So we made a mistake when we launched the voting for this year's Popjustice Readers' Poll.

At the top of the entry form was a pho­to­graph of Louis Tomlinson with a red cross drawn right across his face. And in the intro­duct­ory blurb we explained that any votes for Louis Tomlinson as 'best anything' would not be counted.

Well, as you might expect, this didn't go down very well with Louis Tomlinson fans. His is a fandom that ranks among the most uptight on the internet but, well, if for whatever reason you're a fan of an artist, it's unpleas­ant to see that artist being cri­ti­cised. We get that. Perhaps some of the Louis fandom's aggress­ive­ness comes from a place of insec­ur­ity, and perhaps they're more aware than they care to admit that Louis' career is as pre­cari­ous as it is under­whelm­ing, but whatever: some people were sad because of what we had done.

So, we haven't included Louis in any of the best cat­egor­ies, even though Louis Tomlinson fans voted for him in those cat­egor­ies anyway. But in the interests of fairness, and because our stance on Louis might have unfairly influ­enced some of the negative voting in other parts of the poll, nor have we included Louis' name in any of the worst cat­egor­ies, even though the votes suggested he would have appeared in many of them and won two. What we're left with, then, is a view of the pop world without any Louis Tomlinson in it. To Louis fans, we hope this is an accept­able solution. To everyone else, enjoy this exclusive glimpse into what the world of pop will be like in 2019.

And without 'further' 'ado'…

Best single



1. Dua Lipa — New Rules

2. Carly Rae Jepsen — Cut To The Feeling

3. Lorde — Green Light

4. Rita Ora — Anywhere

5. Harry Styles — Sign Of The Times

6. Kesha — Praying

7. Charli XCX — Boys

8. Steps — Scared Of The Dark

9. Selena Gomez — Bad Liar

10. Little Mix — Touch

Worst single



1. Ed Sheeran — Galway Girl

2. Liam Payne — Strip That Down

3. Taylor Swift — Look What You Made Me Do

4. Katy Perry — Swish Swish

5. Luis Fonsi and pals — Despacito

6. Ed Sheeran — Shape Of You

7. Harry Styles — Sign Of The Times

8. James Arthur — Naked

9. Sam Smith — Too Good At Goodbyes

10. Katy Perry — Bon Appetit

Best popstar



1. Lorde

2. Dua Lipa

3. Charli XCX

4. Ariana Grande

5. Harry Styles

6. Lady Gaga

7. Rihanna

8. Little Mix

9. Cardi B

10. Niall Horan

Worst popstar



1. x

2. Ed Sheeran

3. Liam Payne

4. Katy Perry

5. James Arthur

6. Taylor Swift

7. Sam Smith

8. Rag 'n' Bone Man

9. Melanie Martinez

10. The Chainsmokers

Best album



1. Lorde — Melodrama

2. Lana Del Rey — Lust For Life

3. Charli XCX — Number 1 Angel

4. Kesha — Rainbow

5. Taylor Swift — Reputation

6. St Vincent — Masseduction

7. Dua Lipa — Dua Lipa

8. Paramore — After Laughter

9. Harry Styles — Harry Styles

10. Steps — Tears On The Dancefloor

Worst album



1. Ed Sheeran — ÷

2. Fifth Harmony — Fifth Harmony

3. Harry Styles — Harry Styles

4. Katy Perry — Witness

5. Sam Smith — The Thrill Of It All

6. Miley Cyrus — Younger Now

7. Taylor Swift — Reputation

8. Hurts — Desire

9. Zara Larsson — So Good

10. Fergie — Double Dutchess

Best video



1. Dua Lipa — New Rules

2. Charli XCX — Boys

3. Camila Cabello — Havana

4. Taylor Swift — Look What You Made Me Do

5. Kendrick Lamar — Humble

6. Tove Lo — Disco Tits

7. Lady Gaga — John Wayne

8. Rae Morris — Do It

9. SOPHIE — It's Okay To Cry

10. Harry Styles — Kiwi

Shoddiest video



1. Harry Styles — Sign Of The Times

2. Carly Rae Jepsen — Cut To The Feeling

3. Katy Perry — Bon Appetit

4. Ed Sheeran — Shape Of You

5. Katy Perry — Swish Swish

6. x

7. Little Mix — Touch

8. Liam Payne — Strip That Down

9. Nadine Coyle — Go To Work

10. Little Mix and CNCO — Reggaeton Lento

Triumph of the year



1. One Love Manchester

2. Lady Gaga at the Super Bowl

3. Kesha's return

4. Dua Lipa

5. Steps comeback

6. Lorde in general

7. Charli XCX's mixtape

8. Camila Cabello's solo career

9. Niall Horan's solo career

10. Harry Styles' solo career

Disaster of the year



1. Witness

2. Galway Girl

3. Fergie's comeback

4. Fifth Harmony

5. James Arthur renais­sance

6. Taylor Swift

7. Liam Payne

8. The X Factor

9. Charli XCX leaks

10. x

Rule of the year



1. 3. Don't Be His Friend

2. 1. Don't Pick Up The Phone

3. 2. Don't Let Him In

Most absurd use of major label cash



1. Katy Perry's Witness livestream

2. Noah Cyrus

3. Katy Perry's disco balls

4. Liam Payne

5. x

6. The phe­nomenon best described by one voter as 'turning boring middle aged TV presenters into crooners'

7. Fergie's visual album

8. Taylor Swift's Ready For It? video

9. Assorted Migos features

10. Prettymuch

Major artist whose disappointing music feels most at odds with their ability to achieve better



1. Katy Perry

2. Zara Larsson

3. Harry Styles

4. Miley Cyrus

5. Sam Smith

6. Taylor Swift

7. Demi Lovato

8. Lady Gaga

9. Fifth Harmony

10. Fergie

Comeback of the year



1. Steps

2. Kesha

3. Bananarama

4. Lorde

5. Aly & AJ

6. Rita Ora

7. Pink

8. Lady Gaga

9. Shania Twain

10. The Sound Of Arrows

Worst attempt at a solo career



1. x

2. Liam Payne

3. Camila Cabello

4. Mollie King

5. Vanessa White

6. Lauren Jauregui

7. Julia Michaels

8. Nadine Coyle

9. Harry Styles

10. Aston Merrygold

Best new act to properly get going in 2017



1. Dua Lipa

2. Julia Michaels

3. Camila Cabello

4. Cardi B

5. Billie Eilish

6. Khalid

7. MUNA

8. SZA

9. Sigrid

10. Anne-Marie

Most ridiculous recording artist



1. Taylor Swift

2. Katy Perry

3. Bhad Bhabie

4. Halsey

5. Ed Sheeran

6. Poppy

7. CupcakKe

8. x

9. James Arthur

10. Jessie J

Least shit streaming service



1. Spotify

2. Apple Music

3. Deezer

4. Google Play Music

5. Soundcloud

6. YouTube

7. Tidal

8. Amazon

9. That was pretty much it

10. really

Most imaginative marketing campaign



1. Various things Spotify have done

2. St Vincent's general rollout

3. Harry Styles as authentic artist

4. Eminem — Revival website and so on

5. Arcade Fire — Everything Now

6. Gorillaz and what one voter describes as "all their VR bullshit"

7. The Boys video

8. Poppy

9. Chained To The Rhythm

10. Steps rollout

Least imaginative A&R decision



1. Harry Styles

2. Lady Gaga — The Cure

3. Ed Sheeran

4. Little Mix and CNCO

5. Liam Payne col­lab­or­at­ing with Quavo

6. Sam Smith

7. x

8. The Fifth Harmony album

9. Miley Cyrus

10. The artists described by one voter as "that shit boyband that Simon Cowell put on X Factor and couldn't remember the name of the song"

Best actual radio station, ie a station you can hear on a literal radio



1. Radio One

2. Capital

3. Kiss FM

4. Beats 1

5. Radio 2

6. Variations on 'what is a radio'

7. Triple J

8. Variations on 'none of them'

9. Heart

10. Z100

Best podcast



1. And The Writer Is…

2. My Dad Wrote A Porno

3. Jessie Ware's Table Manners

4. RuPaul's What's The Tee with Michelle Visage

5. Song Exploder

6. Switched On Pop

7. Pod Save America

8. Unbreak My Chart

9. James Masterton's Chart Update

10. Desert Island Discs

Best DJ (on the radio)



1. Nick Grimshaw

2. Scott Mills

3. Greg James

4. Clara Amfo

5. Roman Kemp

6. Annie Mac

7. Emma Bunton

8. Ken Bruce (!)

9. Zane Lowe

10. Charli XCX

Best TV show with music as some sort of central focus except people have just voted for all sorts of things



1. Sounds Like Friday Night

2. Variations on 'they're all shit' / 'none of them'

3. Top Of The Pops repeats

4. The X Factor

5. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

6. RuPaul's Drag Race

7. The Voice

8. Saturday Night Live

9. Stranger Things

10. The Get Down

Best cover version



1. Haim — That Don't Impress Me Much

2. Harry Styles — Girl Crush

3. Little Mix — Love On The Brain

4. Steps — Story Of A Heart

5. Paramore — Passionfruit

6. Dua Lipa — Golden Slumbers

7. Lorde — In The Air Tonight

8. Demi Lovato — Too Good At Goodbyes

9. Niall Horan — Issues

10. Kesha — Old Flames (Can't Hold A Candle To You)

Least elusive chanteuse



1. Katy Perry

2. Rita Ora

3. Taylor Swift

4. Selena Gomez

5. Ed Sheeran

6. Dua Lipa

7. Camila Cabello

8. Nicki Minaj

9. Mariah Carey

10. Sia

Newish act most likely to save pop in 2018



1. Sigrid

2. Dua Lipa

3. Billie Eilish

4. Stefflon Don

5. Camila Cabello

6. Kim Petras

7. Rina Sawayama

8. Julia Michaels

9. Khalid

10. Jorja Smith

Established act most likely to save pop in 2018



1. Carly Rae Jepsen

2. Ariana Grande

3. Robyn

4. Kylie Minogue

5. Marina & The Diamonds

6. Years & Years

7. Madonna

8. Selena Gomez

9. Charli XCX

10. Rihanna

Strangest vote: 'Owl City'.

Least controversial popstar



1. Ed Sheeran

2. Niall Horan

3. Kelly Clarkson

4. Adele

5. Carly Rae Jepsen

6. Harry Styles

7. Mollie King

8. Lorde

9. Shawn Mendes

10. Sam Smith

Best use of 'socials' by popstar or pop-related entity



1. Charli XCX

2. Rihanna

3. Dua Lipa

4. Olly Alexander

5. Zara Larsson

6. Beyoncé

7. Britney Spears

8. Taylor Swift

9. Cher

10. Selena Gomez

Social Media Arsehole Of The Year



1. Donald Trump

2. Piers Morgan

3. Katie Hopkins

4. Taylor Swift

5. Variations on 'everyone'

6. x

7. Melanie Martinez

8. Joseph Kahn

9. Liam Gallagher

10. Zara Larsson

Choice entry: "A woman I used to work with named Sally. You don't know her"

Songmaker (writer or producer) of the year



1. Jack Antonoff

2. Julia Michaels

3. Justin Tranter

4. Steve Mac

5. Sia

6. Max Martin

7. Ali Tamposi

8. Jeff Bhasker

9. MNEK

10. Emily Warren

Worst partnership between brand and pop act



1. Taylor Swift / UPS

2. Christina Aguilera / Oreo

3. Pixie Lott / Shell

4. Nicki Minaj / H&M

5. Ellie Goulding / Hair products

6. Alexandra Burle / Slimfast

7. Nicole Scherzinger / Muller

8. Dua Lipa / Google Pixel

9. Ed Sheeran / Game Of Thrones

10. Ellie Goulding / Core Water

Most annoying online fanbase



1. Harmonizers

2. Swifties

3. Variations on 'all of them'

4. x

5. Beyhive

6. BTS Army

7. Variations on 'Brexiteers'

8. Beliebers

9. Camilizers

10. Britney Army

Had it, lost it in 2017



1. Katy Perry

2. Taylor Swift

3. Zara Larsson

4. Sam Smith

5. Miley Cyrus

6. Fifth Harmony

7. Melanie Martinez

8. Sia

9. Hurts

10. Haim

Didn’t have it, found it in 2017



1. Niall Horan

2. Camila Cabello

3. Rita Ora

4. Rae Morris

5. Selena Gomez

6. St Vincent

7. Charli XCX

8. Charlie Puth

9. Halsey

10. Paramore

Popstar with whom you would most like to tenderly make love as part of a rewarding relationship



1. Zayn Malik

2. Nick Jonas

3. Rihanna

4. Dua Lipa

5. Olly Alexander

6. Harry Styles

7. Shawn Mendes

8. Troye Sivan

9. Lorde

10. Niall Horan

Popstar with whom you would most like to have an interesting conversation about the nature of human existence



1. Lorde

2. Lady Gaga

3. Marina & The Diamonds

4. Adele

5. Lana Del Rey

6. Beyoncé

7. Sia

8. Tove Lo

9. Paloma Faith

10. Pink

Most deluded artist



1. Taylor Swift

2. Sam Smith

3. Katy Perry

4. Liam Payne

5. Jessie J

6. x

7. Demi Lovato

8. Ed Sheeran

9. Halsey

10. Bebe Rexha

Least deluded artist



1. Charli XCX

2. Lorde

3. Kelly Clarkson

4. Ed Sheeran

5. Dua Lipa

6. Niall Horan

7. Jessie Ware

8. Stormzy

9. Tove Lo

10. Shania Twain

Act we should send to Eurovision in 2018



1. Steps

2. Rita Ora

3. Dua Lipa

4. Mollie King

5. Charli XCX

6. Alexandra Burke

7. Nadine Coyle

8. Hurts

9. Clean Bandit

10. Anne-Marie

Group most likely to split or 'go on hiatus' (split) in 2018



1. Fifth Harmony

2. The Vamps

3. Steps

4. Little Mix

5. Coldplay

6. 5 Seconds Of Summer

7. Clean Bandit

8. Prettymuch

9. 5 After Midnight

10. BTS

(Thanks for the various entries like "HIATUS DOES NOT MEAN SPLIT IF THEY SAY THEY ARE ON HIATUS THEY ARE ON HIATUS" and "THEY DID NOT BREAK UP AND YOU KNOW WHO I'M TALKING ABOUT".)

Bellend of the year



1. Ed Sheeran

2. Donald Trump

3. Liam Payne

4. Katy Perry

5. Morrissey

6. Piers Morgan

7. Melanie Martinez

8. Taylor Swift

9. Sam Smith

10. x

Hero of the year



1. Ariana Grande

2. Dua Lipa

3. Harry Styles

4. Charli XCX

5. Kesha

6. Stormzy

7. Rita Ora

8. Lorde

9. Taylor Swift

10. Rihanna

And that, readers, is the end of that for another year. Thanks to everyone who voted because there were, frankly, a lot of cat­egor­ies this year.