the songs I have listened to(present perfect)
the songs I listened to(past)
the songs I was listening to(past continue)
the songs I listen to(present)
the songs I had listened to
Present Perfect: The Present Perfect is used to indicate a link between the present and the past. The time of the action is before now but not specified.
You could say it's like saying The songs I have listened to until now.
Past: Indicates that the time related to the action being talked about is over, it's in the past. In this case, the action is listen. So your sentence could be "These were the songs I listened to in the 80s."
Past Continuous: Indicates a time in the past but until a specific point. It can indicate an unfinished action. For example, "These were the songs I was listening to, when suddenly the war broke out." Another example "They were waiting for the bus when the accident happened."
Present: Indicates the action is still active in the current time. For example, "I listen to ColdPlay a lot."
Past Perfect: Indicates a time earlier than before now. It is used to make it clear that one event happened before another in the past. It does not matter which event is mentioned first - the tense makes it clear which one happened first. For example, "John had gone out when I arrived in the office."
You can learn more about tenses here:
http://www.edufind.com/english-grammar/verbs/
http://www.grammarly.com/handbook/grammar/verbs/7/verb-tenses/
Downloadable worksheets to work with tenses:
http://www.english-grammar.at/worksheets/tenses/tenses.htm
Past continuous tense expresses that an action happened over a period of time. A for preposition will tell how long. It's perfectly valid.
Comparing it with present continuous tense, present continuous in English is a bit weird, because it can be connected to an understood "shortly before and after now" period of time.
I am going to the store.
This means right now, you are on your way to the store (e.g. you have just left, or you are literally walking out the door to go to the store now). It can also mean you are about to go to the store in the very next moment.
I go to the store.
Simple present in English sounds like you are narrating actions as they happen, and sounds awkward if not in such a context.
You can qualify present continuous with for like past continuous. If you do this, you are usually saying how long something will be happening, or is expected to happen. It will mean a future time even though the tense is a present tense.
I am working for 2 hours, then coming home.
I am going to be on that job in 2 weeks.
Best Answer
You are right that I have expected is incorrect, since have relates to a completed action, and expect is not really an action.
I expected is past simple, and relates to something that happened before now. I had expected is past perfect, which relates to something that happened before some event in the past.
The verb is is present, so we are talking about the situation now: what we expected is before now, so simple past is correct.
You might use present perfect if the main verb were in the past, though past simple would also work, because there is no real event and what you expected is both before now and before the was.