The “study” I refer to is All Songs Considered’s annual ballot of listeners’ picks for best music of the year. As usual, there isn’t much diversity on this list in terms of musical styles, but at least it’s not an echo of the Billboard list. Thank goodness for that.
And the presence of Andrew Bird at #5 on the list tosses stinging salt in my influenza wounds – I had tickets to see Bird when he came to DC recently, but in the end had to sell my tickets because I was sick with H1N1. Ouch.
I can’t fault the selections in terms of quality. I am thoroughly enjoying the music while typing this post. In the end, however, this playlist represents just one dimension of the multi-faceted musical world in which I choose to exist.
So, go ahead, download some of these albums. But find yourself some music from other countries and genres, too.

Regina Spektor (left), Grizzly Bear (top middle), Dirty Projectors (bottom middle), M. Ward (top right), Andrew Bird (bottom right)
Excerpt:
We could tell early on that 2009 was going to be an outstanding year for music. Bands such as Animal Collective, Andrew Bird, Bon Iver and Antony and the Johnsons all released new music, and that was just in January. By the time we posted our online ballot to vote for the year’s best music, we had a dizzying array of albums and artists from which to choose.
Thousands of votes poured in and, just as it is every year, the race was very close. In our mid-year ballot, Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion was the most popular album. But by the end of this year, Grizzly Bear had edged its way to the top, with Animal Collective, Phoenix, Neko Case and Andrew Bird rounding out the top five.
Story: All Songs Considered Listeners Pick The Best Music Of 2009