JAY Z feat. Justin Timberlake - Holy Grail

Joe writes: I'm not sure what I think about the Jay Z album yet. I'm not even sure what I think about his contributions to this track. But Justin Timberlake's bits are sensational - some of the best melodies since Rihanna's part on Love The Way You Lie. I wonder who wrote the melodies? Whoever it is might have ended up with a small percentage of the song as there are nine songwriters listed including three members of Nirvana thanks to the Smells Like Teen Spirit steal. The most likely candidate apart from JT is Terius "The-Dream" Nash.

Daddy I've fallen for a monster

Joe writes: Loving bad men has been the theme of some of the biggest and best songs of recent times including Stooshe's current UK hit Black Heart with its wonderful lyric "Daddy I've fallen for a monster".

See also the biggest hit of 2010, Love The Way You Lie by Eminem feat. Rihanna.

And one of the biggest albums of recent years, Back to Black by Amy Winehouse.

And if you haven't heard Lying Lips (Words I Should Have Said) by Tanya Stephens before, you must.

is Calvin Harris the world's best producer of hit backing tracks?

Joe writes: The backing track alone is good enough to make We Found Love a hit, something that could also be said of Dance Wiv Me by Dizzee Rascal, Calvin Harris and Chrome. Rihanna's video is rather better though.

the tracks of the year 2011

Joe writes: My tracks of the year are:

5. Price Tag - Jessie J (the album came out last year but the single was this year)

4. Jar Of Hearts - Christina Perri

3. Video Games - Lana Del Ray

2. We Found Love - Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris

1. Someone Like You - Adele

My personal favourites are Video Games, Jar Of Hearts, and You Don't Know How Lucky You Are by Keaton Henson (when I first blogged about this, I wasn't involved with it and didn't imagine I could be, but I am now). I also love Foster The People's Pumped Up Kicks but I first blogged about that in May 2010 so it's not a 2011 track to me. Earthquakes by Labrinth feat. Tinie Tempah is the most exciting production of the year.

I had a conversation earlier this year about what a hit is nowadays, because some of the biggest UK artists don't really have anything you'd describe as a hit. Price Tag is a hit song in the old-fashioned sense.

We Found Love is the best Calvin Harris track and it's competing with Umbrella as the biggest and best Rihanna track. It seems Calvin wrote the topline as well as the backing track - he is a proper talent.

Previously I've only blogged a dance remix of Someone Like You so here's the original: