Year-End Lists

Stereogum: 50 Best Albums of 2015

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Art Angels
   Grimes
2. To Pimp A Butterfly
   Kendrick Lamar
3. E•MO•TION
   Carly Rae Jepsen
4. Summertime ’06
   Vince Staples
5. Carrie & Lowell
   Sufjan Stevens
6. Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
   Courtney Barnett
7. Painted Shut
   Hop Along
8. I Want to Grow Up
   Colleen Green
9. Simple Songs
   Jim O’Rourke
10. New Bermuda
    Deafheaven
11. In Colour
    Jamie xx
12. I Love You, Honeybear
    Father John Misty
13. Harmlessness
    The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die
14. Apocalypse, Girl
    Jenny Hval
15. Currents
    Tame Impala
16. Surf
    Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment
17. The Most Lamentable Tragedy
    Titus Andronicus
18. DS2
    Future
19. Ivy Tripp
    Waxahatchee
20. Rose Mountain
    Screaming Females
21. Ratchet
    Shamir
22. Divers
    Joanna Newsom
23. The Magic Whip
    Blur
24. The Children of the Night
    Tribulation
25. If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late
    Drake
26. Natalie Prass
    Natalie Prass
27. No Cities To Love
    Sleater-Kinney
28. O.K.
    Eskimeaux
29. Sun Coming Down
    Ought
30. If I Was
    The Staves
31. Something More Than Free
    Jason Isbell
32. The Offer
    Yowler
33. Every Open Eye
    Chvrches
34. Anareta
    Horrendous
35. The Epic
    Kamasi Washington
36. SremmLife
    Rae Sremmurd
37. All Are Saved
    Fred Thomas
38. Vulnicura
    Björk
39. Teens of Style
    Car Seat Headrest
40. Sprained Ankle
    Julien Baker
41. Before the World Was Big
    girlpool
42. Fading Frontier
    Deerhunter
43. Traveller
    Chris Stapleton
44. Foil Deer
    Speedy Ortiz
45. Viet Cong
    Viet Cong
46. Joy, Departed
    Sorority Noise
47. Depression Cherry
    Beach House
48. B’lieve I’m Goin Down…
    Kurt Vile
49. Garden of Delete
    Oneohtrix Point Never
50. Have You In My Wilderness
    Julia Holter

Uncut Magazine: 75 Best Albums of 2015

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012]

1. Have You In My Wilderness
   Julia Holter
2. To Pimp A Butterfly
   Kendrick Lamar
3. Carrie & Lowell
   Sufjan Stevens
4. Primrose Green
   Ryley Walker
5. I Love You, Honeybear
   Father John Misty
6. Currents
   Tame Impala
7. Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
   Courtney Barnett
8. Natalie Prass
   Natalie Prass
9. Key Markets
   Sleaford Mods
10. Music Complete
    New Order
11. Vulnicura
    Björk
12. Multi-Love
    Unknown Mortal Orchestra
13. Simple Songs
    Jim O’Rourke
14. Songs To Play
    Robert Forster
15. Something More Than Free
    Jason Isbell
16. Loyalty
    The Weather Station
17. The Magic Whip
    Blur
18. Star Wars
    Wilco
19. From Kinshasa
    Mbongwana Star
20. Platform
    Holly Herndon
21. Sound & Color
    Alabama Shakes
22. Y Dydd Olaf
    Gwenno
23. No Cities To Love
    Sleater-Kinney
24. Still
    Richard Thompson
25. Grey Tickles, Black Pressure
    John Grant
26. Divers
    Joanna Newsom
27. In Colour
    Jamie xx
28. Ba Power
    Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba
29. B’lieve I’m Goin Down…
    Kurt Vile
30. The Epic
    Kamasi Washington
31. Morning / Evening
    Four Tet
32. Universal Themes
    Sun Kil Moon
33. Fresh Blood
    Matthew E. White
34. FFS
    FFS
35. White Men Are Black Men Too
    Young Fathers
36. Poison Season
    Destroyer
37. Ones and Sixes
    Low
38. Nashville Obsolete
    Dave Rawlings Machine
39. Saturns Pattern
    Paul Weller
40. Shadows In The Night
    Bob Dylan
41. On Your Own Love Again
    Jessica Pratt
42. Let the Good Times Roll
    J.D. McPherson
43. Perpetual Motion People
    Ezra Furman
44. Short Movie
    Laura Marling
45. Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper
    Panda Bear
46. The Longest River
    Olivia Chaney
47. Wildheart
    Miguel
48. The Waterfall
    My Morning Jacket
49. Music In Exile
    Songhoy Blues
50. Stuff Like That There
    Yo La Tengo
51. Algiers
    Algiers
52. In the Pink of Condition
    H. Hawkline
53. Hairless Toys
    Róisín Murphy
54. Israel Nash’s Silver Season
    Israel Nash
55. The Monsanto Years
    Neil Young & Promise of the Real
56. Fading Frontier
    Deerhunter
57. Honeymoon
    Lana Del Rey
58. Fuzz II
    Fuzz
59. From Here
    Stick in the Wheel
60. The Little Prayers Trilogy
    Chip Taylor
61. Summertime ’06
    Vince Staples
62. The Most Lamentable Tragedy
    Titus Andronicus
63. Sour Soul
    BADBADNOTGOOD & Ghostface Killah
64. What the World Needs Now…
    Public Image Ltd.
65. Constant Bop
    Bop English
66. No Song, No Spell, No Madrigal
    The Apartments
67. Good Sad Happy Bad
    Micachu & The Shapes
68. Lost Time
    Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin
69. Strangers to Ourselves
    Modest Mouse
70. Man It Feels Like Space Again
    Pond
71. Hermits On Holiday
    Drinks
72. Pylon
    Killing Joke
73. Southland Mission
    Phil Cook
74. Crosseyed Heart
    Keith Richards
75. Loin Des Hommes (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
    Nick Cave & Warren Ellis

Q Magazine: Top 50 Albums Of 2015

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

1. Currents
   Tame Impala
2. Have You In My Wilderness
   Julia Holter
3. In Colour
   Jamie xx
4. The Magic Whip
   Blur
5. Music Complete
   New Order
6. Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
   Courtney Barnett
7. B’lieve I’m Goin Down…
   Kurt Vile
8. Short Movie
   Laura Marling
9. To Pimp A Butterfly
   Kendrick Lamar
10. How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful
    Florence + The Machine
11. I Love You, Honeybear
    Father John Misty
12. What Went Down
    Foals
13. Divers
    Joanna Newsom
14. Key Markets
    Sleaford Mods
15. Born Under Saturn
    Django Django
16. Wildheart
    Miguel
17. Chasing Yesterday
    Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds
18. Morning / Evening
    Four Tet
19. Compton
    Dr. Dre
20. Get To Heaven
    Everything Everything
21. Sub-Lingual Tablet
    The Fall
22. Matador
    Gaz Coombes
23. Hinterland
    LoneLady
24. Universal Themes
    Sun Kil Moon
25. Saturns Pattern
    Paul Weller
26. Born in the Echoes
    The Chemical Brothers
27. Marks to Prove It
    The Maccabees
28. Every Open Eye
    Chvrches
29. Grey Tickles, Black Pressure
    John Grant
30. Perpetual Motion People
    Ezra Furman
31. Wire
    Wire
32. Drones
    Muse
33. Natalie Prass
    Natalie Prass
34. FFS
    FFS
35. No Cities To Love
    Sleater-Kinney
36. On Your Own Love Again
    Jessica Pratt
37. West Kirby County Primary
    Bill Ryder-Jones
38. Coming Home
    Leon Bridges
39. Hairless Toys
    Róisín Murphy
40. Carrie & Lowell
    Sufjan Stevens
41. Star Wars
    Wilco
42. Are You Satisfied?
    Slaves
43. Communion
    Years & Years
44. My Love Is Cool
    Wolf Alice
45. The Day Is My Enemy
    The Prodigy
46. Danger in the Club
    Palma Violets
47. Y Dydd Olaf
    Gwenno
48. From Kinshasa
    Mbongwana Star
49. Highest Point in Cliff Town
    Hooton Tennis Club
50. Another One
    Mac DeMarco

American Songwriter: Top 50 Albums of 2015

[see also 2023 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Traveller
   Chris Stapleton
2. Sprinter
   TORRES
3. Something More Than Free
   Jason Isbell
4. Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
   Courtney Barnett
5. Complicated Game
   James McMurtry
6. High on Tulsa Heat
   John Moreland
7. Star Wars
   Wilco
8. Faith In the Future
   Craig Finn
9. Natalie Prass
   Natalie Prass
10. Carrie & Lowell
    Sufjan Stevens
11. To Pimp A Butterfly
    Kendrick Lamar
12. Every Open Eye
    Chvrches
13. Little Neon Limelight
    Houndmouth
14. B’lieve I’m Goin Down…
    Kurt Vile
15. Imaginary Man
    Rayland Baxter
16. Pageant Material
    Kacey Musgraves
17. All Your Favorite Bands
    Dawes
18. The Blade
    Ashley Monroe
19. Servant of Love
    Patty Griffin
20. Sermon on the Rocks
    Josh Ritter
21. Sound & Color
    Alabama Shakes
22. All These Dreams
    Andrew Combs
23. Nashville Obsolete
    Dave Rawlings Machine
24. The Most Lamentable Tragedy
    Titus Andronicus
25. Terraplane
    Steve Earle & The Dukes
26. If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late
    Drake
27. The Deslondes
    The Deslondes
28. The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us
    Beach Slang
29. All a Man Should Do
    Lucero
30. Coming Home
    Leon Bridges
31. Second Hand Heart
    Dwight Yoakam
32. How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful
    Florence + The Machine
33. Untethered Moon
    Built to Spill
34. Fading Frontier
    Deerhunter
35. Honeymoon
    Lana Del Rey
36. On Your Own Love Again
    Jessica Pratt
37. The Traveling Kind
    Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell
38. The Waterfall
    My Morning Jacket
39. For Use and Delight
    Promised Land Sound
40. Feels Like
    Bully
41. In The Blazes
    Aaron Lee Tasjan
42. 25
    Adele
43. Pacific Surf Line
    GospelbeacH
44. I Love You, Honeybear
    Father John Misty
45. Wake
    Nora Jane Struthers
46. The Phosphorescent Blues
    Punch Brothers
47. The Trackless Woods
    Iris DeMent
48. Didn’t He Ramble
    Glen Hansard
49. No Cities To Love
    Sleater-Kinney
50. Create Your Own Mythology
    Kristin Diable

Mojo Magazine: 50 Best Albums of 2015

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Have You In My Wilderness
   Julia Holter
2. To Pimp A Butterfly
   Kendrick Lamar
3. Music Complete
   New Order
4. Currents
   Tame Impala
5. Simple Songs
   Jim O’Rourke
6. West Kirby County Primary
   Bill Ryder-Jones
7. Music In Exile
   Songhoy Blues
8. From Kinshasa
   Mbongwana Star
9. Key Markets
   Sleaford Mods
10. Carrie & Lowell
    Sufjan Stevens
11. Shadows In The Night
    Bob Dylan
12. Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
    Courtney Barnett
13. Ones and Sixes
    Low
14. No Cities To Love
    Sleater-Kinney
15. Nothing Important
    Richard Dawson
16. Black Messiah
    D’Angelo and The Vanguard
17. Highest Point in Cliff Town
    Hooton Tennis Club
18. The Magic Whip
    Blur
19. Divers
    Joanna Newsom
20. Allas sak
    Dungen
21. Still
    Richard Thompson
22. White Men Are Black Men Too
    Young Fathers
23. Grey Tickles, Black Pressure
    John Grant
24. Matador
    Gaz Coombes
25. Saturns Pattern
    Paul Weller
26. Star Wars
    Wilco
27. Coming Home
    Leon Bridges
28. Fresh Blood
    Matthew E. White
29. I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside: An Album
    Earl Sweatshirt
30. Who Is The Sender?
    Bill Fay
31. Perpetual Motion People
    Ezra Furman
32. In Colour
    Jamie xx
33. Chasing Yesterday
    Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds
34. Something More Than Free
    Jason Isbell
35. Anthems For Doomed Youth
    The Libertines
36. I Love You, Honeybear
    Father John Misty
37. For Use and Delight
    Promised Land Sound
38. Hinterland
    LoneLady
39. Crosseyed Heart
    Keith Richards
40. Sound & Color
    Alabama Shakes
41. The Epic
    Kamasi Washington
42. A Fool To Care
    Boz Scaggs
43. Uptown Special
    Mark Ronson
44. Primrose Green
    Ryley Walker
45. Beauty Behind the Madness
    The Weeknd
46. Goon
    Tobias Jesso Jr.
47. Fading Frontier
    Deerhunter
48. Rattle That Lock
    David Gilmour
49. Ibeyi
    Ibeyi
50. B’lieve I’m Goin Down…
    Kurt Vile

Pazz & Jop: Top 100 Albums of 2014 (an annual poll of critics, published by The Village Voice)

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

1. Black Messiah
   D’Angelo and The Vanguard
2. Run the Jewels 2
   Run the Jewels
3. Lost in the Dream
   The War on Drugs
4. St. Vincent
   St. Vincent
5. LP1
   FKA twigs
6. Metamodern Sounds In Country Music
   Sturgill Simpson
7. 1989
   Taylor Swift
8. Burn Your Fire For No Witness
   Angel Olsen
9. They Want My Soul
   Spoon
10. Transgender Dysphoria Blues
    Against Me!
11. Rips
    Ex Hex
12. Platinum
    Miranda Lambert
13. You’re Dead!
    Flying Lotus
14. Broke With Expensive Taste
    Azealia Banks
15. Are We There
    Sharon Van Etten
16. Morning Phase
    Beck
17. Syro
    Aphex Twin
18. Benji
    Sun Kil Moon
19. To Be Kind
    Swans
20. Sunbathing Animal
    Parquet Courts
21. Our Love
    Caribou
22. Ultraviolence
    Lana Del Rey
23. Brill Bruisers
    The New Pornographers
24. Attica!
    Wussy
25. My Krazy Life
    YG
26. The Voyager
    Jenny Lewis
27. Manipulator
    Ty Segall
28. Too Bright
    Perfume Genius
29. Nikki Nack
    Tune-Yards
30. Singles
    Future Islands
31. Popular Problems
    Leonard Cohen
32. It’s Album Time
    Todd Terje
33. The River & the Thread
    Rosanne Cash
34. SUCKER
    Charli XCX
35. Piñata
    Freddie Gibbs & Madlib
36. Under Color of Official Right
    Protomartyr
37. Here and Nowhere Else
    Cloud Nothings
38. Somewhere Else
    Lydia Loveless
39. Seeds
    TV on the Radio
40. Ruins
    Grouper
41. The Future’s Void
    EMA
42. Atlas
    Real Estate
43. The Bootleg Series, Vol. 11: The Basement Tapes Complete
    Bob Dylan & The Band
44. Lazaretto
    Jack White
45. Tha Tour Part 1
    Rich Gang
46. In Conflict
    Owen Pallett
47. The Pinkprint
    Nicki Minaj
48. Alvvays
    Alvvays
49. Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone
    Lucinda Williams
50. Deep Fantasy
    White Lung
51. Lese Majesty
    Shabazz Palaces
52. Pom Pom
    Ariel Pink
53. Beyoncé
    Beyoncé
54. Salad Days
    Mac DeMarco
55. Ryan Adams
    Ryan Adams
56. Foundations of Burden
    Pallbearer
57. Say Yes To Love
    Perfect Pussy
58. Soused
    Scott Walker & Sunn O)))
59. The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas
    Courtney Barnett
60. Sylvan Esso
    Sylvan Esso
61. lullaby and… The Ceaseless Roar
    Robert Plant
62. Blank Project
    Neneh Cherry
63. Most Messed Up
    Old 97’s
64. Small Town Heroes
    Hurray for the Riff Raff
65. Turn Blue
    The Black Keys
66. Bestial Burden
    Pharmakon
67. 1000 Forms of Fear
    Sia
68. Love, Marriage & Divorce
    Toni Braxton & Babyface
69. American Middle Class
    Angaleena Presley
70. Songs of Innocence
    U2
71. Honest
    Future
72. Dark Comedy
    Open Mike Eagle
73. Aquarius
    Tinashe
74. The London Sessions
    Mary J. Blige
75. I Never Learn
    Lykke Li
76. Lateness of Dancers
    Hiss Golden Messenger
77. In the Lonely Hour
    Sam Smith
78. Faith In Strangers
    Andy Stott
79. Hypnotic Eye
    Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
80. Typical System
    Total Control
81. Way Out Weather
    Steve Gunn
82. Do to the Beast
    The Afghan Whigs
83. English Oceans
    Drive-By Truckers
84. Black Metal
    Dean Blunt
85. Black Portland
    Young Thug & Bloody Jay
86. Everyday Robots
    Damon Albarn
87. Clearing the Path to Ascend
    YOB
88. Food
    Kelis
89. Benjamin Booker
    Benjamin Booker
90. Warpaint
    Warpaint
91. Give the People What They Want
    Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
92. New Gods
    Withered Hand
93. Everything Will Be Alright In the End
    Weezer
94. Beauty & Ruin
    Bob Mould
95. The Outsiders
    Eric Church
96. Stay Gold
    First Aid Kit
97. Cilvia Demo
    Isaiah Rashad
98. GIRL
    Pharrell Williams
99. Dude Incredible
    Shellac
100. Hell Can Wait
     Vince Staples

The Quietus: Top 100 Albums of 2014

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Unflesh
   Gazelle Twin
2. Soused
   Scott Walker & Sunn O)))
3. To Be Kind
   Swans
4. Total Strife Forever
   East India Youth
5. Angels & Devils
   The Bug
6. Preternaturals
   Grumbling Fur
7. Pipes
   Katie Gately
8. Futurology
   Manic Street Preachers
9. The Power and the Glory
   Perc
10. Meshes of Voice
    Jenny Hval & Susanna
11. LP1
    FKA twigs
12. Untune
    Zamilska
13. Black/White
    Innercity Ensemble
14. Wait ’til Night
    Cooly G
15. Blacknecks 006
    Blacknecks
16. The Underworld Service
    English Heretic
17. Piñata
    Freddie Gibbs & Madlib
18. Auferstehung
    OAKE
19. Ruins
    Grouper
20. Loor
    Kemper Norton
21. Benhayyi Al-Baghbaghan (Salute the Parrot)
    Maurice Louca
22. Faith In Strangers
    Andy Stott
23. Live At The Cairo High Cinema Institute
    EEK
24. The Silver Globe
    Jane Weaver
25. Acting The Rubber Pig
    Daniel Patrick Quinn
26. I Shall Die Here
    The Body
27. Public Domain Fuckover Series #1-6
    Chrononautz
28. Bestial Burden
    Pharmakon
29. Sukierae
    Tweedy
30. Flatland
    Objekt
31. Financial Glam
    Jar Moff
32. The Living Daylights
    Willie the Kid & Bronze Nazareth
33. Superimpositions
    Lorenzo Senni
34. Time To Die
    Electric Wizard
35. Ett
    Klara Lewis
36. Workshop 19
    Kassem Mosse
37. Precaution One
    Extreme Precautions
38. Beware The Fetish
    Kasai All Stars
39. I Modi
    Årabrot
40. Lament
    Einstürzende Neubauten
41. Nimrod
    The Inward Circles
42. Piano Nights
    Bohren & Der Club of Gore
43. Singles
    Future Islands
44. Estuary English
    Consumer Electronics
45. Stoner Rock
    Bong
46. N
    Nisennenmondai
47. Present Tense
    Wild Beasts
48. Krai
    Olga Bell
49. Festival of the Dead
    Cut Hands
50. Angel Guts: Red Classroom
    Xiu Xiu
51. Ghettoville
    Actress
52. Clearing the Path to Ascend
    YOB
53. In Conflict
    Owen Pallett
54. Persona
    Puce Mary
55. Renzo Piano
    DonChristian
56. Ibibio Sound Machine
    Ibibio Sound Machine
57. KOCH
    Lee Gamble
58. The Death of Rave (A Partial Flashback)
    Leyland Kirby Presents V/Vm
59. Spectre
    Laibach
60. Dude Incredible
    Shellac
61. Weird Drift
    Heterotic
62. Mess
    Liars
63. Stein Urheim
    Stein Urheim
64. Unfidelity
    Ekoplekz
65. St. Vincent
    St. Vincent
66. Terrestrials
    Sunn O))) & Ulver
67. 37 Minute Work Out
    Russell Haswell
68. Tzenni
    Noura Mint Seymali
69. Shade Themes from Kairos
    Ambarchi / O’Malley / Dunn
70. Blasphemy
    Apollo Brown & Ras Kass
71. Burnt Offering
    The Budos Band
72. Melech
    Anat Ben-David
73. Process
    YVETTE
74. A Toothpaste Suburb
    Milo
75. Moloch
    Merkabah
76. L.A. Spark
    Wrangler
77. Selectadisc
    Ronika
78. Tomorrow Was the Golden Age
    Bing & Ruth
79. Broke With Expensive Taste
    Azealia Banks
80. Ineffable
    DJ Q
81. Why Do the Heathen Rage?
    The Soft Pink Truth
82. Hell Can Wait
    Vince Staples
83. Emmaar
    Tinariwen
84. In a Dream
    The Juan MacLean
85. Syro
    Aphex Twin
86. Toumani & Sidiki
    Toumani Diabaté & Sidiki Diabaté
87. Earth Air Spirit Water Fire
    Selim Lemouchi & His Enemies
88. The Satanist
    Behemoth
89. Then It All Came Down
    Wrekmeister Harmonies
90. Fumaça Preta
    Fumaça Preta
91. No Closure
    Merzbow, Scott Miller & Lee Camfield
92. Dark Pool
    Black Rain
93. Outside the Circle
    Anthroprophh
94. Gist Is
    Adult Jazz
95. A World Lit Only by Fire
    Godflesh
96. Mutations
    Obake
97. Clark
    Clark
98. Shunned House
    Joseph Curwen
99. Tether
    Echoes Of Yul
100. Fuck Off
     Good Throb

Antiquiet: 30 Best Albums of 2014

[see also 2013 • 2011]

1. Transgender Dysphoria Blues
   Against Me!
2. The Physical World
   Death from Above 1979
3. Crosses
   ††† (Crosses)
4. St. Vincent
   St. Vincent
5. Run the Jewels 2
   Run the Jewels
6. You’re Dead!
   Flying Lotus
7. Turn Blue
   The Black Keys
8. Fragments and Wholes, Vol.1
   Alain Johannes
9. Antemasque
   ANTEMASQUE
10. Monuments to an Elegy
    Smashing Pumpkins
11. Warpaint
    Warpaint
12. Lazaretto
    Jack White
13. Once More ‘Round the Sun
    Mastodon
14. Black Messiah
    D’Angelo and The Vanguard
15. Monuments
    Ume
16. Secret Evil
    Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas
17. In Humor and Sadness
    ’68
18. Crystalline
    Hark
19. Manipulator
    Ty Segall
20. Slow Phaser
    Nicole Atkins
21. Underworld
    Tuatara
22. Shady XV
    various artists
23. .5: The Gray Chapter
    Slipknot
24. Luminous
    The Horrors
25. Mariachi El Bronx (III)
    Mariachi El Bronx
26. Rave tapes
    Mogwai
27. Dirty Power
    Fartbarf
28. John Garcia
    John Garcia
29. Royal Blood
    Royal Blood
30. Salad Days
    Mac DeMarco

Sasha Frere-Jones of The New Yorker: 50 Most Impressive Albums of 2014 (listed chronologically within three tiers)

[see also 2022 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

holy cats

• Ghettoville
  Actress
• Morning Phase
  Beck
• Burn Your Fire For No Witness
  Angel Olsen
• Waterfall – EP
  Evian Christ
• Salad Days
  Mac DeMarco
• Under the Skin
  Mica Levi
• Are We There
  Sharon Van Etten
• Divide and Exit
  Sleaford Mods
• LP1
  FKA twigs
• Music for Touching
  Cookies
• KOCH
  Lee Gamble
• Too Bright
  Perfume Genius
• Run the Jewels 2
  Run the Jewels
• Ruins
  Grouper
• Xen
  Arca
• The Natural Order
  Fred Frith & John Butcher
• Black Messiah
  D’Angelo and The Vanguard

oh man

• Moodymann
  Moodymann
• Emmaar
  Tinariwen
• St. Vincent
  St. Vincent
• Hey
  Leif
• The Future’s Void
  EMA
• So It Goes
  Ratking
• Damsel in Distress
  Lotic
• Island Universe Story Three
  Helado Negro
• Sylvan Esso
  Sylvan Esso
• The Ambassador
  Gabriel Kahane
• Sunbathing Animal
  Parquet Courts
• Ishi
  M. Geddes Gengras
• Double Youth
  Helado Negro
• Social Rust
  PC Worship
• Anjou
  Anjou
• Queen of the Clouds
  Tove Lo
• Aquarius
  Tinashe
• Soused
  Scott Walker & Sunn O)))
• Sell Sole
  DeJ Loaf
• Intensity Ghost
  Chris Forsyth & The Solar Motel Band
• Hidden Cities
  Horse Lords
• Rich Nigga Timeline
  Migos
• Broke With Expensive Taste
  Azealia Banks
• Aerial
  Anna Thorvaldsdottir
• Faith In Strangers
  Andy Stott
• Ep01
  ALSO
• OG Maco
  Og Maco
• Feeling Romantic Feeling Tropical Feeling Ill
  Micachu
• Circuitous
  Afrikan Sciences
• Butterfly Effect
  Shinichi Atobe

wow

• Sun Structures
  Temples
• Preternaturals
  Grumbling Fur
• Young Hot Ebony
  Father

Cokemachineglow assembles a variety of ways to find some of the music their staff loved most this year. Below are the albums labeled “Unison” — representing the staff as a whole — but browse also their “Harmony” of individual voices.

[see also 2015 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

• Lese Majesty
  Shabazz Palaces
• LP1
  FKA twigs
• Are We There
  Sharon Van Etten
• The Moon Rang Like a Bell
  Hundred Waters
• Run the Jewels 2
  Run the Jewels
• Thirst 48
  Boogie
• To Be Kind
  Swans
• You’re Dead!
  Flying Lotus
• Gist Is
  Adult Jazz
• A Turn Of Breath
  Ian William Craig