Oh, Rolling Stone, could you be any more of a Dad? With all of 2014's albums to choose from, you've chosen the one we didn't get to choose:

There was no bigger album of 2014 – in terms of surprise, generosity and controversy. Songs of Innocence is also the rebirth of the year. Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. put their lives on the line: giving away 11 songs of guitar rapture and frank, emotional tales of how they became a band out of the rough streets and spiritual ferment of Seventies Dublin.

Or 'fading brand attempt a desperate reboot by creating a Year Zero mythos; realising nobody would buy it, they force it into people's hands'. Who would fall for that schtick, bar another fading brand?

See the collection of everyone's best-of lists

A quick word of praise for NME's current issue, the 50 Best Albums of the Year - one of the few list-based issues that makes sense. And it's been done in a lovely way - each album given a full page, and a lovingly written piece about it.

It's also striking that, when asked to talk about the current music it loves, the NME is a very different beast from the magazine you'd expect looking at the parade of the dead and the sainted that mark the front pages.

In fact, the only record on the list which feels driven by market forces rather than genuine passion is Morrissey's World Peace Is None Of Your Business. Three writers have a crack at explaining what it's doing on the list, and even then the sense that this is a continuation of the High Court Apology to Mr Morrissey never quite goes away. "It's a return to form" - well, yes, but it's a return to disappointing mid-solo career form, which is hardly a leap forward. "It's the best thing he's done since You Are The Quarry" - well, yes, but that's like saying "no more painful than sciatica."

St Vincent comes out top, and her prize appears to be a cover feature for next week. That's quite a coup, as shockingly, she'll be the first woman to appear on the cover since the start of November. November 2013. When it was MIA. (There was a montage which had Wolf Alice, if you want to be pedantic.) That's a pretty poor show.

We read everyone else's picks of the year so you don't have to. Or, more honestly, we read everyone else's picks of the year so we can churn out a post without having to think much about it.

This post will continue to be updated through the next month of so.
Last updated: 30-12-12

Lest we forget: 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008

[Part of the 2012 inch remix]

ABC News entertainment blog's album of the year:
Regina Spektor - What We Saw From The Cheap Seats

The Age's album of the year:
Frank Ocean - Channel Orange

Billboard's Top 200 albums number one of the year:
Adele - 21

Billboard's Hot 100 number one of the year:
Gotye Featuring Kimbra - Somebody That I Used To Know

Tim Burgess' favourite album, via Twitter:
Carter Tutti Void - Transverse

CBC's worst musical moment of the year:
Meat Loaf and Mitt Romney singing God Bless America together

Clash Magazine's top album:
Bobby Womack - The Bravest Man In The Universe

Digital Spy's best single of 2012:
Carly Rae Jespen - Call Me Maybe

Female First's best albums (in no particular order):
Little Mix - DNA
Christina Aguilera - Lotus
Aiden Grimshaw - Misty Eye
Adam Lambert - Tresspassing
Rihanna - Unapologetic

The Fly's top album:
Sharon Von Etten - Tramp

Grime's favourite live act, via The Observer:
Doldrums

Highest-earning musician of 2012, via Rolling Stone:
Dr Dre [$100 million]

Lesbians In My Soup's album of the year:
Aesop Rock - Skelethon

Vincent Neff of Django Django's best live act, via The Observer:
Krar Collective

NME's albums of the year:
5. Alt-J - An Awesome Wave
4. Crystal Castles - III
3. Frank Ocean - Channel Orange
2. Grimes - Vision
1. Tame Impala - Lonerism

Kevin Parker of Tame Impala's favourite music discovery, via The Observer:
The Field

Paste Magazine's best new band:
Matthew E White (he's not actually a band, is he?)

Li Robbins' best World Music Album, via CBC:
Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars - Radio Salone

Aerrow Shapiro's best track, via KSSU:
Jack White - Sixteen Salteens

Spotify's most shared artist:
Adele

Sweeping The Nation's album of the year:
Grizzly Bear - Shields

Time's top album:
Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel Is Wiser than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More than Ropes Will Ever Do

Time's top song:
Usher - Climax

A gathering of some of the best-ofs, worst-ofs and show-offs of 2011. This list will expand and grow as more are published.

Last updated: 01-01-12

Lest we forget: 2010 2009 2008

The AV Club's best music:
5. Wilco - The Whole Love
4. Low - C'mon
3. Bon Iver - Bon Iver
2. Fucked Up - David Comes To Life
1. Wye Oak - Civilian

MTV's Bigger Than The Sound best albums:
5. The Horrors - Skying
4. Fucked Up - David Comes To Life
3. Drake - Take Care
2. Adele - 21
1. Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost

Dan Bodah's best music experience:
Gillian Welch - The Harrow & The Harvest

Dan Bodah's worst music experience:
Being forced to admit to myself I like Air Supply

Death And Taxes' top songs :
5. Jay-Z/Kanye West - Niggas in Paris
4. Cults - Abducted
3. M83 - Midnight City
2. Real Estate - It's Real
1. Bon Iver - Holocene

Kitty Empire's Turkey of the year:
Viva Brother - Famous First Words

Gorilla vs Bear best songs of 2011:
5. Shabazz Palaces – Are you… Can you… Were you? (Felt)
4. Peaking Lights – All The Sun That Shines
3. Lana Del Rey – Video Games
2. White Denim – Street Joy
1. Panda Bear – Alsatian Darn

Ben Howard's track of the year:
James Blake - The Wilhelm Scream

Gareth Los Campesinos' records of the year include:
How To Dress Well - Just Once EP
Prurient - Bermuda Drain
The Weekend - House Of Balloons

Cher Lloyd's favourite track:
Professor Green - Read All About It

ifblog's albums of the year:
5. Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes
4. Elbow - Build a Rocket Boys!
3. Einar Stray - Chiaroscuro
2. Emmy the Great - Virtue
1. Patrick Wolf - Lupercalia

Jfa010's best tracks mix YouTube channel includes:
Basslovers United - Forever Is Over;
Arty- Around The World;
The Storm - Lost In The Fire

Juno Award for new group of the year:
Said The Whale

Erika Meyer's favourite find of 2011:
Jan Terri

Music For Kids Who Cant Read Good's best videos:
5. Battles - My Machines
4. Young Galaxy - Blown Minded
3. Is Tropical - The Greeks
2. Battles - Ice Cream
1. Manchester Orchestra - Simple Math

The New Yorker's best classical recording includes:
Berlioz, “Nuits d’été,” Handel arias; Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Nicholas McGegan, Philharmonia Baroque (PBP)

Paste Magazine's Best Albums:
5. Middle Brother – Middle Brother
4. tUnE-yArDs – w h o k i l l
3. My Morning Jacket – Circuital
2. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
1. Bon Iver – Bon Iver

Neil Pickering's album of the year:
Bon Iver - Bon Iver

Popjustice Readers' singles of the year:
5. Marina & The Diamonds - Radioactive
4. Nicola Roberts - Beat Of My Drum
3. Lady Gaga - The Edge Of Glory
2. Will Young - Jealousy
1. Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris - We Found Love

Popjustice Readers' new act most likely to save pop (not that it needs saving) in 2012:
Little Mix

Popjustice Readers' act with the most annoying fanbase:
Justin Bieber

Sideline readers' band of the year:
VNV Nation

Sideline readers' best print magazine:


Speakers In Code's best songs:
5. Cults - You Know What I Mean
4. Smith Westerns - The End Of The Night
3. Wilco - One Sunday Morning
2. Ryan Adams - Dirty Rain
1. Bon Iver - Holocence

Sweeping The Nation's albums of the year:
5 David Thomas Broughton - Outbreeding
4 Wild Beasts - Smother
3 Los Campesinos! - Hello Sadness
2 Johnny Foreigner - Johnny Foreigner vs Everything
1 PJ Harvey - Let England Shake

Erik Thompson's five most overrated artists:
5. EMA
4. Dawes
3. Adele
2. Odd Future
1. Foster The People

Tinie Tempah's favourite song:
Adele - Rolling In The Deep

Everett True's 20 favourite songs of 2011 includes:
No Mas Bodas - Flesh
Hive Dwellers - Get In
Tunabunny - Song For My Solar Sister

Sweeping The Nation's UK music blogger poll:
5. Radiohead- The King Of Limbs
4. Wild Beasts - Smother
3. tUnE-yArDs – w h o k i l l
2. Bon Iver- Bon Iver
1. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake

Woodhands' best shizz of 2011 includes:
Kid Koala - Remembrance
Junior Boys – A Truly Happy Ending
Timber Timbre – Bad Ritual
Rich Aucoin – It
Purity Ring - Ungirthed
Grimes - Vanessa

With the year starting to draw to its conclusions, it's time to start collecting together some of the highlights of other people's reviews of the year.

This post will be expanded regularly over the next couple of months
Last update: 03-01-11

About.com Best Rock Albums
5. The Hold Steady - Heaven Is Whenever
4. Kings Of Leon - Come Around Sundown
3. Kid Rock - Born Free
2. Drive-By Truckers - The Big To-Do
1. Deftones - Diamond Eyes

Best-selling UK albums via Official Chart Company
5. Plan B - The Defamation Of Strickland Banks
4. Rihanna - Loud
3. Lady GaGa - The Fame
2. Michael Buble - Crazy Love
1. Take That - Progress

Best-selling UK singles via Official Chart Company
5. Usher featuring Will I Am - Oh My God
4. Only Girl (In The World) - Rihanna
3. Bruno Mars - Just The Way You Are (Amazing)
2. Matt Cardle - When We Collide
1. Eminem featuring Rihanna - Love The Way You Lie

Duffy's favourite track of the year, via The Observer:
The Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition

Robert Duffy of Done Waiting's favourite albums:
5. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
4. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - The Brutalist Bricks
3. Belle & Sebastian - Write About Love
2. The National - High Violet
1. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Gorilla vs Bear Best tracks of the year:
5. Girls - Carolina
4. James Blake - CMYK
3. Beach House - 10 Mile Stereo
2. Joanna Newsom – Good Intentions Paving Company
1. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Round and Round

I Heart Music Hottest Bands In Canada
5. Shad
4. Broken Social Scene
3. Karkwa
2. Diamond Rings
1. Arcade Fire

iTunes Rock Album Of The Year:
Deftones - Diamond Eyes

Santiago Lizón's best Creative Commons tracks, via Phlow:
Penca Catalogue - Only Locals
Stable Mechanism - A Fake Conversation
Monoceros - Camper
Crisopa - Titanium Tears
Javier Rubio + Pársec - Alice y Bob

Laura Marling's favourite album via The Observer:
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

The Music Slut's top albums:
5. One Night Only - One Night Only
4. The Irrepresibles - Mirror Mirror
3. Everything Everything - Man Alive
2. Sufjan Stevens - The Age Of Adz
1. Lightspeed Champion - Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You!

NME albums of the year:
5. Laura Marling - I Speak Because I Can
4. LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening
3. Beach House - Teen Dream
2. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
1. These New Puritans - Hidden

NME's biggest names missing from its 50 best albums of the year list:
5. MIA - M/\Y/\
4. Eminem - Recovery
3. Gorillaz - Plastic Beach
2. The Courteeners - Falcon
1. Kings Of Leon - Coming Around

NME's reissue of the year:
David Bowie - Station To Station

NME tracks of the year:
5. Arcade Fire - We Used To Wait
4. Kanye West - Power
3. Janelle Monde - Tightrope
2. MIA - XXXO
1. Foals - Spanish Sahara

Q Best albums
5. Vampire Weekend - Contra
4. Laura Marling - I Speak Because I Can
3. Plan B - The Defamation of Strickland Banks
2. Robert Plant - Band of Joy
1. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

Pretty Much Amazing Best songs
5. The Morning Benders - Excuses
4. Yeasayer - ONE
3. Cee-Lo Green - Fuck You
2. Tame Impala - Solitude Is Bliss
1. LCD Soundsystem - All I Want/I Can Change

Wendy Roby's fifty singles of the year includes TuneYards - Real Live Flesh; Oh No Ono - Helplessly Young; Keane - Stop For A Minute

Oliver Sim's favourite album, via The Observer:
Best Coast - Teen Dream

One Track Mind's reader's favourite songs of the year:
5. Sarah Jaffe - Better Than Nothing
4. Trentemøller - Sycamore Feeling
3. Emily Jane White - Liza
2. Junip - Rope And Summit
1. The National - Bloodbuzz Ohio

Stereogum Best new bands
Forty bands nominated, including Warpaint, Minks, Best Coast & Active Child

Sweeping The Nation's albums of 2010:
5. Allo Darlin' - Allo Darlin'
4. Napoleon IIIrd - Christiania
3. Meursault - All Creatures Will Make Merry
2. Sufjan Stevens - The Age Of Adz
1. Los Campesinos! - Romance Is Boring

Tinnie Tempah's favourite album, via The Observer:
Plan B - The Defamation Of Strickland Banks

Everett True's top five albums
Agent Ribbons – Chateau Crone
My Disco – Little Joy
kyü – kyü
Mountain Man – Made The Harbor
Tunabunny – Tunabunny

UK Bloggers chart, as curated by Sweeping The Nation:
5. Beach House - Teen Dream
4. Caribou - Swim
3. Laura Marling - I Speak Because I Can
2. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
1. The National - High Violet

Village Voice's worst songs of the year:
5. Artists For Haiti - We Are The World 25 For Haiti
4. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Don't Pull me Over
3. Cast Of Glee - Loser
2. Bret Michael - What I Got
1. Train - Hey Soul Sister

Katie White's band of the year, via The Observer:
Warpaint

Lest we forget
2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005

There's a similar, but much more diligent list, over at Largehearted Boy

This, then, is where it starts: Our annual round-up of what other people are picking as their best of lists.

This post will expand as more people publish their lists
Last updated: 02-01-10

Amazon.com editor's top albums:
5. I And Love And You - Avett Brothers
4. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
3. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix - Phoenix
2. It's Blitz - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
1. Middle Cyclone - Neko Case

Associated Press entertainer of the year:
Taylor Swift

Martin Caballero of the Boston Herald's favourite album:
The Spirit Of Apollo - NASA

Broken TV's top song of the year:
Velvet - The Big Pink

Creative Review's sleeves of the year:
Further Complications - Jarvis
Logos - Atlas Sound
Around The Will - Iron And Wine
Yes - Pet Shop Boys
Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle - Bill Callahan
Embryonic - Flaming Lips
Bitte Orca - Dirty Projectors
Klang - The Rakes
Veckatimest - Grizzly Bear

David at It's Getting Boring By The Sea's top album:
XX - The XX

Greg Dulli's album of the year [via Filter]:
Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix - Phoenix

FACT magazine's albums of the year:
5. LP - Discovery
4. Love Comes Cold - Cold Cave
3. Fabric 45 - Omar B
2. Dancemother - Telepathe
1. XX - The XX

Faronheit's EP of the year:
Fall Be Kind - Animal Collective

Jed Gottleib of the Boston Herald's favourite album:
Get Guilty - AC Newman

Michael Gregoire's netlabels of the year:
Just Plain Sounds
Error-Broadcast
12rec.
aaahh-records
af-music

iTunes best sellers:
Album: Only by the Night - Kings Of Leon
Track: Boom Boom Pow - Black Eyed Peas

Adam Lambert's album of the year [via MTV]:
The Fame - Lady GaGa

Le Corps Mince De Francoise's best live bands of 2009 [via Noize]:
"Passion Pit at Melt-festival and Health during our Germany-tour in October"

MTV man of the year:
Michael Jackson

Neilson most-played artist on British radio:
Take That

Netaudio's favourite Creative Commons albums:
Twilight Rainfalls - Anders Ilar
Depth Perceptions Vol 1 - Pronounce - Various
Netaudio Berlin Festival Sampler - Various
Elements - Mon0
Evolution Q - Various

Popjustice Reader's Poll:
Best single: Poker Face - Lady GaGa
Most annoying face: Danyl Johnson
Artwork fail: 3 Words - Cheryl Cole

Pyaramidd/Starfucker's favourite albums of 2009 [via Noize]:
Jewellery - Micachu And The Shapes
Psychic Chasms - Neon Indian
Logos - Atlas Sound - Logos
Two Suns - Bat for Lashes
Bitte Orca - Dirty Projectors

Rough Trade Shop's albums of the year:
5. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
4. Fever Ray – Fever Ray
3. Primary Colours - The Horrors
2. Oh My God, Charlie Darwin - The Low Anthem
1. XX - The XX
Someone's turned the whole chart into a Spotify playlist

Said The Gramophone's top 75 tracks of 2009:
5. Best I Ever Had (Skeemix) - Drake featuring R Kelly
4. No Intention - Dirty Projectors
3. Two Weeks - Grizly Bear
2. Change Of Heart - El Perro Del Mar
1. Sharon Van Etten - Much More Than That

Bob Young of the Boston Herald's favourite album:
Musiquita - Martina Gomez

Lest we forget - previous year's best of lists
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004

Have you ever wondered how someone goes about putting together something like 1000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die (which would be a bloody long last request in itself, wouldn't it?)

Phawker spoke to the author Tom Moon:

The beginning phase was just a lot of list making. I made lists of everything I could think of, I consulted a lot of different lists that were already out there — every Mojo Best-Of list that was ever done, Q, all the British magazines — they do so many of them.

Aha. Looking ay everyone else's lists of the best songs ever. Funny thing, though, you might think that would tend to lead to every one of these exercises churning out pretty much the same songs over and over and over and over again.

This post will expand as more 'best of 2008' lists and selections appear

ilxor is doing a similar thing, only better and DJ Martian is over this sort of thing, too. Largehearted Boy has just started his year-end lists round-up, too.

Bigger Than The Sound's top albums of the year:
5. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
4. Kanye West - 808s & Heartbreak
3. The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound
2. Deerhunter - Microcastle/ Weird Era Cont.
1. TV on the Radio - Dear Science

Blender's top albums:
10. Fall Out Boy - Folie A Deux
9. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
8. Randy Newman - Harps and Angels
7. Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping
6. Robyn - Robyn
5. Hot Chip - Made In The Dark
4. Metallica - Death Magnetic
3. TV On The Radio - Dear Science
2. Girl Talk - Feed The Animals
1. Lil' Wayne - Tha Carter III

Andrew Collins sums up the year, musically:

On reflection, although historic in a geo-political sense and full of financial portent, it's not been a vintage one for stuff. I have been about as underwhelmed by the long-playing record as at any other stage in my music-loving life - but there have been some tremendous songs, so all is not lost.

Dab DeLuca's best Phildelphia releases of the year:
3. Dr. Dog - Fate
2. The Roots - Rising Down
1. The War On Drugs - Wagonwheel Blues

Decibel magazine's top albums:
10. Disfear - Live the Storm
9. Made Out of Babies - The Ruiner
8. Wetnurse - Invisible City
7. Origin - Antithesis
6. Rotten Sound - Cycles
5. The Gates of Slumber - Conqueror
4. Opeth - Watershed
3. Genghis Tron - Board Up the House
2. Nachmystium - Assassins: Black Meddle Part 1
1. Torche - Meanderthal

Robert Duffy of DoneWaiting's favourite things:
3. Times New Viking - Rip It Off
2. The Dodos - Visiter
1. Florence & The Machine - Kiss With A Fist (and live at SXSW)

The Duke Spirit's favourite album of the year, via Filter:
The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely

Estelle's albums of the year, via The Observer:
Santogold - Santogold
Raphael Saadiq - The Way I See It

Fact Magazine's best reissues:
5. A Guy Called Gerald - Black Secret Technology
4. Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue
3. Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works
2. Arthur Russell - Love Is Overtaking Me
1. Gas - Nah Und Fern

Faronheit's worst albums of the year:
10. Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping
9. Ben Folds - Way to Normal
8. Tapes 'n Tapes - Walk It Off
7. Snow Patrol - A Hundred Million Suns
6. Foo Fighters - Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace
5. Ryan Adams and the Cardinals - Cardinology
4. Jem - Down to Earth
3. CSS - Donkey
2. Cold War Kids - Loyalty to Loyalty
1. Scarlett Johansson - Anywhere I Lay My Head

Guardian Critic poll top albums of the year:
5. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
4. Portishead - Third
3. Elbow - The Seldom-Seen Kid
2. Bon Ivor - For Emma, Forever Ago
1. TV On The Radio - Dear Science

The Guardian Guide's best film music moments of 2008:

Can't Smile Without You - Barry Manilow (Helboy 2)
Backing a great buddy moment between two drunk, lovesick monsters. Proof that Manilow can melt any heart.

Eye Of The Tiger - Chiara Mastroianni (Persepolis)
Iran, Islamic revolution: of course a cover of the theme to Rocky III is the obvious choice.

All The Young Dudes - Mott The Hoople (Juno)
You know you're past it when your cheesy nostalgia tracks are the kids' hip new discoveries.

Enola Gay - OMD (Waltz With Bashir)
Putting this 1980s synth-pop classic in the context of the Lebanon war suddenly made it sound doomy and serious again.

Get Back - Ludacris (Tropic Thunder)
Ever wanted to see Tom Cruise bringing his "hip-hop" moves?

Sarah Harding's albums of the year, via The Observer:
Kings Of Leon - Only By The Night
AC/DC - Black Ice

Josh Jackson, editor in chief of Paste, best album:
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

Ezra Koenig's favourite albums of the year, via The Observer:
Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III
The Walkmen - You And Me

Steve LaBate, associate editor of Paste, picks his favourite records of the year:
Album: She & Him - Volume One
Single: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig

Lefsetz letter annotates the US best-selling albums of 2008 (correct to 21-11-08):

1. Lil Wayne "Tha Carter III" 2,671,816
Do we want to focus on the Internet marketing campaign (i.e. the steady release of free product), the discounts/free goods to retail, the fact that a hip-hop album is number one or the low total gross. I choose to look at this final fact. There’s not a lot of road business. A 360 deal with most rappers won’t help your bottom line. Lil Wayne’s the king, but it’s not the domain it used to be.

2. Coldplay "Viva La Vida" 1,905,679
Based on the hype, you’d think it did 5 million, wouldn’t you?
Most interesting fact? 579,007 of those albums were digital.

Ladytron's favourite album of the year, via Filter:
TV On The Radio - Dear Science

Laura Marling's favourite albums of the year, via the Observer:
Sigur Ros - Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust
Elbow - The Seldom-Seen Kid

MNFTIU.cc's top ten music of the year:
1. Rock ‘N’ Roll
2. Rap Music
3. Country
4. Dance
5. Instrumental
6. Jazz
7. Classical
8. Soundtracks
9. Flip-Flap
10. Singing Music

Mojo's Top albums:
10. Neil Diamond - Home Before Dark
9. The Bug - London Zoo
8. The Week That Was - The Week That Was
7. Glasvegas - Glasvegas
6. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
5. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
4. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
3. Paul Weller - 22 Dreams
2. The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age Of The Understatement
1. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

MTV News' hottest R&B single of the year:
T-Pain (featuring Lil Wayne) - Can't Believe It

Muzzle Of Bees' best concerts:
5. David Byrne - Austin City Limits, Austin (Muzzle of Bees Review)
4. My Morning Jacket - Riverside Theater, Milwaukee
3. Bon Iver/AA Bondy - Pabst Theater, Milwaukee
2. Bruce Springsteen - Lakefront/Harley-Davidson 105th
1. Tom Waits - Moren Theater, Jacksonville

New York Times best pop and jazz box sets:
Lester Young With Count Basie
Love Train: The Sound of Philadelphia
Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison
Toshiko Akiyosh-Lew Tabackin Big Band - Mosaic Select 33
And This Is Free: The Life & Times Of Chicago's Legendary Maxwell Street
Arabian Prince - Innovative Life
Black Sabbath - The Rules Of Hell
Boots Buckles & Spurs: 50 Songs Celebrate 50 Years Of The Cowboy Tradition
Anthony Braxton - The Complete Arista Recordings
Calypsoul 70: Caribbean Soul & Calypso Crossover, 1969-1979
Cheap Trick - Budokan
D'Angelo - The Best So Far
Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue
Franco & Le Tpok Jazz - Francophonic: Africa's Greatest
Genesis - 1970 - 1975
The Grateful Dead - Rocking The Cradle: Egypt 1975
The Jesus & Mary Chain - The Power Of Negative Thinking
The Manhattans - Sweet Talkin' Soul
Reba McEntire - 50 Greatest Hits
Willie Nelson - One Hell Of A Ride
1970s Algerian Proto-Rai Underground
Larry Norman - Rebel Poet, Jukebox Balladeer
Roy Orbison - The Soul Of Rock & Roll
Augustus Pablo - The Mysterious World Of Augustus Pablo
Phish - At The Roxy
Otis Redding - Live In Paris And London
Nina Simone - To Be Free
Will C - Down The Dial
Hank Williams - The Unreleased Recordings

NME writer's top tracks:
5. MGMT - Electric Feel
4. MGMT - Time To Pretend
3. Mystery Jets - Two Doors Down
2. Glasvegas - Geraldine
1. MGMT - Kids

Oh Warfair & Therapy's favourite track of the year:
Sigur Ros - Gobbledigook

Paste magazine's 50 Best albums of the year:
10. Deerhunter - Microcastle
9. Lucinda Williams - Little Honey
8. Sun Kil Moon - April
7. Girl Talk - Feed The Animals
6. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
5. Okkervil River- The Stand Ins
4. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
3. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
2. Sigur Rós - Med sud i eyrum vid spilum endalaust
1. She & Him - Volume One

Q Readers' favourite tracks of 2008:
5. Goldfrapp - A&E
4. Oasis - I'm Outta Time
3. Coldplay - Viva La Vida
2. Kings Of Leon - Sex On Fire
1. Keane - Perfect Symmetry

Q Readers' favourite albums of 2008:
[Kudos, by the way, to Q to making the most clunky navigation for any top music list yet uncovered: sure, theoretically you might get thirty page views for a single list, but who really will make it to the end of click-slowload-click-slowload?]
10. REM - Acclerate
9. The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age Of Understatement
8. Sparks - Exotic Creatures Of The Deep
7. Elbow - The Seldom-Seen Kid
6. Coldplay - Viva La Vida
5. Kings Of Leon - Only By The Night
4. Oasis - Dig Out Your Soul
3. Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree
2. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig
1. Keane - Perfect Symmetry

Ra Ra Riot's favourite album of the year, via Filter:
Ceremony - Still Nothing Moves You

Sarah Rodman of the Boston Globe's favourite albums of the year:
She & Him - Volume One
Guns N Roses - Chinese Democracy
The Roots - Rising Down
Sugarland - Love On The Inside
Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
Al Green - Lay It Down
Joe Jackson - Rain
The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
Raphael Saddiq - The Way I See It
TV On The Radio - Dear Science

Britney Spear's 2008, as seen by MTV News:

If anyone is the comeback kid of 2008, it's Britney Spears. That's pretty amazing, considering the fact that in just the first week of the year, she was placed in a hospital for psychiatric observation and lost custody of her two young sons. But over the course of the past 12 months, she seems to have recuperated her losses. She got back to work, showed off her comedic chops on TV, hit the recording and dance studios, won some VMAs, made a tell-all documentary and had a #1 single and album.

Textura's 2008 Best Labels:
12k
Experimedia
Hyperdub
Hypnos
Infraction
Kning Disk
Miasmah
Schole
SPEKK
U-Cover

Uncut's top albums
10. Paul Weller - 22 Dreams
9. Kings Of Leon - Only By The Night
8. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!!
7. Neon Neon - Stainless Style
6. Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
5. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
4. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
3. TV On The Radio - Dear Science
2. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
1. Portishead - Third

James Walsh of Starsailor's favourite album, via Filter:
Panic At The Disco - Pretty Odd

Last updated: 26-12-08

Lest we forget: 2007 | 2006 | 2005

That big public vote to decide what should go on the Michael Jackson best of? Looks like they've decided to ignore it, judging by some of the clunkers that are lined up for it:

'Billie Jean'
'Bad'
'Smooth Criminal'
'Thriller'
'Black Or White'
'Beat It'
'Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’'
'Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough'
'The Way You Make Me Feel'
'Rock With You'
'You Are Not Alone'
'Man In The Mirror'
'Remember The Time'
'Scream'
'You Rock My World'
'They Don’t Care About Us'
'Earth Song'

You don't have to be an expert in Florida chads to know that a public vote which claims that They Don't Care About Us and Earth Song are held in public affection - even amongst the sort of public who'd vote for a Michael Jackson tracklist - isn't quite right.

Entertainment Weekly - who, frankly, wouldn't have been our first choice for advice on life beyond the mainstream - have compiled a list of the best independent releases, one each, for the last 25 years. Apparently, EW loves its indie:

No rules, man. Oh, lord.

It's not actually a bad list:

1984: The Replacements - Let It Be
1985: The Smiths - Meat Is Murder
1986: R.E.M. - Life's Rich Pageant
1987: Dinosaur Jr. - You're Living All Over Me
1988: Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
1989: The Pixies - Doolittle
1990: Fugazi - Repeater
1991: My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
1992: Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted
1993: Built To Spill - Ultimate Alternative Wavers
1994: Guided By Voices - Bee Thousand
1995: Archers Of Loaf - Vee Vee
1996: Belle And Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister
1997: Modest Mouse - Lonesome Crowded West
1998: Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
1999: Sleater-Kinney - The Hot Rock
2000: Yo La Tengo - And then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out
2001: The Shins - Oh, Inverted World
2002: Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
2003: The White Stripes - Elephant
2004: Arcade Fire- Funeral
2005: Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
2006: The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
2007: Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
2008: Radiohead - In Rainbows

[listing assembled by Stereogum], but you can sort-of spot the point where indie went so mainstream that EW started to actually notice it, around the start of the century and thus were able to move from picking actually respected albums to ones that achieved enough commercial success to have been plausible subjects for their magazine. Were EW really dedicating much page space to Fugazi in 1990?

The current issue of Mojo has offered a list of the 50 greatest indie records ever, and while it cussedly mixes albums and singles, and is never going to be 'right', it does at least offer up a playlist for a great night at an indie club:

50) Huggy Bear - Herjazz
49) The Delgados - The Great Eastern
48) James - Village Fire
47) Swell Maps - Read About Seymour
46) Camera Obscura - Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken
45) Half Man Half Biscuit - Trumpton Riots EP
44) The Wild Swans - The Revolutionary Spirit
43) The Pooh Sticks - On Tape
42) Fire Engines - Candyskin
41) McCarthy - Keep An Open Mind Or Else
40)Jane And Barton - It's A Fine Day
39) Josef K - The Missionary
38) Ride - Ride EP
37) The Bodines - Therese
36) Shop Assistants - Safety Net
35) The Primitives - Really Stupid
34) Saint Etienne - So Tough
33) The Sea Urchins - Pristine Christine
32) Elastica - Line Up
31) Stereolab - Peng!
30) The Wedding Present - George Best
29) Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth
28) New Order - Temptation
27) Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out
26) The Libertines - What A Waster
25) The Loft - Up The Hill And Down The Slope
24) The Vaselines - Son Of A Gun
23) Aztec Camera - High Land Hard Rain
22) Happy Mondays - Lazyitis (One Armed Boxer)
21) The Pastels - Up For A Bit With The Pastels
20) Spacemen 3 - Revolution
19) This Mortal Coil - Song To The Siren
18) Lloyd Cole And The Commotions - Rattlesnakes
17) Teenage Fanclub - Everything Flows
16) Wire - Outdoor Miner
15) Echo & The Bunnymen - Crocodiles
14) Belle & Sebastian - Tigermilk
13) The House Of Love - Destroy The Heart
12) Subway Sect - Ambition
11) Felt - Forever Breathes The Lonely Word
10) Primal Scream - Crystal Crescent/Velocity Girl
9) The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
8) The La's - There She Goes
7) Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
6) Joy Division - Transmission
5) My Bloody Valentine - You Made Me Realise
4) The Fall - How I Wrote 'Elastic Man'
3) Orange Juice - You Can't Hide Your Love Forever
2) The Jesus & Mary Chain - Psychocandy
1) The Smiths - This Charming Man

Thanks to Mark S for pointing us in the direction of the Top 25 UK itunes songs of the year.

What's interesting is that only one track makes the top five on both sides of the Atlantic: Plain White Ts.

A remarkable triumph for them, although when we say "them" we mean their marketing team - if ever a band were put together in a brainstorming session, it was them, surely?

[More best ofs! More most ofs! On the big best of 2007 page]

Amongst recent revisions to the best-of lists are the iTunes sales charts from the US, which basically reveals that some people don't even deserve iPods. Fergie? Plain White Ts?

We've added some more highlights from best of lists across the internet; what's starting to come through as a trend is that despite an early release, The Arcade Fire's Neon Bible has held up remarkably well; The Good, The Bad & The Queen seems to have been largely forgotten over the last twelve months (or perhaps, simply didn't stand up to repeated listening) and - perhaps surprisingly - the Arctic Monkeys are finding critics cooling towards them. Bruce Springsteen, meanwhile, looks like being this year's comeback king.

The updating list of lists is on this page.

Good god, we've been doing this so long now we've started to develop Christmas traditions. One of which is the post into which we keep poking selected details of other people's best-of lists until it gets bloated and/or we get bored of doing so, thus providing a handy print off, cut out and keep guide to what some people would insist was the shape of the musical year.

Which, as that implies, means this page will be updated from time to time: Last update 5.45pm, 05-01-08

Amazon.com customer's favourite albums:
1 Not Too Late - Norah Jones
2 Back To Black - Amy Winehouse
3 Magic - Bruce Springsteen
4 Call Me Irresponsible - Michael Bublé
5 West - Lucinda Williams

Amazon.com editor's best albums:
1 The Reminder - Feist
2 Sound Of Silver - LCD Soundsystem
3 Graduation - Kanye West
4 In Rainbows - Radiohead (notably, not available through Amazon)
5 Back To Black - Amy Winehouse

Amazon.com genre-by-genre best ofs:
Alternative: Person Pitch - Panda Bear
Folk: Dirt Farmer - Levon Helm
Instrumental classical: Osvaldo Golijov - Oceana
New Age: The Silver Tree - Lisa Gerrard

Apple iTunes best-selling singles in the US [via MTV]:
1. Big Girls Don't Cry (Personal) - Fergie
2. The Sweet Escape - Gwen Stefani
3. Hey There Delilah - Plain White T's
4. Girlfriend - Avril Lavigne
5. Glamorous - Fergie

Apple iTunes best-selling albums in the US [via MTV]
1. It Won't Be Soon Before Long - Maroon 5
2. Back to Black - Amy Winehouse
3. Graduation - Kanye West
4. Daughtry - Daughtry
5. Coco - Colbie Caillat

Apple iTunes best-selling singles in the UK [via Discopop]
1. Grace Kelly - Mika
2. Umbrella - Rihanna
3. How To Save A Life - The Fray
4. Ruby - The Kaiser Chiefs
5. Hey There Delilah - Plain White T's

Devendra Banhart's favourite records of the year as told to PopCandy:
Death Of The Sun - Matteah Baim
Kala - MIA

Berkley Place chooses the top political songs:
1. Louisiana Purchase - Akir with Immortal Technique, Mojo, and Poison Pen
2. Katrina - Black Lips
3. Windowsill - Arcade Fire

Blogglebum Cage Album of the year: Tromatic Reflexxions - Von Sudenfed

The Bookseller's best-selling music books [via Sunday Times]:
1 Eric Clapton: The Autobiography (Century) 49,085
2 Ronnie: The Autobiography by Ronnie Wood (Macmillan) 19,995
3 Barefaced Lies and Boogie-woogie Boasts by Jools Holland (M Joseph) 17,000
4 Bit of a Blur by Alex James (Little, Brown) 16,445
5 The Autobiography by Johnnie Walker (M Joseph) 15,660

Carrie Brownstein's biggest musical disappointment of 2007 [via MonitorMix]: In Rainbows - Radiohead

Christianity Today best Christian album: Salvation in Lights - Mike Farris

Claire out of CFBGoesPop picks top tracks:
1. Song #1 (Original Version) - Serebro
2. La Vie E'st Chouette - Jodie Foster
3. I've Been Searching - Gwenno Saunders Pipette
4. Theme To St Trinians - Girls Aloud
5. Hitten - Those Dancing Days

US Coalition of Independent Music Stores best-selling albums of 2007, via Hypebot
1. Back To Black - Amy Winehouse
2. Wincing The Night Away - The Shins
3. Icky Thump - The White Stripes
4. Raising Sand - Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
5. Reminder - Feist

Daily Telegraph writers pick the top gigs of the year:
1. Prince at the Millennium Dome, various dates
2. Led Zeppelin, O2 Arena
3. Arcade Fire, Smith Square
4. PJ Harvey, Bristol
5. Mika, Koko

Heather D'Angelo of Au Revoir Simone's favourite album [via Sweeping The Nation]: Rise Above - Dirty Projectors

Decibel's album of the year: Pig Destroyer - Phantom Limb

Double Viking nominate 10 Worst Songs of 2007:
Gimmie More - Britney Spears
Delilah - Plain White Ts
Buy U A Drank - T-Pain
Potential Break-up Song - Aly & AJ
New Shoes - Paolo Nutini
Young Folks - Peter Bjorn & John
Glamorous - Fergie
Beautiful Girls - Sean Kingston
Before He Cheats - Carrie Underwood
Party Like a Rockstar/Crank That/This Is Why I'm Hot - Shop Boyz/Soulja Boy/Mims

Jim Ed Poole from NPR's The Current Morning Show favourite album: Over The Hills - Lucy Kaplansky

Harp Magazine top albums, via Brooklyn Vegan:
1. The Stage Names - Okkervil River
2. Cease To Begin - Band Of Horses
3. The Shepherd's Dog - Iron and Wine
4. Future Clouds And Radar - Future Clouds And Radar
5. The Reminder - Feist

Kat from Lipstick Vogue reviews the year:
Hit: Playground Weekender festival;
Miss: Good Vibrations festival

Stephen King, author, in Entertainment Weekly - apparently "so disappointed" with this year's music he could only choose a Top 7 [via Idolator:
1 Washington Square Serenade - Steve Earle
2 Sky Blue Sky - Wilco
3 Life in Cartoon Motion - Mika
4 It's Not Big It's Large - Lyle Lovett and His Large Band
5 Black Rain - Ozzy Osbourne
6 Revival - John Fogerty
7 Countrypolitan Favorites - Southern Culture on the Skids

Lostmusic of Indiemp3's favourite music of the year:
Single: Keep It Coming ep - Manhattan Love Suicides
Album: Profit In Your Poetry - Butcher Boy
Live: Jesus And Mary Chain

Mojo top albums [via Acclaimed Music Forums]:
1. In Rainbows - Radiohead
2. Neon Bible - Arcade Fire
3. Magic - Bruce Springsteen
4. Favourite Worst Nightmare - Arctic Monkeys
5. Sound Of Silver - LCD Soundsystem

Paste magazine's Top 100 albums:
1. Boxer - The National
2. Neon Bible - Arcade Fire
3. Magic - Bruce Springsteen
4. Icky Thump - White Stripes
5. The Reminder - Feist

Most-traded songs on peer-to-peer networks, according to Big Champagne:
1. Party Like A Rock Star - Shop Boyz
2. I Wanna Luv U - Akon
3. Beautiful Girls - Sean Kingston
4. This Is Why I'm Hot - Mims
5. Don't Matter - Akon

Q albums of the year [via Idolator]:
1. Neon Bible - Arcade Fire
2. Icky Thump - White Stripes
3. Favourite Worst Nightmare - Arctic Monkeys
4. The Good, The Bad & The Queen
5. Magic - Bruce Springsteen

Q songs of the year [via Idolator]:
1. Umbrella - Rhianna
2. Fluorescent Adolescent - Arctic Monkeys
3. Foundations - Kate Nash
4. Keep The Cars Running - Arcade Fire
5. Golden Skans - Klaxons

Rock Sound Top albums [via DJ Martian]:
1. Puzzle - Biffy Clyro
2. My Heart Has a Wish That You Would Not Go - Aerogramme
3. The Blackening - Machine Head
4. Ire Works - The Dillinger Escape Plan
5. Death is the Communion - High On Fire

Rough Trade Record Shop picks ten best albums:
Person Pitch - Panda Bear
Close To Paradise - Patrick Watson
The Pirates Gospel - Alela Diane
West Coast - Studio
Five Roses - Miracle
Untrue - Burial
Sound Of Silver - LCD Soundsystem
Wooden Ships - Wooden Ships
Kala - MIA
Mirrored - Battles

Robert Sandall picks his favourite music books for the Sunday Times:
ERIC CLAPTON: The Autobiography
TONY VISCONTI: The Autobiography: Bowie, Bolan and the Brooklyn Boy
HEAVEN AND HELL: My Life in the Eagles 1974-2001 by Don Felder
BIT OF A BLUR: The Autobiography by Alex James
RE-MAKE/RE-MODEL by Michael Bracewell
LONELY AVENUE: The Unlikely Life and Times of Doc Pomus by Alex Halberstadt
IN SEARCH OF THE BLUES by Marybeth Hamilton

Rob Sheffield picks his favourite records not to make the Rolling Stone Critics Choice 50:
1. Is Is - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
2. Grinderman - Grinderman
3. Liars - Liars
4. Guy - Guy
5. Jarvis - Jarvis Cocker
(It's not clear if he was primarily choosing just from albums with eponymous titles; maybe it's a fetish.)

Sunday Times records of the year:
Pop and rock: Rasing Sand - Robert Plant and Alison Krauss
New act: Marry Me - St Vincent
Best-selling rock: Life In Cartoon Motion - Mika
Jazz: Basquiat Strings with Seb Rochford - Basquiat Strings
Fringe: Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John - Peter Case
"World": The One Love Movement on Bantu Biko Street - Simphiwe Dana
Dud of the year: The World Is Yours - Ian Brown

Sweeping The Nation is counting down the 30 top albums of the year; it's still a work in progress

Uncut best albums of 2007 [via Acclaimed Music Forums]:
1 Sound of Silver - LCD Soundsystem
2 Favourite Worst Nightmare - Arctic Monkeys
3 White Chalk - PJ Harvey
4 Raising Sand - Robert Plant and Alison Krauss
5 Sky Blue Sky - Wilco

You'll find much more useful collections like this at Largehearted Boy; via DJ Martian and Fimoculous

Lest we forget: 2006 and 2005

A collection of the best best-of lists and reviews. Yes, they've started posting them already.

Special mentions and thanks to Largehearted Boy and DJ Martian and their respective collections of links to more of this sort of thing.

Altrok radio's most-played artists of 2006:
Graham Coxon
The Futureheads
The Long Blondes
The Pigeon Detectives

Amazon.com editors' picks of the best albums:
1. Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
2. Bob Dylan - Modern Times
3. The Crane Wife - The Decemberists
4. Eye To The Telescope - KT Tunstall
5. Saint Elsewhere - Gnarls Barkley

Architecture in Helsinki's album of the year, according to Filter:
Arthur Russell - First Thought Best Thought

Arctic Monkey's single of the year, according to 6Music:
Fedde Le Grand – Put Your Hands Up For Detroit

Ricardo Baca, Denver Post pop critic's CDs that "defined" 2006:
1. Silversun Pickups - Carnavas
2. The Grates - Gravity Won't Get You High
3. Thom Yorke - The Eraser
4. Van Morrison - Pay The Devil
5. Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped

ContactMusic reviews the year with, erm, Castaldo-like insight: It's been another busy year in the music world. Songs have topped charts, albums have flown off shelves and musicians have kept up the grand old tradition of rock and roll by marrying, divorcing and getting arrested.

Corinne Bailey Rae's album of the year, according to Filter:
Editors - The Back Room
(We know, Summer 2005...)

Douglas Baptie reviews the year for CD Times: Ironically, it was also the year Sleater-Kinney decided to go on "hiatus" (read: split up) but 2006 was arguably the year that women finally broke through and were simply allowed to be, whether they were established acts like The Gossip or Yeah Yeah Yeahs, or newer faces like CSS, The Long Blondes, Be Your Own Pet, Blood Red Shoes, Tilly & The Wall, Lilly Allen, The Pipettes, You Say Party! We Say Die!, Metric - all just doing their own thing, but not being heckled or groped or having their attractiveness discussed in the music press.

Basement Galaxy is performing a slow reveal, but has already listed a top 10 ineligible albums list:
1. Pavement - Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition
2. Iron Maiden - Death on the Road DVD
3. Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend (Legacy Edition)
4. The Casettes - Neath The Pale Moon
5. Shooting At Unarmed Men - Yes, Tinnitus

Battle's single of the year, according to 6Music:
Peter, Bjorn & John - Young Folks

BBC Collective albums of the year, in no particular order:
The Young Knives - Voices of Animals And Men
Joan As Policewoman - Real Life
Joanna Newsom - Ys
The Knife - Silent Shout
Hot Chip - The Warning
Burial - Burial
Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am...
Cat Power - The Greatest
The Gossip - Standing In The Way Of Control
Ghostface Killah - Fishscale

Ben from Girlpants albums of the year:
1. Helios - Eingya
2. Belle & Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
3. Junior Boys - So This Is Goodbye
4. Burial - Burial
5. Tunng - Comments of the Inner Chorus

Best selling UK albums of 2006:
1. Eyes Open - Snow Patrol
2. Beautiful World - Take That
3. Ta-Dah - Scissor Sisters
4. Whatever People Say I Am That's What I'm Not - Arctic Monkeys
5. Inside In / Inside Out - Kooks

... and the best selling singles:
1. Crazy - Gnarls Barkley
2. A Moment Like This - Leona Lewis
3. Hips Don't Lie - Shakira Ft Wyclef Jean
4. I Don't Feel Like Dancin' - Scissor Sisters
5. I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker - Sandi Thom

Best selling albums, worldwide, with sales figures according to Mediatraffic (and an estimate at the total including markets not measured by Mediatraffic):
1. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium 5.693.000 (6.119.975)
2. High School Musical - High School Musical Soundtrack 5.397.000 (5.801.775)
3. Justin Timberlake - FutureSex / LoveSounds 4.348.000 (4.674.100)
4. Rascal Flatts - Me And My Gang 3.623.000 (3.894.725)
5. Pink - I'm Not Dead 3.419.000 (3.675.425)
6. Nelly Furtado - Loose 3.371.000 (3.623.825)
7. Beyonce - B'Day 3.238.000 (3.480.850)
8. The Beatles - Love 3.152.000 (3.388.400)
9. Evanescence - The Open Door 3.112.000 (3.345.400)
10. Andrea Bocelli - Amore 3.052.000 (3.280.900)

Between Thought And Expression provides an MP3 and videoed guide to the 69 favourite songs of the year:
1. Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins - Rise Up With Fists
2. Devics - Distant Radio
3. Grizzly Bear - Knife
4. Lily Allen - LDN
5. Basement Jaxx - Take Me Back To Your House

Blender's top albums:
1. My Chemical Romance - Welcome To The Black Parade
2. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
3. Bob Dylan - Modern Times
4. Justin Timberlake - FutureSex / LoveSounds
5. Ghostface Killah - Fishscale

Bob Butler, who manages the warehouse for Southern Distribution chose, amongst his favourite things to listen to, The Mike Sammes Singer's Music For Biscuits and Danny Baker's Radio London programme. We suspect these two might be related.

Isobel Campbell's album of the year, according to Filter:
Bob Dylan - Modern Times

Chatanooga Pulse chooses the best local albums:
1. The Unsatisfied - The Way to the Crumbs
2. Infradig - Clinical Indifference / The Psychology of Breathing double ep package
3. Some Have Guns - Something Happened
4. Lou Wamp and Swing Shift - Wizards of Swing
5. Jennifer Daniels - A Thrill of Hope

Chromewaves: Rankings like that are inherently meaningless (as the uproar whenever someone publishes any sort of list that makes claims of definitiveness will attest) so instead, I've chosen to list off the ten records that meant the most to me in 2006 - the ones that soundtracked my life, so to speak. The post is a thing of beauty, lavishly illustrated with pics and links and mp3s, and highly recommended.
Eric Bachmann - To The Races
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
Cat Power - The Greatest
The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
Early Day Miners - Offshore
The Hold Steady - Boys And Girls In America
Land Of Talk - Applause Cheer Boo Hiss
The Mountain Goats - Get Lonely
Shearwater - Palo Santo
Margot & The Nuclear So And So's - The Dust Of Retreat

Billboard's Classical best US sellers year-end charts:
Classic album: Sting - Songs From The Labyrinth
Classic artist: Sting
Classic crossover album: Andrea Bocelli - Amore
Classic crossover artist: Andrea Bocelli

Bloggedy Blog picks albums of the year:
1. Tapes 'n Tapes - The Loon
2. Belle & Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
3. Cat Power - The Greatest
4. Asobi Seksu - Citrus
5. The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America

Bootie USA has pulled together a CD of their favourite mash-ups of the year, including Party Ben's Hung Up On Soul (Death Cab For Cutie vs. Madonna) and Go Home Productions' Don't Hold Back, Sweet Jane (Chemical Brothers vs. Velvet Underground vs. U2 vs. Sugababes vs. MARRS)

CBC Radio 3 select 94 best tracks of 2006:
1. Joel Plaskett Emergency - Nowhere with you
2. Malajube - Montreal -40c
3. Islands - Rough Gem
4. Cadence Weapon - Oliver Square
5. The Hidden Cameras - Awoo

Gideon Coe's single of the year:
Joan as Policewoman - The Ride

Andrew Collins, 6Music presenter and 'Not Going Out' scriptwriter track of the year:
Jamie T - Sheila

Daily Mirror's remaining 3AM Girls award their "3a Emmies":
Pop group: Sugababes
Legend: Elton John
Album: Christina Aguilera - Back To Basics
Tour: Take That
Businesswoman: Victoria Beckham
Band: The Kooks
Single: Nelly Furtado - Promiscuous Girl

The Daily Record's Razz column's albums of the year:
1. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am...
2. Muse - Black Holes And Revelations
3. The Feeling - Twelve Stops And Home
4. The Fratellis - Costello Music
5. Morrissey - Ringleader Of The Tormentors

Users at eMusic choose their albums of the year:
1. Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
2. The Hold Steady - Boys And Girls In America
3. Belle And Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
4. Cat Power - The Greatest
5. Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass

Glide Magazine has 20 from 2006, in no especial order:
Built to Spill - You In Reverse
JJ Cale & Eric Clapton - The Road To Escondido
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
Cat Power - The Greatest
Elvis Costello & Allan Toussaint - The River in Reverse
Decemberists - The Crane Wife
Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies
Earl Greyhound - Soft Targets
The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther
Muse - Black Holes and Revelations
Joanna Newsom – Ys
The Roots - Game Theory
Silversun Pickups - Carnavas
The Slip - Eisenhower
TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain
Viva Voce - Get Yr Blood Sucked Out
Wolfmother - Wolfmother
Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass

Andrew Parker at The Gong Show took 180 of these sorts of lists, and compiled a best of the best albums:
1. TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain (Number one on 14 lists)
2. The Knife - Silent Shout (8)
3. The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America (7)
4. Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury (6)
5. Bob Dylan - Modern Times (5)

Guardian Music Blog top albums, as voted by music writers on The Guardian and The Observer:
1. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am...
2. Amy Winehouse - Back To Black
3. Hot Chip - The Warning
4. Lily Allen - Alright, Still
5. Ghostface Killah - Fishface

Blogcritic's assistant music editor A L Harper submitted her own list of best albums:
1. Snow Patrol - Eyes Open
2. The Working Title - About Face
3. Pink - I'm Not Dead
4. Green River Ordinance - The Beauty Of Letting Go
5. Placebo - Meds

Kenny Herzog, editor of CMJ's albums of the year:
1. The Goodnight Loving - Cemetery Trails
2. Various Artists - Confuzed Disco
3. Ghostface - Fishscale
4. Mew - And The Glass Handed Kites
5. Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury

... and his favourite singles
1. Justin Timberlake - SexyBack
2. Rick Ross - Hustlin’
3. E-40 - Tell Me When To Go
4. Girl Talk - Smash Your Head
5. In Flames - Take This Life

Idolator munches through pages and pages of HTML to sum up the year:
Best artist: Gnarls Barkley
Album of the year: TV on the Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain
Top track: Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
Top reissue: Pavement - Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition
Enthusiasm (Total votes/voters selecting album) ratio: Burial - Burial
Under 30's album: Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury
Bloggers' album: Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury
Newspaper writers' album: Bob Dylan - Modern Times
African/Caribbean voters' album: Ghostface Killah - Fishscale
Caucasian voters' album: TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
Other race voters' album: Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury
Midwest album: The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
New York album: Ghostface Killah - Fishscale

I Love Everything users gather to suggest albums overlooked by other lists: The new Bleach album. Title is long and the English translation doesn't make a whole lot of sense...something to do with the head nodding from side to side and chewing the meat

Indielaundry mp3-powers their albums of the year:
1. The Whitest Boy Alive - Dreams
2. Hot Chip - The Warning
3. Midlake - The trials of Van Occupanther
4. Tom Waits - Orphans
5. Bob Dylan - Modern Times

Jeroen of MusicMania picked a favourite album:
Sylvester Anfang - Satanische Vrede

Keisha Jenkins of Donewaiting.com's favourite album:
The Decemberists - The Crane Wife

The Jpopmusic forum discuss best singles: I vote "Nanairo no Ashita~brand new beat~/Your Color". I think its one of her best singles since "Double" and "Be The One".

Kerrang's albums of the year:
1. Taking Back Sunday - Louder Now
2. Muse - Black Holes And Revelations
3. The Bronx - The Bronx
4. My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade
5. Mastodon - Blood Mountain

Largehearted Boy selects the albums of the year in some form of alphabetical ordering:
Asobi Seksu - Citrus
Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out of This Country
Casey Dienel - Wind-Up Canary
Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies
Grizzly Bear - Yellow House
Joanna Newsom - Ys
Josh Ritter - The Animal Years
The Mountain Goats - Get Lonely
Regina Spektor - Begin to Hope
Serena-Maneesh - Serena-Maneesh
Shearwater - Palo Santo

Last FM has a "best album 2006" tag, although it's not been assigned to anything since October at time of writing.

Lee, co-owner of Netherlands store Patta, according to Slam X Hype:
Band/music of the year: Peter Bjorn and John
The Long Blondes
Clipse
Nas
Concert: Be Your Own Pet (Lowlands)
EPMD Amsterdam

Douglas Lyttle at Bloomberg reviews the year: Most Unwelcome Trend: Singers cranking out "tribute" records to long-dead artists, or worse, going whole hog and covering batches of songs from entire eras. Notable offenders this year include Michael Bolton ("Bolton Swings Sinatra'') and Rod Stewart ("Still the Same ... Great Rock Classics of Our Time.") Ol' Rooster Head has now hit a second wind by working his way through most of the eras, starting somewhere around Pearl Harbor and ending in Woodstock. What's next? "Stewart Sings Streisand"?

Matador Records are celebrating their year with the Matador Player, featuring a couple of tracks from their big-hitters of the year, including Pretty Girls Make Graves, Matmos, Brightblack Morning Light and Yo La Tengo. [Link probably going to decay at some point]

Mediatraffic's best-selling in week of release worldwide albums
1. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium 1,108,000
2. Kumi Koda - BEST (second session) 983,000
3. Justin Timberlake - FutureSex / LoveSounds 932,000
4. Evanescence - The Open Door 775,000
5. Tool - 10,000 Days 756,000
6. Beyonce - B'Day 736,000
7. Rascal Flatts - Me And My Gang 733,000
8. The Beatles - Love 721,000
9. The Killers - Sam's Town 706,000
10. Ayumi Hamasaki - Secret 696,280

Metacritic scientifically feedback the best-reviewed albums of the year:
1. Ali Farka Toure - Savane 94 points out of a possible 100
2. Tom Waits - Orphans Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards 91
3. Clipse -Hell Hath No Fury 90
4. Bob Dylan - Modern Times 89
5. Joanna Newsom - Ys 89
6. TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain 89
7. Ghostface Killah - Fishscale 88
8. Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies 87
9. The Hold Steady - Boys And Girls In America 87
10. Los Lobos - The Town And The City 87

Amongst Metric's favourite albums of the year, according to Filter are:
Justin Timberlake - FutureSex/LoveSounds
Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped

Mixtape Monday from MTV.com picks its six artists "that had it poppin' so hard that the streets and the mainstream had to pay attention":
Lil Wayne
The Game
TI
DJ Drama
Mick Boogie
DJ Green Lantern

Mojo magazine's year-end selection of albums:
1. The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
2. Bob Dylan - Modern Times by
3. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
4. Bruce Springsteen - We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions
5. Archie Bronson Outfit - Derdang Derdang

More Cowbell's top albums:
1. M. Ward - Post-War
2. Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther
3. The Brother Kite - Waiting For The Time To Be Right
4. TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain
5. The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls In America

Mr Red Penguin's Top 100 singles of 2006:
1. Art Brut - Nag Nag Nag Nag
2. Metric - Poster Of A Girl
3. Young Knives - Weekends and Bleak Days (Hot Summer)
4. New Young Pony Club - Ice Cream
5. Long Blondes - Weekend Without Makeup

MTV UK collects some of the notable popstar quotes of the year:
“Don’t hate me cos I’m a superstar and I’m married to a superstar” - Er, okay, Kevin Federline.

Music For Kids Who Can't Read Good offer best albums:
1. Belle & Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
2. The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
3. Band of Horses - Everything All The Time
4. Mates of State - Bring It Back
5. Beirut - Gulag Orkestrar

Craig Ness of Donewaiting.com's track of the year:
Beirut - Postcards From Italy

NME's albums of the year:
1. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am That's What I'm Not
2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones
3. Muse - Black Holes And Revelations
4. Hot Chip - The Warning
5. CSS - Cansei De Ser Sexi

NME's tracks of the year:
1. Hot Chip - Over And Over
2. Peter, Bjorn and John - Young Folks
3. The Gossip - Standing In The Way Of Control
4. Muse - Supermassive Black Hole
5. Gnarls Barkley - Crazy

Chicago's North West Herald singles of the year, in no particular order:
Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor
Lupe Fiasco - Kick, Push
Nelly Furtado - Promiscuous
Justin Timberlake - SexyBack
TV on the Radio - Wolf Like Me
Dixie Chicks - Not Ready to Make Nice
Belle and Sebastian - The Blues are Still Blue
Beyoncé - Irreplaceable
Prince - Black Sweat
AFI - Miss Murder

Listeners to NPR voted for their CDs of 2006:
1. The Decemberists: The Crane Wife
2. Neko Case: Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
3. Bob Dylan: Modern Times
4. M. Ward: Post War
5. TV On the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain

Obscure Sound mp3-enabled albums of the year:
1. Xiu Xiu - The Air Force
2. The Divine Comedy - Victory For The Comic Muse
3. The Veils - Nux Vomica
4. Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up, I Am Dreaming
5. Scott Walker - The Drift

Off The Record contributors choose their favourite albums:
Grace: M Ward - Post-War
James: Sarah Blasko - What The Sea Wants The Sea Will Have
Sandra: Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out Of This Country

The Onion AV Club writers struggle to produce a best music of 2006 listing: We used a weighted voting system—meaning passion proved nearly as important as widespread popularity—and tallied the votes using a highly scientific combination of computer spreadsheets, solar calculators, and an abacus, in a scientific formulation designed to ensure that only the finest albums would make the list.
1. The Hold Steady - Boys And Girls In America
2. TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain
3. Midlake - The Trials Of Van Occupanther
4. Jenny Lewis With The Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat
5. Belle & Sebastian - The Life Pursuit

And, from the Onion AV Club's essential guide to the Least Essential Albums of the 2006, including:
LEAST ESSENTIAL "REUNION" The New Cars, It's Alive
LEAST ESSENTIAL MUSIC TIE-IN TO AN INESSENTIAL TV SHOW Various artists, The Biggest Loser: Music Featured In And Inspired By The NBC Series
LEAST ESSENTIAL RACHAEL RAY BRANDING VENTURE (MUSIC DIVISION) Various artists, Rachael Ray: Too Cool For School Mixtape For Kids
LEAST ESSENTIAL GHOULISH LIVE ALBUM: Blind Melon, Live At The Palace
LEAST ESSENTIAL SEQUEL TO A TOTALLY FORGOTTEN RINGTONE-BASED AMPHIBIOUS ARTIST: Crazy Frog Presents More Crazy Hits
LEAST ESSENTIAL ALBUM OF 2006 (THE YEAR OF THE FISH IN THE BARREL): Kevin Federline, Playing With Fire

Picadilly Records of Manchester staff albums of the year:
1. Vetiver - To Find Me Gone
2. Midlake - The Trials Of Van Occupanther
3. Cat Power - The Greatest
4. Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators - Keep Reachin' Up
5. CSS - Cansei De Ser Sexy

Picadilly Compilations of the year: "The "Rip It Up & Start Again", "North By Northwest", CD86, John Peel and Hacienda compilations had us older Piccadilly people happily tripping down memory lane regaling 80s obsessive Brad with tales of post-punk life. All in all it was another great year for compilations."

Picadilly reissues of the year: After an inclusion of one track on Gilles Peterson's "Digs America" compilation had tipped us off to his greatness, Darondo's "Let My People Go" became a firm favourite on the shop stereo at the beginning of the year. Also totally new to us was the Fern Jones "Glory Road" collection which put a smile on our faces and spring in our step on those busy Saturday afternoons, and Las Malas Amistades early work release which filled our heads with weirdness.

Pitchfork files its top videos of the year, including the sub When The Whistle Blows that was Keith Allen's daughter's Smile and, inevitably, the OK Go one with them on the treadmills. Admittedly, that was more inspired than anything they've done musically.

Pollstar track the largest US tours of the year:
Rolling Stones lead in sales value at $138.5 million
Kenny Chesney sold the most tickets, 1.13 million

PopMatters best 'world' music:
1. Ali Farka Touré - Savane
2. Lee 'Scratch' Perry - Panic in Babylon
3. Anouar Brahem - Le Voyage de Sahar
4. Värttinä - Miero
5. Kékélé - Kinavana

Q Magazine file the sort of best albums list that you'd expect from Q:
1. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am...
2. Muse - Black Holes And Revelations
3. Razorlight - Razorlight
4. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium
5. The Killers - Sam's Town

Q's best reissue is The Clash - The Singles

Rebecca Raber, associate editor at CMJ, with a list of her favourite albums:
1. Girl Talk - Night Ripper
2. The Thermals - The Body, The Blood, The Machine
3. The Hold Steady - Boys And Girls In America
4. Islands- Return To The Sea
5. Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I Am Dreaming

Raven Sings The Blues offers an MP3ed best-of, in no particular order:
Vetiver - To Find Me Gone
Beach House - Beach House
Shearwater - Palo Santo
Wooden Wand & The Skyhigh Band - Second Attention
The Skygreen Leopards - Disciples Of California
Woods - How to Survive in/ In The Woods
Flying Canyon - Flying Canyon
Horse Feathers - Words Are Dead
Kahoots - Fourteen Ghost
Benoit Pioulard - Precis
Nina Nastasia - On Leaving
Howlin' Rain - Howlin' Rain
King Tuff - Mindblow
The Mountain Goats - Get Lonely
Tim Hecker - Harmony in Ultra Violet
Sinoia Caves - The Enchanter Persuaded
The Black Angels - Passover
Band of Horses - Everything All The Time
Indian Jewelry - Invasive Exotics
M. Ward - Post War

Reverend Moose, content editor at CMJ, picks albums of the year:
1. The Knife - Silent Shout
2. Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
3. VAUX - Beyond Virtue, Beyond Vice
4. Dead Heart Bloom - Dead Heart Bloom
5. Against Me! - Americans Abroad!!! Against Me!!! Live In London!!!

Revolver Magazine chooses best albums:
1. Lamb of God - Sacrament
2. Mastodon - Blood Mountain
3. Deftones - Saturday Night Wrist
4. GOJIRA - From Mars To Sirius
5. Converge - No Heroes

Marc Riley's single of the year:
Das Wanderlust - Orange Shop

Tom Robinson's single of the year:
Camille - Ta douleur

Rocksound magazine delivers a top 75 via its MySpace blog:
1. The Bronx - The Bronx
2. Converge - No Heroes
3. Isis - In The Absence Of Truth
4. Muse - Black Holes And Revelations
5. Kylesa - Time Will Fuse Its Worth

Rolling Stone's Top 50 albums of the year:
1. Bob Dylan - Modern Times
2. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium
3. Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped
4. TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain
5. Ghostface Killah - Fishcake

... and Rolling Stone's 100 tracks of the year:
1. Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
2. The Raconteurs - Steady As She Goes
3. Chamillionaire - Ridin'
4. TI - What You Know
5. The Pack - Vans

Ron of MusicMania picked a favourite album:
TV On The Radio – Return To Cookie Mountain

Rough Trade Shop top 100 albums:
1. Beirut - Gulang Orkestar
2. The Gossip - Standing In The Way Of Control
3. CSS - Cansei De Ser Sexy
4. Lily Allen - Alright, Still
5. Brakes - The Beatific Visions

Rough Trade Shop best reissue:
The Triffids - Born Sandy Devotional

Rough Trade Shop's favourite compilation:
Jarvis Cocker & Steve Mackey/Various - The Trip

Seattle Gay Blog gathers top albums...
1 Fox Confessor Brings the Flood - Neko Case
2 With Love and Squalor - We Are Scientists
3 Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not - Arctic Monkeys
4 Carnavas - Silversun Pickups
5 Wolfmother - Wolfmother

... and the Seattle Gay Blog's best singles:
1 Well Thought Out Twinkles - Silversun Pickups
2 Hold On, Hold On - Neko Case
3 Analyse - Thom Yorke
4 My Love - Justin Timberlake featuring T.I.
5 Woman - Wolfmother

Skatterbrain tracks of the year:
1. Pants Yell - Our Turf
2. The Most Serene Republic - You're Not An Astronaut
3. The Pipettes - Pull Shapes
4. Belle and Sebastian - Sukie In The Graveyard
5. The Knife - We Share Our Mother's Health

Status No Object from the Village Voice picks the New York gigs of the year:
1. Jay-Z at Radio City Music Hall, 26/6/06
2. Sleater-Kinney at Webster Hall, 2/8/06
3. TI at the Apollo Theatre, 1/6/06
4. Cat Power at Town Hall, 10/6/06
5. Boredoms at Webster Hall, 2/7/06

Stylus Magazine's best singles collated by JBones, based on the rating given by the magazine averaged from a number of reviews. Maximum possible score is ten:
1. Nelly Furtado - Maneater (9.0)
= Marit Larsen - Don’t Save Me (9.0)
3. The Pipettes - Pull Shapes (8.7)
4. Justin Timberlake - My Love (8.6)
= Bertine Zetlitz - Midnight (8.6)

Slim Devices have started to debate albums of the year on their talkboards. Bosonova808 takes advantage of the time difference: dEUS - Pocket Revolution (will be a 2006 album in the States but has been out for a few months in Europe) - good. Not quite as amazing as The Ideal Crash which still totally floats my boat, but Tom Barman remains seriously cool.

Suite 101 have picked the best Christian rock albums of the year:
1. Derek Webb - Mockingbird
2. Johnny Lang - Turn Around
3. Delirious? - Mission Bell
4. Leeland - Sound of Melodies
5. Phil Joel - The deliberatePeople album

The Sun's Bizarre column invited its readers to vote for their favourites. Madonna is so desperate for decentpress she even turned up to be presented with her prizes:
BEST MALE: Justin Timberlake
BEST FEMALE: Madonna
BEST NEWCOMER: Lily Allen
BEST BAND: Oasis
SINGLE OF THE YEAR: Take That - Patience
BEST LIVE ACT: Madonna
BEST COMEBACK: Take That
ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am That’s What I’m Not
CANER OF THE YEAR: Noel Gallagher
SHAGGER OF THE YEAR: Russell Brand
SACK THE STYLIST: Britney Spears
BEST FILM: Borat
BEST COMEDY: Little Britain
BEST ACTOR: Daniel Craig
BEST ACTRESS: Keira Knightley
BEST DJ: Chris Moyles

Sweeping The Nation has embarked on a slow-reveal of its top 30 2006 albums. Overall winner:
TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain

Tony Sylvester of Southern Distribution picked top albums:
1. Kaada - Music For Movie Bikers
2. Daniel Higgs - Ancestral Songs
3. Entrance - Prayer Of Death
4. Current 93 - Black Ships Ate The Sky
5. Burial - Self Titled

Tapes N Tapes favourite album of the year, according to Filter:
Liars - Drum's Not Dead

Time Out New York's top albums:
1. Joanna Newsom - Ys
2. The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
3. Regina Spektor - Begin to Hope
4. Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
5. Mastodon - Blood Mountain

Tiny Mix Tapes suggests a tiny mix tape of the best tracks of 2006, including:
Ghostface Killah - The Champ
The Flaming Lips - The Sound of Failure
Boozoo Bajou featuring Oh No - Back Up
CSS - Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death from Above

UK Music Bloggers poll organised by Sweeping The Nation:
1. TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain
2. The Pipettes - We Are The Pipettes
3. Camera Obscura - Lets Get Out Of This Country
4. Cat Power - The Greatest
5. Joanna Newsom - Ys

We Are Scientists favourite single, according to 6Music:
We Are Scientists - Inaction

Paul Weller's favourite singles, according to 6Music:
Midlake - Young Bride and
Amy Winehouse - Rehab

John Wenzel, Denver Post staff writer, picked his CDs of the year:
1. Snowden - Anti-Anti
2. Band of Horses - Everything All The Time
3. Built To Spill - You, In Reverse
4. Beck - The Information
5. The Black Angels - Passover

John Williamson reviews the year in the Glasgow Herald: The Young Knives' Voices of Animals and Men is at least [The Arctic Monkey's] equal, and the Long Blondes re-enforced Sheffield's claim to musical city of the year (Jarvis Cocker's solo album and Richard Hawley's belatedly acclaimed Cole's Corner also deserve mention) with their updated take on C86 pop. The rush to cash-in on the Arctic Monkeys (like Oasis and the Stone Roses before them) brought a number of atrocities in their wake, but at least the cause seemed modest in the receipt of their acclaim.

Chris Wilman of Entertainment Weekly's favourite albums of the year:
1. The Dixie Chicks - Taking The Long Way
2. Lily Allen - Alright, Still
3. The Beatles - Love
4. Drive-By Truckers - A Blessing And A Curse
5. Vince Gill - These Days

Wikipedia's (potentially) ever-changing attempt at a chronology of music in 2006: November 8 – Nelly Furtado makes a cameo in the Portuguese soap opera Floribella.

... and a Wikipedia chronology of UK music: Single sales bounced back in 2006 as legal downloads added nearly thirty million sales to the total for the year. Despite this, the 17,694 copies sold during it's week at number one gave Orson's "No Tomorrow" the distiction of being the lowest sales ever of a chart topper.

... and Wikipedia on Swiss music in 2006: Despite the consistency at the top of the chart thus far in 2006, the Swiss singles chart has seen a lot of popular acts pass through it. Normally in the first two months of the year the chart would be mostly quiet, but the top ten has been fairly active, with acts including US5, 50 Cent, Ch!pz and Mary J. Blige entering toward the higher end of the chart this year.

Amy Winehouse's favourite singles, according to 6Music:
The Zutons - Valerie

Yahoo Music reviews the year: Pete Doherty Kicks Reporter: Finally, this guy successfully kicked something

Yahoo Top Searches found Britney the overall most-searched for term on the web in 2006; Shakira's Hips Don't Lie was the most-searched for lyrics.

Yannorossi posted a top ten albums:
1. The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
2. Bob Dylan - Modern Times
3. Lily Allen - Alright, Still
4. The Long Blondes - Someone To Drive You Home
5. Fiery Furnaces - Bitter Tea

This post will be updated as more lists are published on and offline; last updated 08-01-07 at 2.00pm
The 2005 collection