Best of 2007: Pop

10. It Goes on and On
So what did happen in those final seconds of the final episode of "The Sopranos," when everything faded to black? Did Tony get whacked? Did Carmela steal an onion ring? Did Meadow get a parking ticket? We will never know. But we do know this: At that exact moment, Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'," a 1981 single that spent 16 weeks on the U.S. pop chart and had been frequently revived in the ensuing decades by filmmakers, TV producers and '80s nostalgists everwhere, was instantly "made" as the song of 2007 (it's only potential rival being "Umbrella"; see #3). But we still don't know where "South Detroit" is.

9. D.A.N.C.E.

We could play you the song that started it all. We could show you how to do it. We could link to dozens of clips of other people doing it. But you might be better off digging up that video clip of YOU doing it. You know it's true. Crank that!

 

8. Idol Chatter
Forgotten amid the 2007 hubhub over Carrie "Before He Cheats" Underwood, Chris "Daughtry" Daughtry, Elliott "Wait for You" Yamin, Katharine McPhee, Jordin Sparks and Bucky Covington was that "American Idol"'s Breakaway success of 2004, Kelly Clarkson, had kind of a crap year in 2007. Somehow, we don't think Simon Fuller is crying too hard about that.

7. Captain(s) Hook
Quick quiz: Name five pop, R&B or hip-hop artists who Akon and/or T-Pain didn't collaborate with in 2007. We couldn't do it either, having given up after Josh Groban and Bruce Springsteen. Working apart and together, the Konvict Muzik labelmates and musical soulmates bought you a drank, abandoned you to flirt with the bartender, and made their sweet escape with Gwen Stefani. The fact that they're takin' over goes without saying. The fact that we could go on with this for several more paragraphs simply proves the point. One potential roadblock: Akon's penchant for mistreating both female and male fans at his shows.

6. Fergalicious
A bluesman once told us -- and decades of pop have reinforced the notion -- that the men don't know but the little girls understand. Nowhere has this been more evident in recent pop than in the strange (or maybe not so strange) case of Fergie, reviled by critics, hipsters, bloggers and snarksters everywhere and absolutely adored by the pop-music massive. The four No. 1 singles from The Dutchess -- so far -- have shown impressive range, from the cocky dance-pop of "Fergalicious" to the melancholy teen-pop balladry of "Big Girls Don't Cry (Personal)." Her career appears to have legs. Of Montreal and Iron & Wine, meanwhile, are among the many indie-rock bands whose 2007 albums outsold the one by the guy previously thought to be the brains behind Fergie's old band.

Intermission: One-Hit Wonders
The following titles, some of them great, some of them less so, will be trivia questions in 2017, if not sooner. The challenge will be to summon the name of the artist. "Party Like a Rock Star." "Hey There Delilah." "Beautiful Girls." "Lips of an Angel." "1234." "This Is Why I'm Hot." "A Bay Bay." "Wait for You." "Bubbly."

5. Graduation Day

50 Cent promised he would retire from the recording business if Curtis wasn't harder, better, faster, stronger and, more to the point, bigger at the box office than Kanye West's Graduation when both were released the same day in September. Kanye won the showdown of the year in a walk. 50 Cent has not, as far as we can tell, retired. Then again, neither has Jay-Z.

4. Timbalakeland
It's their world, we only live in it. Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveSounds was recorded in 2005, released in 2006, and still ruling the world in late 2007. What goes around ... stays around, or something like that. But his producer/collaborator Timbaland gave him a pretty good run for his money in the '07, with a string of singles that hit No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 on the U.S. pop chart. And that's not including 50 Cent's "Ayo Technology," which featured both Justin and Tim. Or the Duran Duran album. Or the Björk album. Or the Mary J. Blige album. Or the Rihanna album. Or the Reba McEntire album ...

3. Rihanna-anna-anna

Was it the Jay-Z rap? The way she stretched "umbrella" out to four syllables? Her nude body, painted in silver, in the video? Our subconscious need for protection from the elements in a fast-warming world where it's raining more than ever? Whatever the reason, a lot of us wanted to stand under Rihanna's umbrella in 2007. Or Marie Digby's acoustic umbrella, which wowed us on YouTube. Or Scott Simons', which creeped up on MySpace. Also opening their umbrellas for us this year: Tegan & Sara. The Plain White T's. Mandy Moore. Chris Brown.

2. You Know She's No Good

All but unknown in the U.S. when 2007 began, Amy Winehouse was inescapable by year's end, whether missing performances, making performances (sort of), setting fashion trends, sleepwalking, emulating Rocky, or, ya know, helping to keep the music industry afloat. But pop needs bad girls, it needs them ... bad, and Back to Black was one of the year's great vocal performances, one of its most deserving hit albums, and one of the only reasons American record stores are still in business.

1. It's Britney, Bitch

The stars were aligned for one of 2007's great comebacks. Her first album in four years. A critically acclaimed (okay, somewhat critically acclaimed) single produced by Timbaland protégé Danja, himself one of 2007's great production stories. A headlining performance on MTV's Video Music Awards. And then the performance actually, um, happened. So to speak. Also in 2007: Britney got a haircut; explored the drug rehab options in Malibu, California; proved herself an extraordinarily bad driver; and arguably not such a great mother either. But those singles from that comeback album were kinda great.

Further Reading:

Rhapsody's Year in Pop Playlist