Charts >>> 2005 >>> songs



#50 DHT Listen To Your Heart
D.H.T. remade and remixed a song by one of my favourite late 80s/early 90s artists Roxette. Now, I know a lot of people aren't fans of remakes since they think the song should just remain in its original form and stay that way. But I disagree. If I really love a song, I don't mind to see it remade as long as it's not obviously crappy (like, if, for example, Kelly Osborne makes it) but if it gets the song played on the radio again, then at least I get to hear it on a regular basis again! Of course this song isn't as good as the Roxette version but we can't really expect that. It's good to hear Roxette on the radio again!...in one way or another..

#49 Finger Eleven Thousand Mile Wish
I didn't get into this song right away. It actually took quite awhile but I really love the bass in this one. It has the feel of a classic rock song and it's too bad it wasn't a big hit because it will probably never be considered as such in 15 years time but hopefully it won't be forgotton by me!

#48 Jason Mraz Tonight, Not Again [Live]
In 2004, Jason Mraz released a Live CD/DVD featuring some songs from his debut CD 'Waiting For My Rocket To Come' as well as a few other songs from independent CDs released before that. The opening song was this track, which I really loved! I also loved the album version but this one gave it new life to me in 2005!

#47 Nelly and Tim McGraw Over And Over
This is an odd pairup of rapper and country singer and it's also an odd appearance on my yearend chart as well but I actually liked this. Maybe it was the fact that it was a weird pairup that got my interest or maybe it's because it's just a decent song. It doesn't go overboard in anyway. Just stays fairly tame and simple but still catchy! I'm sure I could have found some better songs to make my Top 50 but when I looked, this one fit better.

#46 Basement Jaxx Oh My Gosh
I got into this song during my trips downtown at the bar and eventually downloaded it. It's just a fun dance song by a popular dance act. I just felt like placing this song on my favourites list because it is among my favourites of the year and hearing it just puts me in a happy mood and makes me feel like dancing and smiling and having a good time.

#45 Kathleen Edwards In State
Kathleen Edwards continued her upward climb on my favourite singers list! While there is no actual list or even a rough one, I just know that if there was, Kathleen would still be climbing upon the release of her second CD 'Back To Me'. The second single from it is a country rock song much in the style of her other ones but I do like her voice a lot in this one. Sounds great on the radio, on CD, as an mp3 and in my ipod!

#44 Alicia Keys Karmastition
While R&B really isn't up my alley, by default neither is Alicia Keys but this song was super catchy. Even the original version I loved but when this remix of 'Karma' hit the radio early 2005, it was awesome to hear! "What goes around, goes around, what goes up must come down" is simple but so catchy! Congrats to Alicia for being able to get such a big mainstream hit with this song!

#43 K-Os Crabbuckit
K-Os surprised me with this song since so many things were against him for me. For one thing, it's rap that's also CanCon. I can't think of one song (aside from this one) that is rap by a Canadian artist that I like. I can't even think of a song that is rap by a Canadian artist that I even know right now? Secondly, I'm not *that* much in to rap (but I do like my hip-hop quota!) and rap that is different than the norm is pretty far-fetched for me too. But this song really struck a chord with me. Maybe it was the beat. Maybe it was the super-catchy chorus. Or maybe it was the dance I made up for it. Whatever it was, it caused me to love the song!

#42 New Pornographers Use It
The piano backed up by the drums and percussions in the intro to this song get me everytime. I'm always like "what's that song?!" and then in come the vocals and I get it! The New Pornographers really know how to make a song that there's really no excuse not to like! When you hear their songs, you have no choice but to say "wow! This isn't that bad!" Not necessarily love it but definitely not hate it! 'Use It' is one of the more-so songs that you can't hate.

#41 Chantal Kreviazuk These Days
Chantal put out a completely new unheard-of song in 2005 called 'These Days' that was co-written with the guy from Five For Fighting. An odd combination but whatever. At first I really wasn't impressed with the song and even now, parts of it I find a but under the league that I know Chantal should make but aside from that, it's a nice song. It's not the direction I hope she's going in for her next album but realistically, it probably is and I have to accept it and move on.

#40 Scissor Sisters Mary
The Scissor Sisters are an interesting group of people from somewhere in the northeast U.S., even though you'd think they were British. 'Mary' sounds like a British song like something from Coldplay or Travis or something. It came out around the same time as Jet's 'Look What You've Done' and even sounds kind of like that too. I like that the SSs have such a diverse sound within their album. From dance to rock to low-tempo pop to this song. Probably one of their best!

#39 Audioslave Be Yourself
Audioslave put out their second CD this year and the first single from it was 'Be Yourself'! So far, I like the CD and this song kept the band going for me. As you remember, 'I Am The Highway' was one of my favourites from 2004 and got me into them so they've definitely solidified themselves with the songs from the new CD. I like the intro to this one as well. The first dozen times I heard it, I had no idea what it was but now it's unmistakable!

#38 Simon Wilcox White Suit
I'm sure most of you probably have no idea who Simon Wilcox is. For one thing, I never say anything about her whether it's anything about her songs, what she's up to or anything like that. For another thing, I don't play her songs a WHOLE lot. Pretty much just when she comes up on random on my playlists or whatever. For another thing, she's not that well known on her own. A few of her songs got airplay last year a little bit in Canada. Other than that, she's unknown. But this song I do really like and do recommend it. Her CD is pretty good. Kind of like a jazzy, bluesy Sarah McLachlan with some extra drums and banjo thrown in. The chorus of this song sucks me in.

#37 Sarah Slean Lucky Me
Sarah Slean is just so fabulous and adoreable and funny and amazing! Her concerts are definitely worth the time and money and effort to get to because she's so dramatic and has amazing stage presence! You can catch some of her zaniness in the video to 'Lucky Me'! Her facial expressions are just great! And she knows how to tell a story too! Sarah says that 'Lucky Me' is a song that mixes science and religion and their clashes over the years. Very interesting and entertaining!

#36 Jimmy Eat World Pain
Some songs I like to play in my headphones and really turn up loud! This is one of them. I love how this song starts off kind of quiet and eventually goes right into the chorus. No bull. No transitions. No lame musical bridges or interludes. Just straight verse-chorus! That's awesome!

#35 Missy Elliott Lose Control [featuring Ciara]
Missy Elliott is an artist that, for me, is either hit or miss. When she misses, I just tend to ignore the songs and we can get along quite well without annoying each other. But when she hits, she hits hard! 'Get Ur Freak On'! YAH! 'One Minute Man'! Uh huh! '4 My People'! YO! 'Gossipin' Folx'! WHAWHA! 'Lose Control'! Chyeah! This one isn't as much a hit as her other ones for me but I do really like it and she's spot on like she usually is! Missy is awesome and she even made Ciara go good in my books with this track! Burnin' off the tracks!

#34 Scissor Sisters Take Your Mama
This song grabbed me by the love-handles late 2004 and spun me around and around and finally let go about mid-2005! I just LOVED it and played it out completely! It made me get their CD and made me sing it all the time and it still occasionally gets stuck in my head. A song for anybody and everybody is 'Take Your Mama'!

#33 Sondre Lerche Stupid Memory
Sondre's 2004 CD 'Two Way Monologue' featured only two videos but I once heard somewhere that this song was a radio single as well. Didn't matter because it was a big hit for me. The thing that always caught my attention was the neat drum beat in this song. It's a fairly quiet song that wouldn't really grab many people upon initial listen but because I think Sondre is a neat artist, this song stands out among the others on his album.

#32 Tori Amos Cars And Guitars
Tori's third single from her 'The Beekeeper' album. This sounds like first single material. I dunno, it's just really poppy and sounds like something the record label would use to help promote her new album but being the type of artist Tori is, I guess she'd rather put out something that sounds like what most of her album sounds like hence why they went with 'Sleeps With Butterflies'. I like this song though. It's the 'Taxi Ride' of her new CD and probably as upbeat as she'll get this time around.

#31 Fall Out Boy Sugar, We're Goin' Down
I was much too late on this song but that's fine because it's still a cool song and an awesome song! Awesome enough for me to get their CD. Better than a lot of other songs by their contempararies too, I might add.

#30 Black Eyed Peas My Humps
When people comment on how stupid this song is, I completely understand. But I also think that it's uber funne stough! Fergie sounds cool and smooth in this and while it's repetitive, it's not really too much because they do have to focus on the humps and the bresss and the ass too!

#29 Garbage Why Do You Love Me
I liked Garbage songs in the past and while they never really grabbed my full attention, I did like them enough to acknowledge their existance. This was probably the first song of theirs that I really made a big deal over. I loved the rockiness of the guitar in the chorus and loved to sing along to it and, when no one was around, kinda headbang to it too. Shirley Manson is awesome and I should have realized it sooner but that's fine because I'm sure tons of people already knew it before.

#28 Sarah Slean Day One
I sampled this song before Sarah's album came out late last year and it really grabbed me right away. And it was the verses that did that, which is pretty impressive because quite often, it's the chorus that's made to grab the listener. Sometimes the verse does it and Sarah made it work this time. The piano intro also worked quite well for me as well and as a result, I liked this one more than the album's actual first single 'Lucky Me'. I'm not sure if it was this song that made me REALLY appreciate Sarah and her music and forced me into getting into her older stuff but I'm sure it helped.

#27 Vanessa Carlton Who's To Say
Probably a non-single so radio didn't play this one at all which is too bad because this is probably Vanessa's best song. A nice song about youth and the misunderstandings of young people from the perspective of the older kind and maybe it's not that the young are too young but that the old are too old too remember. An interesting idea that could probably ring true in our lives today. Vanessa done a great job on this song and I'd like to hear more from her... I didn't get her CD but I should think twice about it.

#26 Bedouin Soundclash When The Night Feels My Song
Now THIS is an interesting song. It REALLY stands out on the radio! And it's a really good song! I just love to sing to this song when it comes on and I love the harmonies in it and the simplicity and the low sounding production levels of this track. Only in Canada can you hear a song like this on national radio stations and have it be one of the biggest hits of the year.

#25 Green Day Boulevard Of Broken Dreams
Green Day scored one of the biggest hits of the year with this song all over the place. It hit #1 simultaneously on six different radio formats, which was a first and quite a huge achievement! This was the song that turned Green Day from just another punk band into a rock band that deserved my full-on attention. It just had that sound to it that made me want to listen and want to like it and there was really no effort for me to like it because I did automatically. These songs come around maybe once or twice a year.

#24 Avril Lavigne Nobody's Home
Yeah, because I kept listening to this song nearly non-stop into March, it deserves a place in my Top 50 of the year!

#23 Anna Nalick Breathe (2 AM)
I first heard this song last fall (in 2004) and it crossed over in 2005 where it FINALLY became a national hit. I got into the lyrics of this track before the music tho. Yeah, it's another song called 'Breathe' but the '2 AM' part redeems that so you don't get it mixed up with the 500 other songs called 'Breathe' and it has Anna writing about writing at 2am. Sometimes you just feel like writing stuff late at night when you can't sleep and you have things on your mind and if you put them into song form, you'd come out with a great sounding song like this one.

#22 Sarah Slean Mary
Sarah released this song earlier in the year and didn't have much luck with it on Canadian radio the first time around so it was remixed and released again and radio started playing it a lot more! I do like the remix though because by the time it came around, I was getting played out of the original since I was listening to Sarah's CD on a regular basis still at this point so it was good to get new life into an old favourite, and good to hear it on the radio. Sarah says this song is about her grandmother moving to this new continent back in the days of the war and her grandfather fighting in the great war and them overcoming the distance to finally reconnect and create a life together. It's a nice song.

#21 Sarah Harmer Dandelions In Bullet Holes
I didn't come to fully appreciate this song until this year. Before this, I liked it but didn't really enjoy it while listening to Sarah's album so I kind of edited it a bit and played around with the song and then gave it a chance and now it's probably way up there with 'Lodestar' and 'The Hideout' as my favourite Sarah Harmer song. It's just a light-sounding song about the after-effects of wars on the families and the people involved in them. Very beautiful and highly recommended.

#20 Killers All These Things That I've Done
Here's something I don't understand, why didn't this song get bigger than it was? It had all the makings of a huge hit song that should have been everywhere! Mind you, the Killers went from regular new band to pretty much arena band in the last year or so so this song being a huge hit wouldn't make a big difference but still, it's the type of song that should have been everywhere and this when December rolled around, all the yearend song lists would be mentioned it and the line "I got soul but I'm not a soldier". I think that line should have been this year's "Bring in the money" or whatever. Sure it would have gotton annoying after a while but this song is super cool!

#19 Imogen Heap Hide And Seek
Here's a song that's super cool as well! Imogen Heap's 'Hide And Seek'. Imogen is the voice behind Frou Frou, and you prolly heard a Frou Frou song at some point just like you'll prolly hear an Imogen song at some point since her songs are all over soundtracks and TV shows and such. This song was on the OC. It's just so entrancing as it's just Imogen's voice in layers. I think there are five different layers of her voice and a vocoder on one or more of those voices and just the result sounds so amazing. Just the idea behind this song is genius but the result of it must have made Imogen cry a thousand tears of amazement!

#18 Arcade Fire Rebellion (Lies)
Another great rock 'n roll song. And I know it's a great rock 'n roll song if my roommates like it. They love rock 'n roll, especially the kind from the 70s and 80s so if the Arcade Fire can pass their extremely critical opinions of new rock, you know they've succeeded somehow. The Arcade Fire deserve a place in the best new artist lists of the year, especially with songs like this one.

#17 Gwen Stefani Hollaback Girl
I know, I know. Why do I have a song like this among great songs like by Killers and Arcade Fire and Green Day. Well, because I liked this song. This was MY song at the club this year! I ain't no hollaback girl either! Prolly cuz I'm not a girl but that's beside the point. Gwen hit the nail on the head with this song. Maybe not as classic as some No Doubt songs but for the purpose of her solo CD, she won!

#16 Alanis Morissette So Called Chaos
Alanis' profile is slowly decreasing over time. It seems that as time goes by, her ability to impress me is dwindling to the point where I'm not even looking forward to her next album. But the entire 'So Called Chaos' album won me back enough to care and love Alanis all over again. My favourite song from the CD was the title track, the rockiest song on the CD. Very good stuff! I love how it ends and I love the effects of the backwards reverb on the verses in the song. Good job Alanis!

#15 Sarah Slean When Another Midnight
Sarah's fourth appearance on my chart and her highest one. This song is just amazing! It's got a great beat! It has VERY fun lyrics. And Sarah sounds so mischieveous in the singing of those wonderful lyrics. There was even a remix with K-Os put out on iTunes this year. Unfortunately that remix cut out the best verse in the song (the third one) so I tried to make my own version putting all the content in... I wasn't that successful. I'll try again sometime.

#14 Jem 24
I think the way this song was written is very interesting. So it starts with a tick tocking and then the cool beat and then for the rest of it, Jem sings about how her time left on this earth is decreasing and she has 24 hours to live... then 14, then 8 and then 1. The thing I love most about it is when the electric guitars kick in during the chorus.

#13 Kelly Clarkson Since U Been Gone [Nevins Rhythm Rad Mix]
Kelly Clarkson didn't start out in my good books. Actually, the whole American Idol thing still makes me mad but she was able to turn herself around a bit for me. This song I really did like in its original form and then the remix came out. Hearing this downtown is always a treat and the chorus sounds so powerful in the remix! It's like a pump your fist, full-of-energy chorus and I love to hear it!

#12 Tegan and Sara My Number
Yeah, it's probably wrong of me to include such an old song on this list but I thought about it and I figured that this song played such a large roll in my 2005 music listening that it would be a crime not to include it in here. It's from Tegan and Sara's 2000 album 'This Business Of Art', so the one before 'If It Was You' and their most recent 'So Jealous'. I just started to stick this song on all of my playlists and random mp3 CDs and now it's probably my favourite song by them now, and T&S have some pretty good songs!

#11 Jason Mraz Did You Get My Message [featuring Rachael Yamagata]
Jason Mraz really took things to a new high when I heard this new song from his latest release 'Mr. A-Z'. I was so amazed when I heard this that I listened to it non-stop for weeks and weeks. Rachael's sweet vocals add another dimension to this great song. I love the first verse and how Jason goes without stopping and then Rachael takes her turn and doesn't fail. The fun second verse with the background shouts from Jason was just so incredible. The instrumentation and piano is great too! Too many good things about this song!

#10 Green Day Jesus Of Suburbia
I love all nine minutes and eight seconds of this song! The song itself is just five different songs mixed together into one track and it has that epic feel to it! Something that isn't done at all these days and probably hasn't been done since the 70s if it all. Bands these days make 4 minute songs and that's it! This song is a complete nearly ten minutes of good rock 'n roll! The video they made for it is really good as well! Not much focus on the band but enough so you know they at least took the time to be in it and not just a cheap movie. I can see myself listening to this song years from now, that's how awesome it is! Funne stough!!

#9 Foo Fighters Best Of You
The Foo Fighters are at their best with this song! Dave sounds full of life in this and he doesn't hold anything back. It's just a song of straight up rock and I love it!

#8 Eminem Encore [featuring Dr. Dre and 50 Cent]
Eminem is a rapper of great amazing songs and a few not so good ones. This is one of his great hip-hop songs and it features Dr. Dre and 50 Cent. Just a little 50 though and I'm glad because he doesn't sound good in this track. Dre and Eminem sound good going back and forth though. There's no junk in this one and it's got a great beat. Em's best from the 'Encore' album.

#7 Martina Sorbara Ripples
Here's another old song. From 1998 and it was before Martina Sorbara got a record deal. This is from her independently released 'Unplaceables' CD and it's a very beautiful song with just her and her piano. As good as anything on her 'The Cure For Bad Deeds' album.

#6 Frou Frou Let Go
Wow! Ok, ummm, another old song. Well, not as old as the last one but still like three years old. From Frou Frou's 'Details' CD from 2002 and the Garden State Soundtrack from 2004. I got Garden State this year and as a result, got this song; heard it; loved it. It's a great different sounding track that complimented the rest of my music collection from the year. Also helped introduce me to Imogen Heap and her awesome CD!

#5 Avril Lavigne Fall To Pieces
Avril's highest song of the year on this chart is her great 'Fall To Pieces'. This time last year, this song was my favourite unreleased track from 'Under My Skin' and it was chosen for her last single from the CD. Good stough! I love the intro to it and hearing it on the radio always made me sing along. I think it's probably her second best song from the CD all-in-all after 'Nobody's Home'.

#4 KT Tunstall Black Horse And The Cherry Tree
I discovered this song after I got KT's CD, which I got because the cover looked like it would be an awesome CD. It certainly was! This song is the first single in Canada and it really stands out on the radio. KT has style in her voice and definately has a voice that could take her places and keep her well in the music scene for decades if all works out. She's huge in parts of Europe now too, which is great because that means she won't be dropped from her label never to be heard from again!

#3 Kathleen Edwards Back To Me
Kathleen's folk-rock musical approach was well appreciated this year with her second CD. 'Back To Me' was her big fat f***-you to a guy who dumped her. Little did he know, she had much more than she let on in the beginning and now he'll never get the chance to experience the best of Kathleen so she'll save the goods for someone who will keep her for longer. If you want the good stuff, you'll hold on and wait for them to come. No one-night stands here fellas. Kathleen is too good for that! Her music alone tells you that! She rocks!

#2 Melissa McClelland Picture Postcard
Melissa McClelland's song 'Picture Postcard' is about an abusive guy who leaves his fiancé and meets an underage runaway girl. They both runaway together while he keeps getting into drug and crime troubles along the way and she believes that he's going to give her a better life away from the streets but instead fears that she's in a dead end and may have to result in something drastic in order to escape the grasp of this man. It's really a sad song that displays some choices that people may have to make in order to fix the choices made in the past. This song caught me off guard one day and really puts things in perspective and I think that's why I love it.

#1 Killers Mr. Brightside
This song summarized my summer of 2004 so when it came out early in 2005 I was blown away by the similarities. So much so that I had tears in my eyes while listening to it the first few times. Then the dance remix came along and helped me move on from that and now that particular version is special to me but this song, without the special feelings it holds to me, is awesome on its own! So awesome that I decided it should be my #1 song of the year! Best song of 2005!