Pulling Rank is a weekly column in which Kelly Stitzel ranks a variety of pop culture-related things with little to no commentary, but sometimes with audio or visual accompaniment. There’s no scientific method to the rankings; these are just Kelly’s opinions. You’ll probably disagree with her — just don’t be a dick about it.

We’re at about the half-way mark in 2012, so it’s time for me to let you know which songs I’ve been really digging this year. (NOTE: Some of these are NSFW, so you should probably listen with headphones.)

1. Chiddy Bang – “Mind Your Manners” (from Breakfast)

2. Santigold – “Disparate Youth”  (from Master of My Make-Believe)

3. Jackie Chain f. Freddie Gibbs and Maggie Horn – “Night Is Young” (from After Hours Mixtape)

4. Rye Rye – “Boom Boom” (from Go! Pop! Bang!)

5. Kindness – “That’s Alright” (from World You Need a Change of Mind)

6. Sleigh Bells – “Comeback Kid” (from Reign of Terror)

7. Estelle f. Janelle MonÁ¡e – “Do My Thing” (from All of Me)

8. Baby Teeth – “White Tonight” (from White Tonight)

9. Rufus Wainwright – “Out of the Game” (from Out of the Game)

10. Norah Jones – “Say Goodbye” (from Little Broken Hearts)

11. Michael Kiwanuka – “Bones” (from Home Again)

12. Bobby Conn – “Govt” (from Macaroni)

13. Grimes – “Genesis” (from Visions)

14. M.I.A. – “Bad Girls” (from Bad Girls)

15. Azealia Banks – “Liquorice” (from 1991)

About the Author

Kelly Stitzel

After shutting down her own blog, Looking at Them, in mid-2008, Kelly migrated over to Popdose, bringing with her Soundtrack Saturday, the most popular column from her old site. Kelly makes a living as a fashion and marketing copywriter, which takes up a lot of her time. However, when she is able to write about things that have nothing to do with her day job, she contributes reviews and musings on music, film and a variety of other topics. In addition to Soundtrack Saturday, columns she's written include Filminism and Pulling Rank.

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