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We have hit a milestone in the Information Age– one that we may not be extremely proud of, but dammit, we better respect. The “NOW That’s What I Call Music” compilation has just released its 50th edition, meaning that people are still buying these things and that we’re getting old. Rather than sit here and mock the state of music, we figured we’d go back in the archives and find the best music from all of the “NOW” releases.

Our findings were, for the most part, pleasant, and brought back tender memories, but there seemed to be a theme that the songs got worse as numbers grew. Either that, or more likely, we’re just a bunch of frumpy old people now who don’t like what the kids are into. For each “NOW” release, I, Perry, have taken on the task of choosing what I deem to be the “best” track, while BDCwire’s Jerard Fagerberg has made a “sleeper” pick for each comp. Disagree with us? You’re definitely not alone. Let us hear about it while you enjoy our accompanying Spotify playlist.

NOW 1
Best: Marcy Playground – “Sex & Candy”


Sleeper: Harvey Danger – “Flagpole Sitta”

NOW 2
Best: Fatboy Slim – “Praise You”

Sleeper: New Radicals – “You Get What You Give”

NOW 3
Best: Blink-182 – “What’s My Age Again?”

Sleeper: Chanté Moore – “Chanté’s Got a Man”

NOW 4
Best: Macy Gray – “I Try”

Sleeper: Joe – “I Wanna Know”

NOW 5
Best: Nine Days – “Absolutely (Story of a Girl)

Sleeper: Aaron Carter – “Aaron’s Party (Come Get It)”

NOW 6
Best: Shaggy – “It Wasn’t Me”

Sleeper: Samantha Mumba – “Gotta Tell You”

NOW 7
Best: American Hi-Fi – “Flavor of the Weak”

Sleeper: 3LW – “Playas Gon’ Play”

NOW 8
Best: Sum 41 – “Fat Lip”

Sleeper: JIVEjones – “Me, Myself & I”

NOW 9
Best: Petey Pablo – “Raise Up”

Sleeper: Nelly Furtado – “Turn Off The Light”

NOW 10
Best: blink-182 – “First Date”

Sleeper: Aaliyah – “More Than A Woman”

NOW 11
Best: N.O.R.E. – “Nothin'”

Sleeper: No Doubt feat. Lady Saw – “Underneath it All”

NOW 24
Best: Beyoncé – “Irreplaceable”

Sleeper: Bow Wow feat. Chris Brown and Johntá Austin – “Shortie Like Mine”

NOW 25
Best: T-Pain feat. Young Joc – “Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin’)”

Sleeper: Beyoncé and Shakira – “Beautiful Liar”

NOW 28
Best: Taylor Swift – “Our Song”

Sleeper: Flex featuring Belinda – “Te Quiero (Spanglish Version)”

NOW 30
Best: John Legend feat. Andre 3000 – “Green Light”

Sleeper: The All-American Rejects – “Gives You Hell”

NOW 12
Best: Nas – “Made You Look”

Sleeper: JC Chasez – “Blowin’ Me Up (With Her Love)”

NOW 13
Best: Justin Timberlake – “Rock Your Body”

Sleeper: Stacie Orrico – “Stuck”

NOW 31
Best: The Ting Tings – “That’s Not My Name”

Sleeper: 3OH!3 – “Don’t Trust Me”

NOW 14
Best: Fountains of Wayne – “Stacy’s Mom”

Sleeper: Mýa – “My Love Is Like…Wo”

NOW 32
Best: Michael Franti & Spearhead feat. Cherine Anderson – “Say Hey (I Love You)”

Sleeper: Cobra Starship feat. Leighton Meester – “Good Girls Go Bad”

NOW 33
Best: Kesha – “Tik Tok”

Sleeper: Jaicko – “Fast Forward”

NOW 15
Best: Eamon – “I Don’t Want You Back”

Sleeper: Nick Cannon feat. R. Kelly – “Gigolo”

NOW 16
Best: Outkast – “Hey Ya!”

Sleeper: Chingy featuring J. Weav – “One Call Away”

NOW 17
Best: Franz Ferdinand – “Take Me Out”

Sleeper: J-Kwon – “You And Me”

NOW 18
Best: Snoop Dogg feat. Pharrell – “Drop It Like It’s Hot”

Sleeper: Lindsay Lohan – “Rumors”

NOW 19
Best: The Killers – “Mr. Brightside”

Sleeper: Amerie – “1 Thing”

NOW 20
Best: Fall Out Boy – “Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down”

Sleeper: Lyfe Jennings – “Must Be Nice”

NOW 21
Best: Rihanna – “If It’s Lovin’ That You Want”

Sleeper: Trace Adkins – “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk”

NOW 22
Best: Bubba Sparxxx – “Ms. New Booty”

Sleeper: Saving Jane – “Girl Next Door”

NOW 36
Best: Taio Cruz – “Dynamite”

Sleeper: Sara Bareilles – “King of Anything”

NOW 37
Best: Katy Perry – “Firework”

Sleeper: Edward Maya and Vika Jigulina – “Stereo Love”

NOW 23
Best: Fergie – “London Bridge”

Sleeper: Cherish featuring Sean Paul – “Do It To It”

NOW 38
Best: Cee Lo Green – “Forget You”

Sleeper: Parachute – “You and Me”

NOW 39
Best: Britney Spears – “Till The World Ends”

Sleeper: Chiddy Bang feat. Icona Pop – “Mind Your Manners”

NOW 41
Best: Adele – “Someone Like You”

Sleeper: Breathe Carolina – “Blackout”

NOW 42
Best: Karmin – “Brokenhearted”

Sleeper: No entries. Possibly the worst edition.

NOW 26
Best: Plain White T’s – “Hey There Delilah”

Sleeper: J Holiday – “Bed”

NOW 44
Best: None. This is truly an awful compilation.

Sleeper: Britt Nicole – “Gold”

NOW 45
Best: One Direction – “Live While We’re Young”

Sleeper: I fucking quit, this music is so terrible.

NOW 43
Best: M83 – “Midnight City”

Sleeper: Alex Clare – “Too Close”

NOW 46
Best: Ariana Grande feat. Mac Miller – “The Way”

NOW 27
Best: Kanye West feat. Dwele – “Flashing Lights”

Sleeper: Jordin Sparks – “Tattoo”

NOW 29
Best: T.I. – “Whatever You Like”

Sleeper: Darius Rucker – “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It”

NOW 47
Best: Mariah Carey feat. Miguel – “#Beautiful”

NOW 48
Best: Miley Cyrus – “We Can’t Stop”

NOW 49
Best: Drake feat. Majid Jordan – “Hold On, We’re Going Home”

NOW 34
Best: The Temper Trap – “Sweet Disposition”

Sleeper: Jamie Foxx feat. Justin Timberlake and T.I. – “Winner”

NOW 35
Best: La Roux – “Bulletproof”

Sleeper: Sky Ferreira – “Obsession”

NOW 40
Best: Foster The People – “Pumped Up Kicks”

Sleeper: Alexandra Stan – “Mr. Saxobeat”

NOW 50
Best: DJ Snake & Lil Jon – “Turn Down For What”