This year, I kept a running list of my favorite songs on a Spotify playlist. Out of over 40 tracks, these are my absolute top 10 that I still listen to on repeat. My favorite album of the year was Okkervil River's Silver Gymnasium, so let's start with them. In no particular order...

1. Okkervil River

"Down Down the Deep River" from The Silver Gymnasium

2. Neko Case

"Local Girl" from The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You

3. The National

"This Is the Last Time" from Trouble Will Find Me

4. Torres

"Honey" from Torres

5. Caveman

"In the City" from Caveman

6. Aoife O'Donovan

"Red & White & Blue & Gold" from Fossils

7. Drake

"Hold On, We’re Going Home" from Nothing Was the Same

8. Kanye West

"Black Skinhead" from Yeezus

9. Typhoon

"Young Fathers" from White Lighter

10. Rilo Kiley

"About the Moon" from rkives

I started making a list of favorite albums AND favorite songs of the year but, because there was so much overlap, I just decided to go with favorite songs. Some fun stats: I've had the pleasure of interviewing OR producing interviews with 6 of these 20 artists, and I've seen 10 of them perform live at one point or another -- including Pink, who I saw play all the way back in 2000 during her R&B phase. My honorary album of the year is Garbage's self-titled debut, which I listened to for the first time this year and played on repeat for many months. Should I have been a teenager in 1995, Garbage would've been my favorite band. (Instead, it was Blink 182, for better or for worse.)

Now, on to my favorite songs in 2012, in no particular order...

1. Aimee Mann

“Labrador” from Charmer