Charts >>> 2006 >>> songs



50 Keane Is It Any Wonder
Keane's singles from their first album were not bad but they weren't impressive. This song was. They swayed away from their Coldplay sound and toward a U2 sound but not quite, thus giving them more of their own identity. Is It Any Wonder is short, sweet and to the point.

49 Paula Cole Tomorrow I Will Be Yours
Paula Cole hasn't recorded a new album or released a single in over six years but this year, a Greatest Hits album was released that included a number of unreleased tracks, including this gem that was recorded in 2001 but only saw the light of iPods five years later. It's similar to I Don't Want To Wait in layout but has a different charm to it about teenagers in summer love. Very nice song!

48 Wreckers Leave The Pieces
Michelle Branch and Jessica Harp teamed up for a full-length country album in 2006. Fairly different from Michelle's own brand of pop/rock. I think this direction might get her more respect as it isn't a conventional route for a pop singer to take and the album is quite good. The first single was also a #1 country hit, which is a pretty big deal too. It wasn't too country for me which was how I was able to enjoy it the way I did.

47 John Mayer Waiting On The World To Change
John Mayer's first single from Continuum' is very folk/bluesy and definately a pleasant surprise after what was bound to follow the success of Daughters. While deemed alittle too political for some, I think the song speaks volumes and protrays John's feelings as not just another opinionless zippermouthed singer but someone that has something to say and does it through song. Good job!

46 Sarah Harmer The Ring
Sarah Harmer went the bluegrass route with I'm A Mountain and her voice is especially sweet on here as she is accompanied by the slideguitar, a bango and fiddle. The Ring is one of my favourites from the album.

45 Better Than Ezra Juicy
I wasn't sure that this song was in fact a Better Than Ezra song because it really sounds like something from the Scissor Sisters. I was introduced to it through a dance remix but even the original version isn't typical Better Than Ezra although they have been known to have some odd songs over the years but I bet most people that recognize the band's name will think of their 1995 alternative rock hit Good. This song is good too. Crazy good!

44 Pink Who Knew
Pink is an artist that I'm not a big fan of but I will admit that she does have a few great songs. This being one of them. I never realized that Pink actually does have a good voice until I gave Who Knew a chance. While I think her career seems to lack any real direction, her voice shows signs of a rocker-chick and she definately should be doing more songs like this one that show true emotion.

43 Howie Day End Of Our Days
Howie Day's album might have wrapped up last year after the release of She Says, but it wasn't too late for me to continue to discover some great songs from it including this track. If you liked Collide or She Says, you're sure to love this song. I really like the strings-bridge in it. Makes the song massive.

42 Chantal Kreviazuk Wonderful
The second single from Chantal's fourth album Ghost Stories is an uptempo track, much like many of her other singles. While it isn't completely different from what she's known for, the added strings to the entire CD add another dimension to her music that before was just piano pop music. There's a sense of sadness in Chantal's voice accompanied with loneliness but triumph at the same time as she announces that she's wonderful. She is!

41 Nelly Furtado Say It Right
Nelly Furtado may have the best song of her career right here. It would be hard to top some of her past greatness including Turn Off The Light, Hey Man and Try but right here is an incredible song that mixes all of her past styles and current one together with the help of producer Timbaland. Music greatness right here!

40 Panic! At The Disco I Write Sins Not Tragedies
I really loved this song for a few weeks. It was great! Panic! At The Disco picked up where Fall Out Boy left me earlier in the year. This song is pure bliss to listen to in its form of rock ear candy. Good stough!

39 Melissa McClelland Whisper
A highlight from Melissa's album released this year was an added bonus track called Whisper, which would suit the movie preview for any of those gushy cheesy love stories but the song itself isn't cheesy in the same way. The verses have a hint of 1984 ballady Bruce Springsteen, who seems to influence a lot of Melissa's work.

38 Basement Jaxx Hush Boy
The Basement Jaxx have become a group that I went from barely knowing last year to really liking this year. Oh My Gosh made my Top 50 Best of 2005 and this year they make two appearances. This song follows the same lines as Oh My Gosh with its catchy zany dance/pop it's always a fun listen.

37 Beth Orton Conceived
I've never actually heard anything or attempted to hear Beth Orten before. From what I've read and seen, I can tell she's someone I would enjoy but I've just never bothered to check her out before this song. I really do like this song. Very mellow but nice and while it's not really enough to convince me to check out her older stuff, I'm definately willing to keep my ears open if something else happened to come along.

36 Foo Fighters Resolve
While not quite up there with Best Of You, Dave Grohl and the rest of the Foo Fighters rock on this song too to the point where I can just up the volume to the maximum allowance and sing along to the chorus.

35 Dixie Chicks Everybody Knows
While the Dixie Chicks' latest CD was said to not be so much country oriented as it is a rockier CD, this song is country and proves that they still sound great. I do think that there's no reason to put aside any grudges you have to listen to just this song and enjoy it... and maybe realize that they are hurting too.

34 Cobra Starship Snakes On A Plane (Bring It)
This song was clearly a novelty song to come from the super-hyped movie of the same name. While the movie was talked about for weeks leading up to its release, it was soon forgotten. This song, however, didn't quite enjoy the same success but still plunged into obscurity. It was, however, an awesome song that featured a catchy rap, fun B-52-like pre-chorus and great rock verses.

33 Sarah Harmer I Am A Glow
This song featured a music video from Sarah Harmer in a very traditionally country setting but you can tell she is enjoying herself. The song is very simplictic even when the banjo playing isn't. Very pleasant to listen to and sing along with.

32 Metric Hustle Rose
This song puts me on the freeway at dusk speeding down at 120km/h as if I'm in a race to be somewhere important. I can picture a potential music video for it now. The instrumental section of this is just so great! The song might be from Metric's debut 2004 album Old World Underground, Where Are You Now but I just discovered it within the last year and it would be wrong to not include it based on a technicality.

31 Imogen Heap Goodnight And Go
Imogen Heap is a music genius. This song doesn't quite show the extent of her talents but it's still a great track. I really like this song because, while it is still Imogen through-and-through, I think it would have worked as a big pop hit. I love the story in the song and I just really like the chorus.

30 KT Tunstall Stoppin' The Love
This was my #1 album track of 2005. While I have since abolished that chart for the yearend charts, it's still worth mentioning and now makes its place on my Best of 2006 chart. I love the sound of the big drum and the background singing. It's so soothing even if it makes me think of being in a viking hut in Norway. KT hit gold with this one!

29 Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins Handle With Care
This song is a remake of the Traveling Wilburies song and I think it's awesome because while the remake doesn't take away from the original version, it adds elements of today's music to it and fuses them together into this recording. I listen to it and can still hear the original but I know it's not a rip-off, an attempted duplicate, but at the same time it doesn't completely change it.

28 Howie Day She Says
Howie's second and highest song, this one was one of my most played tracks earlier in 2006. I pretty much stopped listening to it by the time Spring arrived but recently started again. It's just a great song!

27 A.F.I. Miss Murder
I think what really convinced me about this song was the screamy bridge. I don't listen to music like that but I do like to have at least one song going all the time that is on the harder side of rock and for a short while, this one did it for me.

26 Feist Secret Heart
Feist does a song written by Ron Sexsmith. I definately think the lyrics are better suited for a woman than a man since they are about a lover not wanting to vocalize his love for her/him when there are people around and I think that's more characteristic of men than women, unless it's a relationship between two men. I love the effects on this song despite being very mellow and light.

25 New Pornographers These Are The Fables
This song is great! I absolutely love it! I can't describe the music of it because, as you can tell already, I'm bad at describing songs so I won't even bother but it's just a great light track with Neko Case on lead vocals. Awesome stough!

24 KT Tunstall Black Horse And The Cherry Tree
This song is a crossover from last year's yearend chart. It was #4. However, I think I listened to this song more than any other song in 2006 between the album version and the original acoustic version. I just can't get over this! It's amazing! I wouldn't be surprised if it placed on my yearend chart of 2007!

23 Jack's Mannequin The Mixed Tape
I always love it when rock music features a piano. But not the Coldplay kind. Just a typical rock song with piano placed somewhere in it that's noticable but isn't the basis of the song. The Used do it too in Blue And Yellow, as another example. This song was one of my favourites earlier in the year.

22 Anna Nalick In The Rough
Another one of my early-2006 favourites was the second single from Anna Nalick. It's too bad her album didn't enjoy the success it was meant to have being as great as it was. This song was great too despite me not being welcome to its release. The slightly-remixed-radio version changed it for me, I think.

21 Tegan And Sara Wake Up Exhausted
Tegan and Sara's last album came out in 2004 but it's still a favourite of mine. The song I loved from it the most this year was Wake Up Exhausted. I never give it much attention before because it followed Walking With A Ghost, So Jealous and Speak Slow, which were probably the three songs I gave the most attention to. I listened to this particular song tons in 2006 by putting on a bunch of my iPod playlists and just sticking it in winamp whenever.

20 Green Day Jesus Of Suburbia
Another 2005 crossover but this one was probably more of a 2006 hit anyway. It's the nine-minute epic song from Green Day that is just incredible. I love the video too. It's just an amazing recording and I think really serves the purpose that it was made to do. This song should go up there with all of those classic 70s songs that you can't escape today.

19 Chantal Kreviazuk So Cold
When Chantal Kreviazuk released her CD Ghost Stories, I didn't quite know what to expect. When this song came on, I was completely taken aback because it is a song so unlike her usual style and song layout, especially being just 2:20 and being completely stripped of any extra music or unneeded production with its gospel sound. I can't say whether this is among her best as it's so different from the rest of her work but it definately stands out.

18 Audioslave Original Fire
Audioslave didn't quite come storming back with their third album but this song really should have. It's bluesy rock sound and Chris Cornell's awesome vocals, I think this could easily be Audioslave's best song as it lends itself to 60s rock.

17 Zero 7 Throw It All Away [featuring Sia]
This song showed up in the middle of the year and it didn't catch on right away but soon I was won over toward the song and the album 'The Garden'. This track is all-around good with the awesome guitar and the cool chorus.

16 Imogen Heap Can't Take It In
Another song from Imogen Heap, this was on the Chronicles of Narnia soundtrack and it really fits in. It's a snowy song that is very Imogen despite being alittle more conventional but it shows a lighter side of her skills. I wasn't quite into this song at first but I was won over and now agree that it is one of her best.

15 Kate Maki Someone Better
Kate Maki is a local to Halifax, I think, even though her website says she's from Ontario, the record store here has her in the local section. Anyway, she's similar to Kathleen Edwards except she's probably further down the scale of alt-country than Kathleen is. This song is quite good and fits on that scale and was one of my most played songs in 2006. It's super awesome. I love the intro with the bass and the horns. This track is a great introduction to Kate.

14 Rufus Wainwright Gay Messiah
This song comes from Rufus' 2005 album Want Two and while I don't think that CD had any singles from it, I still give special attention to this song. I think it is awesome and to me, it takes some religious ideas and applies them to a non-religious character. Rufus writes about all the events that are to follow when the gay messiah comes. It's a neat song!

13 Snow Patrol Chasing Cars
This song continues to get tons of play from me. It's the first song I heard from Snow Patrol but if it's any indication, I'm going to love them! This is awesome! I love how it builds up to the final chorus. I like to blast the volume while listening to it.

12 KT Tunstall Other Side Of The World
I loved this song from the beginning. It's tough for me to choose a favourite song from KT's album because there are a lot of greats. So many that the songs that standout are the ones that I don't quite like as much. I think the fact that this one is #12 says enough!

11 Chantal Kreviazuk Asylum
I think this song could be one of Chantal's best. It's a powerful song about the past coming back to haunt the present. The strings in this are just amazing and Chantal sounds at her best. Wonderful song!

10 KT Tunstall Suddenly I See
This song is KT's highest song from 2006. I could NOT get enough of this earlier in the year but as the months passed, I began to wear on it. However, I can't deny that I did love this as an obsession so it deserves a place in my Top 10 of 2006!

9 Blue October Congratulations [featuring Imogen Heap]
Here's another amazing song that features Imogen Heap. Blue October surprised me a bit with this as it is much lighter than what I thought they were. I heard this song before getting their album but I did realize that there's more to them then just rock songs. They do a great job with this and Imogen brings a lot to it. Kudos!

8 Imogen Heap Hide And Seek [Optikvs Remix]
This song was in my Top 20 favourites of 2005 and this year makes a repeat performance but in the form of the Optikvs Remix. The remix suited the song perfectly as if this version was the original. I'm usually not a huge fan of long remixes but this one works well for Hide And Seek.

7 Dixie Chicks Voice Inside My Head
This song was my obsession for a few months over the summer. I was mesmerized. Natalie did such an amazing job on this track and that's considering she admitted to not feeling the lyrics in the Shut Up and Sing movie. This is just incredible. The music to this is southern light rock a la Sheryl Crow and the lyrics are about ten since an abortion (or giving a child up for adoption?).

6 Basement Jaxx Take Me Back To Your House [featuring Martina Sorbara]
When I found out that Martina Sorbara had a song with the Basement Jaxx, I had to find it. I heard it and it was just so crazy and while unlike Martina's actual album, it is so her! How often do you hear banjos in a dance song? This song is just fun all around and the video is my favourite video of the year!

5 Dixie Chicks The Long Way Around
This song is probably my second favourite track from the Dixie Chicks album. It shows a more vulnerable side to "the incident" as Natalie sings about not doing the easy thing, even if it could have meant things going better for them in the short term. It's the old cliché but the song has personal relevance to the group. The best part of the song is the bridge "I fought with a stranger and I met myself/I opened my mouth and I hurt myself/It can get pretty lonely when you show yourself/Guess I coulda made it easier on myself." That part explains it all.

4 Sarah Harmer Escarpment Blues
Sarah Harmer recorded a song that reflects the situation with the Niagra Escarpment and how it is to be dug up for stone and rocks to build more roads. The resulting song is this beautiful one with Sarah pouring her heart out to protect the land as destroying it for roads and apartment buildings isn't worth it.

3 Cardigans Don't Blame Your Daughter (Diamonds)
I didn't think the Cardigans were capable of making a song this good. I always liked them and have a few of their CDs but they never had anything AMAZING until this song came around. I think it should have been one of the biggest hits of the year. It was just a great song and it really makes you take notice if it happens to be playing in the background.

2 Blue October Hate Me
It was hard to make to final decision as to whether or not this would be #1 for the year for me. It took me months to get into this song until I saw the video and then it made me realize what the song was really about. It somewhat hit home for me as it's about a guy whose mother still takes the time to be a mother to her son despite the things he's done, she's still there for him. The bridge really kills it for me and the song has brought tears to my eyes more than once. It's just an incredible recording and the full album version really completes it more than the radio edit does. In the end, it will settle for #2 for the year.

1 Dixie Chicks Not Ready To Make Nice
When I thought about it, I decided that it made perfect sense to make this song #1 for the year. After over half a year, it's still among my most played songs and even after surely hundreds of listens, Not Ready To Make Nice is still capable of giving me shivers thinks to that bridge, which is by far the best moment in music in 2006. I got to see the Dixie Chicks in concert in August and that part of the song received the loudest applause I had ever heard ever! I think this song is a fair rebuttle to their situation and it really shows her far they can go when the people that put musical limits on them turn their backs on them. They have proven that they can go much further as artists and this song shows it. #1 of 2006!