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 →

My container playlist Carte Blanche Music 2020 doesn’t only include all of the 994 songs I recommended last year. It also holds the 100 best tracks in my opinion, the Carte Blanche Music Top 2020, which I published yesterday. But that’s only my selection. Isn’t it more interesting to see which of my recommendations you read the most? In other words: what were your favourites in 2020?

I think it’s funny to see the Carte Blanche Music blog has a strong archive function. That’s apparent from the number of older posts you still like to visit (and which you find via search engines). A good example is the best read article this year: Toukassé by Shanguy. It stems from 2019, just like 24 other entries in the list below. Even more impressing is La Roi De Murphy, Belgian songstress Angèle’s debut single from 2017 (also her break-through), which is still among the 20 most read blogs in 2020.

Thank you for being such loyal visitors of Carte Blanche Music. Don’t miss a single recommendation by following me on Twitter, Facebook or, new for 2021, Instagram! I’ll do my best to make sure those accounts will soon be your favourites too, just like the tracks below:

1. Shanguy – Toukassé (2019) ^(WC)
2. Saint Motel – A Good Song Never Dies
3. Dopha – The Game
4. Rick Astley – Every One Of Us
5. Lola Le Lann – Portofino
6. Daði Freyr & Gagnamagnið – Think About Things
7. Pyro – Come Back For You
8. Rat Boy – Brave New World
9. Håkan Hellström – Alla Drömmar Är Uppfyllda ^(WC)
10. Gotts Street Park feat. Flikka – Favourite Kind Of Girl
11. Raye – Natalie Don’t
12. Liela Moss – Atoms At Me
13. Friedberg – Go Wild (2019)
14. Lola Lennox – Back At Wrong
15. Fixkes – Dardennen
16. Eliza & The Delusionals – Just Exist (2019)
17. Angèle – La Loi De Murphy (2017)
18. Just Jack (feat. Melissa Jo Heathcote) – Long Grass
19. The Magic Gang – What Have You Got To Lose
20. Videoclub – En Nuit (2019) ^(WC)
21. Jealous Of The Birds – Something Holy
22. Casey Lowry – Psycho
23. IBE – Perfect Storm
24. IBE – Table Of Fools (2019)
25. Lilly Hiatt – Brightest Star
26. Angèle – Balance Ton Quoi (2019)
27. Izzy Bizu (feat. Chris Martin) – Someone That Loves You ’19 (2019)
28. Saint Motel – Preach
29. Videoclub – Enfance 80
30. The Wannadies – Can’t Kill The Musikk
31. Tout Va Bien – This Is How We Say Goodbye
32. The Mountain Goats – Get Famous
33. Izo FitzRoy – Red Line ^(WC)
34. Temples – Paraphernalia
35. Inhaler – My Honest Face (2019)
36. Kristiane – Wish I Could Be Your Girl
37. Miss Machine – Tout Autour
38. Calby – Burnout (2019)
39. Child Of The Parish – Relic Of The Past
40. Zola – Crystal Floors (2019)
41. Raffaella – Ballerina (2019)
42. Gin Wigmore – HBIC
43. Calby – The Everyday Bit (2019)
44. Elsa Birgitta Bekman – All ‘bout Love
45. Just – Dark Days
46. Pixey – Free To Live In Colour
47. boy pablo – 50 Souls And A Discobowl (2019) ^(WC)
48. Merci, Mercy – Fucked Myself Up
49. Royal & The Serpent – MMXX
50. The Vices – In And Out
51. The Radar Station – Subtle Science [2020 Version]
52. Charles – Far Gone
53. Semisonic – Basement Tapes
54. Parov Stelar feat. Muddy Waters – Soul Fever Blues (2019)
55. The Black Keys – Shine A Little Light (2019)
56. Papooz – Theatrical State Of Mind (2019)
57. Jaguar Jonze – Kill Me With Your Love (2019)
58. Esteban – Suburban Paradise
59. Pet Shop Boys – Monkey Business
60. Sitting On Stacy – Chest Hair (2019)
61. Grace Farriss – All The People ^(WC)
62. Mélodie Lauret – À Quoi Tu Penses Quand Tu M’adores ?
63. AKA George – Bad For You
64. Joel Stoker (The Rifles) – Stuck Inside
65. Ethel – Rubikscube (2019)
66. The Big Moon – Barcelona
67. Inge van Calkar – Spinning Around
68. Lux Lyall – Mad With The Moon
69. League Of Wolves – On The Run
70. Charmless i – Superhero
71. Maria Mena – Not OK
72. Alex The Astronaut – Caught In The Middle
73. Rhea – Under My Skin
74. Helmut Fritz – Ça M’énerve [2020 Version]
75. Don’t Bring Stacey – Waiting For It
76. Nana Adjoa – She’s Stronger
77. Stuck On Planet Earth – Ghosts On The Radio
78. Sheppard – Kiss My Fat Ass (2019)
79. The Man Who – Give Me Something (2019)
80. Lead Pony – Soul Sucker (2019)
81. a-ha feat. Ingrid Helene Håvik – The Sun Always Shines On TV (MTV Unplugged) (2019)
82. Barry Moore – Hey Now (2019)
83. Ellie Dixon – Space Out!
84. Catherine Anne Davies & Bernard Butler – Sabotage (Looks So Easy)
85. Gracie Abrams – Friend
86. Roads To Roam – Firework
87. Baxter Dury – I’m Not Your Dog
88. Alfie Templeman – Things I Thought Were Mine
89. Sunbather – Softly Spoken
90. Eliza & The Delusionals – Swimming Pool
91. Pyro – Your Love
92. Aili x Transistorcake – Dansu
93. Marble Waves – Caught In A Current
94. Me & My Toothbrush – Funking Around
95. Corine – Je Danse Le Mia (2019)
96. Raye – Love Of Your Life
97. Michelle David & The Gospel Sessions – Victory!
98. Some Sprouts – At Full Capacity
99. Papooz – Figs And Gorgonzola
100. Fickle Friends – Pretty Great

^(WC)    ex Carte Blanche Music Wildcard