1. Marnie Stern, "Grapefruit" (from In Advance of the Broken Arm, Kill Rock Stars)
2. Deerhoof, "Matchbook Seeks Maniac" (from Friend Opportunity, Kill Rock Stars)
3. Celebration, "Pressure" (from The Modern Tribe, 4AD)
4. Au, "Boute" (from Au, Aagoo)
5. Skeletons & Kings of All Cities, "Hay W'happens" (from Lucas, Ghostly International)
6. Field Music, "Sit Tight" (from Tones of Town, Memphis Industries)
7. Crayon Fields, "Potholes" (from Animal Bells, Chapter/Trifekta)
8. Apostle of Hustle, "Naked & Alone" (from National Anthem of Nowhere, Arts & Crafts)
9. YACHT, "See a Penny (Pick It Up)" (from I Believe in You. Your Magic Is Real, Marriage)
10. Amerie, "Crush" (from Because I Love It, Sony BMG U.K.)
11. T2 ft. Jodie, "Heartbroken" (single, All Around the World)
12. Burial, "Archangel" (from Untrue, Hyperdub)
13. Kanye West ft. Dwele, "Flashing Lights" (from Graduation, Roc-a-Fella/Def Jam)
14. Black Moth Super Rainbow, "When the Sun Grows on Your Tongue" (from Dandelion Gum, Graveface)
15. Super Furry Animals, "Baby Ate My Eightball" (from Hey Venus!, Rough Trade)
16. !!!, "All My Heroes Are Weirdos" (from Myth Takes, Warp)
17. Welcome, "Marry Me Men" (from Sirs, Fat Cat)
18. A Sunny Day in Glasgow, "The Best Summer Ever" (from Scribble Mural Comic Journal, Notenuf)
19. Liars, "Freak Out" (from Liars, Mute)
20. Dizzee Rascal, "Paranoid" (from Maths + English, XL)
21. Britney Spears, "Get Naked (I Got A Plan)" (from Blackout, Zomba)
22. Roisin Murphy, "Overpowered" (from Overpowered, EMI)
23. Lil' Wayne, "I Feel Like Dying" (MP3)
24. Ghostface Killah, "Walk Around" (from The Big Doe Rehab, Def Jam)

Method: I started by clicking through my favorite songs from this year—staying away from consensus picks and my own ballot—and edited them by more or less sorting out what sounded good (this past week), and sort of accounting for flow and tone as I went. Because the second halves of Decembers are my busiest times of the year academically, professionally, financially, and socially, the mix seems to have trended toward anxiety, overwhelming displays of emotion, various expressions of deliriousness, and drugs. Perhaps appropriately, I feel a bit cleansed now. Hope I didn't harsh too many year-end mellows. Some notes on selected tracks:

1. The best lady from a great year for ladies (St. Vincent, Charlotte Hatherley) playing rock guitars.

3. Heavily weighted because I recently saw Katrina Ford dance like a hippie Annie Hall while singing it.

4. Two succesive, slowly building peaks of patchouli classicism, and FWIW, leagues better than anything on Animal Collective's Strawberry Jam.

6. An impenetrable rhythmic bed, periodic breaks for tea, and the plangent half of a domestic squabble.

7. Because that guitar player is recording a different session in another room, but fits perfectly here.

8. Like waking up after passing out on a busy city street corner.

9.. Maura explained it perfectly.

10. Because bad teenage-girl poetry explains these things best.

11. I know little about either of these two, but I read that Jodie wrote these lyrics when she was 14, and knowing only that makes it so good.

12. Because I have a blog.

15. About a young child ingesting a bag of coke, and a desire on the part of the adults to not let that happen again. We should all be glad that SFA is back to making songs like this.

16. The best Go 2/White Music XTC pastiche of the 2007s.

17. Fat Cat's Nuggets band sounds like you'd want them to.

18. Better than most anything on the Panda Bear record. There, I said it.

20. An apt reflection of his first album's cover image.

21. Before hearing the song, I sort of hoped it was about Britney robbing a bank and forcing her hostages to disrobe and put their cellphones in a plastic bag.

23. He sounds like a jock getting high for the first time senior year and freestyling. That's what I like about it.

24. In which Ghost tells us about the guy he just made feel like he was dying (because Ghost killed him, and got the guy's nose on his Padres jersey)—The Big Doe Rehab's entry into the Ghostface Breathlessly Recounts a Supremely Fucked Up Thing That Just Happened™ canon.

Eric Harvey is a writer and graduate student in Bloomington, Indiana, who writes the blog Marathonpacks and contributes to Idolator.