1. Alicia Keys, "No One" (from As I Am, J)
2. Wye Oak, "Obituary" (from If Children, Morphius)
3. Spoon, "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb" (from Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Merge)
4. Bat for Lashes, "What's a Girl to Do?" (from Fur and Gold, Caroline)
5. Rihanna ft. Jay-Z, "Umbrella" (from Good Girl Gone Bad, Def Jam)
6. Band of Horses, "The General Specific" (from Cease to Begin, Sub Pop)
7. Kanye West, "Champion" (from Graduation, Roc-a-Fella/Def Jam)
8. Spoon, "The Underdog" (from Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Merge)
9. DJ Khaled ft. T.I., Akon, Birdman, Lil' Wayne, Fat Joe & Rick Ross, "We Takin' Over" (from We the Best, Koch)
10. Beyoncé, "Irreplaceable" (from B'Day, Columbia)
11. Tegan and Sara, "Back in Your Head" (from The Con, Sire)
12. Okkervil River, "Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe" (from The Stage Names, Jagjaguwar)
13. Sean Kingston, "Beautiful Girls" (from Sean Kingston, Beluga Heights)
14. Fall Out Boy, "Me and You" (from Infinity on High, Island Def Jam)
15. Illinois, "Screen Door" (from What the Hell Do I Know?, Ace Fu)
16. The Academy Is . . . , "Neighbors" (from Saint!, Atlantic)
17. Mike Jones, "Mr. Jones" (from The American Dream, Warner Bros.)
18. Avril Lavigne, "Girlfriend" (from The Best Damn Thing, RCA)
19. Rilo Kiley, "Silver Lining" (from Under the Blacklight, Warner Bros.)
20. Keyshia Cole, "Let It Go" (from Just Like You, Geffen)

This track list is my best recollection of the songs I listened to and enjoyed most in 2007. I undoubtedly have not scraped every last crevice of the bottom of the barrel to bring you the full, accurate list, but this is at least a decent sampling of what was rattling around my head this year. I should mention, as I did on my Idolator Pop Critics Poll ballot, that I have not yet listened to at least 99% of the albums put out in 2007, so this list is skewed a bit toward radio favorites and the random new releases that somehow did manage to make it through my industrial strength anti-new music filter. (The secret bonus track is that Feist song from the iPod commercial. I never listened to it outside of that context, but I admit that I also never switched the channel during that ad because I thought the song was pleasant.) If you notice some sort of glaring omission, chances are I just plain haven't heard it yet.

I recently (like 20 minutes ago) realized that Beyoncé's "Irreplaceable" is actually from '06, but since I was hearing the Spanish language version of it on Houston's Mega 101 ("Latino and proud!") well into the summer months, I'm counting it for this year. I might have even declared it Most Pervasive Song of the Year if not for "No One" which, despite being put out in the last two months of the year, managed to be the most explosive thing to happen to radio in 2007, overshadowing even Sean Kingston's evil and awesome "Beautiful Girls."

The best musical moment of '07 is without a doubt Lil Wayne's entrance into DJ Khaled's "We Takin' Over": "I AM THE BEAST," he declares, and then proceeds to quote the infamous "No, it is not a tuuumah" line from Kindergarten Cop, proving once and for all that there is a place for Arnold Schwarzenegger in hip-hop.

I was reluctant to include Rilo Kiley because I am a very vocal opponent of their new album, a collection of flat, gimmicky and/or just plain boring songs with absolutely no relation to anything they'd previously done. Except for "Silver Lining," the one track on Under the Blacklight that serves as a glimpse into where they really should have taken their sound. And the lyric, "I never felt so wicked as when I willed our love to die," is literally the only line on the entire album that sounds like Jenny Lewis wrote it.

I already feel guilty about putting the admittedly kind of bland Band of Horses on my list, but to be honest—and this is a secret, so don't tell my bosses at the music website—I kind of have a tin ear. I like easy listening and boring stoner music, and when I heard "The General Specific" I was immediately drawn to its amiable jangling piano and stompy percussion. Plus I like the line, "Gonna wash my bones in the Atlantic shore," because I often have the urge to wash my own bones in the familiar muddy waves of the Gulf Coast.

As for other things on the list . . . well, we all know Kanye put out a damn decent album, and "Champion" is my favorite track because of the neat little synth riff in the chorus. Spoon put horn sections to marvelous ends this year, and their fellow Texans Okkervil River continue to produce thoughtful, jangly rock music. Poor Mike Jones had a hell of a time getting his album out, but I thought "Mr. Jones" was just as decent as any of the singles off Who Is Mike Jones? Rihanna would have been R&B queen of the year if it weren't for that meddling Alicia Keys. As for the rest, I have no excuse or explanation. I likes what I likes, and what I likes is often rather unimpressive (see: that Illinois song). I make no apology, though I do often feel shame.

Kate Richardson is Idolator's beloved intern.