Whether we are calling it the “tens” or the “teens,” there has been a lot of great music released in the past ten years. To remind you of some of the great music this decade has produced, below are each year’s top 50 albums as chosen by WYEP’s programming staff.
Note that for some years, production deadlines required an October-to-October schedule, so occasional albums might show up in adjoining years.
2010
Rank Artist Album
1 Vampire Weekend Contra
2 Arcade Fire The Suburbs
3 Michael Franti & Spearhead The Sound of Sunshine
4 Josh Ritter So Runs the World Away
5 Mumford & Sons Sigh No More
6 Ray LaMontagne God Willin’ & the Creek Don’t Rise
7 The New Pornographers Together
8 The Black Keys Brothers
9 Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings I Learned the Hard Way
10 Dr. Dog Shame, Shame
11 The National High Violet
12 Broken Bells Broken Bells
13 Band of Horses Infinite Arms
14 Grace Potter & The Nocturnals Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
15 Frightened Rabbit The Winter of Mixed Drinks
16 Robert Plant Band of Joy
17 Laura Veirs July Flame
18 Spoon Transference
19 Bettye LaVette Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook
20 Alejandro Escovedo Street Songs of Love
21 Sade Soldier of Love
22 Junip Fields
23 Delta Spirit History From Below
24 Corinne Bailey Rae The Sea
25 Ra Ra Riot The Orchard
26 Los Lobos Tin Can Trust
27 Tegan and Sara Sainthood
28 The Hold Steady Heaven Is Whenever
29 Carolina Chocolate Drops Genuine Negro Jig
30 Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros Up From Below
31 Brandi Carlile Give Up the Ghost
32 Sarah Harmer Oh Little Fire
33 Ryan Bingham Junky Star
34 Mavis Staples You Are Not Alone
35 Gorillaz Plastic Beach
36 John Mellencamp No Better Than This
37 Josh Rouse El Turista
38 Sheryl Crow 100 Miles From Memphis
39 Freedy Johnston Rain on the City
40 Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Mojo
41 David Byrne & Fatboy Slim Here Lies Love
42 The Tallest Man on Earth The Wild Hunt
43 Ben Folds Lonely Avenue
44 Patty Griffin Downtown Church
45 The Holmes Brothers Feed My Soul
46 Richard Thompson Dream Attic
47 Norah Jones The Fall
48 Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars Rise & Shine
49 Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed Come and Get It
50 The Weepies Be My Thrill
2011
Rank Artist Album
1 The Decemberists The King is Dead
2 Fitz & The Tantrums Pickin’ Up the Pieces
3 Adele 21
4 My Morning Jacket Circuital
5 Alison Krauss and Union Station Paper Airplane
6 TV on the Radio Nine Types of Light
7 Fleet Foxes Helplessness Blues
8 Gillian Welch The Harrow & the Harvest
9 Death Cab for Cutie Codes and Keys
10 Wilco The Whole Love
11 Tedeschi Trucks Band Revelator
12 Lucinda Williams Blessed
13 Iron & Wine Kiss Each Other Clean
14 Bon Iver Bon Iver, Bon Iver
15 Cee Lo Green The Lady Killer
16 Ryan Adams Ashes & Fire
17 Feist Metals
18 Raphael Saadiq Stone Rollin’
19 Sam Roberts Band Collider
20 Elbow Build a Rocket Boys!
21 Ben Sollee Inclusions
22 Emmylou Harris Hard Bargain
23 Dawes Nothing is Wrong
24 Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears Scandalous
25 Foster the People Torches
26 The Jayhawks Mockingbird Time
27 Justin Townes Earle Harlem River Blues
28 Paul Simon So Beautiful or So What
29 k.d. lang Sing It Loud
30 G. Love Fixin’ to Die
31 Bright Eyes The People’s Key
32 The Damnwells No One Listens to the Band Anymore
33 Hayes Carll KMAG YOYO
34 The Head & The Heart The Head & The Heart
35 Dave Alvin Eleven Eleven
36 Beirut The Rip Tide
37 Buddy Guy Living Proof
38 Nicole Atkins Mondo Amore
39 Mike Doughty Yes and Also Yes
40 Amos Lee Mission Bell
41 Nikki Jean Pennies in a Jar
42 Motopony Motopony
43 Wanda Jackson The Party Ain’t Over
44 Ron Sexsmith Long Player Late Bloomer
45 DeVotchKa 100 Lovers
46 Fountains of Wayne Sky Full of Holes
47 Stevie Nicks In Your Dreams
48 Peter, Bjorn & John Gimme Some
49 Lissie Catching a Tiger
50 Glen Campbell Ghost on a Canvas
2012
Rank Artist Album
1 Avett Brothers The Carpenter
2 The Black Keys El Camino
3 Brandi Carlile Bear Creek
4 The Shins Port of Morrow
5 Jimmy Cliff Rebirth
6 Jack White Blunderbuss
7 Alabama Shakes Boys & Girls
8 Dr. John Locked Down
9 Dr. Dog Be The Void
10 Of Monsters and Men My Head Is an Animal
11 Mumford & Sons Babel
12 Michael Kiwanuka Home Again
13 Kathleen Edwards Voyageur
14 Rufus Wainwright Out of the Game
15 Florence & The Machine Ceremonials
16 Bob Dylan Tempest
17 Cat Power Sun
18 Regina Spektor What We Saw From The Cheap Seats
19 David Byrne & St. Vincent Love This Giant
20 Band of Horses Mirage Rock
21 Andrew Bird Break It Yourself
22 Beach House Bloom
23 Bruce Springsteen Wrecking Ball
24 Bonnie Raitt Slipstream
25 The Wallflowers Glad All Over
26 Beth Orton Sugaring Season
27 Norah Jones …Little Broken Hearts
28 JD McPherson Signs & Signifiers
29 Dar Williams In the Time of Gods
30 Passion Pit Gossamer
31 Aimee Mann Charmer
32 Calexico Algiers
33 Dave Matthews Band Away from the World
34 Delta Spirit Delta Spirit
35 Gotye Making Mirrors
36 Great Lake Swimmers New Wild Everywhere
37 Mayer Hawthorne How Do You Do
38 Sharon Van Etten Tramp
39 Glen Hansard Rhythm and Repose
40 Ingrid Michaelson Human Again
41 First Aid Kit The Lion’s Roar
42 John Mayer Born and Raised
43 Blitzen Trapper American Goldwing
44 Amadou & Mariam Folila
45 Heartless Bastards Arrow
46 Simone Felice Simone Felice
47 Patti Smith Banga
48 Father John Misty Fear Fun
49 Fiona Apple The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than The Driver of The Screw And Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do
50 Neil Young Americana
2013
Rank Artist Album
1 Tedeschi Trucks Band Made Up Mind
2 Iron & Wine Ghost on Ghost
3 KT Tunstall Invisible Empire/Crescent Moon
4 The Mavericks In Time
5 Vampire Weekend Modern Vampires of the City
6 Steve Martin & Edie Brickell Love Has Come For You
7 Jason Isbell Southeastern
8 The National Trouble Will Find Me
9 David Bowie The Next Day
10 Jake Bugg Jake Bugg
11 Frightened Rabbit Pedestrian Verse
12 Neko Case The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You
13 Elvis Costello & The Roots Wise Up Ghost
14 Avett Brothers Magpie and the Dandelion
15 The Head & The Heart Let’s Be Still
16 Valerie June Pushin’ Against a Stone
17 Johnny Marr The Messenger
18 Mayer Hawthorne Where Does This Door Go
19 Joseph Arthur The Ballad of Boogie Christ
20 Laura Veirs Warp and Weft
21 Dr. Dog B-Room
22 Thao & The Get Down Stay Down We the Common
23 Black Joe Lewis Electric Slave
24 Billy Bragg Tooth & Nail
25 Blitzen Trapper VII
26 Laura Marling Once I Was an Eagle
27 Jack Johnson From Here to Now to You
28 J.J. Grey & Mofro This River
29 Phoenix Bankrupt!
30 Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion Wassaic Way
31 Josh Ritter The Beast In Its Tracks
32 Mavis Staples One True Vine
33 Patty Griffin American Kid
34 Brett Dennen Smoke and Mirrors
35 Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
36 Dawes Stories Don’t End
37 Jesse Dee On My Mind/In My Heart
38 John Fogerty Wrote a Song for Everyone
39 Fitz & the Tantrums More Than Just a Dream
40 Camera Obscura Desire Lines
41 Gary Clark, Jr. Blak and Blu
42 The James Hunter Six Minute By Minute
43 Sigur Ros Kveikur
44 Gov’t Mule Shout!
45 The Lone Bellow The Lone Bellow
46 Erin McKeown Manifestra
47 Junip Junip
48 Michael Franti & Spearhead All People
49 Daft Punk Random Access Memories
50 Buddy Guy Rhythm & Blues
2014
Rank Artist Album
1 Jack White Lazaretto
2 St. Vincent St. Vincent
3 Spoon They Want My Soul
4 Rosanne Cash The River and The Thread
5 Phish Fuego
6 Lake Street Dive Bad Self Portraits
7 War on Drugs Lost In the Dream
8 Counting Crows Somewhere Under Wonderland
9 Arcade Fire Reflector
10 Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings Give The People What They Want
11 The Black Keys Turn Blue
12 New Pornographers Brill Bruisers
13 First Aid Kit Stay Gold
14 Johnny Cash Out Among the Stars
15 Sean Rowe Madman
16 Okkervil River The Silver Gymnasium
17 Ryan Adams Ryan Adams
18 Nicole Atkins Slow Phaser
19 Jake Bugg Shangri La
20 Foster the People Supemodel
21 Boy and Bear Harlequin Dream
22 Broken Bells After the Disco
23 Midlake Antiphon
24 Sharon Van Etten Are We There
25 Nickel Creek A Dotted Line
26 Delta Spirit Into the Wide
27 The Both The Both
28 Trombone Shorty Say This To Say That
29 Lucinda Williams Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone
30 G. Love & Special Sauce Sugar
31 Morrissey World Peace Is None of Your Business
32 Bastille Bad Blood
33 Jenny Lewis The Voyager
34 Beck Morning Phase
35 Elbow The Take Off And Landing Of Everything
36 Billy Joe Armstrong/Norah Jones Foreverly
37 Temples Sun Structures
38 Sarah McLachlan Shine On
39 The Hold Steady Teeth Dreams
40 Tweedy Sukierae
41 The Kooks Listen
42 Chrissie Hynde Stockholm
43 Robert Plant lullaby and… The Ceaseless Roar
44 Old Crow Medicine Show Remedy
45 U2 Songs of Innocence
46 Ray LaMontagne Supernova
47 Conor Oberst Upside Down Mountain
48 Fanfarlo Let’s Go Extinct
49 Old 97s Most Messed Up
50 Damon Albarn Everyday Robots
2015
Rank Artist Album
1 Alabama Shakes Sound and Color
2 Jason Isbell Something More than Free
3 Father John Misty I Love You, Honeybear
4 Rhiannon Giddens Tomorrow is My Turn
5 Leon Bridges Coming Home
6 Courtney Barnett Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
7 Hozier Hozier
8 Florence & the Machine How Big, How Beautiful, How Blue
9 J.D. McPherson Let the Good Times Roll
10 Belle & Sebastian Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance
11 My Morning Jacket The Waterfall
12 Josh Ritter Sermon on the Rocks
13 The Decemberists What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World
14 Brandi Carlile The Firewatcher’s Daughter
15 Mumford & Sons Wilder Mind
16 Glen Hansard Didn’t He Ramble
17 Kacey Musgraves Pageant Material
18 Calexico Edge of the Sun
19 The Barr Brothers Sleeping Operator
20 Patty Griffin Servant of Love
21 Wilco Star Wars
22 Death Cab For Cutie Kintsugi
23 Galactic Into the Deep
24 Kasey Chambers Bittersweet
25 Kopecky Drug for the Modern Age
26 The Lone Bellow Then Came the Morning
27 Tame Impala Currents
28 Villagers Darling Arithmetic
29 Blur The Magic Whip
30 Dar Williams Emerald
31 Ratatat Magnifique
32 Son Little Son Little
33 Lord Huron Strange Trails
34 The Mavericks Mono
35 Of Monsters and Men Beneath the Skin
36 Laura Marling Short Movie
37 Ryan Bingham Fear and Saturday Night
38 The Arcs Yours, Dreamily
39 Sonny Landreth Bound by the Blues
40 TV on the Radio Seeds
41 Beirut No No No
42 Best Coast California Nights
43 Los Lobos Gates of Gold
44 Modest Mouse Strangers to Ourselves
45 Dawes All Your Favorite Bands
46 The Weepies Sirens
47 Warren Haynes Ashes & Dust
48 Ivan & Alyosha It’s All Just Pretend
49 Richard Thompson Still
50 Benjamin Booker Benjamin Booker
2016
Rank Artist Album
1 Michael Kiwanuka Love & Hate
2 Case/Lang/Veirs Case/Lang/Veirs
3 David Bowie Blackstar
4 Radiohead A Moon Shaped Pool
5 Margaret Glaspy Emotions & Math
6 Frightened Rabbit Painting of a Panic Attack
7 Lake Street Dive Side Pony
8 The Lumineers Cleopatra
9 William Bell This Is Where I Live
10 Sturgill Simpson A Sailor’s Guide to Earth
11 Andrew Bird Are You Serious
12 City & Colour If I Should Go Before You
13 Charles Bradley Changes
14 Paul Simon Stranger to Stranger
15 Beth Orton Kidsticks
16 Kurt Vile b’lieve i’m goin down
17 Lucius Good Grief
18 Local Natives Sunlit Youth
19 Norah Jones Day Breaks
20 Blood Orange Freetown Sound
21 Avett Brothers True Sadness
22 Joseph I’m Alone, No You’re Not
23 Wilco Schmilco
24 The Record Company Give It Back To You
25 Sara Watkins Young in All the Wrong Ways
26 The James Hunter Six Hold On
27 Lissie My Wild West
28 Marcus King Band Marcus King Band
29 Mavis Staples Livin’ on a High Note
30 Blind Pilot And Then Like Lions
31 Band of Horses Why Are You Okay?
32 Oh Wonder Oh Wonder
33 Coldplay A Head Full of Dreams
34 Iggy Pop Post Pop Depression
35 Adele 25
36 John Doe The Westerner
37 Andra Day Cheers to the Fall
38 Dr. Dog The Psychedelic Swamp
39 Bonnie Raitt Dig in Deep
40 Sam Roberts Band TerraForm
41 Sam Beam & Jesca Hoop Love Letter For Fire
42 Violent Femmes We Can Do Anything
43 Basia Bulat Good Advice
44 G. Love & Special Sauce Love Saves the Day
45 The Head & The Heart Signs Of Light
46 Tedeschi Trucks Band Let Me Get By
47 The Jayhawks Paging Mr. Proust
48 Amos Lee Spirit
49 Steve Martin & Edie Brickell So Familiar
50 St. Paul & The Broken Bones Sea of Noise
2017
Rank Artist Album
1 Jason Isbell The Nashville Sound
2 Regina Spektor Remember Us To Life
3 The War on Drugs A Deeper Understanding
4 Rhiannon Giddens Freedom Highway
5 Bon Iver 22, A Million
6 Nicole Atkins Goodnight Rhonda Lee
7 Sean Rowe New Lore
8 The xx I See You
9 Beth Ditto Fake Sugar
10 Spoon Hot Thoughts
11 Valerie June The Order Of Time
12 Future Islands The Far Field
13 John Legend Darkness & Light
14 Elbow Little Fictions
15 Hurray For The Riff Raff The Navigator
16 Aimee Mann Mental Illness
17 The New Pornographers Whiteout Conditions
18 Iron & Wine Beast Epic
19 Sinkane Life & Livin’ It
20 Josh Ritter Gathering
21 Nikki Lane Highway Queen
22 JD McPherson Undivided Heart and Soul
23 The Shins Heartworms
24 The Mavericks Brand New Day
25 Ryan Adams Prisoner
26 The National Sleep Well Beast
27 Tanika Charles Soul Run
28 Father John Misty Pure Comedy
29 Alt-J Relaxer
30 Jack Johnson All The Light Above It Too
31 Fleet Foxes Crack-up
32 Portugal the Man Woodstock
33 Grizzly Bear Painted Ruins
34 The Rolling Stones Blue & Lonesome
35 Haim Something To Tell You
36 Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears Backlash
37 Dan Auerbach Waiting on a Song
38 Sheryl Crow Be Myself
39 Arcade Fire Everything Now
40 Gregg Allman Southern Blood
41 Conor Oberst Salutations
42 Deb Talan Lucky Girl
43 Laura Marling Semper Femina
44 Grandaddy Last Place
45 The Barr Brothers Queens of the Breakers
46 Benjamin Booker Witness
47 The Lone Bellow Walk Into a Storm
48 Son Little New Magic
49 Bob Weir Blue Mountain
50 Robyn Hitchcock Robyn Hitchcock
2018
Rank Artist Album
1 Courtney Barnett Tell Me How You Really Feel
2 Janelle Monae Dirty Computer
3 Florence & The Machine High As Hope
4 St. Vincent Masseduction
5 David Byrne American Utopia
6 Leon Bridges Good Thing
7 Angelique Kidjo Remain In Light
8 Brandi Carlile By the Way, I Forgive You
9 Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats Tearing At the Seams
10 Dr. Dog Critical Equation
11 Amanda Shires To the Sunset
12 Paul McCartney Egypt Station
13 Cat Power Wanderer
14 DeVotchka This Night Falls Forever
15 Neko Case Hell-On
16 Phosphorescent C’est La Vie
17 Julien Baker Turn Out the Lights
18 The War and Treaty Healing Tide
19 Arctic Monkeys Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino
20 Beck Colors
21 Kacey Musgraves Golden Hour
22 St. Paul & The Broken Bones Young Sick Camellia
23 Death Cab For Cutie Thank You For Today
24 Laura Veirs The Lookout
25 Elvis Costello Look Now
26 Middle Kids Lost Friends
27 Ray Lamontagne Part of the Light
28 Lake Street Dive Free Yourself Up
29 Low Cut Connie Dirty Pictures (Part 2)
30 The Record Company All Of This Life
31 Saintseneca Pillar of Na
32 Glen Hansard Between Two Shores
33 Marcus King Band Carolina Confessions
34 Betty LaVette Things Have Changed
35 Anderson East Encore
36 The Decemberists I’ll Be Your Girl
37 Fleet Foxes Crack-Up
38 Father John Misty God’s Favorite Customer
39 tUnE-yArDs All Nerve
40 Langhorne Slim Lost at Last Volume 1
41 Shemekia Copeland America’s Child
42 Lucy Dacus Historian
43 Calexico The Thread That Keeps Us
44 First Aid Kit Ruins
45 Dawes Passwords
46 Mavis Staples If All I Was Was Black
47 JD McPherson Undivided Heart and Soul
48 Paul Simon In the Blue Light
49 KT Tunstall Wax
50 Portugal. The Man Woodstock
For WYEP’s top 50 albums of 2019, you’ll have to wait until New Year’s Day to hear and see that list…