We all know the music industry is a mess. The album format may be going the way of the woolly mammoth, possibly taking the major labels with it. Concert tickets cost too much, and with the Web encouraging a million little niche markets, no one soundtrack is inspiring a generation. We’ve come so far, only to arrive at High School Musical. Yet as anarchy descends, something remarkable keeps happening — artists from across the playing field are hitting peaks and causing major excitement.

With two months to go before the debate about what defined the soundtrack of 2007 crests, a group of much-noticed groundbreakers sits comfortably atop the zeitgeist. Why wait until December? The year’s Top 10, at least in terms of importance, is clear right now. This isn’t always true — just last year, the winners were less obvious and more divisive.

Sure, Dylan released another late-career masterpiece (yawn!), but other than that, year-end lists praised esoteric art projects, cult-level hip-hop and decent indie rock by bands that, for all their craft, aren’t doing much that’s new. But this year something happened. Groundswells of interest kept surfacing about certain releases — and lasting beyond the life span of hype.

Buzz-building leaks, fan tributes, gossip and discussion that lasted much longer than the attention span of critics extended interest in these albums, rather than diffusing it. Key festival appearances and triumphal tours made more news. These albums are making real impact in uncertain times. Crucially, none are debuts: Today’s complex pop landscape seems better navigated by those with established identities and the courage to take risks.