The Year of the...

Seeing as how I've already listed the five worst songs of 2009, it makes sense to list the five best songs of 2009. Well suck it up, because I don't make a lot of sense. Instead, I present to you the artists who defined this year (aka Most Influential Artists). This list is going against the norm..."why" I hear you ask. Well, my dear friends, it's because it only consists of four artists, not the usual five, ten, 20 or 40 (who decided those amounts anyway). Welcome to the revolution of lists:

• Disney

As much as I politely dislike Miley and the crew, it would be impossible to not include her on this list. This year was the year tweendom truly took off. Disney stars such as Miley, Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, even the Jo-Bros. Well down tweenies, you are number 4 on the list.

• = Taylor Swift
• = Black Eyed Peas

Who can ignore the record breaking Boom Boom Pow or I Gotta Feeling. With millions of songs sold this year, and a trail of broken records in their wake, the Black Eyed Peas enter the list at second equal. This year has also been a fairytale story for Taylor Swift, riding the success of last year's release Love Story, Taylor took the pop world by storm, releasing You Belong With Me. Kanye's outburst at the VMAs only guaranteed Taylor further success and reaffirmed her good girl image.

What list would be complete without...

1. Michael Jackson

Michael's place in this year's most influential artists was a shoo-in but I ad a difficult time deciding on his placement. But I couldn't ignore the posthumous media frenzy surrounding him and the record breaking sales of several of his albums and singles. He truly influenced the recording industry for the better and the fact that he was loved by so many people around the world was the deciding factor. If Taylor or one of the B.E.P.s passed away would there have been as big a media hype around their deaths? Would their albums and singles break records and reenter music charts around the world and take up the majority of the top 40? Congrats Michael...

That was this year's Most Influential Artists awards, stay tuned for more.

This Is It

With the recent posthumous release of the song "This Is It", sung by the late Michael Jackson, the hype around his life and works has kicked up ever so slightly, though not to the same Everest heights that we were exposed to 4 months ago. Since this blog was still an egg in the world wide womb at the time of his death, now is the right time to pay tribute to the man himself. Like him or not, just like George Bush or Mahatma Gandhi, you can't deny the huge effect he had on the world. His music was blasted around the world for 45 years, breaking down the walls of racism, discrimination, cultural and generational barriers. He was the first black artist that received regular airplay on MTV, albeit only after his record company threatened MTV for not playing his songs because of his race. Ironically, without Michael, MTV would never have survived its infant years, nor would Michael have the huge impact that he did had MTV not existed.

His music touched the hearts of billions around the world. From East Berlin to the slums of Brazil, when Michael sung, the world listened. The reason why his music was so universally appealing was because of the cross-genre style of his music. From slow ballads to rock songs, hip-hop to dance, R&B, pop, you name it, Michael mastered it. It was not only his music which held the world in awe, but also his dance moves. The world had idols before Michael, such as Presley or Buddy Holly, but his moves mesmerized and hypnotized the world, holding us in a trance while he danced away. He glamorized the Moonwalk, a move that will forever be attributed to the King of Pop. Michael's revolutionizing of the music video into an art-form, a short film of sorts, allowed his audience to watch Michael twirl, grope and dance across our screens and hearts.

Looking beyond his contributions to music, Michael's contributions to the world can be seen through his philanthropic work. Michael contributed millions upon millions of dollars for tens of different charities, even setting up his own Heal the World Foundation. Michael funded these philanthropic acts through the hundreds of millions of albums sold, making him the highest selling artist of all time. Michael is in no danger of losing this title with the upcoming release of the This Is It album to accompany the film.

While the day Michael died, might not have been the day music died, it certainly was the day the world stood still to pay tribute to the man who revolutionized the world of music.