At the beginning of this musical journey, I told you that the first 10 or 11 tunes were really good but that everything else after that was brilliance.

And no singer was more brilliant in 2007 than Amy Winehouse.

I'll say this, and you can laugh or scoff, but I say this with the deepest musical sincerity. Winehouse might be one of the five or six greatest female vocalists of the modern pop music era. She stands up to Karen Carpenter, Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, Annie Lennox, Joni Mitchell and Ella Fitzgerald not only in terms of natural talent but also in terms of style, uniqueness and artistry.

Furthermore, Winehouse's 2007 album "Back To Black" stands alone as the finest recording this entire decade by anybody in pop, rock, country or R&B music. If Amy were one of those corporate products, the result of other people's writing and imagination, then there could be no way I could throw that kind of hyperbole onto her.

But she writes, although not everything musically is completely original. Take this magical interpretation of Marvin Gaye and Tami Terrell's "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," called "Tears Dry On Their Own," my No. 14 song for 2007.

Winehouse gave it a new melody, new words, her own unique jazzy 1950s feel, and it was this tune that originally caused me to fall head over heels for this artist in 2007.

Sure, she's messed up in real life, but so were Jim and Jimi and Janis and Kurt. Thankfully for all of us music historians, Amy doesn't turn 27 until 2010.

See others:

No. 25 - Everyday America - Sugarland

No. 24 - Le Disko - Shiny Toy Guns

No. 23 - Famous In A Small Town - Miranda Lambert

No. 22 - Colorful - Rocco DeLuca & The Burden

No. 21 - Never Again - Kelly Clarkson

No. 20 - Streetcorner Symphony - Rob Thomas

No. 19 - Two - Ryan Adams

No. 18 - Penny On A Train Track - Ben Kweller

No. 17 - Paralyzer - Finger Eleven

No. 16 - Vegas - Sara Bareilles

No. 15 - Bubbly - Colbie Caillat