Lopez Blogs

"Keep On Walking" - Salem Al Fakir.

And so, finally, to the no.1 in my annual countdown of my favourite songs of the year. Not only was this my favourite song of 2010, but it has been perhaps the most significant song in Salem Al Fakir's career to date.

With just one Swedish television appearance - admittedly on the biggest television show of the year - Salem went from a reasonably well-known artist on the fringes of the mainstream, to a household name overnight. Salem participated in Melodifestivalen as an experiment, to get his music out to as wide an audience as possible, rather than with any end goal of winning. So it was all the more remarkable that he came so close to becoming Sweden's representative at this year's Eurovision Song Contest.

Salem was glad that he didn't win, as it gave him the opportunity to fully focus on the promotion of his third album "Ignore This", and then he embarked on a lengthy tour which lasted for the bulk of 2010. And I was lucky enough to see him perform live again, in Gothenburg in March, which became a new contender for "best night of my life".

"Keep On Walking" is a life-affirming anthem about picking yourself back up again when you've been down - a universal sentiment which touched so many people in Sweden and internationally. It's a timeless song which I played more than any other this year, and would probably be my favourite song of any year, and completely deserves its no.1 position in my chart.

Official video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbn3mip8-UU

Melodifestivalen heat 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8wevM-tpcA

Melodifestivalen final: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KahSZ3fWwoE