Nothing But Thieves’ single ‘Impossible‘ has been named as the official Record Of The Year for 2020 by the national rock station Radio X. The official nominations were revealed on Christmas Eve which gave the listeners a full week to vote before finally announcing the winner on 31 December. The Essex alternative rock outfit had three songs to chose from – ‘Impossible‘, ‘Real Love Song‘ and ‘Is Everybody Going Crazy?‘ all taken off their critically acclaimed third album Moral Panic released on 23 October via Sony Music.
The public had to chose between a long list of all the tracks, featured on Radio X’ Record Of The Week, selecting their individual Top 10 for the year. The final positions saw the intimate balad ‘Impossible‘ claim the top spot as the best song of 2020, closely followed by ‘Real Love Song‘ at second place and Royal Blood’s upbeat single ‘Trouble’s Coming‘ at third. Celebrating yet another huge success from last year, Nothing But Thieves thanked everyone who voted with the message: “Absolutely mind blowing […] having 3 songs in the top 10 is a great way to end an awful year, you legends“.
:: AND NUMBER 1! Absolutely mind blowing. Thanks to @RadioX and everyone who voted, having 3 songs in the top 10 is a great way to end an awful year, you legends :: https://t.co/jEJeR0Fb9O
— Nothing But Thieves (@NBThieves) December 31, 2020
‘Impossible‘ first premiered back in September as the final promotional single before the official release of Moral Panic a month later, and shortly after had an atmospheric orchestral rendition recorded at Abbey Road Studios. Radio X shared the simple but accurate description of the track: “Ballads don’t get much more anthemic than Impossible, the track that silenced critics of the Southend band“. Speaking with the radio team, singer Conor Mason recalled the writing process: “In a way we’d written a lot of thematically-dense stuff and I remember thinking it’d be great to have a simpler song with a big chorus, a melody that was easy to sing back“.
At the second spot of the year-end popular vote, ‘Real Love Song‘ was shared on 23 June alongside the official announcement of the upcoming third record, and also saw an orchestral make-over by the Bucharest Symphonic Orchestra during the Summer Well Festival. ‘Is Everybody Going Crazy?‘ was the first single by Nothing But Thieves in 2020, premiering back in March and reaching almost 20 million streams on Spotify since. The track ended at the sixth spot at the Radio X’s annual overview.
IT’S OFFICIAL! @NBThieves have WON the Radio X Record Of The Year with Impossible! CONGRATS LADS pic.twitter.com/8UPCfjUoIe
— Radio X (@RadioX) December 31, 2020
Just behind Nothing But Thieves’ first two spots and Royal Blood’s only single of the year, at #4 and #5 are Courteeners’ ‘Hanging Off Your Cloud‘ and Declan McKenna’s ‘The Key To Life On Earth‘. The seventh position is claimed by Biffy Clyro and the powerful track ‘Space‘ taken off their chart topping record A Celebration Of Endings. At the last three spots in Radio X’s Top 10 of 2020 are ‘Don’t Let The Devil Take Another Day‘ by Stereophonics, Sea Girls’ ‘All I Want To Hear You Say‘ and Gerry Cinnamon’s ‘Ghost‘.
