Calvin Harris Top 40+ Countdown

[Juan Carlos]

[Juan Carlos]

Hello everyone! Welcome to my first countdown of my forty favourite Calvin Harris songs. I was planning to do this for so long (Expected, I know), but I think the time has come to do this now.

Who is Calvin Harris? ^{(1) (2)}

Favoring a naughty schoolboy look that makes him seem even younger than his already tender years (23 when his first major-label album was released), Scottish artist, producer and remixer Calvin Harris, whose real name is Adam Richard Wiles, has a similarly youthful and forward-looking approach to his music. Skipping the usual apprenticeship in the clubs or on indie labels, Harris went from posting his own D.I.Y. electroclash music online through MySpace and similar sites, to signing with the multinational giant EMI almost in a single step. A short time later, he was producing material for Kylie Minogue, Dizzee Rascal and Rihanna.

Born on January 17, 1984, in the southern Scotland city of Dumfries, Harris was first attracted to electronic music in his teens and was recording bedroom demos by 1999. Two of these songs, "Da Bongos" and "Brighter Days", were released as a 12" club single and CD-EP by the Prima Facie label in 2002 under the artist name Stouffer. With that single to his credit, the still teenaged Harris moved from Scotland to London, but as a very small fish in one of the world's largest and most competitive ponds, Harris floundered; only one of his songs was released during his time in London, "Let Me Know" with vocalist Ayah Marar on the Unabombers' 2004 live-mix CD Electric Soul, Vol. 2.

Returning home to Dumfries, Harris began posting homemade solo recordings to his MySpace page. An A&R representative from EMI liked what he heard and signed Harris to the label in 2006. Following a pair of successful singles, Harris released his debut album, I Created Disco, in the summer of 2007. It featured two Top Ten hits ("Acceptable in the 80s" and "The Girls") and climbed high in the album charts. Along with his work as a solo artist, including touring in front of a full live band, Harris quickly became an in-demand remixer – working on singles by Jamiroquai, Groove Armada, All Saints and CSS. He also wrote and produced songs for Kylie Minogue's 2007 comeback album X, and collaborated with Dizzee Rascal on "Dance wiv Me", which reached number one in the UK.

"I'm Not Alone", the first single from his second album, Ready for the Weekend, also hit number one upon release in April 2009, as did the album when it appeared that August. That album topped the UK Albums Chart and peaked at number 12 on Billboard's US Dance/Electronic Chart. Through 2011, Harris took on production work for Example, Tinchy Stryder and Rihanna ("We Found Love", a quadruple-platinum hit in the US.), while he also issued two more of his own singles (the Kelis collaboration "Bounce" and "Feel So Close"). Harris' third solo album, 18 Months, was a collaboration-filled affair that featured "We Found Love" and "Bounce" plus vocal spots from Ellie Goulding, Florence Welch and Ne-Yo, among others. It was released in October of 2012.

With his latest album, 18 Months, Harris holds the record for the most top ten hits from one studio album on the UK Singles Chart with nine tracks, surpassing Michael Jackson. According to Forbes, Harris was the highest paid DJ of 2013, grossing an estimated $46 million and he owns the label Fly Eye Records. Also, it's expected that his upcoming fourth studio album comes out later this year, being released "Summer", the first single.

Eligibility:

All the songs from his three studio albums are eligible, including the bonus tracks from the different editions of those. As a consequence, there are 48 songs in total, which means that eight tracks didn't make the cut. Sadly, standalone singles aren't eligible, like "Under Control" and "Summer", but they are gonna be included throughout the countdown, along a few surprises.

Also, most of you may know Calvin as a producer and remixer instead of a singer, so I decided to do two additional mini-countdowns of my favourites produced ⁽³⁾ and remixed tracks he has done to other artists, choosing eight songs for the former and twelve for the latter.

Albums:

As previously mentioned, Calvin Harris has released three studio albums, which are I Created Disco, Ready for the Weekend and 18 Months. You could listen to them by clicking on each artwork below from Spotify and you could know how many tracks of each album made the cut too.

13/18	15/15	12/15

Are you ready for the Calvinism? :kii: I always wanted to use that term!

---

(1) Written by Steward Mason for AllMusic, which includes an excerpt from Wikipedia. Also, it's posted on Calvin's iTunes store page.
(2) I modified some parts from Calvin's bio written by Steward Mason. He said that Calvin was 22 when I Created Disco came out, but he was 23 because the album was released in 2007. However, Calvin was, in fact, 22 when he signed with EMI as he said later. Also, according to Amazon, the "Da Bongos" / "Brighter Days" vinyl was released in September, so I preferred to remove the word early which was written before the year.
(3) As "Dance wiv Me" and "We Found Love" are included on the main countdown, both of them aren't eligible in this one.

[Juan Carlos]

[Reserved]

[josh]

Admittedly I'm only familiar with 18 Months so I should learn a lot from this.

[horchata]

Looking forward to this!

[Deleted]

^ MTE. This should be very interesting. :)

[Deleted]

Mar 22, 2014 17:05:57 GMT -5 josh said:

Admittedly I'm only familiar with 18 Months so I should learn a lot from this.

me too tbh. So many hits from that album though.

Also, imo, I think Under Control and Summer should be eligible, since they are most likley going to be on his next album. But that's your choice. I'm excited to see this countdown.

[Juan Carlos]

Thank y'all! ^_^

Mar 23, 2014 2:15:21 GMT -5 @icantthinkofaname said:

Also, imo, I think Under Control and Summer should be eligible, since they are most likely going to be on his next album.

I was initially planning to include "Under Control" and "Summer" in the main countdown, but I turned down this idea because I'm too sure that Calvin is going to drop another single while I'm doing this. As you said, I also think both of them are going to be included on his next album ("Under Control" could go either way though, but if he included "Dance wiv Me" and "We Found Love" before, I don't see why this won't), so it would look weird if I include the aforementioned songs and not a possible new one. That's the reason I preferred to stuck on album releases.

[Deleted]

Mar 23, 2014 23:15:13 GMT -5 Juan Carlos said:

Thank y'all! ^_^

Mar 23, 2014 2:15:21 GMT -5 @icantthinkofaname said:

Also, imo, I think Under Control and Summer should be eligible, since they are most likely going to be on his next album.

I was initially planning to include "Under Control" and "Summer" in the main countdown, but I turned down this idea because I'm too sure that Calvin is going to drop another single while I'm doing this. As you said, I also think both of them are going to be included on his next album ("Under Control" could go either way though, but if he included "Dance wiv Me" and "We Found Love" before, I don't see why this won't), so it would look weird if I include the aforementioned songs and not a possible new one. That's the reason I preferred to stuck on album releases.

oh ok, thanks for clarifying. I understand.

[nick64]

Looking forward to this. 18 Months was great, so I'll take this opportunity to listen to his other stuff :)

[Juan Carlos]

48	"Vault Character"

Written, arranged, produced and performed by Calvin Harris
All instruments performed by Calvin Harris
Recorded at Calvinharrisbeats Studio, Dumfries
Mastered by Guy Davie at The Exchange Mastering Studios, London
Published by EMI Publishing

Audio:



Favourite lyric: –

Well, this was expected. I mean, what can I say about an 8 second track where there's only a sound repeating four times? Nothing, except that this beat on "Vault Character" is good and it's a good ending for "Disco Heat", I guess.

---

47	"Traffic Cops"

Written, arranged, produced and performed by Calvin Harris
All instruments performed by Calvin Harris
Recorded at Calvinharrisbeats Studio, Dumfries
Mastered by Guy Davie at The Exchange Mastering Studios, London
Published by EMI Publishing

Audio:



Favourite lyric: –

Same as above, with the exception that this is a song less than a minute in length. "Traffic Cops" has the same beat, which it's repeated different times and gives you a really good and moody connection with "Vegas", the following track.

---

46	"This Is the Industry"

Written, arranged, produced and performed by Calvin Harris
All instruments performed by Calvin Harris
Recorded at Calvinharrisbeats Studio, Dumfries
Mastered by Guy Davie at The Exchange Mastering Studios, London
Published by EMI Publishing

Audio:



Favourite lyric: "I am in the industry / You are in the industry / We are in the industry"

Does Calvin want to teach us the personal pronouns in "This Is the Industry"? Maybe. However, I can't deny that this is so catchy. The production is really good and his vocals, too.

[Juan Carlos]

[Reserved]

[Juan Carlos]

[Reserved]

[Lozzy]

[Reserved]

[Juan Carlos]

So, let's begin! :)

40	"Love for You"

Written, arranged, produced and performed by Calvin Harris
All instruments performed by Calvin Harris
Recorded at Calvinharrisbeats Studio, Dumfries
Mastered by Guy Davie at The Exchange Mastering Studios, London
Published by EMI Publishing

Audio:



Favourite lyric: "I've been in fashion from the start / I've been unselfish with my heart".

"Love for You" is the b-side from the single release of "Acceptable in the 80s" and it was also included in the French and Japanese physical edition of I Created Disco. If you listen to it very closely, you could know that the chorus is the same hook as the aforementioned single. I still don't know if "Love for You" was the demo version of "Acceptable in the 80s" and he scrapped the verses or if it was recorded after the latter. However, I will go with the former. Don't ask me why because it's just an instinct The production is good and it gives a calm mood to the song in my opinion.

Side note: Initially, I was planning to include it along "Acceptable in the 80s", but I turned down this idea because both songs are really different from each other, aside the hook and the eighties references of course.

[Deleted]

It's ok, buts he's made much better (hence why it's at #40),

[die Lotterie]

Still love this. The "Acceptable In The 80's" CD single which features this was my first Calvin purchase. Well worth it, especially with the Tom Neville addition.

[Juan Carlos]

39	"Here 2 China"

Written by Calvin Harris, Dizzee Rascal and Dillon Francis
Produced by Calvin Harris and Dillon Francis
All instruments performed by Calvin Harris and Dillon Francis
Vocals by Dizzee Rascal
Recorded at Fly Eye Studio, London
Vocals recorded by Cage at Belly of The Beast Studio, London
Mastered by Simon Davey at The Exchange Mastering Studios, London
Published by EMI Publishing, Copyright Control

Audio:



Favourite lyric: "I ain't perfect but I'm trying".

"Here 2 China" is a song included on 18 Months, which Calvin produces along Dillon Francis and it features vocals from Dizzee Rascal. The track is also included on Dizzee's deluxe edition of his album The Fifth. Personally, it's really different from the tracks off 18 Months, where the trap/hip-hop dominates the whole song in a hardcore bass sound.

When Calvin announced the people with whom he worked on the aforementioned album and Dizzee was included, I got excited because it was going to be the third time they were going to work together, being "Dance wiv Me" and "Holiday" the previous ones and I really like those tracks! However, my excitement decreased a little when I listened to the song, mainly because of Dizzee's vocals. Don't get me wrong; they are not bad and I like them, but I think they overshadow the production in a sort of way.

Also, this is what Calvin said to The Sun about the collaboration with Dizzee:

"We played a festival in Belgium. I was at the airport and saw him. So I said: 'I've got this track, I think you'd sound really good on it but it's not for you, it's for me'. I thought he'd say no, as that's what he's like sometimes but he was well up for it - he heard and did it. It's sounding awesome. That's the way I did most of the tracks. I'd think about who would sound good on it and what sort of voice would suit it - then I'd start approaching people".

Regarding the production, I initially thought Dillon sent the demo to Calvin because he's really into the trap/moombah sound, but it turns out that it was viceversa. Calvin made the tune ⁽¹⁾ and he sent to Dillon, so he could make the final touches, as it could be interpreted here. The result: A grimy infused hip-hop banger. Also, it should be noted that this is not the first time both of them work together because Dillon made a remix of "Feel So Close".

Side note: This is the only track from Calvin which it's labeled as explicit so far.

---

(1) Calvin uploaded the demo version of "Here 2 China", which he entitled as "Suge Knight", on his Soundcloud account a week later 18 Months came out, but he removed it some time ago. However, you could listen to it here to compare both of them.

[die Lotterie]

I had no idea Dillon Francis was involved with "Here 2 China"!

It's probably my least listened to track off 18 Months, but I revisited it today and loved it.

[josh]

Love for You is ok
ugh I don't like dizzee's vocals. would like to hear the song with a different vocalist/rapper. not sure how i feel about the production

[Juan Carlos]

Mar 22, 2014 17:05:57 GMT -5 josh said:

Admittedly I'm only familiar with 18 Months so I should learn a lot from this.

Mar 24, 2014 16:20:27 GMT -5 nick64 said:

18 Months was great, so I'll take this opportunity to listen to his other stuff :)

That's the reason I wanted to do this countdown. I mean, most people don't know Calvin's pre-"We Found Love" stuff (not including the songs that were released before, which they are on 18 Months, of course) and this is a great opportunity to show that there are more songs from him aside this album, as well as a producer and remixer.

---

"Love for You"

Mar 28, 2014 23:13:50 GMT -5 @icantthinkofaname said:

It's ok, buts he's made much better (hence why it's at #40)

Mar 29, 2014 4:38:06 GMT -5 die Lotterie said:

Still love this.

Mar 31, 2014 23:10:52 GMT -5 josh said:

Love for You is ok

Yeah! The track is really good, but nothing outstanding for me honestly.

Mar 29, 2014 4:38:06 GMT -5 die Lotterie said:

The "Acceptable In The 80's" CD single which features this was my first Calvin purchase. Well worth it, especially with the Tom Neville addition.

So good to know that! I'm going to reserve my opinion regarding the Tom Neville remix for "Acceptable in the 80s", since I don't want to spoil anything from this track yet. Hope you could understand :)

---

"Here 2 China"

Mar 30, 2014 23:07:32 GMT -5 die Lotterie said:

I had no idea Dillon Francis was involved with "Here 2 China"!

Really? :o I thought you would have known that.

Mar 30, 2014 23:07:32 GMT -5 die Lotterie said:

It's probably my least listened to track off 18 Months, but I revisited it today and loved it.

Yeah. It's kinda weird for me as well. There are moments that I like it, but there are others that I don't. I think it depends how I am when I listen to 18 Months.

Mar 31, 2014 23:10:52 GMT -5 josh said:

ugh I don't like dizzee's vocals. would like to hear the song with a different vocalist/rapper. not sure how i feel about the production

Well, I haven't listened to many songs from Dizzee, but I like the ones that I've heard of him so far. On the other hand, I'm not sure if a different vocalist/rapper should have done it instead. I feel like Dizzee suits on it, despite I'm not so into his vocals. I know, it's weird.

[Juan Carlos]

38	"Burns Night"

Written by Calvin Harris and Mark Irving
Arranged, produced and performed by Calvin Harris
Guitar performed by Mark Irving
All other instruments performed by Calvin Harris
Recorded at The Earth's Core, Glasgow
Mastered by Brian "Big Bass" Gardner at Bernie Grundman Mastering, CA
Published by EMI Publishing

Audio:



Favourite lyric: –

"Burns Night" is an instrumental track, which it's included on Ready for the Weekend. It's a chill downtempo song that makes me feel relaxed every time I listen to it. I mean, it's a track that you can put after you go out and you're coming back from a party or you want to think over the things you've done in the day. Even, you can go for a (long) walk or you can go jogging while it's playing on. As a consequence, there are so many options why wouldn't you listen to it Moreover, there are some drum beats throughout the song that are really amazing.

Additional comments:

This is what die Lotterie said about this track:

"I love this because it shows a different side of Calvin's artistry. This is the perfect late night come down song. Get home after partying and put this on."

[die Lotterie]

"Burns Night"! So glad to see this charted. :)

Reminds me of an after hours Miami lounge.

[Zeebz]

So glad to see this has started!

40. Love For You - This one is okay, but doesn't really stick with me.
39. Here 2 China - I like this one, but I like the album in general. It's one of my least favorites off the album though, so glad to see it lower.
39. Burns Night - I like the nice mellow feel to this one.

Great countdown so far. :)

[Juan Carlos]

Time for some bonus tracks, right?

BT	"Da Bongos" / "Brighter Days"

Audios:

• Listen to "Da Bongos" here.
• Listen to "Brighter Days" here.

If you have read the second post where it's Calvin's bio (well, I'm not going to blame you if you didn't because I was planning to write that instead), you would have found out about these two songs. "Da Bongos" / "Brighter Days" is a 12-inch vinyl release, which came out under Prima Facie label in 2002 when Calvin was 18 (!!!) using the moniker Stouffer. Personally, I'm glad he decided to drop it and go with Calvin Harris instead, although it would have been very interesting to see his next releases with his real name.

Regarding the songs, I found both of them very surprising. I mean, who would have ever thought that the first songs he did were going to have a tribal sound? No one, I guess. If I have to choose one, I think I would go with "Da Bongos", despite it and "Brighter Days" are kind of similar (aside the strings/beats on the latter, I guess), but amazing so far. The funky and house elements are throughout both tribal songs, which make them so unique if they are compared with Calvin's following stuff.

Remixes:

The vinyl also included two remixes (one for each song) from Shark & Fotr for "Da Bongos" and Peter Presta for "Brighter Days", which it's labeled as Peter Presta's Looney Tune Mix. Sadly, I can't make a comment about them because I couldn't find the audios

[die Lotterie]

Feeling like a flop stan, didn't know about these 2002 tracks! "Brighter Days" is a #jam. Haven't heard the other one, but I'm really impressed after hearing this sound from him.

[Juan Carlos]

37	"Love Souvenir"

Written, arranged, produced and performed by Calvin Harris
All instruments performed by Calvin Harris
Recorded at Calvinharrisbeats Studio, Dumfries
Mastered by Guy Davie at The Exchange Mastering Studios, London
Published by EMI Publishing

Audio:



Favourite lyric: –

Like "Burns Night", "Love Souvenir" is an instrumental track, but this one is included on his debut album I Created Disco. It's a very funky, cool and slow jam with some R&B elements, which gives a smooth feeling throughout it. Also, as the title suggests, I think it's a track to remember someone you may loved with those sexy beats, guitar licks and strings. The outro is really good as well.

[icreateddisco]

One by one!

#40 Love For You
I LOVE THAT SONG! Anything old from Calvin is just amazing, can't believe that song is not part of any album :(

#39
No comments, that's probably my least favorite Calvin song of all time

#38
Burns Night
I used to... dislike... well, not really, never disliked that song, but it wasn't one of my favorites, but after all that 18 Months mess I really start to appreciate that song

#37
Love Sourvenir
The same as Burns Night!

EXTRA: Da Bongos! My jam, really rare Calvin music



I NEED THE REST OF THIS LIST!!
But please.. keep away 18 Months from the top 10  only Feel So Close deserves a spot xD

[Lahey's Lucky Star]

Apr 6, 2014 0:25:10 GMT -5 icreateddisco said:

One by one!

#40 Love For You
I LOVE THAT SONG! Anything old from Calvin is just amazing, can't believe that song is not part of any album :(

#39
No comments, that's probably my least favorite Calvin song of all time

#38
Burns Night
I used to... dislike... well, not really, never disliked that song, but it wasn't one of my favorites, but after all that 18 Months mess I really start to appreciate that song

#37
Love Sourvenir
The same as Burns Night!

EXTRA: Da Bongos! My jam, really rare Calvin music



I NEED THE REST OF THIS LIST!!
But please.. keep away 18 Months from the top 10  only Feel So Close deserves a spot xD

Ooooh, a stan buddy for Juan Carlos.

And "Here 2 China" is pretty meh for a Calvin song, but it's good turn up music and I'd expect that from Dillon Francis.

[Juan Carlos]

Thank you so much for the comments so far! ^_^

"Love for You"

Apr 2, 2014 23:56:43 GMT -5 Zeebz said:

This one is okay, but doesn't really stick with me.

Apr 6, 2014 0:25:10 GMT -5 icreateddisco said:

I LOVE THAT SONG!

Different opinions! I like that.

Apr 6, 2014 0:25:10 GMT -5 icreateddisco said:

Anything old from Calvin is just amazing, can't believe that song is not part of any album :(

Yeah! I so agree with this. However, as I wrote in the "Love for You" comment, it's only included in the French and Japanese edition of I Created Disco, as well as the "Acceptable in the 80s" CD single. Personally, I really don't know if it would have been a good idea to put it in the standard edition of the aforementioned album though. I mean, it's good, but it fits perfectly as a b-side along "Acceptable in the 80s" in my opinion.

---

"Here 2 China"

Apr 2, 2014 23:56:43 GMT -5 Zeebz said:

I like this one, but I like the album in general. It's one of my least favorites off the album though, so glad to see it lower.

Apr 6, 2014 0:25:10 GMT -5 icreateddisco said:

No comments, that's probably my least favorite Calvin song of all time.

As both of you could see, it's not my least favourite from 18 Months nor my least favourite Calvin song for obvious reasons

Apr 6, 2014 0:28:37 GMT -5 Lahey's Lucky Star said:

And "Here 2 China" is pretty meh for a Calvin song, but it's good turn up music and I'd expect that from Dillon Francis.

I kind of agree with this, although I like the production~

---

"Burns Night"

Apr 2, 2014 13:57:05 GMT -5 die Lotterie said:

"Burns Night"! So glad to see this charted. :)

Well, I updated the second post with the number of songs from each album and Ready for the Weekend has all, so it was a lock to be in the Top 40

Apr 2, 2014 13:57:05 GMT -5 die Lotterie said:

Reminds me of an after hours Miami lounge.

This is so right. Why didn't I think about that?

Apr 2, 2014 23:56:43 GMT -5 Zeebz said:

I like the nice mellow feel to this one.

Good to see that.

---

"Da Bongos" / "Brighter Days"

Apr 3, 2014 23:17:55 GMT -5 die Lotterie said:

Feeling like a flop stan, didn't know about these 2002 tracks! "Brighter Days" is a #jam. Haven't heard the other one, but I'm really impressed after hearing this sound from him.

Actually, I didn't know that too. Well, sort of What I'm trying to say is that I knew about these songs, but I didn't listen to them because I thought it would be really hard to find. Of course, Internet proved me wrong and I'm glad it did because both tracks are really good.

PS. Have you heard "Da Bongos"? :)

Apr 6, 2014 0:25:10 GMT -5 icreateddisco said:

Da Bongos! My jam, really rare Calvin music.

Yeah! It's really rare if we compare it to his recent stuff.

---

"Burns Night" / "Love Souvenir"

Apr 6, 2014 0:25:10 GMT -5 icreateddisco said:

I used to... dislike... well, not really, never disliked that song, but it wasn't one of my favorites, but after all that 18 Months mess I really start to appreciate that song

Yeah! I know exactly this feeling. However, you know that I don't consider 18 Months as a mess~

---

Apr 6, 2014 0:25:10 GMT -5 icreateddisco said:

I NEED THE REST OF THIS LIST!!
But please.. keep away 18 Months from the top 10  only Feel So Close deserves a spot xD

Wait! I can't believe that you're shading your #1 song from 2012 :o

Apr 6, 2014 0:28:37 GMT -5 Lahey's Lucky Star said:

Ooooh, a stan buddy for Juan Carlos.

YES! I know Actually, I have interacted with Daniel before and I know how much he stans for Calvin and how he feels about 18 Months, so I think it's amazing to see his opinions and the contrast he could share with us here.