The Best Music of 2010

As of Christmas Day 2010, Metacritic has stated that the majority of music critics have named Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy as the best album of the year.

This past summer saw the new Eminem record called Recovery hit shelves. It's the hip hop star's seventh album. It spent seven weeks at the top of the Billboard charts. The record went on to earn ten Grammy nominations, the most for any album or artist in 2010, and it sold over five million copies.

Other big-selling, Grammy nominees include Justin Bieber whose My World 2.0 debuted at #1 on the 200 chart, making him at 16-years-old the youngest artist to do that since Stevie Wonder in 1963.

Cee Lo Green's song "Fuck You" was nominated for three Grammys, including Song of the Year. I'll have to check my facts, but it may be the first time a song with a curse word in the title has gotten such a nomination. Cee Lo will perform the clean version titled "Forget You" on TV, but I think he did a more interesting version on The Colbert Report. In its short existence so far, many have already covered Cee Lo's hit. The TV series Glee even did a version with actress Gweneth Paltrow singing lead.

The soundtrack to Glee this past season has been pretty phenomenal. Yes, they made waves doing covers of Britney Spears, but I really took to their interpretation of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. My favorite was its show-stopping twist of "Time Warp." But, I saw the "Duets" episode where actresses Amber Riley and Naya Rivera did  "River Deep, Mountain High," and I was blown away.

Christina Aguilera teamed up with Cher to give us Burlesque. This was in addition to he sixth album Bionic, which featured a cover photo of the pop star fused with machines, almost as if she were part robotic. I found this interesting because quite a few other female artists did a similar thing. Janelle Monae was The ArchAndroid and Kelis was futuristic in Flesh Tone. Swedish dance singer Robyn even did a song called "Fembot." Ana Matronic of the rock group Scissor Sisters, which put out a new record this year too, told Paul Lester of The Guardian, "I have a deep and abiding love of robots," in reference to where her name derived. Linkin Park even did a song this year calle "Robot Boy."

The most prolific and busiest music artist this year would have to be Otis Jackson, Jr., aka Madlib who released a brand new album every month starting in January 2010. It's insane because his Madlib Medicine Show consisted of 12 discs, each one more exhausting than the last. The best jazz vocalist this year was South African singer and guitarist Jonathan Butler who has been making music since 1985.

Llastly, the oddest and probably most unique group with an album out this year would have to be Abraham, Inc. NPR did an article about the trio that fuses East European sounds with modern-day hip hop. Sounds that include accordians mixed with trombone riffs make Abraham, Inc. one of the funkiest groups of 2010.

BEST MUSIC OF 2010... THE FINAL LIST

Best Folk / Country

DOWNTOWN CHURCH by Patty Griffin

GENUINE NEGRO JIG by Carolina Chocolate Drops

HERE'S TAKING IT EASY by Phosphorescent

GOD WILLIN' & THE CREEK DON'T RISE by Ray LaMontagne

FARMER'S DAUGHTER by Crystal Bowersox

INCREDIBLE MACHINE by Sugarland

ONCE AROUND by Autumn Defense

Best Rock / Alternative

BROTHERS by The Black Keys

CONTRA by Vampire Weekend

GO by Jonsi

BROKEN BELLS by Broken Bells

LISBON by The Walkmen

MAJESTY SHREDDING by Superchunk

MAXIMUM BALLOON by Dave Sitek

THE DRUMS by The Drums

GRACE POTTER & THE NOCTURNALS by Grace Potter

BLACK DUB by Daniel Lanois

Best Pop / Electronic

BODY TALK by Robyn

RECORD by Zero 7

COMPASS by Jamie Lidell

BIONIC by Christina Aguilera

WE ARE BORN by Sia

RECORD COLLECTION by Mark Ronson

100 MILES FROM MEMPHIS by Sheryl Crow

Best Rap / Hip Hop

HOW I GOT OVER by The Roots

CONCRETE JUNGLE by Nneka

THE LADY KILLER by Cee Lo Green

AUTHENTICITY by The Foreign Exchange

9TH OPUS by 9th Wonder

ADVENTURES OF BOBBY RAY by B.o.B.

PINK FRIDAY by Nicki Minaj

Best R&B / Soul

THE ARCHANDROID by Janelle Monae

NEW AMERYKAH PART TWO by Erykah Badu

LOVE ME BACK by Jazmine Sullivan

DEFAMATION OF STRICKLAND BANKS by Plan B

FLESH TONE by Kelis

WE WALK THIS ROAD by Robert Randolph

TRAVELLING LIKE THE LIGHT by V.V. Brown

LOUD by Rihanna

THE SELLOUT by Macy Gray

Bonus Songs to Download

"Macon" by Jamey Johnson

"The Weary Kind" by Ryan Bingham

"Everything to Me" by Monica

"Club Can't Handle Me" by Flo Rida

"Crown on the Ground" by Sleigh Bells

"WTF?" by Ok Go

"Back Down South" by Kings of Leon

"Can't Stop Now" by Major Lazer

"Whole New Way" by Scissor Sisters

"Bobcat Goldwraith" by The Acorn

"Philadelphia" by The Kissaway Trail

"Remember" by Richard Bruckner

"Love Ain't Gonna Let You Down" by Jamie Cullum

"The Gift" by The Whitefield Brothers

"It Breaks" by Tunng

"Half Way Love" by Daniel Moore

"The Lie" by Yahzarah

"If It's Wrong" by Leela James

"Kick Anthem" by The Infesticons

"Gay Vatos in Love" by Ozomatli

"Make a Plan to Love Me" by Bright Eyes

Another Listen

A STRANGE ARRANGEMENT by Mayer Hawthorne

BARE BONES by Bryan Adams

GREATEST HITS SO FAR by Pink