Hey boys my favourite pop and near-pop records for the year were (in no order):

Dean and Britta - 13 Most Beautiful Songs
Midlake - The Courage of Others
Damien Jurado - Saint Bartlett
Superchunk - Majesty Shredding
Laura Veirs - July Flame
Broken Bells (self-titled)
Avi Buffalo (self-titled)
Teenage Fanclub - Shadows
The Morning Benders - Big Echo
Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest

HM's to Les Savy Fav, Belle and Sebastien, Badly Drawn Boy, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Sufjan, and MGMT.

The Mediocre-is Being-Kind Awards go to every one of Kyle's list (100% concurrence) plus the Pernice Brothers, Apples in Stereo, and Matt Pond.

And the You-Like-These-Guys-Way-More-Than-Me awards in 2010 are reserved for the three most prominent bands in this category, with well reviewed releases by the National, Arcade Fire, and the New Pornographers (who were mostly absent from the Best Of's?).