Get Ready World -- 2009 is the Year of Pop

I've been reading some of BBC's Sound of 2009 coverage, and this year, I'm happy to report is the year of pop. If you're not familiar with the concept, the Sound of 2009 is basically a huge poll of 100+ music journalists. These are print journalists, website editors, and influential bloggers. These tastemakers get together and come up with a list of the acts that they expect to make it big in 2009. How accurate are they. Here's the 2008 list:

1. Adele
2. Duffy
3. The Ting Tings
4. Glasvegas
5. Foals
6. Vampire Weekend
7. Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong
8. Black Kids
9. MGMT
10. Santogold
11. Ida Maria
12. One Night Only
13. Alphabeat
14. Laura Marling
15. Cajun Dance Party
16. The Courteeners
17. Gabriella Cilmi
18. Late of the Pier
19. Black Mountain
20. Little Wayne

Except for notable failure Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong, all of the first 14 (!) had at least one notable single. Adele and Duffy became international stars. The Ting Tings played on NBC's New Year's coverage and were splashed all over the place thanks to their iPod ad. Vampire Weekend and MGMT became the "it" bands of the year. All of which is to say, that the people who make this list are more likely than not to become major stars.

So what does this year hold? The main sound is 80s influenced electropop. Yes, I think I may have died and went to musical heaven, as one of my favorite sounds is set to take over the airwaves. This year, guitars are going the way of the dodo. In their place is synth and drum machines providing the high energy backing to pure pop vocalists and songs.

Here's the longlist:

• The Big Pink
• Empire of The Sun
• Kid Cudi
• Little Boots
• Passion Pit
• Dan Black
• Florence and the Machine
• La Roux
• Master Shortie
• The Temper Trap
• VV Brown
• Frankmusik
• Lady Gaga
• Mumford & Sons
• White Lies

Note that Lady Gaga is of course already a major star, but she has yet to release anything in the UK, so she's technically eligible, even though anybody can guess that she'll be huge there soon enough. Here's the link to the BBC's coverage. I'm so excited: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7758169.stm