The last six years, starting in 2017, I posted 10 musical recommendations per week on this blog. A total of well over 3.000 tracks, mostly by upcoming – often female (fronted) – artists from all over the world. As I explained yesterday, Carte Blanche Music is entering a new era. One in which I’ll focus my efforts on my constantly updated Spotify playlist.

For sure, that doesn’t mean the blog is closing down. It’ll continue to be the home of my ‘best of’ collection (Werner’s Weekly) on Monday mornings (CET) and my favourite new track (the Carte Blanche Music Wildcard), every Wednesday morning. Also, I’ll post the latest additions to my playlist on Saturdays. For updates, follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

No better way to round up the last six years than by publishing the Your ‘All-Time’ Favourites, a chart compiling the 500 most popular (as in best-read) Carte Blanche Music recommendations from 2017 to 2022. You’ll find the Top 25 below, but click through for the full list. My original recommendations are behind the links. If you’re an artist, don’t be shy and search (Ctrl+F) to find out if you made the list. You might be surprised…

Enjoy and thanks for joining the ride so far. Follow the Carte Blanche Music playlist (click ‘♥’ in Spotify) for many more recommendations to come!

Your ‘All-Time’ Favourites (2017-2022)

1. Videoclub – Roi
2. Wildcard (week 7): Drew Sycamore – 45 Fahrenheit Girl
3. Aili x Transistorcake – Dansu
4. Wildcard (week 13): Placebo – The Prodigal
5. Super db – Wait For Me
6. Wildcard (week 12): Shanguy – Toukassé
7. Japanese Breakfast – Paprika
8. Saint Motel – A Good Song Never Dies
9. IBE – Table Of Fools
10. Angèle – La Loi De Murphy
11. Wildcard (week 22): Håkan Hellström – Alla Drömmar Är Uppfyllda
12. Rick Astley – Every One Of Us
13. Friedberg – Go Wild
14. Wildcard (week 26): Videoclub – En Nuit
15. Agnes – Here Comes The Night
16. a-ha feat. Ingrid Helene Håvik – The Sun Always Shines On TV (MTV Unplugged)
17. Angèle – Libre
18. Temples – Paraphernalia
19. Lola Le Lann – Portofino
20. Pixey – Free To Live In Colour
21. Eliza & The Delusionals – Just Exist
22. Videoclub – Enfance 80
23. Izzy Bizu (feat. Chris Martin) – Someone That Loves You ’19
24. Mina Okabe – Miss Those Days
25. Just – Walk Slow Smile More Read More →

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