Year-End Lists

A browsable archive of notable year-end lists. Follow the link for each list to see essential commentary from its author, at the source.
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Highlights

2010s Music

Spin: The 101 Best Albums Of The 2010s

30 June 2020

Spin: The 101 Best Albums Of The 2010s

[see also 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2012 • 2011]

  1. Anti
    Rihanna
  2. To Pimp A Butterfly
    Kendrick Lamar
  3. Shaking the Habitual
    The Knife
  4. Beyoncé
    Beyoncé
  5. Bangarang
    Skrillex
  6. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
    Kanye West
  7. Art Angels
    Grimes
  8. Invasion of Privacy
    Cardi B
  9. Modern Vampires of the City
    Vampire Weekend
  10. Whack World
    Tierra Whack
  11. Tunes 2011-2019
    Burial
  12. XXX
    Danny Brown
  13. Body Talk
    Robyn
  14. Sunbathing Animal
    Parquet Courts
  15. Nostalgia, Ultra
    Frank Ocean
  16. Double Cup
    DJ Rashad
  17. Celebration Rock
    Japandroids
  18. When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
    Billie Eilish
  19. We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service
    A Tribe Called Quest
  20. Treats
    Sleigh Bells
  21. Broke With Expensive Taste
    Azealia Banks
  22. Hell on Heels
    Pistol Annies
  23. Maya
    M.I.A.
  24. Pink Friday
    Nicki Minaj
  25. Product
    Sophie
  26. Sunbather
    Deafheaven
  27. Whokill
    Tune-Yards
  28. DS2
    Future
  29. El Mal Querer
    Rosalía
  30. Paramore
    Paramore
  31. Night Time, My Time
    Sky Ferreira
  32. The Voyager
    Jenny Lewis
  33. good kid, m.A.A.d city
    Kendrick Lamar
  34. No Cities To Love
    Sleater-Kinney
  35. A Seat at the Table
    Solange
  36. A Mulher do Fim do Mundo
    Elza Soares
  37. Speak Now
    Taylor Swift
  38. The Money Store
    Death Grips
  39. Sweetener
    Ariana Grande
  40. 1017 Thug
    Young Thug
  41. Nightmare Logic
    Power Trip
  42. Fin
    Syd
  43. Daytona
    Pusha T
  44. Everything in Between
    No Age
  45. House of Balloons
    The Weeknd
  46. For Those of You Who Have Never (And Also Those Who Have)
    Huerco S
  47. Purple Mountains
    Purple Mountains
  48. Born to Die
    Lana Del Rey
  49. Amusers and Puzzlers
    Sightings
  50. A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships
    The 1975
  51. Cuz I Love You
    Lizzo
  52. Haflat Gharbia: The Western Concerts
    Omar Souleyman
  53. The Dream Is Over
    PUP
  54. Blackheart
    Dawn Richard
  55. White Crosses
    Against Me!
  56. Room 25
    Noname
  57. Heartthrob
    Tegan and Sara
  58. Deeper Than Sky
    VHÖL
  59. Platinum
    Miranda Lambert
  60. 1000 gecs
    100 gecs
  61. Puberty 2
    Mitski
  62. The Idler Wheel…
    Fiona Apple
  63. Mena
    Javiera Mena
  64. Lemonade
    Beyoncé
  65. A Crow Looked at Me
    Mount Eerie
  66. Essential Mix (episode 22 July 2017)
    Honey Dijon
  67. Painted Shut
    Hop Along
  68. Femme Fatale
    Britney Spears
  69. Replica
    Oneohtrix Point Never
  70. Playboi Carti
    Playboi Carti
  71. The Navigator
    Hurray for the Riff Raff
  72. Born This Way
    Lady Gaga
  73. I Want to Grow Up
    Colleen Green
  74. Hiding Places
    Billy Woods & Kenny Segal
  75. Dirty Computer
    Janelle Monáe
  76. Opus
    Eric Prydz
  77. Young Enough
    Charly Bliss
  78. Devil Is Fine
    Zeal & Ardor
  79. Cosmogramma
    Flying Lotus
  80. Run the Jewels 2
    Run the Jewels
  81. Compilation (I, II & III)
    Sheer Mag
  82. You’re Not You Anymore
    Counterparts
  83. Love Yourself: Answer
    BTS
  84. Fear Biters
    Diaphragmatic
  85. This Land
    Gary Clark Jr.
  86. Jama Ko
    Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba
  87. mbv
    My Bloody Valentine
  88. Kindness for Weakness
    Homeboy Sandman
  89. The Nashville Sound
    Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit
  90. I Hate Music
    Superchunk
  91. Pop 2
    Charli XCX
  92. Blank Blank
    DaBaby
  93. Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
    Courtney Barnett
  94. Mutant
    Arca
  95. Home, Like Noplace Is There
    The Hotelier
  96. Coloring Book
    Chance The Rapper
  97. Malibu
    Anderson .Paak
  98. Halcyon Digest
    Deerhunter
  99. I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside: An Album
    Earl Sweatshirt
  100. Crazy for You
    Best Coast
  101. Take Care
    Drake

Jordan Cronk: 50 Favorite Albums of the 2010s

14 January 2020

Jordan Cronk: 50 Favorite Albums of the 2010s, as posted to Twitter

[see also 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016]

  1. Goodness
    The Hotelier
  2. The Seer
    Swans
  3. Viscera
    Jenny Hval
  4. A Crow Looked at Me
    Mount Eerie
  5. American Weekend
    Waxahatchee
  6. Black Up
    Shabazz Palaces
  7. Double Negative
    Low
  8. Paul's Tomb: A Triumph
    Frog Eyes
  9. Replica
    Oneohtrix Point Never
  10. Rival Dealer
    Burial
  11. There Is Love in You
    Four Tet
  12. Frozen Niagara Falls
    Prurient
  13. Going Places
    Yellow Swans
  14. Kaputt
    Destroyer
  15. Have One On Me
    Joanna Newsom
  16. Sunbather
    Deafheaven
  17. Before Today
    Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti
  18. Halcyon Digest
    Deerhunter
  19. Ravedeath, 1972
    Tim Hecker
  20. Shaking the Habitual
    The Knife
  21. Eye Contact
    Gang Gang Dance
  22. Past Life Martyred Saints
    EMA
  23. Public Strain
    Women
  24. In Colour
    Jamie xx
  25. Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides
    Sophie
  26. Vulnicura
    Björk
  27. Platform
    Holly Herndon
  28. Carrie & Lowell
    Sufjan Stevens
  29. Bish Bosch
    Scott Walker
  30. Syro
    Aphex Twin
  31. Does It Look Like I'm Here?
    Emeralds
  32. Quarantine
    Laurel Halo
  33. Celebration Rock
    Japandroids
  34. Let England Shake
    PJ Harvey
  35. Eccojams Vol. 1
    Chuck Person
  36. Visions
    Grimes
  37. Mines
    Menomena
  38. Blackstar
    David Bowie
  39. Are We There
    Sharon Van Etten
  40. Purple Mountains
    Purple Mountains
  41. Ruins
    Grouper
  42. Teen Dream
    Beach House
  43. Luxury Problems
    Andy Stott
  44. New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges
    Colin Stetson
  45. Ekstasis
    Julia Holter
  46. Kill for Love
    Chromatics
  47. Arca
    Arca
  48. mbv
    My Bloody Valentine
  49. Smoke Ring for My Halo
    Kurt Vile
  50. Clinging to a Scheme
    The Radio Dept.

A.A. Dowd: 100 Favorite Metal Albums of the Decade

02 January 2020

A.A. Dowd: 100 Favorite Metal Albums of the Decade, as posted to Twitter

  1. Kentucky
    Panopticon
  2. Marrow of the Spirit
    Agalloch
  3. Nux Vomica
    Nux Vomica
  4. All We Love We Leave Behind
    Converge
  5. Mirror Reaper
    Bell Witch
  6. Colored Sands
    Gorguts
  7. Spiral Shadow
    Kylesa
  8. Reflections of a Floating World
    Elder
  9. Teethed Glory and Injury
    Altar of Plagues
  10. De Vermis Mysteriis
    High on Fire
  11. Autumn Eternal
    Panopticon
  12. Surgical Steel
    Carcass
  13. Into the Lair of the Sun God
    Dawnbringer
  14. Värähtelijä
    Oranssi Pazuzu
  15. Harmonicraft
    Torche
  16. Aesthethica
    Liturgy
  17. Retrocausal
    Cleric
  18. Kvelertak
    Kvelertak
  19. Stranger Fruit
    Zeal & Ardor
  20. Blackjazz
    Shining
  21. Bleeder
    Mutoid Man
  22. A Gaze Among Them
    Big Brave
  23. Air
    Astronoid
  24. Only Love
    The Armed
  25. 777 - Sect(s)
    Blut Aus Nord
  26. 777 - The Desanctification
    Blut Aus Nord
  27. 777 - Cosmosophy
    Blut Aus Nord
  28. Sky Burial
    Inter Arma
  29. Gold
    Whores.
  30. Desire Will Rot
    Fuck the Facts
  31. Speak Loud Say Nothing
    Wizard Rifle
  32. Altra Mors
    Evoken
  33. Nightmare Logic
    Power Trip
  34. Foundations of Burden
    Pallbearer
  35. It's Hard to Have Hope
    Svalbard
  36. Lore
    Elder
  37. Electric Messiah
    High On Fire
  38. Eternal Return
    Windhand
  39. Nest
    Brutus
  40. Below the House
    Planning For Burial
  41. The Parallax II: Future Sequence
    Between the Buried and Me
  42. Adore
    Numenorean
  43. Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
    Deafheaven
  44. An Ache for the Distance
    The Atlas Moth
  45. Sentenced To Life
    Black Breath
  46. Infinite Dissolution
    Locrian
  47. Apex Predator - Easy Meat
    Napalm Death
  48. Meir
    Kvelertak
  49. Ex Eye
    Ex Eye
  50. Moksha
    Cloud Rat
  51. Agnus Dei
    The Secret
  52. Post Self
    Godflesh
  53. Paradise Gallows
    Inter Arma
  54. Slow Forever
    Cobalt
  55. Rotten Thing to Say
    Burning Love
  56. From All Purity
    Indian
  57. Bottom of the Morning
    Pinkish Black
  58. Caligula
    Lingua Ignota
  59. Indifferent Rivers Romance End
    Wreck and Reference
  60. All Fours
    Bosse-de-Nage
  61. Hiss Spun
    Chelsea Wolfe
  62. Gators Rumble, Chaos Unfurls
    Glorior Belli
  63. Ardor
    Big Brave
  64. Empros
    Russian Circles
  65. Esoteric Malacology
    Slugdge
  66. Pervertor
    Lord Mantis
  67. Seaweed
    Demonic Death Judge
  68. Sunbather
    Deafheaven
  69. The Oath
    The Oath
  70. Honor Found In Decay
    Neurosis
  71. Blood Drive
    ASG
  72. Devouring Radiant Light
    Skeletonwitch
  73. The Great Southern Darkness
    Glorior Belli
  74. Entrench
    KEN mode
  75. Want
    Wreck and Reference
  76. Utiltarian
    Napalm Death
  77. Nocebo
    Elizabeth Colour Wheel
  78. Roads to the North
    Panopticon
  79. The Beast You Are
    Big Business
  80. The World.The Flesh.The Devil
    In Solitude
  81. Rites of Separation
    Agrimonia
  82. Landless
    Eight Bells
  83. Pain Is a Warning
    Today Is the Day
  84. Final Transmission
    Cave In
  85. The Satanist
    Behemoth
  86. Beyul
    Yakuza
  87. Exhausting Fire
    Kylesa
  88. Contempt
    Couch Slut
  89. Down Below
    Tribulation
  90. Red Horse
    Early Graves
  91. Possession
    Christian Mistress
  92. Surface Noise
    Judiciary
  93. The Mother of Virtues
    Pyrrhon
  94. Vertikal
    Cult of Luna
  95. Rheia
    Oathbreaker
  96. Brotherhood of the Snake
    Testament
  97. Orange Mathematics
    Frontierer
  98. Curse of Conception
    Spirit Adrift
  99. Asylum
    Morne
  100. Patterns in Mythology
    Falls of Rauros
  101. Apocryphon
    The Sword
  102. One of Us Is the Killer
    The Dillinger Escape Plan

Mixmag: The 72 Best Albums of the Decade 2010-2019

31 December 2019

Mixmag: The 72 Best Albums of the Decade 2010-2019, listed "in year-by-year order"

The Wild Honey Pie: Top 50 Albums of the 2010s

30 December 2019

The Wild Honey Pie: Top 50 Albums of the 2010s

[see also 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016]

  1. Have One On Me
    Joanna Newsom
  2. Bon Iver
    Bon Iver
  3. Capacity
    Big Thief
  4. To Pimp A Butterfly
    Kendrick Lamar
  5. Lemonade
    Beyoncé
  6. 151A
    Kishi Bashi
  7. Carrie & Lowell
    Sufjan Stevens
  8. High Violet
    The National
  9. The Suburbs
    Arcade Fire
  10. Channel Orange
    Frank Ocean
  11. An Awesome Wave
    alt-J
  12. Sound & Color
    Alabama Shakes
  13. Currents
    Tame Impala
  14. Half-Light
    Rostam
  15. Days Are Gone
    Haim
  16. Modern Vampires of the City
    Vampire Weekend
  17. Masterpiece
    Big Thief
  18. Visions
    Grimes
  19. Cardinal
    Pinegrove
  20. Father, Son, Holy Ghost
    Girls
  21. In Colour
    Jamie xx
  22. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
    Kanye West
  23. Be the Cowboy
    Mitski
  24. Stranger in the Alps
    Phoebe Bridgers
  25. Are We There
    Sharon Van Etten
  26. A Seat at the Table
    Solange
  27. Crushing
    Julia Jacklin
  28. Lost in the Dream
    The War on Drugs
  29. Born to Die
    Lana Del Rey
  30. When I Get Home
    Solange
  31. DAMN.
    Kendrick Lamar
  32. Sylvan Esso
    Sylvan Esso
  33. Strange Mercy
    St. Vincent
  34. Go
    Jónsi
  35. Cuz I Love You
    Lizzo
  36. Teen Dream
    Beach House
  37. Plastic Beach
    Gorillaz
  38. Pure Heroine
    Lorde
  39. Ctrl
    SZA
  40. This Is Happening
    LCD Soundsystem
  41. Swing Lo Magellan
    Dirty Projectors
  42. The Wilds
    Henry Jamison
  43. Whack World
    Tierra Whack
  44. Golden Hour
    Kacey Musgraves
  45. Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
    Courtney Barnett
  46. Next Thing
    Frankie Cosmos
  47. Coexist
    The xx
  48. Nothing Was the Same
    Drake
  49. AM
    Arctic Monkeys
  50. Heard It In A Past Life
    Maggie Rogers

Atwood Magazine: The Best Albums of the Decade

29 December 2019

Atwood Magazine: The Best Albums of the Decade

[see also 2021]

Revolver: 25 Best Albums of the 2010s

23 December 2019

Revolver Magazine: 25 Best Albums of the 2010s

[see also 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017]

  1. Diamond Eyes
    Deftones
  2. L’Enfant Sauvage
    Gojira
  3. Fear Inoculum
    Tool
  4. Infestissumam
    Ghost
  5. Emperor of Sand
    Mastodon
  6. Firepower
    Judas Priest
  7. Sunbather
    Deafheaven
  8. Surgical Steel
    Carcass
  9. The Satanist
    Behemoth
  10. Resolution
    Lamb of God
  11. Koloss
    Meshuggah
  12. 13
    Black Sabbath
  13. Hardwired… to Self-Destruct
    Metallica
  14. The Pale Emperor
    Marilyn Manson
  15. Nightmare
    Avenged Sevenfold
  16. We Are Not Your Kind
    Slipknot
  17. Forever
    Code Orange
  18. All We Love We Leave Behind
    Converge
  19. One of Us Is the Killer
    The Dillinger Escape Plan
  20. Honor Found In Decay
    Neurosis
  21. Atonement
    Killswitch Engage
  22. Hiss Spun
    Chelsea Wolfe
  23. Purple
    Baroness
  24. Low Teens
    Every Time I Die
  25. A Different Shade of Blue
    Knocked Loose

Robert Christgau: Dean's List 2010s

21 December 2019

Robert Christgau: Dean's List 2010s

[see also 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2012]

  1. How I Got Over
    The Roots
  2. Thelonious Sphere Monk
    Mas-T
  3. American Honey (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
    various artists
  4. When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
    Billie Eilish
  5. Room 25
    Noname
  6. Dark Matter
    Randy Newman
  7. Heart of a Dog
    Laurie Anderson
  8. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
    Kanye West
  9. A Crow Looked at Me
    Mount Eerie
  10. We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service
    A Tribe Called Quest
  11. Americana
    Neil Young & Crazy Horse
  12. Hokey Fright
    The Uncluded
  13. Whack World
    Tierra Whack
  14. Attica!
    Wussy
  15. Nostalgia, Ultra
    Frank Ocean
  16. Funeral Dress II
    Wussy
  17. Maya
    M.I.A.
  18. Estudando a Bossa: Nordeste Plaza
    Tom Zé
  19. Anti
    Rihanna
  20. Sounds of the Syrian Houran
    Dabke
  21. Whiteout Conditions
    The New Pornographers
  22. To Pimp A Butterfly
    Kendrick Lamar
  23. Modern Vampires of the City
    Vampire Weekend
  24. Strawberry
    Wussy
  25. Relax
    Das Racist

Slant: The 100 Best Albums of the 2010s

20 December 2019

Slant Magazine: The 100 Best Albums of the 2010s

[see also 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

  1. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
    Kanye West
  2. To Pimp A Butterfly
    Kendrick Lamar
  3. Norman Fucking Rockwell!
    Lana Del Rey
  4. St. Vincent
    St. Vincent
  5. Body Talk
    Robyn
  6. Modern Vampires of the City
    Vampire Weekend
  7. Channel Orange
    Frank Ocean
  8. DAMN.
    Kendrick Lamar
  9. Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
    Courtney Barnett
  10. 1989
    Taylor Swift
  11. Let England Shake
    PJ Harvey
  12. A Moon Shaped Pool
    Radiohead
  13. The ArchAndroid
    Janelle Monáe
  14. Devotion
    Jessie Ware
  15. Art Angels
    Grimes
  16. Kill for Love
    Chromatics
  17. Melodrama
    Lorde
  18. Born to Die
    Lana Del Rey
  19. LP1
    FKA twigs
  20. Born This Way
    Lady Gaga
  21. Lemonade
    Beyoncé
  22. E•MO•TION
    Carly Rae Jepsen
  23. Wounded Rhymes
    Lykke Li
  24. Teen Dream
    Beach House
  25. True Romance
    Charli XCX
  26. Black Messiah
    D’Angelo and The Vanguard
  27. Dirty Computer
    Janelle Monáe
  28. Ghosteen
    Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
  29. A Seat at the Table
    Solange
  30. Honey
    Robyn
  31. Pure Heroine
    Lorde
  32. They Want My Soul
    Spoon
  33. The Haunted Man
    Bat for Lashes
  34. Ctrl
    SZA
  35. Carrie & Lowell
    Sufjan Stevens
  36. Something To Tell You
    HAIM
  37. We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service
    A Tribe Called Quest
  38. Summertime ’06
    Vince Staples
  39. Blackstar
    David Bowie
  40. Black Up
    Shabazz Palaces
  41. Yeezus
    Kanye West
  42. Magdalene
    FKA twigs
  43. Strange Mercy
    St. Vincent
  44. The Suburbs
    Arcade Fire
  45. The Idler Wheel…
    Fiona Apple
  46. Golden Hour
    Kacey Musgraves
  47. This Is Happening
    LCD Soundsystem
  48. Anima
    Thom Yorke
  49. The Ghosts of Highway 20
    Lucinda Williams
  50. Blond
    Frank Ocean
  51. Settle
    Disclosure
  52. Hive Mind
    The Internet
  53. Lost in the Dream
    The War on Drugs
  54. Take Care
    Drake
  55. I Love You, Honeybear
    Father John Misty
  56. Swing Lo Magellan
    Dirty Projectors
  57. Cupid Deluxe
    Blood Orange
  58. Invasion of Privacy
    Cardi B
  59. Utopia
    Björk
  60. A Sailor’s Guide to Earth
    Sturgill Simpson
  61. Tough Love
    Jessie Ware
  62. Brothers
    The Black Keys
  63. Skeleton Tree
    Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
  64. 4:44
    JAY-Z
  65. Treats
    Sleigh Bells
  66. Need to Feel Your Love
    Sheer Mag
  67. Whokill
    Tune-Yards
  68. Wildheart
    Miguel
  69. (II)
    Crystal Castles
  70. Purple Mountains
    Purple Mountains
  71. Be the Cowboy
    Mitski
  72. Shaking the Habitual
    The Knife
  73. Celebration Rock
    Japandroids
  74. Bon Iver
    Bon Iver
  75. Coloring Book
    Chance The Rapper
  76. The Most Lamentable Tragedy
    Titus Andronicus
  77. Hell on Heels
    Pistol Annies
  78. Trouble Will Find Me
    The National
  79. You Want It Darker
    Leonard Cohen
  80. Vulnicura
    Björk
  81. Master of My Make-Believe
    Santigold
  82. 50 Song Memoir
    The Magnetic Fields
  83. Smother
    Wild Beasts
  84. House of Balloons
    The Weeknd
  85. The Practice of Love
    Jenny Hval
  86. Knock Knock
    DJ Koze
  87. Run the Jewels 2
    Run the Jewels
  88. reputation
    Taylor Swift
  89. Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
    M83
  90. Kaputt
    Destroyer
  91. Caution
    Mariah Carey
  92. On A Mission
    Katy B
  93. The Epic
    Kamasi Washington
  94. Flower Boy
    Tyler, The Creator
  95. Syro
    Aphex Twin
  96. James Blake
    James Blake
  97. Real Life Is No Cool
    Lindstrøm & Christabelle
  98. Electric
    Pet Shop Boys
  99. U.F.O.F.
    Big Thief
  100. Life Is Easy
    Bright Light Bright Light

Variety: Chris Willman: The Best Albums of the 2010s

20 December 2019

Chris Willman: The Best Albums of the 2010s, as published by Variety

[see also 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018]

  1. 1989
    Taylor Swift
  2. By The Way, I Forgive You
    Brandi Carlile
  3. When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
    Billie Eilish
  4. Lemonade
    Beyoncé
  5. Same Trailer Different Park
    Kacey Musgraves
  6. Whiteout Conditions
    The New Pornographers
  7. St. Vincent
    St. Vincent
  8. Look Now
    Elvis Costello & The Imposters
  9. Mental Illness
    Aimee Mann
  10. You Want It Darker
    Leonard Cohen

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