From Akon to Jay-Z: Music Stories of 2010

Jay-Z got a lot of ink in 2010. Expect even more in 2011.

If you've been listening to the radio over the past few days, you may have noticed the orgy of mash-ups and "best of" remixes that now seems to dominate the airwaves around the end of every calendar year.

Since I write about music, I figured I ought to add to the cacophony with my own remix of sorts — a selection of the better stories I've written over the course of this calendar year. Though I spent the bulk of 2010 writing a...