Saxually attractive?

Annie are you ok? So, Annie are you ok? Are you ok Annie?

You’re right about this not being a great album Tom. I mean how could Kendrick live up to the lofty ambitions of ‘gum favorites such as Fetty Wap and Rich Homie Quan?

Fuck outta here with that nonsense, who gives a shit about this being a good “rap” album? Its very clearly a GREAT album of MUSIC.

Why are we pretending like the VMAs matter? Like, at all?

THE ONLY WE BEING BULLIED HERE IS BILLY CORGAN’S TEE SHIRT!

So is this like a Premature Evaluation or is Owl City still eligible for AOTW after this write up?

The more I read about Pono and see articles about it, the more I want a Toblerone.

“I have a nu-metal past”

– “Nate, welcome, and thanks for sharing with the group.”

“I know it comes too soon…”

So croons Victoria Legrand on the epic Depression Cherry closer “Days of Candy,” and so it felt for all of us when we woke up on December 1st and found that AOTY Season was at hand. Never mind all the binge-listening and second-guessing we had planned. We knew what had to be done. Though we will likely be debating the legacy of 2015’s embarrassment of musical riches well into 2016 and beyond, this list represents our first attempt to sort through it all and to celebrate the albums that stuck with us. Fifty albums may seem like a lot, but there were plenty of beloved releases that just didn’t have the numbers to make the final list.

This year, 113 commenters spoke up for close to 250 of their favorite albums. I did my best to account for every list and to double-check every score for our Top 50 albums, but I will nonetheless apologize in advance for whatever errors I inevitably made in tabbing it all up. Consider this an estimate, a first-draft, a conversation piece: anything other than a definitive ranking. We’re just starting the conversation about a year that spoiled us with so much ear candy that “2015!” eventually became synonymous with “how many classic albums can possibly drop in one year?”

To create the list, I counted every album ranking from the AOTY comments section, assigning 4 points for a 1st place ranking, 3 points for a 2nd, 2 points for a 3rd, and 1 point for any other Top 10 finish. If you listed 10 albums but didn’t rank them, I assigned 1 point to each. If you didn’t create a full list but you named a favorite album of the year, I counted that as a 1st place. Albums are ranked by their total points, then by their total number of votes, both of which are listed in parentheses beside the album title. Further ties were broken, where possible, by looking at which album received the highest number of 1st place rankings (then 2nd, then 3rd). Several albums had the exact same breakdown of votes, so there was nothing to but let those ties stand.

Because there were so many more votes this year, I didn’t have time to compile this list and write up a commentary. I’m sure there’s a lot to talk about (check out that nail-biting 09-10-11 line-up) and I leave that discussion in your able hands!

Here are the results:

01. Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly (171, 64)
02. Sufjan Stevens -Carrie & Lowell (122, 55)
03. Grimes – Art Angels (113, 54)
04. Father John Misty – I Love You, Honeybear (93, 50)
05. Tame Impala – Currents (87, 49)
06. Jamie xx – In Colour (75, 45)
07. Beach House – Depression Cherry (41, 26)
08. Deafheaven – New Bermuda (40, 26)
09. Vince Staples – Summertime ’06 (38, 28)
10. Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Sit And Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit (38, 23)
11. Viet Cong – Viet Cong (37, 20)
12. Sleater-Kinney – No Cities To Love (27, 19)
13. Bjork – Vulnicura (26, 17)
14. Deerhunter – Fading Frontier (25, 19)
15. Julia Holter – Have You In My Wilderness (23, 18)
16. Titus Andronicus – The Most Lamentable Tragedy (23, 13)
17. Kurt Vile – b’lieve I’m goin’ down… (20, 16)
18. Kamasi Washington – The Epic (20, 12)
19. Neon Indian – VEGA INTL Night School (20, 11)
20. Donnie Trumpet & the Social Experiment – Surf (19, 15)
21. Joanna Newsom – Divers (19, 13)
22. Hop Along – Painted Shut (19, 12)
23. Colleen Green – I Want To Grow Up (19, 10)
24. HEALTH – Death Magic (18, 8)
25. White Reaper – White Reaper Does It Again (17, 9)
26. Chvrches – Every Open Eye (16, 14)
27. Miguel – Wildheart (15, 11)
28. Beach House – Thank Your Lucky Stars (14, 11)
29. Majical Cloudz – Are You Alone? (14, 11)
30. Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Multi-Love (13, 8)
31. Destroyer – Poison Season (12, 8)
32. Carly Rae Jepsen – E*MO*TION (12, 7)
33. Natalie Prass – Natalie Prass (12, 6)
34. Chelsea Wolfe – Abyss (12, 4)
35. The Tallest Man On Earth – Dark Bird Is Home (10, 5)
36. Oneohtrix Point Never – Garden of Delete (9, 7)
36. Ought – Sun Coming Down (9, 7)
38. Future – DS2 (9, 7)
39. Waxahatchee – Ivy Tripp (9, 6)
40. Panda Bear – Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper (9, 6)
41. Julien Baker – Sprained Ankle (9, 6)
42. Drake – If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late (9, 5)
43. Beach Slang – The Things We Do To Find People Like Us (8, 7)
43. Jim O’Rourke – Simple Songs (8, 7)
45. El VY – Return to the Moon (8, 6)
46. Dawn Richard – Blackheart (8, 5)
46. The World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die – Harmlessness (8, 5)
48. Screaming Females – Rose Mountain (8, 5)
49. Royal Headache – High (8, 3)
50. Algiers – Algiers (7, 4)

This is a great album. Here’s why:

Up until I was about 17, I’m hesitant to admit that I actually bought into the “post-racial society” bullshit. I hung out with all kinds of people, but the majority were white. I finally started to notice all of the little offenses against my race that I faced every day, and then I realize I was facing these offenses my whole life. It really made me feel foolish and weak. Things like the murders of black civilians by the police or racist vigilantes become obvious. It makes you angrier than you can imagine. I say this because even though you may scream and weep and fight for people like Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Tamir Race, and far too many others, if you aren’t black, the overwhelming fear that those people could’ve been you is not present. Once again, insert the foolishness and the weakness. The more the country let us know that it didn’t give two fucks or a damn about us, all of that turns to anger and sadness. These have been some rough years.

Where “To Pimp A Butterfly” fits into all of this, for me at least, is that Kendrick Lamar has undoubtedly gone through the same stages of grief for his race we all have, even more so with his fame and position. There’s an extra steps for us, though, after acceptance — power. “To Pimp A Butterfly” is that power. It’s a catharsis. From its influences, it’s contributors, it’s musicality, and, most importantly, it’s words; it’s a celebration of unapologetic blackness.

If Lamar wanted to make an album for everyone, he would’ve just done more good kid. I think he wanted to make an album for us. For him. For me. And I don’t mean to insinuate that non-black people can’t enjoy this album for what it is, I’m just saying that there’s a higher level of understanding there.

……So the founding members all got the same equity, and now we have a second round and everyone gets the same in that one as well, but it’s not as large as the first tier. We want to keep it going. We want to make this thing successful and then create another round and another round. That’s the dream, that’s the utopia”

That’s the most half assed description of a “Pyramid Scheme” I have ever fucking heard.

EXACTLY what a troll of the highest order would say.

Okay, ignoring my better judgement here I go…
A person yelling from the crowd ‘Marry Me!’. Isn’t that just fandom? annoying, sure, but typical fandom, something I would expect from both women and men, yelled at both women and men.
I’m honestly having a hard time seeing this as misogyny.
Again, not that he doesn’t deserve to get made fun of either way.

2015 keeps delivering.

Oh come on, this is some grade A daily-massaged Kobe Beef. This couldn’t be more in Stereogum’s wheelhouse if Carly Rae Jepsen showed up to confess her hate for Mumford & Sons while wearing a Beyoncé t-shirt.

Hearing this song the day after the Grammys is like chasing a flat Mountain Dew with a million-dollar shot of tequila.

Everyone laughed at them, but the millennials were right. This McCrantey guy’s gonna be big. Two for two.

9 month promotional campaign qualifies as surprise release these days?

oh, he is. don’t worry

‘we prefer feist.’ – burritos

Beck handled it really well, but Kanye was very clearly being an asshole toward him for no justifiable reason. Say what you will about Morning Phase, but Beck is just is much an “artist” as Beyonce and it was really out of line for Kanye to denigrate Beck like that.

Honestly, Beyonce really should have won, but that doesn’t make it okay to rail against a guy as nice as Beck for something as inconsequential as a Grammy.

i bet conde nast describing the pitchfork audience as highly passionate millenial males fucking killed everybodys soul at pitchfork. like all the pop-pushing shit theyve been doing since my beautful dark twisted fantasy was for nothing, their audience is still 90% nerdy ass white dudes

The Devil Wears Animal Collective T-Shirts

But do you guys like my Bad Blood poster or what?

In one of those photos he’s wearing a $4000 dollar suit, which

I signed up for an account just to downvote your idiotic comments.

That line of people queued up to bang The Koz looks something like this:

Yes

Millenial male here. Willing to join a roster for the right price, please contact with bids, thanks (or ‘thx’ as we say)

a great week for people who were in college in 2005

“The new names like James Blunt”

Shit. I knew the UK was in a different time zone, but I had no idea that it’s still 2004 over there.

I hope Abramovic knows that this was a pre-Tidal Jay Z, who just didn’t care about artists like he does now.

You mean this isn’t even part of the article? I’m not a writer for Stereogum?

I’m 48 years old. My ears are shot. Just like Neil Young’s. You could record a whale farting into a tin cup and tell me it’s the new one from a reunited Replacements and I’d say…

“Westerberg voice sounds weathered and rough. I LOVE THIS!!!!”

okay this is really fucking funny

“Done with friends who aren’t ride or die”
What the hell does that even mean? Am I that out of the loop? Is that a thing people say? Is that from one of them rap musics?

Stereogum wants you to know that Spencer Elden wants you to know that he was the baby on the cover of Nevermind. Like, really really badly.

This was legitimately fascinating.

where is Carrie & Lowell i’ve never been to that state

meanwhile, at camp miguel…

The line about Rita Ora on the new Asap Rocky album is way worse than anything Koz has said, but we don’t get on our high horses about anything rappers say, just guys with guitars get their speech policed on Stereogum. Seriously, Breihan, all you said in that premature evaluation was that they hooked up and Rocky kicked her out. It was a LITTLE more misogynist and slut shamey than that no? But not a peep from you. The album was GREATNESS!

To paraphrase Breihan’s DJ Quik Album of the Week review: “You have to go into a Mark Kozelek concert knowing that he is going to say some misogynistic shit, and you have to turn the moralizing part of your brain off. But if you can make that adjustment, Mark Kozelek becomes a funny motherfucker.” Why does this work for Quik and not Koz?

Maybe Koz would stop saying such dumb stuff if you music bloggers didn’t breathlessly document every bit of stage banter he mutters. Or maybe he would stop if sites like Stereogum were in any way consistent in getting their panties in a bunch about misogynist lyrics and remarks. I have a hard time understanding why this behavior is unacceptable from indie rockers but is just fine from rappers.

I’ll bail him out but he is gonna owe me one.

Classic Stereogum Popetimism.

Brushing the dust off an empty keg in the garage, Jenna Bush sighed to herself, “I remember when I was one of the coolest first daughters ever.” As she placed her hands on its cold steel frame she considered trying out a kegstand for old times’ sake. “Not without a spotter,” she laughed to herself, instead leaning on the empty vessel, chardonnay in hand, turning the knob on the long-neglected Aiwa stereo that sat next to an unused bottle of Armor All wheel polish on an adjacent workbench. Funny that the song was “How You Remind Me,” she thought. How it reminded her, indeed.