1, Black Motion feat Nokwazi - Imali 2. Ed Sheeran - Shape Of You 3. Ed Sheeran - Castle On The Hill 4. Alma - Requiem 5. Lucie Jones - Never Give Up On You 6. Norma John - Blackbird 7. PANG! - One Big Laugh 8. Tone Damli - Pinnacle 9. Ace Wilder - Wild Child 10. Anne-Marie - Breathing Fire 11. Pegboard Nerds - Melodymania 12. Elk Road feat Natalie Foster - Hanging By A Thread 13. Salena Mastroianni - I Don't Wanna Fight 14. La La Land Cast - Another Day Of Sun 15. Ten Fé - Another Way 16. Jamiroquai - Automaton 17. Julia Michaels - Issues 18. Shakira feat Maluma - Chantaje 19. Courtney Marie Andrews - Irene 20. Lebo Sekgobela - Lion Of Judah
100. Chloe Rose - For Me 99. Real Lies - One Club Town 98. LP - Lost On You 97. Calvin Harris feat Rihanna - This Is What You Came For 96. Sia - Never Give Up 95. Darline - Until Tomorrow 94. Little Mix feat Jason Derulo - Secret Love Song 93. Sigala feat Imani & DJ Fresh - Say You Do 92. Alan Walker - Alone 91. Kungs vs. Cookin' On 3 Burners - This Girl 90. Delta Goodrem - Just Call 89. Craig David - 16 88. The Chainsmokers feat Halsey - Closer 87. Smith & Thell - Row 86. The Rhythm Method - Party Politics 85. Måns Zelmerlöw - Glorious 84. The Flavor - Shosholoza 83. Emeli Sandé - Breathing Underwater 82. Frances - Say It Again 81. Only Girl - Remains 80. Charly Cole - February 29 (Marry Me) 79. ROMANS feat Rejjie Snow - Prisoner 78. Clean Bandit feat Louisa Johnson - Tears 77. Douwe Bob - Slow Down 76. Lady Gaga - Perfect Illusion 75. Offaiah - Trouble 74. Sigma feat Take That - Cry 73. Scala & Kolacny Brothers - Barbie Girl 72. Craig David & Big Narstie - When The Bassline Drops 71. Delta Goodrem - The River 70. Ira Losco - Walk On Water 69. Shotgun Fakes - Slow Motion 68. Honey Ryder - Years From Now 67. Lauren Aquilina - Thinking About 66. Justin Bieber - What Do You Mean It's 1985 65. Sheppard - We Belong 64. Matoma & Becky Hill - False Alarm 63. Wiktoria - Save Me 62. All Saints - This Is A War 61. 99 Souls feat Destiny's Child & Brandy - The Girl Is Mine 60. Shotgun Fakes - Out Of The Blue 59. Danny L Harle - Broken Flowers 58. Sigala feat John Newman & Nile Rodgers - Give Me Your Love 57. The Corrs - I Do What I Like 56. Craig David & Sigala - Ain't Giving Up 55. The Strumbellas - Spirits 54. Christine and the Queens - Tilted 53. Matt Simons - Catch & Release (Deepend Remix) 52. Alyss - T S I E R 51. Stereoact feat Kerstin Ott - Die Immer Lacht 50. Al Gibbs - Asked Me To Dance 49. Little Mix - Touch 48. NEIKED feat Dyo - Sexual 47. Kate Rusby - Big Brave Bill 46. Ward Thomas - Boomerang 45. KOLAJ - Hitchhike 44. Amir - J'ai Cherché 43. Ellie Goulding - Still Falling For You 42. Kosmonova - Danse Avec Moi 41. Robin Bengtsson - Constellation Prize 40. Lady Gaga - Million Reasons 39. Blonde & Craig David - Nothing Like This 38. Lukas Graham - 7 Years 37. Jorja Smith - Blue Lights 36. SaRaha - Kizunguzungu 35. The Veronicas - In My Blood 34. Zara Larsson - Lush Life 33. Tigertown - Papernote 32. Theia - Roam 31. Douwe Bob - Jacob's Song 30. Joe and Jake - You're Not Alone 29. TheFatRat feat Laura Brehm - Monody 28. Starley - Call On Me (Ryan Riback Remix) 27. Imany - Don't Be So Shy (Filatov & Karas Remix) 26. The Weeknd feat Daft Punk - I Feel It Coming 25. Sia feat Sean Paul - Cheap Thrills 24. K3 - 10.000 Luchtballonnen 23. Alan Walker - Faded 22. Jonas Blue feat JP Cooper - Perfect Strangers 21. Alan Walker - Sing Me To Sleep 20. Delta Goodrem - Dear Life 19. All Saints - One Woman Man 18. Pixie Paris - Es Rappelt Im Karton 17. Frans - If I Were Sorry 16. EFF - Stimme 15. Little Mix - Shout Out To My Ex 14. Real Lies - North Circular 13. Olivia - I'm Not Your Lady 12. Sia feat Kendrick Lamar - The Greatest 11. Natalia Nykiel - Error 10. Sia - Move Your Body (Alan Walker Remix) 9. Pegboard Nerds - Emoji 8. Ortiga - Ilumbarada 7. KOLAJ - The Touch 6. All Saints - One Strike 5. Daithí - Mary Keanes Introduction 4. Frances - Don't Worry About Me 3. Delta Goodrem feat Gizzle - Enough 2. Poli Genova - If Love Was A Crime 1. Clean Bandit feat Sean Paul and Anne-Marie - Rockabye
Released late on in the year - and indeed still sitting at #1 in the UK on its eighth week as I type - Clean Bandit's Rockabye was the sound of the UK's premier (only?) classical dance outfit channeling Ace Of Base. With rising UK star Anne-Marie providing some very strong, almost Rihanna-esque vocals and the legendary Sean Paul providing some memorable catchphrases, such as 'daily struggle', it could hardly miss.
The track features a sun drenched 90s-influenced production, so perhaps it would have been an even bigger hit if released in summer, but who can argue with a Christmas #1 (which won me £200 after betting £8 on them at 25/1 to do just that) and two months at the top of the chart at the busiest time of year?
It's quite easy to see why it's done so well, an accessible tune to people of all ages, with relevant 2016-esque production flourishes but also appealing to those born in the 90s, due to the Ace of Base influence, and the 00s, with the Sean Paul feature. Plus the lyrics, unlike many songs that go to #1 these days, tell a thought provoking and heartfelt story, apparently influenced by the reality of one of the songwriters, Ina Wroldsen. And thats all topped off with a gorgeous string outro and probably the best chorus of the year.
Absolutely sublime track and easily the best UK #1 since their own Rather Be in 2014 or - going further back - On The Floor by Jennifer Lopez feat Pitbull in early 2011. After a year of being incredibly bored with the generic and average songs doing well, it's been so refershing to see a genuinely great and well made song strike such a chord with the public.
I haven't been very keen on many of the other UK chart toppers this year, with only Little Mix's Shout Out To My Ex (#15), Lukas Graham's 7 Years (#38) and Closer by The Chainsmokers feat Halsey (#88) registering on my top 100.
Not far off Rockabye at all in second place for 2016 was If Love Was A Crime, the unexpectedly phenomenal pop song that Bulgaria brought to Eurovision, finishing a highly respectable fourth in the contest for Poli Genova. Delta Goodrem and US rapper Gizzle, finishing at #3 here, teamed up for an undeserved summer flop with Enough, a stunning blend of Delta's soaring vocals, gorgeous string laden production and Gizzle's unique rapped verses.
Elsehwere in the top ten are Don't Worry About Me, a beautiful piano ballad by English singer-songwriter Frances (#4) and Mary Keanes Introduction, a unique dance track from Irish producer Daithí (#5), featuring spoken word samples from his 90-year-old grandmother reflecting on growing up.
Multiple entries in the top 100 come from Clean Bandit, Delta Goodrem, Frances, All Saints, KOLAJ, Sia, Real Lies, Little Mix, Alan Walker, Douwe Bob, Craig David, Lady Gaga, Sigala and Shotgun Fakes, all of whom really impressed me this year.
40. The Weeknd - Starboy 39. Charly Cole - Gotcha 38. Jem - Beachwood Canyon 37. Netsky - 3 36. The Shires - My Universe 35. Scala & Kolacny Brothers - Solstice 34. K3 - 10,000 Luchtballonnen 33. Douwe Bob - Fool Bar 32. Gwen Stefani - This Is What The Truth Feels Like 31. Justice - Woman 30. Ariana Grande - Dangerous Woman 29. Robbie Williams - The Heavy Entertainment Show 28. Kygo - Cloud Nine 27. Lauren Aquilina - Isn't It Strange? 26. Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Familia 25. Colbie Caillat - The Malibu Sessions 24. Bastille - Wild World 23. Tove Lo - Lady Wood 22. Måns Zelmerlöw - Chameleon 21. Lukas Graham - Lukas Graham 20. Rihanna - Anti 19. Ward Thomas - Cartwheels 18. Birdy - Beautiful Lies 17. Carly Rae Jepsen - Emotion Side B 16. Tom Odell - Wrong Crowd 15. Fifth Harmony - 7/27 14. Rachel Platten - Wildfire 13. Christine and the Queens - Chaleur Humaine 12. Emeli Sandé - Long Live The Angels 11. Real Lies - Real Life --------------------------------------------- 10. KT Tunstall - Kin Kicking off the top ten is the shockingly good new album by KT Tunstall. I've loved KT since Eye To The Telescope but, for me personally, it's been diminishing returns from that point onwards. But the Scottish singer-songwriter rediscovered the magic this time around and the spirit of that fantastic debut album is present and correct here. I'd recommend checking out Hard Girls (complete with a great video featuring Melanie C), Maybe It's A Good Thing, Evil Eye, It Took Me So Long To Get Here, But Here I Am and the late ABBA-esque end of album beauty Everything Has Its Shape. Also check out the song All Or Nothing, which was on an EP released by KT earlier in the year and would have also made a great addition to this album. 9. Pet Shop Boys - Super The legendary electronic duo consisting of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe returned with the follow-up to 2013's fantastic Electric this year and Super - another Stuart Price produced effort - was more of the same, but a bit brighter, more colourful and more poptastic. Though Super might not quite hit the heights of Electric, it has its fair share of brilliance and is a great example of why acts in their 60s shouldn't feel the need to only release covers or MOR blandness - this album proves that if you still have a creative flair then you should exploit it. My highlights are singles The Pop Kids and the Reggaeton-inspired Twenty-Something, Burn - which could have been on Kylie's Light Years or an 80s PSB album, the more melancholy Sad Robot World and the lyrically excellent The Dictator Decides. 8. Beyoncé - Lemonade Beyoncé is becoming a pretty incredible albums artist and the brilliant Lemonade was a more than worthy follow-up to her self-titled 2013 album. So good lyrically for reasons covered at length elsewhere and the narrative flow of the album is also superb, making the accompanying film something not to be missed. My highlights are Hold Up, the fantastic and unexpected country track Daddy Lessons, All Night and Sorry, but the whole thing is a work of genius. 7. Britney Spears - Glory 2013's Britney Jean was nice in parts but sounded very cheaply produced and not really worthy of Britney's legendary status. But Glory happily marks the return of the Britney that was so critcially lauded on Blackout. The production here is slick and excellent and Britney's vocals have regained the magic, character and personality that made her such a star in the first place. Do You Wanna Come Over? could have been a smash in 2004 - yet still sounds relevant now - singles Make Me and Slumber Party are sultry slow jams, Man On The Moon and Just Luv Me are standout album tracks while Better - Britney's attempt at tropical house - and Liar are so good that it's astonishing they didn't make it onto the main album. 6. Lady Gaga - Joanne Joanne is a breath of fresh air from Lady Gaga. 2013's Artpop was extremely good in places but perhaps just a bit too wacky on the whole for me to go back to over and over again. Joanne is the complete opposite to that album. A paired back, stripped down offering that is quite unlike the Gaga that the public is now used to. It's surprisingly the ballads that are my highlights on here, considering Gaga is not exactly well known as a balladeer. The title track Joanne and the current single Million Reasons are absolutely gorgeous. Of the more uptempo tracks, Diamond Heart, John Wayne, Dancin' In Circles and Just Another Day are all fantastic. This album should be huge but then this Gaga is a very different propsect to the enigma that the public fell in love with in 2009. I would urge people to give her new sound a chance though, she really is still one of the most talented artists around. 5. Craig David - Following My Intuition Turn of the century star Craig David was inescapable from late 1999 to about 2003. He was at the forefront of the UK garage scene for years but quickly disappeared from the limelight after that save for the odd hit later in the decade. After years in the wilderness, in 2016 he has essentially coming back to sell his old style to a brand new, younger fanbase, many of whom do not remember his previous success. A very unusual propsect to see an artist essentially pushing the reset button on his career and seeing almost the same level of success second time around, with the same sort of music (lest we forget Take That became mature balladeers in their second iteration), but it's a fantastic comeback story. Anyway, Following My Intuition is clearly Craig David's best album since his debut, Born To Do It, melding relevant and brilliant production, strong melodies, Craig's vocal/rapping hybrid style and featuring a range of genres, much like that 2000 opus. Aside from the many excellent hit singles pulled from this album, the fantastic 16 - a mash up of Fill Me In and Skrillex, Diplo and Bieber's Where Are Ü Now - and Don't Go are my other highlights, both are absolutely huge. 4. All Saints - Red Flag Studio 1 was cruelly underrated when All Saints made their first comeback in 2006, so I was really pleased to see them get another chance and this time the public took to them much more warmly, this album going top three in the UK. Perhaps 2006 was just too soon to come back, by 2016 many of their original fans will have made the transition to Radio 2 and be happy to hear one of their favourite acts of their youth back on the airwaves with strong new material. This was an album with less street style and attitude than Studio 1, and an altogether more mature prospect, but then All Saints always had that classy air about them anyway with hit singles like Never Ever, Pure Shores and Black Coffee. That sound very much continues on this album with the gorgeous lead single One Strike, as well as This Is A War and Who Hurt Who. Tropical house influenced One Woman Man is what All Saints would sound like if they were starting out in 2016 while Ratchet Behaviour is not too far removed from some of their more beat-driven singles from the late 90s, like Bootie Call. 3. Little Mix - Glory Days From one UK girlband to another, but to one very much at the stage of their career where All Saints were between 1998 and 2000, i.e. the imperial phase. X Factor 2011 winners Little Mix have gone from strength to strength over the years, they could have so easily fizzled out slowly after second album DNA but instead came back charged up on 2015's Get Weird, and its lead single Black Magic, which took them up into a new gear. They've taken that success and gone one further with Glory Days, which is an even bigger and brighter pop album laiden with huge hooks, stunning harmonies and a minimal amount of tropical house. Bandwagon jumping is not really Little Mix's style, they've very much got their own distinct sound and it's shown here on the likes of lead single Shout Out To My Ex, Touch, Private Show and Power. Co-writers make their own presence felt on the likes of Oops and You Gotta Not, which are very clearly Charlie Puth and Meghan Trainor songs, though both are pretty good. No More Sad Songs is the sole tropical bop and an obvious candidate for future single, while Nothing Else Matters is a lovely mid-tempo offering. A fantastic collection and I'm intrigued to see how big the girls can get from here...it's hard to see what's left to achieve in the UK so worldwide domination is surely next? 2. Sia - This Is Acting An album of songs rejected by other people might not sound like the most exciting album concept but even Sia's rejected songs are a million times better than songs most people could ever dream of writing. I've been willing Sia to become huge for almost two decades and when she finally became so a couple of years ago she released 1000 Forms Of Fear, which was good, but not really as much my cup of tea as a lot of her earlier albums. But 2016's This Is Acting marks the return of the melodic Sia I've loved for so long, sounding so energised. It really is hit after hit, and it's astonishing that some of these were turned down. Who in their right mind, other than Rihanna, who can just about get away with it, would pass on Cheap Thrills and Reaper? And was it really a good idea for Shakira to say no to the astounding Move Your Body? Alive, Broken Glass, Bird Set Free and One Million Bullets are also excellent...and then came the deluxe edition. This album was made even better in Q4 with the additions of fantastic single The Greatest, the hit version of Cheap Thrills with Sean Paul, Alan Walker's Eurodance reworking of Move Your Body and the lovely Confetti. Without doubt my favourite Sia album to date and one that has positioned her even more as one of the world's biggest new superstars. In a hugely ageist music industry, that's no mean feat at 41 years old. 1. Delta Goodrem - Wings Of The Wild In a year that there's an album released by Delta Goodrem, it's usually a safe bet to top my end of year chart (2007's Delta excepted). And it's no different in 2016, with the Australian legend returning in the summer with her fifth studio album, Wings Of The Wild. Immediately my favourite album of hers since 2004's dark opus Mistaken Identity, Wings Of The Wild had a few familiar tracks on it before release, with the career revitalising Aussie #1 Wings, the lovely piano ballad Only Human and gorgeous string-laden ballad Dear Life. Enough is my favourite track on the album other than Wings, very much in the template of the 2007 epic Believe Again, but with verses from female rapper Gizzle, so a very different prospect for Delta indeed. Elsehwere it's probably easier to list what I don't love than what I do. I suppose I could live without I'm Not Giving Up, In The Name Of Love and Encore, though all three are good. But the rest of the album is stunning. Feline and Hold On are in the sublime vein of Wings, her cover of I Believe In A Thing Called Love by The Darkness is seriously beautiful, Heavy is a classic Delta ballad, The River is thumping power pop reminiscent of the Mistaken Identity era and Just Call is really uplifitng and joyful. Overall this album just further confirms why Delta will likely forever remain my favourite artist, her quality just never dips.
1. The Weeknd feat Daft Punk - I Feel It Coming 2. Starley - Call On Me (Ryan Ribeck Remix) 3. Little Mix - Touch 4. Måns Zelmerlöw - Glorious 5. Lisa Ajax - Santa Bring My Baby To Me 6. The London Hospices Choir and Paul Carrack - The Living Years 7. Little Mix - No More Sad Songs 8. Rag'n'Bone Man - Human 9. Weiss - You're Sunshine 10. The Weeknd - Rockin' 11. Rat Boy - Lovers Law 12. Dodie - Intertwined 13. Little Mix - Nothing Else Matters 14. CVA feat N-Trance - Only Love (Set You Free) 15. Amy MacDonald - Down By The Water 16. CUT - Tune In Tune Out (Anna Of The North Remix) 17. Busted - On What You're On 18. Otto Knows - Not Alone 19. Samantha Jade & Cyrus - Hurt Anymore 20. Dodie - Sick Of Losing Soulmates
1. Clean Bandit feat Sean Paul & Anne-Marie - Rockabye 2. Little Mix - Shout Out To My Ex 3. Sia - Move Your Body (Alan Walker Remix) 4. Tigertown - Papernote 5. Sheppard - We Belong 6. Lady Gaga - Million Reasons 7. Shotgun Fakes - Out Of The Blue 8. Emeli Sandé - Breathing Underwater 9. Jonas Blue feat Raye - By Your Side 10. Majestic - Raised In The 90s 11. Machine Gun Kelly feat Camila Cabello - Bad Things 12. Sia - Confetti 13. Smith & Thell - Row 14. Frida Sundemo - We Are Dreamers 15. Louisa Johnson - So Good 16. KOLAJ - Hitchhike 17. Tigertown feat Filous - Take Me Away 18. Busted - Easy 19. Oliver Heldens - Good Life 20. Starley - Call On Me
1. Daithí - Mary Keanes Introduction 2. Alyss - T S I E R 3. Kate Rusby - Big Brave Bill 4. Sia feat Kendrick Lamar - The Greatest 5. Delta Goodrem - The River 6. Shotgun Fakes - Slow Motion 7. Craig David - 16 8. LP - Lost On You 9. Al Gibbs - Asked Me To Dance 10. Delta Goodrem - White Light 11. Still Corners - Bad Country 12. The Weeknd feat Daft Punk - Starboy 13. Craig David - Don't Go 14. Lady Gaga - Perfect Illusion 15. Armand Van Helden - Wings 16. Zun - U.N. Owen Was Her 17. Emeli Sandé - Hurts 18. ROZES - Under The Grave 19. Regina Spektor - Older And Taller 20. KT Tunstall - Hard Girls Top of the pile this month is Irish producer Daithí with his incredibly charming dance track that features spoken word samples from his 90-year-old grandmother Mary talking about her youth. The unique track was released last year but I only heard it recently. Beforehand I had previously heard Asked Me To Dance by Al Gibbs, another Irish dance track which pulls a similar trick, with a few female voices talking about memorable events and places in their life, but which uses production reminiscent of Prayer In C by Lilly Wood and The Prick.
Brighton-based singer-songwriter Alyss has been growing in profile over the past few months and her latest single, T S I E R (which stands for This Shit Isn't Even Real fyi) is her best yet. Starting with a slightly ghostly voice, it soon transcends into a pretty hypnotic beat that sounds like an indie/house hybrid take on Move by Little Mix. A real earworm that adds extra layers of lush production as it goes along (and with lyrics inspired by Shaman teachings apparently), it deserves to be huge.
A popular British folk singer best known to me for her collaboration a decade ago with Ronan Keating on All Over Again, Kate Rusby has never particularly caught my attention much but the singer's new track about fictional Yorkshire Tea-loving superhero Big Brave Bill is one of the most unexpectedly brilliant things I've heard in a while. The production is very Leddra Chapman-esque and the lyrics are quintessentially British, in a very endearing way.
UK hits that I'm loving this month include Sia's latest single, The Greatest, which features Kendrick Lamar and is another solid gold 10/10 pop banger, and Lady Gaga's comeback single Perfect Illusion, which is great for about two minutes but then runs out of ideas quickly. Straight in at No.3 in the UK last week, Canadian star The Weeknd's collaboration with French legends Daft Punk, Starboy, is probably my favourite thing he's done to date. And amazingly it's been nearly five years since Emeli Sandé released her debut album, Our Version Of Events. She's now back with the fantastic dramatic ballad Hurts, which will hopefully set her second album up to be a success.
Taken from the album that will hopefully debut at No.1 this week to complete an astonishing comeback are two songs from Craig David; dance banger Don't Go and the fantastic 16, a new version of the singer's 2000 No.1 hit Fill Me In that now adds extra rap verses that bring it bang up to date and production from Where Are U Now by Skrillex, Diplo and Justin Bieber. If there's any justice this will be a huge hit over the next few months.
Delta Goodrem also has a double appearance with powerful and anthemic new single The River and leaked track White Light, an energetic electro-pop track that seems to be from around a decade ago but has just surfaced. South African duo Shotgun Fakes consists of honey-voiced Pamela Myburgh, the former lead singer of The Arrows, and her husband Stefan. Their new single Slow Motion is a reworking of an album track from Disaster Queen, The Arrows' final studio album before they disbanded. The cute romantic track was always a highlight of the album and it's good to see it get another outing, with a fresh 2016 production.
UK indie act Still Corners released a fantastic track called Fireflies a few years ago but I haven't followed them since. But I listened to their latest album a couple of weeks ago and the highlight is the brilliant Bad Country, with very relateable lyrics that almost make it seem like a post-Brexit anthem and a melody similar to Where Have All The Cowboys Gone by Paula Cole. American singer LP's track Lost On You has already started to smash in various parts of Europe, either in its original guise or the dance reworking by Swanky Tunes & Going Deeper. Both versions are great, it's a really fantastic song that sounds like an instant classic. And US dance veteran Armand Van Helden's new single Wings is probably my favourite single of his since Bonkers, an instantly catchy and memorable house track.
Otherwise unmentioned are Hard Girls, the new single by KT Tunstall from her excellent new album Kin; Older and Taller, a quirky instant grat track from the brilliant Regina Spektor's new album Remember Us To Life; Under The Grave, a brilliant pop song from American singer ROZES, and a mad but fantastic instrumental track by Zun called U.N. Owen Was Her?
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