1. Girls Aloud, "Fling" (from Tangled Up, Universal)
2. Sophie Ellis Bextor, "China Heart" (from Trip the Light Fantastic, Universal)
3. Kylie Minogue, "2 Hearts" (from X, EMI)
4. Avril Lavigne, "Girlfriend" (from The Best Damn Thing, RCA)
5. Aly & AJ, "Potential Breakup Song" (from Insomniatic, Hollywood)
6. Britney Spears, "Freakshow" (from Blackout, Zomba)
7. Sally Shapiro, "He Keeps Me Alive" (from Disco Romance, Paper Bag)
8. Klaxons, "As Above, So Below" (from Myths of the Near Future, RCA)
9. Justice, "D.A.N.C.E. (Stuart Price Remix)" (from single, Downtown)
10. Lethal Bizzle, "Police on My Back" (from single, V2)
11. M.I.A., "Bird Flu" (from Kala, Interscope)
12. Fall Out Boy, "The Takeover, The Break's Over" (from Infinity on High, Island Def Jam)
13. Cobra Starship, "Guilty Pleasure" (from ¡Viva la Cobra!, Fueled by Ramen)
14. T2 ft. Jodie Aysha, "Heartbroken" (from single, All Around the World)
15. H2O ft. Platinum, "What's It Gonna Be" (from single, Instable)
16. Vampire Weekend, "A-Punk" (MP3, myspace.com/vampireweekend)
17. Kate Nash, "Foundations" (from Made of Bricks, Polydor)—bonus track

These were the songs I argued about most in 2007. As a diversion from nappies and baby wipes I rediscovered the pleasure of friendly disagreement this year, and so the CD ends with Kate Nash, a record I loathe (everything else here comes highly recommended). I maintain a foolish faith in the pop charts as a space where quarrels and flirtations among styles and ideas and fans can start: Nash's "Foundations" is among the best-selling British songs this year, and that baffles me. Her absurd mockney-twee voice, her my-first-blog lyrics, her nursery rhyme phrasing—the woman's a grotesque! But a year is about what infuriates you as well as what delights you.

Also, time is on her side. Intimate, net-built stars like Nash are drawing Brit affections away from brash celebrity pop. Girls Aloud are the most domestically successful pop act, but their magpie productions and sassy gibberish no longer surprise, though "Fling" is defiantly crass, a saucy romp mixing music hall and cheap disco. Sophie-Ellis Bextor, another mid-'00s mainstay, sounds wounded but imperious on the Moroder rush of "China Heart," and Kylie made vampy cabaret promises on "2 Hearts" that her album couldn't keep. With the UK pop tide still out, straightforward pleasures like these generally come from abroad, like Avril's "Girlfriend" and Aly & AJ's "Potential Breakup Song", two aggressively high-maintenance earworm hits. Britney's pleasures and life seem anything but straightforward, but Blackout is the year's one mainstream masterpiece—sexy, nihilistic, unashamed, thrilling. (The anti-Britney might be Italo-indie darling Sally Shapiro: gorgeously retro, creepily passive.)

Back in Britain, most of the intriguing hits seemed to be scratching around in spaces between styles, looking for a good angle. Klaxons are a decent pop-psych band elevated to saviour status in a moribund scene—their best card, played on "As Above So Below", is their playfulness. You could say the same of Justice, but I couldn't stand "D.A.N.C.E." until Stuart Price tidied up its toybox—sometimes you need joy pointed out to you. Grimester Lethal Bizzle sold out to indie, swapping rawness for after-dinner anecdote on "Police on My Back," letting the Clash sample bring the tension while he cracked the jokes. And M.I.A., the most delirious of style-hoppers, stole the world on Kala, my track-of-the-year "Bird Flu" an unplaceable riot of hammering, squawks, and flying feathers.

Where are next year's arguments coming from? I want more theatrical emo-gum like Fall Out Boy or Cobra Starship to annoy me into loving it. I want more whomping bassline house to follow T2's "Heartbroken" into the charts and make crate-digging pop snobs worry about "chav music" (a commercial release for H2O's hook-feast "What's It Gonna Be" would be a great start). First up, imminent squabbling over Vampire Weekend, whose style-first blend of Afro-pop and C86 jangle reminds me enchantingly of Orange Juice. They might be the welcome rebirth of '80s New Pop. They might be as patronizing and toxic as Kate Nash. Deciding which is going to be fun.

British pop writer Tom Ewing started the I Love Music message board and runs the Freaky Trigger website. He writes a monthly column for Pitchfork. He's currently studying web communities in the hope of finally making some money out of them.