My Top 100 Albums of the 2010s
I became a father in late 2009, and turned 30 a couple years later, so life was different for me from the previous decade that started while I was in high school. Looking at the list of my 100 favorite albums of 2000-2009 that I made almost exactly 10 years ago, I see a lot of similarities -- some of the same artists, or ones that remind me of ones I loved in previous decades. But there's a lot of stuff here it wouldn't quite be able to compare to anything from the past, things that really made the 2010s a distinct musical time period that I'll probably spend the rest of my life thinking about and naming the ways it's different from before or after. It was fun to finalize this list after tabulating my favorite album artists of the 2010 and compare the two lists.
Here's a playlist of favorite tracks from the top 50 albums.
1. Miguel - Kaleidoscope Dream (2012)
Kaleidoscope Dream isn't just my favorite album of the decade because it's one of the best vocal performances of the decade, but it certainly doesn't hurt. Miguel Pimentel came out of San Pedro, the same California port town that gave the world The Minutemen, and spent a decade signing bad deals, auditioning for reality shows, singing hooks for rappers and selling songs to established singers, before a sleeper hit debut album finally gave him the perfect moment to do whatever the hell he wanted on Kaleidoscope Dream. Miguel self-produced the album's incredible lead single "Adorn," and the other two hits were made with journeymen producers who came up with The Fugees in the '90s, Salaam Remi and Jerry Wonda (whose bass playing on "Do You..." is one of the album's greatest gems). But the real revelation of the album was guitar-driven songs like "The Thrill" and "Use Me" that pointed to the Prince-inspired direction Miguel's sound was headed in on his future work.
Kaleidoscope Dream isn't just my favorite album of the decade because it's one of the best vocal performances of the decade, but it certainly doesn't hurt. Miguel Pimentel came out of San Pedro, the same California port town that gave the world The Minutemen, and spent a decade signing bad deals, auditioning for reality shows, singing hooks for rappers and selling songs to established singers, before a sleeper hit debut album finally gave him the perfect moment to do whatever the hell he wanted on Kaleidoscope Dream. Miguel self-produced the album's incredible lead single "Adorn," and the other two hits were made with journeymen producers who came up with The Fugees in the '90s, Salaam Remi and Jerry Wonda (whose bass playing on "Do You..." is one of the album's greatest gems). But the real revelation of the album was guitar-driven songs like "The Thrill" and "Use Me" that pointed to the Prince-inspired direction Miguel's sound was headed in on his future work.
2. Paramore - Paramore (2013)
I recently looked at my listening stats on SpotifyStatistics.com and was totally unsurprised to find that the album I've listened to the most since I began using Spotify in 2012 is Paramore. 2013 was one of the hardest years of my life and screaming along to this album a lot helped me get through it. Releasing a self-titled album in the middle of your career, particularly after a lineup change, is kind of a classic haughty "this is who we really are" move, but Hayley Williams completely earned it with a sprawling 17-track album that spanned funk pop, '80s post-punk, lo-fi interludes, doo wop, and a healthy amount of the anthemic punk pop that made them Warped Tour darlings a half decade earlier.
I recently looked at my listening stats on SpotifyStatistics.com and was totally unsurprised to find that the album I've listened to the most since I began using Spotify in 2012 is Paramore. 2013 was one of the hardest years of my life and screaming along to this album a lot helped me get through it. Releasing a self-titled album in the middle of your career, particularly after a lineup change, is kind of a classic haughty "this is who we really are" move, but Hayley Williams completely earned it with a sprawling 17-track album that spanned funk pop, '80s post-punk, lo-fi interludes, doo wop, and a healthy amount of the anthemic punk pop that made them Warped Tour darlings a half decade earlier.
3. Diddy-Dirty Money - Last Train To Paris (2010)
I actually didn't think Last Train To Paris was going to be any good. Even though Sean Combs had been pushing hip hop and R&B together in unprecedented ways since his '90s work with the Notorious B.I.G. and Mary J. Blige, and his 2006 solo album Press Play was a brooding melodic hip hop album 2 years before Kanye West's more acclaimed 808s & Heartbreak, it felt like his decision to form a group with 2 singers, one of them from the recently disbanded "Making The Band" group Danity Kane, was doomed. I rolled my eyes at Diddy's announcement that he'd be giving album royalties to T-Pain simply for using AutoTune, and at the advance single "Angels" that married an awkward vocal melody to an old Jay-Z beat and an old Biggie verse. But then I put on the album, and Swizz Beatz announced "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm here to tell you that this is a brand new sound, this will change your life, all you gotta do is turn the shit up," and I'll be damned if Swizz wasn't right.
I actually didn't think Last Train To Paris was going to be any good. Even though Sean Combs had been pushing hip hop and R&B together in unprecedented ways since his '90s work with the Notorious B.I.G. and Mary J. Blige, and his 2006 solo album Press Play was a brooding melodic hip hop album 2 years before Kanye West's more acclaimed 808s & Heartbreak, it felt like his decision to form a group with 2 singers, one of them from the recently disbanded "Making The Band" group Danity Kane, was doomed. I rolled my eyes at Diddy's announcement that he'd be giving album royalties to T-Pain simply for using AutoTune, and at the advance single "Angels" that married an awkward vocal melody to an old Jay-Z beat and an old Biggie verse. But then I put on the album, and Swizz Beatz announced "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm here to tell you that this is a brand new sound, this will change your life, all you gotta do is turn the shit up," and I'll be damned if Swizz wasn't right.
4. Esperanza Spalding - Emily's D+Evolution (2016)
The first time I heard of Esperanza Spalding was when the jazz bassist scored an upset Best New Artist win at the 2011 Grammys, and I was fond of her simply for snatching the award away from Drake and Justin Bieber. But as someone who only owns maybe a dozen jazz albums made over 50 years ago, I was surprised at just how much Spalding's music moved towards my personal tastes a few years later on Emily's D+Evolution, produced by longtime David Bowie collaborator Tony Visconti. There are moments on this record that remind me of the jagged and 'angular' rock of '90s bands like Shudder To Think, but Spalding's virtuoso bass playing and jazz players like drummer Karriem Riggins give the record a subtle and gentle beauty.
5. Future - DS2 (2015)
"The mixtape was better than the album" is a sentiment that followed rappers around more and more in the 2010s, as the free promotional releases meant to build up buzz for official retail releases wound up upstaging them. And when Future's career wavered with his underwhelming second major label album, 2014's Honest, a trio of mixtapes restored his momentum to the point that it was fair to wonder if Future would fumble again when it was time to deliver a proper album. Instead, DS2 gathered together all the producers that made Monster, Beast Mode, and 56 Nights great and delivered an event record that put an exclamation point on Future's hot streak and cemented his status as one of the decade's most mind-bogglingly prolific artists.
5. Future - DS2 (2015)
"The mixtape was better than the album" is a sentiment that followed rappers around more and more in the 2010s, as the free promotional releases meant to build up buzz for official retail releases wound up upstaging them. And when Future's career wavered with his underwhelming second major label album, 2014's Honest, a trio of mixtapes restored his momentum to the point that it was fair to wonder if Future would fumble again when it was time to deliver a proper album. Instead, DS2 gathered together all the producers that made Monster, Beast Mode, and 56 Nights great and delivered an event record that put an exclamation point on Future's hot streak and cemented his status as one of the decade's most mind-bogglingly prolific artists.
6. Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly (2015)
Kendrick Lamar has the kind of dazzlingly successful career that hip hop heads often dream of for skilled lyricists from Jay Electronica to Blu to Lupe Fiasco but rarely actually get to see. And that's probably why he's often spoken of in almost mythical terms, and why he's held to near impossible standards. When Kendrick Lamar returned from a prolonged break after his first platinum album with "i," an upbeat song sampling the Isley Brothers just as generations of rappers had before him, people acted like he'd turned into MC Hammer. It was weird (and probably the reason why "i" appeared on the eventual album in the form of an odd faux live performance interlude). The Pulitzer-winning To Pimp A Butterfly probably isn't as righteous as it's made out to be -- "The Blacker The Berry" sounds suspiciously like a "what about black on black crime?" critique of the Black Lives Matter movement that "Alright" from the same album became an anthem for -- but it is every bit as musically brilliant as it's made out to be, the "weirdo rap shit" that he wasn't quite bold enough to completely embrace on good kid, m.A.A.d city or Damn.
Kendrick Lamar has the kind of dazzlingly successful career that hip hop heads often dream of for skilled lyricists from Jay Electronica to Blu to Lupe Fiasco but rarely actually get to see. And that's probably why he's often spoken of in almost mythical terms, and why he's held to near impossible standards. When Kendrick Lamar returned from a prolonged break after his first platinum album with "i," an upbeat song sampling the Isley Brothers just as generations of rappers had before him, people acted like he'd turned into MC Hammer. It was weird (and probably the reason why "i" appeared on the eventual album in the form of an odd faux live performance interlude). The Pulitzer-winning To Pimp A Butterfly probably isn't as righteous as it's made out to be -- "The Blacker The Berry" sounds suspiciously like a "what about black on black crime?" critique of the Black Lives Matter movement that "Alright" from the same album became an anthem for -- but it is every bit as musically brilliant as it's made out to be, the "weirdo rap shit" that he wasn't quite bold enough to completely embrace on good kid, m.A.A.d city or Damn.
7. Beauty Pill - Beauty Pill Describes Things As They Are (2015)
This is the least well known album in my top 10, and the one I have the most personal a stake in -- I interviewed Beauty Pill leader Chad Clark twice about this album, once when I visited the band's public museum installation recording sessions at the (since closed) Artisphere in Arlington, Virginia, and again when it was finally released. But I'm not alone here, it was recently named one of Time Magazine's top 10 albums of the decade too. And the surround sound mix of the album that I got to hear twice as part of the album's museum installation rollout is even more incredible than the one everyone got to hear, I wish I could listen to that version again.
This is the least well known album in my top 10, and the one I have the most personal a stake in -- I interviewed Beauty Pill leader Chad Clark twice about this album, once when I visited the band's public museum installation recording sessions at the (since closed) Artisphere in Arlington, Virginia, and again when it was finally released. But I'm not alone here, it was recently named one of Time Magazine's top 10 albums of the decade too. And the surround sound mix of the album that I got to hear twice as part of the album's museum installation rollout is even more incredible than the one everyone got to hear, I wish I could listen to that version again.
8. The 1975 - I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful
yet so unaware of it (2016)
Matthew Healy is sometimes made out to be this inscrutable millennial rock star whose appeal is lost on older listeners. But as someone who grew up idolizing neurotic verbose British frontmen like Elvis Costello and Jarvis Cocker, the guy's persona makes perfect sense to me. I think one of the most impressive things about this band's albums is that they're self-produced, that at a time when many of the biggest rock bands are just vehicles for tracks that the same Top 40 producers are shopping to singers and rappers, The 1975's George Daniel is as handy behind a drum machine as a drum set, the band is both on top of the 2010s' '80s fetish retro zeitgeist and making something dense and dreamy and idiosyncratic, with as many ambient interludes as world-beating pop hooks.
Matthew Healy is sometimes made out to be this inscrutable millennial rock star whose appeal is lost on older listeners. But as someone who grew up idolizing neurotic verbose British frontmen like Elvis Costello and Jarvis Cocker, the guy's persona makes perfect sense to me. I think one of the most impressive things about this band's albums is that they're self-produced, that at a time when many of the biggest rock bands are just vehicles for tracks that the same Top 40 producers are shopping to singers and rappers, The 1975's George Daniel is as handy behind a drum machine as a drum set, the band is both on top of the 2010s' '80s fetish retro zeitgeist and making something dense and dreamy and idiosyncratic, with as many ambient interludes as world-beating pop hooks.
9. Rich Gang - Tha Tour, Part 1 (2014)
I just wrote a couple thousand words a couple months ago about why this is the best mixtape of the decade, so I'll say less here. But I will say, Rich Homie Quan was Young Thug's equal or close to it for a year or two, and both of them were at their peak on here, such a perfect duo.
I just wrote a couple thousand words a couple months ago about why this is the best mixtape of the decade, so I'll say less here. But I will say, Rich Homie Quan was Young Thug's equal or close to it for a year or two, and both of them were at their peak on here, such a perfect duo.
10. Chance The Rapper - Acid Rap (2013)
It took me a good 6 months to really come around and appreciate how good Acid Rap is. Chance's squirrelly yelp of a voice and precocious youth and the way he came out of the gate rapping over the intro from an old Kanye mixtape, it all grated on me a little. But the irrepressible energy of this mixtape is really something, Chance's overwhelming wholesomeness finally caught up to him when the backlash hit this year, but what I think really makes him stand out from his contemporaries is the palette he's working with, a whole different set of tones and instruments and samples that nobody else was touching, and some startlingly lucid and well observed lyrics that go behind conscious rap platitudes.
11. Kacey Musgraves - Same Trailer Different Park (2013)
11. Kacey Musgraves - Same Trailer Different Park (2013)
Golden Hour is a great album and absolutely deserved that Grammy, but it bums me out a little that I've seen it on a bunch of end-of-decade lists but never Same Trailer Different Park, which will always be her masterpiece as far as I'm concerned. Musgraves is incredibly charming and a sharp writer on all of her records, but on her debut there's this edge of dread and unsentimental anti-romance and the small town feeling of the walls closing in that just kills me.
12. Butch Walker & The Black Widows - I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart (2010)
Butch Walker makes a living producing and writing for big major label acts like Fall Out Boy and Taylor Swift, while humming along at a cult hero level with his indie label solo records. And when I looked at I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart's tracklist, it looked like it could be just a half-assed collection of leftover tunes from a professional songwriter's rejected pile with titles like "Pretty Melody," "Stripped Down Version," and "Temporary Title." But this record is a snappy little dynamo that I've listened to as much as any album on this list, hooks for days.
12. Butch Walker & The Black Widows - I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart (2010)
Butch Walker makes a living producing and writing for big major label acts like Fall Out Boy and Taylor Swift, while humming along at a cult hero level with his indie label solo records. And when I looked at I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart's tracklist, it looked like it could be just a half-assed collection of leftover tunes from a professional songwriter's rejected pile with titles like "Pretty Melody," "Stripped Down Version," and "Temporary Title." But this record is a snappy little dynamo that I've listened to as much as any album on this list, hooks for days.
13. Jazmine Sullivan - Love Me Back (2010)
Jazmine Sullivan's debut album Fearless sold well and got a bunch of Grammy nominations, and her third album was her most critically celebrated, but her second album is far and away the gem of her catalog if you ask me. That run of "Good Enough," "Don't Make Me Wait," and "Love You Long Time," man, there weren't a lot of trios of songs better than that this decade.
Jazmine Sullivan's debut album Fearless sold well and got a bunch of Grammy nominations, and her third album was her most critically celebrated, but her second album is far and away the gem of her catalog if you ask me. That run of "Good Enough," "Don't Make Me Wait," and "Love You Long Time," man, there weren't a lot of trios of songs better than that this decade.
14. Beyonce - Beyonce (2013)
There's a point about 6 minutes into "Rocket," possibly my favorite song Beyonce's ever made above all those world-conquering hits, where she's just riffing and free associating and says "goddammit I feel comfortable in my skin," and sounds like she really means it. One of the most guarded and rigorously rehearsed entertainers in the world still had to work her way into being convincingly vulnerable over the course of five solo albums, but once she got there, it really felt like you were inside her head.
There's a point about 6 minutes into "Rocket," possibly my favorite song Beyonce's ever made above all those world-conquering hits, where she's just riffing and free associating and says "goddammit I feel comfortable in my skin," and sounds like she really means it. One of the most guarded and rigorously rehearsed entertainers in the world still had to work her way into being convincingly vulnerable over the course of five solo albums, but once she got there, it really felt like you were inside her head.
15. The Joy Formidable - The Big Roar (2011)
Sometimes I think of this album as just a nostalgic tribute to '90s shoegaze, but then I put it on and remember all these stylistic twists and turns and tangents and double bass pedal drum freakouts. The Joy Formidable continued to show their range over the course of later albums, but The Big Roar has this enormous overwhelming sound that I love, it's at times a really intimate and idiosyncratic record but it also feels like a world-beating rock record that should've sold ten million copies.16. YG - My Krazy Life (2014)
For years, YG was just some goofball west coast mixtape rapper whose claim to fame was a silly song called "Toot It And Boot It," but when it came time to do a big major label album featuring some of the biggest stars in the world, he really stepped up. I think the most surprising thing about this album is that he kind of copped the cinema verite texture of interludes from good kid, m.A.A. city but it actually functions better in the context of My Krazy Life.
17. One Direction - Four (2014)
Most adults only care about teen pop once the singers pivot to sexy R&B music and start making overtures to be taken seriously as artists, like when Zayn went solo and made that dull album that the music press fell all over themselves to get excited about. But One Direction, even more than the average boy band, were at their best when making excitable puppy dog bubblegum pop, and Four adds just the right amount of arena rock grandeur to make their big in-unison-but-not-really-in-harmony soccer chant choruses sound absolutely incredible.
18. Eric Church - Chief (2011)
Eric Church likes to throw curveballs at country radio, eschew Nashville standard instrumentation like steel guitar, and generally act like he's a little too cool for school. And his third album, the triple platinum Chief, was the perfect crowd-pleasing blockbuster that allowed him to get away with that for the rest of his career. "Springsteen" is just a song about how songs make us feel, but I'm sure Church thinks about himself in Bruce Springsteen terms, and he'd be totally right to consider Chief his Born To Run.
Eric Church likes to throw curveballs at country radio, eschew Nashville standard instrumentation like steel guitar, and generally act like he's a little too cool for school. And his third album, the triple platinum Chief, was the perfect crowd-pleasing blockbuster that allowed him to get away with that for the rest of his career. "Springsteen" is just a song about how songs make us feel, but I'm sure Church thinks about himself in Bruce Springsteen terms, and he'd be totally right to consider Chief his Born To Run.
19. Eleni Mandell - Wake Up Again (2019)
The year isn't over yet, but spoiler alert, this is my favorite album of 2019. Eleni Mandell has been making great records under the radar for over 20 years, often sketching out vivid characters or emotional moments with a keen observational eye. But Wake Up Again feels like the thesis statement she's been working toward for her entire career, a series of sympathetic portraits of lives gone wrong, inspired by people she met when she began teaching songwriting classes at women's prisons.
The year isn't over yet, but spoiler alert, this is my favorite album of 2019. Eleni Mandell has been making great records under the radar for over 20 years, often sketching out vivid characters or emotional moments with a keen observational eye. But Wake Up Again feels like the thesis statement she's been working toward for her entire career, a series of sympathetic portraits of lives gone wrong, inspired by people she met when she began teaching songwriting classes at women's prisons.
20. Waka Flocka Flame - Flockaveli (2010)
When I pulled up this album on Spotify the other day, I was somewhat amazed by just how much music Waka Flocka Flame has released in just the last year or two. Maybe a lot of it was just repackaged old songs uploaded by pirates, but still, there were multiple projects that ran over 3 hours long. Where his onetime mentor Gucci Mane spent a few years in prison before staging a major comeback, Waka Flocka Flame has simply wandered off into some possibly lucrative but commercially invisible career wilderness. But before he did, he left us with one perfect ridiculous moshpit of a record.
When I pulled up this album on Spotify the other day, I was somewhat amazed by just how much music Waka Flocka Flame has released in just the last year or two. Maybe a lot of it was just repackaged old songs uploaded by pirates, but still, there were multiple projects that ran over 3 hours long. Where his onetime mentor Gucci Mane spent a few years in prison before staging a major comeback, Waka Flocka Flame has simply wandered off into some possibly lucrative but commercially invisible career wilderness. But before he did, he left us with one perfect ridiculous moshpit of a record.
21. Christine And The Queens - Chris (2018)
I felt especially old and lame when I found my album of the year last year by getting hooked on a song, "Doesn't Matter," that I heard in an Old Navy while buying clothes for my kids. But this French lady basically made a Janet Jackson album and it's really catchy and smart and well put together, I love it.
22. Tove Lo - Blue Lips (Lady Wood Phase II) (2017)
The 2010s saw an influx sexy sad music by white ladies who were either from Europe or wrote lyrics in weird stilted language like English wasn't their first language -- if I recall correctly one of them even released an album called so sexy so sad (in all lowercase of course). I was content to more or less dismiss Tove Lo as just one of many of these artists when she released her 2016 sophomore slump Lady Wood. But then a year later, she gave that forgettable album an unforgettable sequel, kicked off by a little song called "Disco Tits."
23. Vince Staples - Summertime '06 (2015)
The whole Odd Future thing more or less passed me by -- the whole thing just felt massively corny to me when it was happening, and even when Tyler and Earl and Frank and Syd outgrew that moment and showed true talent, I appreciated their craft and individuality more than I really enjoyed their records. But one of the tertiary hangers-on from that crew, who joined in on the teen shock value raps on Earl Sweatshirt's early songs, turned out to be the guy who one me over. It helps that he linked up with No I.D. and Def Jam and made an ambitious, cinematic update of the classic west coast gangsta rap album template, embracing old hip hop tropes a little more sincerely than the guys he came up with, but there's still something really uncompromising and unique about this album.
23. Vince Staples - Summertime '06 (2015)
The whole Odd Future thing more or less passed me by -- the whole thing just felt massively corny to me when it was happening, and even when Tyler and Earl and Frank and Syd outgrew that moment and showed true talent, I appreciated their craft and individuality more than I really enjoyed their records. But one of the tertiary hangers-on from that crew, who joined in on the teen shock value raps on Earl Sweatshirt's early songs, turned out to be the guy who one me over. It helps that he linked up with No I.D. and Def Jam and made an ambitious, cinematic update of the classic west coast gangsta rap album template, embracing old hip hop tropes a little more sincerely than the guys he came up with, but there's still something really uncompromising and unique about this album.
24. Rapsody - Laila's Wisdom (2017)
Something unfortunate has happened with Rapsody where people praise her more for what she isn't, to scold or shame other women who make different kinds of rap music, than to praise her for the wit and wordplay of her music, the way she showboats with novel verses like the phone call at the end of "Nobody," how rich and playful and entertaining this album is.
25. Against Me! - Transgender Dysphoria Blues (2014)
Transgender Dysphoria Blues is a visceral, anxious, gripping rock record, it doesn't exist for a cis straight guy like me to pretend to understand what Laura Jane Grace's life is like. But I'm glad she made it, and put songs that could have been on other Against Me! albums like "Obama Bin Laden As The Crucified Christ" on it and let the whole thing hang together as one complicated, layered statement that zooms by you in 28 minutes.
26. Jeremih - Late Nights: The Album (2015)
Jeremih was my 7th favorite singles artist of the 2010s largely off the strength of his ability to hand out great hooks to literally dozens of other artists who don't share his midas touch with catchy choruses. But the sad irony of Jeremih's career is that no matter how much he carries the industry with features, his solo career seems to be in a perpetual state of neglect. He's been kicked off of two different co-headlining tours with artists who outdrew him despite not having remotely as many hits, and Def Jam has kept him on the shelf for years at a time, pushing Late Nights: The Album back so many times that the album wound up having 3 huge hit singles in 3 different years.
27. Meek Mill - Dreamchasers 2 (2012)
More than any other artist on this list, I struggled with which Meek Mill records were my favorite -- the 4 Dreamchasers mixtapes and his 4 proper albums are all pretty close in quality, even the weakest ones have some jams. But Dreamchasers 2, the tape that crashed DatPiff's servers when it was released, will always be a special moment in his career, momentarily outshining the album that followed while also laying the groundwork for it (check out Beat Bully's Dreamchasers 2 intro is a dry run for "Dreams & Nightmares").
28. Kanye West - Yeezus (2013)
Something unfortunate has happened with Rapsody where people praise her more for what she isn't, to scold or shame other women who make different kinds of rap music, than to praise her for the wit and wordplay of her music, the way she showboats with novel verses like the phone call at the end of "Nobody," how rich and playful and entertaining this album is.
25. Against Me! - Transgender Dysphoria Blues (2014)
Transgender Dysphoria Blues is a visceral, anxious, gripping rock record, it doesn't exist for a cis straight guy like me to pretend to understand what Laura Jane Grace's life is like. But I'm glad she made it, and put songs that could have been on other Against Me! albums like "Obama Bin Laden As The Crucified Christ" on it and let the whole thing hang together as one complicated, layered statement that zooms by you in 28 minutes.
26. Jeremih - Late Nights: The Album (2015)
Jeremih was my 7th favorite singles artist of the 2010s largely off the strength of his ability to hand out great hooks to literally dozens of other artists who don't share his midas touch with catchy choruses. But the sad irony of Jeremih's career is that no matter how much he carries the industry with features, his solo career seems to be in a perpetual state of neglect. He's been kicked off of two different co-headlining tours with artists who outdrew him despite not having remotely as many hits, and Def Jam has kept him on the shelf for years at a time, pushing Late Nights: The Album back so many times that the album wound up having 3 huge hit singles in 3 different years.
27. Meek Mill - Dreamchasers 2 (2012)
More than any other artist on this list, I struggled with which Meek Mill records were my favorite -- the 4 Dreamchasers mixtapes and his 4 proper albums are all pretty close in quality, even the weakest ones have some jams. But Dreamchasers 2, the tape that crashed DatPiff's servers when it was released, will always be a special moment in his career, momentarily outshining the album that followed while also laying the groundwork for it (check out Beat Bully's Dreamchasers 2 intro is a dry run for "Dreams & Nightmares").
28. Kanye West - Yeezus (2013)
I thought about as highly of Kanye West, and embraced all his ambition and contradictions and felt inspired by him, as much as anyone for most of the 2000s. But I spent most of the 2010s feeling mostly bored by the predictability of his output, even before his behavior outside music took some really dispiriting turns -- I think West would the first to admit that My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, the album of the decade for a lot of people, was more a summary of his previous albums than anything else he's made. So while I had mixed feelings about Yeezus when it was released, it's grown in my esteem over the years as a potent little tantrum of a record.
29. Patrick Stump - Soul Punk (Deluxe Edition) (2011)
Patrick Stump has fronted Fall Out Boy through two very successful runs of hits, first in the mid-2000s and then again since 2013. In between, he made my 2 favorite albums he's ever made, FOB's 2009 album Folie A Deux and his solo debut Soul Punk, and both were so poorly received that he wrote a fairly depressing blog post about what it was like to have a fanbase turn on you. Soul Punk is a fantastic record, though, with Stump singing and playing everything, doing his best Michael Jackson phrasing over early Prince-style synth grooves. I specified the deluxe edition because some of my favorite songs are the bonus tracks.
30. Lou Reed & Metallica - Lulu (2011)
Patrick Stump has fronted Fall Out Boy through two very successful runs of hits, first in the mid-2000s and then again since 2013. In between, he made my 2 favorite albums he's ever made, FOB's 2009 album Folie A Deux and his solo debut Soul Punk, and both were so poorly received that he wrote a fairly depressing blog post about what it was like to have a fanbase turn on you. Soul Punk is a fantastic record, though, with Stump singing and playing everything, doing his best Michael Jackson phrasing over early Prince-style synth grooves. I specified the deluxe edition because some of my favorite songs are the bonus tracks.
30. Lou Reed & Metallica - Lulu (2011)
David Bowie's universally celebrated final album ★ is absolutely deserving of praise, but his old friend Lou Reed's swan song was stranger, braver, and in my opinion better. Lou Reed and Metallica both influenced entire generations of rock musicians, but the Venn diagram of them would damn near be two separate circles, so there simply wasn't an audience that wanted to see these two entities together. And the sound of the elderly Velvet Underground frontman reciting poetry inspired by German playwright Frank Wedekind over a brick wall of James Hetfield riffs is really strange and perverse and I'm not surprised that the album was widely mocked upon its release, but I fucking love it, "Brandenburg Gate" and "Junior Dad" are about as moving and original as any rock songs released this decade.
31. Raphael Saadiq - Stone Rollin' (2011)
I love everything Raphael Saadiq's done, but his acclaimed 2008 album The Way I See It was probably my least favorite of his 5 solo albums, simply because he emulated his Motown era inspirations so accurately that it didn't feel like he added many ideas of his own. The follow-up Stone Rollin', however, plays mix and match with '60s influences in a much more creative and memorable way, adding sophisticated string arrangements to gritty soul or Beatles-y splashes of Mellotron to stomping blues rock.
32. Dwight Yoakam - 3 Pears (2012)
Dwight Yoakam has consistently made great-sounding music for over 30 years, although his window of mainstream country stardom was a relatively short period in the late '80s through the mid-'90s. But 3 Pears broke though to become his most acclaimed later record and highest charting album ever, and I have to say, it's totally deserved. There's just something about the sound of this album, it feels loud, like you're right there in the room with the amps and the drums and Yoakam is belting his heart out.
33. Ariana Grande - Yours Truly (2013)
Ariana Grande has made albums more consistently than any pop star this decade, and Thank U, Next is my favorite since her debut. But Yours Truly was her blueprint for everything that came after, and the gently retro production of Babyface and Harmony Samuels still suits her voice a little better than the bombast of some of her later records.
34. Nels Cline - Lovers (2016)
Nels Cline had made dozens of great records (including more that I enjoyed this decade than any other artist), and most of them rely on the simple beauty of hearing one of the world's best and most unique guitarists make sounds, sometimes improvising and sometimes composing and sometimes interpreting. Lovers is a unique record in his catalog, though, over two decades in the making, with Cline and orchestral arranger Michael Leonhart reinventing romantic 'mood music' jazz with a new canon that has room for Sonic Youth as well as Rodgers & Hammerstein.
35. A Tribe Called Quest - We Got It From Here... Thank You 4 Your Service (2016)
Although Q-Tip has made plenty of great music since A Tribe Called Quest disbanded in 1998, I was content to let the group's amazing 5-album run stand as a finished story and never dared hope for a 6th album, especially after Phife Dawg died. And then We Got It From Here surfaced 8 months after his death, full of new Phife verses, as well as the whole extended Tribe family of Jarobi and Consequence and Busta Rhymes, making one of rap's greatest groups sound incredible and alive and still trying new things one last time.
31. Raphael Saadiq - Stone Rollin' (2011)
I love everything Raphael Saadiq's done, but his acclaimed 2008 album The Way I See It was probably my least favorite of his 5 solo albums, simply because he emulated his Motown era inspirations so accurately that it didn't feel like he added many ideas of his own. The follow-up Stone Rollin', however, plays mix and match with '60s influences in a much more creative and memorable way, adding sophisticated string arrangements to gritty soul or Beatles-y splashes of Mellotron to stomping blues rock.
32. Dwight Yoakam - 3 Pears (2012)
Dwight Yoakam has consistently made great-sounding music for over 30 years, although his window of mainstream country stardom was a relatively short period in the late '80s through the mid-'90s. But 3 Pears broke though to become his most acclaimed later record and highest charting album ever, and I have to say, it's totally deserved. There's just something about the sound of this album, it feels loud, like you're right there in the room with the amps and the drums and Yoakam is belting his heart out.
33. Ariana Grande - Yours Truly (2013)
Ariana Grande has made albums more consistently than any pop star this decade, and Thank U, Next is my favorite since her debut. But Yours Truly was her blueprint for everything that came after, and the gently retro production of Babyface and Harmony Samuels still suits her voice a little better than the bombast of some of her later records.
34. Nels Cline - Lovers (2016)
Nels Cline had made dozens of great records (including more that I enjoyed this decade than any other artist), and most of them rely on the simple beauty of hearing one of the world's best and most unique guitarists make sounds, sometimes improvising and sometimes composing and sometimes interpreting. Lovers is a unique record in his catalog, though, over two decades in the making, with Cline and orchestral arranger Michael Leonhart reinventing romantic 'mood music' jazz with a new canon that has room for Sonic Youth as well as Rodgers & Hammerstein.
35. A Tribe Called Quest - We Got It From Here... Thank You 4 Your Service (2016)
Although Q-Tip has made plenty of great music since A Tribe Called Quest disbanded in 1998, I was content to let the group's amazing 5-album run stand as a finished story and never dared hope for a 6th album, especially after Phife Dawg died. And then We Got It From Here surfaced 8 months after his death, full of new Phife verses, as well as the whole extended Tribe family of Jarobi and Consequence and Busta Rhymes, making one of rap's greatest groups sound incredible and alive and still trying new things one last time.
36. Rae Sremmurd - SremmLife (2015)
I think a lot about how Mike Will Made It was already one of the biggest producers in music when he plucked two Mississippi brothers out of obscurity and gave them a pile of beats that could've been sold to platinum stars before anybody saw what he saw in them. But Swae Lee's genius was immediately evident on this album, as much as I loved "No Flex Zone" I was still surprised by how many killer hooks he kept following it with, this record is as packed with hits as any debut album since the first Cars record. "Up Like Trump," the last laudatory rap song about Donald Trump's wealth released 5 months before he launched his presidential campaign, is a weird vestige of a simpler time.
37. James Bay - Electric Light (2018)
I listen to a lot of indie label music, but I also make a lot of time to check out major label albums that seem to be flying under the radar, and it's really so that I don't miss brilliant albums like Electric Light that damn near everyone seemed to miss. British singer/songwriter James Bay's second album flopped without a fraction of the attention paid to his 2015 Chaos And The Calm, which was a blockbuster in the UK and went gold in the U.S. But damn, this album sounds fantastic, a bluesy heartland rock record with neon lights strapped all over it.
38. Dawn Richard - Blackheart (2015)
Dawn Richard has had one of the more fascinatingly unpredictable careers of the decade: after coming to fame with "Making the Band" prefab group Danity Kane, then surviving the group's split for a stint in Diddy-Dirty Money, Richard decided she'd rather go independent than try her luck staying under the mentorship of Diddy and Bad Boy Records, and delivered an incredible run of experimental albums. Blackheart, her first album after splitting with longtime producer Druski, is her most original record, the one that I was afraid would be a total mess of R&B and EDM thrown together but wound up being a beautiful, almost psychedelic experience.
39. Fantasia - Side Effects of You (2015)
The biggest hit on Side Effects of You was the icy clubby minimalism of "Without Me," but criminally underrated producer Harmony Samuels pulls out a deep bag of tricks on 12 of 13 tracks to throw at one of the most amazing soul vocalists of her generation, giving her a creative breakthrough after 3 albums of working more within the post-"American Idol" machinery.
I think a lot about how Mike Will Made It was already one of the biggest producers in music when he plucked two Mississippi brothers out of obscurity and gave them a pile of beats that could've been sold to platinum stars before anybody saw what he saw in them. But Swae Lee's genius was immediately evident on this album, as much as I loved "No Flex Zone" I was still surprised by how many killer hooks he kept following it with, this record is as packed with hits as any debut album since the first Cars record. "Up Like Trump," the last laudatory rap song about Donald Trump's wealth released 5 months before he launched his presidential campaign, is a weird vestige of a simpler time.
37. James Bay - Electric Light (2018)
I listen to a lot of indie label music, but I also make a lot of time to check out major label albums that seem to be flying under the radar, and it's really so that I don't miss brilliant albums like Electric Light that damn near everyone seemed to miss. British singer/songwriter James Bay's second album flopped without a fraction of the attention paid to his 2015 Chaos And The Calm, which was a blockbuster in the UK and went gold in the U.S. But damn, this album sounds fantastic, a bluesy heartland rock record with neon lights strapped all over it.
38. Dawn Richard - Blackheart (2015)
Dawn Richard has had one of the more fascinatingly unpredictable careers of the decade: after coming to fame with "Making the Band" prefab group Danity Kane, then surviving the group's split for a stint in Diddy-Dirty Money, Richard decided she'd rather go independent than try her luck staying under the mentorship of Diddy and Bad Boy Records, and delivered an incredible run of experimental albums. Blackheart, her first album after splitting with longtime producer Druski, is her most original record, the one that I was afraid would be a total mess of R&B and EDM thrown together but wound up being a beautiful, almost psychedelic experience.
39. Fantasia - Side Effects of You (2015)
The biggest hit on Side Effects of You was the icy clubby minimalism of "Without Me," but criminally underrated producer Harmony Samuels pulls out a deep bag of tricks on 12 of 13 tracks to throw at one of the most amazing soul vocalists of her generation, giving her a creative breakthrough after 3 albums of working more within the post-"American Idol" machinery.
40. Heartless Bastards - Restless Ones (2015)
Dave Colvin gives one of my favorite drumming performances of the 2010s on Restless Ones, he just brings this swinging forward motion to Erika Wennerstrom's songs and then plays against the tide of guitars in a way that sounds incredible, just hearing what he does with what could be a very simple midtempo song like "Wind Up Bird" is something to behold.
41. Yelawolf - Trunk Muzik (2010)
Just because I'm a white fan of rap music doesn't mean I have to be a particularly big fan of white rap music, and white rap truly became a genre unto itself in the 2010s, one that gave us a few good MCs and a lot of absolutely awful music. But Yelawolf was one of the few guys who I found really exciting, at least when he dropped this breakthrough mixtape, before he signed with Shady and started making crap.
Dave Colvin gives one of my favorite drumming performances of the 2010s on Restless Ones, he just brings this swinging forward motion to Erika Wennerstrom's songs and then plays against the tide of guitars in a way that sounds incredible, just hearing what he does with what could be a very simple midtempo song like "Wind Up Bird" is something to behold.
41. Yelawolf - Trunk Muzik (2010)
Just because I'm a white fan of rap music doesn't mean I have to be a particularly big fan of white rap music, and white rap truly became a genre unto itself in the 2010s, one that gave us a few good MCs and a lot of absolutely awful music. But Yelawolf was one of the few guys who I found really exciting, at least when he dropped this breakthrough mixtape, before he signed with Shady and started making crap.
42. Lady Gaga - Born This Way (2011)
Lady Gaga had the whole world in the palm of her hand at the dawn of the 2010s, and spent most of the decade pissing away her chart momentum until she started to recover it near the end with, of all things, a Bradley Cooper duet. But Born This Way was full of the kind of risks that appealed directly to me, from the dad rock moves with Clarence Clemons, Brian May and Mutt Lange to the brazen absurdity of songs like "Government Hooker" and "Highway Unicorn."
43. Wye Oak - Civilian (2011)
I saw Wye Oak play in tiny rooms in Baltimore back when they were called Monarch and had just self-released their first record, and it made me really proud to see their third album turn them into a real deal national headliner. I actually love the four songs they released on the My Neighbor/My Creator EP a year before Civilian about as much as this record, though, they were really on a roll at that point. I have to chuckle when I think about Jenn and Andy calling Civilian's title track their "Margaritaville" after a placement in an episode of "The Walking Dead" made it their most popular track, because that is a dark dark song.
44. 2 Chainz - B.O.A.T.S. II #METIME (2013)
2 Chainz had about as perfect a debut year in 2012 as any rapper had this decade, except the album he released, Based On A TRU Story, wasn't that good outside the singles. The sequel he released a year later wasn't nearly as successful, but it was much more satisfying as an album, showing the range I knew Tity Boi had and paving the way for later triumphs like Pretty GIrls Like Trap Music.
45. DaBaby - Baby On Baby (2019)
If any rapper has had as good a breakthrough year as 2 Chainz since 2012, it's DaBaby in 2019. I'm still doing my year-end lists and trying to figure out how high I can put his other recent album, Kirk, and how many songs i can justify fitting into my singles list, it feels like we're still in the eye of the storm and it's hard to get perspective on just how cold this guy is or how far he could go.
46. D'Angelo and the Vanguard - Black Messiah (2014)
D'Angelo is kind of funny to me, like how do you idolize Prince that much but decide to release albums as rarely as possible instead of as often as possible? I think scarcity has inflated the value of his music a little bit, but that's not to say he's not awesome, and that I wasn't thrilled that he finally followed up Voodoo after 14 years. At least he made his messiah complex explicit with the title.
47. Bruno Mars - Unorthodox Jukebox (2012)
This album is right in the sweet spot between the hacky Top 40 efficiency of Doo-Wops & Hooligans and the uncanny valley retro obsessions of 24K Magic, when Bruno Mars showed off how talented and knowledgeable about pop history he is without getting too stuck on the past or the present.
48. Kim Gordon - No Home Record (2019)
Sonic Youth released their 15th and final album in 2009, so I've spent most of the 2010s mourning the end of my favorite band, greedily wishing they gave us a 4th decade of great records instead of merely 3. But each of the members of the band always did interesting things outside the group during and after Sonic Youth's active years. And while Lee and Thurston made some pretty good records of what could easily have been Sonic Youth songs, Kim's first proper solo album was the real revelation, something new and distinct that might not have existed if she was still making records with the band.
Lady Gaga had the whole world in the palm of her hand at the dawn of the 2010s, and spent most of the decade pissing away her chart momentum until she started to recover it near the end with, of all things, a Bradley Cooper duet. But Born This Way was full of the kind of risks that appealed directly to me, from the dad rock moves with Clarence Clemons, Brian May and Mutt Lange to the brazen absurdity of songs like "Government Hooker" and "Highway Unicorn."
43. Wye Oak - Civilian (2011)
I saw Wye Oak play in tiny rooms in Baltimore back when they were called Monarch and had just self-released their first record, and it made me really proud to see their third album turn them into a real deal national headliner. I actually love the four songs they released on the My Neighbor/My Creator EP a year before Civilian about as much as this record, though, they were really on a roll at that point. I have to chuckle when I think about Jenn and Andy calling Civilian's title track their "Margaritaville" after a placement in an episode of "The Walking Dead" made it their most popular track, because that is a dark dark song.
44. 2 Chainz - B.O.A.T.S. II #METIME (2013)
2 Chainz had about as perfect a debut year in 2012 as any rapper had this decade, except the album he released, Based On A TRU Story, wasn't that good outside the singles. The sequel he released a year later wasn't nearly as successful, but it was much more satisfying as an album, showing the range I knew Tity Boi had and paving the way for later triumphs like Pretty GIrls Like Trap Music.
45. DaBaby - Baby On Baby (2019)
If any rapper has had as good a breakthrough year as 2 Chainz since 2012, it's DaBaby in 2019. I'm still doing my year-end lists and trying to figure out how high I can put his other recent album, Kirk, and how many songs i can justify fitting into my singles list, it feels like we're still in the eye of the storm and it's hard to get perspective on just how cold this guy is or how far he could go.
46. D'Angelo and the Vanguard - Black Messiah (2014)
D'Angelo is kind of funny to me, like how do you idolize Prince that much but decide to release albums as rarely as possible instead of as often as possible? I think scarcity has inflated the value of his music a little bit, but that's not to say he's not awesome, and that I wasn't thrilled that he finally followed up Voodoo after 14 years. At least he made his messiah complex explicit with the title.
47. Bruno Mars - Unorthodox Jukebox (2012)
This album is right in the sweet spot between the hacky Top 40 efficiency of Doo-Wops & Hooligans and the uncanny valley retro obsessions of 24K Magic, when Bruno Mars showed off how talented and knowledgeable about pop history he is without getting too stuck on the past or the present.
48. Kim Gordon - No Home Record (2019)
Sonic Youth released their 15th and final album in 2009, so I've spent most of the 2010s mourning the end of my favorite band, greedily wishing they gave us a 4th decade of great records instead of merely 3. But each of the members of the band always did interesting things outside the group during and after Sonic Youth's active years. And while Lee and Thurston made some pretty good records of what could easily have been Sonic Youth songs, Kim's first proper solo album was the real revelation, something new and distinct that might not have existed if she was still making records with the band.
49. Future - Pluto (2012)
I tried to limit myself to 2 albums per artist for this list, as I did for my top 100 albums of the 2000s. But I knew if I was gonna break that rule for anybody, it'd be Future (there's a third Future album, HNDRXX, further down this list, and honestly I could've gone to four for Beast Mode). When I helped the Complex staff rank every Future project earlier this year, I fought for Pluto to get ranked higher than 8th place, the fact that a breakthrough album this good is kind of underrated now is a testament to the incredible career he's had.
50. Beyonce - 4 (Expanded Edition) (2011)
I tried to limit myself to 2 albums per artist for this list, as I did for my top 100 albums of the 2000s. But I knew if I was gonna break that rule for anybody, it'd be Future (there's a third Future album, HNDRXX, further down this list, and honestly I could've gone to four for Beast Mode). When I helped the Complex staff rank every Future project earlier this year, I fought for Pluto to get ranked higher than 8th place, the fact that a breakthrough album this good is kind of underrated now is a testament to the incredible career he's had.
50. Beyonce - 4 (Expanded Edition) (2011)
I don't like when albums are re-released with a different running order, and find it annoying that the only version of Beyonce's 2011 album currently on streaming services is the 2012 re-release. That said, I actually like the way this version plays better, since it moves "Love On Top" and "Countdown" further to the front, moves "Best Thing I Ever Had" back, and adds "Dance For You" and the incredible "Schoolin' Life."
51. Maren Morris - Hero (2016)
52. Dead Sara - Dead Sara (2012)
53. Meek Mill - Championships (2018)
54. Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d. city (2012)
55. Dua Lipa - Dua Lipa (2017)
58. Roddy Walston & The Business - Essential Tremors (2013)
59. The Water - Scandals And Animals (2012)
60. Young Thug - I'm Up (2016)
61. David Bowie - ★ (2016)
62. Little Big Town - Pain Killer (2014)
63. Rihanna - Talk That Talk (Deluxe Edition) (2011)
64. Carla Bozulich - Boy (2014)
51. Maren Morris - Hero (2016)
52. Dead Sara - Dead Sara (2012)
53. Meek Mill - Championships (2018)
54. Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d. city (2012)
55. Dua Lipa - Dua Lipa (2017)
56. Boosie Badazz - In My Feelings (Goin' Thru It) (2016)
57. The Lemon Twigs - Go To School (2018)58. Roddy Walston & The Business - Essential Tremors (2013)
59. The Water - Scandals And Animals (2012)
60. Young Thug - I'm Up (2016)
61. David Bowie - ★ (2016)
62. Little Big Town - Pain Killer (2014)
63. Rihanna - Talk That Talk (Deluxe Edition) (2011)
64. Carla Bozulich - Boy (2014)
65. Megan Thee Stallion - Fever (2019)
66. They Might Be Giants - Join Us (2011)
67. Superchunk - What A Time To Be Alive (2018)
68. E-40 - The Block Brochure: Welcome To The Soil Parts 1, 2 & 3 (2012)
69. Common - The Dreamer/The Believer (2011)
70. My Chemical Romance - Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (2010)
74. The Disciplines - Virgins Of Menace (2011)
75. Miguel - All I Want Is You (2010)
80. Tinashe - Aquarius (2014)
81. War On Women - Improvised Weapons EP (2012)
82. The 1975 - A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships (2018)
83. Amel Larrieux - Ice Cream Everyday (2013)
84. The Nels Cline Singers - Initiate (2010)
71. White Life - White Life (2011)
72. Robin Thicke - Love After War (2011)
73. Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh) (2010)74. The Disciplines - Virgins Of Menace (2011)
75. Miguel - All I Want Is You (2010)
76. Kevin Gates - Stranger Than Fiction (2013)
77. Future Islands - Singles (2014)
78. Cardi B - Invasion Of Privacy (2018)
79. Among Wolves - This Is A Wave Goodbye (2012)80. Tinashe - Aquarius (2014)
81. War On Women - Improvised Weapons EP (2012)
82. The 1975 - A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships (2018)
83. Amel Larrieux - Ice Cream Everyday (2013)
84. The Nels Cline Singers - Initiate (2010)
85. Farrah Abraham - My Teenage Dream Ended (2012)
86. Mark Lanegan Band - Blues Funeral (2012)
87. Jason Derulo - Everything Is 4 (2015)
88. YG - Still Brazy (2016)
89. SiR - Seven Sundays (2015)
90. K. Michelle - Rebellious Soul (2013)
87. Jason Derulo - Everything Is 4 (2015)
88. YG - Still Brazy (2016)
89. SiR - Seven Sundays (2015)
90. K. Michelle - Rebellious Soul (2013)
91. Aimee Mann - Mental Illness (2017)
92. 2 Chainz - Pretty Girls Like Trap Music (2017)
93. Future - HNDRXX (2017)
94. Priests - Bodies And Control And Money And Power EP (2014)
95. Rufus Wainwright - Out Of The Game (2012)
94. Priests - Bodies And Control And Money And Power EP (2014)
95. Rufus Wainwright - Out Of The Game (2012)
96. Prodigy & The Alchemist - Albert Einstein (2013)
97. Shy Glizzy - Young Jefe (2014)
98. Fantasia - The Definition Of... (2016)
99. All Them Witches - Sleeping Through The War (2017)
100. Tierra Whack - Whack World (2018)
98. Fantasia - The Definition Of... (2016)
99. All Them Witches - Sleeping Through The War (2017)
100. Tierra Whack - Whack World (2018)
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