Top 20 singles 2011

For about the last five or six years now I've put together my Top 20 songs of the year as a playlist on my ipod. Continually updating throughout the year as new songs are released. Yeah it's a bit geeky, but it means all my favourites are in one place. I also have monthly playlists, but we won't even go there...

So here it goes, i think the last time i posted my Top 20 was back in 2008 when Duffy's Warwick Avenue was my favourite song of the year. I won't deny it, there is going to be a lot of mainstream music in my list, there always is. With some songs the more i here them the more i like them (ask my old housemate who will vouch for this), hence the top song in this countdown having over 1,000 listens this year...savage.

Usually the maximum an artist features in one of these yearly lists is twice (one did manage three times last year), however this year there are several artists who feature more than once, the majority in fact. One act features five times (people who know me well won't be shocked when they see who it is), one song features twice but in two very different formats and six acts featured in my list last year.

Just to recap here is 2010's effort. All in all this was much more of a mixed bag than 2011.

Top 20 2010
1. Cee-Lo Green - Fuck You
2. Rihanna - Only Girl In The World
3. The Saturdays feat. Flo Rida - Higher
4. Lady Gaga feat. Beyonce - Telephone
5. B.O.B. feat. Bruno Mars - Nothin' On You
6. Eminem feat. Rihanna - Love the Way You Lie
7. Alicia Keys - Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart
8. Nadine - Insatiable
9. Cheryl Cole - Parachute
10. Train - Hey, Soul Sister
11. Eliza Doolittle - Pack Up
12. The Wanted - All Time Low
13. Kylie Minogue - All the Lovers
14. Katy Perry - Firework
15. Japayork - Teenagers
16. The Saturdays - Missing You
17. Jessie J - Do it Like a Dude
18. Rihanna - Rude Boy
19. Marina and the Diamonds - I am Not a Robot
20. The xx - Islands

So that'll give you an idea that this is going to be VERY poppy, but i'll make no excuses about that. I think singles were generally stronger this year than 2010 and with the way artists are releasing music, the line between singles and album tracks are becoming much more blurred which is probably to blame for the dominance of several key players. Here goes:

20. Emeli Sande - Heaven
(written by: Sande, Naughty Boy, Craze & Hoax; 2011; Released August 2011; UK #2)
With one hit single and a number one duet with Professor Green you'd be forgiven for thinking that Emeli Sande has already 'made it'. For not it seems, as she has picked up the 2012 BRITs Critics Choice Award, it sees her follow in the esteemed and, so far, only female footsteps of her predosessors including Adele and Ellie Goulding. This song is a clear indication that when it comes to picking a female vocalist the BRITS don't ever really seem to get it wrong.