In no particular order, and with apologies for the inevitable omissions...
2003 was undisputedly a good year for Justin Timberlake and 50 Cent. That geeky boyband kid who dated Britney somehow became the coolest man on earth (Christmas bonus to the A&R who hooked Timberlake up with the Neptunes). 50 Cent, meanwhile, came close to surpassing the popularity of his mentor, Mr Slim Shady, and ensured Interscope's revenues stayed high despite the lack of a new Eminem album.
While Britney winged a lot, Christina seemed to become a bit cooler in 2003. But when it comes to female artists, the year surely belonged to Beyonce.
In the UK, The Darkness were the darlings of the year (even after it was revealed Tony Blair was a fan), Busted became everyone's favourite boy band (well my favourites boyband) and Coldplay kept winning awards even though they didn't actually release an album this year.
Given that the Timberlake back-lash started last month, and the Busted back-lash began in the Independent on Monday; we're planning a Darkness backlash for February. We don't dare start a 50 Cent backlash, and we've been backlashing against Coldplay for months and it doesn't seem to have had any effect.
Long passed the backlash stage, Robbie Williams may still be struggling to break America, but he still has a hold on the average British music fan - what with those record breaking Knebworth dates and a best seller DVD. Also used to weathering a backlash or two, the Rolling Stones made quite an impression in 2003 with the biggest grossing tour of the year. And surely always beyond backlash - David Bowie returned with another great album.
What else? Dido stayed as popular as ever with your mainstream FM listeners; Jamie Cullum and Norah Jones reminded us how important Radio 2 is; Simply Red kept the Asda shopping record buyer happy; Evanescence took everyone by surprise when they stormed to the top of the charts (Sony's UK marketing team in particular!) and the Black Eyed Peas proved you can rarely predict what will be the best selling single of the year.
Radiohead and Muse were back to keep the indie kids happy, the White Stripes were there for the cool kids, Electrix Six did there best to prove they're not a novelty band, OutKast did their bit for popular hip hop, while Linkin Park kept the nu metal light a burning. Apparently (if ITV viewers are to be believed) Westlife made the single of the year - although the cooler kids were buying Avril Lavigne and Good Charlotte. Kylie seemed to keep the pundits happy, the verdict was less clear on Madonna's new material, and everyone slagged off the Sterophonics as always (though they still shifted lots and lots of records of course).
Terri Walker, Machine Gun Fellatio, The Thrills, Peaches, 3 Inches Of Blood, Cinematic Orchestra, Young Blood Brass Band, Turbo Negro, Prefuse 73, Ty, Izzi Dunn, Cody Chesnutt, Dwele, K-os, Bronze Age Fox, The Majesticons, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, MC Pitman and Mad Capsule Markets all won the esteemed title of 'CMU Favourite' in 2003.
More. Erm. Everyone said Mark Owen's comeback songs were great, though I couldn't see it myself. That Junior Senior track was good though. And I quite liked that Simian track too. And The Delays' new one. And why weren't OK Go more successful? Blur and Travis' new albums were fantastic, of course. And thank God everyone has realised just how great the Flaming Lips are at last.
By our count Michael Jackson got the most column inches in the CMU Daily, though for all the wrong reasons. Phil Spector and Pete Townsend would also have probably have preferred to not have appeared in the news so much this year. In the Spring rarely a day went by without a TaTu story, then Timberlake seemed to fill the headlines on a daily basis. Then there was the dramatic fall and rapid rise of Pete from the Libertines, various altercations between Coldplay's Chris Martin and anyone with a camera, and Jack White's late December beating of Von Bondies frontman Jason Stollsteimer.
The sympathy vote (especially in Australia) went to former Neighbours star come pop singer Delta Goodrem who topped the charts and won awards galore despite being diagnosed as having Hodgkins disease. And in the latter weeks of the year the growing backlash against the Osbourne family was stopped in its path as we all realised just how serious Ozzy's injuries were from the quad bike crash.
Finally, 2003's obit count. Tears were shed, and greatest hits albums shifted for Nina Simone, Barry White, Edwin Starr, Celia Cruz, Warren Zevon, Robert Palmer, Bobby Hatfield, Elliot Smith, Maurice Gibb and good ole Johnny Cash, who all sang their final songs in 2003.Talking of obituaries, and I can't stress this strongly enough, AC/DC's Angus Young did not die in 2003.