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’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

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

Ahead of your favourites among this year’s Carte Blanche Music recommendations, which I’ll publish tomorrow, these are my personal choices from the songs that came out in 2020. This list holds only 100 tracks, but you can find all of my 994 recommendations in my container playlist Carte Blanche Music 2020.

As always, I love to share some statistics about the Carte Blanche Music Top 2020. These findings are further evidence of the fact that the music radio stations play for you is far from representative of the wealth of great new music out there. Thankfully, there are blogs like Carte Blanche Music that are independent and unbiased, and don’t want to please everybody at the same time. We’re here to surprise you with great new music, no matter what genre or gender, origin or orientation. Just a few statistics:

• Judging from this Top 100 alone (let alone the full container playlist), 2020 was a great year for pure pop music, young artists, ‘80s influences, independent releases, the Australian music scene, queer pop-rock and female vocalists
• A whopping 70% of the tracks in this year’s list feature female lead vocals (and I thought the 60% in the Carte Blanche Music Top 2019 was impressive already)
• Overall, rock ruled. 54% of the tracks in my year-end chart is guitar-based (just over last year’s tally)
• The list clearly shows there are more countries that produce great artists than Great-Britain and the United States alone. This year, more nationalities than ever are represented in my Top 100. You’ll also find artists from Armenia, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland
• As a result, although most lyrics are in English, you’ll also hear songs (partly) sung in French, Italian, Japanese, Spanish and Swedish

The Carte Blanche Music Top 2020 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, just use the shuffle button 😉.

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

• A Is For Arrows – Every Now And Then
• Abbie Ozard – True Romance ^(WC)
• Aili x Transistorcake – Dansu
• Aitana – 11 Razones
• Alex The Astronaut – I Think You’re Great ^(WC)
• Alice & Moi – T’aimerais Que Ce Soit Vrai
• Altered By Mom – Better On The Page
• Amy Allen – Difficult
• Archie X – Loud Boy ^(WC)
• Ava Max – Kings And Queens
• Awolnation feat. Alice Merton – The Best
• Badflower – 30
• Baxtr – Bloom ^(WC)
• Bée – Nothing Alike ^(WC)
• The Beths – Mars, The God Of War
• Betty Who – The One
• Blossoms – It’s Going To Be A Cold Winter
• Bloxx – Off My Mind
• Bloxx – 5000 Miles ^(WC)
• Calogero – La Rumeur
• Charles – Far Gone
• Daði Freyr & Gagnamagnið – Think About Things
• Dagny – Coulda Woulda Shoulda ^(*)
• Don Diablo – Invincible
• Don’t Bring Stacey – Waiting For It
• Dopha – Anti Breakup Song
• Doves – Prisoners ^(WC)
• Dua Lipa – Physical ^(WC)
• Dua Lipa – Break My Heart
• Dua Lipa (feat. DaBaby) – Levitating [Single Version]
• Efecto Pasillo feat. Huecco – Funketón [2020 Version]
• Egoism – You You ^(WC)
• Ella Grace – Unfree
• Ellur – Alive
• The Flowers – You Don’t Say!
• Francesco Gabbani – Il Sudore Ci Appiccica
• Genes – Super Single
• Gin Wigmore – HBIC
• Grace Farriss – All The People ^(WC)
• Gracie Abrams – Friend
• Grand Corps Malade – Pas Essentiel ^(WC)
• Håkan Hellström – Alla Drömmar Är Uppfyllda ^(WC)
• Harper Bloom – Walk My Way
• Hedda Mae – Madness
• The Hold Steady – Family Farm
• Hollie Col – She Knows ^(WC)
• Holy Holy (feat. Queen P) – Port Rd ^(WC)
• Hope D – Second
• Hoshi feat. Corine – Larmes De Croco ^(WC)
• Icona Pop & Sofi Tukker – Spa
• Indochine x Christine & The Queens – 3Sex
• Izo FitzRoy – Red Line ^(WC)
• Jaclyn – Energy
• Jake Bugg – Rabbit Hole
• Joan – Want U Back
• Joel Culpepper – WAR ^(WC)
• Julie Bergan – Commando ^(WC)
• Kailee Morgue – This Is Why I’m Hot ^(*)
• Keleketla! – International Love Affair ^(WC)
• Killboy – That’s OK I’ll Just Fuck Myself
• King Princess – Pain
• Kristiane – Wish I Could Be Your Girl
• La Oreja De Van Gogh – Te Pareces Tanto A Mí
• Lauran Hibberd – Boy Bye
• Lime – Fever
• Lola Lennox – Back At Wrong
• London Grammar – Baby It’s You
• The Lottery Winners – An Open Letter To Creatives ^(WC)
• Lova – Black Converse
• Lova – One Day Left
• Lucas Hamming – Falling
• The Magic Gang – Make Time For Change ^(WC)
• May-a – Apricots
• Miss Li – Therapy
• Miss Machine – Tout Autour
• MisterWives – Rock Bottom ^(WC)
• Monowhales – BL/FF (Fake Friends) ^(WC)
• Ocean Grove – Dream
• ONR (feat. Nile Rodgers) – Kill TV ^(WC)
• Palace Winter (feat. Penny Police) – Richard (Says Yes) ^(WC)
• Pixey – Just Move ^(WC)
• Pyro – Your Love
• Raave Tapes – Habitual
• The Radar Station – Zanzara [2020 Version] ^(*)
• Raye – Love Of Your Life
• Red Rum Club – The Elevation
• Ren – I Drive Me Mad ^(WC)
• Rinse feat. Hatchie – Back Into Your Arms
• Rooue – What You Want ^(WC)
• Sebu with Eraserfase – The Worst That Could Happen To Us ^(WC)
• Semisonic – Basement Tapes
• Sidonie with Delaporte – Mi Vida Es La Música
• Slum Sociable (feat. Kye) – You’re In My Head
• Super-Hi x Neeka – Following The Sun
• T99 vs. Youngr – Anasthasia [Youngr Bootleg]
• Temples – Paraphernalia
• Texas & Wu-Tang Clan – Hi
• Town Of Cats – Lemons ^(WC)
• Veronica Fusaro – Beach
• Videoclub – Enfance 80

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