Chris Kornelis

As much fun as it is to write (and Tweet about) the best albums of the year, I'm sure every artist on our year-end list would trade that distinction for a spot on a handful of our readers' lists of "Albums from 2009 that I'm still listening to in 2010, 2012, and 2025."

What I've always found more revealing—and definitive—than a person's favorite records of the year is what they're actually still listening to. Sure, Neko Case's Middle Cyclone and Fresh Espresso's Glamouraren't on our year-end list this season. But the true test of any album's worth is how history receives it. With that in mind, here's a look at bands, albums, and songs a few of our contributors kept in high rotation this year, whether they were released in 2009 or not.

David Byrne and Brian Eno, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today (2008). I have a hard time taking David Byrne seriously. He could sing about butchering fowl and I'd still feel as if I were in on some colossal joke. Don't ask me why, but "Strange Overtones" and the lyrics "Put on your socks and mittens/It's getting colder tonight" begs me to do just the opposite. It's a goofy melody that could only be executed by someone with nothing left to prove. It's as good a reason as any to greet the morning with a little light between the sheets.