For fun trivia, did you know the “Single Ladies” video was shot all in one take? If they made one mistake, they had to start over, which is mind-boggling to me.

http://blog.allmusic.com/2008/12/05/allmusics-favorite-albums-of-2008/

Los Campesinos!, Jenny Lewis and Robyn amongst others stick out.

As noted in the comments, despite getting rave reviews from them, Rattlin’ Bones didn’t show up on this list. Still waiting on their “Country” list though.

They may have said that about CDs still selling but they’d most certainly think that has to do with country fans being ‘un-hip’ or some stupid reason like that. I’m just commenting on their idiocy and ‘better than everyone’ attitudes.

I’m pretty sure I saw Rolling Stone recently call country “the only genre that still sells albums,” so while it may not have a lot of respect for the music itself, it does recognize its commercial viability.

Thanks so much for that. Writing this kept me up pretty late last night, so I certainly appreciate it!

Ben,

I don’t want to just tick off the upper end of my personal Year-End list, but I really wish Rattlin’ Bones had been noticed by them, along with some other indie releases by well-regarded country and bluegrass artists. It’s somewhat understandable, given the scope of the material they have to weed through, but they seem to give indies a fair shake in just about every other genre. Johnson’s set and a few others aside, I don’t think it was a great year for the majors. I actually think Swfit put out a very solid pop album, all things considered, but I probably wouldn’t rank it among the top 50 in all genres.

As for singles…again, just wait for my personal Year-End list.

RS readers and editors don’t consider country to be a “mainstream” or “popular” format or that i sells them magazines except when someone like Garth, CU or Taylor comes along. They see country fans as primarily dumb ass hicks who wouldn’t read their magazine. So why put anything about country in it other than sarcastic commentary.