My Top 10 Albums of Each Year for the Past 25 years.

Posted on February 25, 2025

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

  1. Voodoo – D’Angelo

  2. Mama’s Gun – Erykah Badu

  3. Stankonia – OutKast

  4. Since I Left You – The Avalanches

  5. Lift Your Skinny Fists like Antennas to Heaven – Godspeed You! Black Emperor

  6. Kid A – Radiohead

  7. Supreme Clientele – Ghostface Killah

  8. Like Water for Chocolate – Common

  9. White Pony – Deftones

  10. The Moon and Antarctica – Modest Mouse

2001

  1. Vespertine – Björk

  2. Discovery – Daft Punk

  3. Is This It – The Strokes

  4. Toxicity – System of a Down

  5. The Blueprint – Jay-Z

  6. White Blood Cells – The White Stripes

  7. The Glow, Part 2 – The Microphones

  8. Lateralus – Tool

  9. Miss E…So Addictive – Missy Elliot

  10. Aaliyah – Aaliyah

2002

  1. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot – Wilco

  2. Songs for the Deaf – Queens of the Stone Age

  3. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots – The Flaming Lips

  4. Turn on the Bright Lights – Interpol

  5. Blood Money – Tom Waits

  6. You Forgot It In People – Broken Social Scene

  7. Kill the Moonlight – Spoon

  8. All Hail West Texas – The Mountain Goats

  9. New Beat – Sleater-Kinney

  10. ( ) – Sigur Rós

2003

  1. Elephant – The White Stripes

  2. Room on Fire – The Strokes

  3. Take Me to Your Leader – King Geedorah

  4. Quebec – Ween

  5. Vaudeville Villain – Viktor Vaughn

  6. Michigan – Sufjan Stevens

  7. Give Up – The Postal Service

  8. Rounds – Four Tet

  9. The Black Album – Jay-Z

  10. velocity : design : comfort – Sweet Trip

2004

  1. Madvillany – Madvillain

  2. The College Dropout – Kanye West

  3. Mm..Food – MF Doom

  4. Funeral – Arcade Fire

  5. You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine – Death from Above 1979

  6. Sung Tongs – Animal Collective

  7. Medulla – Björk

  8. Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand

  9. Bows + Arrows – The Walkmen

  10. A Ghost is Born – Wilco

2005

  1. Illinois – Sufjan Stevens

  2. Late Registration – Kanye West

  3. Be – Common

  4. The Woods – Sleater-Kenney

  5. Demon Days – Gorillaz

  6. Twin Cinema – The New Pornographers

  7. I Am a Bird Now – Antony & The Johnsons

  8. LCD Soundsystem – LCD Soundsystem

  9. Feels – Animal Collective

  10. The Minstrel Show – Little Brother

2006

  1. Ys – Joanna Newsom

  2. Yellow House – Grizzly Bear

  3. Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not – Arctic Monkeys

  4. Donuts – Jay Dilla

  5. Back to Black – Amy Winehouse

  6. Hell Hath No Fury – Clipse

  7. Return to Cookie Mountain – TV On the Radio

  8. Fishscale – Ghostface Killah

  9. FutureSex/LoveSounds – Justin Timberlake

  10. Food & Liquor – Lupe Fiasco

2007

  1. In Rainbows – Radiohead

  2. Sound of Silver – LCD Soundsystem

  3. Cross – Justice

  4. For Emma, Forever Ago – Bon Iver

  5. Untrue – Burial

  6. Graduation – Kanye West

  7. Strawberry Jam – Animal Collective

  8. Hissing Fauna Are You the Destroyer? – of Montreal

  9. Favourite Worst Nightmare – Arctic Monkeys

  10. Boxer – The National

2008

  1. Third – Portishead

  2. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes

  3. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend

  4. Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill – Grouper

  5. Dear Science – TV On the Radio

  6. Microcastle / Weird Era Cont. – Deerhunter

  7. Los Angeles – Flying Lotus

  8. You & Me – The Walkmen

  9. Tha Carter III – Lil’ Wayne

  10. Dawn – Mount Eerie

2009

  1. Merriweather Post Pavilion – Animal Collective

  2. Veckatimest – Grizzly Bear

  3. Bitte Orca – Dirty Projectors

  4. Man on the Moon: The End of Day – Kid Cudi

  5. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix – Phoenix

  6. Embryonic – Flaming Lips

  7. Actor – St. Vincent

  8. Only Built for Cuban Linx, Vol. 2 – Raekwon

  9. It’s Blitz! – Yeah Yeah Yeahs

  10. brand new eyes – Paramore

2010

  1. Plastic Beach – Gorillaz

  2. Contra – Vampire Weekend

  3. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy – Kanye West

  4. This Is Happening – LCD Soundsystem

  5. Halcyon Digest – Deerhunter

  6. Cosmogramma – Flying Lotus

  7. The ArchAndroid – Janelle Monáe

  8. Have One on Me – Joanna Newsom

  9. Before Today – Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti

  10. Teen Dream – Beach House

2011

  1. Helplessness Blues – Fleet Foxes

  2. Kaputt – Destroyer

  3. Let England Shake – PJ Harvey

  4. Bon Iver – Bon Iver

  5. House of Balloons – The Weeknd

  6. Strange Mercy – St. Vincent

  7. James Blake – James Blake

  8. Slave Ambient – The War on Drugs

  9. Space Is Only Noise – Nicholas Jaar

  10. XXX – Danny Brown

2012

  1. good kid, m.A.A.d city – Kendrick Lamar

  2. Channel ORANGE – Frank Ocean

  3. Money Store – Death Grips

  4. Lonerism – Tame Impala

  5. 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

  6. Bloom – Beach House

  7. History Will Absolve Me – billy woods

  8. Ondratropica – Ondratropica

  9. Light Up Gold – Parquet Courts

  10. Mature Themes – Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti

2013

  1. Random Access Memories – Daft Punk

  2. Modern Vampires of the City – Vampire Weekend

  3. … Like Clockwork – Queens of the Stone Age

  4. Acid Rap – Chance the Rapper

  5. Settle – Disclosure

  6. Wakin on a Pretty Daze – Kurt Vile

  7. m b v – My Bloody Valentine

  8. LongLiveA$AP – A$AP Rocky

  9. Doris – Earl Sweatshirt

  10. Yeezus – Kanye West

2014

  1. Piñata – Freddie Gibbs & Madlib

  2. Run the Jewels 2 – Run the Jewels

  3. St. Vincent – St. Vincent

  4. LP1 – FKA twigs

  5. Lost in the Dream – War on Drugs

  6. Metamodern Sounds in Country Music – Sturgill Simpson

  7. Bury Me at Makeout Creek – Mitski

  8. They Want My Soul – Spoon

  9. Atlas – Real Estate

  10. Salad Days – Mac DeMarco

2015

  1. To Pimp a Butterfly – Kendrick Lamar

  2. Black Messiah – D’Angelo & The Vanguard

  3. Carrie & Lowell – Sufjan Stevens

  4. Have You In My Wilderness – Julia Holter

  5. Sound & Color – Alabama Shakes

  6. Rodeo – Travis Scott

  7. The Epic – Kamasi Washington

  8. Currents – Tame Impala

  9. Traveller – Chris Stapleton

  10. Summertime ’06 – Vince Staples

2016

  1. Blackstar – David Bowie

  2. A Seat at the Table – Solange

  3. Atrocity Exhibition – Danny Brown

  4. Blond – Frank Ocean

  5. We got it from Here… Thank You 4 Your service – A Tribe Called Quest

  6. A Moon Shaped Pool – Radiohead

  7. Malibu – Anderson .Paak

  8. Skeleton Tree – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

  9. Yes Lawd! – NxWorries

  10. 99.9% – Kaytranada

2017

  1. A Crow Looked at Me – Mount Eerie

  2. A Deeper Understanding – War on Drugs

  3. Ctrl – SZA

  4. 4:44 – Jay-Z

  5. Flower Boy – Tyler, the Creator

  6. DAMN. – Kendrick Lamar

  7. Take Me Apart – Kaelela

  8. Orc – Thee Oh Sees

  9. Aromanticism – Moses Sumney

  10. Drunk – Thundercat

2018

  1. KIDS SEE GHOSTS – Kids See Ghosts

  2. Wide Awake! – Parquet Courts

  3. Daytona – Pusha T

  4. Little Dark Age – MGMT

  5. Joy as an Act of Resistance – IDLES

  6. In a Poem Unlimited – U.S. Girls

  7. Swimming – Mac Miller

  8. Your Queen is a Reptile – Sons of Kemet

  9. Dirty Computer – Janelle Monáe

  10. Some Rap Songs – Earl Sweatshirt

2019

  1. Norman Fucking Rockwell! – Lana Del Ray

  2. IGOR – Tyler, the Creator

  3. Titanic Rising – Weyes Blood

  4. Bandana – Freddie Gibbs & Madlib

  5. Magdalene – FKA twigs

  6. All My Heroes Are Cornballs – JPEGMAFIA

  7. U.F.O.F. – Big Thief

  8. Infest the Rats’ Nest – King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard

  9. Hiding Places – billy woods & Kenny Segal

  10. House of Sugar – Alex G

2020

  1. Fetch the Bolt Cutters – Fiona Apple

  2. The New Abnormal – The Strokes

  3. songs – Adrienne Lenker

  4. Punisher – Phoebe Bridgers

  5. Alfredo – Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist

  6. RTJ4 – Run the Jewels

  7. After Hours – The Weeknd

  8. American Head – The Flaming Lips

  9. Circles – Mac Miller

  10. St. Cloud – Waxahatchee

2021

  1. LP! – JPEGMAFIA

  2. Promises – Floating Points, Pharaoh Sanders, and London Symphony Orchestra

  3. Call Me If You Get Lost – Tyler, the Creator

  4. Mood Valiant – Hiatus Kayote

  5. Valentine – Snail Mail

  6. Hitler Wears Hermes 8: Side B – Westside Gunn

  7. Space 1.8 – Nala Sinephro

  8. Ignorance – The Weather Station

  9. Untourable Album – Men I Trust

  10. I Don’t Live Here Anymore – The War on Drugs

2022

  1. Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You – Big Thief

  2. Blue Rev – Alvvays

  3. The Forever Story – J.I.D

  4. Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers – Kendrick Lamar

  5. Cheat Codes – Danger Mouse & Black Thought

  6. Cave World – Viagra Boys

  7. Melt My Eyes See Your Future – Denzel Curry

  8. Hellfire – black midi

  9. And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow – Weyes Blood

  10. Natural Brown Prom Queen – Sudan Archives

2023

  1. Lahai – Sampha

  2. SCARING THE HOES – Danny Brown & JPEGMAFIA

  3. Javelin – Sufjan Stevens

  4. Maps – billy woods & Kenny Segal

  5. Desire, I Want to Turn Into You – Caroline Polachek

  6. 3D Country – Geese

  7. Cousin – Wilco

  8. The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We – Mitski

  9. PetroDragonic Apocalypse – King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard

  10. Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume – Yves Tumor

2024

  1. Only God was Above Us – Vampire Weekend

  2. “NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD”—Godspeed You! Black Emperor

  3. No Name – Jack White

  4. The New Sound – Geordie Greep

  5. What Now – Brittany Howard

  6. CHROMAKOPIA – Tyler, The Creator

  7. Mahashmashana – Father John Misty

  8. Wall of Eyes – The Smile

  9. Endlessness – Nala Sinephro

  10. All Born Screaming – St. Vincent

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Author: Sam Colt