The 100 Best Songs of the Year

11 "World Wide Suicide" [Video] [Song]
Pearl Jam
The president -- "writing checks that others pay" -- gets it in this top-shelf blast of bad news and fighting spirit from the Seattle band that refuses to die.

12 "Read My Mind" [Song]
The Killers
A shimmering singalong about love in the sticks. Ever wonder what Bono would sound like if he grew up in Vegas?

13 "Free Radicals" [Song]
The Flaming Lips
Damn-near-genius space pop, inspired by a dream about Devendra Banhart trying to reason with a suicide bomber.

14 "Ghetto Story" [Song]
Cham
This year's "Welcome to Jamrock" but darker, prettier, with descriptions of inner-city struggle supposedly strong enough to keep it off the radio in Jamaica.

15 "Miss Murder" [Song]
AFI
The soundtrack to a goth-punk siege of your high school dance. Any cities that still had decent rock radio stations were hearing this punk-pop barnburner, a torrent of "whoa-oh-ohs" that charges right in with a monster chorus and doesn't stop.

16 "You Only Live Once" [Song]
The Strokes
A sharp-twang cocktail of bravado and concession from the recently married Julian Casablancas sounds like he?s still mystified by the art of commitment but intrigued enough to try.

17 "Welcome to the Black Parade" [Video] [Song]
My Chemical Romance
Singer Gerard Way and his eyeliner-rock brigade envision Teen Goth America as a salvation army. Get in step.

18 "Ain't No Other Man" [Song]
Christina Aguilera
Aguilera digs up DJ Premiere for a zoot-suit-riot dance cut, all brassy horn samples and even brassier vocals.

19 "Get Myself Into It" [Song]
The Rapture
Step aside, "House of Jealous Lovers"! Gangly funk punk stormed back, and steely-eyed hipsters found themselves forced to dance again.

20 "The Long Way Around" [Song]
The Dixie Chicks
A heart-tugging guitar anthem for small-town girls with big dreams -- and the best ersatz Springsteen song in a year that was packed with them.

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