The crowd at Orbital's performance at Moogfest in October. Adam Kissick for NPR hide caption

Solange and her Sapeur co-stars in the video for "Losing You." hide caption

The stars of 2012, online and on air (from left): Nate Ruess of fun., Gotye, Carly Rae Jepsen and Psy. Matt Roberts/Getty Images, Tony Nelson/Corbis Images, Kevin Winter/Getty Images, Kevin Winter/Getty Images hide caption

2 Chainz performing in London in November. Joseph Okpako/WireImage hide caption

Killer Mike performing at Moogfest in October. Adam Kissick for NPR hide caption

M.I.A. rocks out in 2012. hide caption

Robert Glasper at SXSW in March 2012. Erich Schlegel/The Washington Post/Getty Images hide caption

Stasia Irons of THEESatisfaction performs at KEXP's All Songs Considered party at The Vera Project on August 20, 2012. Dave Lichterman/KEXP hide caption

Mokoomba, a rising young band of Tonga musicians from Zimbabwe Courtesy of the artist hide caption

INTERACTIVE: BOB BOILEN'S WRISTBANDS 2012 - Wristbands, ticket stubs and badges from a few of the hundreds of shows Bob Boilen saw in 2012. Lauren Rock/NPR hide caption

The Stray Birds released one of the finest debuts of the year. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

In 2012, the British MC Chunky (left) began working as a producer and made one of our favorite tracks of the year. square eyes/Flickr hide caption

The cover of Sofrito: International Soundclash, a compilation of Tropical music recently released by the Strut label. Strut Records hide caption

The Vijay Iyer Trio is Marcus Gilmore (left, drums), Iyer (center, piano) and Stephan Crump (right, bass). Jimmy Katz/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

Holly Herndon. Suzy Poling/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

Asphyx. Dario Dumancic/Courtesy of the artist hide caption