It has been a strange year for music when you consider that the world’s biggest-selling new artist lives 25 miles down the road yet has barely had a mention on The Pop Cop or any other Scottish blog.

It’s also been a strange year for albums. I’ve probably loved more albums this year than any other but the difference is that I haven’t obsessed over any of them. 2009 didn’t provide a Boxer or an Alligator or a Funeral, but that doesn’t stop me feeling anything other than genuine exhilaration for every record you’ll find on the top-10 list, starting with the album that came first: Crossing The Rubicon by The Sounds.

Just as in 2007 and 2008, The Pop Cop hand-delivered the Best Album of the Year award plaque to the winning band – and our new friends from Sweden seemed pretty chuffed.

THE POP COP: Congratulations, The Sounds, here’s your award for making the best album of 2009.
MAJA IVARSSON (singer): “That’s awesome, thank-you so much. It’s a nice compliment because there are a lot of cool albums out this year.”
FELIX RODRIGUEZ (guitarist): “The right choice!”
THE POP COP: So would be this your first award then?
MAJA: “We’ve won about five awards, including a Swedish Grammy.”
THE POP COP: Oh.
MAJA: “We also got an award for the best dressed band.”
THE POP COP: Unlike your previous two albums, Crossing The Rubicon didn’t have major-label funding – did that affect how it turned out?
MAJA: “We didn’t have to focus on making a three-minute hit song with a chorus after 50 seconds. Some fans think the album is a little too slow but I love it. It doesn’t have cheesy-pop synth songs. It has a lot more depth to it – I think that’s what happens when you’ve been a band for a long time. We were teenagers when we met and I just turned 30. In a way it feels weird, like ‘what the fuck happened?’ I still feel like I’m a teenager sometimes. It’s kinda crazy but I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished in the last 10, 11 years. I’m the biggest fan of our band, if you know what I mean.”

Thanks again to The Sounds for accepting The Pop Cop’s award in person. Here’s the full top-10 rundown, with each album description exactly 140 characters long, Twitter-style. Just because.

1. THE SOUNDS – CROSSING THE RUBICON
We never dreamed The Sounds had it in them to make the best album of the year. It’s punchy, hook-heavy pop which consistently hits the mark.
The Sounds – Dorchester Hotel

2. THE XCERTS – IN THE COLD WIND WE SMILE
Honest, accessible, emotive (but not emo) rock by three lads with an incredibly astute ear for a tune. There’s not one filler on this album.
The Xcerts – Lost But Not Alone

3. DASHBOARD CONFESSIONAL – ALTER THE ENDING
The expensive production is its strength. Gone is the weedy old acoustic Dashboard, in comes electric songs, big ambitions and killer tunes.
Dashboard Confessional – Everybody Learns From Disaster

4. MUMFORD & SONS – SIGH NO MORE
If only every man’s broken heart resulted in an album of raucous party-folk. A success story that was long predicted but no less gratifying.
Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More

5. EMMY THE GREAT – FIRST LOVE
The charming lo-fi sound lets the lyrics steal the show. Emmy should sit with Feist and Annika Norlin as the decade’s finest female artists.
Emmy The Great – Bad Things Coming, We Are Safe

6. SEA WOLF – WHITE WATER, WHITE BLOOM
An accomplished, continually rewarding, divine album. If you like Arcade Fire or Bright Eyes (and who doesn’t?), Sea Wolf has to be for you.
Sea Wolf – The Traitor

7. BROKEN RECORDS – UNTIL THE EARTH BEGINS TO PART
Not only the hardest-working band in the country by miles, their debut record of orchestral bluster made good on the promise of their demos.
Broken Records – Nearly Home

8. SLOW CLUB – YEAH SO
Yeah So is a mix and match of styles as the boy-girl duo do blues, vulnerable balladry, fuzzy noise and garage rock – all with real success.
Slow Club – When I Go

9. BEERJACKET – ANIMOSITY
Proof that perseverance and talent reaps rewards for the deserving, the sixth album by Beerjacket proved a heartening word-of-mouth triumph.
Beerjacket – House Of Toys

10. RODDY HART – SIGN LANGUAGE
Roddy introduced several modern influences, resulting in a thoroughly likeable guitar-pop album that shows a rare, young talent at his best.
Roddy Hart – Evangeline