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How the hell did I miss Kaltrina Selimi's "Hot" last year? Saw her clip for "Zero," which was almost posted on the blog, but somehow missed this great song and clip. Now 100% obsessed. The Priština-born singer has a long-ish history in music, starting out by winning competitions. She later was in a group, but was "forced to leave," for some reason, in 2007. Anyway, now the Albanian from Kosovo is solo and we can all be happy about that. Make no mistake: Kaltrina is not nearly as popular as some other singers from Kosovo posted on this blog. She keeps a low international profile and this song/clip appears to be a bit of a high point at over a million streams. But it's a standout from this region and worth checking out below (nice production from Don Arbas at Arbasound).

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God damn this is good. Earlier this month Kosovo-born singer Rita Ora and DJ Fresh dropped this video for "Hot Right Now" and it's racking up You Tube streams at a very fast clip, not only in England where she now lives (and was raised) but also in Albania/Kosovo where fans are down with the proverbial hometown girl. Maybe a lot of people know her in the States because she's signed to Roc Nation, but I honestly haven't seen too many American blogs or magazines write her up just yet (but maybe that's just me). Anyway, clearly in England she is making a big impression, it seems, and with good reason: this song is on fire (DJ Fresh is the D&B producer behind "Louder," one of 2011's more interesting # 1 singles in England). Check out the promo below. So tight.

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New feature here at Europopped to wind down the year, the best three videos from each country in Europe (and beyond). Let's start with a favorite, Albania. These clips represent only my personal picks, but first up is an amazing clip by Argjentina Ramosaj, who is actually from Kosovo but the promo was done by production company Pulla Pictures (who are responsible for two clips below and so many stellar clips from Albanian and Kosovo-based artists in 2011). "Perfekt" is, well, perfect with a killer Sci-Fi theme. Next up is diva Elvana Gjata's "Kudo Qe Jam." Beyonce, watch out because this one's got next! Finally, we wrap up 2011 with Albania's Eurovision rep Aurela Gaçe and her really crazy-looking Tron-esque clip. Albania was one of my absolute favorite and most surprising countries to write about this year. See why below (tomorrow, it's the top 3 from Belgium).

Would you believe me if I told you Albania is the next country in Europe to produce pop music on par with what's coming out of Romania? Because it's slowly becoming evident that Albania is now in a position to compete better on the world pop stage (though for the record, the country's music industry still lags far behind Romania's) thanks to a few new producers. A good case in point is 22-year-old producer Elgit Doda. His just-released video with Adelina Tahiri, "Mjaft," showcases the potential of what's happening in Albania nicely, with pleasant pop hooks and fresh production styles that sound Romanian (he's worked with Romania's Sunrise Inc in the past), but with a twist that just may end up winning people over outside of Tirana next year. Check it out below...not bad at all.

Over the weekend in Prishtina, there was a televised music awards show called the Zhurma Show Awards 2011. At the event, Albanian music tastemakers toasted top talent over the past year and gave out awards for winners of best song, best video etc (happy that a few europopped choices were in the mix). But one singer I didn't know about was given an award for Best New Artist and her name is Irva Stefa. The singer has a new single/video out ("RockThis Party") but it's not nearly as good as her other 2011 single "Tregom." Check it below. (h/t grazzi)