This is a breakdown of my favorite albums of the decade and their relation to cultural and political events of our time. This is a subjective list that is more about feel and themes than genre. Here is the full list of the top 200.
Top albums of the 2010's.
1. "I Don't Like Shit..." - Earl Sweatshirt (2015)
2. "Channel Orange" - Frank Ocean (2012)
3. "Capacity" - Big Thief (2017)
4. "Some Rap Songs" - Earl Sweatshirt (2018)
5. "Blonde" - Frank Ocean (2016)
6. "good kid, mAAd city" - Kendrick Lamar (2012)
7. "Ones and Sixes" - Low (2015)
8. "ANTI" - Rihanna (2016)
9. "Teen Dream" - Beach House (2010)
10. "Masterpiece" - Big Thief (2017)
11. "DAMN." - Kendrick Lamar (2017)
12. "Art Angels" - Grimes (2015)
13. "Black Messiah" - D'Angelo (2014)
14. "Push the Sky Away" - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (2013)
15. "This is Happening" - LCD Soundsystem (2010)
16. "Trouble Will Find Me" - The National (2013)
17. "True" - Solange (2012)
18. "No Shape" - Perfume Genius (2017)
19. "A Brief Inquiry..." - The 1975 (2018)
20. "The Haunted Man" - Bat for Lashes (2012)
21. "Visions" - Grimes (2012)
22. "Tempest" - Bob Dylan (2012)
23. "Depression Cherry" - Beach House (2015)
24. "Are We There" - Sharon Van Etten (2014)
25. "Burn Your Fire for No Witness - Angel Olsen (2014)
26. "Two Hands" - Big Thief (2019)
27. "Ruins" - Grouper (2014)
28. "so sad so sexy" - Lykke Li (2018)
29. "In Evening Air" - Future Islands (2010)
30. "Skeleton Tree" - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (2016)
31. "Remind Me Tomorrow" - Sharon Van Etten (2019)
32. "Run the Jewels 2" - Run the Jewels (2014)
33. "Old Ideas" - Leonard Cohen (2012)
34. "Lisbon" - The Walkmen (2010)
35. "High Violet" - The National (2010)
36. "To Pimp a Butterfly" - Kendrick Lamar (2015)
37. "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" - Kanye West (2010)
38. "Gliss Riffer" - Dan Deacon (2015)
39. "Heaven" - The Walkmen (2012)
40. "Swim Against the Tide" - The Japanese House (2016)
41. "Chris" - Christine and the Queens (2018)
42. "Dirty Computer" - Janelle Monae (2018)
43. "Blanco" - David Bazan (2016)
44. "Sunbather" - Deafheaven (2013)
45. "On the Water" - Future Islands (2011)
46. "Blackstar" - David Bowie (2016)
47. "Run the Jewels 3" - Run the Jewels (2016)
48. "Post Pop Depression" - Iggy Pop (2016)
49. "Apocalypse" - Bill Callahan (2011)
50. "Bloom" - Beach House (2012)
51. "The Winter of Mixed Drinks" - Frightened Rabbit (2010)
52. "Night Time, My Time" - Sky Fereira (2013)
53. "Skying" - The Horrors (2011)
54. "America" - Dan Deacon (2012)
55. "The Suburbs" - Arcade Fire (2010)
56. "Wounded Rhymes" - Lykke Li (2010)
57. "american dream" - LCD Soundsystem (2017)
58. "Too Bright" - Perfume Genius (2014)
59. "The King of Limbs" - Radiohead (2011)
60. "Ctrl" - SZA (2017)
61. "St. Vincent" - St. Vincent (2014)
62. "Sprained Ankle" - Julien Baker (2015)
63. "Yeezus" - Kanye West (2013)
64. "High Life" - Eno & Hyde (2014)
65. "You Want it Darker" - Leonard Cohen (2016)
66. "I Never Learn" - Lykke Li (2014)
67. "The Seer" - Swans (2012)
68. "Doris" - Earl Sweatshirt (2013)
69. "A Seat at the Table" - Solange (2016)
70. "Is the Is Are" - Diiv (2016)
71. "Harmlessness" - The World is a Beautiful Place... (2015)
72. "My Father Will Guide Me..." - Swans (2010)
73. "Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress" - Godspeed You! Black Emperor (2015)
74. "Coloring Book" - Chance the Rapper (2016)
75. "Lost in the Dream" - The War on Drugs (2014)
76. "Hot Thoughts" - Spoon (2017)
77. "Put Your Back N 2 It" - Perfume Genius (2012)
78. "Go Tell Fire to the Mountain" - WU LYF (2011)
79. "Muchacho de Lujo" - Phosphorescent (2014)
80. "When I Get Home" - Solange (2019)
81. "Sound Kapital" - Handsome Furs (2011)
82. "In a Poem Unlimited" - US Girls (2018)
83. "Strange Negotiations" - David Bazan (2011)
84. "Oshin" - Diiv (2012)
85. "Contra" - Vampire Weekend (2010)
86. "The Man Who Died in His Boat" - Grouper (2013)
87. "Wrecking Ball" - Bruce Springsteen (2012)
88. "A Thing Called Divine Fits" - Divine Fits (2012)
89. "Lost Girls" - Bat for Lashes (2019)
90. "Ghosteen" - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (2019)
91. "The Double EP" - Courtney Barnett (2014)
92. "I like it when you sleep..." - The 1975 (2016)
93. "The Courtneys II" - The Courtneys (2017)
94. "Lush" - Snail Mail (2018)
95. "Local Business" - Titus Andronicus (2012)
96. "Stubborn Persistent Illusions" - Do Make Say Think (2017)
97. "Strange Mercy" - St. Vincent (2011)
98. "The Idler Wheel..." - Fiona Apple (2012)
99. "m b v" - My Bloody Valentine (2013)
100. "It's Immaterial" - Black Marble (2016)
101. "The Life of Pablo" - Kanye West (2016)
102. "The Invisible Way" - Low (2013)
103. "Beast Epic" - Iron & Wine (2017)
104. "4:44" - Jay Z (2017)
105. "Half Free" - US Girls (2015)
106. "UFOF" - Big Thief (2019)
107. "Shriek" - Wye Oak (2014)
108. "Singles" - Future Islands (2014)
109. "untitled unmastered." - Kendrick Lamar (2016)
110. "Painted Shut" - Hop Along (2015)
111. "Fading Frontier" - Deer Hunter (2015)
112. "Dream River" - Bill Callahan (2013)
113. "No Home of the Mind" - Bing & Ruth (2017)
114. "Sometimes I Sit and Think..." - Courtney Barnett (2015)
115. "One Wing" - The Chariot (2012)
116. "Watch the Throne" - Jay Z & Kanye West (2011)
117. "forevher" - Shura (2019)
118. "Jesu / Sun Kil Moon" - Jesu / Sun Kil Moon (2016)
119. "Not Even Happiness" - Julie Byrne (2017)
120. "Atomic" - Mogwai (2016)
121. "When You Walk..." - Mothers (2016)
122. "ANIMA" - Thom Yorke (2019)
123. "Radiant Dawn" - Operators (2019)
124. "Songs of Praise" - Shame (2018)
125. "It's Album Time" - Todd Terje (2014)
126. "Hell Can Wait" - Vince Staples (2014)
127. "Barbara Barbara..." - Underworld (2016)
128. "Benji" - Sun Kil Moon (2014)
129. "Past Life Martyred Saints" - EMA (2011)
130. "Maraqopa" - Damien Jurado (2012)
131. "Reflektor" - Arcade Fire (2013)
132. "Ten Stories" - mewithoutYou (2012)
133. "Hopelessness" - Anohni (2016)
134. "Modern Vampires of the City" - Vampire Weekend (2013)
135. "Good at Falling" - The Japanese House (2019)
136. "Pedestrian Verse" - Frightened Rabbit (2013)
137. "Kill for Love" - Chromatics (2012)
138. "Carrie & Lowell" - Sufjan Stevens (2015)
139. "My Woman" - Angel Olsen (2016)
140. "Summertime '06" - Vince Staples (2015)
141. "The 1975" - The 1975 (2013)
142. "C'mon" - Low (2011)
143. "Dark Bird is Home" - The Tallest Man on Earth (2015)
144. "Painting of a Panic Attack" - Frightened Rabbit (2016)
145. "Fit Me In" - Frankie Cosmos (2015)
146. "Deep Fantasy" - White Lung (2014)
147. "Habit" - Snail Mail (2016)
148. "Sincerely, Future Pollution" - Timber Timbre (2017)
149. "For Ash" - Marnie Stern (2010)
150. "Double Negative" - Low (2018)
151. "Mandy (Soundtrack)" - Johann Johansson (2018)
152. "They Want My Soul" - Spoon (2014)
153. "The Harrow & The Harvest" - Gillian Welch (2011)
154. "In the Pit of the Stomach" - We Were Promised Jetpacks (2011)
155. "A Deeper Understanding" - The War on Drugs (2017)
156. "Metamodern Sounds in Country Music" - Sturgill Simpson (2014)
157. "Another Language" - This Will Destroy You (2014)
158. "Pale Horses" - mewithoutYou (2015)
159. "Spiritual Songs for Lovers to Sing" - Lost Under Heaven (2016)
160. "We Must Become..." - John Maus (2011)
161. "Deceiver" - Diiv (2019)
162. "Luciferian Towers" - Godspeed You! Black Emperor (2017)
163. "Let England Shake" - PJ Harvey (2011)
164. "Star Wars" - Wilco (2015)
165. "El Objeto Antes Llamado Disco" - Cafe Tacuba (2012)
166. "The ArchAndroid" - Janelle Monae (2010)
167. "If You See Me, Say Yes" - Flock of Dimes (2016)
168. "7" - Beach House (2018)
169. "Crazy Clown Time" - David Lynch (2011)
170. "Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest" - Bill Callahan (2019)
171. "Paradise" - White Lung (2016)
172. "The Kaleidoscope" - Lemolo (2012)
173. "We Got it From Here..." - A Tribe Called Quest (2016)
174. "Angles" - The Strokes (2011)
175. "Kveikur" - Sigur Ros (2013)
176. "So Beautiful or So What" - Paul Simon (2011)
177. "Aesthethica" - Liturgy (2011)
178. "Luminous" - The Horrors (2014)
179. "I Had a Dream That You Were Mine" - Hamilton Leithauser & Rostam (2016)
180. "Halcyon Digest" - Deer Hunter (2010)
181. "Stranger to Stranger" - Paul Simon (2016)
182. "Our Raw Heart" - YOB (2018)
183. "Nothing's Real" - Shura (2016)
184. "Slave Ambient" - The War on Drugs (2011)
185. "A Moon Shaped Pool" - Radiohead (2016)
186. "Bad As Me" - Tom Waits (2011)
187. "untitled" - mewithoutYou (2018)
188. "The Most Lamentable Tragedy" - Titus Andronicus (2015)
189. "Bangerz" - Miley Cyrus (2013)
190. "Lo Tom" - Lo Tom (2017)
191. "The OOZ" - King Krule (2017)
192. "Big Fish Theory" - Vince Staples (2017)
193. "Culture" - Migos (2017)
194. "Every Country's Sun" - Mogwai (2017)
195. "David Comes to Life" - Fucked Up (2011)
196. "The Sciences" - Sleep (2018)
197. "Titanic Rising" - Weyes Blood (2019)
198. "An Obelisk" - Titus Andronicus (2019)
199. "Teatime Dub Encounters" - Underworld & Iggy Pop (2018)
200. "Saint Bartlett" - Damien Jurado (2010)