Yes I love them, you love them too, that's why you're here. (Unless you're looking for MP3s/videos etc). I'm updating this post over the weekend and if I get anything else worthy then I'll add them too.
UK sales - Top 10 singles of 2005
1. Tony Christie Feat. Peter Kay - (Is This The Way To) Amirillo 2. Shayne Ward - That's My Goal 3. Crazy Frog - Axel F 4. James Blunt - You're Beautiful 5. Pussycat Dolls Ft Busta Rhymes - Don't Cha 6. McFly - All About You / You've Got A Friend 7. Akon - Lonely 8. Madonna - Hung Up 9. Westlife - You Raise Me Up 10. Sugababes - Push The Button
What a load of crud. Still, at least Shayne Ward wasn't no. 1.
UK sales - Top 10 albums of 2005
1. James Blunt - Back To Bedlam 2. Coldplay - X&Y 3. Robbie Williams - Intensive Care 4. Kaiser Chiefs - Employment 5. Gorillaz - Demon Days 6. Westlife - Face To Face 7. KT Tunstall - Eye To The Telescope 8. Kelly Clarkson - Breakaway 9. Faithless - Forever Faithless - The Greatest Hits 10. Eminem - Curtain Call - The Hits
Both singles and albums have just been announced (Jan 1, around 3pm) and I'll be putting the full top 75s up on this site quite soon.
Take Your Medicine - Top 10 singles of 2005
1. Bridge Gang - London Sky Tonight 2. Sufjan Stevens - Chicago 3. Go! Team - Ladyflash 4. Mystery Jets - You Can't Fool Me Dennis 5. Art Brut - Emily Kane 6. Imogen Heap - Hide And Seek 7. We Are Scientists - The Great Escape 8. Playwrights - Dislocated (London version) 9. Maximo Park - Apply Some Pressure 10. Pipettes - It Hurts To See You Dance So Well
I've really enjoyed Mike's ridiculously-detailed blog this year and this chart is typical of the wide range of music covered on a much-more-regular basis than this one. The no 1 by the Bridge Gang is well worth a listen - if there's one thing I've learned this year it's that there's a frightening wealth of talent in the hands of unsigned bands all over the UK.
1. Kaiser Chiefs - Employment 2. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm 3. Editors - The Back Room 4. Arcade Fire - Funeral 5. Audioslave - Out Of Exile 6. Foo Fighters - In Your Honour 7. Magic Numbers - The Magic Numbers 8. Coldplay - X & Y 9. Kanye West - Late Registration 10. Maximo Park - A Certain Trigger
WTF is right! That well known East End song, Knees Up Mother Brown (or KUMB for short) is home to the largest community of West Ham United fans, and for some reason I ran the end of year poll this year. Mostly predictable fare - although a nice high placing for Editors, who will hopefully repeat that next week with the re-released Munich; the full chart has some very interesting choices on it, and you can see the whole list of 105 here.
BBC Radio 1 OneMusic Festive 50 - Top 10 singles of 2005
1. Jegsy Dodd and the Original Sinners - Grumpy Old Men 2. Crimea - Lottery Winners On Acid 3. Arctic Monkeys - I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor 4. King Creosote - Klutz 5. Arcade Fire - Rebellion (Lies) 6. Early Years - All The Ones And Zeros 7. Camera Obscura - I Love My Jean 8. Ollo - Lord Lucan Is Still Missing 9. Steveless - Bored 10. Laura Cantrell - Bees
Formerly known as John Peel's Festive 50, of course. The full 50 was shown in my earlier post, here.
NME - Top 10 singles of 2005
1. Futureheads – Hounds Of Love 2. Arcade Fire – Rebellion (Lies) 3. Arctic Monkeys – I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor 4. Kanye West – Gold Digger 5. White Stripes – My Doorbell 6. Babyshambles – Fuck Forever 7. Antony And The Johnsons – Hope There’s Someone 8. Razorlight – Somewhere Else 9. Franz Ferdinand – Do You Want To 10. The Strokes – Juicebox
NME - Top 10 albums of 2005
1. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm 2. Arcade Fire - Funeral 3. Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have It So Much Better 4. Antony And The Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now 5. Kaiser Chiefs - Employment 6. The White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan 7. Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise 8. Kanye West - Late Registration 9. Babyshambles - Down In Albion 10. Gorillaz - Demon Days
A lot of controversy over these lists, particularly since the NME were accused by another website of "doctoring" the chart to represent their target readership, or something. Specifically, Arcade Fire apparently topped the poll of polls from the NME writers, but the editor allegedly put Bloc Party at no 1 because it was felt that this would be a more popular winner with its readership. The rumour spread all over the place; I'm sure you saw the story somewhere.
I had a lot of problems with this whole hoo ha. Firstly, I think the NME is the easiest of easy targets and I just can't be bothered to knock them, I think they do what they set out to reasonably well and there's plenty of other places for me to get my musical fix. Moaning that the NME isn't as good as it used to be is like complaining that BBC1 has too many children's programmes - they don't change, you do!
Secondly, the rumour was started by a little read blog which had no evidence, and to make it worse they said they did but they wouldn't publish it. Hmmm ...
Thirdly, who cares if they did doctor it? I doctored my end of year poll - I put the ones I liked best at the top!
I've overlooked the obvious fact (not opinion, FACT!) that the Bloc Party album is miles better than the Arcade Fire one anyway. And no, I don't want a job on the NME - I doubt they could afford me.
The top 50 single and album lists have been preserved here.
Q - Top 10 albums of 2005
1. Coldplay - X&Y 2. Gorillaz - Demon Days 3. Kaiser Chiefs - Employment 4. Oasis - Don't Believe The Truth 5. Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning 6. James Blunt - Back To Bedlam 7. Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have It So Much Better 8. Arcade Fire - Funeral 9. KT Tunstall - Eye To The Telescope 10. Hard-Fi - Stars Of CCTV
This is really uninspiring, even for Q, master of the pointless list (something I'm a big fan of if it's done good). The top 50 can be seen here.
Rolling Stone - Top 10 albums of 2005
1. Kanye West - Late Registration 2. Rolling Stones - A Bigger Bang 3. White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan 4. Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine 5. Bruce Springsteen - Devils and Dust 6. My Morning Jacket - Z 7. Beck - Guero 8. Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake - It's Morning 9. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois 10. 50 Cent - The Massacre
This is even worse than the Q list. To see it in all its gory, click here.
My Own Charts - Top 10 singles of 2005
1. Mystery Jets - You Can't Fool Me Dennis 2. Bloc Party - Banquet 3. Maximo Park - Apply Some Pressure 4. Robocop Kraus - Small Houses Odd Cars 5. Futureheads - Hounds Of Love 6. Others - Lackey 7. Young Knives - The Decision 8. Rakes - Retreat 9. MJ Hibbett and the Validators - Never Going Back To Aldi's 10. Kate Bush - Mrs Bartolozzi
1. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm 2. Robocop Kraus - They Think They Are The Robocop Kraus 3. Others - The Others 4. Rulers Of The Planet - In 30 Minutes We Destroy The Earth 5. Kate Bush - Aerial 6. Kaiser Chiefs - Employment 7. Maximo Park - A Certain Trigger 8. Art Brut - Bang Bang Rock 'n' Roll 9. Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have It So Much Better With 10. Frank and Walters - Souvenirs
According to Audioscrobbler/Last FM, these are the bands I've played the most in 2005, with the number of plays.
1. Sultans of Ping F.C. 211 2. Kate Bush 112 3. Rulers Of The Planet 96 4. The Robocop Kraus 90 5. The Others 89 6. Bloc Party 69 7. The Cardigans 58 8. Blur 57 9. Franz Ferdinand 56 10. Art Brut 54
