First and foremost, this stuff is hard. The amount of music that is released each year and narrowing it down to 50 is damn tough but I have to give Josh Johnson at PASTE Magazine much credit for his solid lists of 50 Best Albums and 50 Best Songs of 2011. There are definitely more than less bands/artists on his lists I have been jamming out to heavily over the past year. Again, I love this list, tons of great music but a couple names I didn’t see that personally I think should have been included, GROUPLOVE, Girls, Justice, Allen Stone, SuperHeavy, NewVillager and Boy & Bear to name a few. What’s missing that you fell in love with over the last year?
| 50 Best Albums |
| 50 Frank Turner – England Keep My Bones |
| 49 Mates Of State – Mountaintops |
| 48 Drake – Take Care |
| 47 Real Estate – Days |
| 46 Holy Ghost! – Holy Ghost! |
| 45 Those Darlins – Screws Get Loose |
| 44 Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring For My Halo |
| 43 The Joy Formidable – The Big Roar |
| 42 Wild Flag – Wild Flag |
| 41 James Blake – James Blake |
| 40 Portugal. The Man – In The Mountain, In The Cloud |
| 39 Gillian Welch – The Harrow And The Harvest |
| 38 Over The Rhine – The Long Surrender |
| 37 The War On Drugs – Slave Ambient |
| 36 Mister Heavenly – Out Of Love |
| 35 Childish Gambino – Camp |
| 34 Seryn – This Is Where We Are |
| 33 The Head And The Heart – The Head And The Heart |
| 32 Ryan Adams – Ashes & Fire |
| 31 Telekinesis – 12 Desperate Straight Lines |
| 30 Tom Waits – Bad As Me |
| 29 Feist – Metals |
| 28 Lykke Li – Wounded Rhymes |
| 27 Black Lips – Arabia Mountain |
| 26 The Low Anthem – Smart Flesh |
| 25 The Antlers – Burst Apart |
| 24 TV On The Radio – Nine Types Of Light |
| 23 The Belle Brigade – The Belle Brigade |
| 22 The Black Keys – El Camino |
| 21 Charles Bradley – No Time For Dreaming |
| 20 Beirut – The Rip Tide |
| 19 Cults – Cults |
| 18 Wye Oak – Civilian |
| 17 The Civil Wars – Barton Hollow |
| 16 Yuck – Yuck |
| 15 Deer Tick – Divine Providence |
| 14 Adele – 21 |
| 13 Radiohead – The King Of Limbs |
| 12 Iron & Wine – Kiss Each Other Clean |
| 11 St. Vincent – Strange Mercy |
| 10 The Decemberists – The King Is Dead |
| 09 M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming |
| 08 Dawes – Nothing Is Wrong |
| 07 Wilco – The Whole Love |
| 06 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. – It’s A Corporate World |
| 05 Middle Brother – Middle Brother |
| 04 tUnE-yArDs – w h o k i l l |
| 03 My Morning Jacket – Circuital |
| 02 Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues |
| 01 Bon Iver – Bon Iver, Bon Iver |
