Even long before he was the Democratic Presidential nominee, music stars from across all genres were voicing their enthusiastic support of Barack Obama. Super Tuesday (Feb. 5) saw a wave of artists as disparate as the Grateful Dead, Will.I.Am, OK Go and members of Pearl Jam rallying behind Obama's bid for the presidency. As the year went on and Obama's campaign gathered momentum, Bruce Springsteen (pictured here on the stump with Obama); Stevie Wonder; Bob Dylan; Jay-Z; Common; Nas; Patti Smith; Young Jeezy; Coldplay; Usher; and countless others endorsed or even played concerts in support of the man who is now President-elect.

With "Tha Carter III," Lil Wayne became the first artist since 50 Cent in 2005 to sell more than 1 million copies of an album in a single week upon its release in mid-June. No album in 2006 sold as many as 800,000 copies in a single frame, and the largest sales week since 50 Cent's "The Massacre" belonged to Kanye West's "Graduation," which netted an opener of 957,000 copies when it hit stores on Sept. 11, 2007. READ MORE

Seventeen years since their last album of original music, Guns N' Roses finally released "Chinese Democracy" on Nov. 23 as a Best Buy exclusive. The 14-track set included only three songs that have not either been performed live or leaked online in recent years. Without any promotion, "Chinese Democracy" debuted at No. 3 on The Billboard 200 with 261,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen Soundscan. READ MORE

From newspapers and to blogs to music fans everywhere, everyone was talking about the bare-shoulder, bedsheet-entwined Vanity Fair photos of 15-year-old Miley Cyrus this spring. For a teen idol that's suddenly been turned into glossy rag mag fodder, Cyrus was remarkably sanguine when asked about the shot in a July Billboard Q&A, one of her first after the controversy broke. "I was embarrassed," she said, "but also it's like, every career thing that I do can't be perfect, and sometimes my decisions are wrong. I think that just makes me even more relatable. I don't think people will look at me any differently because they're like, 'You know what, I'm going to do stupid stuff too, and I'm going to make mistakes, and that's fine.' It still hurts when I think about it‹but you know what, it doesn't mean that you can't move on." READ MORE

On Oct. 24, Hudson's 57-year-old mother, Darnell Donerson, and 29-year-old brother, Jason Hudson, were shot to death inside Donerson's home in Chicago. On Oct. 27, the body of Hudson's 7-year-old nephew, Julian King, was found in a 1994 Chevrolet Suburban parked on a street in Chicago's West Side area. On Dec. 1, Jennifer Hudson's estranged brother-in-law, William Balfour, 27, was arrested for the murders. READ MORE

Joined by famous friends like Paul McCartney, Billy Joel bade a stirring farewell to Shea Stadium on July 18, during an electrifying, sold-out final show at the ballpark. The show paid homage to Shea's baseball glories, with Mets highlights playing on jumbo screens during "Zanzibar." Tony Bennett, Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Roger Daltrey of the Who performed as well. READ MORE HERE and HERE.

After splitting in 2004, Phish announced on Oct. 1 that they will be regrouping next March for a three-night run at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Va. The March 6-8 shows will be the famed jam band's first since its blowout farewell gigs in Coventry, Vt., more than four years ago. Although its music rarely intersected with the mainstream, Phish is one of the top touring acts of the past three decades. Since 1989, the act racked up a total of $175,541,923 in concert grosses, with 5,842,798 tickets sold to 475 shows reported to Billboard Boxscore. READ MORE

On Sept. 19, former Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and DJ AM were seriously injured in a fiery Learjet crash that killed four people. Officials said the plane hurtled off the end of a runway in South Carolina when a tire blew, engulfed in flames. Barker's assistant Chris Baker, 29, and security guard Charles Still, 25, died, as did pilot Sarah Lemmon, 31, and co-pilot James Bland, 52. READ MORE

On June 13, R. Kelly was acquitted of all charges after less than a day of deliberations in his child pornography trial, ending a six-year ordeal for the R&B; superstar. Prosecutors had argued that a video tape mailed to the Chicago Sun-Times in 2002 showed Kelly engaged in graphic sex acts with a girl as young as 13 at the time. Both Kelly, 41, and the now 23-year-old alleged victim had denied they were the ones on the tape. Neither testified during the trial. READ MORE

Rock legend Bo Diddley died June 2 of heart failure in Archer, Fla. He was 79. Diddley holds the distinction of being the only musician in history to have a specific musical beat, or rhythmic pattern, named after him. The "Bo Diddley beat" blends equal parts rock'n'roll rhythm and gospel shout in its "bomp, ba-bomp-bomp, bomp-bomp" pattern, which became an enduring staple of popular music. Diddley was an early advocate of fuzzy, distorted guitar sounds, which he played on a homemade square guitar while decked out in dark sunglasses and a black hat. Similarly, his rhythmic, boastful vocal style predated rap by several decades. READ MORE