I’ve grouped songs into three categories, but within those groupings, the order means nothing. The only thing I can say definitively about 2013 is that I did not have anything like a definitive #1.
A-List
Icona Pop, “I Love It”
Britney Spears, “Work B*tch”
Sky Ferreira, “I Blame Myself”
Zedd ft. Foxes, “Clarity”
Evol, “Get Up”
M.I.A., “Sexodus”
Ke$ha,”Die Young”
Mariah Carey feat. Miguel, “Beautiful”
Lana Del Rey, “Summertime Sadness” (Cedric Gervais remix)
B-List
Justin Timberlake, “Mirrors”
Justin Timberlake, Suit and Tie” (Four Tet remix)
Sky Ferreira, “Nobody Asked Me”
Rihanna feat. Mikky Ekko, “Stay”
Parquet Courts, “Stoned and Starving”
Katy B ft. Jessie Ware, “Aaliyah”
Calvin Harris, ft. Elle Goulding, “I Need Your Love”
Pet Shop Boys, “Axis”
Lucius, “Tempest”
Metric, “Breathing Underwater”
Lindstrøm & Todd Terje, “Lanzarote”
Daft Punk, “Get Lucky”
Wussy, “North Sea Girls”
Bajofondo, “Pide Piso”
Bauuer, “Harlem Shake”
Z-List
Christina Aguilera and Pitbull, “Feel This Moment”
Ke$ha and Pitbull, “Timber”
RockCritics.com 
Basically:
1) most of what I end up hearing/liking still reaches me via pop radio;
2) most of what I end up hearing/liking is grounded in disco and house;
3) no country;
4) no hip-hop per se (though there are shadings all over, Evol, M.I.A., et al.), and I don’t know why;
5) few boys;
6) even fewer guitars;
7) glam lives!
These are singles. A songs list would feature these somewhere in A, B, or C: The Quiett “Gettin’ Rich,” Ashley Monroe “Used” (which in a dif. version was on her first alb), Lee Hyori “Show Show Show” (which was originally a Monrose song), will.i.am “Reach For The Stars,” will.i.am “Smile Mona Lisa,” Kate Nash “All Talk,” After School “Dressing Room” (which was co-written by Linda Sundblad), SHINee “Orgel,” Belinda “Esto Es Amor,” Belinda “Nu Me Vuelvo A Enamorar,” and Miss A “HIde & Sick,” not to mention whatever else I’m not thinking of. I’m counting “I Love You” as 2012 but “Harlem Shake” as 2013. Alphabetical within each group, Group B will get a lot of listening between now and P&J deadline Tuesday.
A List (candidates for No. 1)
Baauer “Harlem Shake”
Crayon Pop “Bar Bar Bar”
GLAM “I Like That”
MBLAQ “Smoky Girl”
will.i.am ft. Britney Spears “Scream & Shout”
B List (candidates for Top 10)
2YOON “24/7”
Baek Ji Young “Remember”
Cassie ft. Rick Ross “Numb”
Evol “Get Up”
Gaeko & Choiza & Simon D & Primary “난리good!!! (AIR)”
Qri “Do We Do We”
Tiny-G “Minimanimo”
Wassup “Wassup”
C List (candidates for Eardrums Mixtapes)
(f)x “Rum Pum Pum Pum”
A$AP Rocky ft. 2 Chainz, Drake, Kendrick Lamar “Fuckin’ Problems”
After School “First Love”
Baek Ji Young “Acacia”
Baek Ji Young “I Hate It”
Bajofondo “Pida Paso”
ChoColat “Black Tinkerbell”
D-Unit ft. Zico “Talk To My Face”
Far East Movement ft. Riff Raff “The Illest”
F-ve Dolls “Soulmate #1”
Gaeko “Rhythm Is Life”
G-Dragon ft. Jenova “Crayon (Lam Suet Remix)”
Kacey Musgraves “Blowin’ Smoke”
Lady Gaga ft. R. Kelly “Do What U Want”
Lady Lykez “I Love My Butt”
Lee Jung Hyun “V”
Lim Chang Jung “Open The Door”
Margaret Berger “I Feed You My Love”
Miranda Lambert “Mama’s Broken Heart”
Nine Muses “Gun”
Nyusha “Naedine”
Omar Souleyman “Warni Warni”
Psy “Gentleman”
Rocko ft. Rick Ross & Future “U.O.E.N.O”
Sharaya J “Smash Up The Place”
Sistar19 “Gone Not Around Any Longer”
Stromae “Papaoutai”
T-ara “Do You Know Me/What Do I Do?”
T-ara “No. 9”
T-ara “Target”
Tiny-G “Miss You”
Tren-D “Candy Girl”
Tyga ft. Wiz Khalifa & Mally Mall “Molly”
Vick Allen “I’m Tired Of Being Grown”
Vixx “On And On”
Z.Hera “Peacock”
Zhanar Dugalova “Kim Ushin?”
D List (long list, i.e., candidates for top 100)
After School “Crazy Driver”
After School “Heaven”
Angel Haze “No Bueno”
Annie “Tube Stops And Lonely Hearts”
Ben Pearce “What I Might Do”
BoA “Between Heaven And Hell”
Bomba Estéreo “Caribbean Power”
Boram “Maybe Maybe”
Busy Signal “Bad Up Who”
Delight “Mega Yak”
Duke Dumont ft. A*M*E “Need U”
D-Unit ft. Vasco “Stay Alive”
Fidlar “Cheep Beer”
GI “Gi”
Girl’s Day “Expectation”
GLAM “In Front Of The Mirror”
Jewelry “Hot And Cold”
Lee Hyori “Bad Girls”
Lee Hyori “Miss Korea”
Lim Kim “All Right”
MYNAME “Just That Little Thing”
Pet Shop Boys “Axis”
Ray Foxx “Boom Boom (Heartbeat)”
Selena Gomez “Come & Get It”
SHINee “Dream Girl”
Sistar “Give It To Me”
SNSD “I Got A Boy”
SNSD “Love&Girls”
T.O.P “Doom Dada”
T-ara, The Seeya, 5Dolls & Speed “Painkiller”
The Civil Wars “The One That Got Away”
Tom Keifer “Solid Ground”
Trouble Maker “Now (There Is No Tomorrow)”
When Saints Go Machine ft. Killer Mike “Love And Respect”
Within Temptation “Paradise (What About Us?)”
Yelle “L’Amour Parfait”
More female singers than male, more fast beats than slow.
That is, I’m counting “I Love It” as 2012.
I’m going to check out a lot of your titles, Frank — thanks (and thanks for “Get Up” — loved it from the first few seconds, pretty much). I’m sure my B-list will expand to twice the size by the end of January. (BTW, “Scream and Shout” should be on mine already; I went back and forth with it initially, but it sounds pretty great to me these days.)
I think a much stronger case can be made for “I Love It” as 2012 rather than 2013 (it reached #15 in Pazz & Jop, for starters, though I’m sure it’ll pick up some votes this year too), but: a) it did have more of a *radio* life in 2013, I think; b) it’s my Mayor Rob Ford song of the year: “I crashed my car into a bridge. I watched. I let it burn.”
Also, I’m curious to know what you might think of Zedd feat.Foxes.
And I should’ve spelled the Bajofondo song “Pide Piso.”
Oh damn, I forgot, you turned me on to “Numb” also; that too should be on my B-list.
Zedd ft. Foxes “Clarity” is on my E List, which is songs that I’m considering for my D List or C List if I get the time to relisten to them. So is T.A.P “Oh! Boy,” Fiestar “Whoo!” Mario “Somebody Else,” 2Eyes “Don’t Mess With Me,” 2Eyes “Bloody Luv,” CSS “Hangover,” Lulu James “Closer,” Supernova “Winner,” Untouchable “Lucky Man,” Tricky “Nothing Matters,” American Sierra “Porque El Amon Manda,” B*Witched “Love And Money,” Lady Gaga “Applause,” Saltnpaper “Lovestrong,” Maria Magdalena “Cada Vez Mas Cerca,” Austra “Home,” Meek Mill “Amen,” Dizzee Rascal “Bassline Junkie,” Serena Ryder “Stompa.”
G.I.’s “Gi” is along the lines of “Get Up” (electrodance w/ pseudo Mideastern touches) though not as good. Tren-D’s “Candy Boy” is along the lines of “Tarzan Boy.” Wouldn’t have felt out of place on the first WMS blindfold test, WMS #8.
I prefer Tiesto’s remix to the original “I Love It” (let’s not forget Charli XCX’s contribution to both; some good tracks on her album too, though I haven’t checked which are official singles). Also prefer the remix of “Sexodus” (The Weeknd is on there too, a little bit)(most of his album is disappointingly tame; ditto Matangi). “I Blame Myself” and “Osanka” are amazing; haven’t gotten into the rest of Ferreira’s album yet—not other whole tracks anyway: good bits, but then she starts this sub-Lauper stuff, too often—I’ll keep listening though). I like a lot of your other picks (that I’m familiar with; still catching up to quite a few).
Don, I’ll definitely check out those remixes. I’ve actually been craving an Icona remix, because I think the Frankie Goes to Hollywoodness of the song could be more pronounced (the verses are fine, though a little weak compared to the hard grind of the chorus). Don’t know if that’s at all the direction Tiesto takes it in, but I’m anxious to hear it regardless. Think I’ve only heard three Sky tracks — like the two I’ve listed a lot, but the third passed me by. Weirdly, I forgot M.I.A. released an album until I saw “Sexodus” on a Rolling Stone list, and it grabbed me instantly. I keep wishing someone with their ear closer to the ground on this stuff would write a lengthy tract positing her as Kanye the Good (or something), ’cause it seems like she’s fading from view, somewhat (while his star rises and his music gets more and more tedious… at least what I’ve heard),
Drop a line if you post a list of your own anywhere. And thanks for the thoughts!
Great list!
Scott, I have a hard copy of the Simon Frith Village Voice R&R Quarterly article that you mentioned in your (excellent) Pet Shop Boys podcast. Would you like me to make a copy and mail it to you? Let me know. My email is tomscarl@yahoo.com
Thanks—since you mentioned Kanye getting tedious: I Pazz & Jopped “Hold My Liquor” and like a couple others, but mainly I prefer Death Grips’ (free download album!) Government Plates. Not only does the music keep getting better (punky hip-hop with flying bits ‘o’ dub, and even traces of tunefulness), they’ve even dropped the sexist blurts (now they admit: “I got power/Power is cheap”), and even even got a calm female timekeeper chiming in occasionally. This and Guerilla Toss’s Gay Disco (which is some kind of mutant disco-skronk; if you get lost, follow the drummer and bassist—like you could help doing that) are my fave sets by young things these days (okay DGs prob aren’t young but def things). Also Lorde. cheerz d