1) Adele - Rolling In The Deep [Video Link]
At only 22, Adele sings with the authority and sense of life experience of a 40 year old. When she wails, "We could have had it all...rolling in the deep," you feel every ounce of pain and loss with her. However, it is not a pain that has left her frail or defenseless. In fact, the entire song sounds as if she is gathering strength to do something about the pain, and the palpable feel of impending doom becomes chilling by the song's end.

Co-songwriter and producer Paul Epworth, who has worked recently with the likes of Cee Lo Green and Florence and the Machine, provides a perfect backdrop for Adele's vocals on "Rolling In the Deep." Martial beats, pounding piano chords, and chanting backing singers all seem to just gradually ratchet forward and follow the emotion in the lead line. A broken down handclapping bridge is positively spooky. I’m just proud to see her progress so far since the ‘Chasing Pavements’ days.

2) Lady Gaga - Born This Way [Video Link]
Musically, there would be no "Born This Way" without Madonna's "Express Yourself" and "Vogue." However, this is no copy or retread. It is Lady Gaga's music brought to the next obvious level, and she knows how to take us with her in a full hands in the air party frenzy.

"Born This Way" is filled with bumper sticker worthy slogans that do not feel kitschy or trite. "I'm beautiful in my way, 'cause God makes no mistakes." "Don't be a drag, just be a queen." "I'm on the right track, baby, I was born this way!" True enough, these statements have swept into mainstream pop culture.

3) Adele - Someone Like You [Video Link]
The story of the failed relationship that inspired Adele's album 21 has been widely covered and publicized. She was in love with an older man age 30 and thought they would get married. However, that turned out to not be the case and they endured a bitter breakup. When she received the news that he was engaged to another woman, she wrote "Someone Like You." It is her attempt to write something positive in the wake of the breakup. There is the sound of some healing beginning here, but the song is also heartbreaking.

The piano melody is gorgeous and combined with Adele's heartfelt reading of her words, the effect is highly emotional. She apologizes for re-entering the life of the past love with hopes that she is not forgotten while wishing him all the best. Emotions are laid bare with some hope for true, lasting love in the future, but Adele sings that it will be in the arms of someone like the lover she lost.

4) Rihanna - We Found Love (feat. Calvin Harris) [Video Link]
'We Found Love' is a club-ready number that, courtesy of Scottish DJ/producer/singer Calvin Harris, remains a classy affair. RiRi does manage to forgo her boozy and bondage tendencies this time out. "We found love in a hopeless place," she admits wistfully over shimmering synths, before Harris cuts loose on the lyric-less, exhilarating chorus.

5) Maroon 5 & Christina Aguilera - Moves Like Jagger [Video Link]
A song that pays homage to a musical legend is often labeled a cynical ploy for an easy hit; even more so when it's a duet by singers who front a reality show and haven't bothered the charts for a while. That said, when it involves the eye-pleasing Adam Levine and long-time diva Christina Aguilera honouring something as iconic yet frivolous as Mick Jagger's stage moves, it's hard not to be taken in.

It's even trickier when the song is this addictive. "Take me by the tongue and I'll know you/ Kiss me till you're drunk and I'll show you," Levine insists over a funky, finger-clicking bassline and an irresistible whistle hook that immediately burrows deep into the recesses of your brain. "If I share my secret/ You're gonna have to keep it," Xtina says on her short, sweet and perfectly-formed cameo.

6) Britney Spears - Till The World Ends [Video Link]
From the schoolgirl ensemble, to her darker, head shaving days, to her eventual rise back to the top, Britney has become an expert in keeping the pop world waiting with bated breath. The hawkish sirens and swizzling bassline production that opens ''Till The World Ends' unquestionably has Dr Luke written all over it. "Watch me move/ When I lose, I lose it hard," Britney asserts in seductive verses built around a ludicrously catchy chorus-chant. The result is her most uplifting, comfortable and confident number since 'Stronger', which, for longtime Britney fans, is the comeback we've all been waiting for.

7) Ed Sheeran - The A Team [Video Link]
In an age where a star is born in a matter of weeks, we were beginning to think that the traditional path to success of hard graft and persistence had been wiped out. Thankfully, Ed Sheeran proved otherwise with his first mainstream release, 'The A Team'. His intelligent lyrics and softer-than-cream-cheese vocals that set him apart from the pack. The true story of a homeless drug addict who will "go mad for a couple grams" and whose face is "crumbling like pastries", Sheeran's frank honesty and lump-in-the-throat-like emotion are weighted by a folky melody and off-kilter acoustics.

8) Nicki Minaj - Super Bass [Video Link]
"Super Bass" carries a light, breezy tone that makes it a perfect summer song. There is a jaunty, bouncing opening figure followed by extended rapping that shows off her vocal talents. However, it is when that chorus kicks in that "Super Bass" is lifted to the status of outstanding pop song. Minaj doesn't simply rap the words with rhythmic power. She manages to masterfully manipulate the mood and the meaning of the words through shifts in emphasis, intonation and phrasing.

9) Lady Gaga - Marry The Night [Video Link]
"That record is about my husband, New York," Lady Gaga declared when recently speaking about her new single 'Marry The Night'. It's no secret that Mother Monster has a loyal passion for her home city, so it was only a matter of time before she penned an ode to her one true love. "I'm gonna marry the night/ I won't give up on my life/ I'm a warrior queen, live passionately, tonight," GaGa calls out over a suitably grand introduction of deistic bells and rumbling techno synths. Defiant and epic, the track feeds into Gaga's cult-focused fan base like a prophet calling upon their disciples.

10) Foster The People - Pumped Up Kicks [Video Link]
Songwriter, producer and band leader Mark Foster says that the words to "Pumped Up Kicks" were written to draw attention to gun violence among youth and Columbine style disasters. It only takes seconds for that nimble bass line to kick in which drives "Pumped Up Kicks" relentlessly forward. Then the talk box vocals join with a story about "Robert" and the gun he found in his dad's closet. Just when all is sounding ominous, the hand clapping chorus erupts. It sounds chirpy in a sun-drenched slacker style, but in those occasional gaps and spaces in the mix your mind goes back to the need to run "faster than my bullet." What can the listener really do except dance and sing along?

16) Coldplay - Paradise [Video Link]
The looping, hi-gloss beats and swooping strings certainly suggest that Coldplay has struck a fine balance between commercial success and critical acclaim, reminiscent of Timbaland and Ryan Tedder's 'Apologise'. The chant-along chorus and "para-para paradise" hook do a great job at filling large arenas.

17) Kelly Clarkson - Mr. Know It All [Video Link]
Kelly Clarkson remains uncompromised on 'Mr Know It All' - the lead single from her fifth studio set Stronger. It’s certainly not the standard Kelly album trailer; substituting fast 'n' furious rawk guitars for a weighty piano riff - though her sentiments remain the same. "You think that you know me/ That's why I'm leaving you lonely," she tells her pompous and puffed-up beau, before insisting: "You don't know a thing about me."

18) Florence & The Machine - Shake It Out [Video Link]
“Shake It Out” is like Florence Welch’s version of Katy Perry’s “Firework”; it’s an anthemic pop song, bursting with as much hope and positivity as it is with catchy hooks and danceable beats. The enormous tribal drums that have become a Florence staple are present in the production, as well as a tambourine and a pious organ for that massive, Godly effect. The vocals are the standout, though, with Flo delivering another truly astonishing performance.

19) P!nk - F***'in Perfect [Video Link]
With his recent smash hits working with Katy Perry and Britney Spears, it does look like Max Martin is the route to a mainstream manufactured sound. However, this song is more distinctly Pink than it is anything else. The lyrics of "F**kin' Perfect" insist that we all remember, even in the bad times, we are perfect. The point of the music video is to shake up viewers in order to force them to see a problem that needs to be addressed.

20) Katy Perry - E.T [Video Link]
"E.T." is a strong effort at showing some versatility. It is a more adult sound for both Perry and producers Dr. Luke and Max Martin. The metaphor of sex with an extra terrestrial is potent lyrically, and added verses by Kanye West add an interesting perspective turning the song into a tense duet about an intense sexual encounter.

21) Florence and the Machine - What The Water Gave Me
22) Bruno Mars - It Will Rain
23) David Guetta - Without You (feat. Usher)
24) Lady Gaga - Judas
25) Lady Gaga - You And I
26) Rihanna - California King Bed
27) Beyonce - Best Thing I Never Had
28) Bruno Mars - The Lazy Song
29) Katy Perry - Last Friday Night (TGIF)
30) Bad Meets Evil - Lighters (feat. Bruno Mars)
31) Britney Spears - Hold It Against Me
32) Demi Lovato - Skyscraper
33) Florence And The Machine - No Light, No Light
34) Adele - Set Fire To The Rain
35) Robyn - Call Your Girlfriend
36) Olly Murs - Heart Skips A Beat (feat. Rizzle Kicks)
37) Will Young - Jealousy
38) Jessie J - Who You Are
39) Christina Perri - Jar Of Hearts
40) Adele - Rumour Has It

41) Katy Perry - The One That Got Away
42) Britney Spears - I Wanna Go
43) Drake - Take Care (feat. Rihanna)
44) David Guetta - Titanium (feat. Sia)
45) Ed Sheeran - Lego House
46) Avril Lavigne - What The Hell
47) Nicki Minaj & Rihanna - Fly
48) Cobra Starship - You Make Me Feel… (feat. Sabi)
49) Coldplay - Every Teardrop is a Waterfall
50) Red Hot Chilli Peppers - The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie
51) Example - Changed The Way You Kissed Me
52) Lana Del Rey - Video Games
53) Rihanna - S & M
54) Enrique Iglesias - I Like How It Feels (feat. Pitbull)
55) Birdy - Skinny Love
56) Snow Patrol - Called Out In The Dark
57) The Strokes - Under Cover Of Darkness
58) Foster The People - Helena Beat
59) Nicola Roberts - Beat Of My Drum
60) Adele - Turning Tables

61) LMFAO - Sexy And I Know It
62) Rihanna - Cheers (Drink To That)
63) Gym Class Heroes (feat. Adam Levine) - Stereo Hearts
64) Cher Lloyd & Mike Posner - With Ur Love
65) Professor Green - Read All About It (feat. Emeli Sande)
66) The Wanted - Glad You Came
67) Avicii - Levels
68) Beyonce - Countdown
69) The Band Perry - If I Die Young
70) Rebecca Ferguson - Nothing's Real But Love
71) James Morrison feat. Jessie J - Up
72) The Black Keys - Lonely Boy
73) Kelly Clarkson - What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger)
74) M83 - Midnight City
75) Rye Rye - Never Will Be Mine (feat. Robyn)
76) Two Door Cinema Club - What You Know
77) Marina & The Diamonds - Radioactive
78) Lykke Li - Get Some
79) Death Cab For Cutie - You Are A Tourist
80) Rachel Yamagata - Starlight

81) Pitbull - Give Me Everything (feat. Ne-Yo, Afrojack and Nayer)
82) Diddy Dirty Money - Coming Home (feat. Skylar Grey)
83) Black Eyed Peas - Just Can't Get Enough
84) Kanye West & Jay-Z - Otis
85) Kelly Rowland - Down For Whatever
86) Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga - The Lady Is A Tramp
87) Leona Lewis - Collide
88) Radiohead - Lotus Flower
89) Britney Spears - Criminal
90) James Morisson - I Won't Let You Go
91) Calvin Harris - Feel So Close
92) Example - Stay Awake
93) The Saturdays - My Heart Takes Over
94) Snow Patrol - This Isn't Everything You Are
95) Feist - How Come You Never Go There
96) Kasabian - Days Are Forgotten
97) Birdy - People Help The People
98) Matt Cardle - Starlight
99) Arctic Monkeys - Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair
100) Bjork - Crystalline

Labels: Best Of Music 2011