JANUARY

The musical year began with raised eyebrows as little known indie stars Preston from The Ordinary Boys and Maggot from Goldie Lookin' Chain wandered into the Big Brother house.

Preston quickly became the main story when he fell for pretend pop star Chantelle Houghton, despite having a girlfriend on the outside. They would be married just eight months later.

January also saw the continuation of the Arctic Monkeys phenomenon as their debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not became the fastest-selling debut ever.

FEBRUARY

More raised eyebrows this month when the unlikely coupling of Girls Aloud singer Nadine Coyle and Desperate Housewives star Jesse Metcalfe was revealed.

New star on the block Corinne Bailey Rae released her self-titled debut album this month. It would go platinum over the course of the year, and Corinne would become a star across Europe, America and New Zealand.

MARCH

March saw the most surprising of all the success stories from the second series of The X Factor. The show's jester Chico proved he was actually the show's underdog when he scored a No 1 hit with It's Chico Time.

The Sugababes released their first single with new member Amelle Berrabah, a re-recorded version of Red Dress. It went to No 4, proving that the loss of Mutya Buena wasn't to affect the band.

Former megastar Prince was the first of many big comebacks this year, returning with his album 3121. It was his first No 1 album since 1989's Batman.

APRIL

Gnarls Barkley became the first act to get a No 1 through download sales alone with Crazy. The song went on to sit at the top of the charts for nine weeks, only dropping when the band themselves deleted the single.

Pink returned, no less feisty or unafraid to speak her mind than she's ever been. She did, however, stop short at admitting the Stupid Girls she referred to on her comeback single were actually Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan et al.

MAY

While Pete Doherty continued throughout 2006 making more headlines than music, his former Libertines bandmate Carl Barat quietly launched his new band Dirty Pretty Things with No 5 hit Bang Bang You're Dead.

The world was also introduced to London-based singer-songwriter Sandi Thom, who scored a No 1 with I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker and caused plenty of controversy with the contested story that she got a record deal thanks to the popularity of her on-line performances.

Rapper and producer Daz Sampson was our Eurovision Song Contest entry with Teenage Life, taking along dancers in skimpy schoolgirl outfits. The tactic didn't work, he only came 19th, losing to masked Norwegian rock act Lordi.

JUNE

The Top 10 was full of football songs honouring the World Cup, but none of them were any match for Shakira, whose Hips Don't Lie began a lengthy chart reign this month. It would top the charts twice in the following months.

Nelly Furtado also made an impressive comeback with her Timbaland-produced third album Loose.

JULY

Another month, another wedding. Girls Aloud's Cheryl Tweedy married England footballer Ashley Cole, affirming her WAG status alongside Posh Spice.

We also embraced new pop acts Orson and Lily Allen, the latter's success relegating actor Keith Allen to Lily Allen's dad' status.

AUGUST

It was a typically quiet month for music, but there were still some big releases to get excited about - Christina Aguilera went back to the 30s and 40s for inspiration for her latest album, Kasabian came back bolshier and better, while Bob Dylan got his best reviews for years.

Dance music was resurrected by crossover electro house hits such as David Guetta vs The Egg's Love Don't Let Me Go.

SEPTEMBER

September was comeback month and saw the releases of eagerly anticipated new albums from Scissor Sisters, Jamelia, Justin Timberlake, Beyonce, as well as the debut solo effort from Black Eyed Peas' Fergie.

Robbie Williams confused the world with Rudebox, a concoction of electro, pop, and hip hop. The similarly-titled album would follow in October to similarly baffled reviews.

OCTOBER

Madonna's musical success this year was overshadowed by the furore surrounding her adoption of baby David Banda from Malawi, a story which even made Newsnight, who interviewed the singer.

Rock music continued dominating the charts with new albums from Jet and The Killers, while Razorlight lived up to the bluster by scoring their first No 1 with America.

NOVEMBER

More comebacks came in the form of All Saints, whose album Studio 1 met with little interest despite being quite good, and The Beatles, whose album Love met with lots of interest because it was very good.

Oasis grumpily threw out a best of, Stop The Clocks, with half the hits missing, filling it instead with album tracks and b-sides. Kylie did much better, playing her triumphant Homecoming shows in Australia.

DECEMBER

Pop music had its ups and downs this month. The ups saw Take That ending an amazing comeback year by topping all five music charts in one week, Leona Lewis winning The X Factor and Matt Willis winning I'm A Celebrity.

The downs were dominated by Gwen Stefani killing her career (probably) with the Sound Of Music-sampling Wind It Up.