The Ten Best Selling Songs in Austria in 2005

What can I say about this? It's a homemade-sounding song about a crocodile toddler literally sung by a five-year-old girl, specifically written for young children. It's cute and harmless and has the absolute minimum of what you can call a song. It was still a number 1 hit in several European countries, and that was even before viral videos existed or were relevant.

Can I judge this like any other regular song on the charts? No. Even if this site has an obsession with hating on stuff for pre-schoolers. I say "Schnappi" is age-appropriate for young kids and that's all I can really rate here.

I will now make a revelation that will shock you: I HATED this song back in 2005. Like, seriously despised it. Yes, me. The guy who never hates music, and who also owns and has repeatedly listened to all of the Tokio Hotel stuff years later. I can't really tell you why as it makes little sense to me retrospectively. Stylistically, it was close to Christina Stürmer, who I loved, and children's vocals never bothered me.

What do I think about this song today? Sometime around 2015, I discovered emo, and I loved it. Except for Tokio Hotel, we had nothing like it: none of the tormenting emotions, the gender-bending style, and the edge. This is when I rediscovered Tokio Hotel and grew to really like them. Their first album, "Schrei," which also features "Durch den Monsun," is still my least favorite by them. Bill Kaulitz did not have his puberty voice change yet, and the group wasn't much involved in the songwriting process, unlike on all of the following albums.

The result is songs whose vocals sound very young combined with lyrics either too poetic (as on "Monsun") or too edgy (as on "Jung und nicht mehr jugendfrei") to sound authentic. The re-recorded English-language version from 2007's album "Scream," with Bill's voice having audibly matured and having become much more sensitive in his performance, is, however, masterful and everything emo should be. It shows how one aspect can make a song dramatically better or worse. "Durch den Monsun" gets a 2 out of 5 from me, "Monsoon" a full 5 out of 5 - although instrumental and lyrics being almost identical (apart from the language).

Sounds weird but... this is another song I HATED back in 2005. Although I loved Scooter, who also used the chipmunk vocals, I could not stand the pitch voice in the chorus.

Nowadays I gotta say... it's an okay R&B song leaning towards hip hop. Akon is not a great singer, but it's fine, and the pitched sample is okay too. It's catchy and used well to work with the well-produced, probably Kanye West-inspired beat. It won't become a favorite of mine, but it's not half bad.

Ch!pz was a Dutch bubblegum dance band that aimed at a younger audience (not toddlers but not teens either). Their debut album "The Adventures of Ch!pz" has the band in different scenarios we know from movies, such as visiting the Wild West, a haunted house, outer space, a pirate ship, high school, the Middle Ages, etc. On "Ch!pz in Black," they essentially take the role of the Men in Black from the film of the same name, covering up traces of aliens.

Back in 2005, I LOVED Ch!pz, and even bought their singles when I already had the album. Nowadays, I can only tell you that if you have a child between 6 and 11, get them the album. It's as much fun as they can have with music. The songs are first-class bubblegum dance earworms, better than the Vengaboys and more varied and exciting than Aqua (cleaner, too).

There's also no shame in loving them when you are older. Like every good piece of family-friendly entertainment, you're never too old to like it. The songs are so catchy and filled with so many individual ideas (the eurodance beats always feature sounds typically associated with the respective scene - banjos for "Cowboy," witches' laughter for "Haunted House," etc.). It will be much fun for you too.

I often said it, and I will repeat it: the Sugababes were the best pop girl group ever. Better than the Spice Girls, better than PCD, better than Little Mix. Although they infamously had many lineup changes, they were always responsible for the music they made, and it had their personality written all over their songs.

Even though their band name suggests the opposite, they were very strong females, and even their more sex-oriented songs - like this one - always had the feeling it's about pleasing THEIR desires, not men's fantasies. They were classier, more confident, and badass in their delivery, and were never set up to represent a man's idea of being sexy. What they did was sing about men like men sang about women - and that made them positively stand out. Compare that to PCD, whose dominance was mostly designed to appear erotic. Sugababes allowed themselves to be sexual too, but it's because they wanted it to be that way. And all of that was delivered to top-notch 2000s pop music, "Push The Button" being very much on the electronica side of that.

One of the songs you can't really describe. Every once in a while, there's a song that sounds so unlike anything else you don't know where to start, and this German song can't be classified or compared to anything else. Its production and style don't fit into any categories of its time. It's nevertheless poppy and catchy, but the beat sounds completely unique.

The light pop ballad by ex-Spice Girl Melanie C is a thoroughly pleasant listen that's likable throughout, much like her 2000s music in general. I can't really describe what it is, but something about her feels comfortable, warm, and welcoming.

I don't get why this song has no listening sample available - it's a regular song by a well-known British singer with the other songs of the album having samples. The other songs without a sample are German and Dutch, I can kinda understand that, but Melanie C?

"Numb" is an incredible, heartfelt, rough song by one of the greatest bands of their generation, in their greatest phase, Chester Bennington's voice torn between apathetic and painfully raw, the lyrics filled with all-too-relatable depression.

"Encore" is a solid hip hop song.

"Numb / Encore," like the entire "Collision Course" EP, is a nice idea and gimmick, but does not make either song any better than it already is on its own. I don't mind it, but each song can't unfold its full potential. And still, this was my first touch with Linkin Park. Two years later, they would become one of my favorite bands.

Oh my, I almost forgot about this song!

It's a German pop-rap song... and it's a love song, with the rapper tenderly caressing "the one" girl he loves. It feels honest because it is known he rapped about his wife, but still, this is German hip hop for people who don't listen to German hip hop - which doesn't mean it's not a solid song. Again, it won't become a favorite of mine, but it's okay.