Lopez Blogs

Here is the full list of my top 50 fave songs of 2008.

1. It’s Only You Part II - Salem Al Fakir
2. Black and Gold - Sam Sparro
3. Twelve Fingers - Salem Al Fakir
4. Let It Shine - Tingsek
5. Beggin’ - Madcon
6. Lay Your Love On Me - BWO
7. Just A Minute - Rongedal
8. Viva La Vida - Coldplay
9. Save The Lies - Gabriella Cilmi
10. Propane Nightmares - Pendulum
11. Homecoming - Kanye West & Chris Martin
12. American Boy - Estelle & Kanye West
13. Do You Love Me - Amanda Jenssen
14. Divine - Sebastien Tellier
15. I’m Yours - Jason Mraz
16. Love In Stereo - Ola
17. Bang On The Piano - Jack McManus
18. 42 - Coldplay
19. Happy Hour - Palladium
20. This Is My Life - Euroband
21. Until I Die - September
22. Jennie Let Me Love You - E.M.D
23. Come On Girl - Taio Cruz
24. Dance Wiv Me - Dizzee Rascal, Chrome & Calvin Harris
25. Built To Last - Melee
26. Dangerous - M Pokora
27. Beli Jablan - Aleksa & Ana
28. Smilin’ - Bryn Christopher
29. Cry For You - September
30. Sex On Fire - Kings of Leon
31. My Cool - Adam Tensta
32. The Age of the Understatement - Last Shadow Puppets
33. Comme Avant - Mathieu Edward & Sheryfa Luna
34. What You Look For - Sam Beeton
35. Who Do You Think You’re Foolin’ - Rongedal
36. They Said I Said - Sugarush Beat Company
37. Would You Believe - Daniel Karlsson
38. And I Lie - Prata Vetra
39. Hur Svart Kan Det Va - Linda Bengtzing
40. Just Dance - Lady GaGa
41. Femme D’Aujourd’hui - Sofia Essaidi
42. Last Goodbye - Avenue
43. Shady Lady - Ani Lorak
44. 4 Minutes - Madonna & Justin Timberlake
45. Always Always - Zuma
46. La Histeria - Marquess
47. Work - Kelly Rowland
48. If Only You - Danny
49. When You Touch Me - Freemasons
50. We Keep On Rockin’ - Alcazar

The 2009-50 will start on 19th November 2009!

Here are a few songs which missed out on inclusion in my top 50 of 2008.

These are in no particular order, just totally random.


It may not have made the MGP final, but "Colliding" by Nicholas Carlie was a nice swaying ballad.

Question of the year? "Are we human or are we dancer?" The Killers were back, and "Human" was (and is) fab.

The return of Darin was cause for much celebration in blog-land: "Breathing Your Love" was a very good electro-pop style comeback.

Another Swedish talent returned this year: Christian Walz. I loved the retro-70s vibe of "What's Your Name".

I finally got into Jason Mraz's music this year. We all know how great "I'm Yours" is, but "The Dynamo of Volition" was a fast-talking little gem from his great "We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things" album.

Alphabeat deserved much credit for bringing pop back to the charts - "Fascination" was just such a foot-tapping feelgood song.

One song which did very well at MF was "I Lågornas Sken" by those witch-burning cheeky boys Nordman. Very dramatic and very...Swedish!

Talking of Swedish, one of our old faves Brolle returned with an album in his native language. He's a great singer in any language, and I liked "Solo i Stockholm".

"Flyer (Under Fire)" by Sergey needs no introduction for fans of Russian pop...and if you like this then visit Rachel's wonderful Work Your Magic.

The comeback single "Måndagsbarn" by Veronica Maggio was in that retro-60s style which seemed to be popular this year, and she did it particularly well. Produced by her other half Oskar (Kihlen) from Snook, which is another good reason to love it.

Everytime I hear "The Bells of Freedom" by BWO I just feel like dancing around the room. There's nothing new or original about it, it's just BWO being BWO but that's a good thing!

"Outta My Head" was a ridiculously catchy single by Ashlee Simpson and it should have done better in this country.

"Love Song" by Sara Bareilles was a massive radio airplay hit so I got tired of it eventually, that's why it probably never made my top 50. Still quite like it though.

I once referred to Sara Bareilles as the female Daniel Powter, well the man himself was back this year with "Next Plane Home" which might not have been as classic as "Bad Day" but it was still rather nice.

If you needed a Prince-tribute this year then you couldn't get better than "Hot Mess" by Sam Sparro. It should have been a single IMHO, but I wonder what will happen with his career now after the failure of "21st Century Life"?

"The World Should Revolve Around Me" by Little Jackie really grabbed my attention this year...the backing track reminds me of "Kommer Ifrån" by Snook, which is a good enough reason to love it.

One of the year's best new acts with major international hit potential is Irish trio The Script. They released a very impressive debut album, and "The Man Who Can’t Be Moved" really deserved its hit status.

Great to have Will Young back again. "Changes" had the same kind of musical feel as James Morrison's "You Give Me Something" and I really identified with the lyrics. Will is just a great charismatic artist.

Watch out for VV Brown next year - if there is any justice she will take the world by storm. "Crying Blood" is catchy and irresistible. And she has such an amazing look!

Incredible but true: my hatred of Snow Patrol was abolished thanks to "Take Back The City" which proved that they had a bit of life about them after all. A really good track - what a pleasant surprise!

When I heard "Viva La Vida....." initially, I didn't really like "Cemeteries of London" however a couple of days later I heard this played loud in a record shop and suddenly it all made sense. Coldplay made an amazing album.

My introduction to Hot Chip came with "Ready For The Floor" which was an incredibly catchy tune. I never did get round to hearing their other stuff, but I liked this.

Whilst I enjoyed compiling the 2008-50, it also became rather frustrating as it just brought it all back to me how there were so many amazing songs with massive hit potential, but most of them failed to achieve any commercial success in this country because they aren't being played on radio and thus getting out to a wider audience.

They say that the music business is in a horrible mess at the moment, but I'm not really surprised.

The record companies and the media, notably radio stations, are failing promising new artists.

1) There are now no prime-time TV outlets for new music - only Later with Jools Holland (not on at the moment) and Sound (tucked away in a stupid Saturday afternoon slot).

2) There may be a lot of music video channels now, but they are all completely lazy, mostly playing the same boring r'n'b songs all day and night. Only The Box has tried to break new (often European) acts but there are now less than before, in favour of top 40 hits.

3) Local radio stations are the worst offenders: why play new music from unknown acts when you can play boring oldies or Pink, Rihanna and Amy Winehouse all day long?

Sorry for the rant but I'm just fed up with the lack of priority given to music now. Even the record shops seem ashamed to sell CDs in favour of games and DVDs.

Thank goodness for blog-land, where fanbases can be built with word of mouth (or should that be word of mouse???) and we can get to hear about great music. Long live bloggers!!

"Homecoming" - Kanye West featuring Chris Martin.