Ahead of your favourites among this year’s Carte Blanche Music recommendations, which I’ll publish next week, these are my personal choices from the songs that came out in 2021. This list holds only 100 tracks, but you can find all of my 998 recommendations in my container playlist Carte Blanche Music 2021.

As always, I love to share some statistics about the Carte Blanche Music Top 2021. If there’s one – sad – common denominator to be found in this list, it’s that most of these songs have been criminally overlooked by radio stations outside the artist’s home countries. Radio playlists are growing more and more uniform, denying the diversity of the music available. Obviously, with over 60.000 new tracks added to Spotify every day the supply is kind of excessive, but more adventurous choices would be very welcome. Knowing this won’t happen, the best you can do is follow the Carte Blanche Music playlist, then I’ll keep you updated 😉. This is what you can expect, based on this year’s Top 2021:

• Mostly (young and) upcoming artists, many of whom release their music independently
• No less than 72% of the Top 2021 features female vocalists, up from 70% in our Top 2020 and 60% in the Top 2019
• We love pure pop songs, but with 40% guitar-based tracks, we’re more rock ‘n’ roll than average. According to Spotify Wrapped, our favourite genres last year were indie pop, modern alternative rock and dance pop, and we agree
• You can expect the best new tunes from all over the world, but even we have our preferences. We have extra warm feelings for music from countries like Australia, France, Canada and Denmark. Just so you know…

The Carte Blanche Music Top 2021 features 100 tracks, which are presented below in alphabetical order. You can listen to them all via the Spotify player. If you prefer another order, the shuffle button is your friend.

Meanwhile, you can read my original recommendations through the links below.

• Ali Barter – You Get In My Way
• Alice Merton – Island
• The Allergies – Move On Baby
• Ally Cribb – Bigger
• Alta Falls – The Fire
• Aly & AJ – Don’t Need Nothing
• Amy Shark – Baby Steps
• Angèle – Libre
• Anish Kumar & Barry Can’t Swim – Blackpool Boulevard
• Archie X – Fight Me
• Baby Queen – You Shaped Hole ^(WC)
• Bakermat (feat. LaShun Pace) – Ain’t Nobody
• Baxtr – In Pop We Trust ^(WC)
• beabadoobee – He Gets Me So High ^{(*) (WC)}
• Blu DeTiger – Blondes
• Buffalo Paradise – Buffalo Paradise
• bülow – Revolver
• Calogero – Centre Ville
• Camila Cabello – Don’t Go Yet
• Charlie Collins – Just My Luck
• Chloe Lilac – 19
• Clara Luciani – Respire Encore ^(WC)
• Clypso – On Our Way ^(WC)
• Coeur De Pirate – Tu Peux Crever Là-Bas ^(*)
• Cold War Kids – What You Say
• Coral Palms – Something In The Air ^(WC)
• Daði Freyr & Ásdís – Feel The Love
• Dead Anyway – Pigs In Blankets
• Drew Sycamore – 45 Fahrenheit Girl ^(WC)
• Dual – Wipe Your Tears Away
• Dua Lipa – Love Again ^(WC)
• Dubstar – Tectonic Plates
• Dylan Cartlidge – Hang My Head ^(WC)
• Eyjaa – Don’t Forget About Me
• Fear Of Tigers – Tiger Blood
• Foals – Wake Me Up ^(WC)
• Foo Fighters – Waiting On A War
• Foxes – Sister Ray ^(WC)
• Grand Corps Malade – Des Gens Beaux
• Haerts – Days Go By ^(WC)
• Halsey – Honey
• Harry Styles – Treat People With Kindness ^(WC)
• Hawke – Pinch Me (Am I Dreaming?) ^(WC)
• Hope Tala – Tiptoeing ^(WC)
• Jaguar Jonze – Who Died And Made You King? ^(WC)
• Japanese Breakfast – Paprika
• Jonas Brøg (feat. Lilian Vieira) – I’m Your Nr. 1 [Brazilian Version] ^(WC)
• Julie Zenatti – France Et Jojo
• Kacey Musgraves – There Is A Light
• King Stingray – Milkumana
• Kinishao – Always In My Head
• Laura Mac – Garage Full Of Dreams ^(WC)
• Lauran Hibberd – Bleugh ^(WC)
• Lights – Prodigal Daughter
• Lissie – Hey Boy ^(WC)
• Lizzie Esau – Bitter Weather
• Lou Hayter – Time Out Of Mind
• Lucy Spraggan – Heartbreak Suites ^(*)
• Madison Olds – If You Wanna
• mags – I Can’t Get Over You
• Maisie Peters – Psycho
• Marina – Purge The Poison ^(WC)
• May-a – Central Station ^(WC)
• Mazy – Flowers ^(WC)
• Mike Posner (feat. James Valentine & Jacob Scesney) – Amor Fati
• Miles Kane feat. Corinne Bailey Rae – Nothing’s Ever Gonna Be Good Enough ^(WC)
• Miss Machine – Regarder Les Choses
• Monowhales – He Said/She Said (I Wait) ^(WC)
• Montaigne – Technicolour
• Niko Rubio – You Could Be The One ^(WC)
• Olivia Rodrigo – Good 4 U
• Orla Gartland – You’re Not Special, Babe
• Palaye Royale – No Love In LA
• Parcels – Comingback ^(WC)
• Päter – Obstinate Brain
• Philippine – Bah Non. ^(WC)
• Placebo – Beautiful James
• The Ramona Flowers feat. Nile Rodgers – Up All Night
• Render Ghosts – Eye Rhyme
• RoseeLu – Playing Alone ^(WC)
• Saint Djuni – All Of My Friends ^(WC)
• Self Esteem – How Can I Help You ^(WC)
• Slothrust – Once More For The Ocean ^(WC)
• Smith & Thell – Pixie’s Parasol ^(WC)
• Stefanie Heinzmann – Labyrinth ^(WC)
• Super db – Wait For Me
• Telenova – Bones ^(WC)
• Thunder Fox – Not For Sale
• Torres – Thirstier ^(WC)
• Tove Styrke – Start Walking
• Troi Irons – She Loves Me Not
• Vistas – Start Again
• Who – Hey! Get Out The Way ^(WC)
• Who Parked The Car – Candle Dance
• Willow feat. Travis Barker – Transparent Soul
• Wilsn – You Know Better ^(WC)
• Wolf Alice – How Can I Make It OK?
• Yelle – Noir ^(WC)
• Youth Sector – Self Exile ^(WC)
• Yuke – Stranger Still ^(WC)

^(WC)    ex Carte Blanche Music Wildcard
^(*)       album track

Ahead of your favourites among this year’s Carte Blanche Music recommendations, which I publish on New Year’s Day, I round off 2019 with my personal choices.

The last year, I introduced you to 979 great new songs via my container playlist Carte Blanche Music; almost 57 hours of music. Exactly 500 of those translated into a written endorsement through this blog. In other words: only one out of each 10 suggestions (and one fifth of all of my posts) made it onto the Carte Blanche Music Top 2019.

Just like the recommendations you can find here every day, this year-end list differs largely from the majority of charts you’ll find. The Top 100 below is filled with the finest pop and rock; and a much larger percentage of rock than you’ll hear on the radio. Most tracks were independently released by upcoming artists from all over the world, and feature female vocals. Just a few statistics:

• 60% of the tracks are sung by women (up from an already impressive 58% in the Carte Blanche Music Top 2018)
• 53% of the tracks is guitar-based (10% more than last year)
• Apart from British and American acts, my list contains artists from Australia (14 of them!), France (9), Canada (5), the Netherlands (5), Norway (4), Ireland (3), Belgium (3), Spain (2), Sweden (2), Denmark (2), Germany (1), Israel (1) and Brazil (1)
• As a result, you’ll not only hear lyrics in English, but also in French, Spanish and Swedish
• Apart from Dua Lipa and Lizzo, you won’t find any hits in this chart. It’s a great way to discover artists, some of which I expect to break through in the years to come

The Carte Blanche Music Top 2019 features 100 tracks. You can listen to them via the Spotify player. As compiling the list was hard enough, the songs are sorted alphabetically. Just use the shuffle button if you prefer another order 😉.

Meanwhile, you can read my original recommendations through the links below.

• Alex Lahey – Isabella ^(*)
• Ali Barter – January
• Alice Merton – Learn To Live
• The Allergies feat. Andy Cooper – 2 Much!
• boy pablo – 50 Souls And A Discobowl ^(WC)
• Alphabeat – Shadows
• Baker Grace – Sad Summer ^(WC)
• Barrie – Drag
• Barry Moore – The Tide ^(WC)
• beabadoobee – She Plays Bass ^(WC)
• Billie Louise – Like Machines ^(WC)
• The Bird & The Bee (feat. Beck) – Hot For Teacher
• Bishop Briggs – Champion
• The Black Keys – Shine A Little Light
• boy pablo – 50 Souls And A Discobowl ^(WC)
• Calby – The Everyday Bit
• Call Me Loop – Self Love ^(WC)
• Charli XCX feat. Christine & The Queens – Gone
• Circa Waves – Jacqueline
• Citizen Kay – Ego
• Clara Luciani – Ma Soeur
• Client Liaison – The Real Thing
• Con Brio & Lyrics Born – Mistakes
• Corine – Je Danse Le Mia
• Countless Numbers – Twice As Hard ^(WC)
• Cyn – Terrible Ideas
• Deacon Blue – City Of Love ^(WC)
• Devon – I Don’t Want 2 B Ur Friend ^(WC)
• Don’t Bring Stacey – Changed My Hair
• Dua Lipa – Don’t Start Now
• Eliza & The Delusionals – Just Exist
• Elliphant – To The End
• Enter Shikari – Stop The Clocks
• Evil Edna – Isle Of Dogs
• Field Music – Only In A Man’s World
• Fitz & The Tantrums – I Just Wanna Shine
• Frank Turner – Sister Rosetta ^(WC)
• Gemme – Sweet Harmony
• Georgia – About Work The Dancefloor ^(WC)
• Georgia – Never Let You Go ^(WC)
• Grace Lightman – Repair Repair [2019 Version]
• Grace Potter (feat. Lucius) – Back To Me
• Halie – Good Kids ^(WC)
• Hayley Mary – The Piss, The Perfume
• Hazel English – Shaking
• Hemliga Klubben – Asshole
• IBE – Table Of Fools
• Inge van Calkar – Get Out Of My Way
• Inhaler – My Honest Face
• Jaguar Jonze – Kill Me With Your Love
• Jain – Gloria ^(WC)
• Jara – Don’t Drop The Funk
• Jay Som – Superbike ^(WC)
• Jealous Of The Birds – Blue Eyes
• Jonas Brøg – That Feeling
• Jon Tessier – For A Little Eye Candy ^(WC)
• Julie Zenatti – Tout Est Plus Pop ^(WC)
• Kakkmaddafakka – Baby ^(WC)
• K.Flay – Sister ^(WC)
• Lauran Hibberd – Hoochie
• Lily Moore – Over You
• Lizzo – Good As Hell / Remix feat. Ariana Grande ^(WC)
• Lizzo – Juice ^(WC)
• Lola Marsh – Echoes
• Lorelei – Skylight
• Lucy Spraggan – Today Was A Good Day
• Lush Puppy – Ms. Grey ^(WC)
• Madame Psychosis – Kapow
• Maggie Lindemann – Friends Go / Remix feat. Travis Barker ^(WC)
• Mat Kerekes – Diamonds
• Mélodie Lauret – 23h28 ^(WC)
• Middle Kids – Beliefs And Prayers
• Miki Núñez – Celébrate ^(WC)
• Nancie Schipper – Take Out The Trash
• Nicolah – Holiday ^(WC)
• Nikki’s Wives – Real Girl
• Owl Eyes – You And I / Le Soleil
• Palaye Royale – Hang On To Yourself ^(WC)
• Pet Shop Boys – What Are We Going To Do About The Rich? ^(*)
• Ride – Jump Jet
• Sebu – The Secret Is Out [Lucas Vidal Arrangement] ^(WC)
• Shanguy – Toukassé ^(WC)
• Sheila & The Kit – Mike ^(WC)
• Sigrid – Don’t Feel Like Crying ^(WC)
• Skunk Anansie – What You Do For Love
• Skylar Grey – Shame On You
• Sofía Ellar – La Revolución
• Spacey Jane – Head Cold
• Stats – The Family Business ^(WC)
• Suns Up – Just Because ^(WC)
• Superbird – Cola Bottle Fizz
• Tape Toy – Sad Girl ^(WC)
• Terouz – Outstanding ^(WC)
• The Heavy – Fighting For The Same Thing ^(WC)
• The Heavy – Last Man Standing
• The Howl & The Hum – Hall Of Fame
• The Howl & The Hum – Human Contact ^(WC)
• The Mowgli’s – Fighting With Yourself ^(WC)
• Videoclub – En Nuit ^(WC)
• Zuzu – Get Off [2019 Version]

^(WC)    ex Carte Blanche Music Wildcard
^(*)       album track