Bananarama - Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye) 08; Years & Years - Take Shelter 09; iamamiwhoami – play 10; Dead or Alive - Misty Circles 11; Sade - The Sweetest Taboo 12; Texas - When We Are Together Great start from easily the best category, I knew the M83, Depeche Mode and Ultravox songs already but Fontaines and New Order songs I wasn't familiar with and sounded great. Probably won't be ranking Vengaboys that high going forward, but that song's a classic x I didn't dislike anything here, although I have never been that keen on play, which may be a bit of a hot take given my general BJSC taste, but hopefully will enjoy some other picks from her. Likewise, I do have some songs I really like from the bottom 2 artists, but these ones were a bit too MOR for me x

Wrecking Ball was far better than We Can't Stop, an iconic video and the song itself was much more effective at showing her maturing as an artist than the predecessor. She would do better material later in her career, but that was certainly the best we've seen so far. Look Right Through was the song I was surprised was still to come, it definitely couldn't have got to number 1 at any other time than then (and a lot of other dance songs would take advantage of that going into next year), but the deep house sound was one I was really into and I still think it still sounds good despite it probably beign largely forgotten these days. Sam Smith would go on to completely lose me musically next year, but their dance song features before that still sound really good, I never tired of La La La despite the overplay. I actually hadn't registered Somewhere Only We Know was still to come, the advert was quite nice but not a fan of the cover at all sadly, it just doesn't need to exist when she has so much better original material.