Best of Entertainment for 2019 - Albums, Songs, Movies, TV, and Graphic Novels

This is about the usual level of eclectic - covering quite a broad spectrum of genres, with electro pop particularly well represented this year. As mentioned in the intro - the quartet at the top of the list has been on steady rotation for most of the year - since each release date obviously - with Bishop Briggs the most recent of those - so possibly she might be a little further down if I had not listened to her quite so much these last few weeks.

There's a number here which feature heavily in the end of year critics' charts - including Angel Olsen, Lana Del Rey, FKA Twigs, Sharon Van Etten, Weyes Blood and Big Thief. Unusually there's just a couple of nods to hip hop here - Young Thug, and Slowthai - from either side of the pond. And we also have a couple of representatives from metal - Rammstein and 3Teeth - the latter of which has not picked up as much acclaim as I expected - but possibly their brand of Industrial/Electonic-Infused Metal is not as accessible as Rammstein's.

Much deliberation has gone into this list - and apart from the very obvious top 4 for me, I somewhat struggled with the order of these - if you want to look at it simplistically imagine it as 4 groups of 5 really. It's all academic really as I've mentioned before - as number positions will change from time to time - so this year I'm just putting in bullet points rather than fixed numbering to signify the fluidity of the ordering! :

• Billie Eilish - When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
• Bishop Briggs - Champion
• Mark Ronson - Late Night Feelings
• Rammstein - Rammstein
• Angel Olsen - All Mirrors
• Lana Del Rey - Norman Fucking Rockwell!
• Bat for Lashes - Lost Girls
• Charli XCX - Charli
• Young Thug - So Much Fun
• Slowthai - Noting Great About Britain
• FKA Twigs - Magdalene
• Rachel K Collier - RKC
• Sigrid - Sucker Punch
• Dawn Richard - New Breed
• Sharon Van Etten - Remind Me Tomorrow
• Weyes Blood – Titanic Rising
• Big Thief - U.F.O.F.
• 3Teeth - Metawar
• Cub Sport - Cub Sport
• Banks - III

For whatever reason - Charli XCX and Christine and the Queens' 'Gone' was my most memorable song of the year - I kept hearing this throughout 2019 and checking to see what it was called (kept forgetting actual song title) - really elegant and obviously considerably hooky melody which should have been a much more massive hit than it was.

Rosalía keeps delivering the goods for me too - I've liked most of what she's released this year. There's evidently quite a few also album tracks on this listing but equally individual stand out singles for me from Georgia, Grimes, Peggy Gou, Stormzy and Jai Paul alongside those already mentioned.

• Charli XCX - Gone / 1999
• Rosalía - Con Altura / Yo x Ti, Tu x Mi / Aute Cuture
• Bishop Briggs - Jekyll & Hyde / Champion
• Billie Eilish - Bury a Friend / Bad Guy
• Mark Ronson - Late Night Feelings / Find U Again / Pieces of Us / True Blue
• Georgia - About Work The Dancefloor
• Rammstein - Auslander / Sex / Puppe
• Bat for Lashes - The Hunger / Jasmine
• Grimes - 4ÆM / My Name is Dark / Violence
• Rachel K Collier - Faith Over Fear (Hectic Remix) / Paper Tiger / Dinosaur
• Peggy Gou - Starry Night
• Stormzy - Vossi Bop
• Young Thug - Hop Off A Jet Sup Mate / What's The Move
• Angel Olsen - Lark / Spring / All Mirrors
• Sharon Van Etten - Seventeen / Jupiter 4
• Dual Lipa - Don't Start Now
• Róisín Murphy - Incapable
• Coldplay - Orphans / Arabesque
• Jai Paul - He / Do You Love Her Now
• Caroline Polachek - So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings / Pang / Door

My top choice here has to be the latest Tarantino - which I rate as one of his best - although not all critics agree with me. I also loved Joaquin Phoenix's nuanced performance in Joker - certainly my tip for the Actor Oscar. And I saw the Favourite so late last year (December 29th) and loved that so much I felt the need to include it here in the third slot.

Knives Out is just a joy from start to finish with a great new side to Daniel Craig's repertoire - one for all the family really. And I truly loved the 3+ hours of Scorsese's The Irishman - which was like a book-end to the Godfather trilogy and Goodfellas - seeing Pacino, De Niro and Pesci all together - lots of ice cream sundaes - and those amazing fluid long-distance tracking shots that no one does as well as Scorsese - I really should have seen it in the cinema - but it's nice to have the bathroom breaks at home!

There's a smattering of horror in here too - definitely not for everyone - but I loved the creative cult traditions that Ari Aster knitted together for Midsommar - one of the most peculiarly magnetic mashups of mesmerising and unsettled viewing I have witnessed in a long time, There were a number of films which disappointed a touch this year, and actually few which were wholly perfect. I won't dwell on negatives though and will just say that people have vastly different preferences, and I would not expect anyone to match up exactly to my favourites listed here!

I am personally not a big fan of horror per se - but that genre is seeing some of the most inventive and creative movie making of recent times - and generally still continues to conjure up surprises while other genres seem to trade more on cliches.

• Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
• Joker
• The Favourite
• Knives Out
• The Irishman
• Midsommar
• Us
• Aeronauts
• Booksmart
• John Wick : Chapter 3 – Parabellum
• Mid90s
• Green Book
• Destroyer
• Hustlers
• Zombieland 2
• Avengers : Endgame
• Alita : Battle Angel
• Ready or Not
• Doctor Sleep
• My Name Is Dolemite

I will admit that I was rather late to Succession - but absorbed both seasons within a matter of days when I came across it at last. This is unlike most TV shows in that there doesn't seem to be a single wholly likeable character here - and most of them are about as downright despicable and anti-hero as they come - although fictional - I still find it a rather frightening reflection of where society has evolved to.

I've been a huge Stranger Things fan from the start, and the added comedy in season 3 made this one of the most fun shows of recent times. The next 3 slots are taken up by dystopian dark-side anti-heroes sort of with leftfield takes on the Super Hero trope - all really enjoyable.

I also loved the puppetry and attention to detail of the new Dark Crystal series, and the similarly detailed Dark Materials. I always enjoy a good documentary and docu-drama - and there are a few still more on my watch-list - while Chernobyl and When They See Us are classics of the genre.

All in all a really eclectic selection with a slight concentration on Super Heroes - it's been a pretty great year all-round for TV series. This listing came before my seeing The Witcher or The Mandalorian - which I hope I will be able to include in next year's overview! :

• Succession
• Stranger Things
• Watchmen
• The Boys
• The Umbrella Academy
• The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance
• His Dark Materials
• Chernobyl
• When They See Us
• Russian Doll
• Jack Ryan
• Good Omens
• Killing Eve
• Fleabag
• The End of the F***ing World
• The Expanse
• The 100
• Carnival Row
• Derry Girls
• Sex Education