It’s been a busy year in pop, and WAPS has been delighted to guide you through it!

Looking back over our articles prompted us to compile a rundown of 2009’s best pop songs – you know, because there really aren’t enough lists flying around at the moment…and with this in mind, we whittled a shortlist of almost 200 tracks down to 50. There were arguments, believe us, but here they are.

We hope you’ll agree that our selection represents the year in pop rather well, and we apologise if your favourite song or artist fell by the wayside. The list is presented in alphabetical order by artist because we think each track is equally important (not very scientific, but there you go.)

Finally, to celebrate our Top 50, Nokia Music have generously supplied us with two vouchers – worth 50 songs each! – which we are giving away to two lucky readers (one per winner). If you’re a winner you could download our entire Top 50 from the Nokia music store – or 50 entirely different tracks, the choice is yours!

To be in with a chance of winning*, all you have to do is leave a comment telling us your favourite track of 2009 and why you love it. The winners will be selected at random.

* Nokia Music Store is only supported on PC with Internet Explorer. Prize draw open only to UK residents. Competition closes at 31st December 2009. Terms and conditions apply.

	Alexandra Burke ft Flo Rida – Bad Boys With the public behind her and celebrity backing from Beyonce, X Factor 2008 winner Alexandra Burke couldn’t go wrong with her first ‘proper’ single, ‘Bad Boys’ -and yet for some curious reason Flo Rida was roped in for a cameo. If you’re reading, Flo, she’s not called Alexander. Mispronunciation-issues aside, ‘Bad Boys’ was a pop song you couldn’t help but bounce along to. Swanky video, too.
	Alphabeat – The Spell Exuberant Danish pop group Alphabeat bounced back from label limbo with their strongest single to date. ‘The Spell‘ was an irresistible take on early 90s dance acts such as Black Box and Snap, but sadly failed to translate into mega chart succes
	Beyonce – Halo Although ‘Halo‘ pretty much marked the point that Ryan ‘One Republic’ Tedder’s sound became overly familiar to the world and his wife, nobody minded because the sound was coming from Beyonce. Emotional pop of the highest order.
	Beyonce – Sweet Dreams A ferocious slab of electropop that showed Beyonce – sorry Sasha Fierce – at her most deadly. Ms Knowles stole the show with her rendition of this single at the 2009 MTV Europe Music Awards.
	Black Eyed Peas – Boom Boom Pow WAPS declared BEP’s ‘Boom Boom Pow‘ almost unlistenable the first time round, yet by the end of the summer it was rarely off our ipods. A bizarre dancefest of epic proportions that kickstarted six months of world domination from the Peas.
	Britney Spears – 3 An odd year for Britney – her ‘Circus’ tour ran to 97 dates and made millions, while its star released a series of increasingly lackluster singles that she failed to promote. ‘3‘ was the only new one, and was intended to showcase her frankly unnecessary ‘Singles Collection’. The pervy ode to threesomes divided fans, but WAPS loved it.
	Calvin Harris – I’m Not Alone Scottish producer/electro-bod Calvin Harris was unavoidable in 2009, and unfortunately so were his vocals – but his refusal to hire a guest vocalist didn’t stop ‘I’m Not Alone’ from storming to the top. His mega-wacky Jedward stage-invasion, however, may yet become his defining career moment. D’oh.
	Cheryl Cole – Fight For This Love What is there to say about Cheryl Cole that you haven’t heard already? How about: ‘Fight For This Love‘ is actually brilliant and deserved to be a number one smash. It also resulted in one of the best X Factor performances of the year. Shame her album’s a bit ropey, but hasn’t she got lovely hair?

(more…)

Pop Atlas: The Netherlands

Our first Pop Atlas article focused on Sweden, and we’re now shifting our sights to a country less known for its musical exports: The Netherlands (also known as Holland). They gave the world 2Unlimited in the early ’90s but internationally-known Dutch stars have been somewhat thin on the ground since then. Could doe-eyed songstress Esmee Denters be the artist to break the cycle?

Dutch blogs have been buzzing about Esmée since 2007, when the 20-year-old became a YouTube after uploading videos of herself singing along to top 40 songs. Esmée’s clips caught the attention of a certain Justin Timberlake, who promptly signed her. Her debut album ‘Outta Here’ was released in The Netherlands earlier this year and her debut single of the same title hit the top 10 in The Netherlands and UK this summer. Her album is a slick mix of pop and R&B (in the style of Justin Timberlake) with both ballads and uptempo tracks.

Songs to check out: Outta Here, Victim, Bigger Than The World and What If.

Other current Dutch artists to check out:

• Anouk: a feisty rocker who broke through during the Alanis Morissette era. We’re particularly charmed by ‘Good God’. Latest single: ‘Woman’ taken from her album ‘For Bitter or Worse‘.
• Krause: the alter ego of singer/songwriter Susanne Clermonts. Her debut single ‘Radio Edit’ is a mixture of disco, pumping electro beats and kick-ass vocals.
• Tiësto: DJ / producer known for this dance anthems. He’s about to pull a ‘David Guetta’, by releasing a full length album of dance track featuring well known artists like Nelly Furtado, Kele Okereke from Bloc Party and Jónsi from Sigur Rós.
• Eva Simons: the red-quiffed singer started off on Dutch reality show PopStars, which spawn girlband Raffish in 2004. This year she went solo and released her electro-pop single ‘Silly Boy’, which generated quite a bit of buzz as it was incorrectly labelled as a duet by Rihanna and Lady GaGa. Coincidence or clever PR stunt?
• EliZe: a mixture of throw-away pop and euro dance.
• Don Diablo: good looking DJ / producer, expected to release his debut album ‘Life Is a Festival’ end of 2009. Also known for remixing songs for Mika, FrankMusik and Dragonette.
• Ilse De Lange: middle of the road country music. Yes, country.

Did we miss out on anyone up and coming? Let us know in the comments section, or join us on the message board to discuss the merits of Dutch pop music.

Remember ‘Silly Boy‘, that strange little song leaked by Kanye West and credited to Lady GaGa and Rihanna despite the glaringly obvious fact neither were involved? Well, the publicity stunt mystery has now been resolved – the track is actually by Dutch singer Eva Simons (formerly of Dutch Popstars outfit Raffish), and a fairly decent video has now surfaced. We like it, but it is a bit shameless in its general aping of the whole GaGa/Rihanna ‘vibe’ (GaGahanna?)

However, we’ll forgive Eva for this, for she has lazers, dance routines and giant hair. If you like it too, EMI reports: ”Silly Boy’ will be released to a total of 20 EMI territories, beginning on 4 September in Germany.”

So now you know.