Another year in the books and a ton of music has been added to the catalog of sonic enlightenment. These 50 albums were my favorites this year, and it’s fine if you don’t agree. I continue to try to branch out some, but my wheelhouse is pretty well-defined at this point. You’ll notice a lot of the stuff near the top is familiar territory for me, with perhaps one or two exceptions.
Some things that surprised me this year: The triumphant return of Razorlight, the vocals on that Dirty Projectors record, how watered down mainstream rap has become, the willingness of publications to undermine their integrity with clickbait like putting Ariana Grande’s album Sweetener in their top ten albums of the year, that Prince’s Piano And A Microphone album didn’t end up in my top 50, and that Drake continues to dominate the charts despite not releasing a good album since Take Care.
50. We Were Promised Jetpacks-The More I Sleep the Less I Dream
49. Katie Toupin-Moroccan Ballroom
48. Lindi Ortega-Liberty
47. H.C. McEntire-Lionheart
46. The Summervilles-All Is Lost
45. Daniel Ellsworth & The Great Lakes-Fashion
44. Rhye-Blood
43. Denzel Curry-Ta13OO
42. Black Thought-Streams Of Thought Vol 1 & 2
41. Lauren Ruth Ward-Well Hell
40. Arkells-Rally Cry
39. Razorlight-Olympus Sleeping
38. Brandi Carlile-By The Way, I Forgive You
37. Screaming Females-All At Once
36. The Voidz-Virtue
35. Miya Folick-Premonitions
34. Anderson.PAAK-Oxnard
33. Hop Along-Bark Your Head Off, Dog
32. Villagers-The Art Of Pretending To Swim
31. Ric Wilson-Banba
30. Spiritualized-And Nothing Hurt
29. Joey Dosik-Inside Voice
28. Dan Rico-Dreamy
27. Slothrust-The Pact
26. Colter Wall-Songs Of The Plains
25. Kamasi Washington-Heaven & Earth
24. Okkervil River-In The Rainbow Rain
23. The Magic Numbers-Runaways
22. Natalie Prass-The Future And The Past
21. Robbie Fulks & Linda Gail Lewis-Wild! Wild! Wild!
20. St. Lenox-Ten Fables Of Young Ambition And Passionate Love
19. Saba-CARE FOR ME
18. Blood Orange-Negro Swan
17. Ike Reilly-Crooked Love
16. Mt Eerie-Now Only
15. Black Panther Soundtrack
14. The Dirty Projectors-Lamp Lit Prose
13. Jeff Tweedy-Warm
12. Haley Heynderickx-I Need To Start A Garden
11. Titus Andronicus-A Productive Cough
10. Khruangbin-Con Todo El Mundo
9. Ravyn Lenae-Crush
8. Hinds-I Don’t Run
7. Odetta Hartman-Old Rockhounds Never Die
6. First Aid Kit-Ruins
5. Tracyanne & Danny-Tracyanne & Danny
4. Sons Of An Illustrious Father-Deus Sex Machina: Or, Moving Slowly Beyond Nikola Tesla
3. Janelle Monáe-Dirty Computer
2. Bruce Springsteen-Springsteen On Broadway
1. Ezra Furman-Transangelic Exodus