Best 8 for 08 - Music Singles

Can you believe its that time of year again? Time to crack out the best in 2008 now that the year has flown by, starting with music singles.

As per usual I’ll briefly cover the concerts of the year and not surprisingly the highest grossing acts were dominated by Madonna and Bruce Springsteen. Number one was the Spice Girls with their reunion concerts held at O2 Arena in London (US$33,829,250) followed closely (unfortunately) by Celine Dion with her string of concerts in Montreal (US$23,135,338).

As far as venues go, once again its not surprising to see Madison Square Garden make the most money, followed by O2 Arena in London. However, Acer Arena managed to make it on the list somehow coming in at #7 and is pretty much the only Australian standout statistic from the concert front.

Now on to what you have all been waiting for:

8 ) Love Lockdown - Kanye West
I first heard this song when he performed it at the MTV Video Music Awards and at the time was very confused. Turned out this was a small part of what was to come on his new album. A change of direction, giving the Autotune a good workout, turned out to be pretty good and is a direct result of recent events in his life (death of mother, broken up with fiancee) hence the sombre mood. However I do miss the great beats of past tracks which makes me feel a bit shortchanged. Mind you, still an awesome track, especially the use of a heartbeat as the base line.

7) I’m Yours - Jason Mraz
Mraz says to have wrote the song 7 years ago because he had some spare time on his hands. Some time after he performed it and it became popular so he had to record and release it. I’m glad he did.

6) Paper Planes - M.I.A.
At first I do admit that I wasn’t a huge fan of this song or M.I.A., but the steady beat and calm rap voice soon changed that.

5) Live Your Life - T.I. feat Rihanna
You got to love this song for its unique intro, impressive lyrics and killer hook. It’s almost ‘Touch The Sky’-ish, telling you that you can be anything, but its more a knock at rappers today who produce crap and get lots of money while doing it (refer to Dishonourable Mentions). This pretty much emphasises what everyone in the world is doing right now, because when it comes down to it, they are just living their life.

4) American Boy - Estelle feat Kanye West
I instantly fell in love with this song when I first heard it and continue to listen to it again and again. Estelle and West’s rap complement each other really well along with the hook. After being surprised at seeing John Legend make an appearance in the video, I did some research and found out that John Legend actually wrote the song. I knew there was a reason behind it being this good.

3) Time To Pretend - MGMT
After finally getting the album and listening to it, I found this track and have to say that its incredibly awesome. Much better than that overplayed Electric Feel (although it was good when it first came out). Seeing the video to that song I dismissed them thinking they were hippies but was surprised at how good they are and this song is.

2) Green Light - John Legend feat Andre 3000
Ah John Legend, I have yet to find a song that I do not like. I’ve heard this song so many times, and yet I’m not sick of it. Due to the upbeat and dance style of this track my initial worry was that we was going to change his style as well. I shouldn’t have worried.

Number one is… wait for it…

1) Viva La Vida - Coldplay
As soon as I heard this I thought to myself instant number one and throughout the year no song has come close. Coldplay have done it again, the strings, the piano, the vocals, the uplifting nature of the song, it has it all. Brilliant.

Honourable Mentions

If You’re Out There - John Legend
Inspired by Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, a great song with a message much like Obama’s “Yes we can!”. Simple piano and vocals executed beautifully to give us self belief.

Forever - Chris Brown
1, 2, 3, 4!

No Air - Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown
Who would have thought a Idol contestant would make it this far? And with Chris Brown? WTF?

Sexy Can I - Ray J and Yung Berg
Great hip song with a awesome beat to boot.

Shake It - Metro Station
I don’t know whether I like this song or not but it was played everywhere so I guess it deserves to be here.

Can’t Help But Wait - Trey Songz
A great smooth song with great lyrics.

Heaven Sent - Keyshia Cole
She is so underrated, everyone raves on about Mary J. Blige etc but I reckon Cole is much better. This song, like her others, proves it.

Sex On Fire - Kings of Leon
When I heard these guys I thought here’s something different. Being unique goes a long way, far enough to be listed on here.

Love In This Club - Usher feat Young Jeezy
Finally Usher releases a new song after so many years, but unfortunately it was nothing like his previous club hits.

New Soul - Yael Naim
Ah, the popularity of Apple. It’s quite simple really, Apple Ad + Music = Instant Hit. Seriously though this song is incredible and deserves the popularity.

Human - The Killers
Great song, but found it to be lacking of a certain quality present in their previous songs.

Closer - Ne-Yo
Another good song from Ne-Yo but you wouldn’t expect any less.

Get Shaky - The Ian Carey Project
This is for all the house fans, a good quality song with great beat which is what you want.

Talk Like That - The Presets
The Presets are actually quite good when you consider that they’ve become popular using such repetitive tunes.

Dishonourable Mentions

I Kissed A Girl - Katy Perry
Funny at first but got old really fast. The popularity of it forced me to put it here but I’ll be damned if I’m going to put it on the ‘best’ list.

Low - Flo Rida feat T-Pain
Similar to the song above, still a great track to dance to at a club.

Crank That (Soulja Boy) - Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em
The song everybody loves to hate, its a wonder how it ever became so popular. Like the previous two it was funny while people attempted the dance, but everyone soon woke up to how shit it was when it was continually played on repeat everywhere. He even included his name in the song title. What a tool.