The Top 50 Albums of the 2010s, Part 1

A lot happened in the past decade. Many of those things were of a musical nature. I listened to probably a couple thousand albums during that time frame. That’s way too much, but I have to make something out of all the time I wasted. So why not make an arbitrary list of the best of the best from 2010 to 2019!?

Honorable Mentions, in Alphabetical Order

A$AP Rocky — Live.Love.A$AP (self-released, 2011) [“Palace”]

Braid — No Coast (Topshelf, 2014) [“East End Hollows”]

Denzel Curry — Nostalgic 64 (C4, 2013) [“Threatz”]

D.R.A.M. — Big Baby D.R.A.M. (Atlantic, 2016) [“Broccoli”]

Fiona Apple — The Idler Wheel… (Clean Slate, 2012) [“Werewolf”]

FKA twigs — Magdalene (Young Turks, 2019) [“Mary Magdalene”]

Foxing — Dealer(Triple Crown, 2015) [“Redwoods”]

Grouper — A I A: Alien Observer (Yellow Electric, 2011) [“Moon Is Sharp”]

Jamila Woods — Legacy! Legacy! (Jagjaguwar, 2019) [“Basquiat”]

Jonny Greenwood — Phantom Thread (Nonesuch, 2018) [“House of Woodcock”]

Kali Uchis — Isolation (Rinse, 2018) [“After the Storm”]

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard — Nonagon Infinity (ATO, 2016) [“Gamma Knife”]

LCD Soundsystem — This Is Happening (DFA, 2010) [“Home”]

The Men — Leave Home(Sacred Bones, 2011) [“Think”]

Priests — Nothing Feels Natural (Sister Polygon, 2017) [“Suck”]

Pusha T — My Name Is My Name (G.O.O.D. Music, 2013) [“Nosetalgia”]

Schoolboy Q — Blank Face LP (Interscope, 2016) [“Groovy Tony/Eddie Kane”]

St. Vincent — St. Vincent (Loma Vista, 2014) [“Prince Johnny”]

Thundercat — Drunk (Brainfeeder, 2017) [“Friend Zone”]

Thursday — No Devolución (Epitaph, 2011) [“Stay True”]

50. Tancred — Nightstand (Polyvinyl, 2018)

Best Tracks: “Reviews,” “Queen Of New York,” “Underwear”

I saw Tancred open for Julien Baker with no previous knowledge of their music. Jess Abbott’s hooks immediately brought me in, and Nightstand is her hookiest album. Extremely strong power pop.

49. Parquet Courts — Light Up Gold (Dull Tools, 2012)

Best Tracks: “Borrowed Time,” “Stoned & Starving,” “Careers In Combat”

There were a billion post-punk revivalist (post-punk revival revival?) that have gotten hype and immediately disappeared this decade. Parquet Courts is one of the few such bands that has continued making interesting music, but it’s still their breakthrough from 2012 (reissued a year later) that keeps me coming back the most.

48. Screaming Females — Ugly (Don Giovanni, 2012)

Best Tracks: “Rotten Apple,” “Leave It All Up To Me,” “Red Hand”

Just an expertly crafted punk record.

47. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib — Piñata (Madlib Invazion, 2014)

Best Tracks: “Thuggin’,” “Knicks,” “Harold’s”

Had a hard time picking between this and this year’s excellent follow-up Bandana. Gibbs is probably the most consistently great emcee of the last decade, and Madlib’s an all-timer producer. They make magic together. Thought about moving this up when making the list, but then I thought about Ab-Soul’s verse on “Lakers.” Why did we let that dude rap on every prominent rap album for like three years?

46. Big Thief — U.F.O.F. (4AD, 2019)

Best Tracks: “Cattails,” “Century,” “UFOF”

Adrienne Lenker has one of my favorite voices in rock music right now. It’s the perfect blend of soft yet expressive. This was a tough decision as well. This isn’t even Big Thief’s only great album from this past year. Lenker and company are on an unreal tear right now, and you should be paying attention.

45. Big Boi — Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty (Purple Ribbon, 2010)

Best Tracks: “Shine Blockas,” “General Patton,” “Shutterbugg,”

It feels like a lot of people forgot about this after the initial hype when it dropped. Maybe it’s because they were blocked from having the tracks Big Boi recorded with Andre 3000 on the record. But this still holds up. Big Boi’s a massively underrated rapper, and this record is tons of fun. I actually prefer this to Speakerboxxx.

44. Future Islands — The Far Field (4AD, 2017)

Best Track: “Time On Her Side,” “Beauty Of The Road,” “Ancient Water”

Future Islands definitely have a formula they follow, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I love that formula to death. Fun live band, as well.

43. Waka Flocka Flame — Flockaveli (1017 Brick Squad, 2010)

Best Tracks: “Grove Street Party,” “Bustin’ At ‘Em,” “F*** This Industry”

This was the album that helped get me out of the backpacker “only ‘lyrical’ rap is real hip-hop” garbage that I ashamedly believed for a few of my teenage years. I listened to this album to hype myself up before every high school football game. I wasn’t very good at football and rarely played, but that wasn’t the fault of the album.

42. Solange — When I Get Home (Columbia, 2019)

Best Tracks: “Almeda,” “Stay Flo,” “Time (Is)”

It might seem a bit more scattershot than 2016’s A Seat at the Table, but I really like that Solange doesn’t really linger on anything for too long. It’s a varied, vibrant tribute to Houston.

41. Vince Staples — Summertime ’06 (ARTium, 2015)

Best Tracks: “Norf Norf,” “Surf,” “Jump Off The Roof”

Summertime ’06 is a debut album so great and fully-formed that it’s seemed like Vince has had next-to-impossible expectations from fans for everything that he’s released since, especially if he switches his sound up. I do love what’s come after, but Summertime really is a special album from one of the generation’s most gifted rappers.

Parts 2–3 (or 4) coming soon.