You have my prayers for a superblessed new year, everybody!

If there’s one thing I pray for all of you, it’s that you make a difference in someone’s life in 2008!

I’ve maintained my Top 20 charts since 1990 (the very first #1 song? Release Me by Wilson Phillips). This year, the Top 20 Singles and Tracks chart was whittled down to 10 in November, owing primarily to the fact that I wasn’t listening to current Christian and secular pop music as often as I used to. Nevertheless, here are my personal 20 favorite singles and tracks of 2007.

1. Unrestrained, Mandisa. (9 weeks at #1)

2. You Are Everything, Matthew West. West (8 weeks)

3. Total Praise, Avalon (6 weeks)

4. Everlasting God, Lincoln Brewster (4 weeks)

5. Only the World, Mandisa (4 weeks)

6. You, Britt Nicole (4 weeks)

7. God Speaking, Mandisa (3 weeks)

8. Undo, Rush of Fools (2 weeks)9. Irreplaceable, Beyonce (2 weeks)

10. You Are Loved, Josh Groban (2 weeks)

11. Take Me There, Rascal Flatts (1 week)

12. What Could Be Better (The Days Ahead), 33Miles (1 week)

13. Someday, Nina (1 week)

14. Hood Boy, Fantasia (1 week)

15. I’m Not Who I Was, Brandon Heath (1 week)

16. In Christ Alone, Avalon (1 week)

17. That’s How You Know, Amy Adams (1 week to date)

18. Anyway, Katie Giguere

19. Lift Up the Name, Jamie Jamgochian & Scott Krippayne

20. So Small, Carrie Underwood

What are some of your favorite songs for 2007?

… and I like them both equally. What were your favorite films of 2007?

Joy!

This week, Mandisa earns her first #1 hit on the Christian AC charts with Christmas Day, a duet with evergreen Christian performer Michael W. Smith. Taken off the latter’s Christmas album, it is the first Christian singles chart-topper for the Season Five American Idol finalist. Her previous single, Only The World, the carrier single of Mandisa’s debut album True Beauty, peaked in the top 10 but topped the Billboard Hot Singles Sales chart for five weeks.

Add that to the #1 debut of True Beauty on the Billboard Christian Albums and Christian/Gospel albums charts, that brings the number of Mandisa’s number ones to four.

The cherry on the cake is Mandisa’s #2 finish with Christmas Makes Me Cry, a duet with Christian singer/songwriter Matthew West. This is the first time in recent memory - and I’ve followed the Christian charts since I can remember - that one artist has had the #1 and #2 positions on the Christian singles chart.

(Of course, we can expect a huge plummet from the top for Mandisa’s Christmas singles, but maybe she can turn Christmas for herself into what Kimberley Locke has done on AC.)

Further down the chart, Christian songwriter Bebo Norman has five - count ‘em, FIVE - songs out of thirty. Christmas Time is Here, Come and Worship, What Child Is This? Joy to the World, and Go Tell It On the Mountain. Christian rock band Needtobreathe is also on the chart with its version of Go Tell It On the Mountain. Josh Groban barely misses making his first Christian Top 10 hit as I’ll Be Home for Christmas peters out at #12. Casting Crowns’ Away in a Manger, now on the recurrent chart because it was released last year, was played so many times on Christian radio that if it were eligible to chart, would be #1. Man, Christmas does strange things to the Christian chart, doesn’t it?

Feedback by Janet Jackson is HOT! GannsDeen.com is proud to stream the Feedback mp3 by Janet Jackson. I don’t make Janet Jackson mp3s available for free download; instead, I encourage you to purchase the mp3 from all legitimate sources.

Here are seven reasons to listen to Janet Jackson’s Feedback, off the upcoming Janet Jackson album Discipline, dropping February 26 (my birthday!) from Island Def Jam Records.

1. Janet’s Feedback is produced by Rodney ‘Darkchild’ Jerkins - my favorite R&B producer EVER. Darkchild, you is genius, bro!

2. Feedback is just the beginning of Janet’s comeback in 2008, baby! Discipline features the best producers in the United States right now, including Stargate (Beyonce’s Irreplaceable) Ne-Yo (his own So Sick), and Jermaine Dupri (Mariah Carey’s Don’t Forget About Us).

3. Feedback features a fresh new sound by Janet. It doesn’t sound like anything on radio, but sounds like vintage Janet given an electronic hiphop feel. It’s off tha hook!

4. Janet’s coming off Why Did I Get Married, a #1 box office smash in the USA. She’s got critical momentum going for Feedback.

5. Feedback will impact January across-the-board at all radio formats January 7, but as early as now, buzz is building online, and the anticipation for Feedback is nothing like ever seen before for Miss Janet. A lot is riding on Feedback, and I’ll bet you it’ll deliver.

6. Antonio “L.A.” Reid, chairperson of the Island Def Jam Music Group, executive produced Discipline himself.

7. Don’t take my word for it. Listen to Janet Jackson’s Feedback mp3 and tell me this track isn’t tha bomb.

Listen to Feedback by Janet Jackson
Lyrics to Janet Jackson’s Feedback after the jump. Read more

In case you haven’t done your shopping yet, here are seven great gift ideas for this Christmas.

1. Personalized candy bag. I got the initial idea from Martha Stewart. All you need to do is put together a goodie bag of candies and chocolates, then seal it with a top featuring the photo of the recipient. You’ve turned a simple - and economical - gift into something remarkably thoughtful.

2. Rice grain with gift recipient’s name. This gift idea was big back in the 90s, and is making a comeback. Available at the Bead Shop, this simply gift involves writing the name of the gift recipient on a grain of rice, then sealing that rice grain inside a glass pendant filled with colored liquid. You can then choose the necklace type - leather? silver? - and gift it.

3. Betty Crocker baked goods. You can buy mixes from Betty Crocker for anything from PHP90 up and bake it yourself. Cookies, blueberry muffins, cakes… these recipe mixes are as easy as 1-2-3, and you can package it however you so wish. Technically, it’s homemade; who’s gonna know?

4. Homemade yet professional-looking videos. If you’ve got photos or videos of your family and friends, you can visit muvee.com and download the free software. The ridiculously easy interface makes making videos a total and complete breeze, guaranteed! You can save your videos as mpeg and gift it to a friend with a dedication.

5. 3D keychain. I just discovered this little gem at Netopia last night. For less than PHP160, you can have a 3D or animation portrait made on a keychain. There’s a whole variety of other products; I personally think it’s terribly refreshing, and it’d be a kick to get one.

6. An OPM album - legit. There are a ton of local albums out now below PHP300, including the suave Bossa Nova Christmas, the driving Drama Queen EP by pop-rocker Kitchie Nadal, and the oh-so-cozy I’ll Take Care of You by crooner Richard Poon. You can email either Nadal or Poon or visit their online communities and who knows? Maybe you can get it autographed for your gift recipient.

7. Anything from CD-R King. For the techies in your gift recipient, anything from 15 blank CDs, to a USB flash drive, to perhaps a decent headset. Okay, so it’s not personal, but come on, in this day and age, it’s the useful gifts that stand the test of time, not that expensive box of brownies.