Now we shall continue with 30 – 21! Excited? You fucking should be.

30: The 1975 – Girls. (251 Plays)

The first of 8 songs now that have between 250 and 260 plays! I have a feeling this one is so high because I left it on repeat one day. I have listened to it a load though, so I’ll let it slide. Girls was the first song by The 1975 that I heard. The band came onto my radar when my stepson, Louis, talked about them. Being the musical sponge that I am, I soaked them up. Louis is also to blame for my liking of Broods (Another great band that you should check out). It’s taken from their 2013 self title debut album. The album itself is good, but has a tendency to slip a little into being pretentious, something that’s backed up by their music videos.

I’m not saying they’re not a good band, they are, I listened to them enough, but they need to drop the hand holding.

29: Arctic Monkeys – Do I wanna Know? (251 Plays)

I put this above The 1975, despite the same plays since this is a better song. It’s as simple as that. The 1975 could take a leaf out of the Arctic Monkey’s book to be honest. They’re cool, understated and lyrically sublime.

I’ve always been a little on the fence when it comes to The Arctic Monkeys. This was the song that, not only knocked me off the fence, but launched me so far into the ‘Arctic Monkeys are genius’ camp. It didn’t feature in last years list, despite coming close. I’ve made this a mainstay of my listening habits. I think a lot of it comes down to Alex Turner’s ability as a vocalist and front man.

28: The C90s – Shine A Light (Flight Facilities Remix). (252 Plays)

I imagine this song will be instantly familiar to anyone that has played GTA V, and probably no one else. The song plays over one of the missions where you have a drug fueled trip that you’ve been kidnapped by monkeys and thrown from a plane. The song plays whilst you free fall back to earth in one of the most brilliant moments of the entire game. One thing that’s been consistent with the games series has been their ability to nail the right song for the action and this is one of the series highlights.

As far as I can tell, there’s no official video for the song, so I chose this fan made one as it’s superb.

27: Hozier – Take Me To Church. (253 Plays)

Hozier rose to prominence after the release of this in 2013. It’s an incredibly vocal driven track and rightfully so, his voice is crazily good. I doubt there’s anyone who hasn’t heard this now. It’s fantastic.

The rest of the album is also good and well worth a listen.

26: Lorde – Everybody Wants To Rule The World. (255 Plays)

There are two ways, as far as I’m concerned, to cover a song. You can take it, don’t really mess with it, and lay down your own vocals. Or you can rip it a new one and make it your bitch. Lorde went for option two when she tackled the 1985 classic by Tears For Fears. I’ve always been a fan of the original, it’s pop royalty if you ask me. Lorde did an incredible job with this. Not only changing the entire timing of the composition but adding a new level to it with her much darker take on it. I believe it was done for The Hunger Games soundtrack. It was later put to great effect advertising Assassin’s Creed Unity (which is utter shit).

Here, look at Lorde’s unusual face for 2 and a half minutes. Hey, speaking of superb covers…

25: Bastille – We Can’t Stop. (255 Plays)

The second, and last showing of Bastille on the chart comes in the form of this cover of Miley Cyrus’s fantastic We Can’t Stop, recorded for Radio 1’s Live Lounge. Now, I’m a Miley fan. I think she makes decent songs and not many are better than We Can’t Stop. It’s a great track. Bastille show that it stands up by, not only setting it to Eminem’s Lose Yourself, but by also including a little Billy Ray as well. It’s a beautifully constructed, well executed, funny take on a modern pop classic.

See. I told you.

24: Pierce The Veil – King For A Day. (259 Plays)

Pierce The Veil aren’t a particularly amazing band, but combine them with the exceptional vocal talent of kellin Quinn and you have got yourself a great song. His voice is pretty special and I’d believe it if someone told me he had a four octave range. The song has shades of the good old days of Nu Metal without resorting to the record scratching that was more famously associated with it. Brilliant song and one that will remain on my iPod for a long time to come.

Stupid lyrics, largely, but that’s what you get generally with that kind of music. Mention Paranoia, mention cancer, done. Again, skip in a bit if you just want to hear the song. Just shy of a minute to be vague.

23: Paramore – Ignorance. (260 Plays)

Paramore are a band that seemingly consistently move away from what it was I used to like them for. It’s a shame, they used to be a fave of mine. Ignorance has always been a staple of my listening habits. Hayley Williams doesn’t even seem to be up to scratch nowadays either. I don’t know if it was just her getting older that made her lose her fantastic voice or what, but it’s just not the same anymore. The band have gone through lineup changes as well and the whole affair seems to have just fallen apart. Here they are doing what they used to do best, though.

Bliss.

22: Prince – I Would Die 4 U. (333 Plays)

It’s Prince. Do I need to add more? Hardly, but I will. IT’S FUCKING PRINCE! Now, sadly Prince doesn’t allow his music on YouTube, so I can’t link you to it. You should know it anyway! It’s from the Purple Rain soundtrack, which is one of the finest albums the world has ever known. Fact.

21: Massive Attack – Angel. (346 Plays)

Angel by Massive Attack is a genius slice of music. It builds and builds like nothing I’ve ever heard. It’s tense, full of emotion, and just fucking perfect. It adds to anything it’s played over as well. The best example I can think of is when it was used in The West Wing over the kidnapping of Zoe. If you’ve never seen it, check it out.

I think there is a proper video for it, but that’s not the full song. I’ve put it here in it’s full 6 minute 19 seconds version.