ALBUMS
1. M.I.A. - Kala - 15
2. Panda Bear - Person Pitch - 14
3. Burial - Untrue - 13
4. Battles - Mirrored - 12
5. Dizzee Rascal - Maths + English - 11
6. Pinch - Underwater Dancehall - 9
7. Shape Of Broad Minds - Craft Of The Lost Art - 8
8. Robert Wyatt - Comicopera - 7
9. Tippa Irie - Talk The Truth - 6
10. Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala - 5

TRACKS
1. Rihanna - Umbrella
2. Kimberly Inniss - Carnival Symphony
3. Grinderman - No Pussy Blues
4. Alicia Keys ft Junior Reid - No One (Reggae Remix)
5. Dizzee Rascal - Pussyole
6. Mutya Buena - Just A Little Bit
7. The Bug - Skeng
8. Justice - D.A.N.C.E.
9. Bonde De Role - Solta O Frango
10. Kanye West - Stronger

REISSUES
1. Miles Davis - The Complete On The Corner Sessions
2. Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
3. Joy Division - Closer
4. Culture - Two Sevens Clash
5. Pink Floyd - The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn

ARTISTS
1. M.I.A.
2. Battles
3. Panda Bear
4. Burial
5. Sonic Youth

COMMENTS
It has been one of the finest years in a long time for music, both internationally and for local South African music where I write for a Johannesburg newspaper called The Weekender. Last year there was one outstanding album, The Knife's "Silent Shout", and that was it. This year it was a close call for my first four albums all a worthy and stimulating potential top album of the year.

But in the end it was MIA's multi-cultural, multi-stylee, multicoloured exotic smoothie, "Kala", that made it for me, showing how far she's come and likely to go. That is also why I make her my artist of the year — I hope she lives up to her progressive politics, especially about the so-called Third World and come and play here in Africa as well.

Dubstep has happened for me, with obviously Burial with his ja-dropper, "Untrue", and then Pinch, Kode 9, Digital Mystikz, Skream, Murmur, Shackleton/Appleblim, with the Box of Dub compilations, proving this will likely be 2008's most vital music.

Another exciting trend was the return of decent pop music - one word sums it up: "Umbrella" and in all its remixes and guises.