...And the rest:
15
Limelight (Radio Edit) - Alizée
Essentially the former French Lolita's long-needed comeback single. Well, in my eyes anyway. Both her native France and her adopted Mexico ignored this gem of an album, for which the Chateau Marmont-produced "Limelight" was the buzz single. "Stairs, lights, music, sweat, scares, fright, panic....fright" remains one of my favorite spoken word bits of a song in 2010 (yes, there are other contenders, believe it or not).
14
Promise This - Cheryl Cole
Even in the UK, where constant media attention and praise is routinely lavished upon Ms. Cole, there seems to be a distinct reluctance to attribute any, you know, musical talent or worth to her. It's a shame because "Promise This" is absolutely a worthy follow-up to her remarkably unassuming, yet ultimately affecting debut single "Fight For This Love," released last year. At once relentlessly upbeat and depressingly morbid, it has demonstrated a resilience since it was first heard on radio in mid-September that few such aggressively-mainstream pop singles can claim to achieve. Tagged onto an otherwise dire sophomore album and you have a track that shines long after the tabloid headlines have faded.
13
Starry Eyed - Ellie Goulding
So I'll confess that I first heard "Starry Eyed" in mid-2009, but it wasn't until it received a subtle but much needed re-polishing "single edit" from producer Starsmith that I realized how truly luminous of a song it is. When Starsmith succeeds, he does so brilliantly, and here he strikes a skillful balance between dance-floor ready beats, pop-qualified hooks and delicate instrumentation that suits Ellie's voice and style perfectly. Whether she chooses to pursue a more folk-oriented approach in her sophomore album remains to be seen, but for now, "Starry Eyed" is what she should be aiming to replicate for the foreseeable future.
12
遠い道の先で - Takekawa Ai
The only J-Pop track of the year that captivated me enough to make my Top 50 list, yet to say it captivated me might still be an understatement. Roughly translated as "At the Long Road Ahead," it reached my radar through improbable means: A beloved anime series from adolescence returned for a long-anticipated final season, and with this song used as one of its ending themes. One might pinpoint my interest in the anime as providing buoyancy for the song, but I've been listening to the song long since the show ended, reveling in new details of the glossy dance-pop production paired with Ai's unexpectedly interesting voice.
11
Right Back To You (Demo Mix) - Electric Youth
Plundering the '80s remains an often lucrative hobby for countless artists, yet none have done it perhaps as sweetly and convincingly as Electric Youth have in this unreleased demo. If you want proof, listen to "Right Back To You (Demo Mix)," wipe away that nostalgic tear creeping out of your left eye, and then listen to Black Eyed Peas' "The Time (Dirty Bit)." One is a shameless, stupefying abomination that makes me wish the 80s never existed. The other is one of the best songs of 2010. Care to guess which is which?
10
Teenagers - Japayork
Originally hit the web in early 2010, then released as a single on Popjustice's nascent record label with a snazzy new coat of pop paint at the end of the year. In both forms: Amazing. In short, Japayork holds rare promise for the difficult to crack male popstar niche (difficult, that is, if you're not peddling club-obsessed Taio Cruz-style productions). Yet nearly all of the songs that we've heard from him so far have been straddling that questionably relevant indie/pop (it's cool to like Kylie!) line with considerable skill and aplomb. A Frankmusik-style affair he may still end up, but you can't say the man doesn't have some tunes.
09
Rocket - Goldfrapp
Leading the charge in the proudest, most prominent theme of my Top 50 list this year--that of brilliant pop tunes unjustly failing to connect with the buying public in any discernible way--is Goldfrapp's glitter-in-the-air, jumpsuit-ready return to the dance-floor, "Rocket." Even more baffling once you realize that this is Goldfrapp's most assured, catchiest musical statement since, well, ever. "Rocket" sees the duo letting go in a way that even their breakthrough 2005 hit "Ooh La La" never managed to, weighed down in its best moments by a yes-they're-at-least-partly-serious insistence on glam-rock supremacy. At least if this is the end of the line for Goldfrapp they'll have gone out with a bang.
08
Wonderful Life - Hurts
Hurts have featured prominently on this list so far, as their debut album Happiness exceeded even my best expectations this year. Their crowning achievement remains this, their initial buzz single and eventual second proper single in the UK. Melancholy, deadly-serious, yet catchy and ultimately optimistic, the song is Hurts' DNA song (a little more primal, a little more self-defined than a "signature song") for good reason, for it encapsulates not only everything that Hurts is about in 2010 but also the promise that they are capable of.
07
One - Sky Ferreira
Don't worry, the litany of excellent pop tunes that tragically underperformed on the charts in 2010 is almost over (or is it?). However, no such list capturing both the promise and heartbreak of 2010 in pop can be complete without mention of Sky Ferreira's delicate, Bloodshy & Avant-produced "One." At only 18 years of age, Sky still has a lot of promise (and time). And no one's claiming it's all over for her just yet. But it's difficult to see songs as uncharacteristically sophisticated as "One" fail to get the attention they so clearly deserve.
06
Waterfall (Fear of Tigers Remix) - Rosanna
Although there are certainly exceptions, it is generally rare for a (non-Richard X) remix to grab hold of me as thoroughly, pleasurably, and unexpectedly as Fear of Tigers' excellent mix of Rosanna's "Watefall" did earlier this year. After listening to it more times than I will admit since August (127), I have concluded that the reason why I love it so much has nothing to do with it "touching" me in some indefinable way as most beloved tracks do, but rather simply because it does what it does so damn well. It's simply a perfect pop song. It transcends the limitations of a "mere" remix in ways rarely seen, and it does all of this simply by making some smart--not revelatory--production decisions, most notably by replacing the admittedly excellent (albeit gloomy) trip-hop march of the original's instrumentation with a relentlessly fun and danceable one instead. And that, friends, is the magic of remixing.
05
Invisible Light - Scissor Sisters
Another theme emerging from this list: Buzz singles can be amazing. No buzz single got me more exited for an album this year than the Ian McKellan-featuring epic "Invisible Light." Capped off with a dizzying video released at the end of the year, this song has everything you could ever want in a song: The aforementioned Ian McKellen, "sexual gladiators," an uplifting chorus featuring a particularly well-channeled Jack Shears, and one of the most heart-stopping climaxes in pop music this year. A stunner.
04
One Touch - Mini Viva
And now for a song so successful it ended the careers of its singers. Amazing. Especially considering "One Touch" by Mini Viva is literally amazing, and a triumphant return to form for a beleaguered, once dominant pop production house (Xenomania). No song will bring out the inner smack-talking diva in you better than "One Touch" in 2010. That alone is worth recommending it, but once you factor in the kitchen sink and perhaps the bathtub for good measure, as well as inject a liberal dose of '90s dance-floor camp and abandon, you're left with simply one of the best pop songs of the year.
03
Fire With Fire (Radio Edit) - Scissor Sisters
Seemingly neither as popular with Scissor Sisters fans as buzz single "Invisible Light" or its own, lengthier album version, "Fire With Fire (Radio Edit)" still stands as one of the best pop songs of the year due to its sheer hooky audacity and earnestness, increasingly unheard of qualities even within pop music. That it was the lead single of the otherwise far riskier, more dividing full-length Night Work proves not that it was a callous attempt to wrest a mass-appeal "lead single" out of a dividing campaign, but rather that it was a bold move in itself to make a statement apart from the album's core goals. Stuart Price, Jake Shears and the rest of the group clearly had a vision in mind with this album, approaching to some degrees even a concept album, and as a result, I have trouble buying the typical belief that "Fire With Fire" was anything more than a lure for chart success. The pop music buying public should wish that excellent songs like this were the result of such cynicism.
02
All the Lovers - Kylie Minogue
A Kylie single is cause to celebrate, especially when it's actually any good. "All the Lovers" manages to be something even beyond good. It may not have had the world-conquering power of past lead single "Can't Get You Out of My Head," but what pop star above the age of 40 who isn't Cher has such luck anyways? "All the Lovers" is exactly what Kylie needs at this point in her career: Sophisticated, fan-pleasing dance music that doesn't completely alienate the average buyer on the street. Add to that impressive package the second-best pop climax of 2010--a buildup that for months induced a wave of euphoria every time I heard it, no matter how many times I'd heard it--and you have one of Kylie's finest singles and the second best pop song of 2010.
01
Dancing On My Own - Robyn
Which leaves only one song left. I couldn't hope to expound upon this track any more humorously and convincingly than Peter Robinson recently did, but what I can do is attest to some of the brilliant, sometimes hypnotic power that this song has had over me for much of 2010. Where other tracks disappointingly wilted as the year progressed, Robyn's epic ode to dance-floor heartbreak only miraculously grew. Relentless synths that at first felt too abrasive for me (for a pop song) became the defining feature of this triumphant comeback, among the toughest and yet most vulnerable pop songs heard all year. Despite 49 other worthy contenders, and countless other great songs left out in the cold, "Dancing On My Own" simply stands head and shoulders above the rest.
A vintage year for pop.
