My 10 Favorite Singles of 2009 (...This Week)

I'll be the first to admit it, I'm milking the whole end-of-year list thing. But the Village Voice's Rob Harvilla asked me to vote in their annual Pazz & Jop poll, and with that came the opportunity to pare down my Top 10 favorite singles of the year—which then evolved into a more personal list. (Here's a hint, it has something to do with the above-pictured Yeah Yeah Yeahs.)

Quite frankly, even I was surprised by this compilation. So much pop candy, so few hip-hop bangers. I'm sorry to say that no club-ready rap track made me want to pop, drop, hit or shake anything that my mama gave me. (Where are you, Lil Jon?) And there was so little metal. If I'm citing artists I listened to before Taylor Swift was born, there's definitely a problem.

With that rant aside, here are my 10 favorite singles of 2009 (...this week), with a few videos below.

1. "Heads Will Roll" - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
2. "The Royal We" - Silversun Pickups*
3. "Run This Town" - Jay-Z featuring Rihanna
4. "Remember December" – Demi Lovato**
5. "Head Crusher" - Megadeth
6. "When Doves Cry" - Twilight Singers featuring Appolonia
7. "You Belong With Me" – Taylor Swift
8. "Gives You Hell" – All-American Rejects
9. "Freedom" - Clipse
10. "Americon" - Slayer

*No, I can't explain it either. This is worse than the time in 2005 when I couldn't stop listening to Midtown's "Help Me Sleep."

**Just close your eyes and think of it as a lost Femme Fatale cassingle.