Top 10 Pop Songs of 2008

Pop music often gets a bad rap for being disposable or vapid, and in many cases that’s true. (Katy Perry, Danity Kane and the Pussycat Dolls, step right up!) But every year, a few irresistible bits of innovative ear candy rocket up the charts and seep into our subconscious.

The following ten singles saturated the Top 40 — or what passes for hit-oriented radio in this topsy-turvy musical climate — while proving that accessibility doesn’t necessarily preclude creativity.

CHRIS BROWN

“Forever”

(Jive/Zomba)

Few adolescent pop stars have aged as gracefully as fleet-footed Chris

Brown. Produced by Polow da Don, “Forever” was first recorded in

shortened form for a Wrigley’s Doublemint gum ad; accordingly, the

longer version of “Forever” is a grown-up bit of (no pun intended)

bubblegum hip-pop that’s still young at heart. Rounded techno beats and

digitally warmed vocals conjure the giddiness of puppy love, a time of

life when the entire world shines with hope and promise.