Is anything more personal than a favorite song? Even with our thinking caps on, we all experience music through unrelentingly individual ears. When evaluating entire bodies of work, perhaps a committee's consensus will suffice. The best album of a given year may well be the one that inspires the most cumulative positive reactions -- a collection of music heralded by a collection of people. But coming to an agreement over individual tracks has always felt like a fool's errand here at Stereogum. Just when you think you've nailed down the year's one definitive anthem, another dozen contenders spring into memory, each one special and meaningful in its own way.