Year-End Lists

NPR Music: Best 50 Albums of 2016

[see also 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2015 • 2014 • 2012 • 2011]

1. A Seat at the Table
   Solange
2. Lemonade
   Beyoncé
3. Blackstar
   David Bowie
4. Blond
   Frank Ocean
5. 22, A Million
   Bon Iver
6. H. Abrahamsen: Let Me Tell You
   Barbara Hannigan, Andris Nelsons & Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
7. Malibu
   Anderson .Paak
8. Teens of Denial
   Car Seat Headrest
9. The Weight of These Wings
   Miranda Lambert
10. Coloring Book
    Chance The Rapper
11. Black Terry Cat
    Xenia Rubinos
12. Anti
    Rihanna
13. 99.9%
    KAYTRANADA
14. American Band
    Drive-By Truckers
15. A Moon Shaped Pool
    Radiohead
16. Lola
    Carrie Rodriguez
17. We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service
    A Tribe Called Quest
18. The Dreaming Room
    Laura Mvula
19. David T. Little: Dog Days
    James Bobick, Marnie Breckenridge, Cherry Duke, John Kelly, Michael Marcotte, Newspeak, Alan Pierson, Peter Tantsits & Lauren Worsham
20. Midwest Farmer’s Daughter
    Margo Price
21. I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It
    The 1975
22. Telefone
    Noname
23. Habib Galbi
    A-Wa
24. Jeffery
    Young Thug
25. My Woman
    Angel Olsen
26. Arbina
    Noura Mint Seymali
27. HEAVN
    Jamila Woods
28. Emily’s D+Evolution
    Esperanza Spalding
29. Puberty 2
    Mitski
30. EARS
    Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith
31. Masterpiece
    Big Thief
32. Hopelessness
    ANOHNI
33. Shift
    Logan Richardson
34. The Bird & the Rifle
    Lori McKenna
35. Chopin: Mazurkas
    Pavel Kolesnikov
36. Hero
    Maren Morris
37. Sound of Red
    René Marie
38. Cardinal
    Pinegrove
39. Charlene
    Tweet
40. Silver Tears
    Aaron Lee Tasjan
41. Darraje
    Carl Gari & Abdullah Miniawy
42. Pure Disgust
    Pure Disgust
43. The Very Last Day
    Parker Millsap
44. Christopher Rouse: Odna Zhizn, Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 and Prospero’s Rooms
    New York Philharmonic & Alan Gilbert
45. Kiid
    Mal Devisa
46. Fallen
    Steven Julien
47. Ojos Del Sol
    Y La Bamba
48. Genesis
    Domo Genesis
49. A Sailor’s Guide to Earth
    Sturgill Simpson
50. Harlem on My Mind
    Catherine Russell