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We called it in October: 2020 would be the Year of The Cover. That assessment would only gain momentum as we moved downhill towards the end of the year, with yet more of the best cover versions we’ve heard in years dropping left, right and centre. In that piece, we toyed with the comfort of nostalgia, commercial potential and boredom as potential reasons for the apparent surge in cover versions.

Now, we're taking stock of all of the covers that hit us this year and praising be for their warm and comforting glow, no matter why they came about. Hundreds of the things dropped this year, but these were our eleven favourite.

11. ‘Heart-Shaped Box’ - Glass Animals (Nirvana cover)

A brilliant example of an artist making an iconic tune their own, Glass Animals’ Dave Bayley shared this haunted version of the Nirvana ballad as part of a series of Quarantine Covers. The looping music box tinkle takes the place of guitars, turning on an endless axis as Bayley sings the lyrics in a soft tone that evokes the cotton candy vibe of the Dreamland album that would follow.

10. Lana Del Rey - ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’

Did you have it on your 2020 bingo card? Lana Del Rey shared a cover of Liverpool FC anthem ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ at the beginning of November, right as results from the US Presidential election rolled slowly in. Not intended as support for the nervy time (though it did jerk a fair few tears) the song was actually intended for something quite different: Del Rey’s acapalla version of the stadium tune will feature in an LFC documentary called The End of the Storm. Because - and who the fuck knew!? - Lana is a Liverpool fan.

9. Whitney - ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’ (John Denver cover)

It is a curio among many that John Denver’s love letter to West Virginia should be so popular among the British public. If a catchy chorus is all we’re looking for, there’s a lot of places to look, but there is a magical something about this classic. That je ne sais quoi is teased out even more on this Whitney version alongside the spellbinding Waxahatchee. The cover appeared on an album of others titled Candid.

8. Jorja Smith - 'Rose Rouge' (St. Germain cover)

In the spectacular body of covers that was the Blue Note Re:imagined album, many an inspired interpretation of standards floored us. But it was compilation opener and lead single ‘Rose Rouge’ - Jorja Smith’s slick tribute to St. Germain’s ‘Rose Rouge’ - that stood out.

7. Arlo Parks - ‘Creep’ (Radiohead cover)

Amid a flurry of singles that would, one by one, turn Arlo Parks into a worldwide underground favourite on the brink of mega-stardom, the British poet dropped this halting, beautiful cover of Radiohead’s omnipresent hit ‘Creep’. Appearing as part of a film by Tom Dream, the accompanying video is filmed in an empty room decorated by shafts of light as Parks takes to the grand piano. In her hands, Parks adds new texture to the twenty-eight year old song, her distinctive vocal adding new grooves to the ultimate introverts anthem. 

6. Poppy - ‘All The Things She Said’ (t.A.T.u. cover)

Released in line with Pride month this June, pop metal star Poppy’s version of ‘All The Things She Said’ is a triumph in cover work and a poignant release which also acknowledged the Black Lives Matter movement in an accompanying press note. Remarkably faithful to the 2002 original with no real deviations from melody or feeling, Poppy delivers the lyrics in the same powerful desperation as t.A.T.u. did eighteen years ago. Still, there's a galloping cloud of heavy percussion and guitar rolling behind the vocal, making this cover a clear Poppy production.

5. Kurt Vile feat. John Prine - ‘How Lucky’ (John Prine cover)

In a characteristically stunning release titled Speed, Sound, Lonely KV, Kurt Vile not only covered his hero John Prince on ’Speed of the Sound of Loneliness’, but dueted with him too, on another cover ‘How Lucky’. Light and dreamy, it’s a show-stopping acoustic reinterpretation, made even more special by the lyric’s relevance - “how lucky can one man get?” Vile asks as he sings on a song with his “hero.” Even more powerful: the song came out just months after Prine passed away from COVID-19. Vile called the partnership "the single most special musical moment in my life".

4. Marika Hackman - ‘Realiti' (Grimes cover)

It was a cover that helped to launch Marika Hackman to fame with 2014’s  interpretation of Lykke li bop ‘I Follow Rivers’. Fast forward to 2020, and Hackman would release a whole album of covers, featuring seldom-interpreted Radiohead song ‘You Never Wash Up After Yourself’ and Beyoncé track ‘All Night’. The highlight of the album though, came with Grimes cover ‘Realiti’, in which the cartoonish club piece became a seductive and sparse ballad.

3. Miley Cyrus - 'Heart of Glass’ (Blondie cover)

Everyone went rightly mad when Miley covered the Blondie new wave/disco crossover hit ‘Heart of Glass’ for iHeart Festival. They went so mad in fact, that the incumbent rock star was pressured to release the version on streaming services. With the (also excellent) cover The Cranberries’ ‘Zombie’, it ended up on the deluxe edition of the endlessly fun new album Plastic Hearts. After a sugary run of track songs featuring guest turns from Billy Idol and Joan Jett, it’s a nice homage to round out Miley’s first real foray into rock ’n’ roll.

2. Phoebe Bridgers feat. Maggie Rogers - 'Iris’ (Goo Goo Dolls cover)

Phoebe Bridgers is a woman of her word. On the evening of the Presidential Election, she Tweeted out the simple promise: “if trump loses I will cover iris by the goo goo dolls.” Ten days later, much of which were spent in agonising impatience, the artist - hot off the back of her stunning second album Punisher - shared her stylised version of the 1998 track alongside Maggie Rogers - and news that all proceeds from the song’s sale would go to Fair Fight Action, a US charity fighting for fair elections. Fair play, Phoebe.

1. Purity Ring - ‘Better Off Alone’ (Alice DJ cover)

With cover art depicting a bizarrely under-discussed moment of 2020 - in which The Pentagon confirmed the existence of UFO’s- Purity Ring followed up WOMB, their first album in five years, with this ecstatic version of the 1998 club classic from Alice DJ. Featuring the whimsical vocals of Megan James, a pleasing added smokiness and the gaudier curves of the song’s central beat lopped off, it is a perfect example of everything a cover should be: unique and catchy, yet faithful enough to resurrect love in the original.

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