The music video channel that could Fuse had been running its “Top 40 of 2008″ special over the last few days, but I just couldn’t bring myself to watch—Katy Perry wasn’t just performing two songs, she was co-hosting the whole thing. The premise was amusing, matching the year’s “best” videos against each other head-to-head, tournament style, but in the end, it just turned into a battle of who could mobilize their fan club to the greatest effect. Guess what? Even through it all, the followers of Britney can come through in the clutch.
THE GOOD: Paramore defeating the Offspring, Staind and Linkin Park before running into a train called “Womanizer” (and losing by four million votes in the finale)? Katy Perry’s “I Kissed A Girl” and Kid Rock’s “All Summer Long” losing in the first round? That’s about all the good news I have, really.
THE BAD: Disturbed won two rounds of voting. Disturbed. In 2008. Two rounds.
THE WHAAA? While the video for “Vida La Vida” is not something Hype Williams should add to his demo reel, losing to Secondhand Serenade isn’t a fate Coldplay should be forced to suffer.
First round:
Linkin Park, “Given Up” def. Foo Fighters, “Long Road to Ruin”
Staind, “Believe” def. Weezer, “Pork and Beans”
Fall Out Boy, “I Don’t Care” def. Metro Station, “Shake It”
Paramore, “That’s What You Get” def. the Offspring, “Hammerhead”
Lil’ Wayne, “Lollipop” def. T.I., “Live Your Life”
Chris Brown, “With You” def. Flo Rida, “In The Ayer”
M.I.A., “Paper Planes” def. Ne-Yo, “Closer”
Usher, “Love in this Club” def. Kardinal Offishall, “Dangerous”
Slipknot, “Psychosocial” def. Metallica, “The Day That Never Comes”
Avenged Sevenfold, “Afterlife” def. 3 Doors Down, “It’s Not My Time”
Disturbed, “Inside The Fire” def. Seether, “Rise Above This”
AC/DC, “Rock N’ Roll Train” def. Kid Rock, “All Summer Long”
P!nk, “So What” def. Beyonce, “If I Were A Boy”
Secondhand Serenade, “Fall For You” def. Coldplay, “Vida La Vida”
Rihanna, “Disturbia” def. Madonna, “4 Minutes”
Britney Spears, “Womanizer” def. Katy Perry, “I Kissed A Girl”
Second round:
Linkin Park, “Given Up” def. Staind, “Believe”
Paramore, “That’s What You Get” def. Fall Out Boy, “I Don’t Care”
Chris Brown, “With You” def. Lil’ Wayne, “Lollipop”
M.I.A., “Paper Planes” def. Usher, “Love in this Club”
Slipknot, “Psychosocial” def. Avenged Sevenfold, “Afterlife”
Disturbed, “Inside The Fire” def. AC/DC, “Rock N’ Roll Train”
Secondhand Serenade, “Fall For You” def. P!nk, “So What”
Britney Spears, “Womanizer” def. Rihanna, “Disturbia”
Third round:
Paramore, “That’s What You Get” def. Linkin Park, “Given Up”
Chris Brown, “With You” def. M.I.A., “Paper Planes”
Slipknot, “Psychosocial” def. Disturbed, “Inside The Fire”
Britney Spears, “Womanizer” def. Secondhand Serenade, “Fall For You”
Semifinals:
Paramore, “That’s What You Get” def. Chris Brown, “With You”
Britney Spears, “Womanizer” def. Slipknot, “Psychosocial”
Final:
Britney Spears, “Womanizer” (5,610,730) def. Paramore, “That’s What You Get” (1,539,768)
For what it’s worth, the most played videos on Fuse this year are:
1. Linkin Park, “Given Up”
2. Kardinal Offishall, “Dangerous”
3. Disturbed, “Inside The Fire”
4. Paramore, “That’s What You Get”
5. Seether, “Rise Above This”
6. Metro Station, “Shake It”
7. Rihanna, “Disturbia”
8. Avenged Sevenfold, “Afterlife”
9. Lil’ Wayne, “Lollipop”
10. Katy Perry, “I Kissed A Girl”
Best of 2008 [Fuse]
The social-music site Last.fm—which allows users to track the music they listen to on their computers via a process called “scrobbling,” and also has full-song streaming capabilities for certain tracks—released its “most listened to” list earlier this week. The artists list was topped by MGMT; the most-listened-to album was Coldplay’s Viva La Vida; and perhaps owing directly to the previous two factors, the “best tracks” list had one surprise on it, and that was the fact that Katy Perry’s “I Kissed A Girl” snuck in between repeated spins of “Electric Feel,” “Viva La Vida,” and other MGMT and Coldplay songs.
London’s Fact Magazine—which runs one of the sharpest-witted, up-to-the-minute music blogs around—has been doling out year-end lists for a few weeks now, the newest of which is its Top 20 albums, preceded in recent weeks by Top 20s of reissues and DJ mixes. These lists are thankfully different than 
