The best songs of the year? Quite possibly. The songs I played the most, sang the most, enjoyed the most this year? Definitely.
Many of them come from collections which will appear on the list of the best/favourite albums of the year. Not surprisingly.
All of them exist independently though. Cracking power plays, strong final statements, quite beautiful and sad moments, slinky sensuous grooves and not one sign of Fergie, Meghan Trainor or Shannon Bloody Noll.
Instead there’s psych rock from King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard and some trippy dance from a Rufus remix, Beyonce getting antsy and Laura Marling getting sexy, Abbe May being provocative and Brandy Clark being tender, Peep Tempel on the news and Weeknd on the make, Gillian Welch making country and Palace Of The King making rock.
As many of them as possible will be on the end of year playlist going up on New Year’s Eve. Stay tuned/come back to check. Before then, drop in on Tuesday for 1-10 and then return on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for the top 20 albums and the gigs of 2016.
But for now, here’s numbers 11-20.
King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard – Big Fig Wasp
Laura Marling – Soothing
Beyonce – Don’t Hurt Yourself
Peep Tempel – Rayguns
Weeknd – Starboy
Gillian Welch – Wichita
Abbe May – Are We Flirting
Palace Of The King – Let The Blood Run Free
Rufus – Innerbloom (Sasha remix)
Brandy Clark – You Can Come Over
Stats? You want stats? Across the 20, there are three artists who make multiple appearances – Beyonce, Drake and Brandy Clark. There are seven Australian acts, four Americans, four British and two Canadians. Five female acts are represented seven times, twelve male acts appear thirteen times. Solo artists have 15 slots (with Gillian Welch counted as solo, but arguably could/should be a group) and groups 5. And one song has been around 20 years, recorded by others, but officially released this year by its makers – Welch’s Wichita.