Today The Hype Machine revealed the top ten artists & albums of 2009. The artists were ranked by how frequently the music blogs on this list posted their songs and the albums were ranked by compiling 550 blogger top ten lists.

It makes me feel quite removed from the “zeitgeist” of new music when I look at these lists because there are quite a few of the artists & albums that I’ve never heard. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever heard a single song by the #2 artist: Passion Pit. I’m not proud of this ignorance either like some old curmudgeon, I feel I should at least give these new (to me) bands one good open minded listen. I’ll get to listening to Passion Pit today.

I have heard the #1 artist (Phoenix) and I must say I wasn’t terribly impressed with their album compared to some of the other new albums that came out in ‘09. Among the artists in the top 50, I prefer the 2009 albums released by The Flaming Lips, Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear, The xx, and Bat for Lashes. Plus there’s a lot of albums by artists that didn’t make their top 50 that I prefer as well (Neon Indian, Dirty Projectors, Circulatory System, & The Avett Brothers for starters.)

But not every artist in the top 50 released a new studio album in 2009. For example: Michael Jackson is at #7 and Radiohead is at #14. The reason for MJ’s inclusion is obvious and Radiohead is Radiohead.

The top ten albums list makes a bit more sense to me (there’s Bitte Orca by Dirty Projectors at #4!) But still there are three albums in the top 10 I have not heard (Girls’ Album at #10, Fever Ray’s Fever Ray at #9, and as already mentioned Passion Pit’s Manners at #7.)

And I would classify all seven of the top ten albums I have heard as good albums (although there are some I appreciate a lot more than others) so that makes me think I really should get to listening to these other three.

2009, Dirty Projectors, Passion Pit, Phoenix, The Hype Machine

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