My Top 10 Albums of Each Year for the Past 25 years.
A response to Rolling Stone that no one asked for and I did not need to make.
I keep telling myself to stop taking the bait and I fail miserably. In January, Rolling Stone released their list of “The 250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far,” which seems to be a compromise between what pop culture says is good and what people who actually like music say is good. This means it will satisfy neither group and anger both of them. Ripping on poptimism has been done to death, but it’s still disappointing to see a magazine borne out of the counterculture turn its back on rock music in what appears to be brazen pandering for clicks. I can overlook my biases and admit that a considerable number of the most popular and culturally significant records of the 21st century have been pop and hip-hop albums, many of which I enjoy and deserve their place on such a recap, but the rock representation does feel insufficient. Even if popularity and cultural impact are given more weight than artistic merit in these types of lists, it’s strange that bands like Tool, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, or The Mars Volta were completely excluded. I don’t care for them anymore, but omitting Linkin Park is a glaring blind spot.
I’m not much of a conspiracy theorist, but I’m convinced that music journalism is doing some coordinated psyop to gaslight me into thinking Lemonade is at the pinnacle of pop masterpieces. After seeing it placed as the top album on this list, I gave it another spin, which must be my tenth listen. It reaffirmed to me that it’s a good but not great album—again, deserving of a spot on this list, but better than Stankonia or Voodoo or Mama’s Gun??—and I assume part of its appeal stems from parasocial fandom, the story of Beyoncé’s marquee marriage, and feeling like she’s “fearless and vulnerable” for giving a glimpse into her real life behind the fame. Un Verano Sin Ti and Take Care over To Pimp a Butterfly and Madvillainy were very deliberate choices for rageclicks. Placing Kacey Muskgrave’s Golden Hour and Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour over College Dropout is either some woke revisionist history because of Kanye’s recent (albeit disgusting) antics or a desperate plea for a young female readership. Cheat Codes and The Forever Story are crazy exclusions. Brat is good, but placing it over Discovery is a sin. Although, I’m proud of Rolling Stone for having the restraint to put only, like, three Bob Dylan albums on this list.
These lists are totally pointless, all of them. Just rearranging pre-approved names in deference to some vague cultural consensus. Nobody even reads the descriptions under each album because the names are all that matter, totally predictable names that will create a million vapid meaningless arguments about their relative rankings. A list like this will only have value to a lazy anthropologist in 2125 who is giving a brief glance at what music was popular at this specific moment. So naturally, I made my own list because I am deranged, have too much downtime, and feel the need to prove some stupid and petty point of my refined musical palette. I broke it down by my favorite 10 albums of each year to retroactively complement my 2023 and 2024 year-end lists I’ve already published in this newsletter.
Let me know how I did in the comments or what albums you would’ve included. And if there is an appetite for it, I can do something similar for each decade from the 1960s to the 1990s.
2000
Voodoo - D’Angelo*
Mama’s Gun - Erykah Badu*
Stankonia - OutKast*
Since I Left You - The Avalanches*
Lift Your Skinny Fists like Antennas to Heaven - Godspeed You! Black Emperor*
Kid A - Radiohead
Supreme Clientele - Ghostface Killah
Like Water for Chocolate - Common
White Pony - Deftones
(TOSS-UP) The Moon and Antarctica - Modest Mouse
(TOSS-UP) Deltron 3030 - Deltron 3030
2001
Vespertine - Björk*
Discovery - Daft Punk*
Is This It - The Strokes*
Toxicity - System of a Down
The Blueprint - Jay-Z
White Blood Cells - The White Stripes
The Glow, Part 2 - The Microphones
Lateralus - Tool
Miss E…So Addictive - Missy Elliott
(TOSS-UP) Aaliyah - Aaliyah
(TOSS-UP) The Argument - Fugazi
2002
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco*
Songs for the Deaf - Queens of the Stone Age
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots - The Flaming Lips
Turn on the Bright Lights - Interpol
Blood Money - Tom Waits
You Forgot It In People - Broken Social Scene
Kill the Moonlight - Spoon
All Hail West Texas - The Mountain Goats
New Beat - Sleater-Kinney
( ) - Sigur Rós
2003
Elephant - The White Stripes*
Room on Fire - The Strokes
Take Me to Your Leader - King Geedorah
Quebec - Ween
Vaudeville Villain - Viktor Vaughn
Michigan - Sufjan Stevens
Give Up - The Postal Service
Rounds - Four Tet
The Black Album - Jay-Z
Deloused at the Comatorium - The Mars Volta
2004
Madvillany - Madvillain*
The College Dropout - Kanye West
Mm..Food - MF Doom
Funeral - Arcade Fire
You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine - Death from Above 1979
Sung Tongs - Animal Collective
Medulla - Björk
Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
Bows + Arrows - The Walkmen
A Ghost is Born - Wilco
2005
Illinois - Sufjan Stevens*
Late Registration - Kanye West*
Be - Common
The Woods - Sleater-Kenney
Demon Days - Gorillaz
Twin Cinema - The New Pornographers
I Am a Bird Now - Antony & The Johnsons
LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem
Feels - Animal Collective
(TOSS-UP) The Minstrel Show - Little Brother
(TOSS-UP) Frances the Mute - The Mars Volta
2006
Ys - Joanna Newsom*
Yellow House - Grizzly Bear*
Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not - Arctic Monkeys*
Donuts - Jay Dilla
Back to Black - Amy Winehouse
Hell Hath No Fury - Clipse
Return to Cookie Mountain - TV On the Radio
Fishscale - Ghostface Killah
FutureSex/LoveSounds - Justin Timberlake
Food & Liquor - Lupe Fiasco
2007
In Rainbows - Radiohead*
Sound of Silver - LCD Soundsystem*
Cross - Justice
For Emma, Forever Ago - Bon Iver
Untrue - Burial
Graduation - Kanye West
Strawberry Jam - Animal Collective
Hissing Fauna Are You the Destroyer? - of Montreal
Favourite Worst Nightmare - Arctic Monkeys
(TOSS-UP) Boxer - The National
(TOSS-UP) Below the Heavens - Blu & Exile
2008
Third - Portishead
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill - Grouper
Dear Science - TV On the Radio
Microcastle / Weird Era Cont. - Deerhunter
Los Angeles - Flying Lotus
You & Me - The Walkmen
Tha Carter III - Lil’ Wayne
Dawn - Mount Eerie
2009
Merriweather Post Pavilion - Animal Collective
Veckatimest - Grizzly Bear
Bitte Orca - Dirty Projectors
Man on the Moon: The End of Day - Kid Cudi
Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix - Phoenix
Embryonic - Flaming Lips
Actor - St. Vincent
Only Built for Cuban Linx, Vol. 2 - Raekwon
It’s Blitz! - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
brand new eyes - Paramore
2010
Plastic Beach - Gorillaz*
Contra - Vampire Weekend*
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - Kanye West
This Is Happening - LCD Soundsystem
Halcyon Digest - Deerhunter
Cosmogramma - Flying Lotus
The ArchAndroid - Janelle Monáe
Have One on Me - Joanna Newsom
Teen Dream - Beach House
(TOSS-UP) Before Today - Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti
(TOSS-UP) Innerspeaker - Tame Impala
2011
Helplessness Blues - Fleet Foxes
Kaputt - Destroyer
Let England Shake - PJ Harvey
Bon Iver - Bon Iver
House of Balloons - The Weeknd
Strange Mercy - St. Vincent
James Blake - James Blake
Slave Ambient - The War on Drugs
Space Is Only Noise - Nicholas Jaar
XXX - Danny Brown
2012
good kid, m.A.A.d city - Kendrick Lamar*
Channel ORANGE - Frank Ocean*
Money Store - Death Grips*
Lonerism - Tame Impala*
The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do - Fiona Apple
Bloom - Beach House
History Will Absolve Me - billy woods
Ondratropica - Ondratropica
Light Up Gold - Parquet Courts
Mature Themes - Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti
2013
Random Access Memories - Daft Punk
Modern Vampires of the City - Vampire Weekend
… Like Clockwork - Queens of the Stone Age
Acid Rap - Chance the Rapper
Settle - Disclosure
Wakin on a Pretty Daze - Kurt Vile
m b v - My Bloody Valentine
LongLiveA$AP - A$AP Rocky
Doris - Earl Sweatshirt
Yeezus - Kanye West
2014
Piñata - Freddie Gibbs & Madlib*
Run the Jewels 2 - Run the Jewels
St. Vincent - St. Vincent
LP1 - FKA twigs
Lost in the Dream - War on Drugs
Metamodern Sounds in Country Music - Sturgill Simpson
Bury Me at Makeout Creek - Mitski
They Want My Soul - Spoon
Atlas - Real Estate
Salad Days - Mac DeMarco
2015
To Pimp a Butterfly - Kendrick Lamar*
Black Messiah - D’Angelo & The Vanguard
Carrie & Lowell - Sufjan Stevens
Have You In My Wilderness - Julia Holter
Sound & Color - Alabama Shakes
Rodeo - Travis Scott
The Epic - Kamasi Washington
Currents - Tame Impala
Traveller - Chris Stapleton
Summertime ’06 - Vince Staples
2016
Blackstar - David Bowie
A Seat at the Table - Solange*
Atrocity Exhibition - Danny Brown
Blonde - Frank Ocean
We got it from Here... Thank You 4 Your service - A Tribe Called Quest
A Moon Shaped Pool - Radiohead
Malibu - Anderson .Paak
Skeleton Tree - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Yes Lawd! - NxWorries
99.9% - Kaytranada
2017
A Crow Looked at Me - Mount Eerie
A Deeper Understanding - War on Drugs
Ctrl - SZA
4:44 - Jay-Z
Flower Boy - Tyler, the Creator
DAMN. - Kendrick Lamar
Take Me Apart - Kaelela
Orc - Thee Oh Sees
Aromanticism - Moses Sumney
Drunk - Thundercat
2018
KIDS SEE GHOSTS - Kids See Ghosts
Wide Awake! - Parquet Courts
Daytona - Pusha T
Little Dark Age - MGMT
Joy as an Act of Resistance - IDLES
In a Poem Unlimited - U.S. Girls
Swimming - Mac Miller
Your Queen is a Reptile - Sons of Kemet
Dirty Computer - Janelle Monáe
Some Rap Songs - Earl Sweatshirt
2019
Norman Fucking Rockwell! - Lana Del Rey*
IGOR - Tyler, the Creator*
Titanic Rising - Weyes Blood*
Bandana - Freddie Gibbs & Madlib
Magdalene - FKA twigs
All My Heroes Are Cornballs - JPEGMAFIA
U.F.O.F. - Big Thief
Infest the Rats’ Nest - King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
Hiding Places - billy woods & Kenny Segal
House of Sugar - Alex G
2020
Fetch the Bolt Cutters - Fiona Apple
The New Abnormal - The Strokes
songs - Adrienne Lenker
Punisher - Phoebe Bridgers
Alfredo - Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist
RTJ4 - Run the Jewels
After Hours - The Weeknd
American Head - The Flaming Lips
Circles - Mac Miller
St. Cloud - Waxahatchee
2021
LP! - JPEGMAFIA
Promises - Floating Points, Pharaoh Sanders, and London Symphony Orchestra
Call Me If You Get Lost - Tyler, the Creator
Mood Valiant - Hiatus Kayote
Valentine - Snail Mail
Hitler Wears Hermes 8: Side B - Westside Gunn
Space 1.8 - Nala Sinephro
Ignorance - The Weather Station
Untourable Album - Men I Trust
I Don’t Live Here Anymore - The War on Drugs
2022
Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You - Big Thief
Blue Rev - Alvvays
The Forever Story - J.I.D
Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers - Kendrick Lamar
Cheat Codes - Danger Mouse & Black Thought
Cave World - Viagra Boys
Melt My Eyes See Your Future - Denzel Curry
Hellfire - black midi
And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow - Weyes Blood
Natural Brown Prom Queen - Sudan Archives
2023
Lahai - Sampha
SCARING THE HOES - Danny Brown & JPEGMAFIA
Javelin - Sufjan Stevens
Maps - billy woods & Kenny Segal
Desire, I Want to Turn Into You - Caroline Polachek
3D Country - Geese
Cousin - Wilco
The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We - Mitski
PetroDragonic Apocalypse - King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume - Yves Tumor
2024
Only God was Above Us - Vampire Weekend
“NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD”—Godspeed You! Black Emperor
No Name - Jack White
The New Sound - Geordie Greep
What Now - Brittany Howard
CHROMAKOPIA - Tyler, The Creator
Mahashmashana - Father John Misty
Wall of Eyes - The Smile
Endlessness - Nala Sinephro
All Born Screaming - St. Vincent
* - In my Top 100 Albums
I get that mentioning them kills my indie street cred, but I would add Coldplay’s second album, Rush of Blood to the Head, and Mumford & Sons first album, Sigh no More. Both truly excellent pieces of art and unique contributions in their time.
jane doe should definitely be on 2001. or at least axe to fall on 2009, but i guess converge will never get their deserved appreciation