Everyone knows the importance of being fashionably late, which is why we’re publishing our list of 2010′s best tracks on, er, Christmas Eve. Hopefully you’re not completely list-fatigued because our festive 50 is obviously essential pop reading.
As always, we apologise if your favourite track(s) didn’t make the cut – and if you come across any songs you haven’t heard before, we suggest you follow this link to listen to all the tracks on Spotify.
Merry Christmas, and have a brilliant new year! WAPS x
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#50 | Take That ‘The Flood’ Take That‘s ‘proper’ comeback (i.e.. With gurning loon Robbie Williams back on board) caused the UK to have such an almighty collective mental breakdown that nobody seemed to mind ‘The Flood’ being rather so-so. Meh, what can you do? |
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#49 | The Ting Tings ‘Hands’
The Ting Tings appeared to succumb to second-album-syndrome in 2010 (or rather, they would have had their label actually released it), though return single ‘Hands’ was an enjoyable update of their simplistic 80′s pop. |
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#48 | Christina Aguilera ‘Not Myself Tonight’ Yes yes yes ‘Bionic’ was a hot mess but GOOD LORD Christina went down in style. And by ‘style’ we mean ‘pretended it never happened and got on with promoting Burlesque instead’. |
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#47 | Eliza Doolittle ‘Pack Up’ We feel Eliza Doolittle deserves a mention in this list given her slow-burning success in 2010, yet we’re still mystified by who actually buys her records. She seems to be quite massive yet we’ve never met an Eliza Doolittle fan… |
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#46 | Goldfrapp ‘Rocket’ Despite the exciting title and nudge-nudge wink-wink video, Goldfrapp‘s ’80s-influenced ‘Rocket’ was a surprisingly laid-back and summery affair. Shame the album turned out to be something of a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it job. |
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#45 | Kele ‘Tenderoni’ We have a feeling that Bloc Party will be reforming sooner rather than later if frontman Kele Okereke’s solo success is anything to go by, but that doesn’t mean that his debut single ‘Tenderoni’ wasn’t a top class CHEWN. *throws shapes*. |
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#44 | Mariah Carey ‘Oh Santa’ Oh come on, it’s Christmas and Christmas = Mariah Carey. |
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#43 | Miley Cyrus ‘Can’t Be Tamed’ By no means the strongest track on the album (step forward ‘Two More Lonely People’), ‘Can’t Be Tamed’ effectively laid out Miley‘s plans to ditch her Hannah Montana persona for good and fully embrace mature concerns like pole-dancing and getting whacked out of one’s gourd on salvia. Respect. |
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#42 | Pink ‘Raise Your Glass’ Pink‘s well-deserved hits collection finally came out this year, and new track ‘Raise Your Glass’ was an enjoyable if slightly forgettable romp. Nice video though. |
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#41 | The Wanted ‘All Time Low’ Boyband The Wanted stormed the charts with debut single ‘All Time Low’, but sluggish album sales suggested that JLS need not quake in their All Saints boots just yet. We also blame The Wanted’s initial success on Simon Cowell’s determination to make One Direction ‘happen’, so cheers for that ‘The Wanted’. |
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#40 | Alesha Dixon ‘Radio’ After a promising (and much-delayed) solo debut, big things were expected of Alesha Dixons‘ follow up in 2010. Sadly ‘The Entertainer’ vanished without trace, despite a brace of electro-influenced gems like heartfelt ballad and second single ‘Radio’. Perhaps nicking the opening bars of Robyn’s ‘Dancing On My Own’ was a mistake… |
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#39 | Maroon 5 ‘Misery’ Even if you can’t stand Maroon 5‘s high-pitched MOR-funk, you can always watch their videos on mute and just stare at Adam Levine’s lovely face. Which is nice. |
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#38 | Adam Lambert ‘Whataya Want From Me’ Adam Lambert‘s ‘Whataya Want From Me’ crept out to little UK fanfare earlier this year and charted at #53, which is a shame as it’s really rather bloody good. The track was co-written by Pink, who included a version on her best-of collection at the end of the year. |
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#37 | Shontelle ‘Impossible’ Shontelle‘s ‘No Gravity’ album was played to death this year by WAPS, being one of those rare releases where most tracks sound like a single. Icy ballad ‘Impossible’ was a real highlight, however. |
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#36 | Sia ‘Clap Your Hands’
We loved oddball popette Sia in 2010, so please go and check out her ‘We Are Born’ album if you haven’t done so already. We could have picked any track to include on this list, but joyful single ‘Clap Your Hands’ seemed the obvious choice. So there. |
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#35 | Nicki Minaj ‘Right Thru Me’ You couldn’t move for Nicki Minaj this year (she’s probably standing behind you right now, ‘featuring’ on something or other) yet her own debut didn’t come out until the end of it. ‘Right Thru Me’ was one of our favourite songs, an enjoyable ballad which featured the word ‘shit’ far, far too many times and yet somehow got away with it. |
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#34 | Rihanna ‘Rude Boy’ Rihanna stuck with tradition by releasing a new single and video approximately every 5 minutes in 2010, and luckily for pop fans most of them were excellent. ‘Rude Boy’ made us do various silly things like dutty whine around the kitchen even though we’re not sure what that means. |
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#33 | Robyn ‘Indestructible’
An amazing year for Robyn in artistic terms (her Body Talk series was hands-down the ‘album’ of the year), yet commercial success proved elusive. A shame, as she chucked out brilliant songs like ‘Indestructible’ at an alarming rate of knots. |
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#32 | Kesha ‘Your Love Is My Drug’ One of 2010′s biggest success stories, Kesha‘s debut album ‘Animal’ was packed with potential singles. ‘Your Love Is My Drug’ was one of our favourites, and still sounds fresh today. |
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#31 | Marina & The Diamonds ‘Shampain’ One of the poppier moments on Marina‘s debut, and we all like a bottle of Shampain, don’t we? |
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#30 | Hurts ‘Wonderful Life’ The exceedingly well-groomed Hurts were briefly everywhere in mid 2010, with lots of pop-watchers getting into quite the tizz over their polished pop (even Kylie popped up on album track ‘Devotion’.) Lead single ‘Wonderful Life’ was a powerful statement of intent, but we remain unconvinced that this duo aren’t simply a load of style over substance… |
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#29 | Jessie J ‘Do It Like A Dude’ Jessie J‘s feisty RnB-pop debut ‘Do It Like A Dude’ racked up over 2 million views on YouTube earlier this year, yet charted under the radar. We doubt this will hold her back, however, seeing as she’s already bagged the Critics’ Choice Award at the 2011 Brits. One to watch… |
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#28 | Sky Ferreira ‘One’ Sky Ferreira failed to happen in 2010, but her debut single ‘One’ was actually brilliant. Her album was expected in January 2011 but has already been ‘pushed back’ (those dreaded words…) |
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#27 | Shakira ‘Loca’
Despite a sky-high profile courtesy of ‘Waka Waka’ AND a Dizzee Rascal cameo, Shakira‘s super-infectious ‘Loca’ never actually came out in the UK. What on earth are her ‘people’ playing at?! |
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#26 | Katy Perry ‘Teenage Dream’ Katy Perry had a great 2010, scoring 3 US #1 singles and a new hubby in the form of UK comedian (and WAPS favourite) Russell Brand. Her second album ‘Teenage Dream’ was somewhat front-loaded – and good lord the girl can’t sing to save her life – but we can’t help loving her a little bit. We’ll do what everyone else does and blame it on the boobies. |
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#25 | Enrique Iglesias ft. Nicole Scherzinger ‘Heartbeat’ How many popstars water-skied naked this year when Spain won the World Cup? Answer: one – Enrique Iglesias. And if that’s not enough of a reason to love him, his ‘Heartbeat’ duet with Nicole Scherzinger was also v. good. Even if the piano did rip off The Dream Academy’s ‘Life In A Northern Town’ a little bit. |
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#24 | Joe McElderry ‘Ambitions’ X Factor 2009 winner Joe McElderry never really recovered from his defeat at the hands of Rage Against The Machine last Christmas; his cover of Donkeyboy’s ‘Ambitions’ struggled in the charts, indicating that his heavily Mika/Scissor Sisters-influenced album might flop. It did. Simon Cowell has allegedly pledged his support for at least one more album, but we fear that Joe’s in Leon Jackson territory now… |
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#23 | Gabriella Cilmi ‘On A Mission’ We were ever so excited when Gabriella Cilmi ditched her Joss Stone-lite ‘vibe’ for SUPER GAY DISCO MADAME on comeback single ‘On A Mission’, but the track stalled at #9 in the UK. Where are the gays when you need ‘em, eh? |
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#22 | Arcade Fire ‘We Used To Wait’
Arcade Fire‘s return was – of course – gloomy as ever. But super-anthemic and ace as ever, too. Hurrah! |
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#21 | Nicole Scherzinger ‘Poison’ She FINALLY got that solo smash! Amazing what a stint on X Factor and an afternoon with RedOne can do for you. We have a feeling Nicole‘s solo success will be short-lived however… |
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#20 | Alexandra Burke ‘All Night Long’ Alexandra Burke‘s fourth single ‘All Night Long’ explored a more wistful sound without shedding any of her commercial or dancefloor appeal. A well-deserved top 5 hit from an already-massive album. |
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#19 | Charlotte Church ‘Back To Scratch’ Charlotte Church finally returned to the music scene in 2010, not with opera or pop but a country-influenced album drenched in guitars, strings and grown-up themes. Triumphant lead single ‘Back To Scratch’ was a real grower, and an overlooked gem. |
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#18 | Kelis ‘Acapella’ Kelis re-branded as a dancefloor diva/fashion-plate in 2010, but her much-lauded comeback ‘Flesh Tone’ failed spectacularly in its bid for chart success. Fortunately she’s got Nas’ millions to live off. ‘Acapella’ remains amazing, however. |
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#17 | Mark Ronson ft. Boy George & Andrew Wyatt ‘Somebody To Love Me’ Boy George & Andrew Wyatt’s brilliantly haunting ‘Somebody To Love Me’ was the clear standout on Mark Ronson‘s otherwise patchy ‘Record Collection’, and made us hope for a Ronson-produced Culture Club album. Hey, it could happen! |
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#16 | Lady GaGa ‘Alejandro’ GaGa‘s ‘Alejandro’ video may have felt mildly anti-climactic following the fun-fest of ‘Telephone’, but once you got past the dodgy editing, OTT religious imagery and questionably-wigged gays, the song remained epic. |
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#15 | MIA ‘XXXO’
Where does one begin with M.I.A.? Well, why not with ‘XXXO’ – providing you skip most of the rest of the ghastly album it arrived on. |
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#14 | Shontelle ‘Perfect Nightmare’ The bit where the beat kicks in on Shontelle‘s ‘Perfect Nightmare’ was one of *the* pop moments of the year. FACT. |
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#13 | Cheryl Cole ‘Promise This’ We all know that Cheryl Cole could have farted in a bucket and rocketed to number one this year, and indeed that’s what she did with album #2 ‘Messy Little Raindrops’. Frantic and slightly bizarre lead single ‘Promise This’ was a corker, but the rest was possibly even more ‘meh’ than her debut solo album. Such a shame that (arguably) the biggest female name in UK pop is happy to lend her name to so much dross. We’re holding out for an incredible third album, but God knows why… |
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#12 | Ciara ‘Gimmie Dat’ God loves a trier – and WAPS loves a Ciara (mainly when she’s producing mental booty-bass like ‘Gimmie Dat’ – the kind that makes you feel like you could run a million miles and THEN start kicking some ass.) (Also wins the award for most annoyingly spelled title of 2010.) |
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#11 | Kelly Rowland ‘Commander’ Kelly Rowland‘s eurodance love affair continued in 2010; her David Guetta collaboration ‘Commander’ was even better than ‘When Love Takes Over’ in WAPS’ humble opinion… |
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#10 | Kylie Minogue ‘Get Outta My Way’ ‘All The Lovers’ was Kylie‘s attention-grabbing comeback, but we preferred the much-maligned ‘Get Outta My Way’ for it’s pulsing piano and bold attitude. Vintage Kylie. |
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#9 | Tinie Tempah ‘Pass Out’ Tinie Tempah‘s uniquely British take on hip hop might not have been to everyone’s taste – though we found it rather refreshing to hear a rapper talking about biscuits, Scunthorpe and his aunt’s house – but the power of ‘Pass Out”s hypnotic bass and hectic outro can’t be denied. |
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#8 | Best Coast ‘Boyfriend’ Best Coast‘s killer hooks, lazy guitars and blissfully Spector-esque production won many hearts in 2010, including ours. Parent debut album ‘Crazy For You’ was also one of the year’s best. Now – anybody got any weed? |
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#7 | Willow Smith ‘Whip My Hair’ SHE WHIPPED HER HAIR BACK AND FORTH SHE WHIPPED HER HAIR BACK AND FORTH SHE WHIPPED HER HAIR BACK AND FORTH SHE failed to stop Black Eyed Peas getting to number one with ‘The Time (Dirty Bit). Bugger. |
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#6 | Scissor Sisters ‘Invisible Light’ By the time Jake Shears came round to everyone else’s way of thinking and realised that ‘Invisible Light’ should have been the lead single off ‘Night Work’, it was too late. ‘Fire With Fire’ had already done its damage. This still sounds insanely fresh, however, and the recently released video is brilliantly odd. |
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#5 | Kesha ‘We R Who We R’ Kesha took a leaf out of GaGa’s book in 2010 by releasing her own ‘Fame Monster’-style EP. ‘Cannibal’ didn’t deviate from ‘Animal’s trash-pop template, and with songs like ‘We R Who We R’ up her sleeve who can blame her? Pure filth and we love it. |
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#4 | Rihanna ‘Only Girl (In The World)’ Rihanna‘s ‘Rated R’ album was a somewhat gloomy affair so the singer decided to go mega in-yer-face with follow-up ‘Only girl (In The World’), a song that can only be described as massively stomping. WAPS approved heartily. |
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#3 | Katy Perry ft. Snoop Dogg ‘California Gurls’ Katy + Snoop + Summer = Pop Heaven. Totally ludicrous and totally fun, it was little surprise that ‘California Gurls’ was a global smash…it just didn’t quite translate into album sales. Oops! |
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#2 | Lady GaGa ft. Beyonce ‘Telephone’ Are there any superlatives left with which to describe to Lady GaGa? Not really, so let us just remind you that ‘Telephone’ is a bona fide classic. The motherf***ingly brilliant video didn’t exactly hurt matters either. MORE PLEASE. |
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#1 | Robyn ‘Dancing On My Own’
Nobody does tear-soaked electropop like Robyn – even Kylie felt the urge to retweet our article about it . ‘Dancing On My Own‘ was a melancholy hit that sounded strangely out of place during the UK heatwave. How very ‘Robyn’. |
