Favorite Finnish Songs of the Year 2020

And here goes the final year-end list. No reissues lists anymore, because there’s so much new music that a) I don’t really have the time to listen to reissues b) I most definitely don’t have the money to buy reissues. Anyway, here are are my favorite Finnish songs of the year. This is mostly just a big playlist with 80+ Finnish songs. Mostly one song per artist with some small exceptions. Veli has two. One in English and one in Finnish. Kielo Kärkkäinen has the new solo single and a song from the 2020 EP with Matti Salo. And well Kalevi Suopursu and Mikko Siltanen have a few too, but different projects. Haamusoittajat is only available on Bandcamp, so you won’t find that from the playlist. I typed about 40 of the biggest favorites here in random order, but that’s barely enough to get started so the playlist has about double. Only top 3 are sorta “ranked” and even that is not important. It’s just a playlist of Finnish songs I loved during the year.

Haamusoittajat – Ahvenheinä (not on Spotify, listen/buy at bandcamp)
Robert Ensio Niemistö – Tasahaikka (Jukan Musiikki)
Metsäheikki – Puut tanssivat hiljaa (Helmi Levyt)
Isse – Loimii (Helmi Levyt)
Joni Ekman – Mikään ei riitä (Soit Se Silti)
Sam Shingler – Fight or Flight (Soit Se Silti)
Matti Jasu – A Love Story
Message Field – Numbers (Soit Se Silti)
Verandan – Pink Clouds (Soliti)
Arppa – Laavalamppuja (Arppa Music)
Janne Laurila – Neljä tonnii pilvee (Soit Se Silti)
Bizzarro & Jukka Nissinen – Rankaisen lempeydellä (Humu Records)
Litku Klemetti – Mona (Luova Records)
Antero Kaksikäsi – Yödösä (Hyvät levyt)
Janne Tapion Sisäinen Avaruus – Rantaan vie moottoritie (Iso Pinkki)
Vino Puu – Hullu Lintu
Bad Sauna – Tehdään jotain tyhmää (All That Plazz)
Maustetytöt – Äiti älä huoli (Is This Art?)
joku iiris – Hyvä tyttö (Humu Records / Jukan Musiikki / Hillotehdas)
Joose Keskitalo – Nukkekoti (Helmi Levyt)
Mitä Helvettiä Nyt Taas – Et ole yksin (Nature Sucks Anyway Records)
Sami Heikkilä – Eiväthän kukat (Luova Records)
Punomo – Anna aikaa (Solina Records)
Lätsä – Keskiyön Cowboy (Helmi Levyt)
The Sugarrush – Yeah (Nature Sucks Anyway Records)
Puhelinseksi – Valomerkki (Svart Records)
Mummypowder – Sara’s Song (All That Plazz)
Kielo Kärkkäinen – Saman ihmeen nähnyt (Texicalli)
Viljami Kukkonen – Heikolla päällä (Karhuvaltio Records)
Rock Siltanen – Tulevaisuus ei oo sitä mitä se oli (Joteskii Groteskii)
Guggenheim-projektz – Matematiikon poika (Helmi Levyt / Jukan Musiikki)
Jani Matti Juhani feat Sini – Talven kylmät kyyneleet (Ainoa Productions)
Tvärtom – Järkytys
Teini-Pää – Hotelliin (Pop-Antik Kustannus / Goosebumb Record) – also check out their perfect ABBA cover 112 here.
Amuri – Masa (Helmi Levyt)
Veli – Elokuussa (Evil Veli Recordings)
Rosita Luu – Kuollut Monta Kertaa (Helmi Levyt)

3. Nightbird – Travelin’ Baby (Ella Ruth Institutet)

This great album from singer-songwriter Nightbird aka Anna-Stina Jungerstam has several songs worthy of a spot on this little list, but perhaps this album opener and title track is sthe finest of them all.

2. Kalevi Suopursu – Sinä olet minun sunnuntai (Helmi Levyt)

Sinä olet minun sunnuntai by Kalevi Suopursu is the the Finnish song I listened to the most this year. Not necessarily the best song from the album, if you use some silly objective parameters but definitely the one that I loved the most. That chorus is just pure perfection. Probably because I never learned to love the weekdays.

1. Laura Moisio – Kaukana onnesta (Texicalli)

My favorite Finnish song of the year 2020 is Kaukana onnesta by Laura Moisio. I instantly fell in love with it when I first heard it January and it never lost its poignant and profound beauty. In fact, it may have found even new and deeper levels during the year, because back in January I was still blissfully unaware how this year would unfold. I’m grateful that I had this compassionate song on my side warning me about the dangers of sinking in too deep. The devastating darkness of this song might have been the shining light that I needed. A work of art.

And here’s the big playlist with 80 plus Finnish songs from the year 2020.

Playlist link