The Top 100 Tracks Of 2012

1.  PYRAMIDS     Frank Ocean

2.    LOSING YOU  Solange

3.    CALL ME MAYBE Carly Rae Jepsen

4.    WE ARE YOUNG  Fun. feat Janelle Monae

5.     FEEL THE LOVE  Rudimental

6.     BENEATH YOU’RE BEAUTIFUL Labrinth feat Emeli Sande

7.    212 –Azealia Banks

8.    WE ARE NEVER EVER GETTING BACK TOGETHER Taylor Swift

9.    LETS HAVE A KIKI –Scissor Sisters

10.    HO HEY –The Lumineers

11.    TRY –Pink

12.    VACATION –Alphabeat

13.    IS THIS LOVE –Aiden Grimshaw

14.    WILD ONES –Flo Rida feat Sia

15.    STARSHIPS –Nicki Minaj

16.    NATIONAL ANTHEM –Lana Del Rey

17.    BAD GIRLS –M.I.A

18.    LITTLE TALKS –Of Monsters And Men

19.    DON’T YOU WORRY CHILD –Swedish House Mafia

20.                      THINKIN BOUT YOU – Frank Ocean

21.    SWEET NOTHING –Calvin Harris feat Florence Welch

22.    NO CHURCH IN THE WILD –Jay Z & Kanye West feat  Frank Ocean

23.    PARKING LOT –Nelly Furtado

24.    SICK LOVE –Vince Kidd

25.    SPECTRUM (SAY MY NAME –CALVIN HARRIS REMIX ) –Florence And The Machine

26.    LOST AND FOUND –Lianne La Havas

27.    BLOW ME (ONE LAST KISS ) –Pink

28.    ILL MANORS –Plan B

29.    GIRL GONE WILD –Madonna

30.                      LETS GO –Calvin Harris feat Neyo

31.                      NEXT TO ME –Emeli Sande

32.                      THE WOLF IS GETTING MARRIED –Sinead O’Connor

33.                      PERFECT WORLD –Gossip

34.                      PRIMADONNA –Marina And The Diamonds

35.                      LATCH –Disclosure feat Sam Smith

36.                      I WISH I NEVER MET YOU –Sam Sparro

37.                      DIAMONDS –Rihanna

38.                      WHEN SHE WAS MINE –Lawson

39.                      SOMETHING NEW –Girls Aloud

40.                      CLIMAX –Usher

41.    TITANIUM –David Guetta feat Sia

42.    BEEZ IN DA TRAP –Nicki Minaj feat 2 Chainz

43.    SAFE AND SOUND –Taylor Swift & The Civil Wars

44.    GIRL ON FIRE –Alicia Keys

45.    WIDE AWAKE –Katy Perry

46.    STRONGER (WHAT DOESN’T KILL YOU ) –Kelly Clarkson

47.    I WONT GIVE UP –Jason Mraz

48.    TOO CLOSE –Alex Clare

49.    PICKING UP THE PIECES –Paloma Faith

50.                      SHADY LOVE –Scissor Sisters feat Azealia Banks

51.                      CALL MY NAME –Cheryl Cole

52.                      PAYPHONE –Maroon 5

53.                      PRINCESS OF CHINA –Coldplay & Rihanna

54.                      ANYTHING COULD HAPPEN –Ellie Goulding

55.                      SKYFALL –Adele

56.                      BLACK HEART –Stooshe

57.                      EVERYBODYS ON THE RUN –Noel Gallaghers High flying Birds

58.                      SOME NIGHTS –Fun.

59.                      SKIRTS –The Other Tribe

60.                      BLUE EYES –Original Rudeboys

61.    CHARLIE BROWN –COLDPLAY

62.    SWEET LIFE –Frank Ocean

63.    I WILL WAIT –Mumford And Sons

64.    LONELY BOY –Black Keys

65.    GUARDIAN –Alanis Morissette

66.    DIE YOUNG –Ke$ha

67.    TAKE CARE –Drake feat Rihanna

68.    BIG HOOPS (THE BIGGER , THE BETTER ) –Nelly Furtado

69.    MY KINDA LOVE –Emeli Sande

70.                      ONLY THE HORSES –Scissor Sisters

71.                      WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN –Rihanna

72.                      MADNESS –Muse

73.                      TREATMENT –Labrinth

74.                      TROUBLE –Leona Lewis

75.                      WILDEST MOMENTS –Jessie Ware

76.                      DNA –Little Mix

77.                      TURN UP THE MUSIC –Chris Brown

78.                      GIVE ME ALL YOUR LUVIN –Madonna feat Nicki Minaj & M.I.A

79.                      SAD –Pnau vs Elton John

80.                      I FOUND YOU –The Wanted

81.    READ ALL ABOUT IT (PART 3 ) –Emeli Sande

82.    NIGGAS IN PARIS –Jay Z & Kanye West

83.    BOTH OF US –B.o.B feat Taylor Swift

84.    NEVER LET ME GO –Florence And The Machine

85.    HOW WE DO (PARTY ) –Rita Ora

86.    BLINDED BY THE LIGHT –Keane

87.    SOMEBODY THAT WE USED TO KNOW –Goteye feat Kimbra

88.    CANDY –Robbie Williams

89.    GIVE ME LOVE –Ed Sheeran

90.   30 DAYS –The Saturdays

91.   MOVE IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION –Gossip

92.   DOMINO –Jessie J

93.   HALL OF FAME –The Script feat Will I Am

94.   RUNAWAYS –The Killers

95.   BORN TO DIE –Lana Del Rey

96.   BOYFRIEND –Justin Bieber

97.   SETTLE DOWN –No Doubt

98.    WHISTLE –Flo Rida

99.   GOOD TIME –Owl City feat Carly Rae Jepsen

100.   GANGNAM STYLE -PSY

  

T.I teams up with Pink

You'll remember T.I as the hip hop star who gained huge success with big name collaborations with Justin Timberlake on Dead And Gone and most notably with Rihanna on US Number 1 smash Live Your Life. Both tracks helped elevate his last album Paper Trail to platinum status.
A prison sentence followed for a federal weapons charge. But now , as he readies new album TroubleMan:Heavy In The Heart , the Atlanta rapper is seeking similar success.

And with another blockbuster collaboration with Pink on the tortured Guns n Roses , it might juts happen again. Whilst it's not as instant as Live Your Life , the ingredients are there for a potentially massive worldwide hit. Pink sounds incredible , she herself enjoying another career purple patch at present.

So far no European release date has been set fro the track , but we'd keep an ear out for this smash in waiting

Hurts Emerge From Exile

Mancuninan synth pop duo Hurts are back. Already one of my most anticipated albums of next year , Exile is released on March 11th 2013.
The album will be preceded by new single The Road , audio video of which is shown below. An awesome comeback track.

Exile marks the follow up to the stunning 2010 debut album Happiness which spawned the sublime simgles Wonderful Life, Better Than Love , Sunday and Stay. Despite achieving a  Top 5 album , sales were moderate domesticallly but the duo were huge around Europe. The album has so far sold 2million copies.

Hurts announced details of a 12-date European tour earlier this week, which kicks off in London on February 7 before heading to Berlin, Munich and Prague. 

Exile is released on March 11th 2013

WEEKEND PLAYLIST

Check out 10 of the best tracks I've selected to help your weekend go with just a little bit more bang

1.Alphabeat -Xmas (Lets Do It Again )

Festive fun and frolics from my favorite Scandi pop purveyors

2. Rihanna -Jump

One of the more standout tracks from RiRi's otherwise disappointing Unapologetic. A chorus that samples Ginuwines 1997 R&B raunchfest Pony , a corker ensues

3. Pink -Chaos And Piss

Now featured on her just released in time for Christmas "Fan Edition " of The Truth About Love. It's another torchsong , with searing honesty and soaring vocals we've come to expect from Alecia Moore

4. Girls Aloud -Every Now And Then

The standout new track from their Ten hits collection. It's like they've never been away. Fierce , defiant , thumping pop.

5. Kelly Clarkson -People Like Us

Celebrating ten years since her American Idol triumph , Kelly unleashes this new track as part of her Chapter One hits collection. Another power pop anthem that nestles comfortably with past classics Since U Been Gone and My Life Would Suck Without You

6. ASAP Rocky feat. Drake , 2 Chainz & Kendrick Lamar -F**kin Problems

Espect ASAP Rocky to dominate hip hop circles in 2013. Especially with cuts like this

7 Haim -Don't Save Me

Another act destined for huge things in 2013. Immense

8. Bruno Mars -Moonshine

Bruno releases sophomore album Unorthodox Jukebox this week. This is expected to be the next single from an album that cements his superstar status

9. Frank Ocean -Lost

Man of the moment Frank Ocean , is riding the crest of a wave with six Grammy nods and his Channel Orange ranking highly in end of year polls. Heres one of the more standout tracks making a dent on Itunes at the minute

10. Leona Lewis -Lovebird

Second track lifted from the underrated Glassheart , Leona's vocals sooar over a  mid tempo track reminiscent of early hit Better In Time

 

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Oceans's Six -Frank Leads Grammys Pack

Frank Ocean leads the way for next Februarys 55th Grammy Awards with six nominations. Alongside Fun. , Brit folk-rockers Mumford And Sons , The Black Keys and Jay Z & Kanye West , they top the nominations table.
Ocean is nominated in the major categories for his stunning debut albuum channel ORANGE which earns nods for Album Of The Year , Best New Artist , Record Of The Year and Song Of The Year. My money is on on a Best New Artist gong , won in the past by Mariah Carey , Michael Jackson and Adele.

There are nominations for Pink ,Taylor Swift , Adele , Florence And The Machine , Carly Rae Jepsen , Drake , Kelly Clarkson , Jack White , Rihanna and Ed Sheeran.

Album of the year , the biggest prize of the night is contested by Ocean , Mumford And Sons , The Black Keys , Fun. , and Jack White , in what is a strong showing for alternative music.
Notable acts snubbed are Nivki Minaj , One Direction and Justin Bieber. Bieber's manager Scooter Braun , reacted angrily to the snub , saying the Grammys had "blew it " by not rewarding the teen superstars record breaking Believe.

List of key nominations for the Grammy Awards 2013 are as follows

Record Of The Year:"Lonely Boy" — The Black Keys
"Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)" — Kelly Clarkson
"We Are Young" — Fun. featuring Janelle Monáe
"Somebody That I Used To Know" — Gotye featuring Kimbra
"Thinkin Bout You" — Frank Ocean
"We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" — Taylor Swift

Album Of The Year:El Camino — The Black Keys
Some Nights — Fun.
Babel — Mumford & Sons
Channel Orange — Frank Ocean
Blunderbuss — Jack White

Song Of The Year:"The A Team" — Ed Sheeran, songwriter (Ed Sheeran)
"Adorn" — Miguel Pimentel, songwriter (Miguel)
"Call Me Maybe" — Tavish Crowe, Carly Rae Jepsen & Josh Ramsay, songwriters (Carly Rae Jepsen)
"Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)" — Jörgen Elofsson, David Gamson, Greg Kurstin & Ali Tamposi, songwriters (Kelly Clarkson)
"We Are Young" — Jack Antonoff, Jeff Bhasker, Andrew Dost & Nate Ruess, songwriters (Fun. featuring Janelle Monáe)

Best New Artist:Alabama Shakes
Fun.
Hunter Hayes
The Lumineers
Frank Ocean

Best Pop Vocal Album

Pink -The Truth About Love

Kelly Clarkson -Stronger

Fun.- Some Nights

Florence And The Machine -Ceremonials

Maroon 5 -Overexposed

For Best Pop Solo Performance, the nominees are "Set Fire To The Rain (Live)" by Adele; "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)" by Kelly Clarkson; "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen; "Wide Awake" by Katy Perry; and "Where Have You Been" by Rihanna.

The nominees for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance are "Shake It Out" by Florence & The Machine; "We Are Young" by Fun. featuring Janelle Monáe; "Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye featuring Kimbra; "Sexy And I Know It" by LMFAO; and "Payphone" by Maroon 5 & Wiz Khalifa. 

For Best Dance/Electronica Album, the nominees are Wonderland by Steve Aoki; Don't Think by the Chemical Brothers; > Album Title Goes Here < by Deadmau5; Fire & Ice by Kaskade; and Bangarang by Skrillex.

The nominees for Best Rock Performance are "Hold On" by Alabama Shakes; "Lonely Boy" by the Black Keys; "Charlie Brown" by Coldplay; "I Will Wait" by Mumford & Sons; and "We Take Care Of Our Own" by Bruce Springsteen.

For Best Alternative Music Album, the nominees are The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than The Driver Of The Screw And Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do by Fiona Apple; Biophilia by Björk; Making Mirrorsby Gotye; Hurry Up, We're Dreaming. by M83; and Bad As Me by Tom Waits. 

The nominees for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration are "Wild Ones" by Flo Rida featuring Sia; "No Church In The Wild" by Jay-Z & Kanye West featuring Frank Ocean & The-Dream; "Tonight (Best You Ever Had)" by John Legend featuring Ludacris; "Cherry Wine" by Nas featuring Amy Winehouse; and "Talk That Talk" by Rihanna featuring Jay-Z.

The Killers To Headline T in The Park 20th Anniversary

The Killers will headline the 20th anniversary of Scotland's T in the Park next July. The Las Vegas rockers will join Rihanna and Mumford and Sons in Balado , Kinross.
Brandon Flowers and co. topped an online poll of bands that fans most wanted to see play in 2013. The Killers previously played in 2007 and 2009

Tickets for the event go on sale this Friday (December 7th ) at 9am

Beyonce To Release New Music Next Month

It seems like only yesterday Beyonce gave birth to superstar in waiting Blue Ivy Carter. But with February's highly anticipated SuoerBowl performance , it seems that new music will surface at some point before the gig,
The star will follow in the footsteps of Madonna , U2 and Prince , when she takes to the stage at half time in front of America's biggest TV audience on February 3rd.
Producer The Dream told Billboard , that Bey should have new music before the big day,
She's got her stuff going." he said, before adding: "She took the summer to start recording, and now she's in a place where she's ready to start gearing up to reveal her plan."

Kylie , Rihanna , Kelly and Rita for X Factor Final

X Factor 2012 crawls to a painful conclusion this weekend as Christopher Maloney , Jahmene Douglas and James Arthur battle to be dropped by Simon Cowell within a year.
At least the line up for the final itself looks somewhat impressive if not predictable. Already announced are Emeli Sande , much covered by contestants this year and One Direction , for their third appearance this series.
Kylie Minogue plays the final , her 3rd overall X Factor appearance. She famously duetted in 2007 with eventual winner Leon Jackson and performed again in 2010. Kylie is celebrating 25 years in the music biz this year , so expect a  glorious medley of some sort

Rihanna , just two weeks , after her soaking perfomance of Diamonds makes another appearance. Hopefully , she'll be performing forthcoming single Stay.

Kelly Clarkson , a reality tv winner of course , will also perform to plug her current Best Of set. She performed last year.
Then finally theres Rita Ora. The damage limitation from the Rob Kardashian revelations will start for Whora this weekend. Indeed , it's a timely appearance given that shes been trending all over Twitter this week, after the trashy reality star accused her of cheating on him with 20 other men.
Bora , Whora or just plain Ora has had a meteoric rise to stardom this year with 3 consecutive Number 1's and a MOBO. She had already filled in as a temporary judge on this series , and has already performed on the series.

Girls Aloud unveil new video

Girls Aloud have premiered the new video for single Beautiful Cause You Love Me. The ballad is the second new track to be lifted from new hits retrospective Ten.

The track is available to download from December 16th , putting them in the race for the Christmas Number 1 , ten years after topping the festive chart with Sound Of The Underground

Tulisa Album Set To Flop

She calls herself The Female Boss , but judging by the sales of her debut album of the same name ,Tulisa could be for the sack.
The X Factor mentor and former N Dubz singer has so far only managed to shift a dismal 7,000 copies of the album since Monday. More people saw her now infamous "oral sex " tape.
Despite her high profile X Factor role , The Female Boss could miss out on a Top 20 placing in the always cut throat Christmas market.

Her performance of new single Sight Of You was widely panned on Twitter and online forums and may only just scrape a Top 10 placing.
Debut single Young stormed to Number 1 in May , whilst follow up Live It Up managed a disappointing 11.

As always , her X Factor future is a source of speculation , with Cheryl Cole tipped to replace her next year

Pink's On Fire For Radio 1

Following her triumphant X Factor performance on Sunday night , Pink dropped by BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge today with Fearne Cotton.
The singer perfomed a short set which included a stunning cover of Alicia Key's current smash Girl On Fire

Her new single Try is on course to be her 17th UK Top 10 this weekend

Kanye Readies New Album

Kanye West has dragged himself away from Kim Kardashian's massive posterior to record a new album.
Cruel Winter will follow autumns GOOD Musi cCruel Summer compilation.
The news was confirmed by West protege Big Sean -

Oh God. Swerve. Yeah, you're gonna get it," Big Sean told DJ Semtex. "I don't know about that. You gotta wait and see man, I don't know.
"It can't be Cruel Spring. It's gotta be in a timely fashion. I know I did something for it, for Cruel Winter, and I was like 'Godammit, I need to cut this for my album because it's really good'.

"But either way, that's how 'Clique' was. 'Clique' was supposed to be for my album and ended up going on Cruel Summer. I was like 'Godammit'.

"I'm still on a song with Jay-Z and Kanye, but it originally was going to be my first single for my next album. We got so many singles that it doesn't even matter."

TLC -The Movie

With girlbands comes drama and histrionics , and no female group came with more drama , or indeed , more talent than the legendary TLC. Their litany of up and downs from 1992 up to the tragic death of Lisa "Left Eye " Lopes in 2002 , would make the Sugababes look like Wilson Phillips.
So , how fitting that music station VH1 plans to translate this drama onto the silver screen for a biopic set to start shooting in January 2013.
The project is to be helmed by screenwriter Kate Lanier who oversaw the Oscar nominated Tina Turner biopic Whats Love Got To Do With It.

And she certainly wont be short of material in telling the rise , fall and rise again of Tionne "T-Boz " Watkins , Rozonda "Chili " Thomas and the late Lisa " Left Eye " Lopes.
Quite simply , TLC are the greatest girlband of all time. Platinum guzzling albums such as the iconic CrazySexyCool and FanMail spawned classics such as Waterfalls , No Scrubs , Unpretty , Creep and Diggin On You.
But at the height of their success in 1995 with CrazySexyCool and the beloved Waterfalls lauded with numerous MTV Video Music Awards , the band were declared bankrupt. T-Boz was later diagnosed with Sickle Cell Anaemia , Left Eye went into rehab after burning down her boyfriend;s house , and a contract dispute with label LaFace , saw the bands fortunes dwindle in spectacularly public fashion. They were declared bankrupt despite history making sales of CrazySexyCool.

In fighting followed the comeback success of 1999's FanMail , when Left Eye challenged Chili and T-Boz to release a 3CD set of solo albums, whereby the public would decide who was most talented. It was Left Eye who would release solo material in 2000 , the acclaimed Supernova which was met with moderate  success.
Tragedy struck on April 25th 2002 , as the girls were in the middle of recording 4th album 3D. Lisa "Left Eye " Lopes was killed in a car crash in Honduras.
TLC effectively disbanded in 2003 , but talk has been rife of a 20th anniversary tour next year.

As for the biopic , no names have cropped up to play the legendary trio as yet.

Fiddy Reunites With Eminem

50 Cent has reunited with old mentor Eminem , and brought Maroon 5's Adam Levine along for the ride on his new single.
My Life serves as the precursor to next Spring's Street King Immortal , almost 10 years after breakthrough Shady produced smash In Da Club.