Finishing up the 50 songs of 2005 (songs 26-50 are posted here), here are:

The Fifty of 2005: The Top 25 (1-25).

25 – Jamiroquai – Starchild. I hate to use the term "standard Jamiroquai," but this is definitely what I expect to hear from them, particularly the background vocals, which carry the song. The mantra "there’s a Superman comin’" puts this song over the top for me.
24 – Vanessa Freeman – Dawning Of A New Day. This track was on London Soul, which prompted me to purchase Shades. Vanessa’s vocals are great, and the scratchin’ lit this track up.
23 – Symbolyc One & Illmind – Night Like This Featuring Darien Brockington & Big Pooh (Of Little Brother). Yeah, there’s a nice rap dropped in this cut, but it’s the fact that Darien and Big Pooh (!!) sung on that make it a superb cut..
22 – Platinum Pied Pipers – Stay With Me (feat. Tiombe Lockhart). The fact that Triple P is my favorite CD of 2005 makes it extremely difficult to choose two tracks from it. This is one of the ones I kept playing over and over.
21 – Benny Sings – Unconditional love. Benny drops a head-nodding track. Absolutely refreshing since it fits in all genres.
20 – Carmen Rodgers – (The Way I Want To) Touch You. Captain and Tennille did it, and Carmen knocked it out the box. Chill out with it.

19 – Gordon Chambers – Touch You There. Having hung out with Gordon last year was one of my highlights, as is this track. From his debut CD, Introducing Gordon Chambers.
18 – Common – It’s Your World / Pop’s Reprise (w/ Bilal). One of the best cuts off of Be.. The reprise did it for me.
17 – Renaissance – Do It To It. Renaissance does it. Everytime I hear this track start, it reminds me of Heatwave. Then it turns to a nice jazz instrumental not unlike Donald Byrd. Yet another head nodder. I miss hearing these tracks on the regular.
16 – Incognito – Come Away With Me. Bluey and the crew, accentuated by Maysa Leak’s singing, is a standard I’ve become accustomed to, so it’s no surprise that this is the most played track off of Eleven.
15 – Kanye West – Addiction. "You make me smile with my heart…." I love this track, which means I really need to hear Etta James’ My Funny Valentine, where this was sampled from.
14 – Faith Evans – I Don’t Need It. It’s Faith, utilizing Nights Over Egypt as her background, and knocking it out with the break. My favorite track from The First Lady.
13 – Common – Love Is. The first cut off of Be that captured my attention.
12 – Esthero – Thank Heaven For You. From Wikked Little Grrrls. Everyone I know has their favorite track off of the CD. This one just happens to be mine.
11 – Raheem DeVaughn – You. Raheem is blazing on this track, using Moments In Love to back him up.
10 – Alison Crockett – U R (Yam Who? Mix). This track started me off on my quest to find out who these cats Yam Who? are, especially when they show off on their arrangements during Alison’s ad-libs on the second half. I’m on a rampage. From Midnight Soul.
09 – Lina – Smooth. My favorite track from Inner Beauty Movement. Now this is a love song.
08 – Dwele – I Think I Love You. This track grabbed me, and I believe I played this track so many times I was prohibited from playing it again.
07 – Mariah Carey – Stay The Night. This track is phenomenal. She sings this track, you hear me? Ask Qamar. Knocked me out of my seat. From The Emancipation of Mimi.
06 – D’Nell – That’s How I Know. When Ellie sings this track, it’s sultry and very memorable. Then Dan decides to do a little DJing also near the end that just had me absolutely captivated. I’m still wondering where he got that sample.
05 – Sy Smith – No Place Like Love. I’m waiting for this track to be released (and the video too). From The Syberspace Social.
04 – Darien Brockington – Listen. Darien, I’ll tell you what we’ll do. When you sing this live, we’ll get get Jerry Hey and his peeps to arrange and play horns, alright? Bet. I love this arrangement. The Feeling EP. Get it.
03 – J*DaVeY – No More. I blame Stone and his crew for this track. "….and now I really wanna climb/leave some footprint on the walls, yeah." We need to hear more from them.
02 – Platinum Pied Pipers – Deep Inside (feat. Sa-Ra Creative Partners). The two tracks that I vacillated with PPP with was this track and 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover. I chose this because this is the track that makes me stop whatever I’m doing and beat on the nearest desk, table, wall, whatever.
01 – D-Nell – 20/20. This is what happened, see. Honey dropped this track on one of her radio blogs, and then it was all over. This is what prompted me to get Galactic Soul and 1st Magic. They already had me with This Thing in 2004 – this was just icing on the cake.

There you have it.