Total Points: 280
Charted Songs: “What’s My Name” (ft. Drake) – #98 “Rude Boy” – #74 “Russian Roulette” – #44 “Love the Way You Lie” – #6 “Only Girl (In the World)” – #3

I’ve gotten into many discussions about Rihanna’s voice. It’s very…original. She has the Barbadian accent no matter what she sings, but she does have an actual vocal range as well. I think the main point of Rihanna by the end of 2009 and going into 2010 was that she could bounce back from the whole Chris Brown/Domestic Violence snafu.

Her album Rated R was darker, but with that she probably produced my favorite slow song from her: “Russian Roulette.” Interestingly, Ne-Yo had a hand in writing it. It’s dark and edgy.

Notice though that “Only Girl (In the World)” still ranked higher. I think Rihanna’s voice is best fit for the club/dance floor and she really should just stay there. Yeah, I mean I like her slow and mid-tempo songs, but I still love blasting “Breaking Dishes.”

Fashion-wise, I remember Rihanna when she started back in “Pon de Replay” and she was wearing jeans and an interesting bra/top. I give her credit for becoming more original in her clothes, but she’ll never become a Lady GaGa. I appreciate her attempts at edgy clothing though. I also appreciate that she does more tasteful clothing when she was at more prestigious awards shows.

Random Bonus: Apparently Rihanna did a small nod to the song “Airplanes” when she was on tour:

Interestingly, I liked her version better, and she sang it for like three seconds.

Here are five songs that I loved this year that weren’t actually hits. Most of the songs either were older hits, youtube sensations, or just catchy. I’m sure there are tons that I played non-stop this year that won’t get any recognition. A lot of Disney songs as well…

…maybe I’ll take a second to mention a few. I loved the World of Color soundtrack, but I also loved several songs from Tangled especially “I’ve Got a Dream” and “I See the Light.” Alan Menken is great isn’t he?

Anywho, here are five songs that I loved in 2010 that kinda couldn’t really count since they weren’t “new” or “released recently” in any form…

Stephen Anderson – “Every Hour”

The song captures the spirit of an epic movie. It reminded me a lot of National Treasure, The Da Vinci Code, or The Amazing Race. It’s something that would just fit perfectly into a movie. Granted, it was used for a video for breakdancers, but I actually think the song transcends the whole breakdancing video.

Apparently the song is based off of the hymn “I Need Thee Every Hour.” And I gotta say, it’s a good hymn as well.

Hayley Westenra – “Dark Waltz”

I fell in love with the song when it was used on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ with Brandy:

And the house version was crap too. I’m actually kinda surprised it took so long for the song to show up on any of the dancing reality shows. Hayley kinda reminded me of a Charlotte Church type, but I haven’t actually adventured outside of the song.

Eduard Khil – “Vocalize” (aka Trololo)

What can I say about this song? I love it. I use it in the shower for warming up. It’s great. I also love how Eduard Kihl totally doesn’t get it. I guess in all reality, I don’t get it either… I mean the song is a vocal practice/song with a very very cheesy 70′s music video.

Parov Stelar – Catgroove

Sometimes guys just want to impress girls. This guy has great dance skills, but it was set to such a cool mix.

Dolly Parton – Jolene

What can I say about Dolly Parton? She’s amazing and I’m surprised that she’s still cooking. And her breasts are insured for $600,000. Something I learned from ‘Million Dollar Money Drop Show Thingie.’ You know, that one that I support the tubes because the couples are really annoying.

Total Points: 240
Charted Songs: “Your Love Is My Drug” – #75 “TikTok” – #71 “My First Kiss” by 3oh!3 (ft. Ke$ha) – #68 “We R Who We R” – #36 “Take it Off” – #15

There’s something about Ke$ha that just seems dirty. Maybe it was that one time that she arrived in a trash bag for an awards show and didn’t seem that innovative. Not like Lady GaGa creative, just a trash bag (what I sometimes call a BBPB: Big Black Plastic Bag).

Ke$ha has shown very little to no vocal abilities at all so when she’s live, she doesn’t sound horrible, but likewise she doesn’t sound good. I mean Katy Perry sounds decent in “Thinking of You” and Lady GaGa rocks when she’s in front of a piano. Let’s take a listen to her live:

Her backup singer is doing all the actual singing! WTF? I was reading youtube comments and Ke$ha was a watered down Fergie. Sorry, Fergie actually has some vocal ability.

So where was I? Right, somehow through the miracle of catchy, non-live, beat-driven music Ke$ha has landed on the number three position in my countdown. And she deserves it. I think her lyrics are cheesy, but I feel as though they speak to a generation of kids (Though I doubt that generation knows who Mick Jagger is).

Ke$ha doesn’t have a lot in many departments (especially that talent section), but she proves that even losers can be winners.

Funny that I mentioned the Lady GaGa performance of Glee and then Glee shows up…It’s odd how well a TV show has done on the Billboard charts. This show is really the definition of how iTunes sales has changed how the Billboard charts. Christina Perri was also a good definition of how TV exposure and iTunes sales but on an individual level.

Glee did a decent job garnering at least one song that I liked every week and there were tons that I could have chosen, but I think that the five chosen are a good gamut of what they could do. I was a little taken aback myself when “Don’t Stop Believing (Regionals Version)” got a Grammy nod. Cover songs? As one of the best songs of the year? How do artists/performers feel when they create original songs and they get shunned over a classic Journey song.

Vocally speaking, I really like Naya Rivera’s vocals. She has that really pop sound with good vocal runs and can maintain power in her voice. Other vocals can get a bit too Broadway, while others are too thin (I’m looking at you Quinn).

The second season’s quality still hasn’t really matched the first, but I have high hopes about the end half of the season. I think they did survive the sophomore slump and will probably survive into a third at least.

Bonus Segment:

The Emmy’s parody was amazing and I loved it. Chris Colfer’s “It’s on Bitches” and his look to Betty White was hysterical. That and Kate Gosselin was interesting in the sketch as well.

Here are three songs that I totally forgot about and totally loved. It was one of those slipped the brain moments when I created the list. I don’t think that any of them would have cracked the top 30, but some would have actually stirred up the top 40 maybe. There is only one song I will mention that owuld have affected the top 20. It will be mentioned soon.

OK Go – White Knuckles

If I remember OK Go at all, I would have probably placed both “White Knuckles” and “This Too Shall Pass” on my list. That probably may have led them to crack the top 40 at least. OK Go continued to make very innovative music videos. I loved how “White Knuckles” included the cutest of doggies and loved how they actually paid attention.

Macy Gray – “Kissed it”

It was this one damned commercial that never really went away. By the time it did, I had downloaded Macy Gray and was listening to it non-stop. Macy Gray’s song was catchy and really dancable. Macy Gray has a very distinguishable voice and swagger and it also showed that going on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ isn’t the end of a career, it can actually help.

Pink – “Glitter in the Air”

I thought this performance was stunning and beautiful. Sure she did it for her tour, but it was still amazing to watch. I love Pink’s daring nature to go up there and spin around and it fit perfectly with what a Grammy performance should be. Pink would have actually benefited if I remembered her performance earlier in the year, because it easily would have been in the 60s and it would have vaulted Pink from the high 20s into the high teens. Whoopsies.

Total Points: 196
Charted Songs: “Bad Romance” – #70 “Alejandro” – #28 “Telephone” (ft. Beyonce) – #9

What can I say about Lady GaGa? I love this woman. Early on, I always mentioned to Eric and various other people that Lady GaGa was the hooker version of Bjork. It kinda made sense. She didn’t follow the trends, she created trends. She also was really good (early on at least) with YouTube and she worked her way up the ladder. She also basically brought the music video back.

Don’t get me wrong, I love “Bad Romance,” but since the song occurred quite early in the year, I kinda didn’t put it as high as it deserved to be. I mean several artists were hurt because of early releases this year. Jason Derulo comes to mind. But we’re talking about Lady GaGa. I love the music video, though there are some angles where she kinda looks like Amy Winehouse. I understand why her hair is a bleachy-blond.

I did think that Glee’s version of “Bad Romance” did a decent job, but I think it was a good representation of different costumes that Lady GaGa has donned:

Yes that’s Harry Shum Jr. (Mike Chang) also in the performance.

But now back to the point. Lady GaGa is that type of artist that really seems like she’s not in it for the money, she’s in it to express herself. That’s what I really like about her.

Robyn

Total Points: 178
Charted Songs: “Dancing on My Own” – #20 “Hang with Me” – #4

Robyn was popular back when I was a kid…like 1997. Now I knew that she kept doing music, and I recalled the song “Konichiwa Bitches” a few years back. I really didn’t expect much from her, but outta nowhere I was on a search for some decent dance techno and Robyn’s name kept popping up again. I was listening to Royksopp and I heard the song “The Girl and the Robot” and didn’t realize that it was Robyn that was providing the vocals.

So I followed Robyn’s attempt at creating a full album this year. I thought the concept of three EPs. It actually seemed really nice how she kinda provided a few songs every few months.

Of all the songs Robyn had this year, I loved the acoustic version of “Hang With Me” though I think the version I found on YouTube was a bit sped up…

Some time this year she did do an interesting job on my favorite Bjork song, even though it looked like Bjork wanted to strangle her for not doing a great job. But then again, Bjork always looks like she wants to claw someone’s eyes out now doesn’t she?

You know something odd about Robyn? She looks really old. Like stress or wrinkles or something really makes her just look odd.

B.o.B

Total Points: 173
Charted Songs: “Magic” (ft. Rivers Cuomo) – #76 “Airplanes” (ft. Hayley Williams) – #35 “Nothin on You” (Ft. Bruno Mars) – 19

I almost doubt whether or not B.o.B could produce a song by himself that I would listen to. I mean Paramore and Wheezer are very prominent bands and Bruno Mars has made an impact this year with all of his collaborations.

I’m kinda shocked myself how well B.o.B did on my list, but it really was all about the collaborations. He’s actually the anti-Pitbull where he’s the person giving collaboration points.

“Airplanes” got really annoying at the end, “Magic” got pretty annoying quickly, but “Nothin’ On You” kinda maintained the right catchiness where if it played right now on the radio, I’d listen to it.

Total Points: 173
Charted Songs: “The Bed Intruder Song” – #61 “I’m Not a Witch” – #47 “The Backin Up Song” – #22

You didn’t expect that I would have artists that really barely charted on the Billboard charts right? Interestingly, “The Bed Intruder Song” actually made it to #89 on Billboard’s Hot 100. The best video mash-up had to be this one:

I love The Gregory Brothers and their whole Auto-Tune The News segments on YouTube. So the other two songs are kinda part of their Auto-Tune the news: Songify this segments. I love the Backin’ up woman. She seemed a bit crazy, but you know what? I’d hang out with her. She played it safe and wasn’t shot now was she?

I wished that the full version of “The Backin’ Up Song” was released sooner. I’m not sure that it would have boosted it’s score by much, but it was really good to jam to two minutes of music.

I’m not actually surprised that the Gregory Brothers are actually really good singers without Auto-Tune. I think the key to using Auto-Tune is to have actual talent and the Auto-Tune is just there to do minor tweaking. Granted, since they auto-tune people who speak it creates an interesting harmony.

Total Points: 142
Charted Songs: “California Gurls” (ft. Snoop Dogg) – #50 “Teenage Dream” – #10

Katy Perry has a decent amount of talent. She also has very supple breasts. Breasts that have caused a lot of controversy. Especially with Elmo:

But to make it more interesting, they kinda reduced the size of her breasts on the Divas Concert posters:

“California Gurls” was horribly catchy even if it was a bit abused by “The Amazing Race” editors. It was that kinda summer song you play with the roof down and stuff. Though I have this odd feeling that it wasn’t as successful as it coulda been in the East Coast as it was in the West.

On the other hand “Teenage Dream” was really a very cute song. I’m happy that Katy actually (partially) wrote the song because at least it shows some writing credibility.

“Firework” is also a great song that I kinda forgot, but mostly because it came out later 2010. The free download for Just Dance 2 shoulda helped… (If you were wondering, if I could go back it would probably replace “Abracadabra” by the Brown Eyed Girls and gain 41 points boosting Katy Perry to 183 which would only rank her at #5. Yeah, the competition gets tight by the end)

Also in the end, I’m very meh about the comedic styles of Russell Brand.