ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2017

just listening to some of the 177 playlist rn and holy shit @ ‘rain in soho’ - bravo djp!

I was also somewhat surprised that Rita Ora almost made it. I didn't have any hopes after the lukewarm reception it got in TSJ.

― daavid

This was my number three. I didn't really it had much support on here. Nice to see it get so close.

This was one of the most exciting polls I've seen on here. It truly felt so open after last year's predictable winner. I had Boys higher on my list, but in the end I wish it had gone to New Rules. The video and song have had incredible replay value over the last six months. As for Boys, after almost writing her off in 2016 with that terrible EP and single, it felt good to have her back with such a charming song that felt so effortless (something she did over and over on those first two albums). It's definitely not in the same league as Superlove (which should have won the 2013 poll IMO), I do think it's one the best things she's done.

I love all the songs in the top five, so I'm happy. I can understand why people were disappointed with these results. I doubt much from this top 10 will do well when/if we do the end of decade vote in a few years. I think the album list next week is going to have a much more predictable and crowd pleasing result.

Thanks to Seandalai and Johnny Fever. Great work as always.

eh my bristling at "boys" at no. 1 is p minor compared to how much i enjoyed the whole unpredictable rollout

wee lassies music.

lol

i am far less aligned with the winners on the albums than the singles which may be good news for some of you.

Dan S! Yo P&J, I'm really happy for you, Imma let you finish, but ILX had the greatest 2009 poll of all time! All time! (2009 ILX Trax Poll Results: TOP TEN TODAY)

haha

lol! I forgot about that

Boys, New Rules, the CRJ video, Bad Liar......*exactly* the kinds of videos my 9 year old goddaughter wants to watch with me! (It makes me see them with new eyes)

i don't get the disco tits hate. fn love that song. the album was my #1

Fuck me was that Kanye bit 9 years ago?

It's weird how Boys, New Rules and Bad Liar all have really great videos that got a decent amount of attention and add to the appeal of the songs (I know that's not the case for everyone with Boys). Whereas Cut To The Feeling has such a poor video that I have to block it out when I think about the song.

Soooo... it's totally possible I'll change my mind by December, but I'm pretty sure this was the final EOY poll I'll be administering a part of. Eight years of doing it (4 tracks years, 4 albums years) is the most fun I've had on ILM, but I'm kinda beat. Thanks for being so enthusiastic about turning out and voting every year, for commenting profusely during the rollouts, and for somehow predicting exactly when certain things are going to show up (it happens in every poll). Really, thank you all.

Love,
JF

thanks for saving us Johnny Fever :)

thx JF

can we re-write history and swap numbers 1 and 2 tho

xp I'm sure it's a lot of work, and it is very much appreciated! (I hope you do change your mind)

Xx

It'll be refreshing to be on the outside looking in again.

Thanks JF. These polls have been so much fun and always give me something to look forward to during my least favourite time of year. Really appreciate all the effort you've put in over the last eight years.

thanks jf and everyone else, the slickness and pictures and rollouts has been so good

Great work JF - this is always my favourite time of year on ILM Nd always brightens up the January gloom

in a strange way less voters make a more interesting rollout

Can someone fill me in? Lurker here. Where is lex at? I like reading his comments in these eoy list threads.

He's on (permanent?) sabbatical from ILM to work on a book, but he did put together a ballot.

what's a bodak?

https://genius.com/a/how-kodak-black-influenced-cardi-b-s-bodak-yellow

i'm stoked for lex' book

Thanks for your service, JF!

yes thanks JF and seandalai!! awesome work as always!

Thank you JF for excellence in poll roll-outs.

He's on (permanent?) sabbatical from ILM to work on a book, but he did put together a ballot.

It's a cook book right?

Dunno, all I know I learned from the nominations thread.

I listened to like 20 new songs this year so I don't really have the standing to comment here but man..."boys" is pretty minor

not bad! just...minor

damn just now listening to "Nightwork," that's really cool

full disclosure i'm 68 years old but uh,,,the whole top 10 sounds like random album tracks to me

this list seems to me mostly a bunch of album tracks, which is cool, probably where ILM ends up post social media, but it's less fun for me than when there's more links with non-nerd zeitgeist...this may reflect lessening interest in ~~big music~~ irl though too

album tracks is quite off-the-mark; this is a singles-heavy list. and kevin you're like 28 stfu

there wasn't much in the way of ~zeitgeist~ at all with singles this year, not just here

ok I'm exaggerating a bit, I loved "t-shirt" already, and the afropop joint and CRJ song are dope, as is "DNA".... the rest tho seem like they'd fall in the 50s in any other year

Yeah I don’t actively hate or dislike boys but I’m a long way from calling it the best song of 2017. Probably not even in my top 100 songs.

I like Cardi B, but I can never recall 'Bodak Yellow' when I try to think about it, event hough I've heard it dozens of times

Boys got a shit ton of daytime Radio 1 play over here and the video felt like a genuine cultural event but its appeal is almost entirely in the Super Mario coin noise for me. It stuck in my head for weeks though.

The CRJ song is fine but just feels like comfort blanket stuff at this stage. There's a classicism to those two and Bad Liar (which I really like) that I'd be tempted to half bake a theory out of if it wasn't for New Rules in there as well. It does feel significant that, in the era of basic flat pack Spotify pop, these four and the Lorde singles were pretty much the only mainstream pop to feature in the list.

someone with a bit of time on their hands should do a nice plot of points accrued per genre vs. year for all the 77s ever

Now that virtually everyone's chasing that streaming money doing either plinky Clean Bandit synths and bombastic choruses or watery tropical house with dour Chainsmokers comedown vocals, you get a strong sense of yearning for more adventurous pop eras here.

(I know J-Hus and Stormzy are about as mainstream as they come these days but they're not really what I'm talking about here)

I like Cardi B, but I can never recall 'Bodak Yellow' when I try to think about it, event hough I've heard it dozens of times
same

very happy about the bobbins discoveries, I really should follow that thread - Pour Aisha is so beautiful

it was certainly the worst year for chart pop in a long time

I was very thankful kpop was so great this year to make up for that

Genuinely shocked that I was the lone voter for Dave "Question Time" (my #1) - you've all missed a good one!

Genuinely shocked that I was the lone voter for Dave "Question Time" Becky G - "Todo Cambio" (my #1) - you've all missed a good one!

'Question Time' is easy to admire and respect but found it hard to actively like enough to want to listen to much let alone vote for.

It's funny how many tracks I was like 'Everyone loved that one, it'll get at least a few votes if it doesn't break the 77', and then I look and I'm the sole voter.