The Best Albums of 2010

Kanye West has the best-reviewed album of 2010

We have known for several months now which album would be crowned Metacritic's best of 2010, but we may as well make it official: Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy 93 is the first rap album to top our year-end chart since 2000's OutKast gem Stankonia (or The Streets' Original Pirate Material in 2002, which is arguably of a similar genre). It is also the highest-scoring album on Metacritic since 2006, and, for good measure, it's the runaway consensus pick of music critics for the best album of 2010 in our compilation of year-end top 10 lists.

On Metacritic, we consider "great" albums -- those we label as having "universal acclaim" from critics -- to be those with a Metascore of 81 or greater. In 2010, a total of 82 out of 657 qualifying albums (new studio recordings with seven or more reviews), or 12.5%, could be considered "great" in this way. That's an improvement over a disappointing 2009, when only 9.4% of albums had such great acclaim. How were these highest-scoring albums distributed throughout the year? September, May, and April were the best months for great music, as we can see below.

Great Albums (Metascore ≥ 81) by Month of Release, 2010

Here are the best albums of the year (in Metacritic's database) as determined by their Metascores -- an average of all reviews given by professional critics at the time of each album's original release. Note that live albums, reissues, compilations, and the like are excluded from this chart.

The 40 Best-Reviewed Albums of 2010

	Album		Label	Metascore	Users
	1	My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye West	Def Jam	93	8.3
	The rapper's previous high score was an 88 for his 2004 debut album, College Dropout.
	2	The ArchAndroid (Suites II and III) by Janelle Monae	Atlantic	91	8.9
	Her first EP earned Monáe a Grammy nomination; this wildly eclectic debut LP -- and it's ultra-catchy lead single "Tightrope" -- resulted in two more.
	3	The Guitar Song by Jamey Johnson	Mercury	91	8.1
	The Alabama-born country artist's 25-track double-LP is divided into a darker "Black Album" and more uplifting "White Album."
	4	Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty by Big Boi	Def Jam	90	8.9
	The much-delayed solo debut for OutKast's Big Boi proved to be worth the wait, impressing critics even more than Speakerboxxx.
	5	Ali & Toumani by Ali Farka Toure And Toumani Diabate	World Circuit	89	9.2
	Recorded in 2005, the second posthumous release for legendary Malian guitarist Touré was one of several collaborations with kora player Diabaté.
	6	Airtight's Revenge by Bilal	Plug Research	87	9.3
	The soul singer's first release since 2001 comes four years after Interscope shelved his intended sophomore set, Love For Sale.
	7	Silent Movies by Marc Ribot	Pi Recordings	87	n/a
	The contemporary jazz guitarist's latest album is inspired by film scores, though it wasn't actually composed to soundtrack any one movie.
	8	Body Talk by Robyn	Interscope	87	8.9
	The Swedish pop artist's fifth album shares some tracks with her 2010 mini-albums Body Talk Pt. 1 and Body Talk Pt. 2.
	9	The Suburbs by Arcade Fire	Merge	87	8.8
	The Montreal band is turning out to be as consistently great as Radiohead; three albums in, their Metascores are 90 - 87 - 87.
	10	Apollo Kids by Ghostface Killah	Def Jam	86	7.8
	One of the final albums released in 2010, this ninth solo LP for the Wu-Tang member is his best-reviewed album since 2006's Fishscale.
	11	I See The Sign by Sam Amidon	Bedroom Community	86	8.6
	The American folk singer's third albums features reworkings of both traditional tunes and more contemporary songs by the likes of R. Kelly.
	12	Halcyon Digest by Deerhunter	4AD	86	8.2
	A slightly poppier sound emerges from the beautiful haze on the Atlanta indie band's fourth album, resulting in their best reviews to date.
	13	Cosmogramma by Flying Lotus	Warp	85	8.6
	The year's best-reviewed electronica album is a challenging, inventive, and highly rewarding example of the genre.
	14	Spiral Shadow by Kylesa	Season of Mist	85	7.5
	The Georgia band's fifth LP is the highest-scoring metal album on our 2010 list.
	15	How I Got Over by The Roots	Def Jam	85	8.3
	Just another in a long string of high-scoring releases for The Roots, HIGO features collabs with Joanna Newsom and My Morning Jacket's Jim James.
	16	Assume Crash Position by Konono No. 1	Crammed Disc	85	7.5
	If you buy only one album of likembé-heavy Congolese electronica this year, make it Assume Crash Position.
	17	Have One On Me by Joanna Newsom	Drag City	85	7.9
	The harpist's ambitious third release spans three discs and 18 tracks, and managed to match the acclaim for her previous album, Ys.
	18	High Violet by The National	4AD	85	8.7
	Debuting at #3 on the Billboard 200, High Violet is the biggest commercial breakthrough yet for a band that has been firing on all cylinders for years.
	19	Before Today by Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti	4AD	85	8.0
	This latest collection of oddball pop songs from the Los Angeles-based Pink is reminiscent of 1980s (and earlier) pop in production and instrumentation.
	20	This Is Happening by LCD Soundsystem	DFA/Virgin	84	8.2
	Technically LCD's worst-reviewed LP to date (by two points), This Is Happening continues one of indie rock's most impressive success streaks.
	21	Treats by Sleigh Bells	Mom + Pop/N.E.E.T.	84	8.2
	Signed to M.I.A.'s label, the Brooklyn duo Sleigh Bells split the difference between aggressive noise and catchy electro-rock on this debut album.
	22	Love Me Back by Jazmine Sullivan	RCA	84	9.4
	This is the second solo album for the R&B songwriter who has penned tracks for the likes of Christina Milian and Jennifer Hudson.
	23	Ten by Jason Moran	Blue Note	84	n/a
	Jazz pianist and composer Moran -- the recipient of a 2010 "genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation -- celebrated 10 years of recording with Ten.
	24	Forget by Twin Shadow	4AD	84	8.5
	This New Wave-y debut album from George Lewis Jr. (recording under the name Twin Shadow) was produced by Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear.
	25	Wake Up The Nation by Paul Weller	Yep Roc	84	7.6
	Nation is one of the best-reviewed solo releases for the former frontman of The Jam and Style Council.
	26	New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh by Erykah Badu	Motown	83	8.4
	The R&B artist's warmer, more personal sequel to 2008's New Amerykah Part One scored equally big with critics.
	27	Grinderman 2 by Grinderman	Epitaph	83	8.0
	Nick Cave's garage-blues side-project is turning into an increasingly viable stand-alone outfit; both of Grinderman's releases have scored an 83.
	28	My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky by Swans	Young God	83	8.0
	Singer/guitarist Michael Gira's return to his noise-rock roots -- his first Swans album in 14 years -- was a critical success.
	29	Lisbon by The Walkmen	Fat Possum	83	8.7
	Though a bit mellower than previous outings, Lisbon might just be the best expression yet of the New York indie band's distinctive and atmospheric rock.
	30	Hidden by These New Puritans	Domino	83	9.5
	This expansive sophomore set from the British art-rock four-piece added a full orchestra, a choir, sound effects, and more electronics to the mix.
	31	Blackjazz by Shining	The End	83	6.1
	If you buy only one album of Norwegian industrial prog metal this year, make it Blackjazz.
	32	Swim by Caribou	Merge	83	8.8
	Swim might be Dan Snaith's least immediate and most sophisticated outing of pastoral electronica yet; it's also heavier on techno than prior recordings.
	33	Harlem River Blues by Justin Townes Earle	Bloodshot	83	n/a
	The Americana artist (and son of Steve Earle) scored his best reviews to date with this fourth album.
	34	Black Noise by Pantha du Prince	Rough Trade	83	6.8
	The third album of minimal techno from Germany's Hendrick Weber includes a guest appearance from Animal Collective's Noah Lennox.
	35	Eyes & Nines by Trash Talk	Trash Talk Collective	83	6.5
	Certainly one of the most aggressive albums on this list, Nines is the third release from the Sacramento sludgecore outfit.
	36	Blue Sky Noise by Circa Survive	Atlantic	83	8.6
	The Philly prog-rock band's third and best album marks their major label debut.
	37	Luck In The Valley by Jack Rose	Thrill Jockey	83	5.6
	This all-instrumental effort for acoustic guitarist Rose (also known as Dr. Ragtime) was recorded shortly before his death last December.
	38	The Budos Band III by The Budos Band	Daptone	83	8.8
	Recorded in just two days, the New York group's third album features 11 tracks of instrumental "Afro-soul."
	39	Royal Toast by The Claudia Quintet	Cuneiform	83	n/a
	Royal Toast is the fifth album for the experimental post-jazz ensemble led by drummer John Hollenbeck.
	40	Teen Dream by Beach House	Sub Pop	82	7.2
	One of the first great albums of 2010, Teen Dream found the Baltimore dream-pop duo far surpassing their two previous records.

Albums released between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2010 with 7 or more reviews in Metacritic's database were eligible for inclusion. Reissues and other older material (including albums like The Promise that are technically new issues of archival material), EPs, live albums, holiday albums, greatest hits albums, multi-artist soundtracks, and other compilations are excluded. The Metascore is a weighted average of scores from top professional critics, on a scale from 0 (bad) to 100 (good). User scores represent an average of scores assigned by Metacritic.com site visitors, from 0 (bad) to 10 (good). Albums are ranked by Metascore prior to rounding. All scores are from January 10, 2011.

More bests and worsts

Keeping in mind that it's not entirely fair to compare the Metascore performance of various record labels (since we don't have every title released by every major label in our database), there is still a clear winner for 2010. Hip-hop label Def Jam released three of the 10 highest-scoring albums of the year, and averaged a Metascore of 80 for its 10 major releases in 2010. Here are more of the top-scoring labels from the past year:

Best-Reviewed Record Labels of 2010 (Min. 5 Releases)

Label		# in Top 40 *	Avg. Metascore
1	Def Jam	4	80.2
2	Rough Trade	1	77.9
3	Anti	0	77.0
4	Merge	2	76.7
5	Rounder	0	76.6

* Number of albums in Metacritic's chart of highest-scoring albums of 2010, above.

If you read the small print under our list of high-scoring albums above, you noticed that reissues and other album types were excluded from our Top 40 chart (which is intended to include only new albums with new material). Here are the highest-scoring "disqualified" albums of 2010:

Best-Reviewed Reissues and Compilations of 2010

Album		Label	Metascore	Users
1	Pinkerton [Deluxe Edition] by Weezer	Geffen	100	8.2
2	Exile On Main Street [Reissue] by The Rolling Stones	Universal	100	7.2
3	Raw Power [Reissue] by Iggy & The Stooges	Sony Legacy	94	8.7
4	The Promise by Bruce Springsteen	Columbia	94	6.9
5	The Witmark Demos: 1962-1964 by Bob Dylan	Columbia	88	9.2

Next, we have a few more of the year's best albums, listed by category and genre. As always, note that when it comes to genres, some (e.g., indie/alternative) are covered on Metacritic with much greater frequency than others (e.g., jazz).

High-Scoring 2010 Releases by Category

Category	Top Album	Metascore
Country Album	The Guitar Song by Jamey Johnson	91
Debut Album (Group)	Treats by Sleigh Bells	84
Debut Album (Solo)	Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty by Big Boi	90
Electronic/Dance Album	Body Talk by Robyn	87
Indie/Alternative Album	The Suburbs by Arcade Fire	87
Jazz Album	Silent Movies by Marc Ribot	87
Live Album	Under Great White Northern Lights by The White Stripes	78
Metal Album	Spiral Shadow by Kylesa	85
Pop/R&B Album	The ArchAndroid (Suites II and III) by Janelle Monae	91
Rap Album	My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye West	93
Soundtrack Album	Crazy Heart Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Various Artists	79
World Music Album	Ali & Toumani by Ali Farka Toure And Toumani Diabate	89
January Release	Teen Dream by Beach House	82
February Release	Ali & Toumani by Ali Farka Toure And Toumani Diabate	89
March Release	New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh by Erykah Badu	83
April Release	I See The Sign by Sam Amidon	86
May Release	The ArchAndroid (Suites II and III) by Janelle Monae	91
June Release	How I Got Over by The Roots	85
July Release	Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty by Big Boi	90
August Release	The Suburbs by Arcade Fire	87
September Release	The Guitar Song by Jamey Johnson	91
October Release	Spiral Shadow by Kylesa	85
November Release	My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye West	93
December Release	Apollo Kids by Ghostface Killah	86

Finally, though thousands of truly terrible albums each year never find their way onto Metacritic (because they aren't reviewed in the publications we track), there are always a handful of major releases that leave critics unimpressed. Here are the lowest-scoring 2010 albums in our database.

The Lowest-Scoring Albums of 2010

Album		Label	Metascore	Users
1	Rebirth by Lil' Wayne	Cash Money Records	37	3.6
2	United Nations of Sound by RPA & the United Nations of Sound	Emi UK/Zoom	37	n/a
3	Memphis Blues by Cyndi Lauper	Downtown	45	8.5
4	Eureka by Rooney	California Dreamin'	47	n/a
5	Everybody Wants To Be On TV by Scouting For Girls	Epic	47	1.4
6	The Beginning by Black Eyed Peas	Interscope	48	5.4
7	Sex Dreams And Denim Jeans by Uffie	Elektra	48	7.3
8	Streets Of Gold by 3OH!3	Atlantic	48	3.5
9	Can't Be Tamed by Miley Cyrus	Hollywood	48	4.4
10	Cardiology by Good Charlotte	Capitol	50	7.1

What are your favorites?

What are your picks for the best or worst albums of 2010? Let us know in the comments section below. And don't forget to check out the results of our users poll, in which your fellow Metacritic readers voted Arcade Fire's The Suburbs the year's best album.