As 2016 comes to a close it’s hard not to wonder what’s in store, to imagine our collective future: with anxiety, with trepidation, with dread. But there are some events on the horizon to which we can look with optimism, with hope, with excitement. And here at Stereogum, those events frequently take the form of albums — some of which we have been promised, some of which seem inevitable, some that may exist only as rumors, and some that have in fact been gestating for a long time now.
Hence, we present our list of the 101 Most Anticipated Albums Of 2017. The albums cataloged below have either been announced or we have good reason to reason to believe they will be. We kept wishcasting to a minimum (that’s why, for example, the Wrens are on here but not, y’know, the Smiths) but, there are a few educated guesses. As always several releases we included on the previous list — e.g., Chromatics, Haim, Beck, Japandroids — are back again.
As for the rankings… Well, we have advances of many of these albums: some are better or worse than we expected and that has helped us determine how “anticipated” we think they should be. Some we are just excited about even though we haven’t heard ‘em yet. Is there an album you’re anticipating that’s not listed? Let us know in the comments. Hopefully it won’t be a Tidal exclusive.
101 U2 – Songs Of Experience (Island)
100 Modest Mouse
99 King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Flying Microtonal Banana (ATO Records, 2/24)
98 Pearl Jam
97 Dropkick Murphys – 11 Short Stories Of Pain & Glory (Born & Bred Records, 1/6)
96 Mark Eitzel – Hey Mr. Ferryman (Merge, 1/27)
95 Julie Byrne – Not Even Happiness (Bada Bing, 1/27)
94 Ed O’Brien
93 Xiu Xiu – Forget (Polyvinyl, 2/24)
92 Dutch Uncles – Big Balloon (Memphis Industries, 2/17)
91 Land Of Talk
90 Belle & Sebastian
89 Vagabon – Infinite Worlds(Father/Daughter, 2/24)
88 Phife Dawg (Spring)
87 Bleachers
86 Kreator – Gods Of Violence (Nuclear Blast, 1/27)
85 That dog.
84 Tinashe – Joyride (RCA, Spring)
83 GZA – Dark Matter
82 Justin Timberlake
81 MGMT
80 Japanese Breakfast
79 Slonk Donkerson
78 Sorority Noise (Spring)
77 Mastodon (Spring)
76 Quasimoto (Stones Throw Records)
75 Moses Sumney
74 Depeche Mode – Spirit (Columbia, Spring)
73 Billy Corgan
72 SZA (Spring)
71 Bruce Springsteen
70 Jessie Ware
69 AFI – AFI (The Blood Album) (Concord, 1/20)
68 Fred Thomas – Changer (Polyvinyl, 1/27)
67 Aimee Mann – Mental Illiness (Spring)
66 The Flaming Lips – Oczy Mlody (Warner Bros., 1/13)
65 The Afghan Whigs (Sub Pop)
64 Queens Of The Stone Age
63 Sun Kil Moon – Common As Light And Love Are Red Valleys Of Blood (Verde Records, 2/28)
62 Black Hippy (TDE)
61 Cloud Nothings – Life Without Sound (Carpark Records, 1/27)
60 Pissed Jeans – Why Love Now (Sub Pop, 2/24)
59 Pile – A Hairshirt Of Purpose (Exploding In Sound Records, 3/31)
58 Spiritualized
57 Austra – Future Politics (Domino, 1/20)
56 Priests – Nothing Feels Natural (Sister Polygon Records, 1/27)
55 Sheer Mag
54 Lana Del Rey
53 The Shins (Columbia)
52 PWR BTTM
51 Carcass
50 Hannah Diamond
49 Lydia Ainsworth
48 Slowdive
47 Real Estate (Domino)
46 Girlpool – Powerplant
45 Ride
44 Alice Glass
43 Grandaddy – Last Place (30th Century, 3/3)
42 Kanye West/GOOD Music – Cruel Winter (GOOD/Def Jam)
41 The xx – I See You (Young Turks, 1/13)
40 Charli XCX (Atlantic, May)
39 Sampha – Process (Young Turks, 2/3)
38 The Magnetic Fields – 50 Song Memoir (Nonesuch, 3/3)
37 Nine Inch Nails
36 St. Vincent
35 Alvvays
34 Amber Coffman – City Of No Reply (Columbia)
33 Strand Of Oaks – Hard Love (Dead Oceans, 2/17)
32 Allison Crutchfield – Tourist In This Town (Merge, 1/27)
31 Jenny Lewis
30 Pallbearer – Heartless (March)
29 Spoon (Matador)
28 Ryan Adams – Prisoner (Pax Am/BlueNote, 2/17)
27 HAIM
26 Brand New
25 The National
24 Dirty Projectors (Domino)
23 Beck (Capitol)
22 Julien Baker
21 Gorillaz
20 Björk
19 Missy Elliott
18 The Jesus And Mary Chain – Damage And Joy (Warner Bros., 3/25)
17 Phoenix
16 Grizzly Bear
15 The Wrens
14 Father John Misty
13 Japandroids – Near To The Wild Heart Of Life (Anti-, 1/27)
12 Sky Ferreira – Masochism
11 Chromatics – Dear Tommy (Italians Do It Better)
10 Zack De La Rocha
09 Taylor Swift
08 Arcade Fire
07 Fleet Foxes – Crack-Up
06 Vampire Weekend
05 Lorde
04 The War On Drugs (Atlantic)
03 Neutral Milk Hotel
02 Run The Jewels – Run The Jewels 3 (Self-Released, 1/13)
01 LCD Soundsystem