15. Giorgio Moroder feat Sia — Deja Vu
The first time we heard this song we cried a bit. Then we asked Giorgio if he'd consider changing the song so it didn't end on a fade. When the finished version appeared with an ending so abrupt that it sounded like Giorgio had sprinted out of the studio, we cried again for a slightly different reason. Still, the song remains a masterpiece.
14. Demi Lovato — Cool For The Summer
'Cool For The Summer' came not a moment too soon in a year otherwise devoid of odes to seasonal lezzing.
13. Marina & The Diamonds — I’m A Ruin
Everything that's amazing about Marina in one song.
12. Justin Bieber — Sorry
[badge color="#fff" bgcolor="#48cfee" value="FAUXPOLOGY OF THE YEAR"] One of a few appearances on this list for Justin Tranter and Julia Michaels, who pretty much owned 2015 in terms of pop songwriting.11. Noonie Bao — Pyramids
Her 2012 'I Am Noonie Bao' album is worth a listen but it feels like Noonie's just hitting her stride. Even if Noonie's 2016 is likely to be a big one, her 2015 hasn't been too bad either, what with all the Charli XCX and Carly Rae Jepsen co-writes and the release of her brilliant 'Noonia' EP.
[adpostbig]10. Little Mix — Love Me Like You
You could probably do a really good 'sad conga' to this.
9. Zara Larsson — Lush Life
This is finally coming out ('impacting') in the UK at the start of next year, but it's about to hit 100m streams on Spotify having gone 5x platinum in Sweden alone. The MNEK collaboration 'Never Forget You' has worked as a good introduction to Zara for UK audiences and if there's any justice it'll storm its way up our charts too. (Spoiler: there is very little justice.)
8. Years & Years — King
You know that really boring part of a major-label-signed new act's career where they're still trying to make Key Tastemakers happy, so they release stuff that hints at big pop amazingness, but don't quite deliver big pop moments in case they scare off all the cool people? And you know how sometimes those acts never actually deliver on their potential and then they disappear and you forget about them? But you also know how every now and again, after hinting at amazingness a band fully unleashes the big pop dogs and you think "yes please, this is how you do it"? Well that is what happened here. "Oh we're the BBC Sound Of 2015 winners, are we? HOW DO YOU LIKE THIS THEN." Bosh. Watching the video now it's easy to feel nostalgic for the time when Olly had brilliant hair but we're sure the hair will return in the future just like we're sure 'King' will be joined by many other corkers on the band's 2021 greatest hits album. Or greatest hits playlist, or whatever it is people are into by that point.
7. Hailee Steinfeld — Love Myself
As wankbangers go, 'Love Myself' is hard to beat.
6. Nick Jonas feat Tinashe — Jealous (remix)
[badge color="#fff" bgcolor="#48cfee" value="NICK J. TINASHE."] Strictly speaking shirt-losing former child Nick Jonas' full-force midtempobelter came out last year but it was only a single in the UK in 2015 so here we are. The track would probably be Top 10 in this chart even without the Tinashe remix, but the added perspective of a duet totally unlocks this song's potential.5. Carly Rae Jepsen — Run Away With Me
The best thing about this song is the way each chorus is signposted. The first chorus just comes along with silence, then "BABY!". The second time round, it's "OH… BABY!". For its final appearance, it's "Oh, my BABY!". A nice little detail.
4. Petite Meller — Baby Love
The single didn't exactly set the charts on fire — not even when she released it again later in 2015, this time with the title 'Barbaric' — but it'll always mean summer 2015 to us. (Worth noting also that Fleur East could learn a thing or two from Petite Meller when it comes to Conspicuous Sax.)
3. Carly Rae Jepsen — Your Type
From the ludicrously pensive verse to its confetti-cannon chorus 'Your Type' is sonically — and perhaps even structurally — like every song on 'Emotion' and maybe even Jeppo herself: hopelessly out of place in the 2015 pop landscape, but nice to have around. Carly wrote this song about being in love with a gay, but the song would work just as well as an anthem for any gay who's ever accidentally fallen in love with a straight gentleman. Hopeless and beautiful at the same time. Again, a bit like the album campaign.
2. Years & Years — Shine
We spent most of 2015 thinking that 'King' was the best Years & Years single, but it's not is it? 'Shine' is. And WHAT a middle eight.
1. Taylor Swift — Style
[badge color="#fff" bgcolor="#48cfee" value="A PERFECT SONG"] The best song from the best album of the last two years, and that's all there is to it.And that, ladies and gents, is the end of that.
Except it's not quite the end of that.
First off, we've put all those songs into a Spotify playlist, which is here. Obviously there's a problem with the Taylor Swift song but we've put in a shit cover version instead as a sort of placeholder.
Secondly, there are loads of other songs we enjoyed this year, and here are a few of them.
5 Seconds Of Summer — She’s Kinda Hot
5 Seconds Of Summer — Hey Everybody
Adam Lambert — Ghost Town
Adele — Hello
Alessia Cara — Home
Anna Naklab feat Alle Farben & YOUNOTUS — Supergirl
Arches feat Karen Harding — New Love
Ariana Grande — Focus
Ariana Grande — One Last Time
Aston Merrygold — Get Stupid
Baby Raptors — I Am My Only Love
Becky G — Break A Sweat
Bianca — Hi‑5
Brandon Flowers — I Can Change
Britney Spears feat Iggy Azalea — Pretty Girls
Calvin Harris feat Haim — Pray To God
Charli XCX — Famous
Charli XCX feat Rita Ora — Doing It
Chiara Hunter — Strange Relationships
CHVRCHES — Empty Threat
CHVRCHES — Leave A Trace
Cilia — Silhouettes In Slow Motion
Conrad Sewell — Hold Me Up
CuckooLander — Mother Nature
David Guetta feat Emeli Sandé — What I Did For Love
David Guetta feat Sia & Fetty Wap — Bang My Head
Demi Lovato — Confident
Disclosure feat Lorde — Magnets
DNCE — Cake By The Ocean
Dragonette — Let The Night Fall
Drake — Hotline Bling
Duke Dumont — Ocean Drive
Elin Rigby — A Friend With A Car
Ellie Goulding — Love Me Like You Do
Elohim — She Talks Too Much
Emily Vaughn — Better Off
Eric Prydz — Opus
Erik Hassle — Smaller
Eves The Behavoir — Electrical
Example — Whisky Story
Fetty Wap — Trap Queen
Fifth Harmony feat Kid Ink — Worth It
FKA Twigs — In Time
Florence + The Machine — What Kind Of Man
Foxes — Amazing
Frankie — New Obsession
Galantis — Runaway (You & I)
Grace feat G‑Eazy — You Don’t Own Me
Gwen Stefani — Used To Love You
Halsey — New Americana
Hilary Duff — Sparks
Hurts — Rolling Stone
Hurts — Some Kind Of Heaven
Jason Derulo — Cheyenne
Jess Glynne — Hold My Hand
John Newman — Come And Get It
Justin Bieber — What Do You Mean?
Kanye West — All Day
Kate Boy — Burn
Kelly Clarkson — Heartbeat Song
Kygo feat Conrad Sewell — Firestone
Kygo feat Parson James — Stole The Show
Kyla La Grange — So Sweet
Kylie Minogue — Every Day’s Like Christmas
Lana Del Rey — High By The Beach
LANY — Someone Else
Lapsley — Hurt Me
LCMDF — Procrastination 365
LÉON — Nobody Cares
Leona Lewis — Fire Under My Feet
Little Boots — No Pressure
Liv — Come A Little Closer
LIZ — When I Rule The World
Lost Frequencies — Are You With Me
Macklemore & Ryan lewis — Downtown
Madonna — Bitch I’m Madonna
Madonna — Ghost Town
Madonna — Living For Love
Maggie Lindemann — Knocking On Your Heart
Major Lazer feat Ellie Goulding & Tarrus Riley — Powerful
Major Lazer feat Nyla — Light It Up
Margaret Berger & FACE — Diamonds
Maria Hazell — Say It Like You Mean It
Marina & The Diamonds — Happy
Mark Ronson — I Can’t Lose (Duke Dumont mix)
Maroon 5 — This Summer’s Gonna Hurt Like A Motherfucker
Matoma feat Nico & Vinz — Love You Right
Missy Elliott feat Pharrell — WTF (Where They From)
MNEK & Zara Larsson — Never Forget You
MO — Kamikaze
Natalie La Rose feat Jeremih — Somebody
Nathan Sykes — Over And Over Again
Naughty Boy feat Beyoncé & Arrow Benjamin — Runnin’ (Lose It All)
Nervo feat Kylie Minogue and Jake Shears — The Other Boys
Nick Jonas — Levels
Nicki Minaj — The Night Is Still Young
Niki & The Dove — Play It On My Radio
Noella Nix — Hold On
Nottee — Do You Love Me
Olly Murs — Kiss Me
One Direction — Perfect
Petite Meller — Barbaric
Phoebe Ryan — Mine
Rae Morris — Love Again
Rae Morris — Under The Shadows
Raving George feat Oscar & The Wolf — You’re Mine
REMMI — Awake, Asleep
Rihanna — Bitch Better Have My Money
Rihanna — FourFiveSeconds
Rita Ora — Body On Me
Robin Schulz — Headlights
Robyn & La Bagatelle Magique — Set Me Free
Say Lou Lou — Hard For A Man
Secret Weapons — Something New
Selena Gomez – Same Old Love
Sharks — Rebel
Shura — White Light
Sia — Alive
Sia — Elastic Heart
Sia — Fire Meet Gasoline
Sigala — Sweet Lovin'
Sigma feat Ella Henderson — Glitterball
Snakehips, Tinashe, Chance The Rapper — All My Friends
Sofi De La Torre — Mess
St Lucia — Dancing On Glass
St Lucia — Physical
Tanika — Fuckboy
Taylor Swift — Bad Blood
Taylor Swift — Wildest Dreams
The 1975 — Love Me
Tinashe — Player
Tove Lo — Moments
Tove Lo — Talking Body
Tove Styrke — Borderline
Tove Styrke — Ego
Ty Dolla $ign feat Charli XCX and Tinashe — Drop That Kitty
Who Is Fancy — Goodbye
Years & Years — Eyes Shut
Obviously, if you think we've missed anything just drop us a line. Cheers!