The new kings of British rock were Coldplay, whose X&Y went to number one in 32 countries (including America), taking them into the realms of stadium superstardom. Mind you, they still suffered the indignity of having their comeback single, Speed of Sound, kept off the top of the charts by Crazy Frog, a jumped-up ringtone. Maybe the brave new digital world isn't going to be so different after all.
There was something for everyone in 2005, from the groundbreaking Arctic Monkeys to the old Harrovian who topped the charts.
There have been great years for popular music: 1957, 1964, 1967, 1977, 1983, 1995. This year could be right up there, the first classic of a new century. There was a sense of a generational shift, as the internet began to really work in music's favour: fostering quirky talent from the margins, creating movements and fan bases, spreading the word in an organic fashion, enabling music lovers to hear about something and download it in the first rush of enthusiasm.
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