The Top 50 Albums of 2007

45 Foo Fighters
Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace (RCA)
This album opens with the best blast of power-rock Foos since 1997's The Colour and the Shape — the bam, shred and wolf-boy chorale of "The Pretender" — then wanders all over, like a multiband anthology written and played by the same four guys. But in most of their incarnations here, the Foo Fighters deliver winners, including the sugar-bomb glam of "Long Road to Ruin" and the soft-loud drama of "Let It Die," which updates with thrills and craft the sound that Dave Grohl once made with a band called Nirvana.

46 Fall Out Boy
Infinity on High (Island)
Infinity is emo as prime entertainment: Giant pop-rock songs with confectionery choruses and some new tricks — the lead single rides a grinding dance beat that evokes Trent Reznor rocking a prom. Pete Wentz and Co. are easy to poke fun at. But given that no one else of their ilk made a pop record this likable in 2007, they're also hard to duplicate.