7. Justin Timberlake — “FutureSex/LoveSounds”

Lennon and McCartney. Timberlake and Timbaland. Both duos made the commercial pop music of their times better than it has any right to be.

8. Lindsey Buckingham — “Under the Skin”

I love the Buck. (Does anyone else call him the Buck?) I wish there were more moments like “Show You How,” with its syncopated handclaps, on the album. Instead, Buckingham turns in a set of introspective and understated yet immaculately produced acoustic tracks that prove he is indeed a “visionary,” even if he spends most of the album grappling with that heavy title.

9. CSS — “Cansei De Der Sexy”

The most fun live show I witnessed this year, and the album almost does it justice as this nearly all-girl band from Brazil careen through and fuse all permutations of punk music: dance punk, pop punk, art punk and ... well, I guess that’s it. But the band does it with such verve and glee I can almost feel the sweat from lead singer Lovefoxxx’s long black mane.

10. Man Man — “Six Demon Bag”

If Borat heard these guys play he would demand to see their “treasures” and seize their tears for luck. This Philadelphia group sounds like a ragtag band of traveling gypsies. There is something about their tin-pan instrumentation and penchant for flirting with the shanty that is anachronistic, but the energy of their music — from screaming to multi-tracked vocals to throttling their instruments — is incredibly immediate. Live, they’re unhinged and enthralling. “Black Mission Goggles” and “Van Helsing Boombox” were two of my favorite songs of 2006.

And the rest ...

11. Solomon Burke — “Nashville”

12. Junior Boys — “So This Is Goodbye”

13. Cat Power — “The Greatest”

14. Mission of Burma — “The Obliterati”

15. The Pipettes — “We Are the Pipettes”

16. Beyonce — “B’day”