101-TAYLOR SWIFT
Shake It Off
(Island)
As another year comes to an end, the time for annual review begins. And our blog typically does so with our Top 100 favourite songs. Also a tradition, we kickstart the countdown with the much-feared 101 position, symbolically reserved to a “guilty pleasure” left at the gates of our main chart. This year the slot goes to Taylor Swift, the only artist capable of both selling over a million copies when Adele is on holiday and defying Today’s all-conquering streaming model. 2014, commercially at least, belonged to her.
Escaping the branded corners of the Top 40, women seem to have taken over every genre. A large proportion of our selected tracks and albums are female-led. Amongst them, though, the prevailing tone was completely different to Swift’s cheerful, mass-marketed tunes. From Lykke Li dedicating a whole album to her recent breakup, to Sharon Van Etten’s devastating “Your Love Is Killing Me’, heartbreak seems to be the engine behind some of 2014 most notable works.
In the first quarter of our chart star-studded soundtracks; caribbean riddims; Swedish dynamite; Brazilian girl bands; dependable supergroups and masters of retro soul go hand in hand. Check it out here:
100-JHENE AIKO The Worst (Def Jam) |
| 99-TV ON THE RADIO Careful You (Harvest) |
| 98-ALLIE X Bitch (Self-Released) |
| 97-EKKAH Last Chance To Dance (EP) (Year One) |
| 96-JEREMIH FEAT. YG Don't Tell 'Em (Def Jam) |
| 95-GINNELS Not What You Think (Tenorio Cotobade) |
| 94-VINCE STAPLES Hands Up (Hell Can Wait EP) (Def Jam) |
| 93-STROMAE FEAT. LORDE, PUSHA T, Q-TIP & HAIM Meltdown (Universal) |
| 92-HOW TO DRESS WELL Words I Don't Remember (Domino) |
| 91-SCHOOLBOY Q Man of The Year (Top Dawg) |
| 90-POPCAAN Waiting So long (Mixpak) |
| 89-A SUNNY DAY IN GLASGOW Bye Bye Ocean (The End) (Lefse) |
| 88-PEARLS NEGRAS Pensando Em Você (Bolabo) |
| 87-MERCHANDISE Green Lady (4AD) |
| 86-FUCKED UP Paper The House (Matador) |
| 85-JUNGLE Busy Earnin' (XL) |
| 84-PARKAY QUARTS Uncast Shadow Of A Southern Myth (What's Your Rupture) |
| 83-SHABAZZ PALACES Motion Sickness (Sub Pop) |
| 82-THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS War On The East Coast (Matador) |
| 81-TODD TERJE Delorean Dynamite (Smalltown Supersound) |
| 80-FEDERAL RESERVE, CAM'RON & A-TRAK Dipsh*ts (Fool's Gold) |
| 79-MAC DEMARCO Blue Boy (Captured Tracks) |
| 78-ARIANA GRANDE FEAT. ZEDD Break Free (Republic) |
| BEN FROST Venter (Mute) |
| 76-SHARON JONES & THE DAP-KINGS Stranger To My Happiness (Daptone) |
English 
Español