Video: Us Weekly Unveils Top 3 Albums of 2009

What music set the tone for 2009?

Us Weekly's senior music editor Ian Drew unveils his picks for the top three albums of the year. (Watch clip above.)

Check out every single Us Weekly cover from 2009!

3. Lady Gaga, The Fame Monster
It's technically a rerelease, but there's eight new songs -- songs that nobody could shut off. "Bad Romance" catapulted to the top of the charts, and it also included a bunch of potential new hits. This was the year of Gaga, and we were given a new queen of pop!

Check out Lady Gaga's wild style

2. Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Who would have thought that a couple of Frenchmen would make the best record in American rock this year? Phoenix's album was more lush, more atmospheric, more telling, more lyrically witty than any other release. And every track includes Sophia Coppola's baby daddy (the group's lead singer Thomas Mars)!

1. Black Eyed Peas, The E.N.D
It might not be the critical favorite, but this was the album that not only everybody bought, but this was the soundtrack of the year... They played it nonstop in every club, restaurant and car in the country. The hip hop quartet revolutionized their sound and the sound of the genre in general.

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