Photo: McCormack/WireImage.com; SCHMIDT/AFP/Getty Images;Kravitz/FilmMagic; Kempin/WireImage.com

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.”

Watch five of our favorite performances of “Auld Lang Syne”

As reported yesterday on Billboard. com, Ke$ha maintains her perch atop the Billboard Hot 100 for a second week with “TiK ToK” while setting the record for most single-week downloads by a female artist (610,000).

Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video will rest among the nation’s treasures in the world’s largest archive of film, TV and sound recordings.

Buzzworthy’s #1 Top Video Of 2009: Lady Gaga, “Bad Romance”

Lady Gaga’s built her bottle rocket of a career on full-frontal performance art, freakish fashion, and insanely infectious hooks. But the platform upon which those pillars are built is Lady Gaga’s ability to absolutely next-level everything she does. Where some artists take a good idea and repeat it, Lady Gaga doesn’t just reinvent the wheel — she makes a better one — and takes it a step higher every time, from her VMA performance to her American Music Awards performance (uh… FLAMING PIANO!??!) down to the red dress she wore to meet the Queen of England. But nothing Gaga’s done has been more next-level than her “Bad Romance” video.

On its own, as a record, “Bad Romance” was almost too big to be believed. And the anticipation wrapped around the “Bad Romance” video was an event in and of itself. It’s hard to think of a video since “Thriller” that, well, thrilled like “Bad Romance.” It became an instant classic and Gaga’s best video yet. In 2009 we needed to escape, and no artist’s video met that need better than Gaga in “Bad Romance.”

They’re about to drop that ball, which means it’s time to drop my #1 Top Song of 2009…

“Empire State Of Mind”

Call me biased (I work in Times Square), but no song knocked harder or louder this year than Jay-Z’s love song to the Big Apple, “Empire State Of Mind.” From its chase-you-down beat, to Jay-Z’s always-hypnotic roller coaster cadence, to Alicia Keys‘ plunky piano parts and soaring, raise-the-roof chorus, “Empire State Of Mind” either made you proud to be a New Yorker or wish you were one.

Happy new year! Once more, with feeling!

(Jay-Z and Alicia Keys, live at the 2009 MTV VMAs… in New York!)

And then there was one. Quick recap of my Top 5 Vids of 2009: #5: Rihanna, “Russian Roulette,” Number 4: Vampire Weekend, “Cousins,” Number 3: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, “Heads Will Roll,” and Number 2: Handsome Furs, “I’m Confused.” And now…

+ Number 1: Taylor Swift, “You Belong With Me”

Gurl! Don’t look so surprised! “You Belong With Me” was a teen rom-com (a bunch of teen movies, actually) wrapped up in a music video, wherein Taylor plays two roles (whoa there, Meryl Streep!); one bad brunette, convertible-pushing mean girl, the other a nerd-tastic band geek vying for the attention of the boy of her dreams.

While things don’t look so good in the beginning (notes are written with Sharpies and read through windows… because your parents suspended your texting privs or something?) this is, ultimately, a love story, and, baby, he says, “yes.” TEAM TAYLOR!

Let’s check the rear-view for the other Top 5 Songs of 2009. Number 5: Mario, “Break Up,” Number 4: Paramore, “Where The Lines Overlap,” Number 3: The Clipse, “Popular Demand (Popeyes),” Number 2: Drake, “Best I Ever Had,” and now…

+ Number 1: Phoenix, “Lizstomania”

An unassailably perfect pop song, taken from Phoenix’s amazing Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix album. The opening tinkle of keys, the galloping beat, The Smiths-esque guitars that crash in before the chorus and those ponderous lyrics; are they about composer Franz Liszt’s 19th Century rise to stardom? A regretful look at the end of a relationship? Both? Doesn’t matter, once Thomas Mars coos, “So sentimental/Not sentimental, no” you’ll fall under this brilliant song’s spell.

It was the year that gave us our Number One single of the entire decade: Gnarls Barkley’s 2006 hit “Crazy.” Bob Dylan got the friskiest he’d been since 1968’s John Wesley Harding on his stellar Modern Times, the Red Hot Chili Peppers churned out the two-disc Stadium Arcadium and T.I. had everyone chanting “What You Know.” As we continue to look back at the Best Albums and Songs of the 2000s, check out what had the Rolling Stone editors raving in 2006:

• The Top 50 Albums of 2006

• The 100 Best Songs of 2006

Previously:

• 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: Dyson/WireImage.com

We’ve seen our share of strange lawsuits in 2009, from Joe Satriani versus Coldplay versus Cat Stevens over “Viva la Vida,” Starbucks’ battle with Carly Simon — even Eddie Van Halen taking Nike to court over a color scheme — but a new suit involving Eddie Vedder seems unprecedented. The Pearl Jam frontman covered the band Indio’s “Hard Sun” for the Into the Wild soundtrack, and now songwriter Gordon Peterson alleges that because Vedder altered some of the lyrics, he “eroded” the integrity of the composition, the New York Post reports.

Vedder’s take on “Hard Sun,” and the rest of the Into the Wild soundtrack, was pretty universally acclaimed, resulting in a music video for the track and a Golden Globe and Grammy nomination for the single “Guaranteed” (he won the Globe). Vedder’s score was also nominated for a Golden Globe. The success of Vedder’s version of the song is arguably quite responsible for Indio’s 1989 album Big Harvest being reissued.

Universal Music was also named in the lawsuit, for failing to get Peterson’s permission before licensing the song. Peterson seeks all profits from the song after these “acts of infringement.” Into the Wild director Sean Penn is credited with introducing “Hard Sun” to Vedder, who recruited Sleater-Kinney’s Corin Tucker to supply vocals on the track.

A comparison of the two versions reveals very little difference between the two tracks. The opening verse and chorus are intact lyrically, but where Peterson wrote “When she comes to greet me / she is mercy at my feet / When I stay to pillage her / She just throws it back at me,” Vedder sings, “When she comes to greet me / she is mercy at my feet / I see her inner charm / she just throws it back at me.” Similar differences take place in the later verses, but for the most part Vedder sticks to the structure of the original.

Related Stories:

• Eddie Van Halen Sues Nike Over Guitar’s Signature Color Scheme
• Cat Stevens Considers Lawsuit Over Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida”
• Carly Simon Sues Starbucks Over Failure of “This Kind of Love” LP

Photo: Furniss/WireImage.com

While the Beatles’ greatest hits compilation 1 was the bestselling album in the U.S. this decade, the charts across the pond told a decidedly different story: James Blunt’s Back to Bedlam, which boasted the hit “You’re Beautiful,” was the bestselling album in the U.K. in the 2000s, BBC reports. The disc finished Number One on a Top 10 that featured nine Brit artists and an unlikely American act.

The U.K.’s second biggest seller of the 2000s was Dido’s No Angel, which beat out a pair of albums from British singers that made waves in the U.S.: Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black and Leona Lewis’ Spirit. David Grey’s White Ladder finished at Number Five, while the aforementioned Fab Four collection 1 placed sixth. 1 enjoyed 11.4 million in sales in the States since its release in November 2000. The lone American act to make it onto the British Top 10? It wasn’t Eminem or Beyoncé, but the Scissor Sisters’ self-titled debut, which hit Number Nine on the Brit charts.

The Scissor Sisters’ “I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’,” from the band’s 2006 album Ta-Dah, was also the U.K.’s third most-played song of the decade, according to the BBC. The 2000s’ Number One most played song in the U.K. was Snow Patrol’s “Chasing Cars,” edging out Take That’s “Shine.” Surprisingly, even though Back to Bedlam topped the album’s chart, “You’re Beautiful” only placed seventh on the most played list. Rolling Stone’s Number One Song of the 2000s, Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy,” came in at Number 10 on the list.

Look back at Rolling Stone’s best of decade picks in our All-Time Greats.

Related Stories:

• Eminem and The Beatles: The Top-Selling Artists of the 2000s
• Rolling Stone’s 100 Best Songs of the 2000s

Rolling Stone has named the 25 Best Albums and 25 Best Songs of 2009, and our readers have weighed in with their own year-end picks. Now’s the time to look back at the year’s great new discoveries: our 45 Breaking Artists from 2009 and five Artists to Watch. A few of these folks — including Dirty Projectors (video above), Girls, the xx, Grizzly Bear, the Big Pink, Avett Brothers, Dawes and Drake — managed to land on our year-end countdowns. Read their full stories and watch videos for each band here:

Artists to Watch

Drake
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
BLK JKS
Avett Brothers
Florence and the Machine

Breaking:

M83
Bishop Allen
N.A.S.A.
Audrye Sessions
The Low Anthem

Wild Light
Lisa Hannigan
Ida Maria
Little Boots
White Lies

The Airborne Toxic Event
Tinted Windows
Cotton Jones
Paper Route
Deastro

Telekinesis
St. Vincent
An Horse
Grizzly Bear
Dirty Projectors

Amazing Baby
Deer Tick
Screaming Females
The Script
Foreign Born

Maylene and the Sons of Disaster
Those Darlins
Owl City
Cage the Elephant
Portugal. The Man

Alberta Cross
Girls
The Entrance Band
Washed Out
Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons

Band of Skulls
Dead Man’s Bones
Mayor Hawthorne
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
La Roux

Dawes
Harper Simon
The xx
The Big Pink
Orianthi

>>Watch every episode of our weekly New Breaking Artist video podcast by subscribing via iTunes (when prompted, click “Launch application”). Every Wednesday, an exclusive video profile of an emerging artist will be delivered to your iTunes. [If you don't have iTunes, download it here.]

Watch Kris Allen, Adam Lambert, Ke$ha, Pitbull, The Fray, Justin Bieber, Ciara, Wyclef, Alison Iraheta, Jay Sean and others talk about their favorite moments of 2009 and look ahead to their plans in 2010.

Susan Boyle’s “I Dreamed a Dream” holds at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart for a fifth consecutive week, selling another 510,000 copies according to Nielsen SoundScan. So far, the set has shifted 2,982,000 copies in America.

Ke$ha’s “TiK ToK” shifts 610,000 digital tracks for the week ending Dec. 27, according to Nielsen SoundScan — the highest weekly sum by a female artist since tracking began in 2003.

Look back at some of the great voices that were silenced over the last 10 years.

It was Gaga’s year. I know this, you know this, your house pets probably know this. It would be impossible to unpack Lady Gaga’s 2009 in its entirety; and besides we’ve been doing it all year, right?

So why not just take a gander back at Gaga’s top 5 most audacious, jaw-dropping, wow-inducing looks? Let’s do this:

+ Latex Reindeer Gaga

Gaga got into the holiday spirit in London with this Prancer-Go-Dominatrix get up.

+ Gaga As Pregnant Ballerina

From the pages of Italian Vanity Fair. Gaga was giving us a preview of her look for Francesco Vezzoli’s perfomance art (performing art?) installation at the Los Angeles Museum Of Contemporary Art’s 30th Anniversary gala.

+ See Through Red Lace With Full-Face Mask/Veil

Upon accepting her award for Best New Artist at the 2009 MTV VMAs, Gaga’s insane red ensemble even made Eminem basically go “WTF?”

+ Phantom Of The Opera/VMAs

Another VMA look from Gaga. This one brings to mind Phantom of the Opera meets bird enthusiast. This was the outfit that caught Kermit’s eye:

+ Show Her Who’s Really Queen Red Rubber Dress

When Gaga met the Queen she went royal, donning an Elizabethan red rubber dress by Atsuko Kudo.

Can’t wait to see what Gaga pulls out of her bag of tricks in 2010!