Songs of the year: Number 1

It was very tough deciding my song of the year for 2018. It was also very tough deciding my favourite Florence + The Machine track of the year. Was it going to be the incredibly brave, self exposing anthem that is 'Hunger'? The June 2016 swan song 'June'? the breathtaking 'The End Of Love'? 'Sky Full of Song' was a contender for a while, mainly because it was the soundtrack to a particularly tumultuous period in my life but, in the end, I settled on '100 Years'.

'100 Years' is one of the tracks on High As Hope that Florence Welch wrote on her own. It's got a very interesting, idiosyncratic approach to melody and rhythm, which only adds to it's charm. There's also that intriguing contrast between the sections describing a burgeoning relationship and those describing the horrors of the wider world outside.

When it was performed live, both here on Jools Holland but also on the High As Hope tour, it took on a life of it's own, with a greater clarity and sense of purpose perhaps than the recorded version. This one will endure I think, and will stand the test of time.