The 50 Best Songs of 2010: Intro, Rules and general rambling before it starts tomorrow

I CANNOT BELIEVE IT'S THAT TIME OF THE YEAR AGAIN! Time flew, and I got lazy these past few months. That's changing right now. I'm back to truckloads of scheduled posts and hours of typing away, reminiscing on a year full of music. There's no way I wouldn't do this.

YES! I'm back after a long hiatus (in isolation, blog-wise) because apart from stressing out from school, I was getting this series/list/special ready! (in simpler words, I was cramming it) Why? Because I do it every year and I have absolutely no intention of stopping, even if I'm swamped with work right now. That and it gives me the chance to talk about songs I liked this year, but never got to feature because either I didn't have enough to say to make up a full review, I was stressed and didn't have the time, or I just didn't feel like writing about them.

Read on for a short "briefing" before we commence with the countdown tomorrow.

For those who just started reading PRN this year, (I hope people like that exist!) every December I release a list of my favorite songs of the year. They don't necessarily have to be singles or major releases, but I had to have enjoyed them at some point of the year. It's my way of summarizing everything I've covered during the span of 12 (or 11) months, and making sure I end the year with the songs I personally love - the main reason why I started PRN in the first place was to write about music I enjoy.

My "best of" lists also exist so I can look back on them in the future - for me, the past is just as important as the present and you have to learn the past to be able to write about the present. I'd like to think that these lists best reflect the state of music in my opinion for their specific years.

Please note that because I've cut the list to only include the top 50, certain artists may not be included, or spoken of, at all. This is not because they didn't bring out any good songs this year, but because there are 50 (or more) other better songs that that. During the previous best of lists I included all the songs I personally liked then just took it from there, but this year's list is not only ranked, but limited as well - for a number of reasons you don't have to know just yet. ;D

I've made a few changes to the rules this year (like I do every year), to accommodate all the kpop I have and the Hallyu wave stuff.

1. This is in no way a definitive list because I didn't listen to every single song released this year - this is technically "the 50 best songs of 2010 from Nikki's iTunes library", I have no intention of making this the list of the year or something. It's my list of the year.
2. The song must be on an album, single or EP (mini-album in Korean vocab) released and promoted between January 1, 2010 and November 30, 2010 but it could also have been a standalone song - a one off, as long as it was officially released in 2010. It may have been on an album released before 2010 but was featured on a single or EP in 2010, or vice versa.
3. One entry per artist, per territory/country/language. However, this does not mean that the artist only had one good song this year - he/she/they could have had a whole album full of fantastic songs, but the purpose of this rule is to show the variety in pop this year. I'm sure you wouldn't want to see the list full of DBSK and SHINee. So for example, JYJ had Japanese, Korean and "international"/English releases this year - the list allows one song per language/country.
4. If an album released prior was given a re-release in 2010, only the singles released for and after the re-release PLUS the added tracks will be eligible. Tracks that were on the previous album released before 2010 will be disqualified.
5. Live performances are eligible only if they are featured on an album officially released by the record label or can be bought via iTunes or other digital music stores.
6. Covers and songs from compilations are also eligible rule #3 still applies.

How the posts work:

This year's countdown is a lot simpler than last year's, because the structure is a lot more familiar. I've ranked the 50 best songs of the year from 50 to 1, and starting tomorrow I'll be counting down to the #1 song of the year. Picked by me.

The actual posts will include the single cover if it was an official single or the album cover if it wasn't a single, background on the song, mentions of around when I was listening to it and a general review plus a music video or just the track itself. (again, it depends on whether or not it was a single) No ratings for this, as they've already been ranked, and if ever I've reviewed this, the ratings I gave them back then do not count towards their final rank.

I guess that's it. ;D

I start with #50 and #49 tomorrow, and end with #1 on New Year's eve! Also, like every year, December is time for my Christmas playlist, and a spattering of holiday-themed posts. Still thinking about whether or not I'll be doing a list of the best albums of the year, but it will come towards the end of December if it does.

*deep breath* I CAN DO THIS!