Powerpop topped the charts in 2007 as Beirut born singer-songwriter Mika wooed both critics and public alike with his colourful live shows and supremely catchy melodies on singles like Grace Kelly and Love Today. Grace Kelly alone stayed at the top of the UK singles charts for five weeks, while album Life In Cartoon Motion became the 5th best selling release in the world that year. The 2009 follow up The Boy Who Knew Too Much reached album chart top tens in eight countries as the singer continues to tour the globe.
Accompanying Mika on the fifth Sound Of list were psychedelic pop quartet Klaxons, who released Mercury Prize and NME Award winning album Myths of the Near Future in early 2007. The band were branded by many as pioneers of 'new-rave' due to their preference for glow sticks, fluorescent colours and fast paced electronica, but have since distanced themselves from the trend, with their most recent release Surfing The Void drawing influences from dubstep and folk.
Also making the countdown were the post-hardcore sounds of St. Albans quartet Enter Shikari in 5th place, the blues-inflected indie of California's Cold War Kids at 7th and the baggy revival of Birmingham's The Twang in 2nd.
