Twangy spitfire Neko Case’s Middle Cyclone was selected by Amazon.com’s editors as the best of 2009, while U2’s No Line On The Horizon was the online retailer’s best-selling album this year. That’s according to a just-released year-end package that jumps the “happy new year” gun by quite a few days. Sure, boosting these albums now will probably be great for the holiday sales, but it’s too bad that publishing the list now means that the likes of R. Kelly’s Untitled and Shakira’s She Wolf didn’t get their critical due. Oh wait, there are no pop-as-pop albums on the editors’ list anyway. Silly me! Top 25s for both lists after the jump.
THE GOOD: It sure is fascinating to see the sales demographics of Amazon out themselves via the Bestsellers list—U2, Susan Boyle, Diana Krall, Bruce Springsteen, and Bob Dylan make up the top five, while younger-skewing top-selling 2009 releases like the Hannah Montana soundtrack, Eminem’s Relapse, and the Black Eyed Peas’ The E.N.D. land at Nos. 16, 24, and 25, respectively. At least all generations can agree on Green Day (No. 6)! And it’s nice to see Case’s editorially beloved album performing well on the sales side, too (No. 11).
THE BAD: In addition to Boyle’s pre-order mania landing her at No. 2; two albums on the bestsellers list have been released in the past few weeks: Michael Bublé’s Crazy Love (release date 10/9, No. 9) and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s Night Castle (release date 10/26, No. 12). That sort of implies a low bar for high sales, methinks.
THE WHAAAA? This might be a wild and crazy question to pose, but is Steve Martin’s banjo album really the best of its breed to come out this year?
Best Albums Of 2009 (Editors’ Picks)
1. Neko Case, Middle Cyclone
2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, It’s Blitz
3. Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
4. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
5. The Avett Brothers, I And Love And You
6. Girls, Album
7. Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion
8. K’Naan, Troubadour
9. Jay-Z, Blueprint 3
10. Camera Obscura, My Maudlin Career
11. Metric, Fantasies
12. Wilco, Wilco (The Album)
13. Passion Pit, Manners
14. Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest
15. The Swell Season, Strict Joy
16. Steve Earle, Townes
17. Sarah Jarosz, Song Up In Her Head
18. Amadou & Mariam, Welcome To Mali
19. Leonard Cohen, Live In London
20. The Horrors, Primary Colours
21. Mastodon, Crack The Skye
22. Iron & Wine, Around The Well
23. V/A, Dark Was The Night
24. The Bird And The Bee, Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future
25. Steve Martin, The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo
Best-Selling Albums Of 2009 (Sales)
1. U2, No Line On The Horizon
2. Susan Boyle, I Dreamed A Dream
3. Diana Krall, Quiet Nights
4. Bruce Springsteen, Working On A Dream
5. Bob Dylan, Together Through Life
6. Green Day, 21st Century Breakdown
7. Dave Matthews Band, Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King
8. Playing For Change, Songs Around The World
9. Michael Bublé, Crazy Love
10. Neko Case, Middle Cyclone
11. Chris Botti, Chris Botti In Boston
12. Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Night Castle
13. Kelly Clarkson, All I Ever Wanted
14. Whitney Houston, I Look To You
15. Van Morrison, Astral Weeks Live At The Hollywood Bowl
16. Hannah Montana: The Movie soundtrack
17. V/A, The Twilight Saga: New Moon soundtrack
18. Leonard Cohen, Live In London
19. Daughtry, Leave This Town
20. Adam Lambert, For Your Entertainment
21. Wilco, Wilco (The Album)
22. Barbra Stresiand, Love Is The Answer
23. Maxwell, BLACKsummers’night
24. Eminem, Relapse
25. Black Eyed Peas, The E.N.D.
The Best Albums Of 2009 [Amazon]
Bestselling 2009 CDs [Amazon]
[HT: Absolute Punk]
I think the Steve Martin banjo album might be the ONLY of its breed to come out this year…
I think that “The Rising” being the #4 seller of 2009 is way weirder than the Steve Martin thing. Did I miss another 9/11 or something?
@allyzay: haha, oops. i meant to type working on a dream
I think it was on this site, but someone once stated that Pavement set a precedent for every indie rock band to sound uninterested and to make sure to not focus on melody (because that would be a sign of caring). The Girls album is further proof of this.
@2ironic4u: the truth, it hurts.
@2ironic4u: Oh I do not like that band one bit. Yuck x 14239084230.
It’s weird seeing Neko Case having the 11th best selling album of the year, at least in Amazon. Did it really do better than, say, Whitney Houston’s?
@fre2daa: Amazon is a small slice of the pie. To put it in perspective, that Trans-Siberian Orchestra album — No. 12 on Amazon’s chart — sold 19,000 copies on the Internet chart (which collects data from online physical-product retailers) this week, its first official week in stores. So in a relative sense, sure, Neko could have done better than Whitney; after all, it was out longer, and I’m sure Amazon’s editorial enthusiasm for it resulted in it being merchandised well.
Reverse that top three and you’ve probably got Pazz & Jop.
I just heard Girls for the first time last week…didn’t think I needed to listen to them because I could already imagine exactly what they sounded like. Turns out I was right. I just don’t “get it”.
Oh, and I got Phrazes of the Young last night. I think that needs to be on all lists.
@Chris Molanphy: I would be totally OK with that top three.
Why even bother putting BP3 on there? They’re not fooling anyone about not listening to hip-hop.
@johnlempka: The inclusion of an awful Jay-Z album at #9 proves as much.
Wow. That list is boooooooooring.
@Maura: Thanks Maura, you and Chris are my music encyclopedia. Love you, guys!
hooray for Camera Obscura and The Horrors on that editors’ list.
However, like most of you, I had no clue that the Neko Case album was THAT popular.