50. Big Shaq – ‘Man’s Not Hot’ (Island)

Meme culture is entering its meta phase. A weird liminal space where most times, you aren’t even sure if you’re supposed to take something seriously or not. In part, that’s the genius behind ‘Man’s Not Hot’, in which comedian Michael Dapaah mocks the grime and trap rap scene, walking the line between completely ridiculous and totally convincing straight to the top of the charts.

49. Portugal. The Man – ‘Feel It Still’ (Atlantic)

The lead single for Portugal. The Man’s latest release Woodstock, topped most alternative charts this summer, finally breaking the band into the mainstream. Understandable, given the songs extremely catchy chorus, and Pharrell-like production quirks. If nothing else, it proves the band’s capacity for writing inexplicably catchy pop tunes.

48. The Shins – ‘Name For You’ (Columbia)

James Mercer records so infrequently with The Shins these days that any new music now has a proper sense of occasion, even if it does all the same things that most Shins songs do: that is, classic, highly melodious indie-pop executed with heart and skill. ‘Name For You’, heralding fifth album Heartworms, was everything we’d come to expect – and that was a great thing.

47. Gorillaz ft. Peven Everett – ‘Strobelite’ (Parlophone / Warner Bros.)

A galaxy of quality singles from Humanz came in a deluge in 2017, but ‘Strobelite’ was the pick of the bunch. Hitting a sweet spot between the boundaries of funk, disco and soul and fused to a mesmerising pop hook with Peven Everett wailing all over it, ‘Strobelite’ was one of the most dancefloor-friendly Gorillaz tracks have ever produced.

46. Girl Ray – ‘Stupid Things’ (Moshi Moshi)

One of the best British bands to have emerged properly in 2017, North London’s Girl Ray deal in sweet’n’sour heartache pop set to tried and tested lo-fi indie. ‘Stupid Things’, a trailer for their winsome album Earl Grey, sounded like a C86-era jangle-pop band singing an Amy Winehouse track, a stately piece all tied together with Poppy Hankin’s laconic vocals.

45. Lana Del Rey ft. The Weeknd – ‘Lust For Life’ (Polydor / Interscope)

The resident star boy and star girl of modern pop teamed up, focussing on both of their keen aesthetic sensibilities, to give us a shimmery, glittery, and equally melancholic song of love and lust. A collaboration that was meant to be, completely submerged in pop fantasy and mysticism.

44. Alvvays – ‘Not My Baby’ (Transgressive)

Canadian indie-poppers Alvvays filled their sophomore effort Antisocialites with loads of winning moments. Molly Rankin’s sense of sighing resignation shoots through ‘Not My Baby’, a beautiful, Beach House-esque piece of dream pop with added melancholy, lifting an otherwise innocuous moment into something truly majestic.

43. Vince Staples – ‘Big Fish’ (Def Jam / Blacksmith)

With slick production and a feel for constructing typically boastful yet perceptive verses, Vince Staples lands yet another excellent track from his critically acclaimed album Big Fish Theory. As perfect of a club banger as it is chill music.

42. Superorganism – ‘Something For Your M.I.N.D.’ (Domino)

The debut single by the still somewhat enigmatic band was an excellent and rather trippy tune with an obviously eclectic range of influences. Subsequently having been shouted out by Frank Ocean and featured on the FIFA 18 soundtrack, it predicts a bright future for the collective.

41. Forest Swords – ‘The Highest Flood’ (Ninja Tune)

Mixing vocal samples, electronic and acoustic sounds, Matthew Barnes gives us a gripping electronic piece that, despite lacking any proper lyrics, communicates its feelings with extreme clarity. It’s both dark and subtly celebratory, and a brilliant showcase of the producer’s instinctive musical sensibilities.

40. Ghostpoet – ‘Immigrant Boogie’ (Play It Again Sam)

A story detailing a refugee journey across borders in search of a better life, the song has all the trademarks of good commentary – thoughtful, provoking, and intertwined with a narrative structure that works within broader contexts than just a single political statement. Ghostpoet’s cold vocal delivery and the minimalistic, low-end-heavy production compliment the lyrical material, making for a fully-realised listening experience.

39. Nine Inch Nails – ‘This Isn’t The Place’ (The Null Corporation)

Nine Inch Nails returned as bleak as ever with their Add Violence EP, of which ‘This Isn’t The Place’ is the most eerie, ethereal, and hypnotizing. Gradually building on top of itself with layers of feedback, drones, and the occasional falsetto-sung lyric, the song is a heavy and slow-burning experience like only Reznor can produce.

38. Protomartyr – ‘A Private Understanding’ (Domino)

One of the greatest starters to an album this year, Protomartyr’s ‘A Private Understanding’ punches out a paranoia shaped hole in the listener’s gut with the first drum pounds. The dystopian gnarl of Joe Casey meets the sneering instrumental, resulting in a dive through references to the age of ‘fake news’, Heraclitus and Elvis Presley. It’s a song of contrasts, pulling the listener into one of the most politically and socially relevant albums of the year.

37. Mount Kimbie ft. King Krule – ‘Blue Train Lines’ (Warp)

2017 seemed to be full of excellent collaborations and this was one of the best. While Mount Kimbie were never anti-edge, Archy Marshall seemed to bring out their rawer side to staggering effect in ‘Blue Train Lines’. Equipped with distorted feedback, Marshall’s unique voice and steady, fast-paced drums, the song excels in convincing you of its bleak and dingy imagery.

36. Fever Ray – ‘To The Moon And Back’ (Rabid)

Initially, ‘To The Moon And Back’ came as something of a surprise to fans of Karin Dreijer, as it initially resembled her old band The Knife more than her previous Fever Ray album eight years ago. Lighter in tone yet denser and more flirtatious than anything she’d done before, it was refreshingly different and proved to be a perfect palette cleanser for the surprise release Plunge.

35. Everything Everything – ‘Night Of The Long Knives’ (RCA)

With the wit and lyricism few other modern bands are capable of, Everything Everything muses on the intense socio-political climate of 2017. Chilling allusions to history repeating itself aside, the song uses the shrilling synthesizers and other studio-available tools to their advantage, invoking a sense of dread and tension. “Man, I know it’s a real big shame about your neighbourhood”, Higgs casually shrugs and we’re left to reckon.

34. HAIM – ‘Want You Back’ (Columbia)

Featuring intricate syncopated rhythmic structures, guiding not just the percussive, but also the vocal parts of the song, with the added bonus of perfect harmonizing, and excellent instrumental arrangement touches to round it all out, HAIM gave a crash-course in modern pop history in four minutes, and reminded everyone why the three-piece sister band from L.A. generated so much hype back in 2013 with their debut.

33. Alt-J – ‘3WW’ (Infectious)

While the art school kids sometimes struggle to hit the nail on the head with their ambitious concepts, ‘3WW’ is a gorgeously arranged and performed love (kind of) song with a twist. Filled with imagery straight out of magical realism literature and interestingly worded nods to the eroding of beauty with overuse, it’s weighty and the production elevates it to one of the best tracks the band has ever released.

32. Stormzy – ‘Big For Your Boots’ (#Merky)

Making his name as a rapper mostly through battling, ‘Big For Your Boots’ is a bangin’ warning to his contemporaries not to mess with Stormzy’s crowned position as arguably the biggest rapper of the UK grime scene. The production values and sampling are excellent, but none of it overshadows Stormzy’s infectiously confident personality, which shines through and manages to make a completely convincing statement of supremacy.

31. Paramore – ‘Hard Times’ (Fueled By Ramen)

Reinventing themselves with a more distinctly pop-rock / funk approach, the quintessential scene-kid band delivers an anthem for a literal hell of a year. Hayley Williams sings of life basically mocking you at this point, in a perked-up and light tone that’s profoundly reflective of today’s social media dictated society. The depressingly happy sing-along of the year.