The following CDs were culled from the 100+ releases that were designated as publishers picks throughout the past year. Though I thoroughly enjoyed them all, these sixteen represent the finest and most exciting releases of the bunch. They also spent the most time in my CD player!

Be sure to click the links below to read the reviews. For additional reviews, search AAJ by the CD's title. For all the publisher's picks, go here.

In alphabetical order by title...