Sasha Frere-Jones: 100 Favorite Albums of 2016. See his spreadsheet for color codes and tiers; we’ve separated anything highlighted with “fire engine red,” which means “an exceptional thing.” Otherwise, albums are listed chronologically.
[see also 2018, 2017, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011]
- David Bowie — Blackstar
- Yves De Mey — Drawn with Shadow Pens
- Rihanna — Anti
- Kendrick Lamar — Untitled Unmastered
- Emmy the Great — Second Love
- Sunwatchers — Sunwatchers
- Metá Metá — MM3
- Beyoncé — Lemonade
- Radiohead — A Moon Shaped Pool
- Chance The Rapper — Coloring Book
- Horse Lords — Interventions
- Autechre — elseq 1-5
- Abul Mogard — Works
- Mitski — Puberty 2
- Margaret Glaspy — Emotions and Math
- 75 Dollar Bill — Wood / Metal / Plastic / Pattern / Rhythm / Rock
- The Avalanches — Wildflower
- Vince Staples — Prima Donna
- Julius Eastman — Femenine
- Helado Negro — Private Energy
- Sleaford Mods — T.C.R.
- A Tribe Called Quest — We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service
- Mika Vainio — Mannerlaatta
- Air Cushion Finish — Flink
exceptional
- Roly Porter — Third Law
- Wet — Don’t You
- Meyers — Negative Space (1981–2014)
- SUGAI KEN — On the Quakefish
- Clark — The Last Panthers
- Vijay Iyer & Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith — A Cosmic Rhythm with Each Stroke
- Jan St. Werner — Felder (Fiepblatter Catalogue #4)
- Lucy Dacus — No Burden
- Tashi Dorji & Shane Parish — Expecting
- Chris Abrahams — Fluid to the Influence
- Tim Hecker — Love Streams
- ROM — Possible Mountain
- Cate Le Bon — Crab Day
- Jochen Arbeit, Günter Schickert & Schneider TM — ASS
- You’re Me — Plant Cell Division
- Aesop Rock — The Impossible Kid
- Driftmachine — Colliding Contours
- Julianna Barwick — Will
- Jim O’Rourke — Steamroom 29
- Maren Morris — Hero
- Xenia Rubinos — Black Terry Cat
- Paul Simon — Stranger to Stranger
- Boobs of DOOM — (((WHITE NOISE)))
- Brandy Clark — Big Day in a Small Town
- KAYTRANADA — 99.9%
- Swans — The Glowing Man
- David Toop — Entities Inertias Faint Beings
- Jeff Parker — The New Breed
- Blood Orange — Freetown Sound
- Noname — Telefone
- M. Geddes Gengras — Interior Architecture
- Unearth Noise — Prayer and Resonance
- TOBACCO — Sweatbox Dynasty
- Convextion — 2845
- Aethenor — Hazel
- Isaiah Rashad — The Sun’s Tirade
- Princess Nokia — 1992
- Daniel Lanois — Goodbye to Language
- Jan Jelinek & Masayoshi Fujita — Schaum
- Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds — Skeleton Tree
- Biosphere — Departed Glories
- Danny Brown — Atrocity Exhibition
- Luisa Maita — Fio da Memória
- Solange — A Seat at the Table
- Innercity Ensemble — III
- Monolake — VLSI
- Hanno Leichtmann / Valerio Tricoli — The Future of Discipline
- The Orb — COW / Chill Out, World!
- Swet Shop Boys — Cashmere
- Botany — Deepak Verbera
- Kassem Mosse — Disclosure
- Leonard Cohen — You Want It Darker
- D.R.A.M. — Big Baby D.R.A.M.
- Weyes Blood — Front Row Seat to Earth
- Faka — Bottoms Revenge
- Casino Versus Japan — Frozen Geometry
- NxWorries — Yes Lawd!
- Ricardo Villalobos & Oren Ambarchi — Hubris Variation
- Jay Glass Dubs — New Teeth for an Old Country
- Mantra Percussion — Michael Gordon: Timber Remixed
- various artists — Greek Composers of Electronic Music in Sci Fi Soundscapes
- Qasim Naqv — Chronology
- Streiber — The Whispering Awakening
- Hexa — Factory Photographs
- Oren Ambarchi — Hubris
- Willie Lane — A Pine Tree Shilling’s Worth of Willie Lane
- Miranda Lambert — The Weight of These Wings
- Radian — On Dark Silent Off
- Mirko — LP1
- Conrad Schnitzler & Pyrolator — Con-Struct
- Pinkcourtesyphone — Taking into Account Only a Portion of Your Emotions
- Mike Majkowski — Swimming in Light
- Demdike Stare — Wonderland
- Rob Noyes — The Feudal Spirit
- Sendai — Ground and Figure
- Cindytalk — The Labyrinth of the Straight Line