pitchfork-albums-2015

Pitchfork's Top 50 Albums of 2015

Pitchfork

You saw their songs and their honorable mentions, and now Pitchfork‘s Top 50 Albums of 2015 list is here. Like with the song list, “records released this year and records that made their greatest impact in 2015 were eligible,” which allows for things like D’Angelo‘s late 2014 release.

As usual, you can’t just guess what the list is going to be by looking at what got Best New Music this year. Some of those albums became honorable mentions, and some were left off the year-end lists entirely (like Baroness, Nao, and Aphex Twin). The scores don’t necessarily dictate it either. Deafheaven was one of a few albums to get a 9.0 or higher, but it dropped to #26 while the others all cracked the top 10. And then there’s Carly Rae Jepsen, whose hype Pitchfork seemed to react against by giving her a less-than positive review, but they ended up throwing her on their year-end list just like everybody else. What should surprise no one though, is their #1 pick.

You can read their commentary here and check out the full list below…

Pitchfork’s Top 50 Albums of 2015
50. Dawn Richard – Blackheart
49. Natalie Prass – Natalie Prass
48. Shamir – Ratchet
47. DJ Koze – DJ-Kicks
46. Tobias Jesso Jr – Goon
45. Jim O’Rourke – Simple Songs
44. Jazmine Sullivan – Reality Show
43. Destroyer – Poison Season
42. Jenny Hval – Apocalypse, girl
41. Jeremih – Late Nights: The Album
40. Jlin – Dark Energy
39. Holly Herndon – Platform
38. Arca – Mutant
37. Empress Of – Me
36. Janet Jackson – Unbreakable
35. Neon Indian – VEGA INTL. Night School
34. Carly Rae Jepsen – E•MO•TION
33. Archy Marshall – A New Place 2 Drown
32. Dr. Dre – Compton
31. Kelela – Hallucinogen EP
30. Deerhunter – Fading Frontier
29. Rae Sremmurd – SremmLife
28. Beach House – Depression Cherry
27. Sleater-Kinney – No Cities To Love
26. Deafheaven – New Bermuda
25. Earl Sweatshirt – I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside
24. Thundercat – The Beyond / Where the Giants Roam
23. Kurt Vile – b’lieve i’m goin down…
22. Panda Bear – Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper
21. Donnie Trumpet & the Social Experiment – Surf
20. Floating Points – Elaenia
19. Future – Dirty Sprite 2
18. Julia Holter – Have You In My Wilderness
17. Drake – If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late
16. FKA twigs – M3LL155X
15. Bjork – Vulnicura
14. Young Thug – Barter 6
13. Joanna Newsom – Divers
12. Father John Misty – I Love You, Honeybear
11. Oneohtrix Point Never – Garden of Delete
10. Kamasi Washington – The Epic
9. Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
8. Miguel – Wildheart
7. D’Angelo and the Vanguard – Black Messiah
6. Sufjan Stevens – Carrie & Lowell
5. Tame Impala – Currents
4. Vince Staples – Summertime ’06
3. Grimes – Art Angels
2. Jamie xx – In Colour
1. Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly