I just realized that, as of this posting, the straight dope poll results match the top three from billboard’s year end hot 100! Nicely done, people!
Holy crap! That is Train? “Drops of Jupiter” Train? Damn, they must owe somebody a wad of cash. I thought it was some new boy band.
It makes me feel very old that I’m familiar with only 4 songs on the list.
The integrity of my vote probably required that I go listen to all of them and make an informed choice, but instead I simply disqualified all the ones I don’t know.
Then I narrowed it down to “Somebody That I Used To Know” and “We Are Young”.
“We Are Young” is, well… fun. 
But I went with Gotye because I didn’t care for the song at first, but it grew on me to the point that I actively like it now. That takes some doing.
Neon Trees - Everybody Talks topped out at 6. Dang.
“Somebody That I Used To Know” is a neat, different sort of song, and so easily wins this poll for me.
“We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” wins for best video, though.
Gotye. The one good song in a field of garbage. Anyone who listens to any of the other stuff should be ashamed of themselves.
Edit: I didn’t realize this was such an old thread. I clicked straight from the 1964 poll.
I didn’t realize it was so old either. Apparently the poll is still open cuz I just gave LMFAO their ninth vote.
I took Gotye, just ahead of Bruno Mars (who seemed to be channeling the Police!)
I liked “We are Young” the best. “Sexy and I Know It” is a guilty pleasure, but it lost out to fun. “Diamonds” was ineligible because it’s the only song that kept Kesha’s “Die Young” out of the #1 spot (not that I would have voted for Diamonds anyway).
I’m late to this one, but since I had not voted for this I thought I would say that while I am still in my twenties and not an old person speaking, these songs are truly a pile of rotten food. Only one worthy was Maroon 5 so that got my vote.
I never commented personally on this one when I first posted it, so I’ll say straight out that my vote was for Gotye - it’s a very well-produced song (even it is lyrically ripping off the Human League’s number-one-jam of thirty years prior), and its video does a great job of illustrating through body language and overall direction how the male singer is just as bad as he’s accusing the female singer of being.
Honorable mentions go to Set Fire To The Rain (which is one of the best pop soul numbers since Donna Summer’s day), We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (which is just plain fun), Sexy And I Know It (which is destined to go down in history as one of those novelty songs that nobody wants to admit they like even though they do), and Locked Out Of Heaven (which is just some straight-up throwback rock & roll.)
As a bonus which really sums up 2012 for me, here’s alt-rock duo Pomplamoose’s “Do Not Push”, a piece covering Gotye and Carly Rae Jepsen at the same time accompanied by a video inspired by a classic episode of The Twilight Zone.
I wanted to wait until we had gone through all the preceding years but since I’ve got some free time and the winner is obvious:
**Gotye **- Somebody That I Used To Know
One of only a handful of post-2000 songs that I consider classics.
Can’t believe Gangnam Style didn’t make it…
“Gangnam Style” was stuck at #2 behind “One More Night”. It’s largely due to its not making #1 that Billboard decided to start tracking Youtube views in the Hot 100 a few months later.
They should have awarded it a #1 retroactively!
I dont have a fav from this year but 2 tracks introduced me to artists I actually like outside the charts.
Kimbra was the female singer on Somebody that I used to know
and Noah does a straight cover of Sexy and i know it that kicks ass