My top 20 songs over the past year, according to Last.fm:
20. "Born This Way" by Sam Tsui. Not Sam Tsui's best cover or anything, but it made me like the song, which I hadn't up until then.
19. "<3" by songstowearpantsto.com. The most adorably nerdy love song EVER.
18. "Taylor the Latte Boy" by Alan Cumming. Put together one of my favorite love songs and one of my favorite singers, and you get this great cover.
17. "Thinking 'Bout Somethin'" by Hanson. Turns out Hanson got awesome. The video is really what hooked me on the song, so it's worth watching.
16. "Lovely Day" by Bill Withers. I discovered it while watching 127 Hours and fell in love. I like upbeat-but-mellow songs, and this one definitely fits.
15. "The Creep" by The Lonely Island. Lonely Island wins all around, but this year I really got into this stalker song.
14. "Uninvited" from Sleeping Beauty Wakes. I've already talked about my love for Sleeping Beauty Wakes, which I discovered mostly in 2010, but apparently this song stuck around this whole year.
13. "Want You Gone" by Jonathan Coulton. Not quite as brilliant as Still Alive but possibly catchier.
12. "Marry Me" by Train. I don't always like Train (or love songs) but this song is gorgeous.
11. "Love Song Without Metaphor (1998)" by Groovelily. There are two versions of this song, but it's this earlier one with Brendan on the vocals that I love.
10. "On The Ground" by The Lonely Island. This was actually the song that got me back into hunting for Lonely Island songs. It cracks me up. "I'm an ADUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUULT!"
9. "Bleeding Love" by The Baseballs. I got into some weird cross-genre covers this year, but this is easily my favorite. It takes a song I never really liked and puts it into a style I've never cared for and somehow I end up loving it.
8. "I Want You For Real" by Groovelily. Throughout the year, the band had been posting some songs from a demo album on their blog, and this was my favorite. It's a cute little love song about teenagers. And video games.
7. "Happy, Happy, Happy" by Groovelily. Man, this song is really satisfying to sing along with. There were a couple days this year when I would just play this a couple times in a row because it so exactly expressed how I felt. Good combination of sad and funny for me.
6. "Smile" by James Marsters. This song somehow always ends up in my most played songs of the year lists. (I shouldn't be that surprised, I guess. It is my all-time most played song on Last.fm.) I still love it. It's very soothing for me.
5. "Hold It Against Me" by Sam Tsui. I love when people take songs and sing unexpected versions of them. Britney's song slowed down becomes very pretty.
4. "Hedgehogs" by Weebl. I... am not sure how this happened. Admitting I listened to this song that much is a little embarrassing.
3. "Short People" by Randy Newman. As someone who's just barely 5'3", this song cracks me up. And I am all about songs with cheerful tunes and horribly mismatched lyrics. It's why I love JoCo and Bowling for Soup.
2. "Take Away My Dreams" by Groovelily. Yes, it has clearly been The Year of Groovelily. This song launched itself up to my #2 spot in about 2 weeks, which is pretty impressive. Coupled with "Happy, Happy, Happy," you have a good eight minutes or so of pure angst.
1. "God's Gift to Women" by Kate Miller-Heidke. Since I discovered this on YouTube, I decided I should link specifically to the video that hooked me (a Sherlock fanvid set to the song). It's catchy, it's funny, it's great fun to sing along to. Yup. I listened to this song a lot.
That's the main list. But here are some extras:
Songs in my most-played-of-the-year playlist on iTunes that didn't make it to the same list on Last.fm:
-"I Believe" from The Book of Mormon. I fell in love with this musical this year (as someone who considers herself very religious, I think it's hilarious) but this was by far my favorite song.
-"Model Behavior" from Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. A hilarious song from David Yazbek's new musical. I've listened to it 20 times or so and I think I have maybe 40% of the lyrics down.
-"Don't Let It Bring You Down" by Annie Lennox. Discovered when rewatching American Beauty. This song is haunting.
-"Another Night At Darryl's" from The Witches of Eastwick. (Video quality isn't great, but the audio is fantastic.) I've been very slowly discovering this show over the past year, suddenly falling in love with a song at a time. This was the one I discovered first, so it got played the most.
-"As If We Never Said Goodbye" from Glee. My favorite singer on the show covers a gorgeous song from one of my favorite Webber musicals. When this song played on the show, I audibly squealed because I was so psyched to hear this version. It's grown to be one of my very favorites they've ever done. Chris Colfer brings a beautiful vulnerability to the song.
-"Raise Your Glass" from Glee. I really just love the song (power anthems for the uncool always speak to me) but, um, Darren Criss. He's why this version is here instead of the Pink version.
Songs I put into my "Favorites of 2011" playlist that didn't get played quite enough to end up on the most-played lists:
-"Rolling In the Deep" from Glee. I like this arrangement of the song actually better than Adele's. Also, Jonathan Groff. Yeah, I have a thing for a lot of the male singers in Glee.
-"Birdhouse in Your Soul" by They Might Be Giants. What a weird little song. But so catchy and happy!
-"Today With Your Wife" by Jonathan Coulton. My favorite song from his new album. I love how he can write funny songs, happy songs, and then... this.
-"Jack Sparrow" by The Lonely Island. I just rewatched the music video and even though I've seen it and heard it a lot, it still makes me laugh. "Turns out Michael Bolton is a major cinephile." (This one, unlikely the other two Lonely Island songs in this post, does have adult language, so be aware of that.)
So. Those were some of my favorite songs of 2011. Here's to whatever I discover in 2012!
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