The coronavirus pandemic dictated everything in 2020.

Live gigs (remember them) were a no-go, but it allowed bands and artists to take stock and deliver one of the most exciting years for Scottish music that I have seen in the years of this annual 'best tracks' list.

This eclectic annual journey began with a long list of over 300 tracks, distilled to this Top 100.

In this Scots playlist of the most essential tunes of 2020, you will find everything from alternative rock, dance, electronica, hip-hop, rap, indie choral, punk, post-grunge, folk and... well see for yourself.

It is a mix of the known, little known and the unknown, leftfield and mainstream,  immediate pop anthems and challenging experimental projects.

The 100-or-so is being published over four days with the final 25 revealed on Boxing Day.

READ MORE: Top 100 Tunes from Scotland in 2020 Part 1 (100-76)

READ MORE: Top 100 Tunes from Scotland in 2020 Part 2 (75-51)

READ MORE: Top 100 Tunes from Scotland in 2020 Part 4 (26-1): From Lewis Capaldi to The Blue Nile

Next is...

Part 3 - 50-26

=50 ONR (feat Sarah Barthel of Phantogram) - Must Stop​

A Killers-style R Rated epic with one of the most barbed pop lyric of the year in  “must stop falling in love with every girl/boy who f*cks me” . ONR is the psuedonym of the man behind some of Scotland's best tunesmiths and former frontman with the underrated Dumfriesshire combo Finding Albert.

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=50 Tommy Ashby - Blood Wolf Moon

Borders-based singer-songwriter Tommy Ashby who has a PhD in psychoacoustics notched up  more than 2m streams of this gorgeous and reflective indie-folk song.

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49 Callum Beattie - Some Heroes Don't Wear Capes​

The Edinburgh-raised singer-songwriter says it is the most personal song he has written and is around how his dad, who was the first to introduce him to songwriting, brought him up on his own. It has since been reworked as a tribute to key workers during the Covid pandemic.  That new take features in the latest NHS Professionals video for International Nurses Day.

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48 Conscious Route & True Note - Life in the Rain​

The collaboration between the Edinburgh-based rapper Rolain Bradbeer – Conscious Route – and producer True Note aka Mert Pearson produced arguably the Scots album of 2020.  This is one of the most reflective tracks on their masterpiece revealing insecurities.

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47 zildjianpinky - Nightingale​

Chirping birds, a chiming piano and an infectious melody cut through this Moby-esque chillhop instrumental from the mysterious Glasgow producer.

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46 Blanck Mass - Credits

The Edinburgh-based electro-meister aka Benjamin John Power goes from beast to beauty on this haunting synth-heavy cut with nods to Giorgio Moroder from his first feature length soundtrack - for the Irish crime drama film Calm With Horses.

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=45 Ally Kerr - April

Breathtaking, sweeping strings glow on this swirling standout instrumental from the Glasgow singer-songwriter's new adventure, revealed on his Soundtracks album.  This cinematic, orchestral music is a far cry from the folky indie-pop of old.

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=45 Dead By Monday - Lost Generation (Hessian Renegade Remix)​

A ear-bleeding riffola-blasting demon from the Glasgow post-hardcore combo is given an acid-rock makeover in this colossal remix by Glasgow rave-rap-heads Hessian Renegade.

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44 Constant Follower - Set Aside Some Time​

A warm and enchanting first single from the Stirling-based experimental folk four-piece, led by Stephen McAll, plus Andrew Pankhurst, Amy Campbell, and Kessi Stosch from the forthcoming album Neither Is, Nor Ever Was.

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43 Sega Bodega - U Got The Fever​

Previously championed on this list, the Glasgow-raised producer, aka Salvador Navarrete, produces a sublimely freaky slice of avant pop vs experimental dance which is an ode to chaotic behaviour. This highlight from his debut album Salvador comes over as early-Basement Jaxx trying to piece together a broken nursery rhyme.

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42 Peat and Diesel - Brandy in the Airdidh

Definitely giving it laldy (they say so) is this heartwarming Stornoway-based three-piece with a crowdpleasing and light-hearted folk-punk anthem with a nod to the Pogues that will seep in your brain and won't let go. It's so good I was convinced it must have been a cover. "We're the P, and the D, from Stornoway town. We're in a hired van, it better not break down." From their pun-some second album Light My Byre.

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41 McRoy - Outlaw​

Out of Paisley comes this astonishing rhyme barrage venting frustration at street life set to a glitching trip hop hook. This is not flow, it's a ferocious cascade.

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40 Conscious Route & True Note - Coochie Slug​

Swaggering beats and an electro maelstrom has Edinburgh-based emcee Conscious Route spitting rhymes onto another level.

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=39 Misty Galactic - The Worst

The dreamiest of atmospheric electro-pop but with the darkest of subject matters, conjuring images of toxic love and this Dundee/Edinburgh singer-writer Sophie Craik's relationship with her own mental health. She says:"I guess this is the story of one of the darker relationships I’ve been in, but it’s also about the way my mind works, that urge to push people away, then begging them to stay.  Sometimes, I’ve felt like I’m cursed and fated when it comes to other people."

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=39 Niteworks - Cumhachd (Esus' Crunluath Remix)

The four-piece from the Isle of Skye produced this exhilirating and unique fusion of electronica, Scottish traditional & Gaelic music. Yes, there will be pipes. 

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38 Stanley Odd - Where They Lie

The masters of Scots alternative hip hop pull no punches on their unmistakably political, passionate and raw comeback single with Solareye in fine rasping lyrical form. ​

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37 Geneva - Fault Lines ​

The brooding, twitching first song from the Scots 90s indie combo of this century is as far away from the Britpop that they were obliquely once aligned. It comes over as a playful twist of spaghetti western theme and dark electronics.

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36 Colin MacLeod - Warning Signs​

This anthemic cut from a new album due in January is another stunning example of the Lewis crofter's inspired take on Bruce Springsteen-style widescreen storytelling Americana rock. 

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35 Jonsi ft Elizabeth Fraser - Cannibal​

Jónsi Birgisson, frontman of Sigur Rós, manages to encourage one of the greatest ever voices of Scotland, the Cocteau Twins vocalist Elizabeth Fraser from the shadows to lend her considerable presence on this atmospheric dream-like sparkler, the third single from the album Shiver.

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34 sarya - take care of yourself

"Love yourself, baby," is how this spinechilling opening 'emotronica' track from the Edinburgh-based Taiwanese-American singer-songwriter/poet's lockdown antidote EP closes. A glorious ode to taking a bath, lying in bed and calling your mum.

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33 Zac Scott - Million

The Glasgow-based acoustic singer-songwriter, who is a music teacher by day,  spent two years writing and recording a collection of songs inspired by the land – and soundscapes of Scotland and Iceland, resulting in his classy widescreen debut album For The Love Of... and this captivatingly crafted and soulful mood-tune with melodies that fizzle and glow like streetlights and can be compared to the best of the likes of James Blake and The Blue Nile.

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32 Faex Optim - Sister​

Frustratingly/tantalisingly short at just one minute and 29 seconds, this eerie inventive if brief soundscape is a leftfield creative blend of Wes McDonald's signature twist on post-electro ala Boards of Canada and abstract hip hop married to an infectious singing child sample loop.  Now if this had been developed further...

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31 Fair Mothers - Undone​

Stonehaven-based Kevin Allan leads this wistful alt-folk standout from the Separate Lives album which is a call-and-response between Allan and singer-songwriter Faith Elliott, evoking a campfire in the wilderness and a man alone with his thoughts, his fragmented memories calling to him from the dense, bleak night.

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30 Cucina Povera - Anarkian kuvajainen​

Minimalist, surreal and funereal nether-pop sorcery from Glasgow-based Finnish-born experimentalist Maria Rossi who is carving a name for herself as Scotland's this century answer to Laurie Anderson, or an eccentric Enya. While she is undoubtedly an acquired taste, this, the second track from her third album Tyyni,  captivates with a freeform mix of tambura-like drone, a circular backing vocal riff, a repetitive, hypnotic hymnal and even mobile phone interference (yes, that is a warning, as I had switched mine off in error). An antedote for a world gone wrong.

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=29 Kinbote - God's Cellos​

Glasgow-based glitch pop creator Matt Gibb creates a twitching, looped and layered synth vs PC tapestry incorporating an enchanting soul hook that sparkles with each listen. Gibb was previously based in Aberdeen and a member of the now-defunct arts collective Re-Analogue. 

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=29 Ikotu - Close​

Take jazz, add a dollop of trip-hop, add some freakish samples, go downbeat, minimalist  and experimental and you have this stunning, cunning curiosity from the less-than-prolific but inspired underground Edinburgh multi-instrumentalist who last appeared on this list four years ago.

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28 Lizabett Russo - Depending​

Magical Edinburgh-based Romanian singer-songwriter blends a miriad of influences from folk, classical and soul and sprinkles it with the kind of fairy dust that has you hanging on every word. As close as you will get to Kate Bush in 2020.

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27 Memes - So What​

Bristling ranting laptop rock from Glasgow cousins John and Paul McLinden, who make up Memes. "We like the idea of keeping the tracks short and snappy, like song versions of memes. It’s self-recorded and produced and it was one of those tracks that just came together very quickly," they say.

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26 The Wild Places - Black Sky​

Magical closing track from a sparkling debut album from the Glasgow-based art-rock trio with its "I'm lifted up, into the atmosphere" hook, haunting piano, dramatic percussion, and other gorgeous weirdness.

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The full 'best of' is available on this Spotify playlist.  That is, those tracks which are on the platform.

This is the YouTube Top 100 playlist (minus those that aren't on the platform)

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READ MORE: Top 100 Tunes from Scotland in 2020 Part 1 (100-76)

READ MORE: Top 100 Tunes from Scotland in 2020 Part 2 (75-51)

READ MORE: Top 100 Tunes from Scotland in 2020 Part 4 (26-1): From Lewis Capaldi to The Blue Nile