Now. Without further ado, here, in alphabetical order, are the 100 artists that will be playing in this year's game:
Adele
AFI
Christina Aguilera
The All-American Rejects
Lily Allen
Animal Collective
Arcade Fire
Arctic Monkeys
Natasha Bedingfield
Beyonce
Bjork
Black Eyed Peas
Blink 182
Bloc Party
Michelle Branch
Brandy
Mariah Carey
Cat Power
Ciara
Kelly Clarkson
Coldplay
Keyshia Cole
Daft Punk
Death Cab for Cutie
Destiny’s Child
Dido
Hilary Duff
Duffy
Missy Elliot
Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Eminem
Evanescence
Fall Out Boy
Fergie
Foo Fighters
Franz Ferdinand
Nelly Furtado
Garbage
Girls Aloud
Green Day
Incubus
Jay-Z
Jojo
Keane
Alicia Keys
The Killers
Kings of Leon
KoRn
Ladytron
Lady Gaga
Avril Lavigne
Leona Lewis
Lil Wayne
Linkin Park
Lykke Li
Madonna
Maroon 5
John Mayer
McFly
M.I.A.
Kylie Minogue
Mandy Moore
Alanis Morrisette
Jason Mraz
Muse
My Chemical Romance
Ne-Yo
Nine Inch Nails
No Doubt
One Republic
Paramore
Sean Paul
Katy Perry
Pink
The Pussycat Dolls
Radiohead
Rihanna
Santigold
Shakira
Sigur Ros
Ashlee Simpson
Britney Spears
Gwen Stefani
Sugababes
Jazmine Sullivan
Taylor Swift
System of a Down
Tatu
T.I.
Justin Timberlake
The Ting Tings
TV on the Radio
Carrie Underwood
Usher
The Veronicas
Kanye West
Weezer
The White Stripes
Amy Winehouse
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
We have
30 newcomers this year:
The All-American Rejects
Animal Collective
Blink 182
Brandy
Cat Power
Keyshia Cole
Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Keane
Kings of Leon
Ladytron
Lady Gaga
Lil Wayne
Lykke Li
John Mayer
McFly
Jason Mraz
Ne-Yo
One Republic
Paramore
Katy Perry
Santigold
Sigur Ros
Jazmine Sullivan
Taylor Swift
Tatu
T.I.
The Ting Tings
TV on the Radio
The Veronicas
and some interesting highlights:
- Like last year, a good third of the list came within the last six hours of vote counting
- Last year, we had six artists who started in the eighties; this year, we only have two - Madonna and Kylie Minogue
- Conversely, a number of artists only became known within the last twelve months, among them Jazmine Sullivan, The Ting Tings, Santigold, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga
So, what do we do now? We play. Here's how the game works:
First Round - These artists will be broken up into ten groups of ten, and each week, they will "play off" against each other. Let me post the artists that will be playing in
Week One:
Michelle Branch
(ineligible:
Are You Happy Now?)
McFly
Garbage
(ineligible:
Androgyny, Bleed Like Me)
Alicia Keys
(ineligible:
No One)
Santigold
TATU
The Killers
(ineligible:
Somebody Told Me)
Jazmine Sullivan
Avril Lavigne
(ineligible:
I'm With You, Complicated)
Carrie Underwood
(ineligible:
Flat on the Floor)
So, what do you guys do now?
Submit a top four - YOUR FOUR FAVORITE SONGS BY THE ARTIST. Here's how it should look:
Hypothetically speaking, of course:
Avril Lavigne
1. Tomorrow
2. Nobody's Home
3. Everything Back but You
4. Innocence
WITH NUMBER ONE BEING YOUR FAVORITE SONG, and NUMBER FOUR BEING YOUR LEAST FAVORITE [of the ones you've chosen].
You don't have to do a top four for each artist - just the ones you're fans of - and, try not to list just four singles - this is a game of exploration and discovery.
PM THE TOP FOURS TO ME BY FRIDAY, MAY 29th at MIDNIGHT.
Also, don't vote for the songs listed as "ineligible" - they played last year.