The wider I make it, the harder it is to choose and the less I'm likely to have to say. I wanted to use the top 100 songs for the year (which could allow for a few more songs that didn't crack the top ten persisted outside it), but I can't seem to find a list for the UK larger than 20 songs, which would make a top 10 best/worst kinda trivial.
There are some songs fairly radically different to the norm on the lists (at least I'd say so), but they mostly appear near the top (or bottom) of the lists since I tended to particularly like/dislike those different traits.
BEST: 9) Party Rock Anthem - LMFAO
Sorry. I can't help it. I got taken in by the shufflin'. I don't know about the US (guessing something similar) but in the UK this was THE song of the year. It was completely inescapable, particularly over the summer. This was helped massively by the video of course, but don't underestimate the actual song. It has some absolutely woeful decisions in it (basically all the lyrics from start to finish, particularly the "putyourhandsupputyourhandsupputyourhandsupputyourhandsup" segment), but god-damn the beat is infectious (see video for proof). Everything LMFAO had done before and everything they've done since proves this was an absolute fluke, and this song was overplayed to hell and back by the end of the year, but it doesn't change how good this song is. Incredibly flawed, but incredibly enjoyable.
WORST: 9) Where Them Girls At - David Guetta ft. Flo Rida and Nicki Minaj
I'm not a fan of David Guetta. The guy has created practically the same beat every song he's made for a long time now, and yet they're all inexplicably popular. This was his biggest hit in the UK for the year, which is convenient because it was also the worst. Flo Rida is his usual self over the song, which is to say he's practically unnoticeable, for better or worse. Nicki Minaj annoys me. She has some good lines, but she seems to find a new way to make her voice annoying in every song she's in. Here it's the "day day daydaydayday"s doing it.
Incidentally, not strictly relevant but does anyone else hate the video for this song? The puppet women are ****ing creepy, and not in a good way (and even if it was a good way, that's not exactly what you look for in dance videos). Between that and Levels by Avicii (not on either list), dance videos really did have a thing this year for making people dance against their will and making them look like they were suffering.
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James - Board 8's Resident Warm And Safe, Slipper-Wearing User
& The Cream of Porcupine Tree Fanboyism