Anyhow- Here goes:

5- This American Life Podcast

Of all of my podcasts, I’m glad I started getting this one. I’d caught episodes here and there, but never with a concerted effort. For a while, my favorite run was on Monday night because I could listen to the new TAL podcast. I began to consciously avoid driving while TAL was on, so I could listen to it while running. My best TAL story was of me running a few days after Halloween on a dark and deserted road, and then having a story about rabid raccoons come on. On that run, I was later terrified by an opossum with beady little red eyes.

4- Pandora Playlist – AltRock Mix Tape

My old go-to Pandora Playlist. (You can listen to it at the link back there.)  When I’m busy at work, and I need to focus, I pull up Pandora and set it to this playlist. I’ve got it so well trained that it only plays me music that I will like. Unfortunately, that means I don’t get any new music anymore. (See #2 below). 

3- Artist – Ronnie Day (The Album)

I really don’t know why, but I can’t listen to enough of Ronnie Day’s music. Most of my playlists include at least one of his songs right now.  I don’t really know what else to say, other than you should listen to some of his work.

2- Pandora Playlist – IndieAlt Mix Tape

My new go-to Pandora Playlist.  (Again, you can listen at that link).  I got a little tired of my AltRock Mix Tape, after I trained it so well. So I seeded this list with The Decemberists, Ben Folds, and the Killers. It’s a pretty good playlist.

1- Hum Hallelujah – Fall Out Boy

My Power Song on my iPod+Nike system. I’ve learned that it’s worth a good half-mile at a decent pace, especially right at the end of a run. And it will move me. According to both Last.fm and iTunes, this is the song I listened to the most in 2008.

So there are my Top 5 Listenings of 2008. Anyone else have any favorites from this year?

Bonus #1:

I heard this song by Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet on NPR and rushed home and bought the whole album. It’s Bluegrass meets Traditional Chinese folk music. It’s really quite awesome.

Bonus #2:
Ok, I think I figured out how this works. I’ve added a handful of the songs that I mentioned here, plus some that got thumbs up on my Pandora playlists, plus some that Last.fm and iTunes say that I listened to a lot this year. Enjoy!