non-mainstream list, on the whole. Miley Cyrus looks to be the highest mainstream track (it is a pretty decent one, by far her best).

2. Bulletproof by La Roux
3. D.O.A. [Death Of Auto... by Jay-Z

Did I miss something? Bulletproof was a big club hit in the US - according to the dance charts, at least, considering I can't get in - and while D.O.A. wasn't the biggest Hove single it still got a fair share of radio time. (I have to listen to pop radio when my brother is in the car.) Plus Animal Collective, Neko Case, Phoenix, etc. are big enough acts to fly on the radar of anyone who cares to use this list to buy some tunes.

I think this list is amazon wanting to be indie but not wanting to lose everybody, not that they're the most esteemed critics anyway.

this.

it's like there's some conception that to be legitimate reviewer you must have a taste for indie. so mainstream sites slap on some indie so that all the people out of the musical loop will look at it and go "oh, how daring" when in reality all these lists do is glorify the "major" indie bands, or at least those that are the most pop. then other still great, though perhaps more experimental, bands get left in the dust. then 15 years down the road they get "rediscovered" and reevaluated by the vary same mainstream publication once undeniable influences of those bands are shown, or, worse, those great bands are forgotten completely.

/rant