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The last two weeks of December are my favorite time of year but not because of the Christmas spirit and goodwill and peace towards all. It's because I love lists. Kind of to the point of obsession. Gripe all you want about the cheapening of journalism… tell me there's a list inside a magazine featuring the Top 10 or 40 of something and I'm probably breaking out my wallet. Why? Lists are fun. They instantly provide food for thought in the most simple design interface of all: a column of content in ranked order.

Covering the best singles instead of albums is a big step for me. Historically I've always sent around lists of my favorite records but the times are a-changin' and in an age where everything is available it's frankly much more fun to act like Girl Talk and just sample obsessively from everywhere.

Any list worth it's weight has criteria and caveats. Here are mine:

• This list is in reverse order because that is the only way to put together a list. Anyone who starts with #1 gets no joy out of life and isn't paying attention to whatever poet talked about the journey being at least as enjoyable as the destination (I may have butchered that).
• These are tracks, not singles. Why? Because radio is dead, as is MTV. I have no idea with most of these if they are singles or not. It's like knowing when your favorite TV show is on in the age of Tivo. Who cares?
• I only feature one song per artist because the list is much more interesting that way. No one wants a list with a surplus of tracks from one artist hogging the ranks. This is about appreciating the wide variety of great music in 08.
• These were all released in one form or another in 2008. A few are from albums in 2007 but were released as singles in 2008 (OK, so sometimes I know what songs are singles). The point is I bend the rules at will to make the list better. Work with me on this.
• If I'm wrong about the release date of something, direct your blogger hate at Wikipedia and Rhapsody, not me.

The list is below with links to every song. This took me far too much time to put together. If you have Rhapsody, you can listen to the complete playlist. Just know that the Rhapsody list is missing songs # 48, 58 and 59 so you'll have to revert to this post if you're a completist (and bravo if you are). Either way, set aside just under seven hours to make it through the list. And enjoy.

Billboard recently released their year in music charts for 2008 and it looks like some old favorites made some serious coin with their 2008 concert tours.

Here's the short version:

Worldwide concert dollars for 2008 were $4 billion, up almost 13% from 2007. Bon Jovi, Madonna, and The Police had the highest grossing tours of the year.

Interestingly, despite the uptick in earnings, worldwide attendance was basically flat and North American concert attendance was down nearly 2%. But more on that in a second.

First, let's take a look at the ten highest earning concert tours of 2008…

• 10 Rascal Flatts Bob That Head Tour *

  $55,800,000
• 9 Eagles Long Road out of Eden Tour

  $56,600,000
• 8 Spice Girls Reunion Tour

  $70,000,000
• 7 Neil Diamond 2008 World Tour

  $81,200,000
• 6 Kenny Chesney Poets & Pirates Tour *

  $86,000,000
• 5 Celine Dion Taking Chances Tour

  $91,000,000
• 4 The Police Reunion Tour *

  $150,000,000
• 3 Madonna Sticky & Sweet Tour

  $162,000,000
• 2 Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band Magic Tour

  $204,500,000
• 1 Bon Jovi Lost Highway Tour

  $210,600,000
• * Also appeared on 2007 list

So in any case, how is it possible that concert tour earning are up and attendance is flat?

Simple. There were 6% fewer shows this year, but each one made more money. In the US, for example, the average box office gross for a single show was up 18% from last year, with a 6.3% bump in attendance.

Sounds like a double dose of weak-sauce for concertgoers like you and me.

For starters, you've got fewer choices in shows which can't be a good thing. And what shows remain are more crowded so you've got less room to rock out. Weak-sauce indeed.

Personally I'm thinking 2009 will be more of the same — but it sure would put a smile on my face to see Phish make the list!

P.S. Speaking of weak-sauce, concert tickets on the secondary market (often the only place you can buy them thanks in large part to professional concert ticket brokers) got more expensive in 2008. Learn more about that in our post about The Most Expensive Concert Tickets of 2008.