Top 75 Singles of 2006

Some points to consider. I am bound to have forgotten something or other, despite my best efforts. However now that this list is in “publication” that’s it; I will make no changes to it. Even if some smart arse points out that a certain track was released last year or something. You might read this and think I am on crack or something, and that is understandable. Just bear in mind that I do occasionally (and quite arbitrarily) apply a different selection standard when considering singles. A great hit single can sometimes be better than a great song, if you get me. But like I say, this list can get pretty arbitrary at times! :-D

75. Never Be Lonely (The Feeling)
The album itself was a little too derivative to truly shine in my opinion, but this was a top-notch single that I’m sure we can all relate to.

74. Last Night I Nearly Died (Duke Special)
Duke Special are an awesome live act who don’t always transfer that to record, but this is one of the occasions when it all come together.

73. Rudebox (Robbie Williams)
I don’t care if you thought this was rubbish. I liked it. It’s the sound of Robbie having fun.

72. Weekends & Bleak Days (The Young Knives)
It’s not important, it’s not important. Class sing-a-long tune this one.

71. Sing It Out (Hope Of The States)
Not even the fact that Zane Lowe loved this could turn me against it; which proves how good it really must be.

70. I Feel It (Lorraine)
Sometimes you can understand a song getting criminally ignored despite the fact it’s excellent. This isn’t one of those times as I just can’t see why this didn’t hit the top 10.

69. Bossy (Kelis)
She lost the “poppy” sound of the last album (at least for this single) and I thought it worked well. It still retained the playfulness that makes Kelis such a star.

68. Monster (The Automatic)
Some critics, least of all Q and the NME, suggest that there’s more to the Automatic than this song…I don’t agree. But I won’t let the ordinariness of the album detract from this stomping single.

67. I Don’t Feel Like Dancing (Scissor Sisters)
I didn’t like this one at first, and indeed the album made little impression on me either, but this one slipped into the brain over time and it is a great one to sing and dance along to.

66. June Gloom (The Like)
Such lovely girls aren’t they? Anyways, this is a good song that flopped in the charts. But it’s the general record buying public who are wrong, not me.

65. Turn Into (The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s)
I’d always dismissed them as show ponies, but 2006 changed my mind.

64. Ice Cream (New Young Pony Club)
The sound of the future.

63. Excuse All The Blood (Betty Curse)
The premise behind Betty Curse is both a) a bit daft, and b) a bit limiting, but when the music is this good, who cares?

62. Man I Hate Your Band (Little Man Tate)
Normally MTV2’s hot tips leave me more than a little cold. This was one of the few exceptions of the year.

61. 9to5 (The Ordinary Boys Feat. Lady Sovereign)
Yeah, Preston is a bit of a cock-knob, and Lady Sov does seem to have decamped off to America whilst they knock every bit of individuality out of her that made her any good in the first place, but this was a good tune.

60. Gold Lion (The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s)
See the previous Yeah Yeah Yeah’s entry. This was just about the better of the two songs.

59. I Still Hear It (The Webb Sisters)
It’s doubtful whether we really needed someone attempting to be the “Fleetwood Mac of the 21st Century” but you can’t deny the charms of this cracking little tune.

58. All Time Love (Will Young)
Boring video, but an ace song. This is the sort of thing he should stick to. It tends to go wrong when he goes up-tempo.

57. Henrietta (The Fratellis)
I failed to fall under their spell overall I must say, but I did enjoy this one, well at least until overexposure soured me slightly.

56. Atlantis To Interzone (The Klaxons)
Mad crazy punk-Techno or something. This was one of those “2am in the morning on MTV2 moments.” You see the start of it and think “what in the hell was that?” but after a short while you realise it’s genius.

55. Touch The Sky (Kanye West)
I hope Mr West doesn’t read this list; we all know how upset he can get when he doesn’t get first place. Anyway, the guy still can’t rap very well in my opinion, but this is a corker.

54. Get Myself Into It (The Rapture)
Just put it on and dance.

53. I Will Follow You Into The Dark (Death Cab For Cutie)
A mellow and sombre song. It was just one of those that resonated for me in a personal way.

52. Changes (Chris Lake)
An all-out piano backed disco stomper!

51. The Decision (The Young Knives)
Worth it for the lyrics alone, this was another essential slice of the Young Knives.

50. Up All Night (Matt Willis)
Ok so what followed it was pretty crap, but this was a catchy number which I quickly found myself humming along to.

49. Everybody’s Going To War (Nerina Pallot)
It would probably have been higher in the list if it hadn’t had it’s life as a song from 2005 for me. I had to squueze it in somehow though.

48. Be My Friend (The Hedrons)
As of yet they haven’t quite been able to match their live power with their recorded output, but this is still a delightful slice of pop-rock.

47. Stripper (Soho Dolls)
If Kraftwerk were sleaze-balls and women, this is the kind of thing they’d come up with today.

46. Watching You (Rouge Traders)
Go on, laugh. But I liked this. Which, admittedly, is entirely down to the My Sharona sample, but some times the simple things work best.

45. Littlest Things (Lily Allen)
One of those “awww” songs. I hope Lily wasn’t being too serious when she said it would be the only “slow” song she would ever write.

44. Nothing In This World (Paris Hilton)
Yes, laugh again. But if Kylie had done this (not that Kylie ever would as this is far too outwardly and blatantly pop – believe me, Kylie likes to think she has cred these days. Maybe she does come to think of it) this would have been number one for weeks. Just don’t tell Soup I like this.

43. Crazy (Gnarls Barkley)
You’ll be all up in my grill with the “43? Crazy is only the 43rd best single of the year?” Well there you go. Oversaturation of this hurt it greatly. Still it surely was a magical moment when you first heard it.

42. The Fallen (Franz Ferdinand)
They may not be the “in vogue” act that they were once upon a time, but the Franz have still got it.

41. Undercover (Gemma Hayes)
Aww, this one makes me sad, but in a nice way if you get my drift. Very lovely.

40. To Die A Virgin (Divine Comedy)
There had to be at least one Divine Comedy song in the list and this was the one that made it. It’s funny, catchy and just all-round quite brilliant.

39. Monster Hospital (Metric)
I like to rock out, but in a nice kind of way. This did the trick for me. It’s why I’m a fan of Metric.

38. Beep (Pussycat Dolls)
This time last year I had no interest in the PCD. I still have little interest in them, but you have to admit that they have some cracking pop singles. Survives even having Will I Am on it.

37. We Are Your Friends (Justice Vs Simian)
Few “dance” tracks have grabbed my attention this year. This was one of the few that did.

36. Jump (Madonna)
Madge has still got it when she wants to you know.

35. Not A Crime (Googol Bordello)
Absolutely bonkers, but hear it once and you can’t get it out of your head.

34. Adventure (Be Your Own Pet)
The closest thing approaching a “proper melody” on the album, this is two and a half minutes of bliss.

33. Cellphone’s Dead (Beck)
I’m not what you could call a big Beck fan, but I quite like him when he’s in “slacker” mode, and this was a wonderfully eclectic catchy tune which I just loved.

32. I’m With Stupid (Pet Shop Boys)
It was great just to have them back in the charts but this was a delight in it’s own right. Delightful lyrics too.

31. This Isn’t It (Giant Drag)
Love, love love, this isn’t it. Sort of sums up my entire life really. All joking (or not) aside, this was one of those tracks this year that just grabbed me instantly.

30. Judy (The Pipettes)
The first of THREE Pipettes singles in this rundown. Yes, I do love them that much. Lovely video too.

29. Beware Of The Dog (Jamelia)
So what if its just a feminist Personal Jesus? So what if it just rips off the Depeche Mode tune? It’s fantastic.

28. Lovelight (Robbie Williams)
His best single in years (probably since Rock DJ). This really should have told everyone that the critics were overreacting to the Rudebox album. Folks, its actually quite good.

27. Checkin’ It Out (‘Lil Chris)
This should be rubbish. But it’s not. It eschews the normal reality TV style and is almost like Devo have started doing songs for kids. Oh, wait. There was that Devo Kids fiasco wasn’t there? Well this is better!

26. Sexyback (Justin Timberlake)
It grated as the year progressed for sure, and the album that followed it was pretty crap, but this was a great comeback single for sure.

25. The Songs That We Sing (Charlotte Gainsbourg)
Breathlessly beautiful. This makes me cry if I’m in the wrong mood. In a nice way though.

24. Pull Shapes (The Pipettes)
You cannot listen to this one without doing the dance movements. Well, I suppose if you don’t know the dance movements you’d struggle, but you’d still do SOME form of dancing to it.

23. Once & Never Again (The Long Blondes)
I have no real idea quite what’s going on the lyrics to this song, but I love it all the same. I’d like to feel a girl your age indeed.

22. She’s Attracted To (The Young Knives)
Brilliant from the first line to the last. As soon as you hear “who are these people? They’re too stupid to be your real parents” you know you’re onto a winner here.

21. Hips Don’t Lie (Shakira)
IT STILL PISSES ME OFF THAT THIS WASN’T ON THE ORIGINAL VERSION OF THE ALBUM. But it’s so delightfully bonkers (as all Shakira songs should be) that it becomes irresistible.

20. Sophia (Nerina Pallot)
One of my album favourites, and a nice new single version was a welcome addition to the year.

19. Boyfriend (Ashlee Simpson)
I don’t care if YOU think she is rubbish, I love her. If Pink ever did anything this good the resulting acclaim would be monumental. But then Pink will never do anything this good.

18. I Don’t Need A Man (Pussycat Dolls)
Now this really was the moment I sat up and took notice of PCD. This is a fantastic pop tune.

17. Smile (Lily Allen)
The video was a bit classless, but that shouldn’t (and doesn’t) detract from a great number one single.

16. Getting Enough (‘Lil Chris)
Ok, so its heavily “influenced” by The Buzzcocks, but whatever the “inspiration” it still a stomping tune. The video is absolutely grade-A awesome as well .

15. When The Sun Goes Down (Arctic Monkeys)
What else is there to say about the Monkeys? This was just brilliant.

14. Supermassive Black Hole (Muse)
Muse do Britney! Well not literally. Although given the way things are going there’s a chance. Anyway, it was refreshing to hear a band like Muse come up with something like this.

13. Weekend Without Makeup (The Long Blondes)
Another superb Long Blondes track. Another one that I can’t help singing along to.

12. Rise Up With Fists (Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins)
As a single this was a bit of a non-starter chart wise, but it’s brilliant isn’t it?

11. Something Kinda Ooooh (Girls Aloud)
Yeah I know it’s not as good a song as some that have preceded it in this list, but it was a fantastic choice as a single. More like this please in 2007 (and less like Whole Lotta History).

10. Wait A Minute (Pussycat Dolls)
PCD TROUNCE GA SHOCKER! Ok, I know it’s not quite what you might expect from my list, but this is their best song yet.

9. We’re From Barcelona (I’m From Barcelona)
I wasn’t too keen on the album, but this remains an excellent song. Who can resist joining in on the sing-a-long chorus?

8. The Greatest (Cat Power)
This is everything a great Cat Power song should be.

7. Let’s Make Love & Listen Death From Above (Cansei De Ser Sexy)
Sometimes, you see, I do get it right. I bigged up Lily Allen, and I bigged up these guys. Sure CSS didn’t have HUGE success but this single was almost universally lauded…and rightly so.

6. Minimal (Pet Shop Boys)
Their best single since 1993’s Can You Forgive Her.

5. LDN (Lily Allen)
Despite Billy Bragg hating this one, I love it. Well there’s a surprise yes?

4. Over & Over (Hot Chip)
Perhaps the funkiest single of the year. I don’t know a single person who doesn’t like this one.

3. Maneater (Nelly Furtado)
I dismissed this before I’d heard it simply because I don’t really like Furtado, but you can’t deny that this is an absolute foot-stomper.

2. SOS (Rhianna)
There are few things better than a shit artist doing a brilliant hit record. Who cares if everything else she’s ever done is shit? This is absolutely fantastic.

1. Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me (The Pipettes)
Well it may be a surprise choice, but at the end of the day no other single this year has brought me quite as much joy as this one. The Pip’s finest two and a half minutes, and the finest two and a half minutes of single joy this year.