2011年 Dec 30日 Friday, 15:24

In this part, I'll discuss albums and tracks on my top lists.

Most listened albums of 2011
Buffyverse rules in this category. Surprise, surprise: Buffy's Once More, with Feeling soundtrack is on top, for the second year in running. BtVS: The Score is third, with BtVS: The Album fourth and Angel: Live Fast, Die Never sixth. Breaking this group of soundtracks are Tori Amos's five-disc epic box set A Piano: The Collection and Eppu Normaali's Mutala. Some real killer albums are next in line: Lost in Space (Aimee Mann), Kun valaistun (Chisu), last year's best album Seili (Jenni Vartiainen), I'm Not Dead (P!nk) and Mud on the Tires (Brad Paisley). Four out of the next five places are taken by the four recent studio albums by Dixie Chicks, showing just how good each one of those is. Paleface's Helsinki-Shangri-La received a lot of plays early in the year, and it certainly deserves a Top 20 spot. Another large box set to make this list is Iron Maiden's The First Ten Years. Female vocalists round up my Top 20: Sarah McLachlan's 1993 hit-album Fumbling Towards Ecstasy is in 18th, followed by the best-of collection Greatest Hits from Pat Benatar, with more 80s tunes by Nena's epynomous debut album and Chisu's 2009 Vapaa ja yksin.

Buffy is on top of the all-time album list, with three out of the top five places taken by the soundtracks. Irina's latest album, Miten valmiiksi tullaan, wasn't played very much this year, while Lost in Space by Aimee Mann is pretty much a constant favourite of mine. The biggest surprise is probably The Longest Journey Soundtrack still hanging on in ninth place.

Most listened tracks of 2011
What? Heather Nova's It's Only Love is number one? How did that happen… of yeah, Buffy. Thank you. And a certain Slayer-centered TV show is responsible for all the other most-listened tracks this year as well: Full of Grace by Sarah McLachlan, Whiskey Lullaby by Brad Paisley (with Alison Krauss) , and Michelle Branch's Goodbye to You. Jeez, how depressing can you get, when the top four songs this year are all downers dealing with sorrow and loss. After BtVS:OMwF, there are even more Buffy tracks, like Nerf Herder's theme and Aimee Mann's Pavlov's Bell. Only exceptions in the top 35 are Chisu ("Kohtalon oma") and Sarah McLachlan ("Fear") with Paleface ("Helsinki-Shangri-La")

No real changes occured in the overall top tracks this year: Kansas is number one with Carry On Wayward Son, Fleetwood Mac's The Chain is second and Stairway to Heaven is third. I can't see this list changing much, as I keep listening to whole albums instead of putting one song on repeat.

In the third and final part, I'll pick out some of the best releases this year.