Best of 2006 | SPIN

I wonder how many US magazines are going to have Cookie Mountain as their #1 album of the year? Will Pitchfork? (Joanna Newsom seems likely, though) Every time a song from it comes up on shuffle, I like it, but rarely find myself listening to the whole thing. Ponder these questions as you peruse SPIN‘s end-of-year lists. The singles seem to be chosen by Charles Aaron again (he’s been doing it there for eons) — I have really grown to appreciate his taste. "Crazy" may be obvious, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true.

SPIN’s Top 20 Albums of 2006

1. TV on the Radio – Return to Cookie Mountain
2. Gnarls Barkley – St. Elsewhere
3. Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say That I Am, That’s What I’m Not
4. Ghostface Killah – Fishscale
5. My Chemical Romance – The Black Parade
6. Joanna Newsom – Ys
7. Cat Power – The Greatest
8. My Morning Jacket – Okonokos
9. Clipse – Hell Hath No Fury
10. Beck – The Information
11. The Decemberists – The Crane Wife
12. Hot Chip – The Warning
13. Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins – Rabbit Fur Coat
14. T.I. – King
15. Lady Sovereign – Public Warning
16. Editors – The Back Room
17. Neko Case – Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
18. The Streets – The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living
19. The Raconteurs – Broken Boy Soldiers
20. Lupe Fiasco – Food & Licquor

SPIN’s Top 20 Singles of 2006

1. "Crazy" – Gnarls Barkley
2. "When You Were Young" – The Killers
3. "Ain’t No Other Man" – Christina Aguilera
4. "Welcome to the Black Parade" – My Chemical Romance
5. "Wolf Like Me" – TV on the Radio
6. "Hustlin’" – Rick Ross
7. "Ridin’" – Chamillionaire feat. Krazie Bone
8. "Steady as She Goes" – The Raconteurs
9. "Smile" – Lily Allen
10. "Rise Up with Fists!" – Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins
11. "Kick, Push" – Lupe Fiasco
12. "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" – The Artic Monkeys
13. "Cheated Hearts" – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
14. "Notorious" – Turbulence
15. "I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’" – Scissor Sisters
16. "Vans" – The Pack
17. "The Funeral" – Band of Horses
18. "Silent Shout" – The Knife
19. "Trains to Brazil" – Guillemots
20. "Be Gentle with Me" – The Boy Least Likely To