A list can keep you up at night. You suddenly sit up straight and think, “How could I leave out THAT album?” Even for you, the reader, you’re looking at a list from your favorite publication and are offended that your favorite band is ignored.
Lists are dangerous; they’re divisive. Yet every year, we take on the stress of making lists. Why? Because it puts the year of music into perspective. What music defined 2014? Sure they start fights and ruin friendships, but the conversation is important. These fights over what’s No. 1, what’s No. 10, even what’s No. 50 make us think deeply about what we listen to, why we listen to it and why we connect to it.
Below you’ll find our lists of the best albums of 2014. As we’ve said before, you’ll find our individual lists, because we believe this gives each writer’s unique taste and gives the reader a wider spectrum of music. However, some clear-cut favorites this year are St. Vincent with 10 mentions, Run the Jewels and Ty Segall each with seven mentions and Sturgill Simpson and the War on Drugs each with five mentions.
1) Run The Jewels, “RTJ2”
2) Future Islands, “Singles”
3) St. Vincent, “St. Vincent”
4) Taylor Swift, “1989”
5) Ty Segall, “Manipulator”
6) Mac DeMarco, “Salad Days”
7) Flying Lotus, “You’re Dead”
8) D’Angelo, “Black Messiah
9) FKA Twigs, “LP1”
10) Sturgill Simpson, “Metamodern Sounds in Country Music”
1) Ty Seagall, “Manipulator”
2) Deerhoof, “La Isla Bonita”
3) The Caribbean, “Moon Sickness”
4) Alvvays, “Alvvays”
5) The Afghan Whigs, “Do to the Beast”
6) Chad VanGaalen, “Shrink Dust”
7) Sharon Van Etten, “Are We There”
8) Broncho, “Just Enough Hip to Be a Woman”
9) Fear of Men, “Loom”
10) The Preatures, “Blue Planet Eyes”
1) Beck, “Morning Phase”
2) Future Islands, “Singles”
3) Spoon, “They Want My Soul”
4) The War On Drugs, “Lost In The Dream”
5) Todd Terje, “Itap Album Time”
6) Aphex Twin, “Syro”
7) Sun Kil Moon, “Benji”
8) Real Estate, “Atlas”
9) Mac DeMarco, “Salad Days”
10) Ariel Pink, “pom pom”
1) Run the Jewels, “Run the Jewels 2”
2) D’Angelo, “Black Messiah”
3) St. Vincent, “St. Vincent”
4) Tinashe, “Aquarius”
5) Ty Segall, “Manipulator”
6) Cloud Nothings, “Here and Nowhere Else”
7) Todd Terje, “It’s Album Time”
8) Spoon, “They Want My Soul”
9) J. Cole, “Forest Hills Drive”
10) Flying Lotus, “You’re Dead!”
1) Future Islands, “Singles”
2) The War on Drugs, “Lost in the Dream”
3) Todd Terje, “It’s Album Time”
4) St. Vincent, “St. Vincent”
5) Spoon, “They Want My Soul”
6) Caribou, “Our Love”
7) Sturgill Simpson, “Metamodern Sounds in Country Music”
8) Strands of Oak, “Heal”
9) Run the Jewels, “Run the Jewels 2”
10) Flight Facilities, “Down to Earth”
1) SBTRKT, “Wonder Where We Land”
2) Flying Lotus, “You’re Dead”
3) Future, “Honest”
4) Big KRIT, “Cadillactica”
5) YG, “My Krazy Life”
6) Jhene Aiko, “Souled Out”
7) Teyana Taylor, “VII”
8) Azealia Banks, “Broke With Expensive Taste”
9) Run the Jewels, “Run the Jewels 2”
10) Rick Ross, “Mastermind”
1) St. Vincent, “St. Vincent”
2) Stephen Malkmus, “Wig Out at Jagbags”
3) Run the Jewels, “Run the Jewels 2”
4) The War on Drugs, “Lost in the Dream”
5) Angel Olsen, “Burn Your Fire for No Witness”
6) Ambrose Akinmusire, “The Imagined Savior Is Far Easier to Paint”
7) Ty Segall, “Manipulator”
8) John Lurie National Orchestra, “The Invention of Animals”
9) Protomartyr, “Under Color of Official Right”
10) Sturgill Simpson, “Metamodern Sounds In Country Music”
1) St. Vincent, “St. Vincent”
2) Wild Beasts, “Present Tense”
3) Ty Segall, “Manipulator”
4) Phantom Band, “Strange Friend”
5) The Coral, “The Curse of Love”
6) Satan’s Satyr’s, “Die Screaming”
7) Liars, “Mess”
8) Cherry Ghost, “Herd Runners”
9) Bryan Ferry, “Avonmore”
10) White Lung, “Deep Fantasy”
1) Ty Segall, “Manipulator”
2) White Fence, “For The Recently Found Innocent”
3) Wand, “Ganglion Reef”
4) Hum, “Hookworms”
5) St. Vincent, “St. Vincent”
6) Meatbodies, “Meatbodies”
7) Sturgill Simpson, “Metamodern Sounds In Country Western Music
8) Twin Peaks, “Wild Onion”
9) Lykke Li, “I Never Learn”
10) Alvvays, “Alvvays”
1) Chad VanGaalen, “Shrink Dust”
2) Aphex Twin, “Syro”
3) King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, “I’m In Your Mind Fuzz”
4) Adult Jazz, “Gist Is”
5) The Antlers, “Familiars”
6) St. Vincent, “St. Vincent”
7) Jack White, “Lazaretto”
8) King Tuff, “Black Moon Spell”
9) Helado Negro, “Double Youth”
10) The Wytches, “Annabel Dream Rider”
1) Run the Jewels, “Run the Jewels 2”
2) Future Islands, “Singles”
3) tUnE-yArDs, “Nikki Nack”
4) TV on the Radio, “Seeds”
5) Ty Segall, “Manipulator”
6) St. Vincent, “St. Vincent”
7) Sturgill Simpson, “Metamodern Sounds in Country Music”
8) Wye Oak, “Shriek”
9) Against Me!, “Transgender Dysphoria Blues”
10) Todd Terje, “It’s Album Time”
1) Spoon, “They Want My Soul”
2) Taylor Swift, “1989”
3) Jukebox the Ghost, “Jukebox the Ghost
4) Jenny Lewis, “The Voyager”
5) Drowners, “Drowners”
6) Tweens, “Tweens”
7) 5 Seconds of Summer, “5 Seconds of Summer”
8) The Horrors, “Luminous”
9) The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, “Days of Abandon”
10) The War on Drugs, “Lost in the Dream”
1) St. Vincent, “St. Vincent”
2) Ty Segall, “Manipulator”
3) YG, “My Krazy Life”
4) Shabazz Palaces, “Lese Majesty”
5) Beck, “Morning Phase”
6) FKA Twigs, “LP1”
7) Sun Kill Moon, “Benji”
8) Flying Lotus, “You’re Dead!”
9) TV On The Radio, “Seeds”
10) Run The Jewels, “Run the Jewels 2”
1) War on Drugs, “Lost in the Dream”
2) Temples, “Sun Structures”
3) Afghan Whigs, “Do to the Beast”
4) Jack White, “Lazaretto”
5) Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, “Wig out at Jagbags”
6) First Aid Kit, “Stay Gold”
7) The Orwells, “Disgraceland”
8) Tuneyards, “Nikki-Nack”
9) Tinariwen, “Emmaar”
10) St. Vincent, “St. Vincent”
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