Kings of Leon, Lady Gaga Rule iTunes Top-Selling 2009 Charts

Kings of Leon were the kings of the 2009 iTunes charts as the Followill clan's Only By the Night was both the top-selling album and the Editor's Pick as Album of the Year on Apple's digital music service. The band's "Use Somebody" was also the 10th bestselling song of the year. On the top-selling songs chart, the Black Eyed Peas rode their historic reign atop the Hot 100 by locking up the year's Number One most purchased single "Boom Boom Pow," with "I Gotta Feeling" coming in at Number Four and The E.N.D. ranking 10th on the album sales list.

Check out Rolling Stone readers' picks for best song, album and artist of the decade.

Lady Gaga also had two songs in the iTunes Top 10 — "Poker Face" at Three and "Just Dance" at Six — scored third on the albums chart with The Fame and was also named by the iTunes editors' as the year's Best New Artist, an award that the Hot Diva was disqualified for at the 2010 Grammy Awards. Flo Rida's "Right Round" was the year's Number Two top-selling song, while Miley Cyrus' "Party in the U.S.A." and "The Climb" grabbed Seven and Eight.

Michael Jackson was named iTunes' Artist of the Year after the King of Pop's death was followed by a massive sales boost for Jackson's discography. The Essential Michael Jackson was the biggest beneficiary by coming in sixth on the iTunes year-end chart. Check out the full list of iTunes top-selling albums and songs below:

TOP-SELLING SONGS
1. "Boom Boom Pow," Black Eyed Peas
2. "Right Round," Flo Rida
3. "Poker Face," Lady Gaga
4. "I Gotta Feeling," Black Eyed Peas
5. "Gives You Hell," The All-American Rejects
6. "Just Dance," Lady Gaga & Colby O'Donis
7. "Party in the U.S.A.," Miley Cyrus
8. "The Climb," Miley Cyrus
9. "Dead and Gone (feat. Justin Timberlake)," T.I.
10. "Use Somebody," Kings of Leon

TOP-SELLING ALBUMS
1. Kings of Leon, Only By the Night
2. Various Artists, Twilight (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
3. Lady Gaga, The Fame
4. Taylor Swift, Fearless
5. Dave Matthews Band, Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King
6. Michael Jackson, The Essential Michael Jackson
7. The Fray, The Fray
8. Jay-Z, The Blueprint 3
9. Eminem, Relapse
10. Black Eyed Peas, The E.N.D. (The Energy Never Dies)

EDITOR'S PICKS:
ARTIST OF THE YEAR - Michael Jackson
ALBUM OF THE YEAR - Kings of Leon, Only By the Night
BEST NEW ARTIST - Lady Gaga

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Song Stories

“Tonight's the Night”

The Shirelles | 1960

The lead cut and title track from this girl group's debut album, "Tonight's the Night" was written by 19-year-old bandmember Shirley Owens, who sings lead, and producer Luther Dixon. The band from Passaic, New Jersey met in high school, first calling themselves the Pequellos. The song's frank thoughts about sexual and emotional surrender was racy for the time, but that didn't stop the Chiffons from cutting a similar version immediately after the original came out. "We were the first female group to write some of our own material," band member Beverly Lee recalls. "We did have some say-so in our writing."

More Song Stories entries »

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