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The Klassic Note Song Awards 2020

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The Klassic Note Song Awards 2020

Thursday, 31 December 2020


Welcome to the Klassic Note Song Awards 2020!

I'm Kaineng, Klassic Note's only listener and judge. It's that time of the year again, where I sit down at the end of the year to give out awards and try to rank the songs I listen over the year. This year as been a disaster in itself, but that did not stop my passion for finding more new songs to listen, whether they were released this year or not. The days continue outside or at home as I continue to discover new artists, get hype over new announcements over the Internet, and enjoy the liberty of online live performances, as this year became a year where music was taken to the Internet. With this much going on, it's no wonder I can keep finding songs to like at every corner.

Just a head's up because I always say that, the results below do not fully represent the many songs I listen to for the year. Idolism may have really reigned over Klassic Note this year since it did from last year, Apple Music Japan has only gotten better with more songs up on listen, and Collection Artists are not attempting to win over my heart this year, but all in all I still enjoyed what was served up my plate for the year. Many of the songs mentioned here will no doubt, be songs to remember and be a reference to newer songs ahead. A big thanks once again to all the artists who participated and continued to present their music through the Internet despite the situation this year, and it really isn't Klassic Note without any of these. I try my best to give recognition to as many artists as I can every year, and as you will see, I hope through this yearly song awards I have given as much recognition to all of them as possible.

The results below will be split into six segments, with the first two covering statistics and analysis of the songs given this year and how they fare. Diagrams will be shown in some segments to give a better overall picture rather than just displaying tables of data. Finally, I'll conclude on with The Top 20 and an audio edit of them by yours truly, so to give you a better idea of what songs truly represent the year around in terms of general mood for the year when it comes to music around me.

(Results finalised on 31/12/2020)

[Note: For a detailed explanation of the results, hover/tap over the small text you see throughout the post, like the one above]
[Click here to skip to "The Top 20"]


STATISTICS
This year, I have given a total of 205 songs over the past 12 months. As we know, this year isn't exactly a great year to release new songs and even talk about them due to lack of reach, but I think with the Internet it might have helped even more. It did not stop the momentum of giving new songs though. Below is a summary of what were in, but you can also check out the full list in what is now, my GitHub Page. (To be updated)

Firstly, I break down the songs to who sings them and sort them by artist composition and gender, giving a good look into a usual heavy bias of female solo artists singing good songs, also known as the Vocal Styles Popularity Survey. For this year, Female Solo vocals have returned to the yearly average of 2.5 to 1 against Male Solo vocals, which shows a return of the strength of solo artists in these times due to the lack of new mainstream artists in my list for the year..

Then, we have the Song Integrity Survey. Initially taken as an experimental analysis in Klassic Note, now it is used as a guide to follow past years judgement criteria. As I give further detailed analysis to the many songs rated in the generic 4-star category, this is to attempt to give a better insight into how most of the songs are rated. It is also became the new benchmark in recent years in pushing to give more 5-star songs which were then based on early impression which is not possible now with maturity of song judgement bias. As you can see, there is higher tendency to give more 4-star songs as songs above average rank instead of promoting them to 5-stars.

Thirdly, we have the generic statistics of the songs of the year. These include language (for those with a vocalist), year of release (old songs can appear in the list as far as 2008 for this year), Anime songs (because when I say "sometimes" on Twitter I meant this) and B-side analysis for singles which is a direct representation of proving that songs which are good need not be their release's topic songs, and we should give more criticism and praise to songs not under intentional spotlight.

Last but not least, we have the Song Appetite Report. The chart represents how many songs I've given every month, and show peak and trough periods typically based on release month dependent on the music industry or periods of time where I just want to give more or less songs. I would say despite the difficulties and therefore delays in releasing new songs this particular year, many still were released in due time, and therefore did not miss much in terms of leaving an impression in Klassic Note, and I am thankful for that.

This is how the new songs fared this year:
  
VERDICT: Female Solo is the most popular vocal style in the songs of 2020.
Female Solo to Male Solo Ratio: 2.510

VERDICT: 4 Stars is the most common rating in Klassic Note 2020.
AVERAGE: 4.049/5

LanguageEnglishChineseJapaneseAll
Songs (%)2.5%0%97.5%199 Songs
VERDICT: Japanese is the most popular language in songs of 2020.

Year of Release2011-20162017201820192020All
Songs (%)4.39%0.49%1.95%7.32%84.39%205 Tracks
VERDICT: 2020 is the most common year of release in songs of 2020.

Song TypeAnime Theme SongCharacter/Insert Song
Songs (%)0.49%0.98%
VERDICT: Anime songs are taking 1.46% of 2020 songs, mostly on theme songs.
*Alternative Girls is the most dominating Game of 2020. (not included in Anime)

Total Singles Released 202052
Total Tracks123 or more
Singles92617
Total Considered in List46
VERDICT: 10 out of 43 singles in 2020 are considered besides A-side.
In comparison 8 of all singles released are in Klassic Note Review 2020.



SONG OF THE DAY
Every day is unique as it is special; it will set us in a mood to drive our everyday lives. From waking up and going to sleep, there's always a different melody that will pop up in my mind from listening to the huge amount of songs within and outside of this year. I would confidently say that my mood could be summarised with the songs I'm listening to every day.

Congratulations to Ryokuoushoku Shakai for being most memorable as Song of the Year 2020!

The first two tables below show what are the most popular songs I've listened for the year and for each month. The last two tables show the most popular songs to wake up and sleep to to give a different perspective as to how they potentially can feel if you start and end the day with maybe. Criteria are subject to conditions in sleeping habits, mood, and mostly due to songs I've listened recently during certain times of the day.

Starting from 2019, Song of the Day has been transformed into a rank-based system, where every mention pushes you up one rank so that rank sharing will make sense. The results shouldn't show much of a difference though, but it will more accurately reflect on the position of songs within.

SONG OF THE YEAR 2020
RankArtist - Song Title
12Ryokuoushoku Shakai - Mela!
11SCANDAL - A.M.D.K.J.
9Asakura Momo - Agapanthus
Ryokuoushoku Shakai - Shout Baby
tacica - aranami
8Suzuki Aina - Hikariiro no Uta
7Asakura Momo - Shake it up!
Eve - Inochi no Tabekata
Kitou Akari - Desire Again
Minase Inori - Well Wishing Word
VELTPUNCH - Tsuki no Uragawa Yori mo Me no Mae ni Iru Kimi no Maru Maru Mite Mitai


SONG(S) OF THE MONTH 2020
2020Artist - Song TitleRank
JanTachibana Rika - close to you3
FebSuzuki Aina - Hikariiro no Uta
SCANDAL - A.M.D.K.J.
4
MarRyokuoushoku Shakai - Shout Baby3
AprAsakura Momo - Agapanthus3
MayRyokuoushoku Shakai - Mela!
Eve - Inochi no Tabekata
4
JunMOSHIMO - Denkousekka Jealousy4
JulVELTPUNCH - New cinema paradox4
AugVELTPUNCH - Suicide King3
SepKano - Nadame Sukashi Negotiation3
OctWaki Azumi - Itsuka no Kioku
spira.spica - Pop Step Jump!
3
NovCo shu Nie - Zettai Zetsumei3
DecSID - Houkiboshi5

TOP SONGS TO START THE DAY
RankSong Title
7Ryokuoushoku Shakai - Shout Baby
SCANDAL - A.M.D.K.J.
6Asakura Momo - Agapanthus
Minase Inori - Well Wishing Word
Ryokuoushoku Shakai - Mela!
4Kitou Akari - Desire Again
tacica - aranami
Tsuki no Michikake - Hometown
VELTPUNCH - Tsuki no Uragawa Yori mo Me no Mae ni Iru Kimi no Maru Maru Mite Mitai

TOP SONGS TO END THE DAY
RankSong Title
7Suzuki Aina - Hikariiro no Uta
6Ryokuoushoku Shakai - Mela!
5Eve - Inochi no Tabekata
SID - Houkiboshi


RELEASE RANKINGS
Now we shall talk about the singles and albums reviewed over the year. Many releases did perform well this year, not really to impress but more of to leave a remembering, and I think many of them have done it. Many artists are either going for the one good album bomb to settle the year's limitations for exposure, or dragging it throughout the year such that it gets enough spotlight on the Internet's headlines to make their final release for the year or next year impressive. Regardless of their approach, they still are subject to me giving them, and with best albums (mostly) out of the way, we can actually give praise to the long awaited albums and surprising singles I have given throughout this year.

In Klassic Note, top singles are determined by (1) whether they are in Klassic Note Review ie. all songs of the single have been given and is not digital only release and (2) how good they fare in impression, so ratings come to place. Details for giving these singles shall not be discussed further since there is The Klassic Note Review for your reference. Top albums are determined mostly by how many songs have been given in it, so best album have a natural advantage if I've been listening to the artist for years, and mini-albums tend to get an edge on these too but they have been put lower in priority to allow full length albums to shine.

Congratulations to Minase Inori for an upturn best single (see review) and Asakura Momo for best album of Klassic Note 2020 respectively!

Top 10 Singles
RankName of SingleContributing Artist(s)
1Kokoro SomariMinase Inori
2AntithesisNatsukawa Shiina
3aranamitacica
4LiteratureUeda Reina
5Gimmme!ORESAMA
6Magic WordsLiyuu
7Desire AgainKitou Akari
8Itsuka no Kioku/Toumei no PedalWaki Azumi
9HoukiboshiSID
10deleteSID

Top 10 Albums
RankName of AlbumContributing Artist(s)
1AgapanthusAsakura Momo
2ClariS 10th Anniversary BEST - Pink Moon -ClariS
3TragicomedySHE'S
4STYLEKitou Akari
5Theory of evolutionEarphones
6SUNCTUARYSpecialThanks
7SUICIDE KINGVELTPUNCH
8ClariS 10th Anniversary BEST - Green Star -ClariS
9Tousakuyorushika
10Henshin Complexvivid undress


COMMENDATIONS
In Klassic Note there are Awards; And then, there are Commendations. Commendations are thing that are worth mentioning but not necessarily in competition since it can be unique in circumstance. That, or I want to credit them all so it won't be an award. Many listed may be repeats, but this is the place where I give proper recognition to those who stood out amongst the others. Congrats to ORESAMA for coming back with a music video to remember, which also eventually got itself a Klassic Note Review and a place in top singles for the year. As you can see, this easily shows the power of music videos which are all the more important at a time like this where the Internet is the best place to promote your new songs..

Commendations are given to songs which stand out on their own (eg. terrible English, same song title) known as Song Commendations, releases that I reviewed and/or are outstanding known as Release Commendations, artists which may or may not be singing this year also known as Artist Commendations, and honours for (promotional) music videos which excelled in impressions also known as Video Commendations.

Instead of giving them as awards, Klassic Note here compliments videos which stand out better than their music, sometimes better than not, in order to give better representation and thus impression to their audio listeners. And so, I commend and also criticise (a bit) on those, as you can see below too. Many of the music videos can be found online too, so be sure to check those out for yourself. I'll post the links to get you started.

TitleRecipient
"The Artist (Non-Japanese)"Beach Bunny
"Single Order"Liyuu - Magic Words
SID - delete
tacica - aranami
Minase Inori - Kokoro Somari
Earphones - churata churaha
Natsukawa Shiina - Antithesis
ORESAMA - Gimmme!
Ueda Reina - Literature
"English Song of the Year"Beach Bunny - Cuffing Season
"Abandoned A-side"TrySail - Free Turn [Single]
yanaginagi - Houseki no Umareta Toki [Single]
miwa - DAITAN! [Single]
"Lasting Tune"Ryokuoushoku Shakai - sabotage (2019)
LuckLife - Risouzou (2019)
Natsukawa Shiina - Shimaeba Ii (2019)
SID - see through (2019)
Earphones - Churata Churaha (2019)
Fuchigami Mai - Love Summer! (2019)
Mrs. GREEN APPLE - Romanticism (2019)
Polkadot Stingray - Bake no Kawa (2019)
YUKI - Chime (2019)
"Exotic Style Subjugation"Yunomi - Koi no Uta (feat. Yuzaki Tsukasa)
"It's An Anime Theme Song?"Aimer - SPARK-AGAIN
Suzuki Aina - Hikariiro no Uta
"Unexpectedly Out of Expectation"Ueda Reina - Hana no Ame
"PV of the Year"ORESAMA - Gimmme!
"Awesome PV"Ryokuoushoku Shakai - Mela!
"Impressive PV"Eve - Inochi no Tabekata
"Fanservice PV"Amamiya Sora - PARADOX
"Great PV"Minase Inori - Kokoro Somari
"Quirky PV"vivid undress - Fanfare Koushinkyoku
"Neglected PV"THE BAWDIES - IT'S TOO LATE
"Plain Boring PV"uminecosounds - Akaku Naru
"Best Anime Theme Production"Jibaku Shounen Band - No.7
[Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun OP]


AWARDS
One of the most important things that built the foundation of the Song Awards are of course, the Awards themselves. They have also been the toughest to decide every year besides the Top 20, which shows how much thought is put into figuring out the distinct feels of all the songs I give for the year, and how important they are compared to all of the others above. As with previous years, it has always been a challenge to get enough songs which will fit what the Award should represent, and as much as I try I still hardly feel for some of the songs which are worthy of the titles. However, I have made my decision, so here are the results.

Congratulations to Scenarioart and yorushika for THE ARTIST (JAPANESE CATEGORY) and THE NEWCOMER Awards and together take THE CONTRIBUTOR! It really shows how much they have indeed contributed to this year's song list. THE IDOLISM has two winners this year purely because of fierce competition all around, SPECIAL OTHERS dominated THE MUSIC award this year despite mild competition, Ryokuoushoku Shakai is here to sweep up as many Awards as they can also because...! We will see what I mean soon.

The Award titles mean exactly unless stated otherwise, which are stated as follows:
  • THE CHARASON now represents all songs from the Anime and Game genres so to give more songs recognition on how good they are (CV refers to "Character Voice" ie. the actual voice actor behind the role)
  • THE IDOLISM awards idol songs (sung by voice actress who became solo artists mostly) which have been on the rise and the award goes to the one with judgement possible to be independent of usual criteria eg. melody, music style
  • THE INSPIRATIONAL awards songs which spark motivation and/or creativity for me, encouraging and pushing me along in life
  • THE NUMBER ONE SONG OF THE YEAR is based on SONG OF THE DAY results, and the Award is presented to the best here
  • THE SINGLE and THE ALBUM are based on RELEASE RANKINGS, and the award is presented to the best of each category here
Nominees are excluded from the list due to presentation space constraints, but I will find a way to show them in the near future.

AwardRecipient
THE ARTIST 2020
(JAPANESE CATEGORY)
Scenarioart
THE NEWCOMER 2020yorushika
THE CHARASON 2020Agatsuma Ren (CV: Nagatsuma Juuri) - My Precious Darling
THE IDOLISM 2020Natsukawa Shiina - RUNNY NOSE
Waki Azumi - Girl's Riot!!
THE EMOTIONAL 2020MaRuRi to Ryuga - Shitto
THE ROMANTIC 2020Kanoerana - Tsuki to Hoshizora
THE LIVELY 2020Ryokuoushoku Shakai - Mela!
THE INSPIRATION 2020Ryokuoushoku Shakai - Shout Baby
THE LONGEST 2020Minase Inori - Bokura wa Ima
THE SHORTEST 2020Scenarioart - Y.M.P
THE CONTRIBUTOR 2020Scenarioart
yorushika
THE NUMBER ONE SONG OF 2020Ryokuoushoku Shakai - Mela!
THE ALBUM 2020Asakura Momo - Agapanthus
THE SINGLE 2020Minase Inori - Kokoro Somari
THE DEAD THREE 2020Jibaku Shounen Band - No.7
THE MUSIC 2020SPECIAL OTHERS - TRIANGLE


THE TOP 20
Last but not least, we have the song rankings. Every year, I try my best to showcase Klassic Note in the most vibrant way possible, hopefully with a good balance of what I truly love and representation of what the year means for Klassic Note in 2020. And in these 20+ songs I'd like to recommend, many have left an impression, others I think they are genuinely worth a mention. It was hard to come up with the list at the first place, and there have been many dramatic changes to when I initially planned for this nearly a month ago, but now that the results are out, I'm not going to think too into it and hope it's adequate for reference to all who see it. So, without further ado, let's get to it!

Congratulations to Ryokuoushoku Shakai for snatching the #1 song in Klassic Note! Should I also mention how they are also #2 too? Yes, these guys have been making grounds, and I thank them for saving Klassic Note 2020 singlehandedly.

In Klassic Note, The Top 20 will include certain conflicts in rank number as some of the songs have to share the same rank due to my lack of criteria to differentiate between them, but is also a ingenious method to show certain trends or similarity within topics and timeframes, to a smaller extent. So do not be surprised to see up to 25 songs every year on this supposedly "Top 20" list.


Below is an audio preview (with timestamps!) of The Top 20 of Klassic Note 2020, for your listening pleasure.
Enjoy.
[Edit: Click on any row on the table above to skip to that track!]



To talk about the troubles I had to give this year's Top 20 in particular and as elaboration from above, here is a good summary:
  • Initial plan for 1st was planned to allow the first exception of two winners this year because Ryokuoushoku Shakai is so good, but for feeling the mood of the year and a way to not break another record by putting emotional songs on the top, THE ORAL CIGARETTES was promoted and stayed in same place as my birthday song in 2nd place. Next time for two winners, perhaps.
  • Asakura Momo's "Agapanthus" was originally planned to be 3rd, but saw pressure from having to give mainstream (as you can see the list is mostly solo artist songs), but got balanced down to 5th not just because there are songs worth mentioning compared to this, but also to allow Waki Azumi's "Fuwatto" to be recognised, her debut solo artist song.
  • 20th place was typically reserved for not so great songs I would like to promote, but ORESAMA's  "Gimmme!" was actually good I'd rather put it in a higher position, compared to the other reviewed single I've done this year of Ueda Reina which in comparison, did not get recognised into this list. The last place in Top 20 was eventually reserved for a Sangatsu no Phantasia song from their recent album because I thought Mia-san really deserved a mention for having such great songs and not winning any Awards. Coincidentally, the composer of the song also is in group yorushika, whose topic song in their latest album placed them in 3rd place.
  • Numakura Manami was planned to deserve a mention this year, but due to the last song being such a great hit in Klassic Note, it has been push up time and again to ensure a good impression for this year's list. She eventually even took over Suzuki Aina's place to take 11th place.
  • AIMER's "SPARK-AGAIN" might be the only good song overall to deserve a place in Top 10. It was placed 6th due to more songs leaving a stronger initial impression of it not being Anime theme songs, which are a natural turn-off to me.
  • Natsukawa Shiina's "Antithesis" was honestly speaking, her best song in her solo music career so far, but ended up only given a mention in the next 10, along with Fuchigami Mai which also had a great though older in style song written for Valentine's Day. Both were pushed up in place and not allowed to drop further due to how good they were, even though many songs from mainstream were below them, including long-run Collection Artists VELTPUNCH and SID.
  • VELTPUNCH was already guaranteed a place in Top 20 due to my bias of them as a Collection Artist, but unfortunately their new album really did not make an impression with sub-par music video production by the male vocalist himself, and songs which represent them but not their best. They were pushed all the way down to 14th this year, after being missing in Klassic Note for 4 years.
  • yourness and SHE's initially did not have a place in Top 20, but were added due to heavy idolism bias and lack of emotional songs in the list. For the latter, "Higher" was initially picked to be mentioned in the Top 20 until putting two of them together pushed me to give the more emotional yet better melody overall song "Tragicomedy", also the topic song for the album.
  • Suzuki Aina's debut song "Hikariiro no Uta" was planned initially to take Top 10 position until the realization of Top 20 competition actually took place during the judgement phase. It was eventually pushed down to current 12th place, the last being from Numakura Manami on her last song for her solo music career.



And this is it for Klassic Note this year, I hope you enjoyed looking at these as much as I do. Again, if you're just here to give yourself a chance to listen to the above preview, I thank you for even giving me a chance to tell you how wonderful Klassic Note has been for this year. If you have given any of them a listen after this, even just one of them, it will already make me happy. Klassic Note has once again been another great year in the making despite what happened to the world, and I'm still proud to be able to follow my passions every year, and still have time and dedication to make all this happen.

See you all next year for another year of Klassic Note! And as always, do not forget to be "Searching For A Different Melody"!!




DISCLAIMER
#All content and results are subject to personal opinion, and please do not, in any other manner, attempt to copy or adapt it in any other purpose whatsoever. All data shall stay in this webpage and shall not be published, edited or shared anywhere else in this World Wide Web. If necessary, permissions are not required but all sharing must be linked and/or credited to this page. All audio in preview are copyright (c) respective owners.