Where 69 meets 40 there's a single stoplight town

Another five songs that were oh so close to my top 100 of the decade;

Carrie Underwood - I Ain't In Checotah Anymore - 2006

I believe this song technically was made available in 2005 but it was my ANTHEM of 2006 so I shall regard it as having come from that year despite the fact that it received no single release. I'm no huge country fan, but this song charmed me immensely despite being the most obviously 'yee-hah' style Country song on American Idol winner Carrie's debut album Some Hearts. It has to be heard to be believed...brilliant.



Basia Bulat - In The Night - 2008

Some real genre crossovers going on now as we head back to early last year, and one of the songs that helped me through my final term of uni and the dreaded dissertations. Canadian folk singer Basia Bulat's album was a bit rubbish in all honesty but this lovely jaunty song stood right out and became an instant favourite of mine. It still never fails to raise a smile now.



H 'Two' 0 feat Platnum - What's It Gonna Be - 2008

A real chav anthem, and another song from the early part of last year, faceless producers H 'Two' 0 teamed up with young garage trio Platnum to score a hit single that was clearly riding on the success of T2's Heartbroken from a few months earlier. Whilst I liked that song, I found it a bit cold, whereas this song was a lot cheaper sounding, more dated, like it came straight out of 2001, but ultimately, in my opinion, musically the better song. And then, after spawning two UK No.2 singles, the short lived garage revival ended...



Minimalistix - Close Cover - 2002

Another song from the Belgian boom of 2002, instrumental piano led track Close Cover also known as The Piano Track funnily enough, was an absolutely gorgeous example of how great dance music can be, combining a simple yet effective and emotive piece of piano music with a pulsing trance beat. This resulted in one of my favourite instrumental tracks of all time and a minor UK hit. I also learnt how to play the track on the keyboard at the time, which was a proud moment!



Lucie Silvas - What You're Made Of - 2004

When I first heard this I thought 'what a rip off of Delta Goodrem's Not Me, Not I' but the song slowly found its way into my conscience and I grew to absolutely love it. A deserved UK top ten hit, Lucie's career disintegrated as soon as it appeared...the years of hard work leading to two UK top ten hits and an (excellent) album that stayed at #11 for eternity without ever penetrating the top ten. Luckily not quite a one hit wonder, she never recorded anything better than this. I saw her live circa 2005 and she was absolutely breathtaking, her live voice is incredible.