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Live on YouTube, Bob Boilen and Rita Houston will watch their favorites entries to the 2020 Contest and discuss what made them stand out from the thousands we saw this year.

It's been a year of complacency deferred and sleeping giants roused. So it's only natural that much of 2017's best music would reflect that tumult, albeit in radically different ways.

Also: International Monetary Fund warns of greater risk of global recession; Romney gets boost in Pew poll; security tight as German chancellor visits Greece; Felix Baumgartner's record skydive on hold.

Also: New bride, four other women die in California limo fire; jury resumes deliberations in murder trial of Philadelphia abortion doctor; cooler weather helps in fight against California wildfires; and the Senate is expected to OK internet sales tax legislation.

Also: Suspect in ricin letters described as conspiracist and Elvis impersonator; North Korea "sets conditions" for return to talks; and former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords expresses her anger after gun bills fail in Senate.

Also: Osama bin Laden's son-in-law due in Manhattan court; the two Koreas ratchet up rhetoric; Catholic cardinals expected to set date for start of conclave; Northeast braces for more snow and flooding.

Though the gap between spending and revenues has narrowed, it has stayed above the $1 trillion mark.

The best albums of 2013 stand as album-length statements rather than mere collections of good songs. Each captures a powerful songwriting voice and, just as important, a central philosophy.

It was an unusually strong year for great unknown artists. While bigger, more established bands continued to attract the most attention, smaller, lesser-known acts made the most memorable music of 2008. All of the great unknown artists featured here made music that was inspired, original and heartfelt.

Fresh Air rock critic Ken Tucker offers his picks for the best music of the year, including Fiona Apple's latest album and a Bob Dylan DVD. He also addresses the topic of women in music, and he talks about the year in hip-hop. Tucker is the film critic for New York magazine.