Girls Aloud - Something Kinda Ooh
When Girls Aloud suck they suck hard (like every time they're doing a cover, and there have been so many), but on form they're the greatest girl group on the face of the planet. For quite some time I thought they would never top 'Sound of the Underground' but then they did. The lyrics to this song are some of the most stupendous pop nonsense I've ever heard. "Something kind ooh jumping on my tutu"? A level of ridiculousness matched only by R Kelly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqFouvUbGpoR Kelly - Ignition Remix
I think it was summer 2003 when you couldn't go anywhere without hearing this. God that was a good summer, because this is one of the all-time greatest summer party tunes. Aside from the slinky rhythm the true greatness of this song (and all R Kelly's music) is the lyrics. Sure, there are the entertainingly daft bits like "it's like Murder She Wrote once I get you out them clothes" (I don't see the appeal of Jessica Fletcher myself but whatever helps you get it on R) but the really great moments are the ones that are utterly banal, such as when he's telling us the various stages of the night. "Then after the show it's the after party. Then after the party it's the hotel lobby. Then 'round about four you gotta clear the lobby". It's like he wants us to know exactly what's going on and what we can expect (for another good example of this see 'In The Kitchen'). Even if you couldn't care less about all that, if this song doesn't get you moving then you're probably dead inside.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c01HLfWpfYPanjabi MC - Mundian To Bach Ke (Beware of The Boys)
Originally released in 1998 this single didn't make a big splash until four years later with the Knight Rider remix. I remember walking round the Leeds Mela the year it went big and you couldn't get away from it. Seemingly every stall or stand was blasting it so when you were walking away from one place as it was finishing you'd start to hear the opening mixing in from the next place along. With many songs that would be annoying but as with the aforementioned Ignition Remix it was so good you didn't care. After all, the Knight Rider bassline is killer and Panjabi flows over the top amazingly, really driving the track along.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=6CJjAuKDnQM&mode=related&search=Dizzee Rascal - Fix Up, Look Sharp
First of all, there's that beat. It's fucking
huge. And then there's Dizzee's voice, that distinctive yelp which cuts into the track, chopping it up and throwing you about. The sheer energy of this track is amazing. Sure, there are better songs on Boy In Da Corner, I Luv U for example. But while I Luv U is so cold and sinister it makes black metal sound chirpy this is his pop masterpiece. The video's damn stylish too.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=aLTKGTXR6vIMelt-Banana - Lost Parts Stinging Me So Cold
The only song on this list which wasn't a chart hit or even a single but sod it. Cell-Scape is the best pop album ever made and this (along with Shield Your Eyes...) is it's most glorious, three minute snatch of perfect pop. I don't mean that in the big wide sense of pop by the way. I mean that in the catchy, really ought to have been a bona fide top forty single sense. Genius.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=L5M5EJbGMfg (not an official video and not that good, but you can hear the song)
And since some might debate that last song being truly pop in the way the rest of these have been and in order to present something more recent, as an alternative number five:
Kelly Clarkson - One Minute
Mike Watt and Kelly Clarkson. I knew there was no way that'd be a bad idea and god damn was I right. This is far jerkier than a former American Idol winner has any right to be. Not that it isn't a straight-up pop rock song, but listen to that chorus. There's something wonderfully off there, something which shouldn't present in a song like this on an album like this. Basically, Kelly Clarkson just shouldn't be as good as she is but she actually keeps getting better with every release. I really wish she'd put this out as a single, but I doubt it. Mind you, My December has very little filler on it unlike her earlier work where there were a lot of terrible tracks, this isn't even far and away the best track on there just my personal favourite.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3JbjSeSHIlA (again, not an official video and not very good)