Must Be Christmas

Christmas in Netherlands.

First and Second Christmas. Presents (much lower-key than Sinterklaas) on First Christmas Day, and a dinner with family. Second Christmas is a day for gathering with family and friends and "gourmetting." This is somewhat like a fondue party, with lots of small versions of people's favorite foods to mix and match and cook on specially constructed tiny skillets that fit on a bigger skillet. Fun. :)

And the Top 2000.

Top 2000 is a voter-selected list of the top 2000 songs of all time. The basic list consists of the previous list plus songs that have appeared somewhat frequently on the Radio 2 playlist during the year, minus songs that got very few votes the previous year. There's also a way for songs not on the list to be voted on by "free votes." The voting and compilation takes weeks and includes a process to try to weed out people who spam the votes. The #1 song in 2007 got over 10k votes, while #2000 received 150 votes.

The first Top 2000 (in 1999) captured over 6 million listeners. In 2009, the Top 2000 pulled over 10 million listeners. It's a country of fewer than 17 million people. 

Bohemian Rhapsody is the running favorite for the top spot, which has also been held once by Hotel California and once by Avond (by Boudewijn de Groot). Radio 2 currently begins the countdown at noon on First Christmas Day. This year the Top 2000 was kicked off by Andre Kuipers, the Dutch astronaut who just went to the International Space Station last week. The countdown runs continuously until midnight New Year's Eve and routinely draws the most listeners for all broadcasters in NL. In addition to tuning in on the radio, the list is played on the Internet and the DJ studio is livecast over the net throughout the countdown.

And the top 100 for 2011 (Find the whole list here.):
#1-Queen-Bohemian rhapsody
Eagles-Hotel California
Deep Purple-Child in time
Boudewijn de Groot-Avond
Led Zeppelin-Stairway to heaven
Adele-Someone Like You
Pink Floyd-Wish you were here
Coldplay-Clocks
Coldplay-Viva la vida
Bruce Springsteen-The river
Meat Loaf-Paradise by the dashboard light
Pink Floyd-Comfortably numb
U2-One
Metallica-Nothing else matters
Dire Straits-Brothers in arms
Pink Floyd-Shine on you crazy diamond
Guns n' Roses-November rain
Golden Earring-Radar love
Adele-Make you feel my love
Alan Parsons Project-Old and wise
Adele-Rolling In The Deep
Guus Meeuwis-Brabant
Doors-Riders on the storm
Beatles-Hey Jude
Animals-House of the rising sun
Adele-Set Fire To The Rain
Ramses Shaffy & Liesbeth List-Pastorale
John Lennon-Imagine
Billy Joel-Piano man
Dire Straits-Sultans of swing
Beach Boys-God only knows
Metallica-One
Simon & Garfunkel-Bridge over troubled water
AC/DC-Whole lotta Rosie
Bette Midler-The rose
Nirvana-Smells like teen spirit
Supertramp-School
Cuby & the Blizzards-Window of my eyes
Coldplay-The scientist
Pearl Jam-Black
Rolling Stones-Angie
Marco Borsato-Dochters
Johnny Cash-Hurt
Eric Clapton-Tears in heaven
Moody Blues-Nights in white satin
Rolling Stones-Sympathy for the devil
Dire Straits-Private investigations
Caro Emerald-A night like this
Snow Patrol-Chasing cars
Beatles-Yesterday
Stef Bos-Papa
Van Dik Hout-Stil in mij
Pink Floyd-Another brick in the wall
Red Hot Chili Peppers-Under the bridge
Robbie Williams-Angels
Beatles-Let it be
Wim Sonneveld-Het dorp
Simon & Garfunkel-The sound of silence
R.E.M.-Everybody hurts
Acda & De Munnik-Het regent zonnestralen
AC/DC-Thunderstruck
Billy Joel-Goodnight Saigon
Queen-Innuendo
Eagles-The last resort
Procol Harum-A whiter shade of pale
U2-Sunday bloody sunday
Guns n' Roses-Sweet child o' mine
R.E.M.-Losing my religion
Coldplay-Fix you
Bob Dylan-Hurricane
Fleetwood Mac-Go your own way
Amy Winehouse (& Mark Ronson)-Valerie
Jeff Buckley-Hallelujah
Coldplay-Paradise
Queen-Love of my life
Cure-A forest
Creedence Clearwater Revival-I put a spell on you
Beatles-A day in the life
Bob Marley & the Wailers-No woman no cry
Prince & the Revolution-Purple rain
Amazing Stroopwafels-Oude Maasweg
Rolling Stones-Paint it black
Klein Orkest-Over de muur
Otis Redding-The dock of the bay
Ramses Shaffy-Zing vecht huil bid lach werk en bewonder
U2-With or without you
Toto-Africa
ABBA-Dancing queen
Deep Purple-Smoke on the water
Beatles-Blackbird
10CC-Dreadlock holiday
Electric Light Orchestra-Mr. Blue sky
Ramses Shaffy-Laat me
Queen-Who wants to live forever
Pearl Jam-Alive
Michael Jackson-Billie Jean
Dire Straits-Telegraph road
Frans Halsema-Voor haar
Red Hot Chili Peppers-Californication
#100-Eagles-Desperado