The Best Songs of 2006

According to Matthew, that is. Here's his list from #100 to #31. To hear the top 30, check out The World's Slowest Dance Party 2006 Countdown on Friday December 15th, from 11pm until 1am EST.

100. I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor, Arctic Monkeys
99. I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor, Sugababes
98. Why Can't I Make You High, Dani Siciliano
97. A Line You Can Cross, Lansing-Dreiden
96. What's A Man's Paris, Darker My Love
95. When You Wasn't Famous, The Streets
94. Move Along, All American Rejects
93. I'm No Lover, Antarctica Takes It!
92. One More Try (Vocals by Antony) , My Robot Friend
91. What Fades First (Demo), Aislers Set

90. O Love Is Teasin', Isobel Campbell
89. Clever Girls Like Clever Boys Much More Than Clever Boys Like Clever Girls, Pelle Carlberg
88. Smash Your Head, Girl Talk
87. Already Gone, Stuart A. Staples
86. Beanbag Chair, Yo La Tengo
85. The Operation, Charlotte Gainsbourg
84. Just, Mark Ronson
83. Waiting For The Moon To Rise, John Wayne Shot Me
82. Crush, Annie
81. Riddles, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts

80. Chosen One, The Concretes
79. Still Feels Like Tears, Broadcast
78. Riff-Raff, Pipas
77. Frozen Feet Tacks, The Boy Disaster
76. Triggering Back, Benoit Pioulard
75. Melo de tabaco, Bonde do Role
74. London Bridge, Fergie
73. Nothing But Green Lights, Tom Vek
72. Wuthering Heights, The Puppini sisters
71. Who Smells Marshmallows?, Lucky Lucky Pigeons

70. Jessica, Kaki King
69. Minimal, Pet Shop Boys
68. Bad Reputation, Luke Haines
67. Good, Not Great, Mission of Burma
66. Michigan Seems Like A Dream To Me Now, A Passing Feeling
65. I Was A Sunny Rainphase, Stereolab
64. Gold Lion, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
63. Strangelove, Sarah Nixey
62. Sleeping With His Gun, Indian Moon
61. Give Me Back My Man, Boyracer

60. Herculean, The Good The Bad And The Queen
59. Sorry, Madonna
58. Condition Of The Heart, Susanna And The Magical Orchestra
57. Knife, Grizzly Bear
56. Something Kinda Oooh, Girls Aloud
55. Dance In My Blood, Men, Women, & Children
54. Til Eru Fr3ò4, Benni Hemm Hemm
53. Apple Orchard, Beach House
52. We Will All Asphxiate, Money Can't Buy Music
51. Dancing With Myself, Nouvelle Vague

50. Hips Don't Lie, Shakira
It was totally impossible to not hear this song every four seconds for the entire spring, summer and fall, and, despite the fact that even Shakira sounds kinda bored singing it sometimes, that loopy horn part kept me from getting annoyed by it.

49. We Hate The Kids, The Indelicates

48. Ring The Alarm, Beyonce
I'd probably like this song a lot more if it didn't make me think about chinchilla fur all the time.

47. Steady As She Goes, The Raconteurs
It really does sound like the love child of the White Stripes and the Queens of the Stone Age. Which is good, because they're just about the only two big rock bands I like anymore and neither one of them had albums this year.

46. Plain Boyish, The Music Lovers
After I spend too much time in gay clubs, it's always refreshing to remember that there's a lot of really gay music out there that's not, like, house remixes.

45. At Madam Plum's, Stephin Merritt Speaking of which....

44. Sally's Song, Fiona Apple
I only saw the Nightmare Before Christmas once, when I was about twelve, and I didn't really like it that much. But this song is pretty awesome

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43. Lived In Bars, Cat Power
I don't think Cat Power sold out or anything, but I think The Greatest is my least favorite album of hers--not because of the horn sections or anything (I like those), but because the songs all kind of sound the same.

42. L.O.V.E., Ashlee Simpson
Back at the beginning of the year I thought this song was totally awesome. Eleven months later it's a little less exciting. But still, a song about girls standing in a circle and clapping. How can you not love it?

41. XR 2, M.I.A.
Whistle whistle blow blow, here we here we go go&. Okay, so I'm cheating because this isn't actually out until next year. But it leaked on the interweb two months ago so I feel like it's fair to put it on this list&. Fast fast beats, slow slow delivery. Even harder to sing along with than anything on her first album, oddly.

40. Skylon!, Gruff Rhys
It's fourteen and a half minutes long, it's about bombing an airplane, and it doesn't at all suck. Go, the Welsh!

39. Blackwell (Peel Session), The Delgados
Originally recorded twelve years ago for the Scottish band's first Peel Session, it was released this year on their awesomely fantabulous Complete Peel Sessions double CD. And, like, how distraught are you about a lack of any more Peel Sessions?

38. We're From Barcelona, I'm From Barcelona
I loved this song. Then I didn't. Then I did. Then I didn't. Now I do again. It has a cool video, despite it being by probably the two dozen least attractive people in Sweden.

37. TV Destroy, Darkel
Why did nobody make a big deal about this album? It's half of Air, for Chrissakes! Although, if you didn't know that, you'd probably assume this song was by Japanese women.

36. Waiting For You, Jarvis Cocker (featuring Thom Yorke)
This song is kind of a mess, but it's a pretty mess made by men I thought were pretty during my teenage years. I don't think they're pretty anymore.

35. We Are Hot, Snakes Say Hisss!
From the wilds of Saratoga Springs, New York, on a label with the most annoying packaging ever, comes this band that's sort of like a cross between Bright Eyes and Whitney Houston, only not as weird or bad as that might sound. Part of this song always makes me start singing "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On." I'm not sure why.

34. Postcards From Italy, Beirut
If last year was the year of the cheerleader, this was the year of the gypsy orchestra. Or orkestar, if you will. This is one of the more straightforward pop songs in the Beirut oeuvre.

33. Harrowdown Hill, Thom Yorke
I don't think it's as unlike Radiohead as all the critics said, but I don't care, either, because I still like Radiohead.

32. We Are The Gothic Archies, Gothic Archies
Better than We Are The Pipettes or We Are The Sleepyheads, as far as songs that came out this year that start with We Are The go. I also like to think about three men named Pip, Tentacles, and Death.

31. Ballad Of Bitter Honey, Eef Barzelay
Solo project doesn't sound that much different than the band (see also: Staples, Stuart; Yorke, Thom.) This song's actually really sad, though. I know, I'm a nerd.

Cliquez-ici to see the top 30!