2018 was a freakin’ fantastic year for poprock! How do I know? Every year-end I put together a playlist of tunes released that year. In 2016 it consisted of 58 songs clocking in at just over 3 hours. By 2017 that list expanded to 98 songs running over 5 hours. This year the list exploded to 175 songs going on for over 9 hours! My list of should-be hit singles had to expand to a top 50 just to accommodate all this talent. Hit the links below to find each artist as featured in my original blog post this past year or to go to their bandcamp or Facebook page if I didn’t write them up.

So, without further ado, here is Poprock Record’s should-be hit singles for 2018:

1. Daisy House “Open Your Eyes”
2. Oberon Rose “No Stranger”
3. Ruler “Unhindered Pace”
4. William Duke “Carole and the Silver Screen”
5. Aaron Lee Tasjan “End of the Day”
6. Car City “(Don’t) Give Up On Love”
7. Greg Pope “Forget About You”
8. Modern Space “Flip for It”
9. Summer Magic “Attraction Corridors”
10. Bill Lloyd “Satellite”
11. Arthur Alexander “I’ll Get Your Love Someday”
12. The Spindles “I Want My Baby Back”
13. Starbelly “Lay Low”
14. The Essex Green “Sloane Ranger”
15. Michael Simmons “No More Girls”
16. Astral Drive “Summer of ‘76”
17. Caddy “Miracle Turn”
18. Danny Wilkerson “How She Lost Heart”
19. Bird Streets “Betting on the Sun”
20. David James Situation “I Should Know”
21. Ben Talmi “Chances”
22. Nick Piunti “No Return”
23. Michael Slawter “Summer’s Kind”
24. Henry Chadwick “I Can Stick Around”
25. Cupid’s Carnival “She Don’t Care”
26. Super 8 “Your Love is my Blanket”
27. Jeremy Messersmith “Monday, You’re Not So Bad”
28. Freedom Fry “Past Lives”
29. Cape Cartel “More”
30. Gentle Hen “She’s Got It”
31. Daniel Romano “Anyone’s Arms”
32. Hurry “Waiting for You”
33. J. Eastman and the Drunk Uncles “No Political Agenda”
34. The Connection “The Girl is Trouble”
35. Even “Out of the Woods”
36. The Tearaways “I Could Love You Forever”
37. Richard Turgeon “Look Away”
38. Dot Dash “Unfair Weather”
39. Brad Peterson “Whispering”
40. Rob Bonfiglio “Passenger Seat”
41. The Maureens “20 years for the Company”
42. Extra Arms “Why I Run”
43. Wiretree “Rainy Corner”
44. Jim Shorts “James Tailored”
45. Vegas with Randolph “Women in Airports”
46. Billy & Dolly “Everything is Off”
47. The Wellgreen “Take What You Get”
48. Glen Robinson “Get You Down”
49. Sofa City Sweetheart “Stop the Thinking”
50. Wyatt Blair “Gotta Get Away”

For the second year running Daisy House tops my list of should-be hit singles. I have simply run out of superlatives to describe the musical genius of this band. Great songwriting, a killer 1960s vibe, flawless production and performance – it just doesn’t get any better than this. Do yourself a favour and head over to Bandcamp to download their whole catalogue. Oberon Rose came a close second with what must be one of the coolest singles rolled out this year. Ruler ruled my playlist for a good part of 2018, with “Unhindered Place” just one of the great songs on his album. I love the way William Duke’s guitar sounds like a jangle waterfall on his hooky masterpiece “Carole and Silver Screen.” And Aaron Lee Tasjan is a real find – so many possible selections – but more on that with my upcoming ‘20 must-have LPs for 2018’ post. I could go on … (but click on the links to get the full story).

I hope you enjoy these fifty songs enough to click on over to some of the artists’ web real estate and help them along career-wise. 2019 promises to be another hungry year for many of these mostly struggling artists – so do your part: buy their music and go see them live when they come to your town.