New Year usually means quite a lot of reviews of the previous twelve months, and things are no different round these parts. At the end of each year, Mr C gets a chance to have his say on both music and films, and today it’s time to recap his top five songs from 2012.

We’ve previously listed his songs from 2010 and from 2011, but this time it’s all about the music and melodies that were unleashed upon the unsuspecting public last year. What gems did Mr C manage to find?

1. Try - P!nk. “A latecomer to the year’s music. I was sold entirely on this by her live iTunes performance, as iTunes live in London dominated my entire musical influences for the year. Easily my favourite song she’s ever recorded and a fantastic video to accompany it.”
2. She’s So Mean - Matchbox Twenty. “What a comeback album. As much as I like Rob Thomas’ solo work, I missed them as a band. The opening single off their new album is an instant classic. Much like P!nk, love the video and their iTunes Festival performance too.”
3. I Won’t Give Up - Jason Mraz. “When I first heard this, I couldn’t believe he was releasing this as a single. It didn’t seem to have any redeeming qualities as a single but it got inside my head and turned out to be a brilliant choice. A truly fantastic recording.”
4. Hall of Fame - The Script. “Thanks to Danny’s appearance on the UK’s edition of The Voice, Great Britain finally woke up to The Script. Having heard these mostly on American radio until this album was released, it’s great to hear them on national stations. Additionally, the first decent thing Will.i.am’s been involved in for ages.”
5. Somebody That I Used to Know - Gotye. “It was overplayed upon its release. Interestingly, I know nothing about the band from a live perspective, it’s solely from endless rotation on TV and radio that the song stuck in my head. It has echoes of 80s influences which make it stand out from the crowd this year.”

Honourable mentions include Katy Perry, who for the second year in a row released a bunch of songs Mr C really liked but were not good enough to make the final cut. Also, “Scissor Sisters released a cracking tune (Only the Horses) which was accompanied by what can only be described as the worst album released this year, which tainted the original song.”

I must say, I was shocked to see that Taylor Swift was missing from this list, because that song gets played a lot round this house… it’s, like, exhausting. However, we did get a sneak peek at the shortlist Mr C was working from, and whaddayaknow…