80 ’08 (and Heartbreak): Announcing Idolator’s Year-End Extravaganza

Michaelangelo Matos | December 31, 2008 12:45 pm

What were the 80 most important musical recordings, artists, trends, events, and performances of 2008? What were the eight things this year that broke our hearts—or, at least, our ears? We’re happy to announce 80 ’08 (and Heartbreak), Idolator’s year-end overview. The list is below the jump.

80. Andrew W.K., “McLaughlin Groove” 79. Elvis Costello puts his trust in Fall Out Boy 78. Wye Oak, “I Want for Nothing” 77. Nine Inch Nails’ flood of digitally distributed music 76. TV on the Radio, “Golden Age” 75. Journey welcomes the Web 2.0 Era (and a new singer) with open arms 74. Jenny Lewis, “Acid Tongue” 73. Radiohead scores the year’s strangest Top 40 hit 72. The Music Tapes at Athens Popfest, August 2008 71. Kanye, Lily, Pete, and Courtney form their own blogger nation 70. French Kicks, Swimming 69. Soundscan: down for the recount 68. Make It Stop! The Most of Ross Johnson 67. Parry Gripp, “Hamster on a Piano (Eating Popcorn)” 66. Okay, Huggable Dust 65. Mariah Carey, “Touch My Body” 64. 360 deals make heads spin 63. Daniel Amos, Darn Floor Big Bite 62. Cut Copy, In Ghost Colours 61. Solange, Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams 60. The Numa Numa Dance revival 59. The Gaslight Anthem, The ’59 Sound 58. ’90s alt-rock memoirs 57. Larry Norman and Sonseed 56. Sheryl Crow, “Shine Over Babylon” 55. DJ Koze 54. David Cook beats David Archuleta on American Idol 53. T-Pain, Thr33 Ringz 52. Perez Hilton Vs. Sony BMG: slapfight! 51. Justin Moore’s “Back That Thing Up” video 50. Optimo’s mix CDs 49. Extra Golden live at the Caledonia Lounge, Athens, GA, June 2008 48. Jamey Johnson, That Lonesome Song 47. Daveigh Chase sings “The Happiest Girl in the Whole USA” on HBO’s Big Love 46. Gnarls Barkley and the Raconteurs race each other to the record store 45. Pete Wentz tries to save the music video with FNMTV 44. R&B’s breakbeat vogue 43. Jobromance! 42. Dennis Wilson, Pacific Ocean Blue (Legacy Edition) 41. Miley Cyrus, “See You Again” 40. Max Martin and Dr. Luke infiltrate rock radio 39. Of Montreal get Skeletal 38. Poplife Presents Poplife Sucks 37. Alec Foege, Right of the Dial and Taylor Clark, Starbucked 36. Major labels fail to kill the single—again 35. Velvet Revolver brings the drama 34. Blake Leyh makes us listen closer to The Wire 33. Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em, “Yahhh!” 32. The end of TRL 31. The old-skool rave revival 30. Ida Maria, “Oh My God” 29. Fred Schneider on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 28. CMT’s Can You Duet 27. ’90s reunion fever 26. Estelle makes her way across the ocean 25. John Darnielle’s Master of Reality and Carl Wilson’s Let’s Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste 24. Girl Talk, Feed the Animals 23. Santogold, “Lights Out” 22. Summer festival glut 21. Monotonix live in Baltimore 20. James Sullivan, The Hardest Working Man: How James Brown Saved the Soul of America 19. Be Your Own Pet, “Becky” 18. Kanye West’s aesthetics 17. “Vinyl is back!” 16. Global reissues bonanza 15. Beyoncé, “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” 14. Rickrolling rolls on 13. M.I.A., “Paper Planes” 12. Alphabeat get “wonky” 11. The year of the remix 10. R. Kelly goes to court 9. Jarvis Cocker at Pitchfork Festival, Chicago, July 2008 8. The Ron Clark Academy, “You Can Vote However You Like” 7. Portishead, Third 6. Prince at Coachella Festival, April 2008 5. Erykah Badu, New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) 4. Guitar Hero / Rock Band 3. A very musical Presidential election 2. Lil Wayne: All things to all people 1. Ne-Yo, Year Of The Gentleman

HEARTBREAKS 1. Mamma Mia Misses The Essence Of ABBA (Kate Richardson) 2. The Death of Baltimore Club Music’s Queen, DJ K-Swift (Al Shipley) 3. The blogosphere as the new status quo (Lucas Jensen) 4. Britney Spears on the 2008 MTV VMAs (Molly McAleer) 5. Be Your Own Pet breaks up (Mike Barthel) 6. Everyone in the music business losing their freakin’ jobs (Michaelangelo Matos) 7. Guns N’ Roses, Chinese Democracy (Maura Johnston) 8. John Rich shills for the GOP (Chuck Eddy)