I love that Britney is on Spin's list. I think I saw her on another list, too. That's a rollicking pop album.
I really liked NPR's list - I found a few albums by people I'd never heard of, and based on the descriptions, checked them out. There was only one that made me add it to my Amazon wish list, but I liked reading about and then hearing artists I hadn't heard of.
I mean, I don't follow classical music, so of course I hadn't heard of their choices in that genre, but it was cool to hear about artists I hadn't heard about umpteen times already.
Edit: Spin's list also has Frank Ocean, a new name to me. I'm not sure I want to buy his album, but I did kind of dig it. Loved the quiet cover of Strawberry Swing (!!) that opened the album. There's a country artist on this list as well that was on NPR's, and he's a new name for me, too. Nifty.