BEST POP ALBUM
Rihanna, Rated R
Well, color us corrected. When we first heard Rated R (via a record-label listening session, as with several other releases on this list), we gave it a B. Since then, the insidious pleasures of the Barbadian superstar's dark, defiantly uncommercial fourth album have sucked us in entirely. From bursts of spiky aggression (''Hard'') and ragga-tinged rapture (''Rude Boy'') to moments of pure, naked vulnerability (the Justin Timberlake-penned heartbreak symphony ''Cold Case Love''), it's emerged as a stealth stunner. —Leah Greenblatt
10 Best (and 5 Worst) Albums of 2009
EW's choices by genre and in special categories, our overall Album of the Year -- and releases to avoid
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