I hate to be a conspiracy theorist, but one has to wonder about any possible payola involved in Amazon putting together a list of the best albums of '06. How much do you think Virgin forked over to get K.T. Tunstall's record ranked number four? Sony for John Mayer at six?
Then again, that crass commercialism is balanced out by some nice indie picks. Neko Case reigns in the number one spot, and the Decemberists, Sparklehorse, and Belle and Sebastian all made the top ten.