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Jody Rosen's Best of 2010

Trey Songz, Best Coast, Easton Corbin and our critic's other picks for the year's top albums and singles

December 27, 2010 10:55 AM ET
Jody Rosen's Best of 2010

Albums

1. Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (Def Jam)

2. Sleigh Bells, Treats (Mom & Pop)

Critic's Picks: Rob Sheffield's Best Albums and Singles of 2010

3. Busy Signal, D.O.B. (V.P.)
The Jamaican dancehall star Busy Signal is one world's great rappers — a wit and a charmer, with fearsome flow and great taste in beats. His latest album is his finest yet. Don't sleep, U.S. hip-hop headz!

4. Joanna Newsom, Have One on Me (Drag City)

Rolling Stone's Best of 2010: Music, Movies, Videos, Photos and More

5. Calle 13, Entren Los Que Quieran (Sony)

6. Trey Songz, Passion, Pain & Pleasure (Atlantic)
Step aside, R. Kelly and The-Dream. Trey Songz is R&B's sexiest, silliest, and most pop-savvy Casanova.

7. Standard Fare, The Noyelle Beat (Bar None)
This trio from Sheffield, England supplied one of the year's most unexpected pleasures: a very smart, very tuneful, old-fashioned Britpop album, full of bright melodies and vivid little stories about new love, bad love and lost love. A record to savor, a band to root for.

8. Best Coast, Crazy for You (Mexican Summer)

Critic's Picks: David Fricke's Top Albums and Under-the-Radar Reissues of the Year

9. Of Montreal, False Priest (Polyvinyl)

10. Fabolous, There Is No Competition 2 (The Funeral Service) (Mixtape)

Next: Jody Rosen's Best Singles of 2010

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Song Stories

“Youth Knows No Pain”

Lykke Li | 2011

“Like on 'Youth Knows No Pain' — we are the ones that should demonstrate, because we can take it,” Likke Li said. “We can pierce ourselves, take Ecstasy, dance all night and still go to work at our McDonald's jobs.” Despite the hedonistic sentiment in the song, the Swedish singer also admitted in hindsight her youth had repercussions. “I remember when I was 18-19 and feeling that I know it all,” Li said. “I always feel that I know it all. But that song is about realizing you don’t, and reflecting, ‘Boy, if I only knew what would follow.’”

More Song Stories entries »