‘Only Girl In The World’, ‘Written In The Stars’, ‘Kickstarts’, ‘Poison’ and ‘All Time Low’ have all ranked between #21-50 in our Top 50 tunes of the year (catch-up: 50-41, 40-31, 30-21), so what could we possibly have in store for the Top 20?
Another laborious reminder also that you can still vote in our readers’ poll, results for which will be posted next week!
20. Cee-Lo Green – ‘Forget You’/'Fuck You’
October, Peak #1
‘With a pain in my chest I still wish you the best with a Fuck You’ became one of Facebook and Twitter’s favourite status updates in the Autumn with this break-up anthem from Gnarls Barkley star Cee-Lo Green. ‘Forget/Fuck You’ was never going to chart anywhere else apart from the very summit and sold a mighty fine 106,000 copies in its first seven days on release. Our favourite bit about the song? The backing vocalists. “Ahhhhh… ahhh… ain’t that some shit!”
19. OneRepublic – ‘Secrets’
August, Peak #77
Ryan Tedder’s band couldn’t replicate the all-conquering success they enjoyed in 2007/08 with ‘Apologise’ and ‘Stop and Stare’ with new album ‘Waking Up’, but ‘Secrets’ – which enjoyed a minor sales flourish thanks to its use in a fragrance advert – is perhaps one of their best ever releases. An attack on his harshest critics, Tedder declares he’s “gonna give all my secrets away” over his trademark bombastic drum beats and a generous supply of stringed instruments. Amazing.
18. B.o.B. feat. Hayley Williams – ‘Airplanes’
July, Peak #1
After the massive success of ‘Nothin On You’, Bobby Ray Simmons Jr. managed to score another radio smash with ‘Airplanes’; utilising the unexpectedly suitable vocals of Paramore leading lady Hayley Williams to create another tune that became a widespread angst anthem over the summer. Despite its international success however (it’s #6 on the US Billboard Chart of 2010) the only other country it achieved number one status in was New Zealand.
17. Kylie Minogue – ‘All The Lovers’
June, Peak #3
After a rather tepid comeback in 2007 with the hit-and-miss ‘X’ album, Kylie was adamant to return with force in 2010 and she didn’t disappoint. OK, so the ‘Aphrodite’ album wasn’t quite the epic pop classic we were perhaps expecting, but ‘All The Lovers’ was good enough to rank among her best singles ever. Complete with a video featuring doves, horses, and nude people; the track landed in the Top 3 with a bang when it was released at the start of the summer.
16. Pixie Lott – ‘Turn It Up’
June, Peak #11
Pixie Lott’s singles might not always peak at the highest chart positions, but although they don’t tend to sell gargantuan amounts in one seven-day period, they do have staying power. ‘Turn It Up’ did impressively well considering it was the fifth single from a year-old, double platinum-selling album; peaking at No11 after a four-week climb and becoming a radio airplay favourite. A remarkably uplifting and mature approach to a heartbreaking split, it’s one of her finest tracks to date.
15. Joe McElderry – ‘Someone Wake Me Up’
December, Peak #68
Poor Joe. As if last Christmas’ Rage-gate wasn’t enough, this single and its rather cack B-side from the new Narnia soundtrack could only limp to a rather lowly No68. Disappointing, considering this Ray Hedges/Nigel Butler production is a slick midtempo love song with a good old fashioned “soaring chorus” and a good old fashioned “popstar getting wet” music video. Relatable, well produced, well sung, and a high point of the very good ‘Wide Awake’ album. Under-rated.
14. The Saturdays – ‘Higher’
November, Peak #10
‘Higher’ was the ‘Up’/'Ego’ of the ‘Headlines’ mini-EP; far, far better than the near-miss No2 ‘Missing You’ and with a slick, LA-made music video. Two things spoiled things however: firstly, the pointless rap by the much, much over-used Flo Rida; and secondly the appalling promotional strategy, which saw its official release date slated for mid-November, after a whole two months of being available for download as an album track. It had already sold 100,000+ copies before the Flo Rida version was made available, meaning its official single release could only reach No10. The shame!
13. Katy Perry – ‘Firework’
November, Peak #3
She’s had a pretty good year, has Katy Perry. Successful hook-ups with 3OH!3 and Timbaland paved the way for a surprisingly massive comeback, complete with an international No1 in ‘California Gurls’, a sophomore album endlessly better than her 2008 debut ‘One Of The Boys’, and a couple more globally successful singles. ‘Firework’ manages to stay on just the right side of cheesy, with its inspirational lyrics and Christina ‘Beautiful’-esque video. ‘May be a reason why all the doors are closed/So you can open one that leads you to your perfect road’. Well said, Mrs Brand.
12. Eminem feat. Rihanna – ‘Love The Way You Lie’
August, Peak #2
Unless Matt Cardle puts the cat amongst the pigeons, this is due to be announced next week as the biggest-selling single of 2010 – a pretty remarkable feat considering it was never even a No1 single. It’s so far spent an almighty 26 weeks inside the Top 40, 14 of which were inside the Top 10 and four of which were at No2. The world’s most infamous self-confessed domestic abuser and the world’s most famous domestic abuse victim? Collaborating? It was always going to strike a chord with the public, and it’s a career high for both parties.
11. Diana Vickers – ‘My Wicked Heart’
October, Peak #13
Now it has to be said that Diana Vickers isn’t anywhere near as universally popular as her No1 single and album would suggest; but that’s not to say she hasn’t had an impressive year. To achieve such chart stats a year and a half after coming 4th on ‘The X Factor’ is an achievement to be applauded; and despite its obvious (and admitted) influence from ‘Under The Bridge’, ‘My Wicked Heart’ was a pretty bonkers yet pretty amazing track about wanting to get up to no good with a certain someone. Check out the pretty good acoustic version as well.
IT’S HOTTING UP, HUH. Tomorrow we reveal Nos10-6, among which are three solo females, one solo male, and one collaboration. Any guesses?
I’m going to call Cheryl Cole in at number 8. Ish.