i can only think it must be love

It's getting increasingly difficult, this "singles of the year" palaver. With the inclusion of download singles I could simply write my top 50 songs of all time, as they will all have technically made the singles download chart at some point during the previous year... Living On A Prayer, for example, has been in the lower echelons of the iTunes top 100 most of the year, as far as I can tell.

Anyway, I have tried to keep it to "stuff that was kind of actually released in 2008, innit". A scientific approach, obv.....

20. The Ting Tings - That's Not My Name

I didn't like it at first. Then I couldn't help but sing along to it all the time. Now, I think it's a good record,(although it goes on a bit at the end). They're clearly a bit "now" and I can see the novelty wearing off as quickly as it arrived but they got a #1 record out of this insanely catchy record en route.

Mary-Jo! Lisa! (etc)





19. Keane - Spiralling

Although I am a huge Keane fan, I wasn't convinced by this record when I first heard it. I had heard they were going for a more 80s inspired sound, but releasing a single that sound like it was recorded in 1983 wasn't exactly what I expected. Saying that, it has grown on me and whilst the daft rap in the middle might not be their finest hour, I applaud their bold change of direction.






18. Alphabeat - What Is Happening

Another brilliant piece of pop nonsense from the Scandinavian six-piece. Whilst this might not have set the top Twenty on fire (as their other singles did) it is a fine, singalong three minute pop gem. I really love this band - as Roxette/Deacon Blue-ish as they might be.........







17. David Jordan - Sun Goes Down

Soul music isn't normally my thing, but this odd cowboy bhangra record (and the associated album which, in places, sounds a lot like Terence Trent D'Arby) really took my fancy. This single is brilliant - powerful, energetic and catchy and I am surprised it didn;t end up being a much bigger hit.







16. Royworld - Dust

This relatively unknown band were one of my favourites in 2008. Their album was in my Top Ten and their performance opening Sunday's John Peel Stage at Glastonbury was really, really excellent. This song actually spent a month in the top Forty earlier in the year without appearing to register on anyone's radar.







15. The Feeling - Without You

This nice, gentle single was one of my "most listened" in 2008. It has some lovely lyrics and a gentle, mid-paced beat that reinforces Dan Gillespie-Sells position as one of our best pop songwriters. It's a bit less frantic than I Thought It Was Over (which I like).








14. Alphabeat - Boyfriend

More Danish jollity - this time with Stine requesting that "don't you touch my boyfriend/he's not your boyfriend/he's mine". Clearly you can't argue with that. Their album was great, their live performances amazing and so hurrah for Alphabeat! My band of 2008.







13. The Feeling - Turn It Up

The album was a little bit patchy in places but the singles kept up the Feeling's knack for good quality singalong pop. They may not have set the charts alight as in times of yore but they don't half knock out a brilliant pop record. This has got an absolutely monster of a singalong chorus, also.







12. Keane - Perfect Symmetry

A sparkling U2-esque anthem, this - the trio have admitted to this being their most ambitious song to date. It's the centrepiece to their album of the same name and is a soaring, clever record which I am sure will end up being a much smaller hit than it deserves.








11. Royworld - Man In The Machine

I have said it before, but if you combined Coldplay and the Buggles this is what you'd get. It is guitar based indie but with a monster 80s keyboard riff to die for. Catchy, clever and brilliant. Their album is certainly worth a punt if you like this song.








10. Alanis Morrisette - Underneath

The Canadian songstress returned in 2008 with an album full of regret and honesty mainly focused on the break-up of her engagement to actor Ryan Reynolds. It's not her finest album but this, the lead single, is a terrific pop record and perhaps the finest single song she has written in years. Superb. Still the "disappointing gig of the year", though.






9. Amy Macdonald - Run

Probably the best song from her successful debut album This Is Your Life, Run has a great gentle verse building to a monster chorus to die for. Macdonald had my "single of 2007" and I am really looking forward to new material from her later this year.








8. McFly - One For The Radio

Whatever you might say about them, McFly manage to come up with brilliant catchy guitar-pop records with alarming regularity. A tongue in cheek look at their own music, One For The Radio is another in their long list of superb simple pop gems.








7. The Killers - Human

Returning to the more keyboard based sound of their first album, the Killers came up with the 80s inspired Day and Age and this, the lead single. One of the top Forty best selling singles in the UK in 2008 (and notwithstanding the much-discussed "dancer" lyrics) Human is simply a superb, catchy pop single. Brilliant.






6. One Night Only - Just For Tonight

They might only be 17 years old (and if their Glastonbury performance is anything to go buy the whole rockstar thing has gone to their head a bit) but this single made the top Ten in early 2008 and fully deserved to. It is an accomplished and anthemic single and belies the tender age of its composers. A really good song, this.






5. Ben's Brother - Stuttering

A surprise American hit after its inclusion in a TV commercial, Stuttering narrowly failed to make the top Forty in the UK. I really like this band and their live show at the Social in Nottingham was terrific. It's a really great record and only a tough set of choices near the top of this chart prevented it being even higher.







4. Alphabeat - Ten Thousand Nights

Had the Danes released their signature tune Fantastic Six there would have been no contest for my single of 2008. This, their second Top Twenty hit is everything about Alphabeat that I love - silly, catchy and fun - and any song that opens with the line "I was not looking for arty farty love" is a winner with me.







3. Coldplay - Viva La Vida

Destined to be a modern classic (I have heard instrumental versions at important sporting occasions and similar already) Viva la Vida is one of those records that appeals to broadly everyone. My mum loves it, my daughter loves it and I think the copmbination of a superb uplifting melody and (finally!) some excellent lyrics will see this remembered as one of the finest records of the decade.





2. Keane - The Lovers Are Losing

Whilst pondering over the oddness of Spiralling, I got to hear the bands second single from their third album and it was at this point I was satsfied that I wasn't going to be disappointed. With a Somewhere Only We Know-esque driving piano beat (and singer Tom Chaplin on guitar) it has become a brilliant opening to their live shows and is my favourite single of theirs since the Hopes and Fears days of 2004. Quite, quite brilliant.





1. Elbow - One Day Like This

OK, so I am not a bonkers Elbow fan and I can frankly take or leave The Seldom Seen Kid album. Saying that, it is hard to ignore this amazing piece of uplifting, soaring genius which marries some lovely gentle lyrics with a string refrain that's as good as anything you'll hear. It goes on a bit, mind (six minutes plus) but for all that I haven't heard a prettier, more perfectly constructed single this year. My single of 2008.