New recorded music seemed to be of peripheral importance in 2007's world of pop. The focus instead was on live shows, with the public's thirst for giggoing seemingly unquenchable, the opening of the O2 Arena having a huge impact on London's live scene and hardly any bands still refusing to 0re-form and perform their greatest hits. The Police, Genesis, the Eagles, the Verve and even the mighty Led Zeppelin all made lucrative comebacks.

When it came to albums, all anyone talked about was whether it was even worth bothering to sell them. Prince, Ray Davies and young hopefuls the Crimea all chose to give their new songs away for free in the hope of selling more concert tickets, while Radiohead allowed fans to pay what they felt like. What did they feel like paying? Not much.

But in the midst of all this change, there was still room for musicians to put a dozen or so songs together in a specific order and create something great. Though the biggest seller and single dominant voice belonged to someone whose album came out last year, Amy Winehouse, there was fresh colour, invention and inspiration to be found all over the place. Here are our highlights, any of which would make a more lasting Christmas gift than a gig ticket.

FOR THE INDIE KID

Klaxons: Myths of the Near Future (Polydor)
This year's Mercury winner was a world away from indie's current fascination with the workaday, with surreal lyrics, kitchen-sink production and a level of sonic inventiveness that was rarely matched elsewhere. It wasn't quite the whole new musical genre that the London trio promised, but it did suggest there is even better to come.

Arctic Monkeys: Favourite Worst Nightmare (Domino)
Topping the impact made by the fastest-selling British debut album in history was never going to be possible, but with this follow-up the Sheffield record-breakers certainly matched it musically. They were louder than ever on Brianstorm, and quieter on stunning ballad 505, while still delivering plenty of the razor-sharp rock that made their name.

Kings of Leon: Because of the Times (Columbia)
The groupie-guzzling Southern boys finally grew up on their third album, widening their palette with bigger, less throwaway songs. Singer Caleb Followill's ragged voice sounded more pained than ever, and tracks such as Charmer and moody epic Knocked Up boasted more than enough quality to justify this year's support slots with U2 and Bob Dylan.

The Shins: Wincing the Night Away (Transgressive)
An unlikely number two hit in the US, this New Mexico band's third album featured many of their best tunes. It's accessible enough to work as hummable guitar pop, but with enough lyrical and musical complexity to reward repeat after repeat.

FOR THE POP TART

Kate Nash: Made of Bricks (Polydor)
The Harrow pianist's colourful debut had to be rush-released in August, as the huge success of her break-up single, Foundations, caught her record company by surprise. Many found Nash's glottal stops and twee lyrics to be great irritants, but teenage girls have found a new role model.

Robyn: Robyn (Island)
Once a Swedish teen star with much in common with Britney Spears, Robin (aka Robyn) Carlsson has matured into a fascinatingly edgy pop singer since she last scored a British hit in 1998. Collaborations with electro weirdos the Knife gave her credibility, but it was producer Kleerup's work on her marvellously moody single With Every Heartbeat that gave her a genuine smash hit.

Mark Ronson: Version (Columbia)
Having given Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen their distinctive sounds, the best-connected man in pop stepped from behind the mixing desk for an album of horn-packed covers featuring those famous ladies, plus Robbie Williams and plenty else. Now he's more in demand than ever.

Mika: Life in Cartoon Motion (Island)
A dead-cert success. Flamboyant Lebanese solo star Mica Penniman had a falsetto as high as his chart placings and a taste for over-the-top pop that went down superbly in post-Scissor Sisters Britain. He became one of the year's biggest sellers.

FOR THE SENSITIVE SOUL

Feist: The Reminder (Polydor)
She is best known now for that multi-coloured iPod advert, but Toronto singer Leslie Feist was already picking up multiple plaudits for her fourth solo album upon its April release. Deceptively simple musically, it was Feist's warm, sleepy voice that lifted her songs to a higher plain.

Cherry Ghost: Thirst for Romance (Heavenly)
Bolton thirtysomething Simon Aldred may be a late addition to the singer-songwriter field, but his debut album has a mature, world-weary air that places him alongside the likes of Richard Hawley and David Gray. He's been a Radio 2 favourite all year too.

Ryan Adams: Easy Tiger (Lost Highway)
Mr Prolific unearthed his quality control button this year and released just one album that was concise, heartfelt and full of beautiful tunes. He duetted with Sheryl Crow on Two and kept standards just as high throughout an album of downbeat country rock that many said was his greatest since his 2000 Heartbreaker.

Rufus Wainwright: Release the Stars (Polydor)
Showman Wainwright realised his full potential with an extravagant new album full of elaborate arrangements, tearful ballads and some of his finest singing. It still didn't produce a hit single, but did firm up his status as one of music's larger cults.

FOR THE URBAN WARRIOR

Burial: Untrue (Hyperclub)
Because of his enforced anonymity, London producer Burial has been compared more often to graffiti artist Banksy than any fellow musicians. A pioneer of the dubstep scene, which combines echoing dub bass and the rapid-fire drums of garage, he doesn't sound like many in his own field anyway. A darker, more atmospheric and disturbingly beautiful sound was heard nowhere else this year.

Kanye West: Graduation (Mercury/Def Jam)
In a quiet year for rap music, bright spark West's chart battle with lumbering thug 50 Cent was the highlight. West triumphed easily thanks to a ceaselessly inventive collection that featured sleek Eighties synths, great tunes and guests from the wider world including Daft Punk and Coldplay's Chris Martin.

LCD Soundsystem: Sound of Silver (DFA)
A dance album for people who no longer go clubbing? Curmudgeonly producer James Murphy's second album as LCD Soundsystem used downbeat lyrics and the techniques of dance music to sound both exhilarating and melancholy at the same time. It's a tricky tightrope, but one he traverses with great style.

Felix da Housecat: Virgo Blaktro & the Movie Disco (Different)
The man unfortunately credited with inventing unloved sub-genre electroclash has settled into a more sophisticated groove, creating stylish digital soul rich with multi-layered robotic vocals and Prince-style funk. Tracks such as Radio stand among his best in a long career at the cutting edge.

FOR THE DISCERNING ROCKER

Arcade Fire: Neon Bible (Sonovox)
After their debut album Funeral, Wyn Butler's Montreal septet headed even further towards the dark side. Neon Bible has lines about planes crashing and religious cults while falling bombs howl over church organs.

Radiohead: In Rainbows (www.radiohead.com)
Destined to be remembered more for how it was sold than for the 10 songs within, In Rainbows was Radiohead's most consistently satisfying and accessible album since OK Computer. Tracks such as Nude, Videotape and House of Cards saw the band rediscovering beauty and simplicity.

The National: Boxer (Beggars Banquet)
Sullen and brooding in the best possible way, Matt Berninger's exhausted baritone was the chief ingredient in making this fourth album from the Brooklyn quintet another great. They've tidied up their sound, turning down the guitars to create a dignified gloom that is far more enjoyable than that sounds.

The Hold Steady: Boys and Girls in America (Vagrant)
A long-running band finally come good, making music that overpowers with its pure spirit. Singer Craig Finn couldn't look less like a drunken 18-year-old, yet his remarkable lyrics perfectly capture what it is to be young and under the influence.

FOR THE JAZZ DAD

Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers: The Source (Properbox)
This chunky boxed set, illustrating Art Blakey's brand of straight-ahead excitement captures the drummer's early groups live at New York's Blue Note and Café Bohemia clubs. Trumpeters Clifford Brown, Kenny Dorham and Donald Byrd, saxmen Lou Donaldson and Hank Mobley, and pianist Horace Silver all in prime form.

John Coltrane: The Impulse Albums, Volume 1 (Impulse)
Another compiliation, this one covering five CDs, presents five classic Coltrane albums from this saxophone immortal's most influential period. Savour his great quartet live at the Village Vanguard with Eric Dolphy, Africa Brass, his unique summit meeting with Duke Ellington, and the Ballads album, whose mature economy was absorbed by so few of his disciples.

Guy Barker: The Amadeus Project (Global Mix)
This stylish big-band suite is based loosely on the libretto of Mozart's opera, The Magic Flute. Transplanted into gangland by crime novelist Robert Ryan and spoken by actor Michael Brandon, the hard-driving and highly original score features Barker's dashing trumpet and Rosario Giuliani's world-class alto-sax solos.

DVD: Various Artists: Norman Granz presents Improvisation (Eagle)
These gems from the late impresario Norman Granz's closely guarded vaults are a real find. Although shot in a studio, they feature his amazing Jazz at the Philharmonic concertparty, which included Ella Fitzgerald and sax icons Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young and Charlie Parker.

FOR THE WORLD TRAVELLER
By Simon Broughton

Orchestra Baobab: Made in Dakar (World Circuit)
With lyrical vocals, ringing guitar lines and funky sax, Senegal's Orchestra Baobab are the best band in Africa. They formed in the Seventies, broke up in the Eighties and re-formed about five years ago. With Nick Gold's expert production, this is a glorious album.

Fanfare Ciocarlia: Queens & Kings (Asphalt Tango)
There's a real buzz about Balkan gipsy music right now and, backed by Romania's lightning-speed brass band Fanfare Ciocarlia, this magnificent showcase of Roma stars shows you why. It includes Macedonia's formidable Esma Redzepova and other top artists from Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and France in a characteristic mixture of the exuberant and soulful.

Bassekou Kouyaté & Ngoni Ba: Segu Blue (Out Here)
Bassekou Kouyaté has made a real impact with this album and his live shows. From Mali, Kouyaté is the acknowledged master of the ngoni, the West African desert lute. What he's put together here is a funky quartet of the instruments with lilting vocals by his wife Amy Sacko.

Mario Pacheco: Clube de Fado (World Connection)
This CD is like an evening in a top Lisbon fado club. Pacheco is a fine composer and guitarist and, alongside a couple of singers from his club, guest performances from star fadistas Mariza and her male equivalent, Camané, this disc includes some beautiful guitar instrumentals.

FOR THE CLASSICAL BUFF
By Fiona Maddocks

Bach: Christmas and New Year Cantatas (SDG)
Glorious music for Christmas and Epiphany that's never out of season, the latest release from John Eliot Gardiner and his English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir was recorded in New York at the end of a 59-concert tour. It opens with Bach's great double-choir motet, Singet dem Herrn BWV 225.

Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem (Coro)
The great choral favourite is made fresh and lean by the use of small forces and the composer's own piano duet accompaniment. Without the usual massed choice and rich orchestral accompaniment, this work comes to new life. Ideal for the discerning choir buff.

Richard Strauss: Lieder (Harmonia Mundi)
The impossibly sexy German, goldentoned tenor Jonas Kaufmann, with pianist Helmut Deutsch, sings 27 Strauss songs, familiar and rare. Serious, inspiring fare for those of a passionate dispostion.

Vivaldi: Four Seasons (EMI)
An impressive new version of Vivaldi's hackneyed yet still compelling work, played by Sarah Chang and the conductorless Orpheus Chamber Orchestra: a performance of fizzing energy and grace. As classical pops go, this is as good as it gets.

FOR THE OPERA DIVA
By Fiona Maddocks

Cecilia Bartoli: Arias for Maria Malibran (Decca)
A double whammy for the operatic diva lover: mezzo soprano Bartoli dazzles with arias connected with the legendary singer, actor, composer, socialite and Romantic idol, Maria Malibran, whose 200th anniversary is next year. Includes rarities by Bellini, Mendelssohn and Pacini. Bartoli at her effervescent best.

La Sonnambula (Virgin)
A new stellar-cast recording of Bellini's opera, with the heroine sung by glittering Natalie Dessay. Evelino Pido conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of l'Opera de Lyon.

Simon Keenlyside: Tales of Opera (Sony/BMG)
Britain's best-loved baritone gallops with agility panache through a great choice of operatic repertoire in this recital disc, from Mozart, Bellini and Rossini to Verdi and Wagner. A stylish introduction to opera from a fine exponent.

Fidelio (LSO Live)
Beethoven's only opera is stunningly served by an LSO Live budget recording released early this year, conducted by Sir Colin Davis with the magnificent Christine Brewer and John MacMaster as the heroic couple Leonora and Florestan.