20. D.R.A.M ft. Lil Yachty - Broccoli
Broccoli is the biggest hit on this list, in a year which has been one of the all-time worst in terms of chart music. It's catchy, charming and ludicrously happy, cutting through the bland overproduced nonsense on the radio like nothing else this year has. That said, this song would be even higher if it didn't have Lil Yachty almost spoiling the first half - luckily the rest is so good it still nabs a spot on this list.
19. Jamie T - Tescoland
One of the highlights from Jamie's album 'Trick', 'Tescoland' describes how fame hasn't changed him, but that he wishes it had, and does so in an upbeat, riff heavy rock and roll banger. It's also the most english song I've heard all year, with references to London buses and of course Tesco.
18. Angel Olson - Shut up Kiss me
The poppiest song on 'MY WOMAN' was also my favourite, with big 80s guitars and a typically warbly and off-kilter vocal from Olson. Way too many songs of recent times have centred around the words 'Shut up', but if they were all this good I wouldn't complain.
17. Frank Ocean - Solo/Solo (Reprise)
Frank Ocean teams up with Andre 3000 for two tracks which are linked through the theme of loneliness, but like all of 'Blonde' (Or 'Blond' if we're going to look at the album cover. I don't get it, I mean his hair isn't even blonde in the cover it's green- Ok I'll stop.) it's a subtle, relaxing piece. That it, at least until Andre 3000 drops one of the best guest verses of the year which unsurprisingly became one of the main talking points of the LP.
16. Kendrick Lamar - Untitled 07 levitate
Only Kendrick Lamar could release B-sides and throwaways and end up with music as fully formed, brilliant and interesting as seen on 'Untitled Unmastered'. 'Levitate' may have a contradictory title (It's the only song on the collection with a given title) but it's the best song off 'Unmastered', with several different parts all as interesting as each other, from a kid singing about Compton to four minutes of Kendrick essentially messing around on a guitar with some friends. Surprisingly brilliant.
15. Shura - Touch
Shura made one of the best debut albums of 2016, and this was the jewel in the crown - a haunting, hook heavy minimalist ballad that bafflingly wasn't a hit despite being completely in line with the criteria for a smash this year and being way better than the competition.
14. The 1975 - A Change of Heart
The 1975's creepily titled album more or less lives up to the hype it had surrounding it as long as you take out the 3 tracks making up 15 minutes of ambient nothingness, but this song threatens to overshadow most of 'i like it when you sleep'. It's heartbreaking, bleak and danceable all at once, making the best thing the band has ever done.
13. Beyonce ft. Kendrick Lamar - Freedom
*VIDEO CONTAINS STROBE LIGHTING* and while I'm at it the live version has quite afew differences to the studio version but whatever.
Of course there was going to be a song from Beyonce on here, after she dropped maybe the biggest and most critically acclaimed (but one) album of the year. I could have put pretty much any song from 'Lemonade' on here - 'Sorry' and 'Don't hurt yourself' in particular - but 'Freedom' is my pick. Incredibly catchy, incredible guest verse and like 'Formation' is extremely relevant to 2016.
12. Two Door Cinema Club - Bad decisions
An amazing tune from from a mediocre album, 'Bad decisions' is unlike anything Two Door Cinema Club have ever done, and makes you wish it wasn't an anomaly. A warm, buzzing 80s inspired, funky single it certainly isn't a bad decision to check this song out.
11. YG & Nipsey Hussle - FDT
2016 has been filled with atrocious political music from musicians who are so terrified of the idea of a Trump presidency that they forget that songs are supposed to sound good, and after his election I'm expecting even more. The biggest problem with this for me is that we don't need any more anti-Trump music after 'F**k Donald Trump' by YG and Hussle. The bluntest and biggest middle-finger of the year - backed with production that could get even Trump to start nodding his head.
10. Radiohead - Burn the Witch
Coupled with the best video of the year, Radiohead surprise released their best song since 2008 at the turn of May. Being a Radiohead song, 'Burn the witch' needs little explanation but in short, its paranoid, tense and has a chilling chorus that made me remember why I love them so much.
9. Glass Animals - Life itself
The song that brought Glass animals to my attention, 'Life itself' has an exotic and unique instrumental paired with an intriguing character study about a nerdy Camden-bound boy. Topped off with the years most explosive chorus and you've got a quirky masterpiece.
8. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Goodbye Angels
'Goodbye' angels is a pretty great song by itself for the first 3 and half minutes. But when Kiedis yells 'Kiss this!' and Flea starts slapping the bass like mad in a riff that is the coolest you will feel listening to music all year. That's not the official video by the way, it's weird even for Chili's standards.
7. Weezer - L.A. Girlz
Talking of weird videos, Weezer's self titled 10th LP had it's fair share, including the one for standout track 'L.A. Girlz', which surpasses it's terrible song title to be a sunny, happy tune with the best solo of the year. I can't explain why I love the solo so much, but then again I can't explain why there's a LIL WAYNE GUEST VERSE ON A WEEZER ALBUM- but yeah, this song rules.
6. Drive-by Truckers - Darkened Flags at The Cusp of Dawn
5. Danny Brown - Ain't it funny
The most insane, restless song of the year, 'Ain't it funny' may turn some listeners away with Brown's Mickey mouse-voiced rhymes and production like nothing else before it, but this just makes it one of the many highlights off of 'Atrocity exhibition'.
4. Tegan and Sara - U-turn
BEST POP SONG OF 2016! This is the song I've listened to most over the year, and even though I've heard it every other day since 'Love you to Death' dropped in Spring I'm not tired of it yet. The synth line has been lodged in my head for days on end, along with the explosive chorus. About as perfect as a pop song can be.
3. Car Seat Headrest - Drunk drivers/ Killer whales
'Drunk drivers/ Killer whales' is in many ways similar to most of Car Seat Headrest's modern masterpiece 'Teens of Denial': It starts off slow, is filled with surprising and brilliant musical choices that mean, much like a drunk driver, you never know what's going to happen to next. I almost feel like I should put a spoiler warning here, since the false start of the first two choruses lull the listener into thinking they're listening to a mid-tempo relaxing ballad about the dangers of intoxication. Then THAT CHORUS hits and you're singing along in seconds. Triumphant, pained and confused it's the best rock song to come out this year.
2. David Bowie - I can't give Everything Away
It should be obvious why this song is so high even if you've never heard it - Bowie was an icon and a genius, and anybody that can release an album two days before they die deserves a lot of respect. That 'Blackstar' is one of the best albums of the year and that 'I can't give everything away' is the final song on Bowie's final album ensures that it will never be forgotten. The song is heartbreaking with context, and even without context it's uplifting and experimental in the best way.
1. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Magneto
'Magneto' is crushing. More accurately, All of 'Skeleton tree' is crushing, almost too crushing to listen to at some points. Nick Cave's album about his deceased son's unexpected and terrifying death is the most emotionally affecting album to come out this decade - maybe even this millennia, and 'Magneto' is the bleak core, focusing more than any other track on the LP on how Nick Cave was personally affected by the tragedy. The lyrics are out of the league of everything else released this year, with imagery so strong you can almost taste sick in your mouth when Cave sings "in the bathroom mirror I see me vomit in the sink" and the chorus with it's refrain "one more time with feeling" is the most destroying sentence I've heard in almost any song ever. It feels a bit cheap to call this the best song of the year, since it's so personal and affecting, but I can honestly say no song had a greater impact on me in 2016 than 'Magneto'.
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