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What makes a record the best of its year? We ask ourselves this question once again. Is it innovation? Originality? Or is it being able to touch the largest amount of people? Music has the unique power to encapsulate very specific moments of our lives, and although this is completely subjective, most of us agree that 'Wonky Bassline Disco Banger' has been able to encapsulate these magic moments of letting go, as it has been decimating dance floors all over the world since its release. An escape that 2016 has perhaps made all too necessary.

Everywhere we went this year, we seemed to hear this song, the huge anthem that is Midland's 'Final Credits'. Harry Agius certainly knows how to spot a sample (this time from a 1980 funk record), combining it with an emotional speeded-up Gladys Knight vocal to create a bit of magic, which certainly soundtracked many a moment this year.

As with all Giegling releases, this one was in high demand but low supply. However, we can safely say that this had very little to do with any 'hype' as the quality on offer here was absolutely outstanding. A beautiful release form DJ Metatron, otherwise known as Traumprinz.

So it might seem self-indulgent to feature one of our own releases so high in our own chart, but this release would have been higher on sales alone (easily the best selling Phonica White yet) and indicates a big year for Peggy Gou, with releases on Rekids and Technicolour too. Two tracks made for the dancefloor from the D-Train sampling 'Day Without Yesterday' complete with congas and shakers to the acid vibes of 'Six O Six' with a counting lesson in her native Korean tongue over the finest analogue house production.

Lnrdcroy is one few artist's that unite our staff in appreciation and his 'Much Less Normal' LP topped our albums of the year list last year. The venerable Mood Hut imprint seemed like a fitting label to release his next offering - 'Ooze City'. Once again, experimentation takes centre stage, with Lnrdcroy defying convention in many ways. This is especially impressive as the EP is more dance floor oriented than last year's groundbreaking but decidedly more home listening album. Such a creative approach to creating dance music really reflected our own aspirations.

Apparently, Dj Koze loved the original track SO much that he asked if he could do a remix of it - calling it 'perfect'! As he said 'It was unique and perfect and didn't need a remix at all, but what I could imagine was in fact a 10 minute-lasting, slowly unwrapping-itself version'. Unlike any other DJ Koze remix before, it sounds like a classic Knuckles remix from the 90s or maybe an Ashley Beedle mid 2000s mix, the track became the sleeper hit of the summer, the 'last tune' at many a festival!

A new Traumprinz record usually means a lot of disappointment as there aren't nearly enough copies to satisfy demand. We were asked to make this one 'Shop-Only' so they didnt just sell out in a minute, before resurfacing on Discogs at double the price. Four tracks of big-room bangers and probably the most accessible TUNE! (in capitals!) in Traumprinz's catalogue - 'Good Vibrations' takes Loleatta Holloway's ubiquitous accapella to the extreme, you're either going to love it or hate it. But its the flip that warrents its place in our higher reaches, 'NY Diva Has Been Set on Fire' takes Celeda's 90s monologue 'The Underground' to new heights with an arpeggiated synth monster underneath - add some string stabs and you can't get a bigger-sounding record this year!

SOBO’s inaugural release came from Montreal's Rue Beaubien resident Project Pablo aka Patrick Holland. Live-off-the-floor takes with pals Rory Seydel (on guitar) and Jeremy Dabrowski (on the bass) can be heard on the title track, whereas freaked-out Dx7 melodies and harmonies makeup “Royal Plus” and “Closer”. It was an homage to Patrick's home & its dreamlike qualities, as well as a practice in call & response. Somehow, such local influences really resonated globally this year - not least on in little corner of Soho!

After various diversions with Todd Rungren and his Six Cups of Rebel pseudonym over the last few years, the third wheel in the Norwegian disco triumvirate of the mid 2000s finally returns with one of those huge anthems. If you thought Todd Terje had cleaned up with 'Inspector Norse', this is Hans-Peter's reply... Skyward synths, effervescent rhythms, and melodies that spiral beautifully into the great unknown. This is Lindstrøm in the zone!

A disco-boogie monster from Dego (previously of 4 Hero) & the 2000 Black Family on Neroli. Strings courtesy of Izzi Dunn, and ably assisted by long-time studio partner Kaidi Tatham, this light & breezy track with its beautiful soulful vocals was a winner this year - continually selling for the whole year.

Easily one of Phonica's biggest sellers to date, this 4 track EP from Australia's Mall Grab made him a name to watch this year. The lead track of course was the Alicia Keys-sampling 'Can't (Get You Outta My Mind)' which takes the soul songstress (already used extensively in Mala's Alicia) into lo-fi 4/4 territory, simple and effective and providing a track that everyone can love... nearly 2 million views on YouTube prove this!!

Deceptively simple yet effective house record, as Kink channels the flavour of those early MCDE releases for the 'Valentine's Groove' A-side that builds to a bigger riff each time, creating a huge track thats probably both Kink & Clone's best release for a while!

Arriving just in time for the summer, Andrés aka DJ Dez returned with this 3-tracker on his own label. The Andrés formula is fairly simple, grab a sample, flip it, add warm basslines and drums. Thing is, nobody does it quite like Dez. The title track here is a soulful rave-up spinning on an indelible vocal chop and vamping pianos.

Melbourne’s Superconscious Records has become a source for straight-up, surefire club records. A string of 12”s from András, Francis Inferno Orchestra, Louis CL and more have presented a globally focused sound from a humble stable, grown out of Australia’s greatest city. International nomad (he's now based in Berlin) and the imprint’s co-founder Fantastic Man follows suit with the label’s sixth record Rhythm Algorithm. A hypnotic trio of mind bending explorations, all with a firm retrospective nod to the inner-city sounds that club music is built on.

A boomy, twisted, minimalist, fantastic house groover on the coveted Hardwax based Workshop label. All rivalry put aside on this one!

Following on from his return to dance orientated music on Neroli records, multi album artist Lars Bartkuhn gave us the lush and endearing “Music for The Golden Age”. It brought contrasting sides of his musical character for Alex Bradleys burgeoning Utopia Records, touching on Detroit, Jazz Fusion and Ambient.

After many years of Larry Heard's Mr Fingers moniker being dormant, it returned with this stunning 4-tracker wih 'Qwazars" being both our favourite and the one that seemed to get the club plays, a beautiful, melancholic house instrumental... Although we have a soft spot for the nagging 303 on the jazzy 'Outer Acid'.

Montreal's Adam Feingold, followed up last year's "Nuff Zang" cassette on 1080p by slipping into the Ex-Terrestrial guise for a part 'chillbiant', part shake n break four-track 12".

Zhivago Zhivago was apparently inspired by hearing deep house and techno tracks where phrasing that doesn’t resolve after 8 bars, which is certainly unusual, but very welcome!

Having been circulating on the net for a fair while now, and delayed because of pressing problems, 'Talk To Me You'll Understand' finally arrived at the end of the year - still thudding along with those scuffed Reebok drums and soaked into fuzzy, stomach-squeezing low-pass filter. All soft chords, soothing vocals, deep-sea bass and skittering hats. Definitely the 'current' sound of 2016, this EP is probably gonna be soundtracking the dancefloors for the next 6 months as well...

This very mysterious artist delivered an excellent EP of slow 'n' steady, piano-led, funk-infused house.

The Vancouver label delivered the goods on this huge disco track based around the main riff from the Walter Gibbons remix of Gladys Knight's 'It's Better than Good Time'... Now go check the 12 minute plus of the original!

Pilotwings stepped on board the good ship Macadam Mambo delivering an EP nominally inspired by classic Chicago house, but with clear Japanese, African and classic electro influences. For further proof of what a year it has been for the duo, check our list of top albums too.