green dayamerican idiot
This was the album that ruled the airwaves for the entire year. Not only a great comeback story, but possibly one of my favorite CDs of all-time. Starts with the title track and just doesn't let up with the hooks.

franz ferdinandyou could have it so much better...
This one kind of snuck up on me, as I picked it up for $10 on release day and just kind of found myself listening to it over and over. There's just no weak tracks on this thing, and it completely blows away their debut album, and I liked that one a lot, too! I hope the Killers also come up with something this good when they finally follow-up "Hot Fuss".

hot hot heatelevator
Insanely catchy alt-pop stuff that is joyously stupid for much of the time ("Pickin' It Up" and "You Owe Me An IOU" being my favorites) and yet still intense enough to be cool. They may all be about getting screwed over by the woman you love, but so are many of the great albums.

foo fightersin your honor
Another one that snuck up on me, as I really liked the first three albums by them and then fell off the wagon a bit with "One By One". However, the electric side just keeps sucking me back in with hooks and melodies that aren't obvious enough to catch you the first couple of times ("DOA", for instance) but really get you after a few listens.

nickelbackall the right reasons
More solid power pop from Canada's favorite sons. "Photograph" sounds just different enough to work, and "Rock Star" is hilariously true. The rest rocks, nuff said.