s most of western civilisation plunges ever toward darkness and despair, the tracks herein follow the prevailing downward spiral. No stompers, bangers, or floor fillers here. (Well, maybe a one or two snuck in.) Downbeats and melancholia colour the sombre proceedings. We may have glimmers of hope, humour, and levity here and there, but we're generally not in a party mood. Elsewhere in the mix, the general trend this year tends to favour Latin trap, trap beats (hence this year's title), hip-hop, and folk. Times have certainly moved on, as there's hardly any guitar rock.

Sporting the first English-titled name since 2014, this is perhaps the most low-keyed collection of tracks we have ever assembled. We need to think about the way things are going, and remember what's important and worth preserving. The song selections are based increasingly on their ability to convey, commemorate, comment, or reflect on events, experiences, and the general zeitgeist of the past twelve months, rather than on their merits purely as well-crafted pop confections. We chose songs that spoke to us this year. To wit, the inclusion of Bacarra came about when earlier this year, my friend Brian and I gleefully rhapsodised in a bear bar in Brussels on how deliriously cheesy and fun this song is.

The tradition of eclecticism of these surveys continues this year. We're proud to feature lots of Canadian content this year, courtesy of Drake, The Weeknd, Donovan Woods, Neil Young, and Grimes. To those keeping track, we've also just added Turkish to the 15 other languages that have been represented on these surveys thus far. As a souvenir of a recent trip to Istanbul, the occasion comes as part of a triptych of aural palette cleansers presented in the middle of the mix. This year also marked the departure of Gerald Love from Teenage Fanclub. Alas, he is our hands-down favourite of the three writers in the band, but somehow we chose rather a Bevis Frond cover from 1997 to include in the compilation, partly so we can follow that up with an actual Bevis Frond track from 1997. Finally, Avicii left us this year, so we wave goodbye with one of the last tracks he had ever released. In every compilation since the end of the CD era in 2011, either David Guetta, or Calvin Harris, or Avicii has made an appearance at least once; this year all three superstar DJs have come together here.

We've been at this for twenty years now, since we started exchanging among friends year-end best-of mix tapes back in 1998. With an inconvenient combination of bad time management and the onset of priorities of middle-age obligations, we find it increasingly difficult to do these compilations year after year. It takes so much time. You can't just throw a bunch of cool tunes randomly together and call it a day. The flow of the mix matters. Sometimes we feel whether this is all worth the effort, but we're just too curious about what cool new things will turn up in the next year to give it all up.

he artwork for this page features images taken earlier this year in Essen, Nordrhein-Westfalen (except for the urinals, which were from the 25hours Hotel in HafenCity, Hamburg). More specifically, we captured these optics from Zeche Zollverein, a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site.

For your convenience again this year, a m3u playlist file as been included in the zip package to ensure easy proper sequencing for the mp3 tracks. As usual, remember to click on each image displayed here (or right click for images below) for its corresponding hi-res, full-sized version.

Don't forget to also download the images above for your digital music player. (Click on each image for its corresponding full-sized version.) Finally, the track listing of the compilation is as follows:

1. ADVANCE BASE - Christmas in nightmare city (02.12)
2. Daughn GIBSON - Bled to death (02.11)
3. POST MALONE (featuring 21 Savage) - Rockstar (03.38)
4. AVICII (featuring Vargas and Lagola) - Friend of mine (02.42)
5. CHVRCHES - Forever (03.45)
6. CARDI B (featuring Migos) - Drip (04.24)
7. SHAKIRA - Toneladas (03.13)
8. Billy BRAGG - Do unto others (04.08)
9. Donovan WOODS - Next year (04.13)
10. Neil YOUNG and CRAZY HORSE - Wayfarin' stranger (03.08)
11. Janelle MONÁE (featuring Grimes) - Pynk (04.00)
12. OMD - Isotype (single mix) (03.49)
13. Alison KRAUSS and UNION STATION - Restless (02.51)
14. Jason ISBELL - Everywhere with helicopter (03.31)
15. Jay FARRAR - Greenwich time (01.42)
16. Donovan WOODS - Lawren Harris (03.08)
17. ADVANCE BASE - Dolores & Kimberly (05.05)
18. Nathaniel RATELIFF and the NIGHT SWEATS - Mellow out (03.32)
19. TEXAS - Round the world (03.46)
20. TEENAGE FANCLUB - He'd be a diamond (02.56)
21. The BEVIS FROND - The Wind blew all around me (03.51)
22. Selena GOMEZ - Back to you (03.28)
23. David GUETTA and SIA - Flames (03.13)
24. SAINT ETIENNE - Dive (04.49)
25. BACCARA - Yes sir I can boogie (04.28)
26. Calvin HARRIS (featuring Dua Lipa) - One kiss (03.43)
27. David GUETTA, Martin GARRIX, BROOKS - Like I do (03.23)
28. SEAN PAUL and David GUETTA (featuring Becky G) - Mad love (03.20)
29. SEAN PAUL (featuring Dua Lipa) - No lie (03.49)
30. BAD BUNNY (featuring Drake) - Mia (03.30)
31. DRAKE - Passionfruit (03.30)
32. Lana DEL REY (featuring the Weeknd) - Lust for life (04.24)
33. The WEEKND and Kendrick LAMAR - Pray for me (03.29)
34. Joel FREDERIKSEN and ENSEMBLE PHOENIX MUNICH - Go from my window (02.07)
35. Selim SESLER und Idil ÜNER - Saniye'm (02.37)
36. Joel FREDERIKSEN and ENSEMBLE PHOENIX MUNICH - Farewell, adieu that courtly life (02.07)
37. Kendrick LAMAR and SZA - All the stars (03.54)
38. BJÖRK - Paradisia (01.45)
39. Janelle MONÁE - Crazy, classic, life (04.47)
40. The MILK CARTON KIDS - Mourning in America (03.04)

ou can now explore other years' pop survey compilations and their respective liner notes and artwork by hovering over the artwork displayed to the left-- this will identify the year of the compilation of each corresponding image. Clicking on each image will take you to that year's dedicated page.

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