Top 20 Albums of 2015

After the mess that was 2014, I just knew that 2015 had to be better musically and oh man, did it ever deliver. Granted, this year only had 48 albums that I graded as an A- or higher compared to 53 albums to reach that level last season but, I also subconsciously tried to be a harsher grader as very few albums finished with a C or lower. Ultimately, 2015 was much more top heavy as I prefer much of this year's top 20 albums to last year's which you can view simply by clicking that link above. Mainstream music was much easier to listen to as hip hop and rap FINALLY took over the spaces of the airwaves that artists like Britney Spears and Nickelback used to dominate (not comparing Spears to Nickelback, stop). What a time to be alive it was as much-hyped artists from earlier in the decade like Adele, Kendrick Lamar and Drake returned with their strongest (in some people's opinions, not my own) projects yet and others like Rihanna, Frank Ocean and Kanye West lurked in the shadows as they await to probably dominate 2016. After 2014 left most of us feeling sort of in need for fresh musical acts, 2015 again delivered as there was no shortage of new musical acts that gave hope for their genres' future and with the legalization of same-sex marriage country-wide, there was also never a bigger year for artists like Years & Years, Troye Sivan, Ezra Furman, Brandi Carlile and many other artists not being afraid to use the pronoun that they typically would in everyday conversation. Yes, 2015 was an incredible year for music and I've got the Top 20 Albums of the year here for everyone with the best tracks of those 20 and some thoughts on the top 10.

Here are all of the album grades (in no exact order but, close to how I feel they should be ranked) before we get into the actual top 20...

KEY: Artist/Band - Album name 

A-

Alabama Shakes - Sound & Color

Grimes - Art Angels

Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell

Lianne La Havas - Blood

Pokey LaFarge - Something In The Water

Joey Bada$$ - B4.DA.$$

Braids - Deep In The Iris

Jamie Woon - Making Time

Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly

Mac Miller - GO:OD AM

Ezra Furman - Perpetual Motion People

Widowspeak - All Yours

Kristin Diable - Create Your Own Mythology

Janet Jackson - Unbreakable

The Ting Tings - Super Critical

Chvrches - Every Open Eye

Jason Isbell - Something More Than Free

Joy Williams - Venus

Big Sean - Dark Sky Paradise

Lana Del Rey - Honeymoon

The Airborne Toxic Event - Dope Machines

Roisin Murphy - Hairless Toys

Belle & Sebastian - Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance

Tyga - The Gold Album

The Decemberists - What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World

Joss Stone - Water For Your Soul

Ty Dolla $ign - Free TC

Matthew E. White - Fresh Blood

B+

Beach House - Thank Your Lucky Stars

Years & Years - Communion

Pell - Limbo

Steven A. Clark - The Lonely Roller

Rae Sremmurd - SremmLife

Atlas Genius - Inanimate Objects

Twenty One Pilots - Blurry Face

Beach House - Depression Cherry

Statik Selektah - Lucky 7

D.A. Wallach - Time Machine

Noah Gundersen - Carry The Ghost

Family Of The Year - Family Of The Year

Laura Marling - Short Movie

Vince Staples - Summertime ‘06

FFS - FFS

Majical Cloudz - Are You Alone?

Empress Of - Me

G-Eazy - When It’s Dark Out

Logic - The Incredible True Story

City & Colour - If I Should Go Before You

Snoop Dogg - Bush

Jamie Lawson - Jamie Lawson

Mark Ronson - Uptown Special

Wolf Alice - My Love Is Cool

Baio - The Names

Laura Stevenson - Cocksure

Hop Along - Painted Shut

Good Old War - Broken Into Better Shape

Modest Mouse - Strangers To Ourselves

Julia Holter - Have You In My Wilderness

The Arcs - Yours, Dreamily,

Emile Haynie - We Fall

Darwin Deez - Double Down

Low - Ones And Sixes

B

El Vy - Return To The Moon

Lupe Fiasco - Tetsuo & Youth

Christine and the Queens - Christine And The Queens

The Fratellis - Eyes Wide, Tongue Tied

Lonelady - Hinterland

Hot Chip - Why Make Sense?

Casey Veggies - Live & Grow

Mutemath - Vitals

The Forest Rangers - Land Ho!

Blur - The Magic Whip

Vanessa Carlton - Liberman

Brandon Flowers - The Desired Effect

Earl Sweatshirt - I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside

Best Coast - California Nights

Sara Bareilles - What’s Inside: Songs from Waitress

The Airborne Toxic Event - Songs Of God And Whiskey

The Dead Weather - Dodge And Burn

Jess Glynne - I Cry When I Laugh

SOAK - Before We Forgot How To Dream

Albert Hammond Jr. - Momentary Masters

Little Comets - Hope Is Just A State Of Mind

the bird and the bee - Recreational Love

Kopecky - Drug For The Modern Age

The Paper Kites - twelvefour

Meek Mill - Dreams Worth More Than Money

Grace Potter - Midnight

D.R.A.M. - Gahdamn!

Disclosure - Caracal

The Districts - A Flourish and A Spoil

Dawes - All Your Favorite Bands

The Tallest Man On Earth - Dark Bird Is Home

Jay Prince - Beautiful Mercy

The Go! Team - The Scene Between

Fidlar - Too

Troye Sivan - Blue Neighbourhood

James Bay - Chaos and The Calm

Foals - What Went Down

Milo - So The Flies Don’t Come

Odessa - Odessa

Toro Y Moi - What For?

La Luz - Weirdo Shrine

Ludacris - Ludaversal

Marina and The Diamonds - Froot

BadBadNotGood & Ghostface Killah - Sour Soul

My Morning Jacket - The Waterfall

Wale - The Album About Nothing

Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear

Fetty Wap - Fetty Wap

Allen Stone - Radius

Purity Ring - another eternity

Django Django - Born Under Saturn

Muse - Drones

Youth Lagoon - Savage Hills Ballroom

Beirut - No No No

Catfish and the Bottlemen - The Balcony

Neon Indian - Vega Intl. Night School

Matt and Kim - New Glow

Ryn Weaver - The Fool

Estelle - True Romance

B-

Børns - Dopamine

Bilal - In Another Life

Ben Lee - Love Is The Great Rebellion

Madeon - Adventure

Hudson Mohawke - Lantern

Lower Dens - Escape From Evil

Tyler, The Creator - Cherry Bomb

Speedy Ortiz - Foil Deer

Here We Go Magic - Be Small

Major Lazer - Peace Is The Mission

Action Bronson - Mr. Wonderful

Laura Welsh - Soft Control

New Politics - Vikings

Justin Bieber - Purpose

The Vaccines - English Graffiti

Ryley Walker - Primrose Green

Iron & Wine, Ben Bridwell - Sing Into My Mouth

Little May - For The Company

Busdriver - Thumbs

Halsey - Badlands

Houndstooth - No News From Home

Destroyer - Poison Season

Chadwick Stokes - The Horse Comanche

Wilco - Star Wars

Kid Astray - Home Before The Dark

The Front Bottoms - Back On Top

Jazmine Sullivan - Reality Show

Priory - Need To Know

Frank Turner - Positive Songs For Negative People

Young Galaxy - Falsework

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds - Chasing Yesterday

Drake & Future - What A Time To Be Alive

Lenka - The Bright Side

Redman - Mudface

Cayucas - Dancing At The Blue Lagoon

C+

Carly Rae Jepsen - Emotion

Robert DeLong - In The Cards

Smallpools - Lovetap!

A$ap Rocky - At.Long.Last.A$ap

Seasick Steve - Sonic Soul Surfer

Martin Courtney - Many Moons

X Ambassadors - VHS

Giorgio Moroder - Deja Vu

Jamie xx - In Colour

Guster - Evermotion

Natalie Prass - Natalie Prass

jennylee - right on!

The Wombats - Glitterbug

Travi$ Scott - Rodeo

The Mountain Goats - Beat The Champ

Bjork - Vulnicura

Metric - Pagans In Vegas

Stornoway - Bonxie

!!! - As If

Big Data - 2.0

Jill Scott - Woman

Lord Huron - Strange Trails

Car Seat Headrest - Teens Of Style

R. Kelly - The Buffet

Gengahr - A Dream Outside

Pusha T - King Push - Darkest Before Dawn: The Prelude

Freddie Gibbs - Shadow Of A Doubt

Mini Mansions - The Great Pretenders

Demi Lovato - Confident

The Bohicas - The Making Of

C

Fall Out Boy - American Beauty/American Psycho

Owl City - Mobile Orchestra

Death Cab For Cutie - Kintsugi

The Libertines - Anthems For Doomed Youth

The Maccabees - Marks To Prove It

Patty Griffin - Servant Of Love

CeeLo Green - Heart Blanche

Son Lux - Bones

Givers - New Kingdom

Future - DS2

Van Morrison - Duets: Re-Working The Catalogue

Jukebox The Ghost - Jukebox The Ghost

Twin Shadow - Eclipse

The Neighbourhood - Wiped Out!

Mumford and Sons - Wilder Mind

Jack U - Skrillex and Diplo Present Jack U

Angel Haze - Back To The Woods

Holly Miranda - Holly Miranda

Little Boots - Working Girl

Elijah Blake - Shadows & Diamonds

Built To Spill - Untethered Moon

Tori Kelly - Unbreakable Smile

Jamie Cullum - Interlude

Dornik - Dornik

Alessia Cara - Know-It-All

Rick Ross - Black Market

James Taylor - Before This World

Mikky Ekko - Time

Ella Henderson - Chapter One

All We Are - All We Are

Ms Mr - How Does It Feel

The Internet - Ego Death

C-

Jeremih - Late Nights

Life In Film - Here It Comes

Panda Bear - Panda Bear Meets The Grim Reaper

Chastity Belt - Time To Go Home

Seal - 7

Kid Ink - Full Speed

Jason DeRulo - Everything Is 4

Passion Pit - Kindred

Sleater-Kinney - No Cities To Love

Ellie Goulding - Delirium

Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Multi-Love

Ratatat - Magnifique

Rudimental - We The Generation

Mat Kearney - Just Kids

Jodeci - The Past, The Present, The Future

The Darkness - Last Of Our Kind

Silversun Pickups - Better Nature

Pond - Man It Feels Like Space Again

HOLYCHILD - The Shape Of Brat Pop To Come

Dawn Richard - Blackheart

Ryan Adams - 1989

Of Monsters And Men - Beneath The Skin

Never Shout Never - Black Cat

White Reaper - White Reaper Does It Again

Tamar Braxton - Calling All Lovers

Craig Finn - Faith In The Future

Steve Aoki - Neon Future II

Madonna - Rebel Heart

Gary Clark Jr. - The Story Of Sonny Boy Slim

Mod Sun - Look Up

D+

Avicii - Stories

Night Terrors of 1927 - Everything’s Coming Up Roses

Yo La Tengo - Stuff Like That There

Coldplay - A Head Full Of Dreams

Of Montreal - Aureate Gloom

The Chemical Brothers - Born In The Echoes

Selena Gomez - Revival

D

Jordin Sparks - Right Here Right Now

Nate Ruess - Grand Romantic

OMI - Me 4 U

Highly Suspect - Mister Asylum

iLoveMakonnen - I Love Makonnen 2

Ne-Yo - Non-Fiction

Ciara - Jackie

D-

Misterwives - Our Own House

AWOLNATION - Run

B.O.B. - Psychadelick Thoughtz

Girlpool - Before The World Was Big

Raekwon - Fly International Luxurious Art

Death Grips - The Powers That B

Imagine Dragons - Smoke + Mirrors

Mother Mother - Very Good Bad Thing

F

Melanie Martinez - Crybaby

THE WORST ALBUM OF 2015 = Kid Cudi - Speedin' Bullett To Heaven

N/A: Adele - 25 (#SpotifyForLife)

The Top 20 Albums of 2015
#20. Young Fathers - White Men Are Black Men Too

Standout track: "Shame"
Other Must-Hears: "Rain Or Shine" & "27"

#19. Brandi Carlile - The Firewatcher's Daughter

Standout track: "Wherever Is Your Heart"
Other Must-Hears: "Wilder (We're Chained)" & "Mainstream Kid"


#18. Andra Day - Cheers To The Fall

Standout track: "Honey Or Fire"
Other Must-Hears: "Not Today" & "Rise Up"

#17. Big Grams - Big Grams

Standout track: "Fell In The Sun"
Other Must-Hears: "Lights On" & "Drum Machine (ft. Skrillex)"

#16. Colleen Green - I Want To Grow Up

Standout track: "Deeper Than Love"
Other Must-Hears: "Some People" & "Whatever I Want"


#15. Miguel - Wildheart

Standout track: "Coffee"
Other Must-Hears: "The Valley" & "Face The Sun (ft. Lenny Kravitz)"

#14. Drake - If You're Reading This It's Too Late

Standout track: "6 PM In New York"
Other Must-Hears: "Energy" & "Know Yourself"

#13. Leon Bridges - Coming Home

Standout track: "Twistin' & Groovin'"
Other Must-Hears: "Coming Home" & "Smooth Sailin'"

#12. Kurt Vile - B'lieve I'm Goin' Down

Standout track: "That's Life, tho (almost hate to say)"
Other Must-Hears: "Pretty Pimpin'" & "Life Like This"

#11. Raury - All We Need

Standout track: "Mama"
Other Must-Hears: "Forbidden Knowledge (ft. Big K.R.I.T.)" & "Devil's Whisper"

#10. The Dø - Shake Shook Shaken

Standout track: "Anita No!"
Other Must-Hears: "Lick My Wounds" & "Trustful Hands"

The Dø first grabbed my attention with their 2011 single "Gonna Be Sick!". It was cool, it was Frenchy and most importantly, it was different. The duo traded in their xylophone for synths and ballads on Shake Shook Shaken and the result is quite impressive even with Olivia Merilahti's unconventional vocals. It was the most overlooked album of the year, mostly because the album was released in September of 2014 overseas but did not make it to the US until early in 2015. 

#9. The Staves - If I Was

Standout track: "Let Me Down"
Other Must-Hears: "Steady" & "Make It Holy"

Folk harmonies sung by three English sisters in a rock band. The Staves were a band I had heard of yet, never explored until this year and this was another album that went largely overlooked due to a late 2014 release in every country besides America, where If I Was got a March 23rd release date. The fun video for "Black & White" was what first made me look further into The Staves and hearing that they were going to be a part of Bon Iver's Eaux Claires Festival made me listen to this album and I am glad I did. It's a cross between Feist and Sara Bareilles while sounding like both of the incredibly talented singer-songwriters are in the band.

#8. The Weeknd - Beauty Behind The Madness

Standout track: "Can't Feel My Face"
Other Must-Hears: "The Hills" & "Tell Your Friends"

In his previous work, I quickly noticed the similarities between The Weeknd and Michael Jackson vocally. The breakthrough hit "Can't Feel My Face" was the first time that The Weeknd shared similarities stylistically with Michael Jackson. Granted, the lyrics are much darker and dirtier than prime Jackson but, the simple recipe of toning down one of his songs that was a love story about cocaine made The Weeknd a semi-household name in 2015 and that is a very good thing because the potential is endless for this Canadian man with Spongebob's house for hair.

#7. Tobias Jesso Jr. - Goon

Standout track: "How Could You Babe"
Other Must-Hears: "Without You" & "Can't Stop Thinking About You"

Every song on Goon sounds like a cover of a song that was previously made famous by some pop artist but, somehow they are all original tracks written and recorded by Tobias Jesso Junior. "How Could You Babe" is the highlight of the album (and the #16 song of 2015) as it sums up most of the album as Jesso Jr. clearly went through some heartbreak and trying times before he could release his first solo album. Through previous songwriting sessions with various artists, Jesso Jr. picked up a few connections along the way and not only ended up writing a song for Adele's record-breaking 25 album but, also got to work with Danielle Haim of Haim, Patrick Carney of The Black Keys and most-underrated-producer-in-the-world Ariel Rechtshaid. He might just be a clone of Randy Newman but, he's a superior clone of Randy Newman in this modern age.

#6. Waxahatchee - Ivy Tripp

Standout track: "Breathless"
Other Must-Hears: "La Loose" & "Air"

There was plenty of Waxahatchee hype back in 2013 with the release of her album, Cerulean Salt. In 2015, the initial hype has worn off a bit but, I'm way more in on Ivy Tripp than anything than anything Katie Crutchfield has previously released. Her voice and style brings back memories of the 90's grunge rock scene and bands like The Breeders. If somebody listened to this album without any background knowledge of the music, they'd assume it was released in the mid-nineties but nope, April 7th, 2015 was Ivy Tripp's release date and is the only album this year that made me miss Liz Phair (seriously, where is she?).

#5. Tame Impala - Currents

Standout track: "Let It Happen"
Other Must-Hears: "The Less I Know The Better" & "Eventually"

With psychedelic commercial rock songs like "Elephant" already in their repertoire, Tame Impala decided to get even more distorted and tilted in a more poppy direction with their third album, Currents. Lead singer Kevin Parker wrote and produced the entire album which clearly shows just how good the Australian musician is at his job on this album. Currents starts on a high note with the nearly eight-minute long "Let It Happen" and stays consistently groovy afterwards.

#4. Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit

Standout track: #1 song of 2015 "Depreston"
Other Must-Hears: "Pedestrian At Best" & "Nobody Really Cares If You Don't Go To The Party"

Staying in Australia, Courtney Barnett was the breakthrough artist of 2015, no doubt about it. "Avant Gardner" was the public's first exposure to Barnett in 2013 and despite my adoration for that song, The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas really only grazed the potential of Barnett's ability to make witty, catchy songs. When I heard "Pedestrian At Best", I knew that Barnett was about to release one of the best albums of the year. Every single song on Sometime I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit is re-listenable and it was one of the two albums I purchased this year (along with Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly). Slacker rock never sounded this good.


#3. Florence + The Machine - How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful

Standout track: "What Kind Of Man"
Other Must-Hears: "Ship To Wreck" & "Queen Of Peace"

Florence + The Machine went from being an alternative pop act to a super artsy alt-rock group on How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful and the result is the strongest record yet for a band that has yet to release anything less than stellar. The rockier approach really kicks ass whenever "What Kind Of Man"'s guitar kicks in and the drums are stronger than ever on their third album. Whoever last dated lead singer Florence Welch must have really pissed her off as this is her most passionate release yet.

#2. Miley Cyrus - Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz

Standout track: "Karen Don't Be Sad"
Other Must-Hears: "Space Boots" & "Slab Of Butter (Scorpion) ft. Sarah Barthel"

I went track-by-track with a review for this album in September.

The #1 Album of 2015               

Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment - Surf

Standout Track: "Slip Slide"

Other Must-Hears: "Sunday Candy" & "Wanna Be Cool"

Ironically another free album released via the internet, Surf was the surprise album of the year that nobody thought they needed. On paper, a bunch of local Chicago artists and Chance The Rapper releasing an album doesn't sound that exciting but, when you add in guest appearances by Busta Rhymes, Janelle Monae, Big Sean, Raury, Erykah Badu and many, many more, my ears perk up. This was easily the most optimistic album of the year as the entire neo soul, jazz fusion, hip hop album feels like a celebration for all 51 minutes of it's run-time. There are instrumental breaks that include Donnie Trumpet just playing his trumpet, raps with minimal instrumentation and when you have about a dozen people working on the same song, the results tend to be positive. This album is interesting, creative, unique and all-around fun. I hope Surf has inspired more people to support their local artists and that 2016 brings us more albums like this one.