by Mikey (Gillingham, Kent, UK) Introduction This is my personal Top 10 Singles of the Year the first 2 singles narrowly missed the Number One spot due to the 6-week run of The Black Eyed Peas single 'Where is the love?' it's a crying shame Dido and Darkness were kept of the top, 2 brilliant singles of the year without a doubt. As you can see from the following list R. Kelly, Beyonce ft. Jay-Z and the BEP's don't even get a mention, from my personal Top 10 Singles of the year. (Mikey is Top40-Charts.com Editor)
1 Dido - White Flag After a long break from her last studio album 'No Angel', Dido returns with a beautiful ballad 'White Flag' that sets your heart, a flutter, when I first heard this song, it got stuck on me like glue, the catchy chorus just sticks in your head over and over, which makes it the best single of the year for me, it was kept off from reaching the Number One spot by The Black Eyed Peas single 'Where is the love?' Her album 'Life For Rent' has already sold 4 million worldwide and probably more by now. Dido has also been nominated for the best Female Pop Vocal of the year, at next year's Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. If you haven't bought her album yet, than you missing out on a damn good album. Where have you been for the past three months!
2 The Darkness - I Believe In A Thing Called Love The Darkness from Lowestoft took Great Britain by storm this year, with their debut single 'Growing On Me' which blasted its way onto the music singles chart at the end of June. Then out of nowhere they brought out a belter of a tune 'I Believe In A Thing Called Love', with a wacky video and wacky dress sense, that accompanies the single, and the people started to love 'em, and bought their debut album 'Permission To Land' in droves. And yet again, it was kept off from reaching the Number One spot by the Black Eyed Peas single 'Where is the love?' Where is the justice in that?
3 Evanescence - Bring Me To Life When I first heard this record, which I championed all the way to Number One, as I predicted well before its initial release, I fell in love with this song I predicted it would do well, boy, was I right. The song was taken from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Album Daredevil and spent 4 weeks at Number One, back in June. This song can also be found on their hugely successful debut album 'Fallen'. Amy Lee delivers this song with a powerful voice, and it's the most haunting tune of the year with a hard rock factor given to it. This is one act to look out for, Evanescence are here to stay, with a tour set to follow in the New Year, and also nominated for a Grammy Award for the best Rock Album in next year's competition to be held on February 8th in Los Angeles.
4 Blu Cantrell ft. Sean Paul - Breathe This song you either like it or hate it, but I like it, it spent 4 weeks at No.1 back in August. Ex-playboy girl Blu Cantrell turns her hand to music. She first entered the British charts with 'Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)' in 2001, and took her virtually 2 years for a follow-up single. And that single was 'Breathe' which took her straight to Number One for 4 weeks, which accompanies a diwali rap, supplied by Sean Paul onto the single, which made it an instant hit overnight. She's yet to capitalize on this, but keep an eye out for this young lady she should do quite well, in the near future.
5 Delta Goodrem - Born To Try This is the most remarkable story of the year, which also brings some sad news along with it. Delta has achieved the impossible feat of winning 7 Arias at the Australian Music Awards this year and the most prolific music artist ever to grace our British shores, not only does she sing, she can act, she plays Nina in the Australian soap series 'Neighbours', she plays the piano, and she also writes her own music. The sad story to this beautiful young lady, earlier this year she was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease, which is a treatable form of lymphatic cancer, which she is now receiving treatment to overcame her illness. 'Born To Try', is a beautiful melodic ballad, which showcases her voice and talent. The title-track of Delta's debut album 'Innocent Eyes' is her story. "I really wanted a song with a bit of a classical feel because I've been doing classical piano for 10 years," she explains. "This song is about looking at the world with innocent eyes, that enthusiasm, which I never want to lose." All stories have a happy ending. A pure class indeed.
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6 Sugababes - Hole in the Head Three classy birds, Keisha, Mutya, and Heidi make up the urban band - The Sugababes. After a major change to their line-up since the departure of Siobhan Donaghty, with Heidi Range. The band have had a huge successful career with 2 major hit Number One singles last year with 'Freak Like Me' and 'Round Round'. And to capitalize on that, they return to the top-form with the another great infectious urban single 'Hole in the Head' and spent a week at Number One, back late October this year, taken from their brand new studio album 'Three'. 'Hole in the Head' is a great record, its one of those songs that's got a heavy urban feel to it.
7 Madonna - American Life 'American Life' is different from any other Madonna's hits, basically it has got a rap on the single, which Madonna has never done in her entire music career. The rap in the single is all about her life, which tells a little story of her family. She should stick to decent music, like the remarkable 'Frozen', which is a pure classic in its own right. But I still like this single as she can easily showcase her inventiveness to her music. Her album 'American Life' spawned another hit single 'Hollywood' this year, but failed to match the success of 'American Life'. Madonna is certainly the queen of pop, very inventive with her music, and she has been in the music business for over twenty years now, and still going strong. You definitely can't knock a strong woman of the top, when she is at her pinnacle in her career.
8 Kelly Rowland - Stole One third of the group Destiny's Child, Kelly Rowland released this beautiful ballad 'Stole' early February. Which tells the story of a bitter relationship gone wrong, its melodic tune is so endearing, as if it's a heartfelt storytelling of a broken relationship. This is Kelly Rowland at her best following on the hugely successful song of last year, collaborating on Nelly's hit 'Dilemma'. Also turning her hand in the acting profession following her fellow member Beyonce Knowles. One influential star of the future, to follow in the footsteps of some great American R'n'B divas, the likes of Whitney Houston and Mary J. Blige.
9 T.A.T.U. - All The Things She Said One European act which really took off at the start of the year was TATU, this song was first released on the European market late last year around November 2002 and boiled over into 2003 over here, which marked the first Russian act ever to hit Number One in February and spent 4 weeks at the top. The taboo of this song is the lyrics of the 'All The Things She Said', which gives it a lasting impression for years to come. The group have slightly fallen into obscurity, as of late; any future single releases are still in question, as if the girls are undecided to carry on in the music industry.
10 Jamelia - Superstar One song of the year, which surprisingly made it into my Top 10, has to be 'Superstar'. Why? It's because it has a clever hook to the single and it's an infectious little ditty that sticks in your head for a long time. I hope Jamelia carries on with this success and capitalize on it, early in the New Year. This young lady has certainly got what it takes to became a great R'n'B singer, she's young, and she's got a long road to carry on, to became one influencing star in British R'n'B contemporary music, following great British artists, the likes of Gabrielle.
by Mikey (Gillingham, Kent, UK) 
