Top 10 tracks of 2009

10. You've Got The Love - Florence And The Machine.

2009 has been quite a year for Florence Welch and her Machine. Since winning the Critic's Choice Brit Award she has not looked back, barely catching breath along the way. Her voice resonates the power and tone one would expect from a far more seasoned vocalist and her rendition of Candi Stanton track You've Got The Love allows her to take this voice to the very edges of its limits, demonstrating its beauty and captivating power along the way. In an album full of catchy pop melodies and vocal prowess, this is the stand out track.

9. Use Somebody - Kings Of Leon

A song to melt the hardest of hearts, Kings' Use Somebody has become a defining track for them in 2009, and its release perhaps best signified the moment they became the stadium filling superstars they are today. Sung with anguish and a real sense of longing and set to a musical backdrop of the very highest order, this is a track deserving of its place in any list of top songs of this year.

8. Killing In The Name - Rage Against The Machine

Although not technically a track from this year, I feel this is deserving of it's place, it is, afterall, the christmas number one! Perhaps the most important track of the year in many ways, Rage's '92 offering is so full of contempt for the powers that be, defiance, hatred and rage there couldn't have been a better song to take on the X Factor monopoly on the charts. It did, it won, and the rest, as they say, is history, although I suspect this probably isn't the last we will hear from the 'defunkt' RATM.

7. Daniel - Bat For Lashes

A purring bassline sets off a song typical of Natasha Khan. A beautiful song about a fictional boy Khan fell in love with as a teenager was released as the first single off the album Two Suns and remains the standout track. A delicate vocal compliments the track perfectly and puts Bat For Lashes right up there with the artists of the year.

6. Empire State Of Mind - Jay-Z

Jay-Z has proven over many years his abilities as a songwriter, producer, manager, etc... to be second to none. On his lucrative clothes label, record label and many other assets he could comfortably retire, but he doesn't. No, instead he enlists Alicia Keys and treats us to this huge, anthemic tune. An ode to the duo's hometown, Empire.....proved to be a hugely successful release, cementing Jay-Z's place as the king of the crossover track and endearing him to yet another new group of fans.

5. Just Dance - Lady GaGa

This could also read Poker Face, Paperazzi or Bad Romance. Quite a year for Lady GaGa, during 2009 she has risen from obscurity to pop royalty, becoming one of the ears most successful artists, and performing a very triumphant Glastonbury set along the way. GaGa's infectious pop songs, ctachy choruses and even more ctachy outfits have served to endear her to a legion of fans and admirers. As the lead single from her album The Fame, Just DAnce set the ball rolling for Lady and so deserves its place here.

4. Dominoes - The Big Pink

Helped in no small part by its inclusion in a recent Xbox advert, Dominoes has become has a massive success for the London duo. An annoyingly simple and catchy chorus set against an electro-pop backdrop Dominoes is a great party tune and will no doubt find its way into club playlists for the forseeable future.

3. Crying Lightning - Arctic Monkeys

Met with a mixed critical opinion, the lead single of the Monkeys' 3rd offering Humbug is a typically humerous, but althogether darker than before, offering. Produced by Josh Homme of Queens Of The Stone Age, Crying Lightning is set to a beat of almost gothic guitars and a dirty bass led opening riff, spurred on all the time by Matt Helders ever increasing drum beat, however, it manages to retain the cheeky charm and wit of Alex Turners vocals and proved to be much more successful than its original plaudits suggested it might.

2. Zero -Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Since they burst onto the scene a few years ago the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have always delivered to us catchy, appealing, stylish and very good music. This is no exception, and aside from possibly Maps its transcends all their previous work and cements its place well and truly at the the top of their impressive pile. A natural sounding, sonic disco of a track accompanied by Karen-O's glossy and intriquing vocals, Zero is a defining track from a band who promise to deliver great things, again.

1. Underdog - Kasabian

A riff that demands instant attention and an opening gambit as good as you are likely to hear (kill me if you dare, hold my head up everywhere), Underdog ferociously careers at its listener. Kasabian are very quickly becoming the force to be reckoned with in English music, the demise of Oasis has caused to open the way up even moreso for this to happen, and if Underdog is a sign of things to come expect them to be crowned the kings very soon.

The top 25 albums of the past decade

So it would seem we have reached the end of yet another year, however, unlike the previous nine, this new year is significant because it also gives us the beginning of a new decade. Perhaps the typical new years resolutions could be elongated to cover a ten year plan, undoubtedly this decade will bring with it new fashions, styles, arts and a whole new idea of whats 'cool' and what simply isn't. Also this decade will bring a new crop of bands, kids who've discovered skinny fit jeans, guitars and the first strokes record, kids who've found flannel shirts, bass guitars and the first kings of leon record, and so on, and we anticipate with glee and quietly dread (in almost equal measure) quite what the results these meetings of pubescent testoterone will bring. Alongside these new bands their contemporaries will stand, those strong enough to make it through the previous (in some cases several previous) decade(s), those so good that we are not content to be left with what they have already providied, we want more. Here I have concocted a list of the top 25 albums they and many others of the past decade has graciously left us to trivialise and ponder, to enjoy and revel in, and ultimatley to savour.

1. Up The Bracket - The Libertines
2. Kasabian - Kasabian
3. Funeral - Arcade Fire
4. Only By The Night - Kings Of Leon
5. In Rainbows - Radiohead
6. Neon Bible - Arcade Fire
7. B.R.M.C. - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
8. Fever To Tell - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
9. Is This It - The Strokes
10. West Ryder Pauper Lunactic Asylum - Kasabian
11. The Back Room - Editors
12. Hot Fuss - The Killers
13. Whatever People Say I am, Thats What I'm Not - Arctic Monkeys
14. American Idiot - Green Day
15. Lungs - Florence And The Machine
16. The Seldom Seen Kid - Elbow
17. Alas, I Cannot Swim - Laura Marling
18. Journal For Plague Lovers - Manic Street Preachers
19. Consolers Of The Lonely - The Raconteurs
20. Songs For The Deaf - Queens Of The Stone Age
21. No Wow - The Kills
22. White Pony - Deftones
23. Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots - The Flaming Lips
24. White Blood Cells - White Stripes
25. LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem

This list will no doubt have ommitted some serious contenders that perhaps deserve a mention, Eminem's brilliant Marshall Mathers EP, either Amy Winehouse's Frank or indeed the critically acclaimed Back To Black record or MGMT's slice of acid fuelled electro pop Oracular Spectacular. How about Interpol's dark and disturbing Antics, Jay-Z's Blueprint, Radiohead's awesomely experimental and potentially damaging Kid A.......the list of albums that could, but didn't, make the list is arguably endless. Any similar compilation made will have its points of contention to anybody. Does that mean one selection is batter than another? Does it mean one critic is ill-informed in some way? Does it mean that someone is simply wrong? No, absolutely not, what it does mean however, refreshingly, is that the noughties provided us with some fucking good music, so lets hope the 10's are ready to live up to the challenge laid before them.