Artist: Countdown

5. Rihanna - We Found Love Sometimes the most amazing songs are also the simplest. Rihanna's got a lot to thank Calvin Harris for. His production on this is just stunning, but it's the gutsy, battle-cry vocals that put this over the top. Her best single yet? Maybe. 4. Example - Changed The Way You Kissed Me [...]

4. One Direction - Up All Night After the massive success of their first single, the following album could've coasted on labored songwriting and lots of filler. After all, fans of the teen pop genre don't always have the most discerning of taste. What we got instead was an album where every track could be a single. Ranging from power pop to club to old school boyband ballads, I haven't been this [...]

Special Mention: Rebecca Black - Friday Sure, the song's horrible (in all the best ways), but no other track had a better story behind it than this one. I'd be insane if I didn't at least mention it! 10. LMFAO - Party Rock Anthem So right for all the wrong reasons. If you told me a year ago that I'd be putting an LMFAO song in [...]

6. Aqua - Megalomania The comeback of the year. Aqua went from novelty pop band to something more mature and interesting. Yeah, there are still plenty of fun bubblegum tracks, but they're filtered through a band whose experience makes itself known through the laser-targeted songwriting and awesome production. There isn't one track worth skipping. 5. Melody Club - Human Harbour [...]

15. Martin Rolinski - Blame It On A Decent Matter I never had any doubts that this would be brilliant after Rolinski's work with BWO. But it was even better than I'd expected! 14. Studio Killers - Ode To The Bouncer A welcome shot of Danish electro cool in a year without enough of it. The [...]

8. Pnau - Soft Universe More song-oriented than their last album, this was a very pleasant Summer surprise. It's the perfect mix of electronic music and indie rock. More than that, it has an epic scope when it comes to the sounds and structures used. Though it's buoyed by a handful of remarkable tracks, the entire thing is actually pretty consistent, especially in this genre 7. [...]

20. Nero - Crush On You It took me awhile to get into the dubstep bits, but once I did, this song quickly became one of my favorite dance tracks of the year. The sample (cover?) is just brilliant. 19. Caotico & Tove Styrke - Brains Out This just drips cool. From the very first listen, [...]

10. The Sounds - Something To Die For After a disappointing detour from their synth-punk roots, the band came roaring back with their fourth album. It does what the band does best, offering up aggressive, dance-fueled rock with the glossy sheen of radio pop music. It nearly reaches the perfection of their first two releases. 9. Clare Maguire - Light After Dark [...]

25. Erik Hassle - Are You Leaving Working with the guys from Kent was a genius move. The atmosphere, combined with incredible songwriting, make this one of his best. 24. Swingfly - Me & My Drum The most rousing track in this year's Melodifestivalen, I just don't see how anyone couldn't enjoy this. It's [...]

Sondre Lerche es un noruego que está en el mundo de la música hace rato y, en todo este tiempo, lanzó cosas que nos hicieron emocionar mucho. Nos dimos cuenta que sabe hacer las cosas y que lo que hace, con ese toque de tranquilidad, popero y que viene del indie, vale la pena. En esta oportunidad es curioso porque el artista hizo un cover de la canción que más le gustó en todo el año que se trata de un tema de Boyencé . Es curioso porque, particularmente, lo que hace [...]

12. Rhydian - Waves An opera-singing X-Factor runner-up covering obscure 80's tracks? Yes, please. I'm a big proponent of drama in pop music, and Rhydian definitely enhanced the tracks on this album with vocals of epic proportion. The fact that I was only familiar with a couple of the songs in their original format actually helped things. Myspace [...]

30. Short Stack - Heartbreak Made Me A Killer An album highlight and one of their best singles. It's like all of their best sounds thrown together into one song. 29. Olly Murs - Heart Skips A Beat (ft. Rizzle Kicks) Represents his shift from X-Factor runner-up to proper popstar. This was inescapable this Summer, and [...]

Norweigan Sondre Lerche has given his fans a holiday treat in the form of a cover of Beyonce's "Countdown". He takes the party anthem, and chills it way back with his acoustic guitar. Now it's taylor made for snuggling by the fireside.

14. Will Young - Echoes The 2011 version of a George Michael album. It took awhile for this to stick with me, but once it did, I was really enchanted. I've never completely enjoyed a Will Young album before. His music has always been too... well... boring for me. With Echoes , though, he struck the perfect balance between ballad and uptempo, organic and electronic. The best "grown up" [...]

35. The Sounds - Something To Die For A late-career highlight. Sometimes all it takes is a well written pop song, and this definitely fits the bill. 34. Katy Perry - Last Friday Night (TGIF) Katy Perry's chart run continued unabated this year, and this track reignited interest in her brand of young, glossy pop. [...]

Sempre più artisti stanno prendendo la piacevole abitudine di regalare inediti e rarità in occasioni speciali dell'anno. Quale migliore circostanza che il Natale alle porte? Come in passato (con una versione di "Bluish" degli Animal Collective e la bellissima "Lewis Takes Off His Shirt" di Owen Pallett ), anche quest'anno arriva l'omaggio di Sondre Lerche ed è di quelli che apprezziamo particolarmente. Si tratta della cover di "Countdown" di Beyoncé che potete scaricare a questo link . Invece di descriverla, lasciamo che sia l'autore a spiegarvi di cosa si tratta. [...]

Beyoncé foi um dos grandes nomes de 2011, com seu álbum 4 coletando elogios por aí e sua faixa Love On Top ganhando um lugar merecidíssimo na nossa própria lista de melhores músicas do ano. Parece que o som da diva do R&B (Rhythm and Blues, não Rock 'n' Beats) também agradou aos ouvidos de Sondre Lerche , que escolheu a excelente Countdown para protagonizar sua série anual de covers gratuitos em 2011. A versão do cantor norueguês para Countdown é no mínimo surpreendente. Sondre retira [...]

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16. Penguin Prison - Penguin Prison The first half of this, single after amazing single, is just flawless. The second half is no slouch either, though I wish there was just a little more diversity of sound. This was a quiet 2011 release, even after a lot of internet buzz around the singles. Like Robyn, this is the kind of pop music where you can tell that the artist is really a [...]

40. Jedward - Lipstick Jedward in the top 50? Yep, they finally released a song worthy of their bonkers brilliance. If only it had won Eurovision . 39. Britney Spears - I Wanna Go When we're talking pop music, there's no denying the little earworms in this song. Honestly, it's less about Britney and more [...]

In what's become something of an annual holiday tradition, Norwegian artist and Stereogum buddy Sondre Lerche has once again gifted us with a cover of one of his favorite songs of the year. In previous years, he's taken on Animal Collective's " Bluish " and Owen Pallett's " Owen Takes Off His Shirt ." This year, though, he's applied his talents to something considerably more populist: Beyoncé's fizzily dizzy "Countdown." Here's how Sondre picked the song: This year, it's officially a tradition: for the third time my annual Christmas gift to you is my humble solo [...]

• Sondre Lerche - “Countdown (Beyoncé Cover)”