North American readers may be unfamiliar with the Deutsch Alternative Charts, but darktronica music is alive and well in Europe, and the DAC is the best chart (akin to the American Billboard charts) rating its sales and radio play. A few metal and rock releases are counted on the DAC–such as Metallica’s Death Magnetic–and power noise more extreme than what typically is profiled on this site also qualifies. For the most part, though, the Deutsch ratings are a great way to discover some artists and albums that otherwise don’t get much exposure in the US.

Earlier this month, the DAC released their list of the Top 50 Albums of 2008 and the Top 100 Singles of 2008. Congratulations to Andreas Davids of Xotox for producing the highest-ranked non-compilation album of the year. Out of Line also deserves recognition for mopping the floor with other labels by releasing 3 of the top 10 albums, and 10 of the top 50.

The full listing of the Top 50 DAC Albums of 2008, as well as the Top 100 Singles list, is available here.