68: Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc.

The only song performed by cartoon characters to appear in this list, 'Feel Good Inc.' lived up to its name as one of the most feel good songs of the decade. Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett's virtual creations outlasted many human contemporaries with their eclectic mix of trip-hop and rock. 2D, Noodle, Murdoc and Russel can now count 15 million album sales, 8 charting singles and a Grammy, for this song ("best collaboration with pop vocals").

The collaborators in question are De La Soul, whose rapping turned 'Feel Good Inc.' from a pleasant pop song with a catchy chorus into a massive international hit that wormed its way into our brains. There's a really impressive flow to the rap, and when De La Soul order "don't stop, get it, get it" you actually pay attention.



The "ah ha ha haaaaaa" is genuinely menacing, in a kind of Count from Sesame Street style - I'm not sure if Gorillaz were hoping to scare small children, but aside from those moments, this is an upbeat song of the highest quality. It peaked at #2 in the UK charts, embarassingly kept from the top spot by Tony Christie and Peter Kay's dreadful 'Amarillo'. But Gorillaz did hit the top of the charts with the follow-up to this, 'DARE', and deservedly so.

Gorillaz are working on a third album at present... the kind of longevity that the Simon Cowell reality popstars can only dream of. Long may the animated success continue.