Part Three: 60-41

60.       ‘Levitating’ by Dua Lipa (2020)

The Big Bang of the 2020s nu-disco revival, and Dua Lipa was the supernova at the centre of the explosion. Dua Lipa’s album Future Nostalgia was perfectly named, dragging disco from the doldrums of 80s cringe, and into a sparkling future. ‘Levitating’ is the very best of her neon-drenched, empowering, glitter bomb dancehall bangers.

59.       ‘Fix Up, Look Sharp’ by Dizzee Rascal (2003)

Hip hop is one of the few true American artforms. It was born and bred on the streets of New York, then spread to LA and beyond. Enter the distinctly British Dizzee Rascal, who transcended pirate radio and popularised the first non-American sub-genre of hip hop: grime. Dizzee was an original, his liquid flow and compelling voice affirming Boy In Da Corner as grime’s first classic album.

58.       ‘Can’t Stop’ by Red Hot Chili Peppers (2001)

That riff. That delirious, propulsive, slap-happy riff. Add some classic Anthony Kiedis stream of consciousness slam poetry, and some banging drums, and you’ve got the Chili’s at their funkadelic best. The lyrics are convoluted chaos, but the life-affirming message comes through in the end.

57.       ‘Crushed’ by Parkway Drive (2015)

In the mid-2000s, Byron Bay’s Parkway Drive led the charge for a new wave of Australian hardcore – raw, monstrous and unrelenting. But on 2015’s Ire they reached for something greater (or sold out, depending on who you ask), and became one of the biggest rock bands in the world. More polished, but no less ferocious, now filling stadiums with big, beastly hooks.

56.       ‘Bunny Is A Rider’ by Caroline Polachek (2023)

Pop needs its weirdos. Bowie, Prince, Bjork – these magnificent aliens messiahs, unbound by our human conventions, here from distant universes to push music in new and exciting and unexpected directions. Caroline Polachek, she of the twisted gymnastic vocals, avant garde futurist sensibilities, slinkily detached storytelling, is one such being.

55.       ‘Electric Feel’ by MGMT (2008)

Technicolour, psychedelic indie pop, all splendid synths and fantastical forest nymph lyricism. Vivid and dreamy, a whirl of musical pastels. More fun than Vampire Weekend, more infectious than Phoenix, more interesting than Passion Pit – MGMT were the pinnacle of a very specific era.

54.       ‘Crazy’ by Gnarls Barkley (2006)

The wildest tidbit about ‘Crazy’ is that it was apparently recorded in one take. That shit is crazy. The immaculate joint effort by Danger Mouse and Cee Lo Green became the most popular and critically acclaimed song of 2006. Cee Lo’s vocal is sublime, funky and soulful, and a falsetto to die for.

53.       ‘One Crowded Hour’ by Augie March (2006)

A glorious exercise in the art of songwriting, both lyrically and musically magnificent. Glenn Richards has a well-earned reputation for gorgeous lyricism, and it’s never clearer (or more accessible) than here. It’s moving, and poetic, and complex, but not encumbered or esoteric. To try to pick the best line would feel neglectful of all the others.

52.        ‘Despechá’ by Rosalia (2022)

The first Spanish language song to top a billion streams of Spotify. Spanish singer Rosalia is an ever-changing enigma, the only constant that her music is entirely unexpected and irresistibly banging. Her third record Motomami was typically genre-bending and universally acclaimed, an experimental reggaeton confessional that pushed the boundaries and redefined what global pop success could be.

51.       ‘212’ by Azealia Banks (2014)

This is a tough one for me, because oh boy, Azealia Banks freaking hates Australia. But ‘212’ is undeniable. It’s phenomenal – a full blown, take-no-prisoners assault, a brutal flow of non-stop barbs and stabs, that will somehow get you up and dancing. Azealia Banks will eat your heart and smile.

50.       ‘Jesus of Suburbia’ by Green Day (2004)

It seemed like pop punk delinquents Green Day would never age out of smoking weed and jerking off. But on 2004’s American Idiot, they grew all the way up, delivering an epic, scathing commentary on Bush’s America. The crux is this 9-minute hard rocking meditation on the apathy of disaffected youth, sleepwalking through life “In a land of make believe, that don’t believe in me.”

49.       ‘Do I Wanna Know?’ by Arctic Monkeys (2013)

AM was a risk. A change in direction by one of Britain’s most loved indie rock bands. A slower, sexier groove, a meditative reflection on a painful relationship breakdown wasn’t what anyone expected. ‘Do I Wanna Know?’ is ominous, and brooding, propelled by a methodical downbeat and a twisting, droning guitar riff. But the raw lyricism and tight musicianship are triumphant – their best work.

48.       ‘The Opener’ by Camp Cope (2017)

It starts off so unassuming: a rumbling bass line, almost sunny, but that takes on a distinctly more ominous tone as Georgia Maq’s voice rips through, excoriating the men who have tried to hold her down. A chainsaw hacking through sexist bullshit, refusing to be buried or spoken down to anymore. Vicious, unapologetic and brilliant.

47.       ‘Such Great Heights’ by The Postal Service (2003)

The Postal Service only released one album – critically acclaimed, enormously influential in 2000s indietronica. But Ben Gibbard was focused on Death Cab For Cutie, and so we are left only to bask in ‘Such Great Heights’. A perfect indie love song: every line is it’s own poem, set to a shining synth beat that lifts the heart in the sky.

46.       ‘good 4 u’ by Olivia Rodrigo (2021)

Olivia Rodrigo showed out on her first album, shedding her Disney Channel image with music that was vulnerable, intimate, and in this case, bubbling with incandescent rage. An absolute belter of a breakup anthem. The influence of Paramore’s ‘Misery Business’ is clear (to the point that Hayley Williams was eventually given a co-writing credit) but to me, this is Gen Z’s ‘Since You Been Gone’.

45.       ‘Never Be Like You’ by Flume feat. Kai (2016)

Australia’s greatest electronic artists operating at the peak of his powers. An iridescent, vacillating, inventive production, with Kai’s dazzling vocal cruising over the top. Flume frames that vocal within a futuristic, spacey atmosphere that feels both claustrophobic and sweeping.

Stat Attack – Around The World

Unsurprisingly, the USA was the most prolific country represented on the list, with 51 songs. The UK has 20 tracks, and Australia has 16.

Outside those three dominant nations, France, Sweden and Canada have two appearances each, with one song a piece for Armenia, Colombia, New Zealand, Norway, Puerto Rico, South Korea, Spain and Zambia.

44.       ‘Mr Brightside’ by The Killers (2004)

How can a song so dark, so dripping with paranoia and jealousy and bile, also be so impossibly fun? The narrator of this story is at best, a massive loser, and at worst, a soon-to-be murderer… and yet we sing along anyway, at the top of our lungs, every damn time. Such is the power of The Killers.

43.       ‘In Da Club’ by 50 Cent (2003)

“Go shorty, it’s ya birthday. We gonna party like it’s ya birthday…” When 50 Cent first arrived with the notorious single ‘How To Rob’, in which he took aim at every damn rapper on the scene, it was obvious that despite his serious exterior, he was having fun. ‘In Da Club’ harnessed that, a loose party anthem with gangster legitimacy, the perfect hip hop crossover for an early-2000s breakout star.

42.       ‘Good Enough’ by G Flip (2023)

2023 was a monumental year for beloved Aussie pop extraordinaire G Flip, and ‘Good Enough’ is undoubtedly the peak of the G Flip experience to date. An enormous, heart wrenching, magnificent moment of catharsis. It’s raw and intense, carried by a staggeringly affecting vocal performance.

41.       ‘Skinny Love’ by Bon Iver (2008)

The mythology threatened to dwarf Bon Iver – the cabin-in-the-woods solitude that apparently birthed his debut album For Emma, Forever Ago was too good a story. But really, you can hear it: that isolation and pain, the quiet hope in the depths of a place so beautiful and haunting, are what make ‘Skinny Love’ so enduring.