In case you weren’t aware, the Pop Polls are back back BACK on Bluesky, and we’ve started off with the annual year-end poll, The World Cup Of 2024 (hashtag: #peoplespop24 if you want to play along there)

Bluesky doesn’t have polls, so I’m running the whole thing via Google Forms, and this post is where I’m posting the 8 separate Round 1 groups for you to vote on. Voting is open on all these until midnight, January 22nd, and you can edit your votes until then on any poll.

In each group you get to pick four songs you want to advance, and also allocate a bonus vote, which can be to one of the four or to a fifth deserving track. The top tracks in each group (exact proportions to be determined by a secret formula) will go through to a Final Group of 40 songs, voted on later this month.

GROUP 1: ART POP

VOTE – Listen on Spotify

GROUP 2: B-SIDES

VOTE – Listen on Spotify

GROUP 3: INDIE

VOTE – Listen on Spotify

GROUP 4: GLOBAL

VOTE – Listen on Spotify

GROUP 5: POP

VOTE – Listen on Spotify

GROUP 6: HIP-HOP/R&B/JAZZ

VOTE – Listen on Spotify

GROUP 7: DANCE/ELECTRONIC/Misc.

VOTE – Listen on Spotify

GROUP 8: SONGWRITERS

VOTE – Listen on Spotify

And if you want all the nominations at once, here they are:

This is the POLL POST for the Black Pop History round in the League Of Tracks. Want to actually hear the songs? (And you frankly should) Go to the Playlist Post.

As usual the rules are simple.

1. You can vote for UP TO FOUR of these eleven tracks.
2. You can only vote for tracks you DIDN’T KNOW before the poll.

You are strongly recommended to vote on a desktop if you can – there are issues with the mobile plug-in that makes it crash the post.

The penultimate round of the League Of Tracks is a companion to the excellent poll we’ve just been going through on the main site, exploring the work of Black musicians between 1978 and 1981, from the zenith of disco through the birth of rap on record to the first stirrings of house and techno.

256 awesome tracks is, it turns out, simply not enough, so here are 11 more. When you’re done listening, go vote in the poll post!

As usual there’s a Spotify and a YouTube playlist. Annoyingly, this time BOTH are missing songs, but they’re different ones. If you listen to the YouTube playlist you’ll get everything except Francis Bebey’s “Libreville”. I’ve moved “Libreville” to the beginning of the Spotify playlist to make it easier to catch up.

But Spotify is missing three tracks which ARE on the YouTube list, from The Romantic Noise, J Walter Negro, and Ranking Joe. So you will need both, sorry (or if you’re not on Spotify, another way to hear “Libreville”).

Spotify playlist:

And the relevant YouTube section:

Here’s what we’re listening to this time. In a League Of Tracks FIRST, we have two nominations from the same artist!

1. FRANCIS BEBEY – “Libreville”. From 1981’s Bia So Nika. Spotify only.
2. MELBA MOORE – “Pick Me Up, I’ll Dance”. From 1978’s Melba.
3. BENNIE MAUPIN – “Anua”. From 1978’s Moonscapes.
4. THE ROMANTIC NOISE – “I Fell In Love With A Baby”. A self-released 1978 single. YouTube only.
5. PAULINHO DA COSTA – “Deja Vu”. A 1979 single on Pablo.
6. ODYSSEY – “Use It Up And Wear It Out”. From 1980’s Hang Together.
7. GODMOMA – “Godmoma Here”. From 1981’s Here.
8. RANKING JOE – “Tribute To John Lennon”. From 1981’s Tribute To John Lennon. YouTube only.
9. JIMMY ROSS – “Fall Into A Trance”. From 1981’s First Time Love Affair.
10. J WALTER NEGRO & THE LOOSE JOINTZ – “Shoot The Pump”. A 1981 single on Zoo York Rekordz.
11. GODMOMA – “Hands Up (Punk Funk)”. From 1981’s Here

Better late than never (well, I hope it is) – here are some results for the “Not That One!” round of the League, a high concept selection where the sole criteria was sharing a title with a more famous tune. So it’s indirect congratulations to Beck, Beyonce, Bobby “Boris” Pickett and The Rolling Stones for making the inclusion of our Top 4 tracks possible in the first place.

This was a woefully undervoted round – which is partly down to the poll plugin having an absolute sod of a time on mobile. For the remaining two rounds, if you can, vote via the desktop site!

Still, thanks hugely to all those who DID vote and of course to our eleven players, who came up with a wonderfully varied selection. Bronze is shared this week between the Plasticenes’ “Loser” and Sarah Webster Fabio’s “Work It Out”. Kate Davis’ not-a-graveyard smash “Monster Mash” takes silver, but the clear winner this week was “Play With Fire” by 70s soul duo Barbara & Ernie. That means that nominator MONDOSALVO gets his second third win in a row and moves into first place on the leaderboard, but only 3 points ahead of Joe Kay.

The seventh round is Black Pop History 78-81, tying in to the poll that’s been running over on Twitter. And then we have our final round and one final brief for the nominators – Unlikely Cover Versions. Good luck!

It’s Week 6 of our second season and the theme this week is “NOT THAT ONE!” – you know these titles, but not these songs… Well, probably not.

Listen to the tracks over at the playlist post. Then vote below for UP TO FOUR favourites. But remember – you can only vote for tracks you didn’t know before the poll!

We’re back with another round – 11 songs chosen by our players, and you get to listen and vote for your favourites. This is the playlist post – once you’ve played the tracks go check out the POLL POST.

The theme this time is a very fun one – “NOT THAT ONE!” – songs which have famous titles you might associate with a different track. But it’s not that track, and it’s nothing to do with that track. What is it? That’s why you’re listening!

You’re strongly advised to use the YouTube playlist this week – tracks 2, 3 and 11 on it aren’t on the Spotify one.

There is a Spotify one though!

Here’s our parade of doppelgangers.

1. MACHINEHEART ft VANIC – “Circles”: A single on Columbia (2015)
2. LIL KIM – “Fuck You”: From the Ms. G.O.A.T. mixtape (2008)
3. TUB-THUMPER – “Kick Out The Jams”: A single on Alaska (1974)
4. ERICK THE ARCHITECT ft LOYLE CARNER & FARR – “Let It Go”: From the Future Proof EP (2021)
5. PLASTISCINES – “Loser”: From LP1 (2014)
6. KATE DAVIS – “Monster Mash”: From Fish Bowl (2023)
7. FATBACK BAND – “Night Fever”: From Night Fever (1976)
8. BARBARA & ERNIE – “Play With Fire”: From Prelude To… (1971)
9. LES RYTHMES DIGITALES – “Sometimes”: From Darkdancer (1999)
10. LOVEBITES – “Stand And Deliver”: From Judgement Day (2023)
11. SARAH WEBSTER FABIO – “Work It Out”: From Boss Soul (1972)