Pulling into the final weeks of December, AllMusic's editors and writers have taken a look back at over 50 of the year's finest releases and made some exciting picks for their list of the best of 2009. Several are contenders for major awards, so keep on eye on these excellent recordings!

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If you're having an awesome holiday, watching this video will make it noticeably more awesomer. If you are in the midst of a crummy holiday, maybe it'll help to watch Tammy Wynette warble her way through lyrics like "they're justified and they're ancient and they drive an ice cream van" as the KLF's stadium techno booms all around her. Merry Xmas and Jamms for all!!

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Appropriately for the final year of the decade, 2009 seemed to be the 2000s in microcosm. Every trend of the past 10 years surfaced over the past 12 months: dance divas with irresistible singles mingled with the electro-pop and art-punk vanguard with Lady Gaga bridging the two extremes, new bands rubbed elbows with veterans who either mounted a comeback or proved the value of consistent work. There was a lot that was twee and precious and not much macho, save for some crackling underground metal and the supergroup Them Crooked Vultures. There were seemingly too many animal bands to count -- led, of course, by Animal Collective, the consensus pick for album of the year in many quarters, but followed not far behind by Grizzly Bear, Arctic Monkeys, Bat for Lashes (and, if you're being generous, a resurgent Black Crowes) -- and there was yet another new project from Jack White. In short, 2009 had a little bit of everything of what we loved about the 2000s, and the following lists are what AMG editors loved best over the last year.

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