Idolator’s Year-End Top 40: Because You Can Never Have Enough Download Recommendations In Your Life

A reader inquired yesterday as to why Idolator publishes its “Year-End Analysis” series, collecting and scrutinizing “Best Of 2007” lists from various music publications. There are many reasons, really, but the biggest is that, judging by the reaction to the handful we’ve written so far, you all really like them. (Well, maybe “like them” isn’t quite right, considering the tone of your comments. But you definitely feel something.) But occasionally we do yearn to let you know what were our favorite songs of 2007. Which is why we sat down with iTunes, hemmed and hawed for a while, shot a bunch of e-mails back and forth, poked fun at each other at least once, and made a list.

Every day, for the rest of December, we’ll be posting two entries counting down Idolator’s 40 favorite songs of 2007. No, it’s really that simple. The list is my 20 favorite songs smooshed together with Maura’s 20 favorite songs. (Guess which ones each of us will be writing about?) After each entry is posted, it will be added to the master list below, and you can use this post as both a running tally and an easy way to check out the indvidual entries. The countdown itself ranges from the most inescapable Billboard hits of the year to tunes that we hadn’t even heard of until the other one pointed them out to us.

Which is kind of the point: These are the 40 songs from 2007 that we most want to share with other people, the songs that made us laugh, cry, dance (badly), do bedroom (or otherwise) karaoke, and hit “repeat” until we had annoyed everyone within earshot. People almost always misread the word “best” when it’s usually just a gussied up way of saying “favorite,” but especially in blogville, “best” has taken on rather cynical marketing-style connotations for most people when coupled with the words “new” and “music.” So forget “best” for a minute, and think of this simply as a playlist of awesome songs that defined the year for Idolator, at least a few of which we hope you might love as well, styled as a Top 40 countdown because we’re still obsessed with Shadoe Stevens and Casey Kasem after all these years. Plus, you know, how fair would it be to all those folks covered in “Year-End Analysis” if we didn’t give them the opportunity to pick and prod at our own year-end list?

Idolator’s 2007 Top 40 List Of Awesomeness

40. Ne-Yo, “Addicted” 39. Melt Banana, “Blank Page Of The Blind” 38. Spoon, “The Underdog” 37. Lloyd, “Get It Shawty” 36. Sugababes, “About You Now” 35. Big Business, “Just As The Day Was Dawning” 34. Kylie Minogue, “2 Hearts” 33. Eve, “Tambourine” 32. Tiffany Evans, “Girl Gone Wild” 31. Kanye West, “Flashing Lights” 30. YACHT, “See A Penny (Pick It Up)” 29. Marnie Stern, “Every Single Line Means Something” 28. Bat For Lashes, “What’s A Girl To Do?” 27. Charlotte Hatherley, “Very Young” 26. Tegan and Sara, “Back In Your Head” 25. T.I., “You Know What It Is” 24. Carrie Underwood, “Before He Cheats” 23. LCD Soundsystem, “Us V. Them” 22. Amerie, “Gotta Work” 21. Swizz Beatz, “It’s Me Bitches” 20. Rihanna, “Umbrella” 19. Battles, “Atlas” 18. Tracey Thorn, “Raise The Roof” 17. Lil Wayne, “I Feel Like Dying” 16. Nelly Furtado, “Say It Right” 15. T-Pain, “Calm The Fuck Down” 14. M.I.A., “Paper Planes” 13. Bobby Valentino, “Anonymous” 12. Wye Oak, “Warning” 11. Rihanna and Ne-Yo, “Hate That I Love You” 10. Lloyd, “You” 09. Lil Mama, “Lip Gloss” 08. Sissy Wish, “Float” 07. Rich Boy feat. Polow Da Don, “Throw Some D’s” 06. Siobhan Donaghy, “Don’t Give It Up” 05. UGK featuring OutKast, “International Players’ Anthem” 04. Fall Out Boy, “”The Take Over, The Break’s Over”” 03. R. Kelly featuring T.I. and T-Pain – “I’m A Flirt (Remix)” 01b. Grinderman, “No Pussy Blues” 01a. Violet Vector And The Lovely Lovelies, “Can You Dig It”