Amazon Announces the Top Music of 2010

Amazon.com today announced its picks for best music of 2010. The list includes the editors' picks for the Top 100 Albums of the Year, Top 100 Customer Favorites and a breakdown of Best of the Year lists in a variety of musical genres. To see all of the Best of 2010 music lists go to www.amazon.com/bestmusic2010.  Some surprises made the lists.

"From the stunning debut of editors' pick Broken Bells, to the triumphant return of customer favorite Eminem, we heard a lot of great music this year," said Craig Pape, director of Music at Amazon.com. "Our Best Music of 2010 lists are designed to help customers navigate through the rich selection of releases and discover new artists they might not normally pick on their own."

The Best of the Year Music Store is now live on Amazon.com, offering customers a large variety of music to browse, along with unique lists such as "50 outstanding albums of 2010 you may have missed."

"Creating Amazon's Best of the Year music list is a big process, but it is a lot of fun for the music team. We dig into music in every genre we can think of," said Jeff Reguilon, a music editor at Amazon.com. "From rock to pop, to new age, country and everything in between, we do our best to highlight awesome music that we think our customers will love."

Top 10 music editors' picks for best albums of the year:

1. Mumford & Sons, "Sigh No More"

2. Arcade Fire, "The Suburbs"

3. The Black Keys, "Brothers"

4. The National, "High Violet"

5. LCD Soundsystem, "This Is Happening"

6. Kanye West, "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy"

7. Broken Bells, "Broken Bells"

8. Vampire Weekend, "Contra"

9. Deerhunter, "Halcyon Digest"

10. Big Boi, "Sir Lucious Left Foot... The Son of Chico Dusty"

Top 10 customer favorites for 2010:

1. Taylor Swift, "Speak Now"

2. Lady Antebellum, "Need You Now"

3. Arcade Fire, "The Suburbs"

4. Susan Boyle, "The Gift"

5. Eminem, "Recovery"

6. Kanye West, "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy"

7. Sade, "Soldier of Love"

8. James Taylor and Carole King, "Live At The Troubadour"

9. Vampire Weekend, "Contra"

10. Mumford & Sons, "Sigh No More"

Wham's 'Last Christmas' Video

Each and every December we are beaten to death with holiday music.  Now, I'm not a Grinch, as I like the classics, "White Christmas", "Feliz Navidad", and "Jingle Bell Rock."  It's the newer Christmas tunes that take me a little longer to get used to.

It's only December 7, and I think I've already heard Wham's "Last Christmas" exactly 112 times, just this year.  This song gets in your head and you can't get it out, the song kind of grows on you.

What I didn't know is there is a video to accompany the song.  And of course it lives on You Tube.  This is actually the extended version of the song, it's cut down a bit for radio play. 

Listen to it, I dare you.  You'll be hearing it in your sleep.

Airport Security Stops Joe Jonas

Singer Joe Jonas was trying to board a flight out of Abu Dhabi with girlfriend Ashley Greene of Twilight fame, he was stopped by security who were suspicious of something in his carryon luggage. Turns out the squeaky clean pop-star had placed a set of knives he'd purchased into his carryon bag, instead of his checked luggage. Bystanders said his response to the mistake was, "Whoopsies." When Jonas was approached by security they simply took the knives away and stored them with the checked luggage. If he'd been stopped in the U.S.--with all the new TSA procedures--who knows what sort of ordeal he'd have to go through. Probably some groping or an intense body scan.hat sort of ordeal he'd have to go through. Probably some groping or an intense body scan.

America Releases 'Holiday Harmony' Collector's Ed.

The timeless band America has released a collector's edition of it's 'Holiday Harmony' Christmas CD.  It's a great CD you can listen to over and over again.

The 14-track self-released recording, due out Tuesday, November
23, contains a newly recorded bonus track "Holly Jolly Christmas"
that didn't appear on the album when it was originally released
in 2002.

Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell bring the classic AMERICA sound--a mix of pop
and folk with subtle jazz and Latin touches--to Holiday Harmony.
They merge such holiday standards as "Winter Wonderland," "Let It
Snow" and "Silver Bells" with three holiday originals: "A Christmas
To Remember," "Winter Holidays" and "Christmas In California."

Now celebrating their 40th anniversary, the Grammy-winning America
are as active as ever, regularly performing over 100 live shows a
year. They just competed a tour in Australia with Brian Wilson,
Chicago and Peter Frampton, a trek which brought some of the best-
selling artists in pop music history onto the same stage for an
unforgettable evening. America plans to tour extensively in 2011,
with dates beginning in February, and release a new album (TBA).

Here's the full Holiday Harmony track listing:

• Winter Wonderland
• Let It Snow
• White Christmas
• A Christmas To Remember
• Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
• Sleigh Ride
• Silver Bells
• Christmas In California
• It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas
• Winter Holidays
• Frosty the Snowman
• Silent Night
• The First Noel
• A Holly Jolly Christmas (Bonus Track)
  
  Buy this CD through Amazon now:

Apple Proves the Beatles Still Sell

The Beatles still rock.

Apple says customers scooped up more than 450,000 copies of Beatles albums plus two million individual songs during the Fab Four's first week on sale through iTunes.

Apple Inc. says the best-selling Beatles album in the U.S. is "Abbey Road," and the best-selling individual track is "Here Comes the Sun." The Beatles Box Set, which costs $149, is No. 10 on Apple's weekly iTunes top-10 list.

The Beatles' music went on sale on iTunes on Nov. 16. Until then, the biggest-selling, most influential group in rock history has been glaringly absent from iTunes and other legal online music services.

Apple struck an agreement after on-and-off negotiations with the Beatles' recording label, EMI Group, and their management company, Apple Corps.