If the financial gains that luxury brands experienced in the last year are any indication, we may finally be digging our way out of this recession. After a dismal 2009 with modest gains and quite a few brands experiencing losses, this year’s top ten luxury brand list should have companies brimming with optimism for the future.

Millward Brown Optimor released its annual list of the World’s Most Powerful Brands this morning. (A little background: Millward Brown is part of WPP, a massive company that’s made up of a bunch of advertising firms, including Grey and Ogilvy & Mather. Optimor does brand analysis for many of these firms.)

We talked to Millward Brown vice president, Pierre Dupreelle, and his colleague Daniella Segal, who is a senior consultant at the firm, to get their take on the state of the luxury market. This year the category is up 19% as a whole, almost back to pre-recession levels.

There was some shifting of rank order in the latter half of this year’s list compared to last year, but with the exception of two companies, all made pretty stellar gains. The three big reasons for this? Asia’s appetite for luxury, a commitment to heritage, and the savvy use of digital media. Luxury brands had been wary of the digital realm for fear that it would dilute their exclusivity, but many successfully made the foray into digital marketing this year. Chanel and Burberry (new to the list this year) both did it in innovative ways while maintaining their status.

Click through to see the top ten luxury brands this year and why they deserve to be there: