| 1 | Frank Ocean | channel orange | "Ocean is less concerned with urban realism than with his own '80s-noir fantasy of what the city's like, and his music captures that vibe perfectly, pulsing with electro-soul grooves, vintage jazz-funk." Entertainment Weekly | ||
| 2 | Grizzly Bear | Shields | "Shields is part spiralling indie rock, part wistful '60s pop." Q Magazine "Shields is an album that unveils deeper levels of emotional impact and aesthetic dimension for a band that continues to challenge and captivate in ways that are entirely their own." PopMatters | ||
| 3 | The xx | Coexist | "While album three may require a reboot from The XX, that's for another day. Right now, when it comes to fusing indie rock and dance, no one pulls it off quite as elegantly." MixMag "Coexist is a masterpiece." Uncut | ||
| 4 | Tame Impala | Lonerism | "Tame Impala prove far more exciting because, by maximizing the use of the available technology, they tap into the progressive and experimental spirit of psychedelic rock, and not just the sound." Pitchfork | ||
| 5 | Flying Lotus | Until The Quiet Comes | "Until The Quiet Comes is at once iridescent and ambiguous, luminous and impenetrable: an elegantly conceived and executed album which may well come to be seen as Flying Lotus' finest work to date." musicOMH.com "This is one of the most rewarding and beautiful albums of the year." Exclaim | ||
| 6 | Kendrick Lamar | Good Kid, M.a.a.d. City | "The miracle of this album is how it ties straightforward rap thrills--dazzling lyrical virtuosity, slick quotables, pulverizing beats, star turns from guest rappers--directly to its narrative." Pitchfork | ||
| 7 | Scott Walker | Bish Bosch | "This is an album of a depth and ambition that should, frankly, set a standard for contemporary art music." The Quietus "With Bish Bosch, Walker creates a kind of Möbius Strip: by virtue of creating a less physical sonic landscape, he provides a way into his great trilogy on his way out of it." All Music Guide | ||
| 8 | Bob Dylon | Tempest | "Tempest is fantastic, but being impressed by Dylan is old hat. That he still finds ways to surprise us is an achievement beyond all comprehension." American Songwriter | ||
| 9 | Hot Chip | In Our Heads | "Crackles with sparkling guitar work and is simply a great, fun, rock n' roll album." Shake The Sheets "This isn't an edgy, experimental record. It instead explores human nature through conventional tonality and flow, delicately combining melancholy, detachment, and exhilaration." Metascore | ||
| 10 | Neil Young | Psychedelic Pill | "If the thought of tackling Young's longest ever studio album hasn't scared you off, you must be a fan. In which case, prepare yourself for a treat." NME | ||
| 11 | alt-J | An Awesome Wave | |||
| 12 | Chromatics | Kill For Love | |||
| 13 | Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti | Mature Themes | |||
| 14 | Dexys | One Day I'm going To Soar | |||
| 15 | Daphni | Jiaolong | |||
| 16 | Django Django | Django Django | |||
| 17 | Kraftklub | Mit K | |||
| 18 | Dinosaur Jr. | I Bet On Sky | |||
| 19 | Fiona Apple | The Idler Wheel | |||
| 20 | Godspeed You! Black Emperor | Allelujah! Dont Bend! Ascend! | |||
| 20 | The Dirty Projectors | Swing Lo Magellan | |||
| 21 | Kindness | World, You Need A Change Of Mind | |||
| 22 | Rufus Wainwright | Out Of The Game | |||
| 23 | Pet Shop Boys | Elysium | |||
| 24 | Michael Kiwanuka | Home Again | |||
| 25 | Beach House | Bloom | |||
| 26 | Cat Power | Sun | |||
| 27 | Japandroids | Celebration Rock | |||
| 28 | Deftones | Koi No Yokan | |||
| 29 | Tindersticks | The Something Rain | |||
| 30 | Jack White | Blunderbuss | |||
| 31 | Propagandhi | Failed States | |||
| 32 | Baroness | Yellow & Green | |||
| 33 | Rudi Zygadlo | Tragicomedies | |||
| 34 | And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead | Lost Songs | |||
| 35 | Donald Fagen | Sunken Condos | |||
| 36 | Jeremiah Jae | Raw Money Raps | |||
| 37 | The Shins | Port Of Morrow | |||
| 38 | Converge | All We Love We Leave Behind | |||
| 39 | Kid Kopphausen | I | |||
| 40 | Laurel Halo | Quarantine | |||
| 41 | Twin Shadow | Confess | |||
| 42 | Billy Talent | Dead Silence | |||
| 43 | Lambchop | Mr. M | |||
| 44 | Purity Ring | Shrines | |||
| 45 | Bruce Springsteen | Wrecking Ball | |||
| 46 | Title Fight | Floral Green | |||
| 47 | Neney Cherry & The Thing | The Cherry Thing | |||
| 48 | Stabil Elite | Douze Pouze | |||
| 49 | Bat For Lashes | The Haunted Man | |||
| 50 | Lana Del Rey | Born To Die | |||
| 51 | Soundgarden | King Animal | |||
| 52 | Actress | R.I.P. | |||
| 53 | Benjamin Gibbard | Former Lives | |||
| 54 | David Byrne & St.Vincent | Love This Giant | |||
| 55 | Phantom/Ghost | Pardon My English | |||
| 56 | The Gaslight Anthem | Handwritten | |||
| 57 | Cloud Nothings | Attack On Memory | |||
| 58 | Macklemore & Ryan Lewis | The Heist | |||
| 59 | Plan B | Ill Manors | |||
| 60 | Captain Planet | Treibeis | |||
| 61 | Rocket Juice & The Moon | Rocket Juice & The Moon | |||
| 62 | The Avett Brothers | The Carpenter | |||
| 63 | Tom Liwa | Goldrausch | |||
| 64 | DIIV | Oshin | |||
| 65 | EL-P | Cancer4Cure | |||
| 66 | Jessie Ware | Devotion | |||
| 67 | Loudon Wainwright III | Older Than My Old Man Now | |||
| 68 | Meshuggah | Koloss | |||
| 69 | Norah Jones | Litte Broken Hearts | |||
| 70 | Whomadewho | Brighter | |||
| 71 | Ben Folds Five | The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind | |||
| 72 | Smashing Pumpkins | Oceania | |||
| 73 | Team Me | To The Treetops ! | |||
| 74 | Lee Ranaldo | Between The Times And The Tides | |||
| 75 | Motorpsycho & Stal Storlokken | The Death Defying Unicorn | |||
| 76 | Bill Fay | Life Is People | |||
| 77 | Make Do And Mend | Everything You Ever Loved | |||
| 78 | The Hives | Lex Hives | |||
| 79 | Wild Nothing | Nocturne | |||
| 80 | John Talabot | Fin | |||
| 81 | Madness | Qui Qui, Si Si, Ja Ja, Da Da | |||
| 82 | Menomena | Moms | |||
| 83 | Swans | The Seer | |||
| 84 | Coheed & Cambria | The Afterman: Ascension | |||
| 85 | Garland Jeffreys | The King Of In Between | |||
| 86 | Air | Le Voyage Dans La Lune | |||
| 87 | Mumford & Sons | Babel | |||
| 88 | Spiritualized | Sweet Heart Sweet Light | |||
| 89 | Hooray For Earth | True Loves | |||
| 90 | Off ! | Off ! | |||
| 91 | Beak> | >> | |||
| 92 | Frittenbude | Delfinarium |