Best Albums of 2011

At last, the moment you've all been waiting for: My top 100 albums of 2011. As always, every year produces its fair share of exemplary music. To say that there's no good music around these days is a total cop-out; you're just not listening to the right stuff or giving contemporary music a fair chance. And it doesn't matter which genre you're into—there's stuff for everyone. The list below is solid proof as I've picked the year's best from a wide cross-section of genres, including rock, pop, metal, rap, hip-hop, prog-rock, experimental, electronic, and everything in between.

So without further ado, here they are: The best albums of 2011:

1. Fleet Foxes: Helplessness Blues

2. tUnE-yArDs: W H O K I L L

3. PJ Harvey: Let England Shake

4. …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead: Tao of the Dead

5. Hooray For Earth: True Loves

6. Snowman: Absence

7. Destroyer: Kaputt

8. Kurt Vile: Smoke Rings For My Halo

9. Real Estate: Days

10. Smith Westerns: Dye It Blonde

11. Blut Aus Nord: 777 - Sect(s)/The Desanctification

12. Oneohtrix Point Never: Replica

13. Cymbals Eat Guitars: Lenses Alien

14. Amon Tobin: ISAM

15. Fucked Up: David Comes to Life

16. Opeth: Heritage

17. The Field: Looping State of Mind

18. Liturgy: Aesthethica

19. Russian Circles: Empros

20. Deafheaven: Roads to Judah

Here's the entire list:

1. Fleet Foxes: Helplessness Blues
2. tUnE-yArDs: W H O K I L L
3. PJ Harvey: Let England Shake
4. …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead: Tao of the Dead
5. Hooray For Earth: True Loves
6. Snowman: Absence
7. Destroyer: Kaputt
8. Kurt Vile: Smoke Rings For My Halo
9. Real Estate: Days
10. Smith Westerns: Dye It Blonde
11. Blut Aus Nord: 777 - Sect(s)/The Desanctification
12. Oneohtrix Point Never: Replica
13. Cymbals Eat Guitars: Lenses Alien
14. Amon Tobin: ISAM
15. Fucked Up: David Comes to Life
16. Opeth: Heritage
17. The Field: Looping State of Mind
18. Liturgy: Aesthethica
19. Russian Circles: Empros
20. Deafheaven: Roads to Judah
21. Girls: Father, Son, Holy Ghost
22. Atlas Sound: Parallax
23. The Weeknd: House of Balloons
24. Wolves in the Throne Room: Celestial Lineage
25. Gang Gang Dance: Eye Contact
26. Yob: Atma
27. TV On The Radio: Nine Types of Light
28. Cass McCombs: Wit's End
29. Disma: Towards the Megalith
30. Youth Lagoon: The Year of Hibernation
31. Cults: Cults
32. St. Vincent: Strange Mercy
33. Tim Hecker: Ravedeath, 1972
34. Nicolas Jaar: Space Is Only Noise
35. Tombs: Path of Totality
36. Panda Bear: Tomboy
37. Shabazz Palaces: Black Up
38. 40 Watt Sun: The Inside Room
39. Cut Copy: Zonoscope
40. Advisory Circle: As the Crow Flies
41. Bon Iver: Bon Iver
42. Krallice: Diotima
43. The Horrors: Skying
44. Colin Stetson: New History of Warfare Vol 2: Judges
45. Tycho: Dive
46. Drake: Take Care
47. James Blake: James Blake
48. John Maus: We Must Become The Pitiless Censors of Ourselves
49. Biosphere: N-Plants
50. Iceage: New Brigade
51. Julianna Barwick: The Magic Place
52. Wu Lyf: Go Tell Fire to the Mountain
53. Toro Y Moi: Underneath the Pine
54. Bill Callahan: Apocalypse
55. Explosions in the Sky: Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
56. Kate Bush: 50 Words for Snow
57. Adele: 21
58. EMA: Past Life Martyred Saints
59. Mastodon: The Hunter
60. Black Keys: El Camino
61. DJ Quik: The Book of David
62. Washed Out: Within and Without
63. M83: Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
64. Plaid: Scintilli
65. Trap Them: Darker Handcraft
66. Trash Talk: Awake EP
67. Lykke Li: Wounded Rhymes
68. A$AP Rocky: LiveLoveA$AP
69. Jay-Z & Kanye West: Watch the Throne
70. Priestbird: Beachcombers
71. Radiohead: King of Limbs
72. Yuck: Yuck
73. Moonsorrow: Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa
74. The Dodos: No Color
75. Deerhoof: Deerhoof vs. Evil
76. Neon Indian: Era Extrana
77. Wilco: The Whole Love
78. Battles: Glass Drop
79. Machine Head: Unto the Locust
80. The War on Drugs: Slave Ambient
81. Cynic: Carbon-Based Anatomy EP
82. Low: C'mon
83. Primus: Green Naugahyde
84. Beirut: The Rip Tide
85. Das Racist: Relax
86. Dum Dum Girls: Only in Dreams
87. The Caretaker: An Empty Bliss Beyond This World
88. Twin Sister: In Heaven
89. Africa Hitech: 93 Million Miles
90. Mogwai: Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
91. Iron & Wine: Kiss Each Other Clean
92. Wild Beasts: Smother
93. Heretoir: Heretoir
94. Symphony X: Iconoclast
95. Anna Calvi: Anna Calvi
96. Boris: Attention Please
97. Holy Ghost!: Holy Ghost!
98. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: Belong
99. Jane's Addiction: The Great Escape Artist
100. Handsome Furs: Sound Kapital

Honorable mention (listed alphabetically):

• And So I Watch You From Afar: Gangs
• Austra: Feel it Break
• Bright Eyes: The People's Key
• Chad VanGaalen: Diaper Island
• Cold Cave: Cherish the Light Years
• Dirty Beaches: Badlands
• Drive-By Truckers: Go-Go Boots
• Fading Parade: Papercuts
• Florence and the Machine: Ceremonials
• Four Tet: FABRICLIVE 59: Four Tet
• Jesu: Ascension
• Justice: Audio, Video, Disco
• Little Dragon: Ritual Union
• Los Campesinos!: Hello Sadness
• Metronomy: The English Riviera
• My Morning Jacket: Circuital
• Puscifer: Conditions Of My Parole
• Raekwon: Shaolin Vs Wu-Tang
• Tennis: Cape Dory
• The Antlers: Burst Apart
• The Decemberists: The King is Dead
• The Kills: Blood Pressures
• The Raveonettes: Raven in the Grave
• This Will Destroy You: Tunnel Blanket
• Tyler the Creator: Goblin
• Vessels: Helioscope
• Zola Jesus: Stridulum II

Comments welcome!