Surprise album releases now seem to come in a crazy rapid-fire at the end of the year, so there’s always a chance that a huge album could appear out of nowhere on our collective hard drives. But for the most part, 2014 is done, and we’re nearly finished reflecting on all the music, great and otherwise, that we’ve heard. For the past few years, we’ve also taken a moment to look forward to what’s coming.
Here, we’ve listed 101 albums that we’re looking forward to hearing and processing and tearing apart. Some of these are albums with definite release dates and singles out in the world, and some of them are ghosts, albums whose existence has only been hinted at. If we know a band has been hard at work in the studio, then we figure there’s a good chance they’ll have something for us in 2015. This doesn’t always work out. Last year’s most-anticipated album, the opus that Kanye West promised last summer, still hasn’t come out. (Seth Rogen says the new songs are amazing, though.)
Uncertainty aside, none of the albums on this list are blind guesses. As much as we’d love to hear a new Japandroids album, for instance, we haven’t heard any rumblings from them, and that’s why you won’t find them on this list. Joanna Newsom or Bat For Lashes or HAIM or Wilco or Tame Impala could drop a new LP, too, but we we weren’t confident about those either, so we didn’t include them.
We also limited ourselves to albums that we’re excited to hear. We are well aware that U2 are planning to give us the big Songs Of Innocence sequel, Songs Of Experience, soon. We also know that Madonna’s got Rebel Heart coming, and we’ve heard half of it. Neither one made the cut.
And there are dozens and dozens of announced albums we are curious about but just couldn’t find space for. Sorry, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.
In any case, our hopes for the year are high, even if our rankings are a bit arbitrary on the lower end of the list. Check out our picks below, and if we’re forgetting anything, let us know about it in the comments section.
101 Bob Dylan – Shadows In The Night (Columbia, 2/3)
98 Will Butler – Policy (Merge, 3/10)
97 Pile – You’re Better Than This (Exploding In Sound, 3/3)
94 Future Brown – Future Brown (Warp, 2/24)
93 The Decemberists – What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World (Capitol, 1/20)
92 Marilyn Manson – The Pale Emperor (Hell, Etc., 1/20)
90 Viet Cong – Viet Cong (Jagjaguwar, 1/20)
89 Trust Fund – No One’s Coming For Us (Turnstile, 2/9)
87 Meek Mill – Dreams Worth More Than Money
86 Gang Of Four – What Happens Next (Metropolis, 2/24)
85 Tamaryn – TBA (Mexican Summer)
83 Jose Gonzalez – Vestiges And Claws (Mute, 2/17)
82 Widowspeak – TBA (Captured Tracks)
81 Myrkur – TBA (Relapse)
78 Rae Sremmurd – SremmLife (EarDrummers/Interscope, 1/6)
77 Death Grips – The Powers That B (Third Worlds/Harvest)
76 Raury – TBA (Columbia)
75 Giorgio Moroder – 74 Is The New 24 (RCA, Spring)
74 Mount Eerie – Sauna (P.W. Elverum & Sun, 2/3)
73 Heems – Eat Pray Thug (Greedhead Music, 3/10)
70 Natalie Prass – Natalie Prass (Spacebomb Records, 1/27)
69 Title Fight – Hyperview (Anti-, 2/03)
62 Coliseum – Anxiety’s Kiss
61 Jeremih – Late Nights: The Album (Def Jam)
56 of Montreal – Aureate Gloom (Polyvinyl, 3/3)
55 Wild Nothing – TBA (Captured Tracks)
54 You Blew It! – Pioneer Of Nothing EP (Jade Tree, 1/27)
52 Laura Marling – Short Movie (Ribbon, 3/24)
49 Dutch Uncles – O Shudder (Memphis Industries, 2/24)
48 Jessica Pratt – On Your Own Love Again (Drag City, 1/27)
47 DIIV – TBA
46 Mark Ronson – Uptown Special (RCA, 1/12)
44 Torche – Restarter (Relapse, 2/24)
43 Colleen Green – I Want To Grow Up (Hardly Art, 2/24)
42 Screaming Females – Rose Mountain (Don Giovanni, 2/24)
41 Joey Bada$$ – B4.DA.$$ (Cinematic, 1/20)
40 Belle & Sebastian – Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance (Matador, 1/20)
39 Dan Deacon – Gliss Riffer (Domino, 2/24)
34 Chromatics – Dear Tommy (Italians Do It Better)
33 Faith No More – TBA (Reclamation Recordings, April)
29 Tool – TBA
26 Shamir – TBA (XL)
24 Modest Mouse – Strangers To Ourselves (Epic, 3/3)
23 Pusha T – King Push
21 Twin Shadow – Eclipse (Warner Bros., 3/17)
17 Father John Misty – I Love You, Honeybear (Sub Pop, 2/10)
16 Panda Bear – Panda Bear Meets The Grim Reaper (Domino, 1/13)
14 Waxahatchee – TBA (Merge, April)
12 Drake – Views From The 6 (OVO Sound)
06 Grimes – TBA (4AD)
01 Sleater-Kinney – No Cities To Love (Sub Pop, 1/20)