I'm so excited about this update! My November is shaping up to be one giant kick in the face, and the first song update since 2008 will definitely be a bright spot for me!

Sorry for that mistake-The Swell Season seem to be not from Northern Ireland, but from Ireland in general.

How is the anti-commercial factor determined, if I may ask? I'm assuming it's not a judgment call.

Ah, right. I was just thinking that it might answer some of the questions and clear up the matter a little if we had a general idea of how it is determined.

That said, I'm all for this. It'll just make the rare gems move up the lists presumably, which is welcome.

My feeling about mainstream pop is:

-Some of the songs coming out are fantastic, but the rest of the album is usually light filler.

-Some of the songs would be fantastic if they were less electro-stuttery and computerized. There are some pop songs I hate which sounded fantastic on The Voice.

So in summation, the problem with mainstream pop isn't the songwriting, it's the production paradigm of finding a pretty face and sterilizing in production rather than just finding talented singers and letting them sing.

Except for adult contemporary. The problem there is also the songwriting and a general contempt for the intelligence of the audience.

I found one more list that I will include. This is a good one.

http://onethirtybpm.com/features/the-top-100-tracks-of-the-1980s/

Ooh- nice find, Henrik. Love 80s lists- and some great tracks on there.

Hopefully Slant publishes 80s lists next year.