26. Toni Braxton - "Take This Ring"

Fucking amazing track and easily one of Rich Harrison's top 5 best productions. I don't know if this is even officially a single yet (supposedly it's going for adds in early '06) but it's gotten some spins on my local station and I can't get enough of it.



27. Franz Ferdinand - "Do You Want To"

I hated "Take Me Out" for the whole year it was inescapable, and even looking at that picture up there I still kind of hate them, but this one won me over pretty quickly even though I guess it's not that different from "Take Me Out". I think it's the intro that hooks me mainly.



28. Lil Mo - "Dem Boyz"

This set the D.C./Baltimore airwaves on fire back in the spring, and I'm so mad that it never really took off nationwide, even after the video with all the Baltimore scenery dropped. Chucky Thompson was Rich Harrison before Rich Harrison was Rich Harrison, bringing D.C. flavor to mainstream R&B, and there's a shitload of Go-Go in those drums.



29. Juelz Santana - "Mic Check 1, 2"

Neo Da Matrix from Ruff Ryders brings one of the hottest beats of the year and the kid who's even wack by Dipset standards manages not to ruin it.



30. Gucci Mane f/ Young Jeezy - "Icy"

Some people dragged it out for 6 months, but the whole Snowman bullshit was really only funny for about 5 minutes, and it was these 5 minutes.



31. Lil Jon & The Eastside Boyz f/ Usher and Ludacris - "Lovers & Friends"

As just another Usher slow jam this would be pretty subpar, but then they shoehorned in a Lil Jon verse to justify it being on his album, and then a Luda verse to complete the "Yeah!" triumverate, and ended up with something much more interesting. Lil Jon almost sounds like he's crying on his verse. Favorite lyric: "are you sure you wanna go this route?/let a nigga know before I pull it out".



32. Bobby Valentino f/ Lil Wayne - "Tell Me"

Weezy at his worst, but amazing beat and it more or less renders "Slow Down" unnecessary.



33. Fall Out Boy - "Dance Dance"

"Sugar, We're Going Down" never really did anything for me, but this one hooked me, especially the 2nd verse and the bridge into the chorus.



34. System Of A Down - "B.Y.O.B."

The week this dropped was maybe the first time since I was a teenager that I've been glued to the radio in anticipation of hearing a new hit rock song again and again.



35. Tony Yayo f/ G-Unit - "I Know You Don't Love Me"

50 hilariously playing into his own image as a paranoid, insecure superstar who worries that his groupies are running out the door to chase whatever other rappers are in town.



36. Black Eyed Peas - "Don't Lie"

The chorus sounds almost like a country song to me. And I swear, there have been a couple times that the Taboo verse actually got me a little emotional.



37. Toby Keith - "As Good As I Once Was"

Don't double dog dare me now.



38. Young Jeezy f/ Akon - "Soul Survivor"

I found a lot of Jeezy's celebratory trap shit kind of distasteful ("Icy" being celebratory non-trap shit), but this is the one track that really won me over, maybe the bleakest hit rap song of the year?



39. Nickelback - "Photograph"

What the hell is on Joey's head?



40. Coheed and Cambria - "The Suffering"

I'd apologize, but this is fucking great.



41. Damien Marley - "Welcome To Jamrock"

Overrated as hell but still not bad.



42. Rihanna - "Pon De Replay"

Run run run run everybody run run.



43. Jae Millz - "Who"

Another Nth generation New York mixtape rapper whose album will never drop but just keeps on churning out hot songs. Granted, it's no "No, No, No", but then, what is?



44. Purple Ribbon All-Stars - "Kryptonite"

Three 6 stutter hooks and S&C chopping aside, noone in rap ever really seemed to catch onto the subtle little repetitive vocal edits that various Native Tongues messed with in the early 90's (I'm thinking "Steve Biko (Stir It Up)" and one of those radio skits from De La Soul Is Dead), so it was cool to finally see someone pick up on that approach.



45. Webbie f/ Bun B - "Give Me That"

5 foot 7, a hundred and thirty nine pounds, etc etc.



46. Destiny's Child - "Girl"

I BEEN KNOWIN' YOU SINCE YOU WERE TEN!



47. T.I. - "U Don't Know Me"

Maybe never sounded better than in the context of the snippet at the end of the "Bring Em Out" video, but it was still cool to see it do well as its own single.



48. Lee Ann Womack - "I May Hate Myself In The Morning"

Classy award magnet country that's better than "I Hope You Dance".



49. Common f/ The Last Poets - "The Corner"

Couldn't stand it for a while, but it's a serious head-nodder.



50. Tyra - "Country Boy"

The best use of triplets this side of the Boyz N Da Hood single. Another one of those great R&B singles that fell through the cracks this year.

Labels: hip hop, Lil Wayne, lists, R and B, singles, T.I.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 03, 2005 at 3:58 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.