We’ve had the Top Singles and Albums/EPs, now is the time to list the most popular articles of 2022 as decided by the number of page views.
There are no new releases right now so there is no-one likely to gain last-minute entry to this list but there will be a new review at midnight on 29th/30th December, and it is a tasty one from Sweden.
Obviously I left out views of the Home Page and the About/Contact page; this list is purely of articles, mainly about singles but four of them, including the most-read one are actually feature/news items, proving there is always a demand for them.
I also omitted the Singles of the Year review which otherwise would have been fourth.
Gratifyingly, all five of the Nordic countries are represented.
Incidentally, the fact that most of them are singles reviews underscores my justification for doing so many of them even if albums and EPs are more ‘intellectually satisfying.’ It seems that single reviews are what most readers demand.
So without further ado here they are, in reverse order:
#10 – Fríða Dís (Iceland) – Baby you are bad news (track from album Lipstick On) (ft. Soffía Björg)
“A powerful, driving, retro pop song with dominant guitar and bass lines which almost drown Fríða out at times. It’s catchy and you’ll soon find yourself humming along.” It features a cameo from Iceland’s retro-pop queen, Soffía Björg.
#9 – Weekend Intermission – Greatest ever songs (2) – Nightwish (Finland) – Ghost Love Score
Nightwish appear frequently in NMC. They are after all my favourite band and, as objectively as I can be I honestly believe they are the best-performing live band, and possibly the best, period, in the world. And this is their signature song. This article was the second in a series of ‘Greatest Ever Songs’ which I then had to sideline, but the intention is to pick it up again, soon.
“So what’s so good about ‘Ghost Love Score’? Firstly, if it doesn’t raise goose bumps then you haven’t got any. From a fairly restrained, sophisticated opening it grows into a crescendo and then a climax that is almost orgasmic…”
#8 – Maylen Rusti (Norway) – Romeo & Julie (Single)
“Releasing a new song into the sonnet-sphere after a lengthy break, Maylen revisits the Bard’s tragic love story in which the two main characters, Romeo and Juliet, are supposed to be sworn enemies but fall in love.” (Also featured in the Singles of the Year review).
#7 Inki (Iceland) – Playing with fire (single/track from forthcoming album)
Believe it or not, Inki released two singles that we are aware of and both of them made it into this list. She must have quite a following in Iceland. This one, the latter of the two, and on which she sings for the first time, prompted me to say. “What she’s done is to conjure up a danceable pop song with gravitas, and that’s no easy task,” and “I don’t know if Inki’s ever appeared at Iceland Airwaves but if she was on this year’s list I’d be booking my flight right now.” (Also featured in the Singles of the Year review).
#6 – Rikke Normann (Norway) – The art of being home alone (EP)
We’re backwards and forwards between Iceland and Norway just now and Rikke Normann is an artist that I discovered this year.
“All of the songs, ‘I will try’, I dunno love,’ ‘Unfollow’ and ‘Melted Snow’ are dripping with melody while her vocal delivery of these versions could have come right out of a Disney movie. If no-one has been on the ‘phone to Rikke from Burbank they need to reassess their priorities out there, urgently.”
(Also featured in the EPs/albums of the Year review).
#5 – Weekend Intermission – debate – which was the best all-girl band?
A feature article in which I chose to ignore the claims of the likes of The Bangles and Sleater-Kinney and focused instead on Norway’s Katzenjammer, and from sunny California, The Go-Go’s
In the end I couldn’t decide between them and left it open as a tie.
#4 – Bina (Sweden) – Woman from before (single)
Sometimes we’ll do a ‘world premiere’ of a song, or more often of a video and they often draw in many readers. We did one for the relative newcomer Bina earlier in the year but the one that got more page views was actually this follow-up single from June.
“If you’re anything like me you’re thinking this is someone like Elaine Page, singing the finale to a musical you’ve never come across before. I’m serious.”
#3 – Lydmor (Denmark) – LSD Heart (single from forthcoming album Nimue)
Lydmor got an album review as well and this single is taken from it. She also took part in the ‘Five Course Musical Feast’ feature.
The ‘Nimue’ album is made up of ‘acoustic’ covers of previous songs and some new ones.
“I didn’t think the original could be improved upon much but just like Fiona Apple she can deliver the same song in a different fashion every night… The end result is something that is both delightful and utterly excoriating and acidic at the same time. There are few artists capable of that.”
#2 – Inki (Iceland) – Love of my life, bad guy (track from the album Brotabrot [Violation])
“This was Inki’s first single to be featured in NMC this year, one in which chased down current and ex-inmates of Reykjavik’s Women’s Prison, and invited them to be interviewed for an album against a backdrop of a variety of music styles including hip-hop to create a ‘story’ of the place, relating imprisonment to entertainment. Prisoner Cell Block H meets Neighbours.”
#1 – Nightwish (Finland) – Is This the #1 Female Rock Singer in the World?
This article, which asked whether Floor Jansen is the world’s #1 female rock and pop singer, had 43% more views than the second-placed one and is out on its own. But then again there are millions of fans of this band, which is the world’s most ‘reacted to’ on YouTube and anything published which concerns the band tends to spread quickly amongst them.
“What I noticed far more here is that she seems to sing not only from her vocal chords but also her entire frame. The power generation is remarkable.”
