My 101 Favorite Albums of the Past Decade (2010–2019)
A decade used to seem like such a long time when I was younger. Now, it doesn’t really seem like a very long time period. Maybe that is because as I get older, a single year is a smaller percentage of my life lived so far. Or maybe it’s because as I read various publications’ Best Of The Decade lists, I thought: “I still listen to this album a lot, I can’t believe it came out almost 10 years ago.”

As a musician with listening tastes that are both broad and specific in equal measure, I certainly don’t feel comfortable ranking the decade’s albums in a “Best” way. Instead, I took a look back at the music I listened to the most, and organized this as a “My Favorites” list. There are a LOT of albums that I did not include that will no doubt make you say “but what about…!” That’s expected; I did not listen to everything that is considered an all-time best album of this past decade. But I did listen to a lot of music, and there may be some things in here that are new to you. Ranking them is more of an exercise than a definitive determination — my Top Favorites ranking might change in a month! But for now, this is how I see the Top 25 albums, followed by 76 unranked albums in alphabetical order.
(One thing I can definitely say is that I had no trouble at all determining my top 5 favorites. They were obvious to me as soon as I started making this list.)
I’ve also put together a 101-song playlist with one song from each of these records. This playlist is ordered in the same way as the list: the first 25 songs are ranked in order of my favorites, and the next 76 songs are just alphabetical by artist. Click shuffle and find something you like.
- Kendrick Lamar — Good Kid, M.A.A.D City
- Desaparecidos — Payola
- Frightened Rabbit — Pedestrian Verse
- The Hotelier — Home, Like Noplace Is There
- Sufjan Stevens — Carrie & Lowell
- Vampire Weekend — Modern Vampires of the City
- Kendrick Lamar — To Pimp a Butterfly
- Crying — Beyond the Fleeting Gales
- Hiss Golden Messenger — Bad Debt
- Hop Along — Painted Shut
- Frightened Rabbit — The Winter of Mixed Drinks
- Pinegrove — Cardinal
- Japandroids — Celebration Rock
- Vince Staples — Summertime ‘06
- My Morning Jacket — Circuital
- Broken Social Scene — Forgiveness Rock Record
- Sturgill Simpson — Metamodern Sounds in Country Music
- Run the Jewels — Run the Jewels 2
- Foxing — Nearer My God
- Vampire Weekend — Contra
- The Hotelier — Goodness
- The National — High Violet
- Bon Iver — Bon Iver, Bon Iver
- Gorillaz — Plastic Beach
- Mutual Benefit — Love’s Crushing Diamond
- Aesop Rock — The Impossible Kid
- Beach House — Bloom
- Better Oblivion Community Center — Better Oblivion Community Center
- Big Boi — Sir Lucious Leftfoot…The Son of Chico Dusty
- Big K.R.I.T.—4eva Is a Mighty Long Time
- Blis.—No One Loves You
- Cardi B—Invasion of Privacy
- Chance the Rapper—Acid Rap
- Coma Cinema—Blue Suicide
- Destroyer—Kaputt
- Diarrhea Planet — I’m Rich Beyond Your Wildest Dreams
- Dinner Time—Dinner Time
- Dot.s—We Swim
- Elvis Depressedly—Holo Pleasures
- Fiona Apple—Idler Wheel…
- Foxygen—We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic
- Frank Ocean — Channel Orange
- Frank Turner—Tape Deck Heart
- Frightened Rabbit — Painting of a Panic Attack
- Fucked Up—Dose Your Dreams
- Fucked Up—David Comes to Life
- Futurebirds—Baba Yaga
- Great Grandpa—Four of Arrows
- Gold-Bears — Dalliance
- Hiss Golden Messenger—Heart Like a Levee
- Iron Chic—You Can’t Stay Here
- Janelle Monae—The Electric Lady
- Japandroids—Post-Nothing
- Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit—The Nashville Sound
- Jeff Rosenstock—WORRY.
- Jenny Lewis—The Voyager
- Jim James—Regions of Light and Sound of God
- Jimmy Eat World—Surviving
- Julien Baker—Turn Out the Lights
- Kendrick Lamar—DAMN.
- Kevin Devine—Bubblegum
- LCD Soundsystem—This is Happening
- Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires—Youth Detention
- LVL UP—Hoodwink’d
- Manchester Orchestra—Simple Math
- Mannequin Pussy—Patience
- Menomena—Mines
- Mitski—Puberty 2
- New Junk City—New Junk City
- PUP — The Dream Is Over
- PUP—Morbid Stuff
- Ra Ra Riot—The Orchard
- Ra Ra Riot—Beta Love
- Reptar—Body Faucet
- Rubblebucket—Survival Sounds
- S. Carey—Range of Light
- Say Anything—Hebrews
- Small Reactions—Similar Phantoms
- Small Wonder—Wendy
- Spoon—They Want My Soul
- Superchunk—I Hate Music
- Surfer Blood—Astro Coast
- The Get Up Kids—Problems
- The Hold Steady—Thrashing Thru the Passion
- The Menzingers—Rented World
- The New Pornographers—Together
- The Pains of Being Pure at Heart—Belong
- The Shins—Port of Morrow
- The Walkmen—Heaven
- Titus Andronicus — The Monitor
- Titus Andronicus—The Most Lamentable Tragedy
- Tune-Yards—W H O K I L L
- Various Artists—Hamilton Original Cast Recording
- Waxahatchee—Ivy Tripp
- WHY?—Alopecia
- Wilco—The Whole Love
- Woods—Bend Beyond
- Yeasayer—Odd Blood
- Yo La Tengo—Fade
- Zeus—Busting Visions
- Zeus — Say Us
