Joey’s Top Ten Albums of 2020

Let’s get right to it, yeah?

Cursed By Calendar
Kiwi jr: Football Money

Big fan of Pavement and The Velvet Underground but tired of waiting for a new Parquet Courts? Well, do I have good news for you. Kiwi jr rereleased their debut this year and it’s just the thing to scratch the itch.

Even better, their second album comes out this month.

Listen: “Wicked Witches”

Cursed By Calendar
Kalie Shorr: Open Book

It was only a matter of time before an artist emerged who so obviously wore Taylor Swift’s influence, but Kalie Shorr’s debut (released late 2019 but given a great deluxe edition update last month) is also as fiery as early Miranda Lambert. Get in on the ground floor. Now.

Listen: “F U Forever”

10. Taylor Swift: evermore

It has a slightly lower batting average than folklore, but I still can’t enough of this side of her: doing what so many of us did this year, hitting pause, and staring unceasingly inward and looking back. Sometimes years. Sometimes generations.

Listen: “Gold Rush”

9. Beach Bunny: Honeymoon

Their debut sounds so effortless, but what takes it to the next level is just how much Lili Trifilio lets herself feel her songs, the ache in her voice as she sighs, “everything’s better in California.” And it gets in and out in just about one Wild Honey, brevity that’s all too rare these days.

Listen: “Ms. California”

8. Run the Jewels: RTJ4

Though their novelty has worn off, here they show us they can really keep this up forever, that they can keep making music that guides us to think deep and then properly channel our rage.

Listen: “JU$T”

7. HAIM: Women in Music Pt. III

After struggling to replicate the dynamite of the first half of Days Are Gone, Danielle Haim’s songwriting has taken a major leap forward, not only turning up the details in her trains of thought but also broadening stylistically. Women In Music Pt. III sounds like the Haim sisters going exploring. Look what they brought back.

Listen: “The Steps”

6. Lori McKenna: The Balladeer

No flash, all substance. Just storytelling chops for days. Even the sappiest track, “When You’re My Age,” might just end up getting you a little emotional when she dips the narrative another generation deeper.

Listen: “Marie”

5. Elizabeth Cook: Aftermath

It’s a little shocking that Elizabeth Cook lacks notoriety to the point where people aren’t giving Wikipedia pages to her new albums, because to my ears she keeps getting more intense, her lyrics both sharper and more beguiling. Stream Aftermath!

Listen: “Perfect Girls of Pop”

4. Waxahatchee: Saint Cloud

If her love songs sound a little sedate, it’s because Katie Crutchfield has been doing the hard work of kicking the substance abuse that she’s been singing about for the last decade. Of course she sounds exhausted, she’s climbed the mountain. It makes the twinges of joy she expresses as she looks out at the horizon just that much more meaningful.

Listen: “Fire”

3. Taylor Swift: folklore

Not quite the return to pop country I was hoping for, but I’m all for this detour, and even if there’s sometimes a little less bounce than I like from Taylor, her lyric sheets keep getting more and more incredible. Just look at the key change on “betty” or the prestige on “the last great american dynasty” (“and then it was bought by me”) and marvel at how effortlessly she keeps pulling out new tricks over three albums in just over a year. folklore is a strong case for Taylor Swift as the greatest American songwriter.

Listen: “Mirrorball”

2. Rina Sawayama: SAWAYAMA

Borrowing from Grimes and Gaga and putting out a better album than they ever have, Rina will often take a simple phrase (“shut the fuck up,” “who’s gonna save you now,” “I’m so confident,” “fuck this world, I’m leaving you”) and then building around that. But fuck a blueprint! Though she clearly has an ear for song structure, Rina isn’t exactly coloring inside the lines. Each track is entirely its own, and the chaos creates magnificent earned moments of sincerity in “Bad Friend” and the beautifully sappy “Chosen Family.”

Listen: “Paradisin'”

1. Fiona Apple: Fetch the Bolt Cutters

That’s four straight top of the line albums in four separate decades now. Here, Fiona expands on the ideas of “Hot Knife” and the children’s screams of “Werewolf,” giving us an album rooted not in melody but in percussion. There’s an almost improvised feel to a lot of this music, best exemplified by the tUnE-yArDs-esque outro to “Relay.” She’s coincidentally given us a homemade album that sure sounds like it during a time where that was the only place to be.

Her lyrics are deep and even inscrutably personal at times (“Hurricane Gloria in excelsis Deo” is literally her bird in her tree), but there’s a strong thread of thankfulness for women and rage on their behalf, from incalculable kindness of “Shameika” to the defiance of “Under the Table” onto the complicated emotions of shared secrets on “Newspaper” and finally the painful, horrifying climax of “For Her.”

There’s something about this music. Fiona Apple sounds so unrestrained and so comfortable, so confident that the world wants to hear her fucking scream “START IT OFF, START IT OFF, BABY, START IT OFF, START IT OFF, START IT OFF NOW!!!”

Pull up any one of her fantastic interviews from this album cycle. Read it. Turn this on. Enjoy her freedom.

Listen: “I Want You to Love Me”

Honorable Mentions, First Class:
Dua Lipa: Future Nostalgia
Jessie Ware: What’s Your Pleasure?
Billy Nomates: Billy Nomates
Flo Milli: Ho, Why Is You Here?
Dogleg: Melee
Lianne La Havas: Lianne La Havas
Phoebe Bridgers: Punisher
Chubby and the Gang: Speed Kills
Soccer Mommy: color theory
Juice WRLD: Legends Never Die
Bree Runway: 2000AND4EVA
Jeff Rosenstock: N O D R E A M

Honorable Mentions, Second Class:
Carly Rae Jepsen: Dedicated Side B
Grimes: Miss Anthropocene
Diet Cig: Do You Wonder About Me?
Hayley Williams: Petals for Armor
Miley Cyrus: Plastic Heart
Charli XCX: how i’m feeling now
Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist: Alfredo
Drakeo the Ruler & JoogSZN: Thank You For Using GTL
SPECIAL INTEREST: The Passion Of
City Girls: City On Lock
illuminati hotties: Free I.H.: This Is Not The One You’ve Been Waiting For
Open Mike Eagle: Anime, Trauma and Divorce
Touché Amoré: Lament
Adrianne Lenker: songs
Phoebe Bridgers: If We Make It Through December
The 1975: Notes on a Conditional Form
Hinds: The Prettiest Curse
The Beths: Jump Rope Gazers
Dramarama: Color TV
The Mountain Goats: Songs for Pierre Chuvin
Emperor X: United Earth League of Quarantine Aerobics
KeiyaA: Forever, Ya Girl
Lil Uzi Vert: Eternal Atake
Porridge Radio: Every Bad
Jay Electronica: A Written Testimony
Princess Nokia: Everything Is Beautiful
Bartees Strange: Live Forever
beabadoobee: Fake It Flowers
Ariana Grande: Positions
SAULT: Untitled (Black Is)
SAULT: Untitled (Rise)
Megan Thee Stallion: Bad News
amaarae: THE ANGEL YOU DON’T KNOW
Backxwash: God Has Nothing To Do With This And Leave Him Out Of It

Joey’s Top Ten Songs of 2020

Fuck 2020. Let’s get right to it. Songs are only eligible if they were first released in 2020.

Cursed By Calendar
Dua Lipa: “Don’t Star Now”

Though “Don’t Start Now” was released in late 2019, its quality became more evident than ever alongside the rest of the still-otherwise-excellent Future Nostalgia. “Don’t Start Now” is pop perfection, with producer Ian Kirkpatrick getting every moment just right.

10. Taylor Swift: “marjorie”

It’s certainly no surprise that Taylor Swift can make a tearjerker about one of the women in her family, but “The Best Day” was so heartrending because it was small and fragile and made you appreciate that the relationship was still in motion. But “marjorie” is no small, fragile song, it’s her biggest epic since “All Too Well,” at first a glorious tribute to her grandmother until the bridge takes it deeper: “I should have asked you questions/I should have asked you how to be.” The perfect song for a year when all our grandparents became more vulnerable than ever. Not everyone made it.

9. Jessie Ware: “Save A Kiss”

Jessie Ware’s best ever song takes a mundane moment in her domestic arrangement and turns it into everything.

8. Megan Thee Stallion (ft. Beyoncé): “Savage Remix”

It’s wild to think that Megan Thee Stallion is already threatening to conquer the world, finding herself in this year’s two bonafide event songs, and though “WAP” is wonderful, “Savage Remix” is the greater statement of that new power, complete with Queen Bey showing up to flex the rapping she developed on EVERYTHING IS LOVE.

7. Phoebe Bridgers: “Kyoto”

The Phoebe Bridgers song that’s least like the rest, “Kyoto” is a hazy romp through Phoebe’s insecurities about her own success and her rage towards her father. Yeah, that Copycat Killer version is pretty awesome, but I prefer the way the original is presented triumphantly, better encapsulating the contradicting feelings of the content.

6. The Chicks: “Gaslighter”

Not as important as “Goodbye Earl” or “Not Ready To Make Nice,” sure, but “Gaslighter” is the reborn Chicks’ tightest pop construction, and even at 50% the rage of “Goodbye Earl,” Natalie Maines’ ire is still inspirational.

5. The 1975: “If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)”

Despite Matt always overindulging his stranger ideas on the verses and threatening his songs’ universality, The 1975 can do the hell out of a chorus, and “If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)” is their greatest ever, the horns elevating the naughtiness to capture things far less specific than Facetiming.

4. Fiona Apple: “Shameika”

Yes, the key point is the power in small moments of solidarity among young women, but what sends “Shameika” over and above is that Fiona is wrong: she did see her again, “Shameika” unleashing an observer effect upon itself. The evolving story of “Shameika” resonates in a year where so many people focused inwards and took the time to look backwards

3. Will Butler: “Not Gonna Die”

The greatest Arcade Fire song in a decade is a little ill-timed. Outraged at the furor drummed up after the 2015 Paris Attacks, “Not Gonna Die” radically rejects any suspicion that your neighbor is going to kill you. Of course, the year is 2021, and for entirely different reasons your neighbor just might.

2. Emperor X: “The Ballad of HPAE Local 5058”

After a Super Tuesday that felt like the Red Wedding, this song about a New Jersey chapter of Health Professionals & Allied Employees was just about the only convincingly hopeful thing I heard all spring, the sort of hyperspecific song about political perseverance we honestly hear too few of.

1. Bree Runway (ft. Yung Baby Tate): “DAMN DANIEL”

The best song of 2020 ends up having little to do with this fucked to death year. For its first two minutes and fourteen seconds, it might actually sound more at home in the early 2000s (an album track or one of the lesser singles from some Missy Elliott album). Characters Keisha and Felicia each get their kicks with Danny before their worst suspicions about their lack of presence on his Instagram materialize.

Then 2:14 hits. Missy couldn’t do this.

They find power in their shared knowledge and spread the word to their community: If you fuck with him, he’ll fuck all your friends. Don’t trust the man!

They’re not sad for getting played. They’re finding enough joy in what revenge can be had.

Just a note on the Spotify playlist, my #2 song is not on the service, so make sure you listen to that separately.

One Week One Band: Alex Lahey

Back when Tumblr still mattered, One Week One Band was a fairly large deal. But it took me so many years later to finally realize I’d found an act that I both sufficiently loved and felt like, well, mine (who really needs to read more writing about The Clash?). So I spent a week in early August 2020 writing about Alex Lahey’s music. Links collected here for easy access.

1. “Awkward Exchange”
2. AL Loose Ends (part 1): “Air Mail”
3. B-Grade University
4. “You Don’t Think You Like People Like Me”
5. AL Loose Ends (part 2): Between The Kitchen And The Living Room
6. “Let’s Go Out”
7. AL Loose Ends (part 3): “Sucker For Punishment”
8. “Lotto In Reverse”
9. “I Don’t Get Invited To Parties Anymore”
10. The Best Of Luck Club
11. AL Loose Ends (part 4): “Welcome To The Black Parade”
12. “Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself”
13. The Top 20 Alex Lahey Songs

Joey’s Top 25 Taylor Swift Songs

Frankly, I expected to publish my top 100 albums of the 2010s feature on this website and then mostly leave it alone for a while. But boredom during this pandemic has given way to a few additional features. There’s my top 50 albums of the ’90s, ’00s, and ’10s, but mostly it’s been a love for Twitter polls giving way to an urge to inject my own opinion. My top 25 Kanye West songs, my top 25 Beatles songs, yadda yadda. It’s not the most thrilling content, but whatever gets me writing.

Taylor Swift’s bracket came third, and wouldn’t you know it, “Blank Space” torched through all competition, and now it’s time for me to make my own list. Moreso than with Kanye West and The Beatles, 25 proved to be an uncomfortable cutoff, not necessarily because she has more great songs than The Beatles, but because the quality of so many of them bunches up around number twenty-five. So with specific apologies to “Clean” and “Getaway Car,” these were the 25 that I felt married to, and I wouldn’t want to leave a single one off a playlist of Taylor Swift essentials.

I got on the train later than I’d like, but since falling in love with Red, I’ve grown to regard Taylor Swift as one of the very most important recording artists of the past fifteen years. In that short time, she’s built an incredibly formidable library that can rival that of nearly anyone. Here’s the cream of the crop.

25. “Paper Rings”

Taylor has several indulgently “fun” songs, but “Paper Rings” is by far the most successful.

Shout outs to the guy absolutely losing himself in the “ONE, TWO, ONE TWO THREE FOU–“

24. “Fifteen”

This isn’t exactly my wheelhouse, but no song is as emblematic of why Taylor Swift caught fire, which is that her music was absolutely indispensable to young girls. “Fifteen” is an unflinching look into young womanhood, the forces that wish to do it harm, and – “we both cried!” – the importance of camaraderie therein.

23. “Love Story”

But she was just as important to five-year-olds as she was to fifteen-year-olds. This song might not be on this list if it wasn’t for its key change selling its narrative’s dramatic finish.

22. “Fearless”

Her breakthrough album’s most expert production serves one of its most expert uses of dramatic imagery.

21. “The Story Of Us”

“The Story Of Us” is rather minor writing-wise, but the frantic drums, the urgent guitars, and the tumbling piano result in one of the finest productions of her career.

20. “All You Had To Do Was Stay”

The way that repeated, falsetto “stay” beams through and through is just gorgeous.

19. “State Of Grace”

It was unreal to hear a Taylor Swift album open with those booming drums. She was no stranger to grandeur by this time, but still, “State Of Grace” gestured toward something more eternal.

18. “I Wish You Would”

1989 had a flawless blueprint for pop most notable for its layered use of Taylor’s voice, never more apparent than in the distant, booming “I WISH YOU WOULD!” or the little, “I, I, I, I, I, I wish I wish I.”

17. “I Knew You Were Trouble”

Yes, the drop. By this point, Taylor’s pop turn felt inevitable, and on paper this sounds like it’s forcing things. But despite 2012’s attitudes towards dubstep, this is one of her most flawlessly executed refrains. Now freed of its baggage, it sounds natural.

16. “Picture To Burn”

No Taylor song feels as kinetic and chaotic as “Picture To Burn.” It’s haunted by an uncertainty about where exactly her rage will be directed.

15. “Red”

The way “Red” echoes and the voice – “reh-eh-eh-ed” – reverberates is stunning, and she gives this song one of her best vocal performances.

14. “Begin Again”

Taylor Swift’s most narratively satisfying moment puts a bow on the pre-pop portion of her career. And then we watched it begin again.

13. “Hey Stephen”

Every single time I listen to this, I’m in awe of how meticulously handled the rhythm of each syllable is.

12. “Forever & Always”

Her most underheralded song? “Forever & Always” is not Taylor Swift’s best breakup song, but it’s her most forceful and focused. She’s released many songs with the intent of humiliating its subject, but here she’s so surgical, so methodical. Target destroyed.

11. “Cruel Summer”

Produced and co-written by Annie Clark, “Cruel Summer” is a peculiar entry in the Swift canon, but it’s perfect pop, especially the bridge. I would very much have liked Lover‘s rollout to start with this.

10. “Enchanted”

Had “All Too Well” not happened, it’s very possible that “Enchanted” would be discussed as the sorta-secret masterpiece in Taylor Swift’s discography, the apotheosis of the fairy tale themes from her earlier work that would mostly vanish hereafter.

Man, when she gets to “please don’t be in love with someone else.”

9. “Delicate”

Not many songs on this list could be called understated, but despite coming from her brashest album, here’s “Delicate,” the moment where Taylor Swift best meshed with Reputation‘s aggressive embrace of 2017’s popular music. On it, she hesitates, anxious and worried: “Is it too soon to do this yet?/Cuz I know that it’s delicate.” Then: metronomic isn’t its.

8. “Holy Ground”

It chugs along as her most efficient composition and builds to something wonderful, but what really sells it are the narrative turns. That was the first day? It fell apart in the usual way, you guess?

7. “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”

The moment she turned from household name to planet eater.

6. “Style”

Around 2014, the final stragglers were rounded up to accept Taylor Swift’s canonization, and songs as cool as “Style” – its badass riff accompanying the verse – went a long way in finally closing the book on that case.

5. “The Best Day”

Absolute tear-jerker. Please go read Keith Harris’ article about how Taylor Swift and Kanye West wrote the 21st century’s two greatest songs about mothers.

4. “Sparks Fly”

Speak Now‘s infatuation with electric guitar comes out best in this immortal guitar riff. Musically, her career’s strongest moment.

3. “Blank Space”

The success of this treatise on her public image felt so good that she felt emboldened to make the “Bad Blood” music video.

2. “All Too Well”

Her epic. “All Too Well” never lets up, suffocating you with a sense of true romantic loss, through tee ball teams, refrigerator light, and, yes, Chekhov’s scarf.

1. “You Belong With Me”

Her breakthrough. Musically so light on its feet, spiritually closer to Simple Plan than the nearest country artist. Not a song valorizing unrequited love so much as a tragedy about the folly of believing that anybody “belongs” with anyone.

Top 50 Decade Lists: A Metalist

Over the past year, I’ve made three lists sorting my top albums of various decades. Here, I collect them. I already have a few regrets. Allo Darlin’ should be on the 2010s list. It feels cold and wrong that The Libertines’ Up The Bracket, Bob Dylan’s Love & Theft, and Green Day’s Warning: aren’t on the ’00s list. And a special mention to PJ Harvey’s Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea, which should 100% be on there. But here they are as they’re originally published, hopefully the start of a canon of sorts. I’ll edit this post as I add the ’80s and so on.

The 1990s

Published July 2020

50. The Coup: Steal This Album
49. Green Day: Insomniac
48. Pixies: Bossanova
47. Beck: Odelay
46. Missy Elliott: Supa Dupa Fly
45. Tricky: Maxinquaye
44. LL Cool J: Mama Said Knock You Out
43. Silver Jews: American Water
42. The Flaming Lips: The Soft Bulletin
41. Moby: Play
40. The Notorious B.I.G.: Ready To Die
39. Jay-Z: Vol. 3… Life And Times Of S. Carter
38. Fountains Of Wayne: Utopia Parkway
37. Old 97’s: Fight Songs
36. Yo La Tengo: I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One
35. Elastica: Elastica
34. Weezer: Pinkerton
33. Radiohead: The Bends
32. PJ Harvey: Rid Of Me
31. Radiohead: OK Computer
30. PJ Harvey: To Bring You My Love
29. R.E.M.: Automatic For The People
28. Nas: Illmatic
27. A Tribe Called Quest: The Low End Theory
26. Aphex Twin: Selected Ambient Works 85-92
25. Pavement: Wowee Zowee
24. A Tribe Called Quest: Midnight Marauders
23. Hole: Live Through This
22. OutKast: ATLiens
21. Neutral Milk Hotel: In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
20. Fiona Apple: When The Pawn…
19. Nirvana: In Utero
18. Belle & Sebastian: If You’re Feeling Sinister
17. Green Day: Dookie
16. Lucinda Williams: Car Wheels On A Gravel Road
15. Le Tigre: Le Tigre
14. Public Enemy: Fear Of A Black Planet
13. Old 97’s: Too Far To Care
12. Sleater-Kinney: Call The Doctor
11. Pavement: Slanted & Enchanted
10. DJ Shadow: Endtroducing…..
9. Nirvana: Nevermind
8. My Bloody Valentine: Loveless
7. The Magnetic Fields: 69 Love Songs
6. Lauryn Hill: The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill
5. OutKast: Aquemini
4. Pavement: Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
3. Sleater-Kinney: Dig Me Out
2. Wu-Tang Clan: Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
1. Liz Phair: Exile In Guyville

The 2000s

Published October 2019

50. Yeah Yeah Yeahs: It’s Blitz!
49. Mekons: OOOH! (Out Of Our Heads)
48. Taylor Swift: Fearless
47. Madvillain: Madvillainy
46. Clipse: Hell Hath No Fury
45. The National: Alligator
44. Tegan & Sara: The Con
43. The Long Blondes: Someone To Drive You Home
42. The Coup: Party Music
41. Rilo Kiley: The Execution Of All Things
40. Arctic Monkeys: Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
39. D’Angelo: Voodoo
38. Slear-Kinney: The Woods
37. The Mountain Goats: We Shall All Be Healed
36. The Knife: Silent Shout
35. Modest Mouse: The Moon & Antarctica
34. Burial: Untrue.
33. Jay-Z: The Blueprint
32. Radiohead: Kid A
31. TV On The Radio: Return To Cookie Mountain
30. Broken Social Scene: You Forgot It In People
29. LCD Soundsystem: Sound Of Silver
28. Fiona Apple: Extraordinary Machine
27. My Chemical Romance: The Black Parade
26. M.I.A.: Arular
25. Fountains Of Wayne: Welcome Interstate Managers
24. Arcade Fire: Neon Bible
23. Spoon: Kill The Moonlight
22. The Wrens: The Meadowlands
21. The Mountain Goats: Tallahassee
20. Ghostface Killah: Supreme Clientele
19. Jay-Z: The Black Album
18. The Avalanches: Since I Left You
17. Old 97’s: Satellite Rides
16. Wussy: Funeral Dress
15. The Hold Steady: Separation Sunday
14. OutKast: Stankonia
13. Miranda Lambert: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
12. The xx: xx
11. Robyn: Robyn
10. M.I.A.: Kala
9. Against Me!: New Wave
8. Drive-By Truckers: Decoration Day
7. Sleater-Kinney: One Beat
6. Kanye West: The College Dropout
5. Rilo Kiley: More Adventurous
4. The Hold Steady: Boys And Girls In America
3. TV On The Radio: Dear Science
2. Kanye West: Late Registration
1. Arcade Fire: Funeral

The 2010s

Published January 2020

50. Kacey Musgraves: Golden Hour
49. Mitski: Be The Cowboy
48. Rihanna: ANTI
47. Vampire Weekend: Contra
46. Kacey Musgraves: Same Trailer Different Park
45. Carly Rae Jepsen: E•MO•TION
44. Taylor Swift: Speak Now
43. Taylor Swift: Red
42. billy woods & Kenny Segal: Hiding Places
41. Lorde: Melodrama
40. Billie Eilish: WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?
39. Sky Ferreira: Night Time, My Time
38. Jamila Woods: HEAVN
37. Miranda Lambert: Platinum
36. Jamila Woods: LEGACY! LEGACY!
35. Janelle Monáe: The Electric Lady (Suites IV And V)
34. Maren Morris: Hero
33. The National: High Violet
32. Miguel: Kaleidoscope Dream
31. Courtney Barnett: Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit
30. Run The Jewels: Run The Jewels 2
29. Wussy: Strawberry
28. Janelle Monáe: The ArchAndroid (Suites II And III)
27. Vince Staples: Summertime ‘06
26. Chance The Rapper: Coloring Book
25. Grimes: Art Angels
24. Jens Lekman: Life Will See You Now
23. Frank Ocean: channel ORANGE
22. Chance The Rapper: Acid Rap
21. Pistol Annies: Hell on Heels
20. Parquet Courts: Wide Awaaaaake!
19. Japandroids: Celebration Rock
18. Azealia Banks: Broke With Expensive Taste
17. Against Me!: Transgender Dysphoria Blues
16. Tegan & Sara: Heartthrob
15. Lana Del Rey: Norman Fucking Rockwell!
14. Beyoncé: BEYONCÉ
13. Titus Andronicus: The Monitor
12. A Tribe Called Quest: We Got It From Here…Thank You 4 Your Service
11. Vampire Weekend: Modern Vampires Of The City
10. Janelle Monáe: Dirty Computer
9. Fiona Apple: The Idler Wheel…
8. Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
7. Beyoncé: Lemonade
6. Robyn: Body Talk
5. Alex Lahey: I Love You Like A Brother
4. Kendrick Lamar: good kid, m.A.A.d city
3. tUnE-yArDs: w h o k i l l
2. Frank Ocean: nostalgia,ULTRA.
1. Kendrick Lamar: To Pimp A Butterfly

Metalist

Artists With Multiple Entries

Kendrick Lamar: #1, #4
Kanye West: #2, #6, #8
Sleater-Kinney: #3, #7, #12, #38
Pavement: #4, #11, #25
Robyn: #6, #11
OutKast: #5, #14
Beyoncé: #7, #14
The Hold Steady: #4, #15
Old 97’s: #13, #17, #37
Against Me!: #9, #17
Nirvana: #9, #19
Fiona Apple: #9, #20, #28
Frank Ocean: #2, #23
A Tribe Called Quest: #12, #24, #27
Arcade Fire: #1, #24
M.I.A.: #10, #26
Chance The Rapper: #22, #26
Janelle Monáe: #10, #28, #35
Wussy: #16, #29
TV On The Radio: #3, #31
Jay-Z: #19, #33, #39
Radiohead: #31, #32, #33
PJ Harvey: #30, #32
Miranda Lambert: #13, #37
The Mountain Goats: #21, #37
Fountains Of Wayne: #25, #38
Jamila Woods: #36, #38
Rilo Kiley: #5, #41
Taylor Swift: #43, #44, #48
Tegan & Sara: #16, #44
The National: #33, #45
Vampire Weekend: #11, #47
Green Day: #17, #49
The Coup: #42, #50
Kacey Musgraves: #46, #50