My Favorite Songs of 2009

My favorite album was probably Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, a joyful, crisp belter of a record, closely followed by Imogen Heap's Ellipse, which is full of the fiddly synth syncopation I love so much. My favorite new discovery was the Australian band Empire of the Sun: I've never come across a band named after a Spielberg movie and styled after Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome but somehow they pull it off — they sound like a clubbier, less jittery Talking Heads. My favorite new singer is La Roux's Elly Jackson, who sings like she doesn't know she's being listened to. My overall favorite track of the year is Temper Trap's Sweet Disposition, a song I first caught on the trailer for 500 Days of Summer and fell in love with instantly.

Empire State of Mind — Jay-Z featuring Alicia Keys
My Love — The Bird and the Bee
Mr Fox in the Fields — Alexandre Desplat
Lisztomania — Phoenix
Surprise — Inara George
Walking on A Dream — Empire of the Sun
Easier — Grizzly Bear
Carl Goes Up — Michael Giachino
The Weary Kind — Ryan Bingham & T Bone Burnett
God Watch Over You — Prefab Sprout
Between The Sheets — Imogen Heap
You've Got Me Wrapped Around Your Little Finger — Beth Rowley
The Fear — Lily Allen
Running to Stand Still — Elbow
Amazing Grace — Cat Power & Dirty Delta Blues
I Remember — Deadmau5 & Kaskade
Blood Bank — Bon Iver
In For The Kill — La Roux
When the Night Comes — Dan Auerbach
Sweet Disposition — The Temper Trap
My Girls — Animal Collective
Meteor Shower — Owl City
Magnificent — U2
French Navy — Camera Obscura

I and Love and You — the Avett Brothers
Starlight — Gonzales & Feist
Bring it — Tonex

You Don't Know Me — Regina Spektor

Cello Song — Jose Gonzalez

Electric Twist — A Fine Frenzy

Off I Go — Greg Laswell

Falling Down (Chemical Brothers remix) — Oasis
The Last of the Melting Snow — The Leisure Society
Purdy — William Orbit
Sleep All Summer — The National / St Vincent

My final top ten here
My top ten albums here