Nicki Minaj is "Automatic" for Best Pop Singer of second half of 2012

Nicki Minaj was the Best Pop Singer in the second half of 2012, although her album and the big hit single "Starships" were released in the first half of the year.

She was the best, in my opinion, because she had more songs with great singing than other pop singers/artists and I'm also counting her songs that weren't singles. The songs, however, will qualify to get in the 25 Best Pop Songs of 2013. I don't have other lists for Rap and Dance songs. Most of Nicki's songs being considered for the 2013 list are pop songs.

Rap and Dance songs, like other kinds of songs, can get in one or both of the 25 Best lists but they have to get in as pop songs, rock songs or crossover songs.

A couple of her hit singles from 2012's second half were "Va Va Voom" and "Pound The Alarm", which just missed getting in the 25 Best Pop Songs of 2012 along with several songs by other artists. There were lots of great songs and that's what happens, they don't all get in. However, her singing was wonderful and even better in the great songs "Automatic", "Marilyn Monroe", "Fire Burns", and possibly some others.

Nicki Minaj joins Ai Shinozaki in my list of Best Pop Singers of 2012 (full year). I haven't decided on the others yet.

Here's who I think were the top 6 Pop Singers of the second half of 2012:

Best Pop Singers - Second Half of 2012
(singer and "song")

Nicki Minaj "Automatic"
P!nk "Try"
Samantha Potter "Give It Everything"
Bell Nuntita "Rak Khon Ror"
Bruno Mars "Locked Out Of Heaven"
Florence Welch "Sweet Nothing" (Calvin Harris song)

Note: This is not the order since I didn't decide who was second, third, and so on.

Chris Brown, Mudhoney, Ai Shinozaki are the Best and There Will Be More Best Songs and Singers

I have already done my lists of 10 Best Pop Songs and 10 Best Rock Songs for the first half of 2013. There will be 25 Best lists in each category after this year is over, which will be published (posted) here on this blog. This is where I review songs and put rock and pop lists.

Ai Shinozaki was the Best Pop Singer of the First Half of 2012.

"Chardonnay" by Mudhoney was the Best Rock Song of the First Half of 2013. Alyssa Turkowski was second on the rock list with her song "Waiting In Two".

"Fine China" by Chris Brown was the Best Pop Song of the First Half of 2013. Mudhoney was the second song on the pop list with "Chardonnay". That does show a song can get on both lists.

I probably won't decide on best singers of 2013 until 2014. However, I will decide on best Rock Singer/Vocalists of 2012: first half, second half, and 2012 full year. Also Best Pop Singer of the second half of 2012 and for the full year.I had a long process of deciding that Ai Shinozaki was the Best Pop Singer of the First Half of 2012. 

2012 songs in 2013 Best

Please read the article below. Apparently, it's not on the internet so maybe it's being blocked...

Nicki Minaj and 2012 Songs

It's less than two hours after Christmas and I'm thinking about allowing tracks/songs from last year (2012) to qualify for the 25 Best Rock Songs and 25 Best Pop Songs of 2013.

I didn't allow all songs in last year because it would have been unfair to some of the artists but I listened to all singles I could find and had time to listen to plus one or two more songs of each artist, including bands, solo artists, and of course as many 'original song'(s) as possible of artists/musicians/songwriters/singers on YouTube and elsewhere.

I know what I just wrote is confusing and it confuses me too.

My main reasons were to not show favoritism, also to give artists/bands enough time to release more singles, and to encourage them to release more great songs as singles. What I'm hearing many, many music fans saying is they want to hear better songs on the radio, YouTube, and elsewhere. I'm hoping what I'm doing will make a difference.

Now here's something very interesting. The last few days it's clear to me what I thought last year was true: Nicki Minaj has more songs from 2012 that still qualify and she could smash the 25 Best Pop Songs again, if I allow album/CD tracks from last year that did not qualify last year due to my fairness decision.

Here's the real interesting part: The last two songs that I listened to by other bands both showed a very specific Nicki Minaj influence and those are rock bands I'm talking about. That tells it all. I was hoping to hear some of those songs on the radio, but that doesn't matter since she will be getting in with these other songs anyway.

Another key point is that the Foo Fighters smashed the 25 Best Rock Songs of 2011 with 5 songs on the list. I bought their CD "Wasting Light" earlier in the year/ Nicki Minaj had 3 songs in the 25 Best Pop Songs of 2012 and 2 songs as crossover songs to the 25 Best Rock Songs. I also bought her CD, the Deluxe Edition of "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded" (Explicit) in 2012. I didn't realize how many great Pop and crossover artists and bands there would be in 2012 and I didn't think I could be fair and listen to all their songs. What I'm saying here is it's clear to me that Nicki Minaj was every bit as great in 2012 as the Foo Fighters were in 2011.