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"

Snow Storm Hits Minnesota and Wisconsin

The Upper Midwest dug out from a heavy snowfall Saturday that caused more than 400 traffic accidents in Minnesota, and wintry conditions also were being blamed for a collision in northern Wisconsin that killed two people.

Nearly a foot of snow had fallen in parts of the Twin Cities area by Saturday evening, downing trees and causing sporadic power outages.

The storm that began late Friday night was blamed for a collision Saturday morning that killed both drivers and left a passenger hospitalized. The sheriff's department in Wisconsin's Bayfield County said the storm produced "rapidly deteriorating road conditions" that likely contributed to the crash.

The Minnesota State Patrol responded to 401 crashes as of 4 p.m, with 45 of them involving minor injuries, Patrol Capt. Matt Langer said. There were no other immediate reports of fatalities or major injuries.

The storm dumped 11 inches of snow in parts of Eden Prairie, Minn., and 10 inches in the Forest Lake and Mankato areas, said Todd Krause, a federal meteorologist in Minneapolis. The major snowfall activity ended by early afternoon, and Sunday's forecast looked milder, he said.

"People will still see snowflakes across much of Minnesota (on Sunday) but it won't be adding up to anything," he said.

The snow in both states wasn't expected to stick around for long. Recent warm weather meant the ground is still relatively warm, meteorologists said, and temperatures are expected to be in the mid- to high 30s for the next few days.  Such is weather in the Midwest.