Top 10 Albums of the Decade

It’s about time I made this list, it’s definitely been a long time coming. I have been reading a lot of lists of best songs/albums etc. of the decade since December. This quarantine has made me revisit a ton of music as well as track new territory into other artists, so I feel like it’s a good time to write this. I can almost guarantee in the future I will discover albums from this decade that I will love and that could also possibly crack this list but this is what it looks like currently.

Let’s do some honorable mentions first before the top 10. So many of these were strong albums and I’m sad to see them not make it.

Swimming - Mac Miller This was so close and the way this album blends a somber style of funk production is top notch. But at the end of the day this album feels just a little too stable to take it next level, like it didn’t really take risks stylistically. I guess he’s gone now and we will never know but I would have really liked to see Swimming and Circles as a combined album. I think the two combined would fit a more cohesive arc and the back and forth production could keep it sounding a little more fresh with each track. But this is still one great album, 2009 is an absolutely incredible song.

Blonde - Frank Ocean Ok I just don’t think I personally like Frank’s sound in rnb as much as a lot of other people. Maybe because I tend to prefer a traditional rnb sound. Therefore this didn’t make my top 10 but I can still appreciate how insanely good this album is. Frank’s brand of sparse storytelling is amazing. Self Control and White Ferrari are top tier songs.

Trilogy - The Weeknd Does the trilogy count as 3 albums or 1? Cause if I had to choose the best one it’s clearly House of Balloons. High for This as an opener is hard as fuck like imagine it’s 2013 and this random dude on the internet named XO dropped a mixtape and you listen and the first track is high for fucking this. Unfortunately although this album has insanely high highs it also has some low lows for me, which is expected for a debut mixtape. So for that reason it didn’t get top 10.

Daytona - Pusha T This album is straight to the fucking point. There is no room to breathe this album hits you with punch after punch of bangers. Songs like If you know you know or Come back baby is production heaven to listen to and with Pusha’s mean ass flow this album makes you pay attention to every sound it throws your way. But there are still 10 albums better than this.

Alright top 10. For each album I will also give my 3 favourite songs in no particular order.

10. Melodrama - Lorde (2017) Boy is Lorde a great fucking artist. Melodrama is an instantly memorable album. Also it feels a lot more mature compared to Pure Heroine. Melodrama is such an appropriate title for this it definitely takes you on this weird trip of youthful heartache which is nostalgic but also new which is so weird to say. The aesthetics of this album are also very powerful and it’s able to blend styles of pop very well into the heavily hip hop style of production from her debut album. Also Perfect Places is such a great note to end the album on.

Favourite songs: The Louvre, Liability, Perfect Places

9. If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late - Drake (2015) I’m not gonna lie I’m even surprised this made this list but the more I thought about it the more I realized how much I actually enjoy this album. I know I’m not super high on the creative liberties Drake has taken in his music direction but I would be lying if I told you I didn’t also enjoy his music. This is definitely my favourite Drake album like wow who woulda thought he would actually rap this much. This album is bangers on bangers with a strong as fuck first 3 track spread (possibly 5 track spread)

Favourite songs: Legend, 10 Bands, No Tellin

8. Emotion - Carly Rae Jepson (2015) This album is a prime example of pop perfection. The writing is excellent at conveying the intricacies of falling out of love so well over a 80s synth heavy style production. Run away with me is one of the most enjoyable pop songs ever, like forreal this is some In the air tonight type stuff. And yo, that Tom Hanks mv for I really like you, cmon. I cannot get enough of this album and since it’s pop, like it’s made to sound good on repeat too which cannot hurt.

Favourite songs: Run away with me, Emotion, All That

7. Sept 5th - dvsn (2016) How rnb sounds on this album is almost ideally how I want rnb to sound. Minimal but strong vocals with lush production with horns and strings with some funk elements thrown in. I remember discovering dvsn through this and I was instantly impressed with how put together their songs sound from the very start. There was a year or 2 that I could not get songs from this album off repeat.

Favourite songs: With Me, Do It Well, Hallucinations

6. 2014 Forest Hills Drive - J. Cole (2014) I could go into a lot about this album but most of all I like how it’s just a no features no bullshit rundown of Cole spitting about adolescence in a dense 13 track spread. I really miss hip hop before the trap sound took over. The way he switches flows and between rapping and singing to keep tracks fresh sounding (esp how he does choruses) is an art that’s been glossed over by a ton of hip hop. I remember hearing GOMD for the first time during exams in 2014 and I could not get enough. This album really made me think Cole was gonna be on top of the rap game with its blend of storytelling and lyricism that really makes you reminisce about adolescence.

Favourite songs: A Tale of 2 Citiez, GOMD, No Role Modelz

5. The Divine Feminine - Mac Miller (2016) I love how the story of this album is that Mac looked around his show and noticed all his fans were dudes lmao so he had to make a project the resonated with girls. I mean shit he did one hell of a job. With exceptional features like Anderson Paak, Kendrick Lemar, Ty Dolla Sign, and ofc Ariana Grande, he is able to make an album that is such a perfect blend of jazz and hip hop. The 3 track spread between Stay, Skin, and Cinderella is a trip in itself. My Favourite Part is one of the most bittersweet songs I’ll listen to. I think I really appreciate it when artists cut down their tracklists to pack a punch with each song instead of bloating the album with fluff for streams.

Favourite songs: Stay, Cinderella, My Favourite Part

4. Yeezus - Kanye West (2013) First Ye entry on this list, and shit it’s a good one. I remember having such mixed thoughts on Yeezus when I first heard it but I also don’t think any other album has grown on me the way this has, it’s just aged so damn well. The industrial sounds that I used to find irritating are now hot as shit. It’s hard to say it’s his most bold album because most of them are bold in their own regards but it really is a totally different take on what hip hop should sound like. The subject matter he addresses here is also just so egotistical in nature but with the harsh production sounds it works so well. The arc that this album follows is also the second best arc in my opinion from all of these albums, which will only be exceeded by… another Kanye album. Also New Slaves might be my favourite Kanye verse of all time.

Favourite songs: New Slaves, Hold My Liquor, Blood on the Leaves

3. Days Before Rodeo - Travis Scott (2014) Technically this is a mixtape but it still makes me sad about what Travis has become. It’s no knock on his artistry and I’m a huge supporter of go whichever route in your music you want, but to see him make modern pop trap hip hop after dropping this in 2014 is one of the biggest creative downfalls in music to me. At this point in his career, I was so insanely high up on Travis because of the liberties he took in making his own brand of trap music. This mixtape is the pinnacle of dark and gloomy experimental trap aesthetic where production didn’t rely solely on clustered high hats and repetitive 808s. The sound that first hits you in the opening track is this eerie organ that sets the tone so well for the tracks to come. The production duo of Metro and Travis is also next fucking level esp in their efforts on Skyfall. Although it does maybe lack some substance, the style more than makes up for it. It’s funny how people now will point to being og Travis fans because they listened to Rodeo but this mixtape is so unbelievably overlooked in Travis’s projects.

Favourite songs: Drugs You Should Try It, Don’t Play, Skyfall

2. Good Kid Maad City - Kendrick Lamar (2015) Ok man when I said Daytona was full of bangers this is like Daytona on steroids. The way this album hits on a track for track basis is something that few albums can rival. It’s also really interesting that this album and Forest Hills Drive are both projects about adolescence but boy do they take different approaches. Cole makes his experiences feel relatable while this feels like a much more no bullshit take on the harsh realities of growing up in Compton. The way the tracks include conversations feels like interludes to structure the album without actually including interludes. The way it goes from making you feel on top of the world in Backseat Freestyle to slowly exploring the bleakness of different facets of everyday life is incredible. This is just one really really fucking good album.

Favourite songs: Backseat Freestyle, Money Trees, Sing About Me I’m Dying of Thirst

1 My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - Kanye West (2010) Ok I thought a while about if this should really be my favourite album of the decade. It’s no doubt the best for me but I still wasn’t sure if I considered it my favourite. Sometimes I even think I like Yeezus more, but time and time again I will go back to this album more than any other album and I don’t think it’s even close. It’s truly a testament to how timeless the sounds here are. This is the oldest album on this list and it still sounds like it could be from this year. When I said Yeezus has the second best arc there should be no doubt that this is the album with the best arc. There’s way too much that’s been said about this album and there’s no point rehashing all of the praise so I guess I’ll give some highlights for me personally. The entire process of recording and mixing was one of a kind too where they just all chilled in Hawaii for the whole thing. This album also made me really aware of Bon Iver more than just the guy who sang Skinny Love so I gotta be grateful for that. The Gorgeous guitar sample is straight up one of the most satisfying sounding guitars ever. So Appalled is disgustingly underrated on here but it’s bound to be I guess with such a strong tracklist. I really do believe this album is one that’s gonna go down in music history that transcends genre. Kanye is a lot of things but when he is at his musical peak his body of work is truly unbeatable for me.

Favourite songs: Gorgeous, So Appalled, Runaway