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As we say farewell to 2009 and welcome a new decade, Rolling Stone looks back at the biggest stories, funniest headlines and “all the news that fit” in 2009. It was the year we lost the King of Pop, the year Adam Lambert and Lady Gaga exploded, the year U2 cemented their reputation as the biggest band on Earth and the year Barack Obama gave America a new hope. It was the Year of the Supergroup and the Year of Twitter. How many times did we write about the Rihanna and Chris Brown saga? What post draw the most reader comments? Check out our year-end stats below, and flip through our best-of lists:

2009’s Most Blogged
The Death of Michael Jackson: 131 stories
The Rise of Adam Lambert: 65
Rihanna and Chris Brown: 51
U2 in 2009: 44
Barack Obama’s Inauguration: 14
Aerosmith Breaking Up?: 11
Aerosmith-Related Injuries: 10
Lil Wayne’s (Still-Delayed) Rebirth: 11
Taylor Swift’s Kanyegate: 9
Joaquin Phoenix’s Meltdown: 5
The Rise of Lady Gaga: ?
Lady Gaga Headlines in 2008: 0

Top 5 Most Commented Stories of 2009
1. Kanye West Storms the VMAs Stage During Taylor Swift’s Speech
2. Adam Lambert Shocks American Music Awards With Racy “For Your Entertainment”
3. Judith Hill: “Heal The World” Singer From Jackson Memorial Revealed
4. Tokio Hotel’s Album Cover and “Humanoid” Single: Sneak Peek
5. “Diddy” Gets in Touch With Rolling Stone, But Fails to Mention “Notorious” Soundtrack

Reunion Stories
# of reunion stories about Blink-182: 7
# of reunion stories about No Doubt: 6
# of reunion stories about Pavement: 5
# of reunion stories about Creed: 4
# of reunion stories about Sublime: 3
# of reunion stories about Limp Bizkit: 1
# of reunion stories about Led Zeppelin: 0
# of reunion stories about Led Zeppelin in 2008: 9

Supergroup Division
Them Crooked Vultures stories: 18
Dead Weather stories: 10
Beck’s Record Club: 5
Monsters of Folk stories: 3
Temple of the Dog stories: 1
• Temple of the Dog Reunite at Pearl Jam’s Los Angeles Concert

Top 3 Most Commented Rock Lists
1. Readers’ Rock List: Who Should Be Nominated For the Hall of Fame?
2. Weekend Rock List: Most Underrated Album of All Time
3. Readers’ Rock List: Jam Bands

Crime Division
# of stories with Phil Spector in the headline: 6
# of stories about Charles Manson and Phil Spector: 1 • Jailhouse Rock?: Charles Manson Reaches Out to Phil Spector
# of stories about Massachusetts cop who pissed on Metallica concertgoer: 3
• Massachusetts Cop Reportedly Urinates On Metallica Fan At Concert
• Ex-Cop Charged With Urinating On Metallica Fan At Boston Concert
• Ex-Cop Takes Plea Bargain, Admits To Urinating On Metallica Fan

# of stories about Kiss fan who pissed on fellow concertgoer: 1
• Kiss Piss Scandal: Man Arrested For Urinating on Fan at Concert

# of times “Arrested” appears in headline: 5
# of times “community service” appears in headline: 1
# of times “lawsuit” appears in headline: 9
# of times “probation” appears in headline: 2
# of times “prostitute” appears in headline: 1
• “American Idol” Alum David Archuleta’s Father Busted For Soliciting Prostitute

Craziest Lawsuits:
• Carly Simon vs. Starbucks
• Perez Hilton vs. Black Eyed Peas road manager
• Joe Satriani vs. Coldplay vs. Cat Stevens
• Eddie Vedder vs. “Hard Sun” songwriter
• Eddie Van Halen vs. Nike

Twitter Division
# of headlines with “Twitter” in 2009: 11
# of headlines with “Twitter” in 2008: 1

Twitter Pages That Were Deleted:
• Chris Brown Deletes Twitter After “Graffiti” Rant, Stores Say Album Is Overstocked
• Trent Reznor Ends Twitter Legacy By Deleting Account
Twitter Pages That Were Deleted Because of Rolling Stone:
• Dave Matthews Blames Rolling Stone For Ruining Twitter

Number of 2009 Live Blogs: 4
• American Music Awards 2009 Live Blog: The Swift Strikes Back
• The 2009 MTV VMAs Live Blog: Gaga for MJ at NYC’s Radio City
• Lambert Vs. Allen: The “American Idol” Finale Live Blog
• “American Idol” Finals Live Blog: Countdown to the Glamb-Slide!”

Stranger Than Fiction:
# of stories with Hall & Oates in the headline: 3
# of stories about Kurt Cobain’s avatar in Guitar Hero 5: 4
# of stories about Billy Bob Thornton pissing off Canada: 3
• Billy Bob Thornton Attempts To Outdo Joaquin Phoenix In CBC Interview
# of stories about a Diddy impersonator e-mailing Rolling Stone:: 1
# of stories about Bret Michaels’ near-beheading at the Tonys: 6
• Bret Michaels’ Broadway Souvenir: Nose Fracture From Tonys Mishap
# of people snubbed by Radiohead: 2
• Miley Cyrus Snubbed By Radiohead, Vows to “Ruin Them”
• Kanye West’s “VH1 Storytellers” Won’t Air Rapper’s Radiohead Diss, Chris Brown Support

Things That Didn’t Happen:
• Velvet Revolver “Weeks Away” From Announcing New Singer
• Lars Ulrich Confirms He Appears in Guns n’ Roses’ “Better” Video, But Where Is It?
• Aerosmith “Can’t Wait To Get Back Into The Studio,” Says Drummer
• New Dr. Dre Song Possibly Destined For “Detox” Leaks
• Lil Wayne Plots Rock Album “Rebirth,” First Single “Prom Queen” Leaks
• Eminem Confirms Two 2009 Albums: “Relapse” Due May 19th

Memorials:
• Michael Jackson Dead at 50
• The Stooges Guitarist Ron Asheton Found Dead At 60
• Les Paul, Guitar Legend, Dies at 94
• DJ AM Found Dead in New York
• Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary Dead From Cancer at 72
• The Cramps’ Frontman Lux Interior Dead at 62
• “Solid Air” Singer-Songwriter John Martyn Dead at 60
• Avenged Sevenfold’s Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan Dead at 28
• Koko Taylor, Grammy-Winning “Queen of the Blues,” Dead at 80
• Singer-Songwriter Vic Chesnutt Dies at 45
• Lynyrd Skynyrd Keyboardist Billy Powell Dead at 56
• “Be My Baby” Songwriter Ellie Greenwich Dead at 68
• Former Wilco Member Jay Bennett Dead at 45 of Unknown Causes
• The Ventures’ Bob Bogle Loses Fight With Lymphoma at Age 75

Happy New Year, Rock Daily readers! See you — and Rebirth, and maybe Detox — in 2010.

Photo: Time Life Pictures/Getty Images

It’s the end of the year and the end of the decade, and as our New Year’s Eve guide demonstrates, everyone in the rock universe from Lady Gaga to Phish will be doing one thing tonight: partying. So for those about to party, we salute you. Tell us your favorite songs about celebrating and popping champagne, and we’ll tally the results in 2010. To get this fiesta started, check out some of our faves:

• The Beastie Boys – “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)”
• Black Flag – “TV Party”
• Weezer and Lil Wayne – “Can’t Stop Partying”
• Prince – “1999″
• Led Zeppelin – “Celebration Day”

Photo: Araya Diaz/WireImage.com; FilmMagic

For the past two weeks, we’ve been looking back at the decade in music — the top albums and songs as sweated over by the Rolling Stone editors. Before you dive into our Best Albums and Songs of the 2000s, check out the final two years of our flashback: 2007 and 2008. M.I.A. started her global party, Springsteen gave us Magic, Rihanna took refuge under her “Umbrella” and TV on the Radio rocked with defiance:

• The Best of 2007

• The Best of 2008

Previously:

• Top 50 Albums & 100 Best Songsof 2006
• The Top 50 Records of 2005
• The Top 50 Records of 2004
• The 50 Best Albums of 2003
• The Top 50 Albums of 2002
• Best 10 Albums of 2001
• Top 50 Albums of 2000

Photo: Bedder/Getty Images; Ach/Getty Images; LaVeris/FilmMagic

Rolling Stone unveiled our Best Albums and Best Songs of 2009 — now it’s the artists’ turn. Check out who Death Cab for Cutie, Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz and 3OH!3 had on repeat this year (and read Kings of Leon’s Jared Followill’s picks):

Death Cab for Cutie
Brand New Eyes by Paramore
Chris Walla: “I was surprised at what a totally well-written, well-constructed record it was, and I guess I wasn’t expecting that totally. I wasn’t sure if they were going to turn into something super accomplished or fluffy. But it’s pretty tough!”

Tight Knit by Vetiver
Ben Gibbard: “It’s a very easy, California-type record that flows really nicely.”

Magnolia by the Wooden Birds
Walla: “It’s the best batch of songs he’s ever written. It’s this guy Andrew Kenny who used to be in the American Analog Set who we’re friends with from way back when, it’s a beautiful record.”

Gibbard: “I think it’s up there with the best three albums he’s ever made. He made a singer-songwriter record but did it the right way. It has a lot of space in it — I feel like the last couple of years we’ve been drowning in music in reverb a little too much. This is a nice dry record.”

Pete Wentz
Hot Mess by Cobra Starship
“I think there’s a lot of bands that try really hard to be serious and there are a lot of people that try too hard to have fun, but they’re genuinely fun guys and it came through on this record.”

The Blueprint 3 by Jay-Z
“It’s the best record of the year. It’s just an angry hot record.”

3OH!3
It’s Not Me, It’s You by Lily Allen
Nate Motte: “The producer, Greg Kurstin, is an idol of mine, and she writes great lyrics. It’s a really charming record.”

Man on the Moon: The End of Day by Kid Cudi
Sean Foreman: “I think he’s an innovative rapper. He brings something new to the table and he’s not afraid to get a little experimental with what he does.”

U2’s latest album, No Line on the Horizon, was criticized in some quarters because it wasn’t as commercially successful as their previous records, merely going platinum when the Irish band’s albums usually go multi-platinum within a few months of their release. Still, if their album sales were a little soft in 2009 — and let’s take a moment to think about all the bands that would happily settle for “just” platinum sales — U2 can still proudly say that they were the highest-grossing live act in North America this year.

Pollstar just released its year-end figures, and U2 took the top spot with $123 million in concert revenue. Bono and the boys beat out the No. 2 act, Bruce Springsteen, by almost $30 million, suggesting that even if their fans weren’t completely sold on No Line on the Horizon, they were still more than willing to shell out some cash to see the group live.

More U2:

• U2 2010 Tour Dates
  
• Live Photo Album: U2 Play the Rose Bowl
  
• U2 Discuss No Line Follow-Up Record

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Photo: Brian Jones/Las Vegas News Bureau via Getty Images.

U2 Named Top North American Touring Act of 2009 originally appeared on About.com Rock Music on Thursday, December 31st, 2009 at 15:05:02.

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