Singular Sensations

9 . "Lua," Bright Eyes : Conor Oberst sings an elegiac indie-folk ballad about, like, getting sidetracked on the road to rehab.

10. "Heartbeat," Annie : The delightful Norwegian disco-pop jam that Madonna wishes she'd made.

11. "Hung Up," Madonna : The delightful Abba-sampling disco-pop jam that Annie wishes she'd made.

12. "Do You Want To," Franz Ferdinand : The sexually deviant disco-punk jam that Madonna and Annie will never make. (They're not arty, pert or Scottish enough.)

13. "Go Crazy" remix, Young Jeezy featuring Jay-Z : So just why do "the dope boys go crazy" over this brassy, brazen hustlers' anthem? It's the Jeez!

14. "Stay Fly," Three 6 Mafia featuring Young Buck and 8 Ball & MJG : Tennessee rap titans toast the thug life while remarkably chopping "fly" into a nine-syllable word. Just imagine what they'd have done with, say, "unconscionability."

15. "Holiday," Green Day : And now, for a power-chordy pop-punk message from the bastard children of Joey Ramone and Pete Townshend.

16. "Diamonds From Sierra Leone" remix, Kanye West featuring Jay-Z : With a sampled assist from Shirley Bassey, Kanye ponders the fairness of his trade (a mineworker's arm for an iced-out Jesus piece to be worn later); discovers that conflict-diamond guilt is forever.

17. "Hollaback Girl," Gwen Stefani : Marching-band beats, sassy playground chants, dippy spelling-bee shout-outs -- it's as if the Neptunes and Gwen crashed the Nickelodeon control room.

18. "Gasolina," Daddy Yankee : The jittery, galloping sound of a tanker's worth of fuel being added to reggaeton's fire. Also the song that inspired gringos everywhere to chant, " Dame mas gasolina! "

19. "Kerosene," Miranda Lambert : The other torch song of the year, this fiery country number by the former "Nashville Star" finalist confirms that hell hath no fury like a matchbook-bearing woman scorned.

20. "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," Green Day : Billie Joe Armstrong's arena-rockin' solitary man takes a walk on the desolate side.

21. "Lose Control," Missy Elliott featuring Ciara and Fat Man Scoop: The electro-rap flashback most likely to inspire decrepit B-boys to pull their Chess King parachute pants out of storage and bust an ill-advised backspin.