The Best of 2009 starts tomorrow!

It's December and aside from Christmas being just around the corner, it's also year-end countdown time! *clap clap clap*

I finally made it to the end of the year and after everything that's happened over the course of 11/12 months, it's time for some serious business - the best songs of 2009. No seriously, this year I used a spreadsheet, spent days just looking for the songs and even longer writing everything down.

Year-end countdowns for me are both a chore and heaps of fun. It's a chore scouring through hundreds/thousands of songs looking for the ones that stood out this year and it's an even bigger chore trying to organize them all into a neat summary. However once I get that out of the way, the writing is the best part - looking back at all the songs I used to listen to earlier this year and how my taste in music was. I think this year I did a pretty good job with the list, can't wait to hear what you guys think!

The list consists of songs I think are in one way or another musically outstanding and nothing else. I like all these songs but just because I like a song doesn't mean it goes on the list - I didn't include a lot of my personal favorites this year because I didn't find them musically proficient enough.

The criteria this year is an updated version of last years’ rules so if you read those, it’s pretty much the same theory with just a few edits.

THE RULES

(NO EXEMPTIONS this year - all the songs follow these rules.)

1. The song must be on an album, single or EP released in 2009 but it could also have been a standalone song - a one off, as long as it was released in 2009. It may have been on an album released before 2009 but was featured on a single or EP in 2009.
2. One entry per artist. This is to keep fair competition among all the entries. If for example an artist is a member of a band, that band releases a single that qualifies and then he/she releases a solo single or features on a song then both songs qualify. Ex: Kim Jaejoong is a member of DBSK who released their third Japanese studio album The Secret Code this year and he then released a single with bandmate Park Yoochun - songs from both releases qualify.
3. There is no limit to time, genre or nationality - it can be any length, any sound from anywhere in the world.
4. The selection will be a little broader than 2008's best of but it will still be an extremely narrow snapshot of the music industry - it’s not in any way a definitive list.
5. Remixes released this year of songs released before 2009 are eligible.
6. If an album released prior was given a re-release in 2009, only the singles released for and after the re-release PLUS the added tracks will be eligible. Tracks that were on the previous album released before 2009 are not eligible.
7. Live performances are eligible only if they are featured on an album officially released by the record company or can be bought via iTunes or other digital music stores.
8. Songs from compilations are also eligible but the one entry per artist rule still applies.
9. Cover versions are allowed, as long as the cover was released this year.
10. Songs posted on social networking sites or anywhere in the internet but not necessarily given official releases are now ELIGIBLE. More and more artists are being launched via the internet now so I think it's valid to allow them on the chart.
11. Also, songs that reached #1 on my weekly top 20 AND that follow all the above rules will automatically be added to the list. The only exception is if an artist takes #1 twice (The Sats and SHINee) or if I find a better song.

But WAIT, the way I’m gonna present the songs this year is a bit different. Read on:

THE FORMAT

Instead of just randomly posting a few songs a day for 31 days this December, I’m gonna be doing the countdown BY MONTH. The songs will be presented in the order I put them into my iTunes library so, the first song featured will be the songs released in 2008 but were made into singles this year followed by January, February and the list goes on all the way until December. Why? So we can all see how my taste in music shifted or changed by the month and so it’s cool (LOL).

Also, the songs from each of the 12 months will be ranked and I will chose my favorite song from each month. Just to clarify, I WILL POST SONGS BY MONTH. It's easier for me to one - change songs on the list while everything's running (because something might sprout out and all of that stuff), two - have enough time to update the one for December since it's only starting (the December part of the list is obviously empty) and three - RANK THE SONGS. Yes, I've figured out the impossible - how to rank 100+ songs in a few weeks with my laziness and the amount of other work I have to do. Hurrah!

That's how the posting will go - a few songs from one month per day (unless it's the spill-overs from 2008 because there are only 2 songs so yeah). By the end of the month I'll put all the songs I named as the best of the months together and have my top 20+ songs of the year. I'll post the entire list with rankings and color-codings and all at the end. Sounds complicated? It's not. Actually, it's made my life a lot easier this year! Hahah.

We start tomorrow. Yay!