Best Music Of 2008
This is a list for the Age of the iPod Shuffle, as more people listen to more types of music than ever before. WNYC's John Schaefer mixes up his favorite CD picks for 2008, offering a wide-reaching smorgasbord of classical, pop, folk and world music.
In This Series
Nov. 24: 'World Cafe' Picks 2008's Top 10 CDs
Nov. 25: The Year In Jazz: Best CDs Of 2008
Nov. 26: The Year In Music For Kids (And Moms, And Dads)
Dec. 1: Best Classical CDs: Music Crossing Boundaries
Dec. 2: Not Art Rock: Top 10 'Smart Rock' Albums
Dec. 3: Geniuses Collide In 2008's Best Jazz
Dec. 4: My 'Album' Of The Year: A 2008 Mixtape
Dec. 5: Folk Alley's Favorite CDs Of 2008
Dec. 8: The Top 11 Debut Albums Of 2008
Dec. 9: Invoking Improv: Best Classical CDs Of 2008
Dec. 10: Living Your Life With 2008's Best In Jazz
Dec. 11: The Year On Vinyl: Dropping The Needle
Dec. 12: The Best African Music Of 2008
Dec. 14: The 10th Annual CD, Er, MP3 Gift Guide
Dec. 15: NPR Listeners Pick The Year's Best Music
Dec. 16: Second Stage's Top 10 Great Unknowns
Dec. 17: Bob Boilen Picks The Year's Best Music
Dec. 18: Genre Mix: Classical, Pop & Jazz, WNYC
Dec. 19: The 10 Best Hip-Hop Mixtapes Of The Year
Dec. 22: Classical Music's New Faces: Best CDs Of 2008
Dec. 23: Songs Of The Year
A printable list of the CDs recommended this year is available here.
Recent Best Music Of 2008
December 29, 2008 Working out his top CDs list like some odd game of solitaire, Lars Gotrich shares his best of 2008.
December 31, 2008 The year's 10 best CDs feature brilliant musicians collaborating on a wide variety of recordings.
December 30, 2008 In 2008, kids' music vets went in new directions and emerging artists gave a glimpse of the future.
December 29, 2008 Afropop.org editor Banning Eyre chooses the continent's Top 10 albums of the year.
December 23, 2008 Here are the 10 albums that Song of the Day editor Stephen Thompson treasured the most this year.
December 22, 2008 WGUC's picks for 2008's best classical recordings are flush with the work of exciting young talents.
December 22, 2008 As jazz obsessives, the folks behind the Take Five series just had to share their top picks of 2008.
December 19, 2008 Presenting the best rap legally slung on street corners or linked to on online message boards.
December 13, 2008 We all need and want different things from music at different times, and gentility won out in 2008.
January 1, 2009 While bigger bands attracted more attention, smaller acts made the year's most memorable music.
