I’ve always prided myself on being the guy with the ridiculously long singles lists at the end of every year -- I did a top 100 from ‘05 to ‘08, and even a top 75 for some reason in 2003. But this year I’m downsizing back down to 50, oddly enough because I wrote about singles more throughout 2009 than ever before, both on the Singles Jukebox and in monthly lists on this blog, so I’m a little talked out about a lot of songs I’d otherwise still be chomping at the bit to spotlight here. Plus, I’ve been at home with a baby for the last 25% of the year, so I haven’t heard nearly as much radio lately as I used to. So instead of talking about everything I liked, I’m gonna boil it down a little more, although obviously I’m still kind of nuts or at the very least the opposite of all those critics who can barely scrape together 10 singles for their Pazz & Jop ballots.

1. Jamie Foxx f/ T-Pain - "Blame It"
This has been my favorite single of the year since early February, and I’m still not sick of it. From that bubbling pulse as the beat revs up to that amazing stretch from T-Pain’s verse through Jamie’s bridge, it’s all so wonderfully buoyant.

2. Maxwell - "Pretty Wings"
On this list as it did on the R&B charts over the summer, this song slowly rose up and overcame the predisposition toward more contemporary, synthetic production styles to completely conquer with the sheer power of its hooks and its overwhelming beauty.

3. Lady Gaga - “Bad Romance”
I was starting to think I might get to the end of the Year of Gaga without getting dragged onto the bandwagon, and then I got run right over by it.

4. The-Dream - "Rockin' That Shit"
The first time I heard this, I thought it seemed kind of bland, like a slightly beefed up version of a generic archetype of a The-Dream song, but the more I heard it, the more it took on this monstrous anthemic power, to the point that just that intro queing up on the radio was one of my favorite things to hear all year.

5. Ludacris - “How Low”
Maybe it’s predictable or regressive that my favorite rap single of the year is basically Luda taking it back to his 2000-era “What’s Your Fantasy” style. But in a year where a lot of people thought Raekwon’s 1995 throwback was the best rap album, I guess that’s not so bad.

6. Young Money Entertainment - "Every Girl"
Young Money doing R&B posse cuts full of stupid wordplay is not a great songwriting formula. One need look no further than the follow-up single, “Bedrock,” to see how easily it can turn into a barrage of asinine half-punchlines like “I keep her running back and forth -- SOCCER TEAM” and “I got her -- GROCERY BAG.” To see how it can all miraculously go right, though, go listen to “Every Girl” again, no matter how sick of it you might think you are, that song is gold.

7. Shinedown - "Second Chance"
Every year needs a big shameless rock ballad, and 2009’s was one of the best in a long time. This started to become background noise to me about 9 months ago, but for a while before that I would yell along every single time it came on the radio.

8. Black Eyed Peas - "I Gotta Feeling"
I wish I could be more annoyed about the fact that BEP topped the Hot 100 for literally half of 2009, but I happened to completely love one of the 2 songs they did it with.

9. Gucci Mane f/ Plies - "Wasted"
This didn’t leap out at me as an obvious hit when I first heard it on Writing On The Wall, but pretty much every time

10. Demi Lovato - “Don’t Forget”
The title track from my 43rd favorite album of the decade goes way over the top with its delayed climax, but once it gets going it’s pretty amazing.

11. Pearl Jam - "The Fixer"
For their best single since their ‘90s heyday, Pearl Jam didn’t actually do anything evocative of that era, choosing instead to put together a snappy new wave tune that’s lighter on its feet than anything they were doing back then.

12. Weezer - "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To"
Another ‘90s alt-rock warhorse still doing good work, in this case by sticking to what they’ve always done best.

13. Taylor Swift - "You Belong With Me"
I still don’t really understand the Taylor phenomenon and am kind of confused by the hype around her songwriting, but she’s definitely got some good songs, and this is the really undeniable one.

14. Jeremih - "Imma Star (Everywhere We Are)"
Hands down one of the most amazing beats of the year, in any genre, just a big booming textured wonder.

15. Omarion f/ Lil Wayne - "I Get It In"
I’m including the original version because the Gucci Mane version doesn’t have anything remotely as entertaining as Wayne’s reference to song #16 on the list.

16. Beyonce - "Ego"
I’m including the original version because fuck ‘09 Kanye.

17. Mariah Carey - "Obsessed"
Releasing an obliquely taunting Eminem diss as her lead single was a weird idea, but it wasn’t a bad one like so many other ideas on her latest album.

18. The Veronicas - "Untouched"
I don’t know if this is technically 2008, but around January it just slayed me.

19. All-American Rejects - "Gives You Hell"
At first I thought this song was on some Smashmouth shit, which bummed me out because some of their best songs, like “Move Along,” actually rock kinda hard, but the dinky drum machine verses turned out to be a good counterpoint for the big dumb shoutalong chorus.

20. The Clipse f/ Pharrell Williams - "I'm Good"
Clipse stans everywhere jumped the ship this year, and many of them probably were scared off in part by this goofy sunny song, but it worked pretty well for me. Probably the first time in years that Pharrell’s voice has sounded good on the radio.

21. Whitney Houston - "Million Dollar Bill"
I keep trying to imagine Alicia Keys’ voice on this song if she’d saved it for herself, but that smoky grit that Whitney’s voice has now really suits it perfectly.

22. Drake f/ Trey Songz - "Successful"
This song really encapsulates everything I find smarmy and loathsome about Drake, the whole disingenuous “I’m talking about the same shit as every other rapper but I’m going to act all conflicted about my love of money and hoes because I’m so deep” schtick. But it’s also one of the best hooks and most arresting beats that any rap hit had this year.

23. Pitbull - "Hotel Room Service"
Man I love the part toward the end of this song when the drums drop out and it’s just this wall of yelling and synths.

24. Jeremih - "Break Up To Make Up"
I just wrote about loving this song a few weeks ago but anyway yeah, it’s great, I smile every time I hear it.

25. Paramore - "Ignorance"
This took a lot longer for me to warm to than “Misery Business,” but it has some pretty awesome drumming that really puts its energy over the top and makes it more than just a less tuneful rocker than Paramore has proven they’re capable of.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 23, 2009 at 11:49 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.