My 2010 In Music

Well, I've done all the accounting -- or, to be accurate, iTunes kept track of the totals -- and will reveal shortly my Top 25 Most Played Songs of 2010 (since I've reset the count to zero for the new year). First, I'd like to tell you about my top 10 albums of 2010. The problem with that is...I don't have one. I only bought 16 new albums all year, and if you take out greatest hits collections and albums released before 2010, that number drops to 11 -- and two of those were Christmas albums, so they don't really count.

(By the way, it seems weird to refer to "albums" when vinyl albums as we know it hardly exist anymore. There are music purists who prefer vinyl, thus allowing a certain number of releases in vinyl, but the vast majority of new releases -- and certainly everything I've gotten in at least the last 15-20 years -- are strictly CDs or digital downloads. But it's easier to refer to them as albums.)

Perhaps more will come into my hands in the future, but for now, here are the nine non-Christmas 2010 albums I bought:

Vampire Weekend – Contra
Glee cast - Glee: The Music, The Power of Madonna
Kele – The Boxer
Scissor Sisters – Night Work
soundtrack – Despicable Me
Kylie Minogue – Aphrodite
Linkin Park – A Thousand Suns
Bruno Mars – Doo-Wops & Hooligans
Mark Ronson and the Business Intl. - Record Collection

I will say that, except perhaps for the Linkin Park album,

Return Of My Summer Playlist!

I stumbled upon a link to Billboard.com's compilation of their top 10 songs of summer (using a point system based on heir chart methodology) for every year from 1985 through 2009. Looking through their listings, I decided some additions to my summer playlist (Part 1 here, Part 2 here) are required. (I also am adding others to the list of songs I need to own.)

The following, however, are already in my iTunes library. Some I overlooked the first time around and others I've changed my mind about. I'm sure you will find some of them quite cheesy, but it could've been worse: I still left "MMMBop" off the list. Adding these songs and "Commander" (my song of summer 2010) to my original list, I now have exactly 100 summer songs.

Oh, and here's some pretty summer scenery: Hugh Jackman at the beach...


A View To A Kill - Duran Duran (1985)
Sussudio - Phil Collins (1985)
If You Love Somebody Set Them Free - Sting (1985)
Raspberry Beret - Prince and the Revolution (1985) - I can sing the hell out of this at karaoke.
Papa Don't Preach - Madonna (1986)
Invisible Touch - Genesis (1986)
On My Own - Patti LaBelle & Michael McDonald (1986)
Higher Love - Steve Winwood (1986) - Also a killer karaoke song for me.
Venus - Bananarama (1986)

My iTunes Top 25 for 6-6-10

Since I just synced my iPod with my most recent downloads into iTunes, I thought I'd share my Top 25 most played tracks so far in 2010, with total plays for each (I cleared the totals at the start of the year.) Still clinging to the top for now is the song used in "Ugly Betty" during the scene where Justin first kisses his boyfriend. I'm not playing it much lately, so it surely will be dethroned. Also, there seems to be lots of Lady Gaga. Actually, there are six CDs with multiple songs on the list -- 20 of the 25 songs come from those six CDs. (This also kind of indicates that I could use some more new music. I haven't bought many new albums recently.)

Valium In The Sunshine - Maps 64
Telephone (feat. Beyoncé)- Lady Gaga 61
Meet Me Halfway - Black Eyed Peas 53
Bad Romance - Lady Gaga 53
Giving Up The Gun - Vampire Weekend 46
Bad Romance (Rauhofer Anthem) - Lady Gaga 41
Cousins - Vampire Weekend 39
A Beautiful Mine - RJD2 38
Dance In The Dark - Lady Gaga 37
Poker Face - Lady Gaga 34
Sure Fire Winners - Adam Lambert 33
Vogue - Glee Cast 33
Paparazzi - Lady Gaga 32
Celebration - Madonna 31
If I Had You - Adam Lambert 29
When Love Takes Over (Featuring Kelly Rowland) - David Guetta 28
For Your Entertainment - Adam Lambert 24
Sexy Bitch (Featuring Akon) - David Guetta 24
Missing You (Featuring Novel) - David Guetta 24
4 Minutes - Glee Cast 24
Alejandro - Lady Gaga 24
Monster - Lady Gaga 24
So Happy I Could Die - Lady Gaga 24
Teeth - Lady Gaga 24
Memories (Featuring Kid Cudi) - David Guetta 23