Top 500 Songs Of 2009 - #50-#41

#50 Alice In Chains - "Lesson Learned" from "Black Gives Way To Blue"

#49 The Avett Brothers - "Head Full Of Doubt / Road Full Of Promise" from "I And Love And You"

#48 The Manchester Orchestra - "I've Got Friends" from "Mean Everything To Nothing"

#47 The Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Heads Will Roll" from "It's Blitz!"

#46 Jay-Z - "Run This Town" from "The Blueprint 3" - Jay-Z and Kanye West trade lyrics while Rihanna sings the chorus. It doesn't get much better than this.

#45 Death Cab For Cutie - "Little Bribes" from "The Open Door"

#44 Alice In Chains - "Your Decision" from "Black Gives Way To Blue"

#43 Tegan And Sara - "Hell" from "Sainthood" - A big step forward creatively for Tegan and Sara, whose music was always good, but now seems more mature and less twee.

#42 Metric - "Help I'm Alive" from "Fantasies" - One of the best "new" bands of 2009, Metric released a sensational album and it was propelled to the forefront by this hit single with a tremendous hook.

#41 And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - "Halcyon Days" from "The Century Of Self"

Top 500 Songs Of 2009 - #60-#51

#60 Jay-Z - "D.O.A. (Death Of Auto-Tune)" from "The Blueprint 3" - Couple amazing lyrics with a brilliant backbeat and you have one of the best rap songs of 2009.

#59 My Chemical Romance - "Desolation Row" from "Watchmen Soundtrack" - A weird choice for a MCR cover, but they absolutely nailed it.

#58 Cage The Elephant - "Back Against The Wall" from "Cage The Elephant"

#57 Rain Machine - "Give Blood" from "Rain Machine" - Rain Machine is a T.V. On The Radio side project and this song would have fit in nicely on one of their brilliant albums from recent years.

#56 Pearl Jam - "Gonna See My Friend" from "Backspacer"

#55 Joshua James - "Coal War" from Paste Magazine Sampler - The best song from the Paste Magazine Sampler discs, "Coal War" sounds like it could have been released during the mid 19th century.

#54 Alice In Chains - "A Looking In View" from "Black Gives Way To Blue"

#53 Jeff Bridges - "Fallin' And Flyin'" from "Crazy Heart Soundtrack"

#52 Royce Da 5'9 - "Dinner Time" from "Street Hop" - Royce tears up this track with help from Busta Rhymes as they both race towards the words per minute land-speed record.

#51 Sonic Youth - "Sacred Trickster" from "The Eternal"

Top 500 Songs Of 2009 - #70-#61

#70 Regina Spektor - "Eet" from "Far"

#69 Band Of Skulls - "Death By Diamonds And Pearls" from "Baby Darling Doll Face Honey"

#68 Drake - "Forever" from "So Far Gone"

#67 The Editors - "Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool" from "In This Light And On This Evening" - Probably the darkest title for a great song that I can think of. The Editors' 2009 album was difficult to find and it wasn't that great, but this song is absolutely brilliant.

#66 Lily Allen - "Fuck You" from "It's Not Me, It's You" - This song was in my Top 100 last year under the title "Guess Who, Batman" for some reason.

#65 The National - "So Far Around The Bend" from "Dark Was The Night (Red Hot Compilation)" - The best song on the "Dark Was The Night" compilation and a great preview for The National's sensational 2010 album.

#64 The Bravery - "Hatefuck" from "Stir The Blood"

#63 K'naan - "ABC's" from "Troubador"

#62 Drake - "Successful" from "So Far Gone"

#61 A.F.I. - "It Was Mine" from "Crash Love"

Top 500 Songs Of 2009 - #80-#71

#80 Them Crooked Vultures - "Dead End Friends" from "Them Crooked Vultures"

#79 Band Of Skulls - "Light Of The Morning" from "Baby Darling Doll Face Honey" - Yes, it's the song from the car commercials and no, it's not a cover as far as I know.

#78 Cage The Elephant - "In One Ear" from "Cage The Elephant" - I saw these guys open for Stone Temple Pilots and they put on one hell of a show. This song hit #1 on the Modern Rock charts in 2010 and they're definitely a band on the rise.

#77 The Avett Brothers - "I And Love And You" from "I And Love And You"

#76 Mos Def - "Quiet Dog Bite Hard" from "The Ecstatic" - The best rap vocal of 2009, "Quiet Dog Bite Hard" is one of the best hip hop songs in recent history.

#75 Kid Cudi - "Pursuit Of Happiness" from "Man On The Moon" - Kid Cudi gets some help from MGMT on his best song.

#74 The Thermals - "I Called Out Your Name" from "Now We Can See"

#73 Muse - "Uprising" from "The Resistance" - One of the most popular songs of 2009 (who would think we could say that about Muse?), this song has been everywhere for the past 18 months, from soundtracks to television commercials.

#72 The Thermals - "When We Were Alive" from "Now We Can See"

#71 The Handsome Furs - "Talking Hotel Arbat Blues" from "Face Control" - It seems like every couple years there's an awesome song that sort of bites that John Cafferty song "Darkside". This year it's "Arbat", which is obscure, but still brilliant.

Top 500 Songs Of 2009 - #90-#81

#90 Wolfmother - "Far Away" from "Cosmic Egg"

#89 Pearl Jam - "Amongst The Waves" from "Backspacer"

#88 The Big Pink - "Dominos" from "A Brief History Of Love"

#87 Green Day - "See The Light" from "21st Century Breakdown" -

#86 Metric - "Gold Guns Girls" from "Fantasies"

#85 Ryan Bingham And The Dead Horses - "Hey Hey Hurray" from "Roadhouse Sun" - Bingham is technically considered a country or alt country performer, but "Hey Hey Hurray" is a stomper of a song that reminds me of some early Bob Dylan protest songs.

#84 Brandi Carlile - "Dreams" from "Give Up The Ghost"

#83 Stellastarr - "Graffiti Eyes" from "Civilized" - The song has a slow build to the chorus, but once it gets there it really packs a wallop.

#82 Jamie T. - "Sticks N Stones" from Blalock's Indie Rock Playlist

#81 Death Cab For Cutie - "A Diamond And A Tether" from "The Open Door"

Top 500 Songs Of 2009 - #100-#91

Instead of twenty-five songs a day, I'll be switching to ten per day in honor of the Top 100 songs on the countdown.

#100 Miike Snow - "Animal" from "Miike Snow" - Love the song, hate the video. It's a good thing MTV doesn't play videos any more. "Animal" is a quirky electronic pop song with a really good chorus.

#99 Sonic Youth - "Anti-Orgasm" from "The Eternal" - "Anti-Orgasm" is a departure from Sonic Youth's recent style of longer, denser songs, calling back to some of their more mainstream albums from the late 80's.

#98 The Very Best - "Warm Heart Of Africa" from "Warm Heart Of Africa" - Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend provides vocal support on the very best song by The Very Best.

#97 The Soft Pack - "Answer To Yourself" from Paste Magazine Sampler - An obscure song from a Paste Sampler CD, but what an amazing song with a great beat and an outstanding chorus.

#96 The Thermals - "When I Was Afraid" from "Now We Can See" - Another great song from the Thermals, who put five songs on this year's countdown.

#95 Franz Ferdinand - "Ulysses" from "Tonight" - "Tonight" wasn't Franz Ferdinand's strongest album, but "Ulysses" is a great indie pop song that calls back to their landmark debut album.

#94 Muse - "United States Of Eurasia" from "The Resistance" - At some point in the middle of this song it becomes very obvious that Muse is trying to be Queen on their latest album, not that there's anything wrong with that because they pulled it off.

#93 U2 - "Breathe" from "No Line On The Horizon" - The best song off of "No Line On The Horizon", despite what every music magazine and web site wants you to think.

#92 Weezer - "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To" from "Raditude" - A cool poppy indie rock song with a great hook in the chorus. This is commonly referred to as a "Weezer song".

#91 Modest Mouse - "Satellite Skin" from "No One's First And You're Next" - Many of the best Modest Mouse songs have intense choruses complimenting mellow verses and "Satellite Skin" is a fine example of this type of song.

Top 500 Songs Of 2009 - #125-#101

#125 Choir Of Young Believers - "Action - Reaction" from "This Is For The White In Your Eyes"

#124 Alice In Chains - "Take Her Out" from "Black Gives Way To Blue"

#123 The Avett Brothers - "Kick Drum Heart" from "I And Love And You" - An uncharacteristic Avett Brothers song as this one is much more up-tempo than the rest of their brilliant album.

#122 Mika - "We Are Golden" from "The Boy Who Knew Too Much" - You're never going to find a better Queen-style song that wasn't actually written by Queen.

#121 The Very Best - "Kamphopo" from "Warm Heart Of Africa" - Another repeat appearance on my countdown, I actually preferred the version of this song that appeared on last year's mixtape, but this version is also excellent.

#120 Sleigh Bells - "Ring Ring" from Blalock's Indie Rock Playlist - Sleigh Bells actually released a solid album with this song on it in 2010, so there's a good chance this song will appear on next year's list.

#119 Rusted Root - "Garbage Man" from "Stereo Rodeo"

#118 Muse - "Resistance" from "The Resistance"

#117 Phantogram - "When I'm Small" from Blalock's Indie Rock Playlist

#116 St. Vincent - "The Strangers" from "Actor"

#115 Andrew Bird - "Oh No" from "Noble Beast"

#114 Dinosaur Jr. - "Over It" from "Farm"

#113 Heartless Bastards - "Out At Sea" from "The Mountain"

#112 Jay-Z - "On To The Next One" from "The Blueprint 3"

#111 Mos Def - "Life In Marvelous Times" from "The Ecstatic" - Mos Def is a lyrical genius and his latest album produced two of the best hip hop songs I've heard all year.

#110 Wolfmother - "Phoenix" from "Cosmic Egg"

#109 Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson - "The Sound" from "Summer Of Fear"

#108 The Generationals - "Bobby Beale" from "Con Law"

#107 White Lies - "To Lose My Life" from "To Lose My Life"

#106 Elvis Costello - "Complicated Shadows" from "Secret, Profane And Sugarcane"

#105 The Flaming Lips - "The Sparrow Looks Up At The Machine" from "Embryonic"

#104 Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros - "40 Day Dream" from "Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros" - This song seems like it was written during the 50's or 60's, but it's an original recording.

#103 Brother Ali - "Breakin' Dawn" from "Us"

#102 Atlas Sound - "Walkabout" from "Logos"

#101 Girls - "Hellhole Ratrace" from "Album" - Another repeat offender from 2009, the gloomy "Hellhole Ratrace" got much more appreciation this year than last.