On this edition of All Songs Considered, host Bob Boilen talks with Monitor Mix blogger Carrie Brownstein, NPR Music editor Stephen Thompson and All Songs Considered producer Robin Hilton about the year in music. What were the biggest surprises of 2009? What were the best new bands and the best songs? Listen and let us know what you think.

We could tell early on that 2009 was going to be an outstanding year for music. Bands such as Animal Collective, Andrew Bird, Bon Iver and Antony and the Johnsons all released new albums, and that was just in January. By the time we posted our online ballot to vote for the year's best music, we had a dizzying array of albums and artists from which to choose. Here are the top 25, as selected by All Songs Considered listeners.

The highly anticipated new record from Spoon isn't out until January, but you can hear a cut from the record now, exclusively on All Songs Considered. "Written In Reverse" is the first single from the album, called Transference. It may be Spoon's best record yet. Also on this edition of All Songs Considered: surprising new music from chanteuse Norah Jones, the amazing hip-hop artist Brother Ali, Devendra Banhart's major label debut, Tegan and Sara, and essential music from "Weird Al" Yankovic.

With the decade coming to a close, we compiled a list of the 50 most important recordings of the past 10 years in a wide range of styles and genres. These are the game-changers, the influential or historically significant recordings that signaled a shift in the way music is made or sounds.