Personal Favorites of 2015

Welcome to 2016! (I wrote this in 2015- scheduled blogs are awesome!) Without further ado, here are 25 of my personal favorites of 2015. If you're not into EDM, you can probably get lost after the first 3 or 4 tracks. Again, there's a Spotify playlist at the bottom if you'd prefer to just do that.

*Due to YouTube embedding restrictions, I've chosen to just link to the videos instead of trying to embed them here. Sorry about that.

Coldplay- “Adventure of a Lifetime”:  This is a very un-Coldplaylike song, but of course I loved it. That Nile Rodgers style beat is a great direction for them to go in. Unfortunately, the rest of the album was considerably slower than this. Hopefully, I can put this in the pop hits list next year.

Sia- “Alive”: Her videos are always weird, so I've just given up on enjoying them at this point. Her voice and her songs are always tremendous, so I have to just like them for what they are.

E-40- “Choices (Yup)”: Did E-40 break the budget for this video? Nope. Was it still awesome? Yup. Is it his best song ever? Nope. Is it the best rap song of the year? Yup. Is he way too old to be dressed like he is? Yup. Is he somehow still relevant though? Yup! Long live E-40!

Matoma & The Notorious B.I.G.- “Old Thing Back”: Matoma came out of nowhere to really hit it big in 2015. It's funny to hear the absolutely filthy lyrics of a classic Biggie song with the sunny, innocent tropical house backing beats of this version. This was a big-time summer jam in 2015.

Avicii- “City Lights”: We now enter the Avicii portion of the list. His album Stories came out in October, and while it wasn't as good as I'd hoped, it was still one of the better albums of the year. His ability to whip up fantastic melodies is still second to none. "City Lights" throws me back to some of the more original Avicii styles, which meant it got heavy rotation from me this year,

Avicii- “True Believer”: Here's another one of the standout tracks from Stories. It's a great album, but I just wish he wouldn't screw around with the production on some of his tracks as much as he does. This one is a particularly bad offender.


Avicii- “Waiting for Love”:  This was the single off of Stories. I'm astonished this didn't become a bigger hit. Just goes to show my hit-predicting senses aren't always 100% correct. Only maybe 99%.

David Guetta feat. Sia & Fetty Wap- “Bang My Head”: I think I must have a secret contractual obligation to include one David Guetta song on one of my year-end lists each year. Either that, or he makes sure he puts out 1-2 quality bangers per year. This year's entry is "Bang My Head," featuring his favorite guest star, Sia, and a bizarre newcomer in Fetty Wap.

Tiesto & KSHMR-“Secrets”: I'm not normally the biggest Tiesto fan- I think his major releases tend to be somewhat bland. But this collaboration with KSHMR was hands-down one of the biggest rage jams of the year. Hard not to get fired up listening to this. Turn it up!

Martin Garrix feat. Usher- “Don’t Look Down”: And now we enter the Martin Garrix portion of the list. I never thought I'd be into him really, after he released "Animals," but almost every song he put out this year was amazing, each in its own way. This was a radio-worthy song that never got proper love here in the US. Shame.

Martin Garrix & MOTi- “Virus”: This one may actually be from 2014, but to me it feels like a 2015 song, so here it is. This is Garrix going in a different direction from "Don't Look Down," but this is another of 2015's absolutely top rage songs.

Martin Garrix-“Forbidden Voices”: Final Garrix song here, this one kind of splits the difference between the other two. It's reflective but it also bumps pretty hard. You can do whatever you want with it. Probably a great festival song, considering its accompanying music video.

Galantis- “Peanut Butter Jelly” And, now we arrive at the Galantis portion of the list. The Swedish duo's June debut album, Pharmacy, may have been my favorite of the year, and "Peanut Butter Jelly" was a major single and highlight. They may never have a radio jam, but they're definitely one of the biggest EDM acts out right now.

Galantis- “Dancin to the Sound Of A Broken Heart”: More Galantis here. This was one of the deeper cuts on the album, but it may have been my favorite. Hopefully it gets big someday!

Galantis- “Gold Dust”: As Galantis songs go, this qualifies as a slow jam. It's hard to put into words what I like about their music, but, as with nearly every other song on this list, melody is paramount. When you combine melody with an underlying bassline and rhythm, well, that's when you have something worth mentioning. Music 101.

Galantis- “Louder, Harder, Better”: Last Galantis song here. They go back to their roots a bit here with a dreamlike female vocal. Easy to get lost in this one, and then you find yourself dancing. Well, maybe you don't, but I do.

Odesza- “Say My Name”: This one may be a little too old for this list, but I'm including it because it reminds me of 2015. Specifically, it reminds me of June, when I went to Firefly music Festival in Delaware and heard this live. It was awesome, and definitely a moment to remember.

Kygo- “Firestone”: Not sure any artist exploded onto the scene as much as Kygo did this year. During the first half of the year, I feel like I exclusively listened to his music. He became less prolific in the second half of the year, which allowed me to branch out more, but he still personified the year for me. This was his breakout single, so here it is.

Kygo- “Stole The Show”: More Kygo here. He helped popularize the tropical house sound which began to seep into pop music this year (ex. Bieber, Justin). So even outside of becoming the fastest artist ever to 1 billion plays on Spotify, he had a massive impact on the music world this year.

Kygo- “Here For You”: In the second half of the year, Kygo came back with a couple new tracks. They sound a little different from his purely tropical-house sound that he came into 2015 with, but they're just as great. This one benefits from a great bassline and great vocals.

Kygo- “Stay”: This one's too new for any music video. It's a late addition, but a worthy one to Kygo's catalog. Enjoy!

Flume feat. Andrew Wyatt- “Some Minds”: This is a strange addition, I admit. It sounds almost like a Beatles song for most of the way through, which, though there's nothing wrong with that, is still unusual for my modern tastes. But trust me, it's worth listening through to get to the final minute or so, at which point Flume unleashes the best beats he's got in the tank. Awesome stuff.

Yellow Claw- “Feel It”: This is definitely the most obscure song on the list this year. It's a deep cut off trap trio Yellow Claw's November debut album Blood For Mercy. I can't really remember how I came across it, but trust me, it's worth a listen. It's not really trap music. It's sort of a weird combination of lots of genres. Definitely in my heavy rotation the last couple months.

Zara Larsson feat. MNEK-“Never Forget You”: I don't do favorites on this list. Technically all of these songs are equal to each other. However, if I did play favorites, this one would be a heavy favorite to be, well, the favorite. No other song hit me as hard, as quickly, as this one did. Watch the video on a good sound system and tell me you don't come away impressed. This is my pick to break out and dominate 2016. There's still time for me to be right!

Disciples- “They Don’t Know”: This was a real late breaking addition to the list for me, I only got into it just a couple weeks ago, but luckily my deadline extends through the whole year. That bassline, that beat...I'm a deep house fan and I don't care who knows! Feels good to let it out.

And that'll do it. Enjoy 2016, and never fear, I'm keeping track of all my favorites so I can hit you with the knowledge at the end of the year just like I always do. Peace!