Chris Brown at Number 1 with "Fine China"

Rock and metal dominated the top 5, with three songs, but Brown's hit remained Number 1 after also being the top song for the first half of 2013. Katy Perry had the most songs on the list, a perfect 3-for-3 in 2013 getting all three of her singles among the 25 Best. Motorpsycho was a very close second with two songs, and was being considered for a third song of 2013. Nicki Minaj got the same two songs on both the rock and pop lists. This is my list after many hours of comparing songs. 

25 Best Pop Songs of 2013

1. Chris Brown, Fine China

2. Mudhoney, Chardonnay

3. Five Finger Death Punch, Battle Born  

4. Katy Perry, Unconditionally 

5. Motorpsycho, Ratcatcher 

6. Zedd feat. Foxes, Clarity 

7. Nicki Minaj, Automatic 

8. Alice In Chains, Voices 

9. Justin Bieber, Roller Coaster 

10. Bruno Mars, Gorilla 

11. อรอรีย์ , สักวัน 

The Coral Bay (Ornaree), Someday

12. The Holydrug Couple, Follow Your Way 

13. Katy Perry feat. Juicy J, Dark Horse  

14. Flower, 白雪姫 (Snow White) 

15. Miley Cyrus, Wrecking Ball 

16. Nicki Minaj, Marilyn Monroe 

17. Alyssa Turkowski, Waiting In Two 

18. Drake feat. Majid Jordan, Hold On We're Going Home 

19. Lady Gaga, Applause 

20. Sylwia Grzeszczak, Pożyczony 

21. Rihanna, Right Now 

22. One Direction, Story of My Life 

23. Katy Perry, Roar  

24. Motorpsycho, Hell, Part 1-3  

25. Imagine Dragons, Demons

Some Truth

Everybody won't get their songs on the 25 Best Pop Songs Of 2013.

There will be 25 Songs on that list.

I'm listening to and comparing songs, so congratulations if I listened to your songs.

Right at this minute, as I'm writing about what I'm doing, I'm listening to the J-Pop girls group 9nine. I found this on www.jpopsuki.tv and I like that website.

More truth? Are you sure? Before this, several minutes ago, I listened to the song "Let Her Go" by Passenger on the hits radio station.

I could have made a mistake here as everyone makes mistakes as a writer sometimes, but I'm trying to show that I do search for what songs are out there in the world. Some people won't let us hear all the songs, but maybe we can find the songs if we put in some effort. I want to wish everyone the best and good luck!

I will post the list when I'm finished and write about both lists after more thought on the rock and pop lists.

2013 Best Rock Songs List Also Has Alternative, Pop, and Other Songs That Rock!

25 Best Rock Songs of 2013

1. Mudhoney, Chardonnay

2. Alyssa Turkowski, Waiting In Two

3. Black Sabbath, God Is Dead?  

4. Vamps, Ahead

5. Katy Perry, Unconditionally 

6. Five Finger Death Punch, Battle Born

7. อรอรีย์ , สักวัน 

    The Coral Bay (Ornaree), Someday

8. Nicki Minaj, Automatic

9. Земфира, Чайка

    Zemfira, Seagull

10. Os Mutantes, Time and Space

11. Motorpsycho, Ratcatcher

12. Miley Cyrus, Wrecking Ball

13. Земфира, Без шансов

       Zemfira, No chance 

14. Vamps, Replay

15. Alice In Chains, Voices

16. Avenged Sevenfold, Hail to the King

17. Stevie Nicks, Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Rami Jaffee,                You Can't Fix This

18. Mazzy Star, California

19. Kohdai Aoyama, City Lights and You

20. Yellow Fang, I don't know

21. Katy Perry featuring Juicy J, Dark Horse

22. Simple Minds, Broken Glass Park

23. Kari Fleskes, Find Love 

     (original by Kari Fleskes)

24. Nicki Minaj, Marilyn Monroe

25. The Residents, Mush-Room

Note: This is my list and my opinion based on comparing many songs. 

More about songs, including lyrics

Last time I wrote: Emotion in songs was important again in 2013 and will be important again this year (2014). However, it's only one factor when I compare songs. Songwriting, how the song sounds overall, if it's interesting, the singing/vocals, and all instruments/sounds/notes and chord changes, and of course melodies, riffs, hooks, and all the words or thinking (beyond words) we can use to describe good (and great) songs are important. 

Here's some More about songs, including lyrics and how I compare songs: I just wanted to add on that lyrics are important but how I evaluate lyrics or words in a song, or compare them may be different than how other reviewers do it. This is something that is hard to describe and like music in songs, I'm not really held to anything specific or rules that say rock songs should sound like this and pop songs should sound like that because the "this is the way we've always done things" kind of thinking and rules are limiting, and prevent people from doing what they want to do. I'm for people making music and songs that branch out in any directions they want to go.

Now I want to explain why EMOTION

I've read lots of comments on YouTube where people especially teens, and some young adults, are being bullied about emotion, their emotions, and emotion in music. The other day, I saw some YouTube video by a  child who was singing a favorite song and in the comments below the video that child was being being bullied by other children or at least it appeared to be young kids. That's horrible. They need to stop being bullies. Let everyone have their chance to be a singer, musician, or anything good that they want to do. Be nice to everyone on YouTube.

I want to say something important and it's that emotion and feeling in singing and music is good, and oftentimes it's great!

Stop bullying people about emotion! Emotion and our human emotions are good and right! Bullies are wrong! Instead of putting someone down with your words, write/create some songs and then we will all be happy for you and proud of you too.

Emotion in songs was important again in 2013 and will be important again this year (2014). However, it's only one factor when I compare songs. Songwriting, how the song sounds overall, if it's interesting, the singing/vocals, and all instruments/sounds/notes and chord changes, and of course melodies, riffs, hooks, and all the words or thinking (beyond words) we can use to describe good (and great) songs are important..

EMOTION

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.

Mudhoney's song "Chardonnay" is Number 1

This is my list of what I think are the Best Rock Songs of the first half of 2013. There are rock songs, but also alternative (rock), pop, and metal. Mudhoney is at Number 1 followed by Alyssa Turkowski and yet another great song by Black Sabbath, followed by the the collaboration (or is that a supergroup for one song) with Stevie Nicks on vocals, nearly tying. This is a list of songs released up to the end of June. There were some very good and great songs released in July, but I'm counting those as songs of the second half of 2013.

10 Best Rock Songs of 2013's first half

Band (or artist), song

1. Mudhoney, Chardonnay
2. Alyssa Turkowski, Waiting In Two
3. Black Sabbath, God Is Dead?
4. Stevie Nicks, Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Rami Jaffee, You Can't Fix This
5. Killswitch Engage, In Due Time
6. Slash, Anastasia
7. Big Ass, Music for Life...
    ดนตรี...เพื่อชีวิต
8. Chris Brown, Fine China
9. Airbourne, Live It Up
10. Halestorm, Freak Like Me

Alyssa Turkowski- Waiting In Two (Original Song)

This is a great song and I can't stop listening to it. I've been following Alyssa Turkowski's songs on YouTube since last year and she was very close in the final comparisons of 2012 songs, especially for another of her songs that is very nice-sounding with it's layered vocals. It's called "No Trust".

I may choose to allow some songs such as that one to get on a list in 2013 but haven't decided that for sure. Some artists, including bands, are releasing songs on YouTube or in other countries one year, then putting out the radio singles of the same songs the next year. Also, I couldn't listen to all songs last year and wanted to give bands and solo artists a chance to release more singles in 2013.

I only two main categories (of song lists) and those are Rock and Pop. I can feel this song in my heart, think about it with my mind, and of course hear it with my ears. If my heart, mind, and ears could talk I'm sure they would say what I'm typing and it's that "Waiting In Two" by Alyssa Turkowski could be on either list, or both.
Great song!