Music Isn't Dead

This may be the hardest list to compile.  Best albums of 2010 - are you kidding me?  I'm trying to think of a good way to do this.  A part of me wants to do this list off the top of my head.  Surely, the best albums would be the most memorable?  But then there'd be a bias towards recently released albums.  Of course, it can never be comprehensive; there are still tons of albums I haven't listened to yet (and yes, that does annoy me!).  The volume of music out there is too great, but thankfully, this is the time for year-in-review lists, granted it biases me, but certainly makes the job easier.  There are certainly albums that stick out right away.  Kanye's recent album acknowledges how talented he is, despite the huge ego and lack of tact.  Which leads to Taylor Swift's album; yes, her topics tend to be about boys or revenge, but it's hard to downplay that's one of the best in country.  MGMT's Congratulations, The Black Keys' Brothers, and Arcade Fire's The Suburbs are, in my mind, no brainers.   Then there was Cee Lo Green's album; forget about the song of the year "Fuck You;" the whole album's incredible.  My Chemical Romance's album rocks from beginning to end.  But how to round out the list?  There's Belle & Sebastian, Eminem, Muse, Florence & the Machine, LCD Soundsystem, Mumford & Sons, Nicki Minaj, Hellogoodbye, Sara Bareilles, KT Tunstall, the Walkmen ... Even today, I listened to Deerhunter and was impressed.  There were some disappointments this year: Kings of Leon and M.I.A. (both favorites of mine, but their last releases were shy of their respective high bars), I still don't quite get Janelle Monae or Flying Lotus or Grinderman, and Sufjan Stevens got a little too experimental.  But alas, to pick a Top 10?  That's probably why the top lists in Spin and Q this month are no less than forty albums.  Should I mend the list to include more than 10?  I'm going to need to ponder this just a little bit more ...