My top pics of The GWIM Project for the past decade (2016-2025)

Originally posted March 2026 THE GWIM PROJECT 2016 PART 2 OF 2 – THE ALBUMS Note: as mentioned in a previous post – I have slightly reduced the amount of listening I have to do, and significantly reduced the amount I’m writing (and you have to read through). I’m only writing up on the albums if I give them a mark of 8 and above or 2 and below. I may drop short comments on others. Otherwise I will simply state my mark. Albums: Marking key at the bottom. Little Mix “Glory Day

Originally posted March 2026 INTRO : We enter 2026 and, quite unbelievably, my 3 rd year doing this project. I went full-pelt on the project in 2025 and came the decision I would have to tone it down somewhat. As much as I was enjoying it, I had put myself in a position where I was compulsorily listening to absolutely hours of music per day, and spending quite a lot of time writing almost every day. It was consuming my life in a way a fun little project should not be. So, I

Originally posted Feb 2026 ALBUMS ALSO – AM I CONTINUING THE GWIM PROJECT? Marking Key at bottom. Ed Sheeran “÷” This kicked off my 2017 listening very well. I’d summarise it as an album that showcases the versatility of the artist. No track is like the last one. For example, if we start from the top, “Erasure” is a striking opening – its like a heavily produced folk number (but one that is largely rapped, interestingly). “Castle On The Hill” is a perfect example of Sheeran’s

Originally posted Jan 2026 INTRO ALSO – THOUGHTS ON HOW THE CHART IS COMPILED ALSO – AM I CONTINUING WITH THIS PROJECT (SEE 2017: Albums & Conclusions). 2017 was the big ‘Ed Sheeran Controversy’ year. Just a few year’s earlier, streaming (which had its own off-shoot chart since 2012) was incorporated into the official charts (2014 for singles & 2015 for albums). The stand-alone streaming chart included any single track that streamed – so it didn’t necessarily have to be a ‘

Originally posted Nov 2025 THE ALBUMS Marking key at bottom George Ezra “Staying at Tamara's” What a great start to 2018! Ezra has that folk-pop sound with a ‘soul’ singing style. This opens strongly with an anthemic (made up word alert) track, “Pretty Shining People” that invites the audience to sing along. Its upbeat in tone and positive in philosophy. Many will know that’s not always my thing, but when its done this well it can be. I'm aware some say that they miss the bal

Originally posted Nov 2025 INTRO A notable point about 2018was that musicals/musical-films had a surge in popularity. “The Greatest Showman” was the #1 album of the year .“Mamma Mia – Here We Go Again”, “A Star Is Born” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” were all not far behind. If you remove those, George Ezra’s “Staying At Tamara’s” was the leading album with Ed Sheeran’s “÷”, the biggest album of 2017, still performing strongly just behind. The biggest single was Calvin Harris & Dua

Originally posted Sept 2025 Albums Marking key at bottom Lewis Capaldi “Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent” I think he's a much more than just a passable song-writer. There are also some very good tracks indeed. An obvious one is “Someone You Loved”. I also really like “Maybe” in its simplicity. However, for me there's nothing (in the music) that makes him standout from his contemporaries. In terms of an ‘album’ there's also far too much reliance on solo vocal accompanie

Originally posted Sept 2025 INTRO 2019. I'm going backwards through the years, so we have come out of the Covid-era into a world where we were blissfully unaware of what was about to happen. I've theorised that ‘The Covid Years’ was a dip in the quality of pop music. However, I can only conclude that if things picking up in 2019 and that that way. I certainly hope so – because my listening schedule for this journey back to the year 2000 sees me spending 7 weeks per year, so 2

Originally posted August 2025 Albums Marking key at bottom Pop Smoke “Shoot For The Stars Aim For The Moon” I think the popularity of this has a lot to do with their death (victim of murder) a few months beforehand. Its OK but that’s about it for me. Its sort of ‘easy listening’ - all fairly simple and standard for this genre. I wouldn’t say it particularly stands out or offers anything different enough to be noteworthy. I do really like “Get It On Me”. 5 Nubya Garcia “SOU

Originally posted August 2025 INTRO I suppose the only thing we are really going to remember about 2020 is that we went into lockdown. We remained in various versions if this for the remainder of the year. Based on the disappointment of 2021-22, I'd say this had a real impact on music and it only picked up in 2023. However, plenty of the music released that year was recorded before lockdown kicked it. So, let’s see........ “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd was the most successf

Originally posted July 2025 ALBUMS: Marking key at bottom ADELE “30” I don’t think I’m going to say lot. Adele is very well established and it’s pretty universally agreed that she’s very good even by those that don’t particularly care for her sort of offering. This is Adele as you know Adele. Its very good. It doesn’t break new ground or delve into new territory. There are some brilliant tracks. She tackle subjects like loneliness and depression in a down to earth, warm, hone

Originally posted June 2025 INTRO: According to my own premise that pop music took a dip during Covid, 2021 should be the worst year as we were in lockdowns or observing major restrictions for the entire calendar year. That said, live music (with major restrictions) did return. Support and money was pumped into live venues. My basic research suggests that there was NOT a drop in the output of recorded music, although (as I previously discussed) much of it was music produced

Originally posted May 2025 THE ALBUMS Marking key at bottom SZA “SOS” I was looking forward to this one – I really liked the single “Kill Bill” and knew this was a massive album. It got mixed reviews, but in my experience most of the greatest albums do. In the UK, it was released right at the end of 2022 and has basically been in the chart ever since, often quite highly placed, and surged back in to the top ten in 2025 following the ‘deluxe version’ being released. But.......

Originally posted May 2025 INTRO: So – this was the last year that video streaming was not included in general chart. I didn’t suspect this was have a major bearing on the chart. I did wonder if it had something to do with the success of some numbers from “Wicked” in 2024. However, there were some similarly (in fact, even more so) successful numbers from “Encanto” in 2022 that evidences otherwise. In fact, this was one of the key years that demonstrated how the inclusion of a

Originally posted April 2025 ALBUMS: Marking key at bottom Lewis Capaldi “Broken By A Desire To Be Heavenly” The most successful album of 2023 that was not a classic album, an album released earlier than 2023, a best of or other compilation album, or one of Taylor Swifts re-make albums. However, it was actually only the 15 th most successful album of the year overall. This is something that I will continue to highlight as a problem with the album charts now. In this case, yo

Originally posted April 2025 INTRO: When I started this project I’d only just missed out on 2023. There was a change to the chart at the beginning of the year - video streaming became included in the general chart. I cant imagine that had the impact that introducing streaming and downloading did. The video streaming chart in isolation, is actually filled with kid's stuff such as “The Wheels On The Bus” and the unstoppable “Baby Shark”. These don’t really feature in the other

Originally posted April 2025 So the project continues but is now split between the present day and filling the 25 year void from 2023 back to the millennium. This means I will still only ever be an expert on pop music up to 1999 and then 2024 onwards. If I dedicated the same listening time to every year as I did to 2024, I'd be in my late 60s before the project is complete. I intend to wrap it up in 3 years - dedicating just 7 weeks per year back to 2010, then just 5 weeks fo