2008 is now over, it’s official. Here we are in a new year, with the whole of 2009 ahead of us. While I’m still in the process of finishing up my Brit Music Scene review of the year, we do have the top ten bestselling singles and albums of 2008 in the UK for your perusal.

Of course, whether you regard these lists as important or not will depend on whether you see the point of the charts these days. They are still important to see who and what is selling in large numbers but I hate the fact that pop and dance records usually dominate.

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2009 is approaching fast and so it’s time to look back at 2008. Here we’ll see the high and lowlights of Spring, with a selection of stories we covered between April and June.

April

The month started, as it always does, with April Fool’s Day, and while Brit Music Scene didn’t hoodwink its readers, YouTube did. I detailed the prank in a post entitled The Day Rick Astley Ruled The World.

I shared my Soundtrack For A Day in the middle of the month, and was joined by other b5 Music bloggers. Meanwhile, Boyzone announced their reunion shows, an event I was ecstatic about… yeah right.

The end of the month saw Amy Winehouse accused of assaulting people on a night out in London, and this was just the first time she got up to mischief while drunk during 2008. Phil Collins also announced his retirement even though most people assumed he had already retired years ago.

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2009 is approaching fast and so it’s time to look back at 2008. Here we’ll see the high and lowlights of the first three months of the year, with a selection of stories we covered between January and March.

January

The month began with Queen being named as the best British band of all time, beating The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Take That, and Oasis. Sad news in the middle of the month when Lily Allen suffered a miscarriage. She later split with boyfriend Ed Simons.

Geri Halliwell claimed that the Spice Girls wouldn’t make a penny from their huge world tour despite it selling out everywhere. She was later proved a liar when it was revealed the girls had made $20 million apiece. Then the once-great girl group canceled the tour and split up again.

The Cribs took Johnny Marr, formerly of The Smiths, on as a fourth member, while Amy Winehouse finally entered rehab.

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In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s Christmas…again. But rather than get all Scrooge about it and shout “Humbug” to strangers in the street, get in the holiday mood by watching some Christmas music videos.

Here are, in my opinion, the Top 10 Greatest Christmas Songs Of All Time, and guess what, they’re all by British artists. I’m sure you’ll disagree with some choices and argue the case for artists from other countries being included in the list but these are the songs I grew up with. And they have therefore stuck in my mind as the greatest Christmas songs.

As is tradition with these things, and what is Christmas if not tradition, the songs along with their music videos on YouTube are in reverse order. Enjoy after the cut…

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2008 has been dominated by groups reforming and getting back together. But not many have split. 2009 could see the two trends switch places though, with more British bands splitting than reforming. But which are likely to break up?

The bookies are rarely wrong, mainly because it’s their job to be right, with an incorrect verdict when setting odds costing them money. Paddy Power, an Irish bookmaker who specializes in bizarre or out of the ordinary bets, has published its odds on which bands are likely to part ways next year.

The two biggest girl bands in the country, Girls Aloud and Sugababes are top of the pile, while there’s an influx of boy bands, two of which have only recently reformed, not far behind them. Two rock giants complete the list.

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The Darkness, where to begin? Some of you may not even be aware of The Darkness, especially if you’re a reader from outside of the UK because I don’t think they had much success outside of their native Britain. But The Darkness were huge for a few years.

And then it all fell apart, with the lead singer Justin Hawkins admitted to rehab to treat his alcohol and cocaine addictions. Yes, he was the male version of Amy Winehouse back in 2005 before he cleaned up his act and left Pete Doherty as chief druggie.

Before it all went pear-shaped however, the band had an incredible couple of years, releasing the bestselling Permission To Land, winning numerous awards and selling out huge arena all over the country.

Since the split, Hawkins has formed a new band called Hot Leg, while various members of The Darkness have attempted to continue the spirit of the band with Stone Gods, a new four piece including Dan Hawkins and Ed Graham.

But now there are rumors of the original band reforming with The Sun reporting that the U.S. entrepreneur behind the Dubai Desert Rocks festival has offered The Darkness a small fortune to record a new album and embark on an American tour.

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The fight for Christmas number one in the singles chart is a British tradition that I’m unsure has traveled to America or not. In the UK it’s always been the utmost honor to nab Christmas number one, a position Alexandra Burke seems guaranteed to capture this year.

I recently held a poll to find who Brit Music Scene readers thought would be Christmas number one, and the results show how much The X Factor dominates proceedings at this time of year.

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Lily Allen is well and truly back after a couple of years out doing a chat show and shit (or should that be a shit chat show). While she may not have cut it as a TV presenter, in my humble opinion, she’s once again proving she’s a very talented singer and songwriter.

Her new song, the first to be released from the forthcoming album, It’s Not Me, It’s You, is a terrific slice of pop called The Fear. And as usual, Allen isn’t content with merely following the herd and has instead turned the idea of celebrity culture on its head.

Music video and review after the cut.

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Let’s be clear about this straight from the off, this song is definitely going to be number one no matter what I or anyone else may think of it. Love him or hate him, Simon Cowell is an absolute genius and knows that he can guarantee having Christmas number one every year with the winner of The X Factor.

Alexandra Burke won The X Factor 2008 and her version of Hallelujah, a Leonard Cohen song brought to life superbly by Jeff Buckley is the song vying for UK Christmas number one. She faces competition from Rick Astley, Leona Lewis and a few others but this is a dead cert.

There are even a few different versions of Hallelujah fighting for chart placings, with the Cohen dirge currently at number 34, Buckley’s majestic version at number 3, and Burke likely to skip past them all to debut at the top come Sunday.

Video and review after the break.

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British music is probably the second most popular country-specific music in the world, with only those dastardly Americans beating us as usual. But being a mad British music fan who lives in the UK, I sometimes forget that other nations may see things slightly differently.

What I may see as British artists strengths could be seen as weaknesses in other countries. While a regional accent can help a band succeed in the UK, giving them an identity and a presence, it could go against them when they try and take their music abroad.

Is it possible that some bands are just too British to succeed outside of their homeland?

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