The Countdowns Are Coming On Monday!

2008 was much more the year of the single rather than the year of the album. 2007 saw the release of three albums that topped everything put out in 2008 (to see my 2007 chart go here). I’m still listening to them religiously almost two years later. My charts, as always, contain only newly released albums and singles, so even though groups like Alphabeat, Robyn and September saw releases in new territories this year, they’re not eligible because the albums were already available (in somewhat different forms) in years past. Alphabeat’s reissue, in particular, would have gotten very close to topping my albums chart this year had it not been released in its original form in 2007. One interesting statistic that came out of my charts this year was the emergence of a lot of really great American artists/bands. There are more Americans on my chart this year than ever before, and that’s something to definitely celebrate because good music has been sorely lacking in this country for a good while now.

Groups - 65%
Solo Artists - 35%
Debut Albums - 50%
Second Albums - 15%
Fourth Album (or higher!) - 15%
Male Singers - 65%
Female Singers - 35%
American Acts - 50% (A massive 45% jump from last year!)
UK Acts - 15%
Swedish Acts - 25%
Norwegian Acts - 5%
Danish Acts - 5%
Australian Acts - 5%
Albums that saw a U.S. release - 55%
Albums with any substantial success in the U.S. - 30%-ish
Released in the 1st Quarter (including Dec. 06) - 15%
Released in the 2nd Quarter - 30%
Released in the 3rd Quarter - 25%
Released in the 4th Quarter - 30%