2009 proved to be a banner year for the music industry, even amid the recession. It seems that when people only have a few bucks in their pockets they would rather spend it on a good bit of music than save it. This is good news for the music industry which has been suffering from rampant worldwide piracy. Very few people actually purchase music anymore it seems and most of the money that artists make now is from live performances. Even that has dried up though since most people cant afford to go to an expensive rock concert these days. Nonetheless some bands are enjoying great success and 2009 produced a crop of top 10 music hits that have surprised a jaded industry. My list leaves out the really boring stuff like Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, and concentrates on cutting edge alternative music.
The best album of the year had two or three of the top 10 music hits and that was Kings of Leon with their wonderful CD Only By The Night. The brothers Followill, led by lead singer Caleb, churned out such masterpieces as Use Somebody and Sex on Fire both of which were huge, crossover, international top 10 music hits. Although many think that this band just appeared last year, they have been around for about five years now and have had many great songs and CDs before Only By The Night. Check out earlier songs like California Waiting, The Bucket, Mollys Chambers, and Holyroller Novocaine and you will be blown away.
Last year also saw the emergence of other top 10 music hits such as Lay Me Down by the Dirty Heads featuring Rome, the lead singer for the super alternative ska group Sublime. Finger Eleven had a couple of massive top 10 music hits including the very popular Paralyzer which has had audiences worldwide dancing since it first came out. Three Days Grace came out with the beautiful and powerful Never Too Late and Incubus scored once again with their ballad Love Hurts, not to be confused with the classic rock hit by the same name.
Famous bands did not fare as well last year with the exception of Green Day and Pearl Jam. Green Day came out with their album 21st Century Breakdown which featured one of the best top 10 music hits of the year 21 Guns. Pearl Jams great album called Backspacer had several hits but none as wonderful as Breathe, a lovely and spare ballad.
All in all, 2009 saw many new top 10 music hits that have enhanced all of our listening lives. We hope that 2010 will see more of the same. With a new Keane album due to be released it sounds like this will be another banner year for alternative music.