Andy Todd's Top 100 Albums of the 2010s

Only ten days late, it's time to conclude the most expansive list season yet with another cumulative decade-based list for the 2010s. Before I get to that, here are a few other favorites from 2019...

Favorite Show: Euphoria Season 1
Favorite Movie I Saw: I don't know... A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood maybe? I saw like... 5 movies.
Favorite Sporting Event: Tiger Woods at the Masters
Upcoming Super Bowl Pick: 49ers over Ravens
Artists/Bands of the Decade?
10. Lorde (2 elite, transformative pop albums)
9. Janelle Monae (8 Top 40 caliber hits plus fun.'s "We Are Young")
8. Florence Welch (Has yet to release a bad project four albums in and steals the show every time in features)
7. Beach House (Defining indie act of the 2010s)
6. Beyonce' (Two earth-shattering albums and the top pop star of the 2010s)
5. Kanye West (The #1 most talked-about artist of the 2010s with 2 classic albums to boot)
4. Bon Iver (3 great albums, interesting side projects and a creative force with his own festival)
3. Kendrick Lamar (3 HUGE albums, 1 epic soundtrack, most electrifying performer today)
2. Tyler, The Creator (Has built his brand better than anybody else this decade in music, producing, fashion, festivals, tv shows, etc.)
1. LANA DEL REY (Scoffed at by some in 2012, does whatever the fuck she wants now and is rightfully lauded for it)

Quality, Quantity, you name it, Lana Del Rey went 6-for-6 on B+ or higher albums over an eight-year stretch and not even the creative geniuses listed above could top that.

After taking an extended hiatus between last football/list season and this football/list season, I cannot guarantee that Andy Todd's Bla Blog will continue at least in it's current format as a semi-long-form platform for me to get my opinions across with well thought-out explanations behind the choices I've made. In the future, expect me to be more simplified in my non-fantasy football postings because this list season was sort of exhausting in comparison to all of the others. Maybe that was just because I had ten years of work culminate into three weeks of blog posts, maybe I've just derailed my brain enough that the blog just isn't going to be as popping as it was in 2014. I mean... I only have so much time to do all that I try to do while still sleeping and working full-time so, this is probably the apex of Andy Todd's Bla Blog. Appreciate it and thanks for reading this one.

Here are some relevant/related links...

Top 20 Albums of 2019
Top 40 Songs of 2019
Top 40 Songs of the 2010s
Top 100 Albums of the 2010s Spotify Playlist

Key: 3 favorite tracks from each album
Literally what I said about the album in my end-of-year albums blog posts (2013 and onward)
How I see the album now, at the beginning of 2020.

WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, Here are my Top 100 Albums of the 2010s...

#100. Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes - 2011

Favorite Tracks: "I Follow Rivers", "Sadness Is A Blessing", &"I Know Places"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: A solid follow-up to her 2008 debut that saw Lykke Li expand her sound to slightly bigger, pop-friendlier production. 

#99. Childish Gambino - Because The Internet - 2013

Favorite Tracks: "Zealots of Stockholm [Free Information]", "The Worst Guys (ft. Chance The Rapper)"& "3005"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: Was the last chance to hop aboard the Donald Glover bandwagon before he took over the world, fits in well with early-2010s party rappers like Mac Miller. Has aged poorest of any album on this countdown.

#98. D’Angelo & The Vanguard - Black Messiah - 2014

Favorite Tracks: "The Charade", "Really Love" & "Another Life"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: An all-time R&B classic in critical circles that is still relevant today and left us all wanting more D'Angelo than the two albums in 20+ years that we've received.

#97. Michael Kiwanuka - Love & Hate - 2016

Favorite Tracks: "Love & Hate", "Cold Little Heart" & "One More Night"

What I Said At The Time: British folk singer gets more soulful with some help from Danger Mouse. Love & Hate is the perfect length for an album of it's soulful-folk genre and showcases the writing ability of Kiwanuka that made him a name to watch four years ago.

Legacy of Album: The only Kiwanuka album that has stuck with me, masterfully blends his vocals with Danger Mouse's retro production.

#96. Patty Griffin - American Kid - 2013

Favorite Tracks: "Faithful Son", "Don't Let Me Die In Florida" & "Ohio"

What I Said At The Time: THE folk album of 2013, Patty Griffin's seventh album American Kid is an album with outstanding songwriting. Dedicated to her late father, 49 year-old Griffin has really outdone everybody in her genre with the emotion she put into American Kid. She's had a history in gospel music and even country music but thank god she stuck with well-written folk music on this album.

Legacy of Album: One country album that has stood out, even seven years later, thanks to Griffin's passionate writing and vocals.

#95. Pusha T - My Name Is My Name - 2013

Favorite Tracks: "Nosetalgia (ft. Kendrick Lamar)", "Numbers On The Boards" & "40 Acres (ft. The-Dream)"

What I Said At The Time: "20 plus years of selling Johnson & Johnson's" has led up to the long-awaited solo debut album from Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music record label product Pusha T. I had been pretty excited for this album since I heard Pusha's collaboration with Rick Ross on "Millions" late in 2012. That song didn't even make the album. My Name Is My Name is a consistently great album with no weak links and perfect beats with an all-star cast of featured artists (Rick Ross, Jeezy, Kelly Rowland, The-Dream, Kanye West, 2 Chainz, Big Sean, Kendrick Lamar, Future, and Pharrell to name a few). It begins with Pusha T claiming he's at the peak of his career with the Joaquin Pheonix-produced "King Push" and becomes a journey that you invest your time and attention to without even realizing it.

Legacy of Album: The project that escalated Push from featured rapper post-Clipse to one of the biggest names in rap.

#94. Alabama Shakes - Sound & Color - 2015

Favorite Tracks: "Gimme All Your Love", "Don't Wanna Fight" & "Future People"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: Not on this list without the singles but, those singles are three of the more underrated vocal performances of the decade from Brittany Howard.

#93. Bat For Lashes - The Haunted Man - 2012

Favorite Tracks: "Laura", "Marilyn" & "A Wall"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: Best of the five Bat For Lashes albums, big part of dream pop renaissance in the early-2010s.

#92. (Sandy) Alex G - Rocket - 2017

Favorite Tracks: "Proud", "Sportstar" & "Bobby"

What I Said At The Time: 24-year old Alex Giannascoli expands his musical boundaries from his previous comfort zone of lo-fi indie rock and hops from one genre to the next over the first nine tracks on his fascinating seventh album, Rocket. Rarely does a headbanger of a song like "Brick" fit on the same album as an autotuned piano-piece like "Sportstar" and a folk ballad like "Bobby" but somehow, it all just makes sense on this record.

Legacy of Album: Varieties in genre have not aged as well but, the folk songs hit just as hard as they did in 2017.

#91. J. Cole - 2014 Forest Hills Drive - 2014

Favorite Tracks: "Love Yourz", "Apparently" & "No Role Modelz"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: Sort of the forgotten classic hip-hop record of the 2010s and the magnum opus of J. Cole's career.

#90. Robyn - Honey - 2018



Favorite Tracks: "Ever Again", "Missing U" & "Honey"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: Robyn proves herself a pop legend by taking eight years off and not missing a step.

#89. Beach House - Bloom - 2012



Favorite Tracks: "Wishes", "Lazuli" & "Myth"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: The album that got me into Beach House, not their finest but absolutely worthy of inclusion based on singles alone.

#88. Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires Of The City - 2013



Favorite Tracks: "Unbelievers", "Hannah Hunt" & "Diane Young"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: Most well-produced Vampire Weekend album with classic Rostam & Ezra songwriting.

#87. Kids See Ghosts - Kids See Ghosts - 2018



Favorite Tracks: "Reborn", "Feel The Love (ft. Pusha T)" & "4th Dimension (ft. Louis Prima)"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: Showed that Kid Cudi still has some relevancy post-2013 and added to Kanye's reputation as a producer. Also despite it not being revolutionary, helped make 7-track albums/EPs a tad more popular.

#86. Carly Rae Jepsen - Dedicated - 2019



Favorite Tracks: "Real Love", "No Drug Like Me" & "Julien"

What I Said At The Time: Certain people will love to look back at my 2015 Album Grades and say "BUT EMOTION WAS ONLY A C+!!!" and to that I say... look past the singles and tell me how much of Carly Rae Jepsen's third album is memorable after "Boy Problems"? The second half of that album is admittedly, not enough to turn that album into a C+ today (it probably should have gotten a B) but, it lags in comparison to Dedicated. This is the album all of the popheads of the world think her last album was, pop perfection from start to finish. Maybe just one or two tracks too long and if you include "Party For One" as it is a part of the deluxe edition, there are 15 catchy, fun-as-all-hell tracks here. She reportedly has hundreds of songs just lying around, already recorded in some studio lair somewhere so, let's hope they're as quality as Jepsen's fourth album.

Legacy of Album: More consistently satisfying than Emotion, will be wrongfully forgotten and underrated in the long run.

#85. Lana Del Rey - Ultraviolence - 2014



Favorite Tracks: "West Coast", "Cruel World" & "Shades Of Cool"

What I Said At The Time: Ultraviolence saw Lana Del Rey drop her hip-hop influences for a late-sixties sounding record full of sad psychedelic surfing songs (tongue twister). If Lana Del Rey's first album, Born To Die, didn't do anything for you, Ultraviolence won't either as it's more of the same sultry soft-spoken vocals that Del Rey is an expert at. She even enlisted upon The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach to produce the album for another musical odd couple that worked to perfection.

Legacy of Album: Most Woodstock-caliber collection of songs so far from Lana and was the beginning of the rebuilding of her indie credibility.

#84. Kings Of Leon - Come Around Sundown - 2010



Favorite Tracks: "Back Down South", "Pyro" & "The End"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: Holds up better than any of the southern rock vibes The Black Keys excelled at early in the 2010s.

#83. Sylvan Esso - Sylvan Esso - 2014



Favorite Tracks: "Dreamy Bruises", "Coffee" & "Uncatena"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: Amelia Meath's transition from Mountain Man into the spotlight, Nick Sanborn's production is a revelation on the Minnesotan duo's debut. Has aged incredibly well.

#82. David Bowie - Blackstar - 2016



Favorite Tracks: "Blackstar", "Lazarus" & I Can't Give Everything Away"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: A quintessential placeholder on every Albums of the 2010s list, added to the legend of Bowie's "rock god" status.

#81. Jenny Lewis - The Voyager - 2014



Favorite Tracks: "The Voyager", "Head Underwater" & "Just One Of The Guys"

What I Said At The Time: Jenny Lewis created the perfect road trip album with The Voyager. The album is her third and most grown-up album to date. If I were around for the creation of one of the albums on this list, it would be The Voyager because Lewis wrote most of this album after the breakup of Rilo Kiley and enlisted upon rock's most bizarre persona, Ryan Adams, to produce the record. Despite Ryan Adams' albums lack of inclusion on this top 20, he was the perfect choice to produce this album as clearly it is one of the best indie rock albums of the year. "The Voyager" is a must-hear track about a hotel that Lewis spent a lot of her childhood around that burned down later in her life and it's one of the sadder songs I heard all year.

Legacy of Album: Closest thing to mainstream pop we'll ever see from Jenny Lewis on her most colorfully lush record.

#80. Superorganism - Superorganism - 2018



Favorite Tracks: "Everybody Wants To Be Famous", "Something For Your M.I.N.D." & "Night Time"

What I Said At The Time: Between the random sound effects of traffic, distorted vocals and the opening of multiple soda cans, this album is the musical definition of "bubbly" in 2018. Listeners will either love Superorganism's shtick on the eight-person band's debut or hate it as it is certainly an acquired taste and something fresh among the current musical landscape.

Legacy of Album: Will be loads of hype and pressure put on the eight-piece band for their follow-up after one of the more fun debuts of the decade.

#79. Pusha T - Daytona - 2018



Favorite Tracks: "If You Know You Know", "Santeria" & "What Would Meek Do? (ft. Kanye West)"

What I Said At The Time: In just 21 minutes King Push took us to middle-of-nowhere Wyoming, and with some production help by his G.O.O.D. Music co-captain Kanye West, made THE rap album of the year. With a controversially iconic album cover of Whitney Houston's crack-filled bathroom, Pusha T keeps finding new ways to make dealing cocaine sound like the coolest shit ever (Don't do this, kids) on his third solo record.

Legacy of Album: The best producer work for Kanye outside of his own discography this decade and another victory for Pusha T.

#78. Grimes - Art Angels - 2015



Favorite Tracks: "Kill v. Maim", "Flesh Without Blood" & "SCREAM (ft. Pan-Wei Ju)"

What I Said At The Time:

Legacy of Album: Grimes' peak before she went off the deep end/began trolling all of us. 

#77. Miguel - Wildheart - 2015



Favorite Tracks: "Waves", "The Valley" & "Face The Sun (ft. Lenny Kravitz)"

What I Said At The Time:

Legacy of Album: Largely forgotten but, was his first disparate collection of songs that weren't all slowed-down R&B.

#76. Tyler, The Creator - Wolf - 2013



Favorite Tracks: "IFHY", "Tamale" & "PartyIsntOver/Campfire/Bimmer (ft. Frank Ocean & Laetitia Sadier)"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: Last of the first era of Tyler, The Creator albums that specifically follows characters like Wolf Haley, Sam and Salem.

#75. Japanese Breakfast - Soft Sounds From Another Planet - 2017



Favorite Tracks: "Boyish", "Diving Woman" & "12 Steps"

What I Said At The Time: Michelle Zauner's second album somehow lives up to the hype created by 2016's Psychopomp by expanding her musical boundaries with autotune on "Machinist" and a slightly heavier rock sound on her longest song yet, "Diving Woman". I don't know if she'll be able to keep up this one awesome record per year pace but, Soft Sounds From Another Planet certainly makes it seem like she could.

Legacy of Album: A great step forward in a promising eclectic indie musician's career.

#74. Kesha - Animal - 2010



Favorite Tracks: "TiK ToK", "Dinosaur" & "Your Love Is My Drug"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: A stellar pop album from the EDM boom that is sadly tainted by a producer's presence but, Kesha's charisma bursts through on her debut.

#73. Travis Scott - Astroworld - 2018



Favorite Tracks: "Sicko Mode", "Skeletons" & "Stop Trying To Be God"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: The album that catapulted Travis Scott into future legend and Coachella Headliner status.

#72. Bon Iver - Bon Iver, Bon Iver - 2011



Favorite Tracks: "Holocene", "Beth/Rest" & "Michicant"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: Justin Vernon's breakthrough to the mainstream, becoming this decade's Grammys indie darling.

#71. Killer Mike - R.A.P. Music - 2012



Favorite Tracks: "Reagan", "Willie Burke Sherwood" & "R.A.P. Music"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: Laid the groundwork for Run The Jewels.

#70. Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment - Surf - 2015



Favorite Tracks: "Slip Slide", "Familiar" & "Sunday Candy"

What I Said At The Time: 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.

Legacy of Album: Lone project from the man now referred to as Nico Segal stands as an oddity looking back at 2015. Was my #1 album of the year thanks to cameos from Chance The Rapper, Janelle Monae, Big Sean, Busta Rhymes, Noname and many, many more. Stood out in an otherwise weaker field that year.

#69. Frank Turner - Tape Deck Heart - 2013



Favorite Tracks: "Plain Sailing Weather", "Recovery" & "The Way I Tend To Be"

What I Said At The Time: The fifth studio album from Frank Turner is a punk-rock/folk-rock fusion that you don't typically hear anywhere else nowadays. Tape Deck Heart contains a lot of lyrical material to digest that could basically just be summed up as a happy break-up album. "Recovery" gets the album off on a great note as a neutral album that anybody who likes any genre could enjoy. "The Way I Tend To Be" is a perfect break-up song while songs like "We Shall Not Overcome" and "Plain Sailing Weather" keep the party going. At first viewing, my eyes immediately drew toward the song title "Wherefore Art Thou Gene Simmons?". I decided I must listen to that song more carefully than I had any other songs on the album. When I finally got around to the fourteenth track, I was impressed by Turner's storytelling capability from the viewpoint of both the male and female in the relationship (which was clearly his relationship as Frank Turner had admittedly just ended a long-term relationship).

Legacy of Album: Fifth album from English rocker is still his most heavily folk-influenced punk album to date.

#68. Beyonce’ - Beyonce’ - 2013



Favorite Tracks: "Heaven", "***Flawless" & "Drunk In Love (ft. Jay Z)"

What I Said At The Time: I'm cheating somewhat by placing this album in the 2014 list despite being released to the public on December 13th, 2013. My reasoning is that every year has a cut-off date for music and last year's just happened to be the Tuesday before Beyonce' dropped this work of art. This year, I waited until the last minute just to be safe... Also, procrastination is a wild beast that can barely be tamed. Almost immediately after the unexpected album was released via iTunes, Beyonce' was widely regarded as one of the top albums of the decade so far. The album cover tells the story of an oncoming collection of dark tracks that explores all of Mrs. Carter's musical capabilities and genres. Beyonce' is like multiple other Beyonce' records in that there was a music video released as a second disc for each song. It's the only "feminist" record making an impact in 2014. It is simply the biggest female singer in the world's greatest album to date.

Legacy of Album: Planted the experimental seeds for Lemonade and made the "surprise release" a bigger deal than it had ever previously been.

#67. Sia - 1,000 Forms Of Fear - 2014



Favorite Tracks: "Chandelier", "Elastic Heart" & "Cellophane"

What I Said At The Time: Who knew that the poppiest version of Sia would be the best? 1000 Forms of Fear is Sia's darkest album yet (as made clear by the album art) despite being radio-friendly. Without the quirky tracks that I've become accustomed to when listening to full Sia albums, this album surprised me because it showed that she doesn't need a "Soon We'll Be Found" in order to make a great album. There was a major theme in Sia's live performances and music videos and that was the blonde hair that has captivated our attention since she won't show her face. When asked about the album, Sia explained...

"I already have a much larger concept for this album and for how I'm going to present it and that was: I don't want to be famous. If Amy Winehouse was a beehive then I guess I'm a blonde bob. I thought 'well if that's my brand, how can I avoid having to use my face to sell something', so my intention was to create a blonde bob brand. Throughout this whole thing I'll put a different person in a blonde bob and either they lip-sync while I'm doing a live performance or they perform a dance or do some sort of performance while I have my back to the audience, as with Ellen."

So, despite a faceless album... Sia's songwriting finally getting the recognition she deserves.

Legacy of Album: Sia's magnum opus, one of the more well-written, strongly-produced pop records to make a charting impact this decade.

#66. Feist - Metals - 2011



Favorite Tracks: "The Bad In Each Other", "Bittersweet Melodies" & "Undiscovered First"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: Much heavier than anything Feist released in the 00's and a career turning point for the indie folk musician.

#65. James Blake - The Colour In Anything - 2016



Favorite Tracks: "Choose Me", "I Need A Forest Fire (ft. Bon Iver) & "Timeless"

What I Said At The Time: One of the more overlooked albums on end of the year lists, The Colour In Anything is exactly the type of album a James Blake fan should have no problem falling in love with. There might not be a standout track compared to other albums ranked this highly but, considering how beautifully relaxing this album is while still holding some experimental moments, 79 minutes is the perfect length for any listeners that didn't get enough out of Bon Iver's album [in 2016].

Legacy of Album: One of the more acquired tastes on the list, a gloomy as hell hour-long deep dive into James Blake's psyche.

#64. Father John Misty - Pure Comedy - 2017



Favorite Tracks: "Ballad of the Dying Man", "Pure Comedy" & "Leaving LA"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: Probably the best heavily political album in the Trump-era, no matter how nauseatingly self-righteous Josh Tillman comes across through his sarcasm.

#63. Years & Years - Palo Santo - 2018



Favorite Tracks: "Sanctify", "Don't Panic" & "All For You"

What I Said At The Time: Olly Alexander and company have perfected the art of electropop over the first two Years & Years records. I may not have ever been fully invested in whatever their sci-fi themed Palo Santo videos were but, the music more than made up for that as this is Years & Years unrestrained and much more in your face than the bubbly-ness that was their first album.

Legacy of Album: An improvement from their already great 2015 debut album, Communion, that doesn't stray too far in sound.

#62. Jorja Smith - Lost & Found - 2018



Favorite Tracks: "Blue Lights", "February 3rd" & "The One"

What I Said At The Time: I've been waiting for a decade to find the next soulful Amy Winehouse-like lyricist and finally, I think Jorja Smith is the closest we're getting to those days being revisited. The 21-year old might not have the lyrical content that made Winehouse an icon yet but, she's still exceeding in that category over many other artists trying to recapture the hype surrounding Amy after Back To Black. Jorja Smith and "Hotline Bling" were the only two good things to come out of Drake's 2015 album, Views.

Legacy of Album: A stellar debut from a soulful artist with the vocals that virtually guarantee a lengthy, successful career.

#61. LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening - 2010



Favorite Tracks: "Dance Yrself Clean", "All I Want" & "I Can Change"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: The perfect note to end your band on... though we didn't mind the 2017 return.

#60. Bruno Mars - 24K Magic - 2016



Favorite Tracks: "24K Magic", "Too Good To Say Goodbye" & "Versace On The Floor"

What I Said At The Time: One of the more widely-beloved pop stars of 2016 releases an album full of 1980's and early nineties throwbacks that all sound fresh.

Legacy of Album: Bruno's coolest era yet came with his most fun music on a 90s throwback disc.

#59. Sufjan Stevens - The Age Of Adz - 2010




Favorite Tracks: "Too Much", "Futile Devices" & "Impossible Soul"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: Sufjan goes electric? An outlier when listening to the rest of his work.

#58. Kanye West - The Life Of Pablo - 2016



Favorite Tracks: "No More Parties In LA (ft. Kendrick Lamar)", "Ultralight Beam (ft. Chance The Rapper)" & "Real Friends"

What I Said At The Time: Filled with gospel influences and lyrically sporadic. Kanye made the most purposely bipolar album of the year, redoing tracks again and again, trying to reach perfection, only making things more convoluted both with the release of his album and his own well-being. Many find the album too long but, the only official song I could do without is "Waves".

Legacy of Album: Quite possibly the last of Kanye's good solo albums has aged well despite it still sounding disjointed from track-to-track.

#57. Miguel - War & Leisure - 2017



Favorite Tracks: "Told You So", "Pineapple Skies" & "Banana Clip"

What I Said At The Time: Miguel continued his own trend of being the coolest dude on the planet as he now has a second Top 20 Album to add to his resume. For as sexual and Prince-like as 2015's Wildheart was, this album is just as fun, smooth and yes, he's still making music for sexy times. In a surprising move, Miguel dropped the guitar but, the production on this record is at a higher quality than nearly anything else I listened to in 2017. A late entry with it's December 1st release, I just hope that America recognizes how fun an ad lib "SPLISH" is and that this album gets some recognition as most publications decided upon their lists before December.

Legacy of Album: Another underappreciated gem from Miguel, as he turned political and kept his sound upbeat.

#56. Vampire Weekend - Contra - 2010



Favorite Tracks: "Giving Up The Gun", "Holiday" & "Horchata"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: The first critically acclaimed album of the decade saw the NYC band refining their sound into something closer to where they were at the end of the 2010s.

#55. Bon Iver - 22, A Million - 2016



Favorite Tracks: "22 (OVER S∞∞N)", "8 (circle)" & "715 - CR∑∑KS"

What I Said At The Time: The most cryptic and glitchy album of the year is one of the more capturing listens since Radiohead's Kid A, even though it tries too hard to be exactly that at moments.

Legacy of Album: Bon Iver was already a strange band/project but, this one upped those stakes and made Justin Vernon look like the creative force he is today.

#54. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool - 2016



Favorite Tracks: "True Love Waits", "Daydreaming" & "Ful Stop"

What I Said At The Time: Band running out of ideas turns to orchestral production for one last great release. Of course, they'll probably prove me wrong next time like they always do.

Legacy of Album: Thom Yorke's saddest album yet and a welcome addition to the Radiohead collection.

#53. A Tribe Called Quest - We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service - 2016



Favorite Tracks: "We The People", "The Space Program" & "Ego (ft. Jack White)"

What I Said At The Time: A valiant return after seventeen years filled with throwbacks from Q-Tip and company makes the death of Phife Dawg even more tragic, knowing what he had left to offer us as an artist.

Legacy of Album: An excellent bow to wrap up Tribe's run that's split into two discs, the second of which has aged very well.

#52. LCD Soundsystem - American Dream - 2017



Favorite Tracks: "Call The Police", "American Dream" & "oh baby"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: LCD's comeback showed they hadn't lost a step in their seven-year hiatus.

#51. Janelle Monae - The Electric Lady - 2013



Favorite Tracks: "Dance Apocalyptic", "Electric Lady (ft. Solange)" & "Primetime (ft. Miguel)"

What I Said At The Time: The Electric Lady is a nineteen-track album sent from heaven. It is the best-possible album that Janelle Monae could have made at this point in her young career. There's obvious respect coming from other featured artists like Erykah Badu, Prince, and Esparanza Spaulding in excellent songs by all. There's a "Hey Ya" inspired song and video for "Dance Apocalyptic". There's even a perfect ballad "Primetime" featuring Miguel. I love everything about this album and everything about Janelle Monae'. I would gladly trade the rest of Beyonce's career for ten more Janelle Monae' albums as I'm sure Monae' will keep blending genres with surprise guest appearances and quirky story lines.

Legacy of Album: The singles should have all been hits and the rest of the album is just funky enough to keep it from feeling repetitive.

#50. Tyler, The Creator - Flower Boy - 2017




Favorite Tracks: "I Ain't Got Time!", "911/Mr. Lonely (ft. Frank Ocean & Steve Lacy)" & "Boredom (ft. Rex Orange County & Anna of the North)"

What I Said At The Time: Tyler, The Creator has changed his lyrical content quite a bit as he's matured this decade and yet, his production has stayed equally impressive across all of his four albums. One of the most unique voices in the rap game, Tyler Okonma went for a much gentler sounding album than the lead single, "Who Dat Boy? (ft. A$AP Rocky)" would have one believe.

Legacy of Album: Tyler's first step towards maturity in both sound and subject matter.

#49. Kaytranada - 99.9% - 2016



Favorite Tracks: "Lite Spots", "Glowed Up (ft. Anderson .Paak)" & "Got It Good (ft. Craig David)"

What I Said At The Time: The most fun electronic release of the decade that did not involve Daft Punk is this debut album that catches Anderson .Paak, Little Dragon, AlunaGeorge and Vic Mensa all at the right time. Kaytranada's debut also sees the return of Craig David!

Legacy of Album: The smoothest debut album for an EDM act this decade.

#48. Run The Jewels - Run The Jewels 2 - 2014



Favorite Tracks: "Blockbuster Night, Part 1", "Love Again (Akinyele Back) ft. Gangsta Boo" & "Early (ft. Boots)"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: Cemented the legacies of Killer Mike and El-P as an all-time hip-hop duo.

#47. Bleachers - Strange Desire - 2014



Favorite Tracks: "I Wanna Get Better", "You're Still A Mystery" & "I'm Ready To Move On/Wildheart Reprise (ft. Yoko Ono)"

What I Said At The Time: No artist had a better debut album in 2014 than Fun.'s Jack Antonoff's side project, Bleachers. The album is jam-packed full of pop-rock anthems. Strange Desire has unforgettable moments like the high-pitched yelling in "I Wanna Get Better" or the guitar in "Shadow" or remember that time when Yoko Ono showed up and the party got super weird but stayed awesome? Yeah, Strange Desire is the perfect album for Antonoff in case Fun. stops being so... fun.

Legacy of Album: Expert pop songwriter and fun. member surprised with his own great solo release, an 80s throwback that was an instant classic.

#46. Chance The Rapper - Coloring Book - 2016



Favorite Tracks: "Summer Friends (ft. Jeremih, Francis & The Lights)", "Blessings (ft. Jamila Woods)" & "All Night (ft. Knox Fortune)"

What I Said At The Time: Chance The Rapper flirts with a ton of genres at the heart of what is essentially a gospel rap mixtape. The mixtape was so good that it is now the first to ever be nominated for a Grammy in an album category. This is another listen that easily infects the listener with joy by the second track, "No Problem".

Legacy of Album: Ignoring The Big Day, This is the REAL first Chance album as the hype surrounding it's release and it's overall length made Coloring Book a Grammy favorite.

#45. Young Fathers - Cocoa Sugar - 2018



Favorite Tracks: "In My View", "Border Girl" & "Holy Ghost"

What I Said At The Time: The Scottish hip hop trio Young Fathers already had a Mercury Prize (for 2014's Dead) and my #20 album of 2015 (White Men Are Black Men Too) so, it was not an enormous surprise to find that I enjoyed their latest output. What was surprising is how they just keep getting better and with no two songs sounding exactly the same on Cocoa Sugar, it's amazing this isn't getting more love this list season. There are songs to fire the listener up, songs to make the listener think while dancing and every beat switch brings chills.

Legacy of Album: Young Fathers dip their toes into some wild alternative pop/rock/hip hop fusion of an album that is somehow perfectly cohesive and sounds better with each listen.

#44. Various Artists - Black Panther Soundtrack - 2018



Favorite Tracks: "Pray For Me (The Weeknd & Kendrick Lamar)", "All The Stars (Kendrick Lamar & SZA)", "Opps (Kendrick Lamar, Vince Staples & Yugen Blakrok)"

What I Said At The Time: My favorite soundtrack to a film in years. It helps when the accompanying movie is wildly entertaining but, the soundtrack to Black Panther could have survived as a standalone album called "Kendrick Lamar and Friends" or "Kung Fu Kenny's Bar-B-Q Playlist". It's just stacked from top to bottom with potential smash hit after smash hit by some of the biggest names off the TDE label (Lamar, SZA, Jay Rock, etc.), some of the best vocalists around (James Blake, The Weeknd and Khalid) and a few artists already mentioned on [my Top 2018 albums] list (Anderson .Paak, Jorja Smith and just missing the cut, Travis Scott). Nothing but bangers from top to bottom and one of my four A-plus albums of 2018.

Legacy of Album: The best movie soundtrack of the 2010s only added to the hype of one of the most popular films of the decade.

#43. M83 - Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming - 2011



Favorite Tracks: "Wait", "Midnight City" & "Steve McQueen"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: M83's defining record stands as a synthpop masterpiece.

#42. Florence + The Machine - Ceremonials - 2011



Favorite Tracks: "Never Let Me Go", "No Light, No Light" & "Heartlines"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: Florence followed up a great debut album with an even better second record with more luxurious sounding songs and heightened vocal performances.

#41. Miley Cyrus - Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz - 2015



Favorite Tracks: "Slab Of Butter (Scorpion) ft. Sarah Barthel", "Karen Don't Be Sad" & "BB Talk"

What I Said At The Time: Miley is just living life like the rest of us (only with more money and fame), trying to figure out what it all means and having fun with fun people and weird characters along the way. "Dooo It!" would be enough to make the casual listener stop listening but, the rest of this album is stunningly fantastic. It didn't even feel like a 92-minute album and there were only one or two songs I might have cut out if I were her. I don't have any idea what any of it meant or where I left my keys or why I can't feel my face but, I love it.

Legacy of Album: Miley at her peak popularity makes the most raw, cringe-inducing album with The Flaming Lips and I will not apologize for defending this as her best record to date.

#40. Daft Punk - Random Access Memories - 2013



Favorite Tracks: "Get Lucky (ft. Pharrell Williams)", "Doin' It Right (ft. Panda Bear)" & "Touch (ft. Paul Williams)"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: The lone Daft Punk release of the 2010s finally got them their deserved mainstream attention and fanfare.

#39. James Blake - Assume Form - 2019



Favorite Tracks: "Where's The Catch (ft. Andre 3000)", "Can't Believe The Way We Flow" & "Don't Miss It"

What I Said At The Time: Prior to Assume Form, James Blake was a lonely English crooner in his twenties searching for his sound and on the cusp of mainstream intrigue. After releasing his third studio album, The Colour In Anything, I thought this dude had mastered his craft as a sad-boy singer/producer. Instead, his fourth album here was THE big break for James Blake after years of co-signs from Chance The Rapper, Bon Iver and even Beyonce'. All it took was a Grammys' cameo and a new friendship with Travis Scott (Blake was instrumental in building Scott's 2018 album, Astroworld) for Blake to get some love nationally. The biggest reason for his come-up though? Going from tinkering as a producer to settling on beats behind some of the most charismatic performers around. Performers like Rosalía, Andre 3000 and Scott help boost this album's mood and make it more complex than anything the now 31-year old Blake has dropped so far.

Legacy of Album: James Blake's best work to date sees him diving into multiple genres, most notably hip-hop with an all-star guest list of features.

#38. Sam Smith - In The Lonely Hour - 2014



Favorite Tracks: "Stay With Me", "I've Told You Now", "Like I Can"

What I Said At The Time: My first discovery of Sam Smith was on 2013's "Latch" a Disclosure song which has taken over the radio late this year and I thought "what a unique voice" but didn't go into any further investigation on the artist known as Sam Smith. I had no idea he'd become the breakthrough soul singer of 2014 until I saw him on a Spring episode of Saturday Night Live. The gospel influences on "Stay With Me" and the love-torn lyrics of practically the entire album made In The Lonely Hour a smash hit and a powerful debut from the closest thing we'll get to a male version of Adele.

Legacy of Album: Smith's debut put him in the same tier as Adele only ten songs into his career so we may overlook it now but, this is one of the biggest albums of the decade in retrospect.

#37. St. Vincent - St. Vincent - 2014



Favorite Tracks: "I Prefer Your Love", "Birth In Reverse" & "Digital Witness"

What I Said At The Time: In retrospect, I should have ranked this one in the top three AT LEAST. Upon first listen, I thought this album was incredible as it cemented St. Vincent as a musical genius in case anyone had doubts from her first three albums. In my personal opinion, her third album (Strange Mercy) is still her best, most original album but, everybody else is calling it the album of the year so what the hell do I know? After listen upon listen upon purchase upon more listening, St. Vincent crafted a damn masterpiece and I hate myself for only giving the album an A- when it was released in February. She wrote and produced the entire album for crying out loud! After collaborating with David Byrne on their 2012 project, Love This Giant, it's clear the Byrne-ness rubbed off of him into this album as the entire thing is the artsiest, most experimental album of Annie Clarke's yet. As mentioned in my Top 40 songs of 2014 post, "Birth In Reverse" is the song of the year and this album has two of the top eleven tracks on that list. How is it ranked #15 with all of my gushing over St. Vincent? Well, it is still her second best album in my personal opinion and there are still albums to come on this list that are more consistent, tell full stories and have more big hits on them with no misses whatsoever. Looking at the rest of the list that I lock in once I first hear that album, St. Vincent belongs in higher billing but not quite inside the top seven. If it's any compensation, Strange Mercy would've been a top three album of 2011.

Legacy of Album: David Byrne's influence turned this self-titled project into an experimental success with flying colors from Annie Clark.

#36. Ellie Goulding - Halcyon - 2012



Favorite Tracks: "Atlantis", "My Blood" & "Explosions"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: Goulding's second album got brushed aside too quickly for an album with no weakness in it's tracklist.

#35. Florence + The Machine - How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful - 2015



Favorite Tracks: "What Kind Of Man", "Mother" & "Ship To Wreck"

What I Said At The Time: 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.

Legacy of Album: Florence's first rock album is her finest album to date.

#34. Beck - Morning Phase - 2014



Favorite Tracks: "Blue Moon", "Wave" & "Blackbird Chain"

What I Said At The Time: Nobody comes into a year knowing exactly what will happen that year. Nobody came into 2014 and said "Boy, I think it's time for ebola to make a comeback" or "You know what'd be really weird? for a plane to just... disappear". I certainly never thought that Beck would have the album of the year. Alas, he did. Morning Phase is supposedly a follow-up to 2002's Sea Change and it's Beck's folkiest release yet (There I go again, making up words). Morning Phase is Beck's first release after a lifetime with Interscope Records. It's also his most personal release after suffering a spinal injury before his last album, 2008's Modern Guilt. After six years and a full recovery, Beck was able to belt out his vocals on his newest album and now he's nominated for Album of the Year at the Grammy's. Morning Phase is nothing revolutionary or exciting but, it stays fresh throughout all thirteen tracks and was the best album of 2014.

Legacy of Album: Beck's comeback is still the best album from 2014 (sorry, Beyonce).

#33. Adele - 21 - 2011



Favorite Tracks: "Someone Like You", "Rolling In The Deep" & "Rumour Has It"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: The biggest album of the decade and the last pre-streaming sales success holds up well but, is not an automatic lock like "Someone Like You" was for my #1 song of the decade.

#32. Tame Impala - Currents - 2015



Favorite Tracks: "Let It Happen", "New Person, Same Old Mistakes" & "The Less I Know The Better"

What I Said At The Time: 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.

Legacy of Album: The album that has slowly made Tame Impala one of the most popular bands in the world right now as we still await their follow-up.

#31. Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer - 2018



Favorite Tracks: "Make Me Feel", "Americans", "Crazy, Classic, Life"

What I Said At The Time: Dirty Computer is rightfully nominated at the Grammy Awards for Album of the Year as Janelle Monae comes for that EGOT title with an epic pop album that hops from pop to rap to funk. Janelle Monae in 2018 is the closest thing we have to a Lady Gaga in 2010 right now. She's also the closest thing we have to a living, female version of Prince.

Legacy of Album: The singer/actress further digs into Prince comparisons by selling sex on one of the most cohesive records of 2018.

#30. Regina Spektor - Remember Us To Life - 2016



Favorite Tracks: "Obsolete", "Bleeding Heart" & "Black And White"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: I never knew I needed a Kid A from Regina Spektor but, this one sounds better with time as an experimental masterpiece for the veteran songwriter.

#29. Lana Del Rey - Born To Die - 2012



Favorite Tracks: "Radio", "Born To Die" & "Carmen"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: Lana's debut matches up as equal to the best of her discography up to this point and holds up as quite an accomplishment for someone's "debut" album. (She technically had a prior release as Lizzy Grant.)

#28. St. Vincent - Strange Mercy - 2011



Favorite Tracks: "Strange Mercy", "Year Of The Tiger" & "Cheerleader"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: The last of St. Vincent's strictly indie-rock albums showed more of what she could do vocally and signaled the change in her style to come.

#27. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - The Heist - 2012



Favorite Tracks: "Starting Over (ft. Ben Bridwell)", "Thin Line (ft. Buffalo Madonna)" & "Can't Hold Us (ft. Ray Dalton)"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: Quietly, Chance The Rapper failed to dethrone this as the indie hip-hop album of the decade. Ryan Lewis's potential shines through in a major way on Macklemore's only above-average project.

#26. Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit - 2015



Favorite Tracks: "Depreston", "Pedestrian At Best", "Nobody Really Cares If You Don't Go To The Party"

What I Said At The Time: 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 Sometimes 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.

Legacy of Album: Courtney Barnett shows glimpses of being a female Bob Dylan, only better in crafting catchy rock songs.

#25. Arcade Fire - Reflektor - 2013



Favorite Tracks: "Here Comes The Night Time", "Afterlife" & "Reflektor"

What I Said At The Time: When you throw together critical darlings like Arcade Fire and LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy as producer, that album is going to get a lot of buzz around the internet. Reflektor was entirely worth it as the first disk of the two-disc set is the #2 album of the year all by itself. [This] is still a phenomenal album that I can not stop listening to and could see myself jamming out to in 2043. It's going to become a classic over time with songs like "Normal Person", "We Exist", and "Here Comes The Night Time". The album and band achieved elite status for me with "Reflektor" and "Afterlife". "Reflektor" being a disco-infused seven minute roller-coaster ride of a song, while "Afterlife" being a great song that is unmatched in it's lyricism. The entire album is a successful experiment with Arcade Fire's most daring attempt yet singing about things like writings by Kierkegaard and morality.

Legacy of Album: James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem brings the element of dance music that fit pretty naturally with Arcade Fire at the time before they went a bit too far on their latest album.

#24. Lana Del Rey - Norman Fucking Rockwell - 2019



Favorite Tracks: "The Greatest", "Venice Bitch" & "Norman Fucking Rockwell"

What I Said At The Time: Lana Del Rey is known for making subtle yet significant shifts in her sound from album to album but, there was nothing subtle about the abrasively titled Norman Fucking Rockwell. She went straight for the jugular on the opening, Grammy Nominated title-track with the words "Goddamn manchild, you fucked me so good that I almost said I Love You" and besides the Ultraviolence-on-LSD "Venice Bitch", the entire album is Lana Del Rey: Lounge Singer For The End Of The World... Now featuring piano ballads! After six very good albums in an eight year span, Lana has reached a place in her career where she's finally getting the recognition she deserved with her debut, Born To Die and she can do whatever the fuck she wants, just look at the album title.

Legacy of Album: The Lana Del Rey album that sold critics on her being an all-time great really underscores what a fantastic eight-year stretch this has been for her, with NFR being a perfect culmination.

#23. Kanye West - Yeezus - 2013



Favorite Tracks: "Blood On The Leaves", "New Slaves", "Bound 2 (ft. Charlie Wilson)"

What I Said At The Time: Yeezus is either going to be one of your favorite albums ever or one of your most hated albums ever. For me, it's the most innovative and revolutionary thing to come out in 2013. As with most Kanye West albums, he is reshaping the entire genre of rap and hip-hop as he's been doing consistently well for the past decade. If you are not open to liking Yeezus then you should prepare to fall out of love with the rap/hip hop genre over the next few years. Every rap album that has been released since June 18th, 2013 has had a track that could be described as "Yeezus-like" including most of Pusha T's My Name Is My Name, Beyonce's "Ghost", Childish Gambino's "Zealots of Stockholm" and many more. It's the most exciting and drastic change-of-pace yet in the best career for any music artist this century. Don't think that just because the man is marrying Kim Kardashian that Kanye West has completely lost his mind. He's just more self-aware in terms of media perception than he ever will be. His complete lack of caring what the paparazzi thinks about him is going to ruffle some feathers but frankly, why should it? The only people that care about what Kanye is throwing in the trash at 4 A.M. are Kanye and the paparazzi. It's nothing the public needs to know about and it's an invasion of privacy. Yeezus is maybe not the album the world wanted, but it's the album the world needed. In a year where racial slurs were highly debated and the whole conversation of race changed as people are beginning to realize that racism is very-much alive just hidden from national media in most cases until the Trayvon Martin case. Songs like "New Slaves" where it's made perfectly clear that there is a new sense of racism in the consumerism and classism, are what make Yeezus such a phenomenal album. Kanye West is full of himself, what rapper isn't? BUT the one thing that is incredibly misunderstood is why he titled the album Yeezus and why he compares himself to the 3 Michael's (Jackson, Tyson, Jordan). Kanye compares himself to those 3 at the top of their games and it's not inaccurate in any way yet Kanye does this because he just wants to spread self-confidence across the nation. Kanye grew up very self-conscious and he doesn't want any other kid to go through that and with songs on this album, he just wants people to feel better about themselves. Yeezus is basically the album that everyone should look up on Rapgenius.com before they die. Every track is a trip through Kanye's mind and career, culminating with "Bound 2". "Bound 2" is a soulful track featuring Uncle Charlie Wilson and shows that finally, Kanye is happy with everything he was upset with up to this point. He's getting married, he's a dad, and it looks like he may make a return to earlier radio-friendly Kanye West music with his new found optimism. It's still possible that he could make a Yeezus 2 but either way, I'm incredibly excited for what is next.

Legacy of Album: The album that solidified this generation's rappers as the modern day versions of past generations' rock stars. 

#22. Bon Iver - I,i - 2019



Favorite Tracks: "Hey, Ma", "Faith" & "U (Man Like)"

What I Said At The Time: In a year of my personal favorites refining their sounds, Bon Iver did something pretty cool (and they weren't the only ones) by combining his nonsensical/mysterious 22:A Million lyrics with songs that could have easily come off of 2011's Bon Iver, Bon Iver. This album has every emotion packed into it, every type of Bon Iver song tucked inside at under forty minutes and it sounds like the more matured version of 2016's erratic yet innovative 22AM.."Hey, Ma" is perhaps the best song of 2019 not to get a spot on my Top 40 Songs list because of it's lack of a music video and the stretch from track #4 to track #9 on this album is unmatched by any other seemingly randomly generated track list.

Legacy of Album: Perfect culmination of sounds from prior Bon Iver records thrown into their finest work yet.

#21. Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly - 2015




Favorite Tracks: "The Blacker The Berry", "Alright" & "u"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: The most glaring omission from the Bla Blog era of end-of-year countdowns was this masterpiece of a rap album missing my Top 20 of 2015 because "it lagged for a couple of songs". It's still not my favorite Kendrick album but, there is no denying TPAB's legacy, impact or best tracks defining the time. None of the songs lag for me now.

#20. Sylvan Esso - What Now - 2017



Favorite Tracks: "The Glow", "Rewind" & "Signal"

What I Said At The Time: One of the few albums I actually purchased a physical copy of in 2017, the synthpop duo goes twice as heavy on the synths and the pop on their second album, What Now. At times, this album is a party that demands the listener to dance like they've never danced before while at other times, songs like "Song" and "The Glow" kick in a layer of instant nostalgia that make me believe this album will be in my rotation for years to come.

Legacy of Album: Sylvan Esso unexpectedly outdid their debut with this concise, moody masterpiece of a follow-up.

#19. Paramore - Paramore - 2013



Favorite Tracks: "Be Alone", "Last Hope" & "Still Into You"

What I Said At The Time: Paramore have always been one of my favorite bands. With that said, they escalated up to a whole new level with their self-titled album Paramore. Paramore gives the band 2 perfect albums now along with 2009's Brand New Eyes. Instead of focusing on rock ballads, Paramore just decided to have fun with their three remaining members and dipped their fit into pop-rock, alt-rock, and plain old rock-rock. It's a perfectly constructed album from beginning to end with interludes featuring Hayley Williams singing over a ukulele.

Legacy of Album: No weak points in this album that used it's interludes perfectly to hint at what a future Hayley Williams solo project might sound like.

#18. Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition - 2016



Favorite Tracks: "Ain't It Funny", "When It Rain" & "Really Doe (ft. Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul & Earl Sweatshirt)"

What I Said At The Time: Rap game's Chris Griffin embraces chaos on the first album that sees the Detroit rapper reach his full potential with his wide range of electronic influences.

Legacy of Album: An experimental rap album that used it's excessive sampling budget to the fullest extent.

#17. Big Boi - Vicious Lies & Dangerous Rumors - 2012



Favorite Tracks: "Lines (ft. A$AP Rocky & Phantogram)", "She Hates Me (ft. Kid Cudi)" & "Shoes For Running (ft. B.o.B. & Wavves)"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: Sir Luscious Left Foot guided his listeners on a tour through indie/alternative music with a shockingly well-produced, nostalgic, underrated gem in his second solo effort.

#16. Lorde - Pure Heroine - 2013



Favorite Tracks: "Royals", "Ribs" & "Buzzcut Season"

What I Said At The Time: 'Twas the year of incredibly simple album covers. New Zealand rookie Lorde was either the most relatable songwriter of 2013 or the most pretentious. I think we've all universally agreed that she's just a teenager and therefor incredibly relatable as everyone is a teenager at some point. With dark, smoky vocals reminiscent of Lana Del Rey, Lorde's debut album Pure Heroine was heavily praised and almost universally agreed as a top 20 album of 2013.

Legacy of Album: A stellar debut that features the greatest individual three-song stretch of any album in the 2010s with the aforementioned favorite tracks.

#15. Billie Eilish - When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? - 2019



Favorite Tracks: "Wish You Were Gay", "Bad Guy" & "Bury A Friend"

What I Said At The Time: Lorde's Pure Heroine was the best debut album from a pop artist in the 2010s until Billie Eilish and her producer brother, Finneas stepped into the ring with this year's When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? The album isn't as lyrically deep from Eilish but, the catchiness, the boldness and the unique production on each song up until the last four "cool down" tracks is particularly spectacular to witness from someone who was just 17-years old when her debut dropped. Finneas's part in this album cannot be overemphasized enough, there's sounds of broken glass shards, swords, The Office and it is a well-mixed project that still manages to showcase Eilish's quieter vocals. Some have determined her to be THE future of music when in all likelihood, just like Lorde, she'll be her own special thing that begins to show off some of her inspirations in sound and becomes a slightly more niche act going forward. The first post-WWAFAWDWG single "Everything I Wanted" is a sign that she's not done being different.

Legacy of Album: The best debut album from a pop soloist features some of the zaniest production choices in both quiet ballads and chart-dominating smash hits.

#14. Troye Sivan - Bloom - 2018

Favorite Tracks: "My My My!", "Animal" & "The Good Side"

What I Said At The Time: Pop music is no longer popular because of how similar all of it sounds and how similar all of the topics are in those songs. Bloom was the only pop album that felt like a huge deal in both the build-up and release of the album. With "My My My!" (my #2 song of the year) coming out in January, the hype just kept mounting behind this album until it's eventual release on the last Friday of August. Incredibly, Sivan's second album exceeded expectations as he matured dramatically since his first album (2015's Blue Neighborhood). Not only is he openly singing about other men on basically every song but, there's songs referencing the features he liked most in his possible partners (think the "buzzcut" line in "My My My!"), a song about an encounter with a much older man when Troye was just 17 ("Seventeen") and a song directly in-your-face about gay sex (The title track). This album is a hell of a ride with sad songs that are actually sad and upbeat pop songs that should have dominated the charts and radio this year because of some tremendous storytelling.

Legacy of Album: One of the greatest LGBTQ+ albums of all-time, seemingly shunned by national radio despite being a perfect pop album.

#13. Beyonce’ - Lemonade - 2016



Favorite Tracks: "Hold Up", "Formation" & "Sorry"

What I Said At The Time: The soundtrack for an HBO short film of the same name, Beyonce' somehow topped her self-titled 2013-14 project with this deeply honest look into her personal life that had the nation talking for eight months. There are some really tremendous musical moments here as well since she digs into multiple genres (including country!) while getting grittier vocals and more poetry than ever before from music's biggest star.

Legacy of Album: Beyonce flexes her creativity muscles on this highlight in one of the greatest pop careers ever.

#12. The 1975 - A Brief Inquiry To Online Relationships - 2018



Favorite Tracks: "Love It If We Made It", "The Man Who Married A Robot/Love Theme" & "Sincerity Is Scary"

What I Said At The Time: I never saw this one coming. The 1975 were an average band to me in 2013, as I gave their self-titled debut album a B- (Promising but, nothing truly special yet) and their second still-obnoxiously-titled second album a C+ (Didn't care for the direction they were going sonically and thought the lyrics were a step down also). Typically, there is some sign that a band or artist is going to have an all-timer of an album but... nobody saw the modern pop version of whichever Radiohead album you want to compare this one to. (OK Computer was the one NME went with.) The album deals with addiction, insecurities and (as hinted at by the title) relationships in 2018 with technology as a variable.

Legacy of Album: The soundtrack to our oncoming apocalypse solidified The 1975 as the most relevant band heading into 2020.

#11. Tyler, The Creator - IGOR - 2019



Favorite Tracks: "What's Good?", "New Magic Wand", "Earfquake (ft. Playboi Carti & Charlie Wilson)

What I Said At The Time: No musician better crafted a culmination of their prior work into a completely new project this year than Tyler, The Creator. The lyrics were at times lonely and longing for a past love like 2017's Scum Fuck Flower Boy and at other moments, aggressive and toxic as all hell like all of Tyler's previous work, most common in instrumentation being 2015's Cherry Bomb. IGOR sees Tyler "Create" (oh shit, I did it) another alter-ego in the titular character, a man dumped by... I can only assume Timothee' Chalamet, who expresses his shock and awe and depression over the first half of the album on songs like "EARFQUAKE". After that, he goes between denial, trying not to fall back into love with the ex and ultimately, moves on. There is no more perfect final track this year than "Are We Still Friends?" and there was no better concept album than IGOR. The man literally switched it up on us and SANG for 10 out of 12 tracks after rapping and producing for both rappers and singers all decade.

Legacy of Album: Years of being an internet troll led Tyler to pulling his mask off on Flower Boy and putting a different mask on (that of Igor), the mask of a man going through heartbreak on his most cohesive record to date.

#10. Beach House - 7 - 2018



Favorite Tracks: "Dive", "Dark Spring" & "Woo"

What I Said At The Time: Seven albums in and Beach House is still finding ways to make similar sounds just unfamiliar enough to still sound fresh and exciting. 7 is the first Beach House record that could be played at a party or during a complete breakdown and it would fit either scenario. It's just a gorgeous album with gorgeous, sometimes eerie sounds guiding the music on every song to an explosive conclusion. It may not have been the most enthralling album with smash hit after smash hit (only one song on my end-of-year Top 40 among the three songs with official videos) but, there is not a single weak spot or interlude to 7 with all 11 tracks being highlights in a long career for the band and in my opinion, that makes this the Album of the Year for 2018.

Legacy of Album: They had yet to make a bad record but, being so chill could get repetitive. On 7, Beach House gets a lot more eclectic in sound from track-to-track while still relaxed by Victoria Legrand's vocals on Beach House's seventh and finest album.

#9. Santigold - Master Of My Make-Believe - 2012



Favorite Tracks: "The Keepers", "Fame" & "Disparate Youth"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: Forgotten over time, Santigold had two of the best albums between this and her debut during the indie renaissance of the late 00's and early 10's. It's not my favorite album of all-time like I thought the first time I listened to it in it's entirety, but it's still really fun and fresh today.

#8. Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d City - 2012



Favorite Tracks: "Sing About Me, I'm Dying Of Thirst", "The Art Of Peer Pressure" & "m.A.A.d City (ft. MC Eiht)"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: Still Kendrick's best project to date with his finest storytelling as the listener learns about the man himself over an album co-signed by Dr. Dre early on.

#7. St. Vincent - Masseduction - 2017



Favorite Tracks: "Happy Birthday, Johnny", "Slow Disco" & "Sugarboy"

What I Said At The Time: On her fifth studio album, Annie Clark took her alternative rock sound and mashed it together with Jack Anotonoff's successful pop production and made one of the quirkiest albums of 2017. There were concerns that Antonoff would lead St. Vincent down the wrong path and that this might be her first dud of an album but, this album is still pure Annie Clark with a higher price spent on production and more pianos than any previous St. Vincent record. I seriously doubted she would ever top 2011's Strange Mercy or even the Talking Heads-inspired dive into a more electronic sound that was 2014's St. Vincent but, Masseduction tops them all with a record that makes Clark sound like a dominatrix with a broken heart after her relationship with actress Cara Delevingne ended in the three years since her last album. Clark has now entered the tier of elite musicians that are deserving of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame honors.

Legacy of Album: Combining elements of Jack Antonoff's songwriting, Annie Clark's writing & production plus a very artsy roll-out, St. Vincent went for it and delivered on a gawdy alternative record that is just as much a continuation of her venture into pop music as it is another experimental rock album from the Texas musician.

#6. Vampire Weekend - Father Of The Bride - 2019

Favorite Tracks: "Harmony Hall", "Unbearably White" & "Sympathy"

What I Said At The Time: At the end of the day, IGOR is the best album and this is simply my "TOP" album of the year. Father Of The Bride has my favorite song of 2019 in "Harmony Hall" and sounds so uniquely different on a track-to-track basis. There are high-quality, classic Vampire Weekend-sounding songs on here but, there's a ton of experimentation from an otherwise predictable band to this point in their career. "Sunflower" is the scatting, bass-heavy music that singer Ezra Koenig clearly embraced on his 2014 SBTRKT featured "New Dorp. New York.". "Sympathy" is the pulsating, children's choir sampling music that sounds like Paul Simon's best song to date (until you've heard "Harmony Hall"). "2021" is a Bon Iver song with more focused lyrics. Ultimately, this is the most divisive Vampire Weekend record and the thing that sold it for me was that there are no dull moments, no matter how many times one listens over an 18-track span. In a surprise to absolutely no one, Danielle Haim collaborated with Koenig and crew on their fourth studio album and perfectly harmonizes on songs like "This Life" and "Married In A Gold Rush". Their vocals evoke memories of James Taylor and Carole King and help guide the general dad-rock vibe of the entire chill, mostly upbeat record. It's Taylor/King meets Jimmy Buffett and I really hope I'm nailing home the Boomer comparisons here because they made an album for all generations. Father Of The Bride ends on the perfect note with the first truly classic Vampire Weekend-sounding song on the entire album with "Jerusalem, New York, Berlin", a song that brings them back to their homeland of New York City.

Legacy of Album: Vampire Weekend released their most divisive record here, going relaxed dad-rock when everyone was expecting a bit more political "wokeness" and while that element is slightly blended into their best song ("Harmony Hall"), it's still their finest record to date by not growing tiresome over eighteen tracks with some Danielle Haim sprinkled in to keep it as what it is, a very fun and sometimes groovy Vampire Weekend album. 

#5. Frank Ocean - Channel Orange - 2012

Favorite Tracks: "Bad Religion", "Pink Matter (ft. Andre 3000)" & "Forrest Gump"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: The best debut album from anyone this decade. The only reason the wait for the overrated and disappointing Blonde was as big as it had been was because of how damn good Channel Orange is.

#4. Lorde - Melodrama - 2017



Favorite Tracks: "Writer In The Dark", "Perfect Places" & "Liability"

What I Said At The Time: An album that was well worth the four-year wait, Lorde enlisted upon Jack Antonoff to help create one of the most fun pop records of the decade. Don't get  fooled by all of the hype surrounding the banger of a track that is "Green Light", there is real depth to this album as well on a moving track like "Liability" and the Kate Bush-inspired "Writer In The Dark". There's a reason Melodrama is universally agreed upon as an Album of the Year candidate and the Grammy's even agreed to nominate it.

Legacy of Album: Gets better with every listen, the best pop album of the 2010s from a young, exciting star in the making.

#3. Car Seat Headrest - Teens Of Denial - 2016



Favorite Tracks: "The Ballad Of Costa Concordia", "Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales" & "Fill In The Blank"

What I Said At The Time: Will Toledo and company have worked their musical asses off since they first formed in 2010 as Car Seat Headrest, releasing 12 albums on Bandcamp to a fairly small audience. All of that hard work culminated in their first album with a record label (13th overall!), Teens Of Denial. Considering the length of this album, they've created an album full of "Freebird"'s. It is hard to pull off a series of 5-minute tracks without having any fluff but, they pulled it off as multiple tracks like "Vincent" and "The Ballad Of Costa Concordia" build and build and build to an epic conclusion that makes the time spent listening all worth it. Teens Of Denial is my album of the year because it has such a Strokes-meets-"Freebird"-meets-Talking Heads vibe, all while having such a DIY attitude and basically being a debut into the limelight, that it is the most perfectly crafted project of 2016.

Legacy of Album: It's hard to think of a better album to jam out to during a long car ride from this past decade because there probably isn't one. This is the best rock album of the 2010s.

#2. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs - 2010



Favorite Tracks: "The Suburbs", "We Used To Wait" & "Month Of May"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: Another album that has grown on me with each listen. It's hard to imagine packing as much nostalgia and a variety of quality instrumentation into one perfectly-wrapped project like Arcade Fire did here on their third album.

#1. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - 2010

Favorite Tracks: "Runaway (ft. Pusha T)", "Lost In The World (ft. Bon Iver & Alicia Keys)" & "Dark Fantasy (ft. Nicki Minaj & Alicia Keys)"

What I Said At The Time: N/A

Legacy of Album: The reason we give as many fucks about Kanye West as we do is because at the time, when his life seemingly could not appear more tumultuous, he dropped the perfect album, song-by-song, each Friday and delivered an instant classic on every single song. The accompanying Runaway short-film is fascinating in it's cinematography and Kanye's performance of "Runaway" at the VMAs is still the most memorable VMA performance of my lifetime (apologies to Britney Spears). The A.V. Club, Billboard, Cleveland.com, Complex and Rolling Stone all agree with me for a reason, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is the best album of the 2010's.