Back when MTV played music videos (remember those?), this time of year was reserved for playing the best… and worst Christmas classics that pop culture had to offer.

Canadian singer Leslie Feist is the winner of the Seventh Annual Shortlist Music Prize for her album The Reminder. Feist is the second female artist to win the prize, following Cat Power who won the award last year.

Over 20 years into her storied career, singer Suzanne Vega shows that she remains one of the freshest voices in popular music today with the release of Beauty & Crime, her seventh album.

A Tribute to Joni Mitchell, the first major US tribute album to the legendary artist, was released April 24. Musicians from many genres are represented on the 12 tracks of both rare and quintessential songs from the revered and influential singer/songwriter's expansive career.

In October, Justin Hawkins, lead singer of The Darkness, announced that he's leaving the band because he can't live the rock 'n' roll lifestyle again after completing rehab... Weird Al Yankovic's White & Nerdy becomes the parody singer's first ever top-ten hit... and legendary NYC nightclub CBGB, where bands like the Ramones, Talking Heads and Blondie got their start, closed; Patti Smith was the final act...

...During July, co-founder and original Pink Floyd guitarist/singer Syd Barrett, who had spent the better part of the last 35 years as a hermit, died at age 60 from diabetic complications... Weezer singer Rivers Cuomo pretty much confirms rumors that the band is done, "unless," he says, "it becomes really obvious to me that we need to do one."

This week in new music: Jay-Z comes out of "retirement"; Snoop Dogg, Il Divo, Killswitch Engage and others drop new albums; while Tom Waits, U2, The Doors, Johnny Cash and more release new compilations and boxed sets. Keep reading for reviews and info on this week's new CDs...