Ten Favorite Albums of the Decade (2010-2019)

My knee-jerk list of my FAVORITE albums of the decade thus far:

1. Anderson .Paak, Malibu
2. Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, Self-titled
3. Haim, Days Are Gone
4. Kendrick Lamar, To Pimp a Butterfly
5. Vampire Weekend, Modern Vampires of the City
6. NAO, For All We Know
7. Alabama Shakes, Sound and Color
8. Beyonce, Lemonade
9. Carly Rae Jepsen, Emotion
10. Japandroids, Celebration Rock

11. St. Paul & the Broken Bones, Half the City
12. Sturgill Simpson, Metamodern Sounds in Country
13. Run the Jewels, RTJ2
14. Rosalía, El Mal Querer
15. Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, I Learned the Hard Way
16. SZA, ctrl
17. Sylvan Esso, self titled
18. Jamie xx, In Colour
19. Chance the Rapper, Coloring Book
20. Justin Timberlake, 20/20 Experience Pt 1
 
Here's version 1.0 of my top 10 (this really should be at least 20-25, 10 is not enough):

1 - Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me
2 - Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel…
3 - Frank Ocean - Channel Orange
4 - Grouper - Ruins
5 - Carly Rae Jepsen - Emotion
6 - SZA - Ctrl
7 - Chromatics - Kill For Love
8 - Kendrick Lamar - Good kid, m.A.A.d. City
9 - Frank Ocean - Blonde
10 - Real Estate - Days
 
Going through the years:

2010 - Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
2011 - Bon Iver - Bon Iver
2012 - Frank Ocean - Channel Orange
2013 - Vampie Weekend - Modern Vampire Of The City
2014 - The War On Drugs - Lost In The Dream
2015 - Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly
2016 - Bon Iver - 22, A Million
2017 - Moses Sumney - Aromanticism
2018 - Mitski - Be The Cowboy
2019 - Vampire Weekend - Father of the Bride

Thoughts: I didn't know I'd like Bon Iver that much and 2016-2018 in hindsight are rather weak years at the top (I like David Bowie's Blackstar and Kendrick's Damn, but they weren't quite the knockouts for me as their reputation suggests). Lots of good albums for those years, but picking a top album for those years was really tough. 2010-2015 really wasn't and my only real debate for that period was Bon Iver or PJ Harvey for 2011 and Frank or Kendrick for 2012. 2019 is already looking to be better than 2016-2018 since my top few so far this year would beat anything from those years.
 
wmeugene said:
Going through the years:

2010 - Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
2011 - Bon Iver - Bon Iver
2012 - Frank Ocean - Channel Orange
2013 - Vampie Weekend - Modern Vampire Of The City
2014 - The War On Drugs - Lost In The Dream
2015 - Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly
2016 - Bon Iver - 22, A Million
2017 - Moses Sumney - Aromanticism
2018 - Mitski - Be The Cowboy
2019 - Vampire Weekend - Father of the Bride

Thoughts: I didn't know I'd like Bon Iver that much and 2016-2018 in hindsight are rather weak years at the top (I like David Bowie's Blackstar and Kendrick's Damn, but they weren't quite the knockouts for me as their reputation suggests). Lots of good albums for those years, but picking a top album for those years was really tough. 2010-2015 really wasn't and my only real debate for that period was Bon Iver or PJ Harvey for 2011 and Frank or Kendrick for 2012. 2019 is already looking to be better than 2016-2018 since my top few so far this year would beat anything from those years.
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Right now, Father of the Bride is a top contender for my favorite of 2019.
 
my ol' musical mucker @AngryVal reminded me that i need to contribute to this...

i LOVE a list

year by year contemporaneous rankings:
2010: Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
2011: PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
2012: Frank Ocean - Channel Orange
2013: Arctic Monkeys - AM
2014: Beck - Morning Phase
2015: Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly
2016: David Bowie - Blackstar
2017: Father John Misty - Pure Comedy
2018: Pusha-T - Daytona
2019: The National - I Am Easy To Find

current working top 20...not including 2019 albums at this stage:
1: Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly (2015)
2: PJ Harvey - Let England Shake (2011)
3: Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010)
4: David Bowie - Blackstar (2016)
5: Neil Young - Le Noise (2010)
6: Pusha-T - Daytona (2018)
7: Frank Ocean - Channel Orange (2012)
8: Frank Ocean - Nostalgia, Ultra (2011)
9: Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool (2016)
10: Laura Marling - I Speak Because I Can (2011)
11: Arcade Fire - The Suburbs (2010)
12: Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel... (2012)
13: Gillian Welch - The Harrow & The Harvest (2011)
14: Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour (2014)
15: Father John Misty - Pure Comedy (2017)
16: Kendrick Lamar - untitled, unmastered (2011)
17: Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer (2018)
18: Kanye West with Jay-Z - Watch the Throne (2010)
19: LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening (2013)
20: Father John Misty - God's Favourite Customer (2018)

if i was to put my current 2019 #1 in there, i'd rank it btw kacey and fjm, and the little simz debut might be ahead of the yeezy / jigga record
 
So, I keep all my music in iTunes because I'm one of the few vestiges from the "download everything and don't solely rely on streaming" era. To start off the process of determining my favorite albums of the decade, I created a Smart Playlist that automatically grabbed every album in my library released between 2010 and 2019. All in all, somewhere in the range of 1500 albums. From there, I culled it SEVERELY - I removed every single album that I can't definitively say I love. Now, the list is down to... 250 albums.

Yeah, I'm gonna need some SERIOUS time to sort through all of this, so I'll be coming back to this thread with my top 10/25/whatever in a few months :P
 
wokeupnew said:
15 because 10 is not enough


1) A Winged Victory For The Sullen - A Winged Victory For The Sullen
2) The National - Trouble Will Find Me
3) Eluvium - Nightmare Ending
4) The Tallest Man On Earth - The Wild Hunt
5) Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell
6) Beach House - Bloom
7) The National - High Violet
8) Angel Olsen - My Woman
9) Wild Nothing - Nocturne
10) Titus Andronicus - The Monitor
11) Julie Byrne - Not Even Happiness
12) Japandroids - Celebration Rock
13) Alvvays - Alvvays
14) Laura Marling - Once I Was An Eagle
15) Saintseneca - Dark Arc
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I didn’t make my list as one album per year but now I’m interested in seeing how that would go...

2010: The Tallest Man on Earth - The Wild Hunt
2011: A Winged Victory For The Sullen - s/t
2012: Beach House - Bloom
2013: The National - Trouble Will Find Me
2014: Alvvays - Alvvays
2015: Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell
2016: Angel Olsen - My Woman
2017: Julie Byrne - Not Even Happiness
2018: Wild Nothing - Indigo
2019: Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising



BjorgenFjorgen said:
Looking at my current working list and I noticed the top of it is mostly dominated by albums from the early years of the decade. I wonder if I'll feel differently after listening to later albums for a few more years.
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Totally agree!

2010-2015 were crazy strong years for releases. I wonder if it’s because those albums stand up more over time. 2018 was a decent year but nothing made my regular list of top albums. Too soon to tell with 2019 as well.
 
BjorgenFjorgen said:
Looking at my current working list and I noticed the top of it is mostly dominated by albums from the early years of the decade. I wonder if I'll feel differently after listening to later albums for a few more years.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't say my list is dominated by albums from the early years but there's most definitely NOT an equal spread amongst years haha. For example, the amount of AMAZING albums that came out in 2010, 2012, 2015, and 2016 is just staggering. On the other hand, 2011 and 2013 are woefully under-represented in comparison (though they both still have at least a decent handful of great albums - I'm basing this off my 250-ish list, not my top 10). I'm interested to see how 2017-2019 albums fare - a lot of albums that dropped in 2017 still feel fairly new to me, so the recency is gonna work against their favor for the most part, and I've yet to hear anything from this year that I can say for-sure would make my top 25 (though like you said, that could change when a few years pass and we look at the whole of the 2010s retrospectively)
 
chrb98 said:
So, I keep all my music in iTunes because I'm one of the few vestiges from the "download everything and don't solely rely on streaming" era. To start off the process of determining my favorite albums of the decade, I created a Smart Playlist that automatically grabbed every album in my library released between 2010 and 2019. All in all, somewhere in the range of 1500 albums. From there, I culled it SEVERELY - I removed every single album that I can't definitively say I love. Now, the list is down to... 250 albums.

Yeah, I'm gonna need some SERIOUS time to sort through all of this, so I'll be coming back to this thread with my top 10/25/whatever in a few months :p
Click to expand...
My God I miss smart playlists. I had to rip a CD yesterday and I used my girlfriend's iTunes, what a flashback.
 
chrb98 said:
I wouldn't say my list is dominated by albums from the early years but there's most definitely NOT an equal spread amongst years haha. For example, the amount of AMAZING albums that came out in 2010, 2012, 2015, and 2016 is just staggering. On the other hand, 2011 and 2013 are woefully under-represented in comparison (though they both still have at least a decent handful of great albums - I'm basing this off my 250-ish list, not my top 10). I'm interested to see how 2017-2019 albums fare - a lot of albums that dropped in 2017 still feel fairly new to me, so the recency is gonna work against their favor for the most part, and I've yet to hear anything from this year that I can say for-sure would make my top 25 (though like you said, that could change when a few years pass and we look at the whole of the 2010s retrospectively)
Click to expand...
It's going to be an interesting process, that's for sure. I'm curious about my year and genre spreads, too.

wokeupnew said:
Totally agree!

2010-2015 were crazy strong years for releases. I wonder if it’s because those albums stand up more over time. 2018 was a decent year but nothing made my regular list of top albums. Too soon to tell with 2019 as well.
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Yeah, I'm pretty sure that for me it's mostly because those albums have had longer to marinate. Something like Owen Pallett's Heartland, which came out at the very beginning of the decade, I've probably listened to five times a year or more since it came out. That's a long time for something to set in and take on different shapes in my mind. It also doesn't hurt that when I think of albums like that, Age of Adz, and others, I immediately think of where I was in my life. College is a pretty nostalgia-inducing time for everyone. Hard to let some of that music go.
 
wmeugene said:
Going through the years:

2010 - Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
2011 - Bon Iver - Bon Iver
2012 - Frank Ocean - Channel Orange
2013 - Vampie Weekend - Modern Vampire Of The City
2014 - The War On Drugs - Lost In The Dream
2015 - Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly
2016 - Bon Iver - 22, A Million
2017 - Moses Sumney - Aromanticism
2018 - Mitski - Be The Cowboy
2019 - Vampire Weekend - Father of the Bride

Thoughts: I didn't know I'd like Bon Iver that much and 2016-2018 in hindsight are rather weak years at the top (I like David Bowie's Blackstar and Kendrick's Damn, but they weren't quite the knockouts for me as their reputation suggests). Lots of good albums for those years, but picking a top album for those years was really tough. 2010-2015 really wasn't and my only real debate for that period was Bon Iver or PJ Harvey for 2011 and Frank or Kendrick for 2012. 2019 is already looking to be better than 2016-2018 since my top few so far this year would beat anything from those years.
Click to expand...
This is very very close to my picks.

I'm planning on doing a best of the decade showcase on Instagram later this year, and a blog post with the 50 best of the decade in no particular order. I find it exceedingly hard to only formulate a top 10 of the last ten years of music so I'll go ahead and do my AOTY plus a potential runner up for each year.

2010:
Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,
Runner-up: Beach House - Teen Dream

2011:
Bon Iver - Bon Iver, Bon Iver,
Runner-up: Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues

2012:
Frank Ocean - Channel Orange,
Runner-up: Kendrick Lamar - Good Kid, Madd City

2013:
Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City,
Runner-up: Daft Punk - Random Access Memories

2014:
Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels 2,
Runner-up: The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream

2015:
Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly,
Runner-up: Tame Impala - Currents
(but also, holy shit, Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit and Think, Father John Misty - I Love You Honeybear, Sufjan Stevens - Carrie and Lowell, what a great year.)

2016:
Bon Iver - 22, A Million,
Runner-up: Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition

2017:
The War on Drugs - A Deeper Understanding,
Runner-up: Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked at Me

2018:
Beach House - 7,
Runner-up: Earl Sweatshirt - Some Rap Songs

2019 (so far obviously):
Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising,
Runner-up: Vampire Weekend - Father of the Bride

As i'm finishing this I realized I left out so many, ugh this is too hard.
 
yearly breakdown with the full benefit of hindsight...

2010
Arcade Fire - Suburbs
HM - Grinderman - Grinderman 2; The National - High Violet; Sun Kil Moon - Admiral Fell Promises

2011
Bill Callahan - Apocalypse
HM - Crooked Fingers - Breaks in the Armor; Bon Iver - Bon Iver; Frank Turner - England Keep My Bones

2012
Grizzly Bear - Shields
HM - Sea Wolf - Old World Romance; Aesop Rock - Skelethon; Bowerbirds - The Clearing

2013
Mark Kozelek & Jimmy LaValle - Perils from the Sea
HM - Ola Podrida - Ghosts Go Blind; Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Push the Sky Away; Bill Callahan -Dream River

2014
Sun Kil Moon - Benji
HM - Spoon - They Want My Soul; The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream; Jungle - Jungle

2015
Lower Dens - Escape From Evil
HM - Leon Bridges - Coming Home; El Vy - Return to the Moon; Lord Huron - Strange Trails

2016
Damien Jurado - Visions of Us On the Land
HM - Aesop Rock - Impossible Kid; Okkervil River - Away; Shearwater - Jet Plane and Oxbow

2017
The National - Sleep Well Beast
HM - Richard Edwards - Lemon Cotton Candy Sunset; Protomartyr - Relatives in Descent; Queens of the Stone Age - Villians

2018
Neko Case - Hell-On
HM - GoGo Penguin - A Humdrum Star; Nils Frahm - All Melody; Shaky Graves - Can't Wake Up

2019 (so far)
Craig Finn - I Need a New War
HM - Amon Tobin - Fear in a Handful of Dust; Norah Jones - Begin Again; Andrew Bird - My Finest Work Yet
 
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