The world of pop music was rather scattered in 2008, with no single artist, song, or album dominating the year. Thirty-seven different albums made it to the top of the charts that year, with none of them spending more than three weeks at #1. And the three albums that managed to hold the top spot for that long -- Alicia Keys's As I Am, Jack Johnson's Sleep Through the Static, and Metallica's Death Magnetic – represented three very different musical styles.
The rest of the year's chart-topping albums were an even wider scramble. There were movie soundtracks (Juno, Mamma Mia!) and TV contest winners (Danity Kane's Welcome to the Dollhouse, Leona Lewis's Spirit). There were pop divas (Britney Spears's Circus, Miley Cyrus's Breakout), R&B divas (Mary J.Blige's Growing Pains, Beyonce's I Am...Sasha Fierce), and county singers (Alan Jackson's Good Time, Kenny Chesney's Lucky Old Sun). Enduring veterans like Neil Diamond (Home Before Dark) and Madonna (Hard Candy) shared the spotlight with flash-in-the-pan Day26.
On the singles chart, the biggest hits were Flo Rida's "Low" (featuring T-Pain), Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl," and T.I.'s "Whatever You Like." Rihanna landed at the top of the chart three times, with "Take a Bow" and "Disturbia" (both from her album Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded), and as a featured guest on T.I.'s "Live Your Life." And at the very end of the year, Beyonce arrived with what would be one of the biggest hits of 2009 -- "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)."
Alicia Keys had the year's biggest R&B song with "Like You'll Never See Me Again;" James Otto's "Just Got Started Lovin' You" was the best-selling country song; Brandon Heath dominated the year at Christian radio with "Give Me Your Eyes;" and Flex's "Te Quiero" was the Latin hit of the year.
At the Tony Awards, Lin-Manuel Miranda gave the first hints of the greatness to come in Hamilton, winning the Best Musical award for In the Heights.
The biggest winners at the Grammy Awards honoring the music of 2008 (the ceremony was held in Feburary 2009) were Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, who won five awards for their album Raising Sand, including Album of the Year and Record of the Year (for the song "Please Read the Letter"), and Lil Wayne, whose Tha Carter III won four awards. Adele was named Best New Artist after releasing her debut album 19.
Other winners at the Grammy Awards included They Might Be Giants' children's album Here Come the 123's; the post-Katrina The City That Care Forgot from New Orleans bluesman Dr. John; collections of standards by Natalie Cole and Cassandra Wilson; the Brazilian-flavored jazz of Randy Brecker; gospel singer Kirk Franklin's The Fight of My Life; and Hilary Hahn's recording of violin concertos by Schoenberg and Sibelius.