Let’s pick up where we left off with my 29th favorite song of 2009.
#29. Lili & Susie – Show Me Heaven
I think I actually like this song more today than I did back in March of last year and for that reason it deserves a spot as one of my favorite tracks. This was really my big introduction to the amazingness of this super duo.
#28. Benny Andersson Band – Story Of A Heart
The closest thing to an official release of an ABBA track if there ever were one. The song is what I can only describe as subtly amazing vs an in your face kind of amazing. If you take the time to listen to it and take it all in you’ll understand why this track is brilliant. My personal favorite part is at 1:28 – 1:36.
#27. Alexander Rybak – Fairytale
3 months ago this song may have placed higher on this list but I find that this song has begun to lose it’s appeal the more I hear it and the further we get from his landslide win at Eurovision. That being said the song is still good ole folky fun even if his album was a bit boring.
#26. Darin Feat. Kat DeLuna – Breathing Your Love
So this song was officially released in Oct. 2008 but I never fell in love with it until 2009 and for the record it was released in Finland in 2009 so it still counts for my chart. The track is also being released in the Uk right now which really feels like too little too late… but if any song is going to break him into the Uk this is definitely a good choice. I’m a huge Darin fan and can’t wait to see what he comes up with for Melodifestivalen.
#25. Sarah Dawn Finer – Moving On
#24. Malena Ernman – La Voix
#23. Star Pilots – Higher
I don’t know if I should be listing the Star Pilots as one of my favorite acts of 2009 or if I should just list Johan Becker the lead vocalist of the track. I secretly longed for an amazing album from the Star Pilots but it never materialized. Anyone have any inside scoop on whether we will hear anything from these guys again?
#22. Black Eyed Peas – I Gotta Feeling
#21. Pet Shop Boys – Pandemonium
I heard this song when I was in a store one day and downloaded it immediately on my iPhone. It’s been on heavy rotation since then and it’s the only Pet Shop Boys track I’ve ever had in my collection. It’s a hard hitting song with a lot going on.
#20. Danny – Turn Off The Sound
#39. Elin Lanto – Discoteque
Elin is the gift that keeps on giving. She’s been around far longer than anyone gives her credit for and she’s really come into her own over the last year. Her tracks keep getting better and better and if she plays her cards right 2010 could be a great year for her. I’m hoping that Elin can do what Velvet failed to do last year and make it into the Finals at Melodifestivalen.
#38. Anders Fernette – Hungry Eyes
#37. Erik Segerstedt – Saturday Night
One of my highlights of the year was meeting Erik Segerstedt in Stockholm and getting him to sign this single!
#36. E.M.D. – I’m No Romeo
#35. Miley Cyrus – When I Look At You
So this is slightly embarassing to have Miley Cyrus appear on my favorite songs of 2009 but if you haven’t heard her EP – Time Of Our Lives then you’re missing out. Sure ‘Party In The USA’ became everyones guilty pleasure in 2009, but this track let me see her in a differeny way. I’d like to see her continue to record songs like this.
#34. JLS – Everybody In Love
#33. Michael Buble – Haven’t Met You Yet
The lone Canadian act on the list this year. I tried not to love this song for a long time and I finally had to give in. It’s just do damn catchy!
#32. Industry – My Babys Waiting
If I were giving out a best debut single of the year award this song would have a good chance at winning that title. Industry have had a great year in Ireland with 3 number 1 singles and likely a 4th later this month when their new single ‘My Mistake’ is released. The band are hoping that 2010 will bring their big break as they attempt to recreate their success across Europe. Rumour has it that their debut single in the Uk/Germany will be called ‘Kill The DJ” and that it will be released in March. With a title like that you know it’s going to be killer! Here’s to Industry in 2010!
#31. Ola – Skys The Limit
#30. Peter Gustafson & Ankie Bagger – Du Kan Inte Lure Mig
#49. Jennifer Brown – Out Of The Ashes
Jennifer Brown first came to my attention at Melodifestivalen 2009 with her ballad ‘Never Been Here Before,’ which failed to make much of an impact at the competition. Since then she’s been on a roll with her single choices. Mr. Running Man was definitely a highlight of 2009, but ‘Out Of The Ashes’ really resonated with me this year.
#48. Evan – By My Side
It’s no secret that I’m a massive fan of Evans unique ‘epic pop’ style. His songs are sweeping, romantic and dramatic tracks that can’t be compared to any other work being produced right now. Unfortunately the most we’ve heard from him lately were a few demos released to fans on his website. ‘By My Side’ gets me extremely excited for the possibility of a third album from him. Originally said to be released in 2009 the album never materialized. As soon as I have news about an album in 2010 I’ll post it here.
#47. Velvet – The Queen
#46. Johanna – Is It True
#45. A1 – Take You Home
After threatening a comeback for over a year now, Uk based boyband A1 finally came through with new material. Only instead of releasing in the Uk the band have started off in Norway with their first single in 7 years! The track which was released for Charity off the heels of performance on Nowegian X-Factor ended p hitting the top 10 in Norway and has officially kickstarted their careers once more. The band have a big year ahead of them as not only will they release a new album but the band are officially taking part in Melodi Grand Prix in an effort to represent Norway at the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest. I was a huge fan of ‘Take You Home’ and can’t wait to see what happens at MGP.
#44. VV Brown – Shark In The Water
#43. Alexandra Burke – Bad Boys
#42. Will Young – Hopes & Fears
Finally Will Young releases a single worth mentioning, after throwing a fantastic career away with a bunch of mediocre and bland song choices he finally releases one that reminds me why I used to like him in the first place. The track was to support his greatest hits album but I fear that it’s too little too late and that he won’t be having another Greatest Hits album anytime soon. It’s actually one of the rare songs where I like the verses better than the chorus.
#41. The Pussycat Dolls – Jai Ho (You Are My Destiny)
#40. Take That – The Garden
It was hard for me to choose between ‘The Garden’ and ‘Up All Night’ for my top Take That song of the year. In the end I’ve listened to ‘The Garden’ more than I’ve listened to ‘Up All Night’ and I’m a sucker for a great ballad. This track was never released as a single but can be found on their ‘The Circus’ album and is one of my favorites.
Hey Guys,
So 2009 is quickly coming to an end and it’s been a massive year for pop music. Many blogs have done a fantastic job of reflecting on various artists and events over the past year and they’ve all done a better job than I could ever do. So instead I’m just going to talk about some songs that stand out for me in 2009.
There are no rules to my chart, the songs may or may not have been released as singles, in some cases the songs were available prior to 2009 but may have been released officialy in 2009 or only came to my attention in 2009.
There are a ton of songs that are not on this list that were huge hits in 2009 and that I did enjoy a lot, but if the song isn’t on the list it’s because it grew ‘old’ or didn’t really stick with me throughout the year. Every song on this list received a lot of airplay from my over the year.
#62 . Alien Beat Club – My Way
Alien Beat Club hail from Denmark where they came in second place in the Danish X-Factor. They’re the first of 2 X-Factor acts to show up on my favorites this year. ‘My Way’ hit the top spot in Denmark
#61. Jennifer Paige and Nick Carter – Beautiful Lie
#60. Industry – In Your Arms
The third single from 2009s brightest new stars from Ireland. The band are ready to break into Britian in 2010 and have worked with some of the best names in pop music for their debut album.
#59. Amy Diamond - Up
#58. The Saturdays – Here Standing
It’s unfortunate that things seem to have cooled down for The Saturdays after they burst onto the scene last year. Their latest album tanked spending only 2 weeks in the top 40. It’s dissapointing because while the album was a bit weak, there were some bright spots like this song which hasn’t been released as a single but is still one of my favorite songs on the album. I think it’s very unlikely that we’ll have another album from these girls again unless they can crank out one more commercially successful single this year.
#57. Jeanette – Feline
This track was never released as a single and I’ve been sitting on it for a long time and over the last year the more I listened to it the more I enjoyed it. It definitely took a long time to grow on me but it’s managed to earn a spot on my list. I like that it has a unique sound and isn’t like any other song on the list.
#56. Cheryl Cole – Fight For This Love
#55. The Script – The Man Who Can’t Be Moved
#54. Suzanne Alfvengren – Du Är Älskad Där Du Går
Probably one of the worst peformances of Melodifestivalen 2009… I don’t know what they were thinking with the hair and the dress, it was all kinds of wrong. But if you close your eyes and just listen to the track you’ll hear that it’s quite a beautiful song and one of the most under appreciated of Melodifestivalen 2009.
#53. Mika – Blame It On The Girls
#52. David Archuleta – Touch My Hand
#51. Nickleback – Gotta Be Somebody
#50. Kim Lian & Linda Bengtzing – Not That Kinda Girl
For those of you that have never heard of Kim Lian you’re not the only ones. She’s celebrity from the Netherlands that has had a lot of success on television there which led to a debut single and chart success in 2003. Now unless you’ve been living under a rock somewhere there’s no way you haven’t heard of Linda Bengtzing my absolute favorite swedish star. This track is immensely cheesy but a rare treat to hear Linda sing in English.
This will be the last post before we get to my TOP TEN of 2007!! These are the songs that I would consider to be runners up… I LOVED them this year… but they didn’t get as much ‘play’ as the rest of the songs on my list. Still they deserve to be mentioned!
I’ve posted acouple songs from Danish band C21 this year… Soren used to be a part of C21 and he released his solo album ‘Life Is Simple, Not Easy’ this year. While I found the album to be a little lacklustre… this song stood out and I played it regularly over the past few months.
Erik Segerstedt – 2 Happy 2 Soon
Back in the spring I posted a comparison of Erik Segerstedt vs Markus Fagervall. At the time I said that Erik’s album was superior to Markus’. While I still agree that Erik’s album is better overall, Erik failed to have a song in my top ten… can the same be said for Markus? Check out my next post for the answer.
Backstreet Boys – Any Other Way
Backstreet Boys – Something That I Already Know
‘Unbreakable’ is probably the first BSB album to really flop… and I say it’s because the band didn’t work with Max Martin at all which is a crime! But still… I’ve always been a huge BSB fan and I did enjoy the new album. ‘Inconsolable’ was a lame first single I thought… but there are definitely some bright spots on the album. The album also did extremely well in Canada where there has always been a lot of support for the band. At the end of the day I think this might be the end of BSB. These songs are some of the best songs from ‘Unbreakable.’
Ultra – Feeling Alive
Uk Band ‘Ultra’ came back out of nowhere and released an independant pop album… something that is rarely seen in the world of pop. While no one even knew they did it… the album was really good… Feeling Alive is a great song from the alb.
BWO – The Destiny Of Love
BWO continue to show us that they know how to make the oddest videos in the history of Pop. Every video they release is more creative and odd than the last. While I wasn’t truly impressed by any of their singles this year, Destiny Of Love was a solid track backed by a wonderfully strange video.
Danny – Feat. Therese – If Only You
One of the smartest moves in the world of pop in 2007 was deciding to add Therese to this track from Danny’s album and release it as a single!
Alphabeat – 10′000 Nights Of Thunder
I dedicated a post to Alphabeat last month and I think you all should go out and buy their album!
Da Buzz – Take All My Love
Da Buzz showed us just how many hits they’ve had in the last 10 years with the release of their Greatest Hits album this year which gave us this amazing track.
This song only gets posted because I think the song has wonderful lyrics. I’d actually love to hear someone cover it and make it better, I don’t think Damien does it justice. He does sing it quite nicely live though!
Girlband – Electric
Australia shows us that the ‘Popstars’ brand isn’t dead with ‘Girlband’
Girls Aloud – Call The Shots
One of the girls best selling singles in sometime… it stayed in the top 5 for ages in the Uk.
Enrique Iglasias – Wish I Was Your Lover
These are the kinds of songs Enrique needs to be releasing as singles!
The Sugababes really brought me back as a fan this year… their album was spectacular!
Melodifestivalen 2007
Some of my favorite songs of the year came from Melodifestivalen. It’s been almost a year since the 32 songs were released and some of these songs are still so good that I play them constantly. While I loved so many of the songs… the ones I’m listing here are the ones that are so good that I continue to play them constantly. Since most of these songs have been around and posted on numerous blogs over the year I won’t be posting links to the mp3… but if there is one you would like feel free to leave a comment and I will add the link.
Sonja Alden – For Att Du Finns
Uno & Irma – God Morgon
Mans Zelmerlow – Cara Mia
Of coarse Melodifestivalen 2007 helped pave the way for the massive success that Mans has had in 2007. It was clear that Mans won over the publics heart with his performance of Cara Mia. When his album was released soon after the competition he showed us what a true pop album should sound like. ‘Stand By’ is one of my top 5 pop albums of the year and had some of my favorite songs like…
Mans Zelmerlow – Miss America
Mans Zelmerlow – Brother Oh Brother
Mans Zelmerlow – Work Of Art (Da Vinci)
Linda Bengtzing & Markoolio – Varsta Schlagern
One of my favorite Swedish female singers of all time was supposedly denied a place in Melodifestivalen in 2007. So she shot back by releasing the song on her own… a cheecky duet with Markoolio. ‘Varsta Schlagern’ was their way at poking fun of of the chaos that is ‘Melodifestivalen.’ The music video has to be one of the best videos of the year as well. If you follow Melodifestivalen at all you’ll see spoofs of all your favorite artsits from 2006 including BWO and Carola.
The good news is that Linda Bengtzing is BACK in 2008 with a massive Schlager Stompter! She’s going to be guaranteed entry to the final round for sure!
Ola – S.O.S
This song is what Pop music is all about. Upbeat, Catchy, Energetic, Hard Hitting and Unapolegetic! Songs like this are rare nowadays… of coarse the only country it seems that is still willing to reward songs like this is Sweden of coarse! This song is SO CLOSE to being in my final top 5 of the year… but when I put it up against the other songs it just didn’t measure up. Still the song is one of the best of the year… and definitely places in my top ten for the year. Ola has had a great year in Sweden and let’s hope he gives us more like S.O.S in 2008!
Did you know that on May 18th Celine Dion released a french album ‘D’elles’ which was her 34th album in her career? Did you know that the album entered the album charts at Number 1 in Canada, France and Belgium? The album is one of the top 5 best selling albums of the year in Canada. She recorded two French television specials for the album both shot to the number one spot for ratings in Quebec and France. Celine has garnered a lot of attention for her new English album ‘Taking Chances’ but she continues to record in France in many french speaking countries. These songs are definitely worth mentioning in 2007.
Fall Out Boy – This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race
If one were to write a book on popular music in the year 2007 you would have to devote a chunk of that book to Fall Out Boy. The band that has been around since 2001 finally hit the mainstream this year with the lead single from their 4th album ‘This Ain’t A Scene It’s An Arms Race.’ The band has had a great yaer with 4 hit singles. I’ve always found them to actually be quite curious. I really don’t know much about them besides Pete Wentz is in the band. He’s the only one you ever really hear about and he isn’t even the lead vocalist! I always wonder how the rest of the band feels about the fact that he has become the band’s unofficial leader, at least in the public eye. Although it is understandable as he is quite fit
I honestly think it’s a crime that Fall Out Boy were not nominated for any Grammy Awards this year… I think it says a lot about the credibility of these American Awards shows.
Matchbox 20 – How For We’ve Come
I posted this track here recently and after careful consideration I think it deserves a mention as one of my faves of the entire year. Rob Thomas really knows how to write a hit single and this track has hit written all over it. It’s catchy and hard hitting… makes you want to get up and sing along for sure.
Another of my favorite albums I discovered early in 2007 was Darins 3rd album – Break The news. I posted some of my favorite tracks here back then, but I will re-post in case you missed it. Almost one year later I’m still playing his album on heavy rotation. Insanity is very ‘Maneater’ and ‘Everything But The Girl’ is subtle without being too dramatic. Both songs are the best from this album and both songs ended up being released as singles!
Marija Serifovic – Destiny
You probably won’t believe it but as much as I LOVE Melodifestivalen… I simply don’t follow Eurovision as much as you might think. It’s because of this that although Marija won Eurovision earlier this year… I didn’t actually listen to the winning song until September! When I finally took the time to listen to the song in full I realised that the song truly did deserve to win the competition in 2007. It was performed very well and is slow but dynamic at the same time. I definitely prefer the english version ‘Destiny.’
I know I posted about Darren multiple times this year… but that’s only because his album deserved so much more attention that it actually received. Now that I’ve had acouple months to let the 2 disc album sink in this has become one of my favorite tracks of the year. The guy knows how to craft the perfect songs and this beautiful track really shows off his writing and vocal talents.
Musicals
2007 was a good year for pop music on the big screen in the form of musicals. High School Musical continues to reign supreme around the world, while Hairspray had movie go-ers singing along to it’s infections soundtrack! Now the thing about musicals… is they are MEANT to be cheesy! So keep that in mind before you judge these songs too harshly. They definitely wouldn’t be on my list of the best songs of the year… but since these are only my ‘Favorite’ songs of the year, or songs that deserve recognition… these two songs deserve a place here…
