10-EVERYTHING EVERYTHING-Man Alive (Polydor)
The charts kept on being a no go area for anyone searching for a minimum of good taste; however, there were always a few nice surprises among the general rubble. BBCs influential sound of 2010 wasn’t very accurate this time, with most of the chosen artists flopping artistically or commercially. A couple of them (80’s flavored Brits Everything, Everything and young Americans The Drums) still managed to break the curse and released decent records. Lady Gaga consolidated herself as the biggest star in the planet with another bunch of pop hits and misses; Rihanna came second, rescued from the shadows of emotional balladry and back to her more likeable dance-oriented persona. Sade stole the show as the comeback of the year. The Black Keys, Vampire Weekend and Arcade Fire hit the headlines by bringing a sorely missed contemporary twist to the top of the Billboard album chart and Rumer, a new discovery of Pakistani background sounded like she was produced by Burt Bacharach in the seventies. Retro soul remained big both sides of the Atlantic, providing former rapper Plan B with a final way to popularity and Cee-Lo Green with the biggest solo hit of his career.
9-THE DRUMS-The Drums (Universal)
8-RIHANNA-Loud (Def Jam)
Sade “Soldier Of Love” Video from My Little Boudoir on Vimeo.
7-SADE-Love Soldier (Columbia)
6-PLAN B-The Defamation Of Strickland Banks (679)
5-RUMER-Seasons Of My Soul (Warner Music)
4-LADY GAGA-The Fame Monster (Interscope)
3-THE BLACK KEYS-Brothers (V2)
2-CEE-LO GREEN-The Lady Killer (Elektra)
1-VAMPIRE WEEKEND-Contra (XL)