Top 10 Albums of My 2010s

I had a strong sense ahead of time of what my personal top ten album list would look like for this decade. What caught me off guard, though, was that nearly every one of these releases came in either 2015 or 2016. Though in hindsight, it makes perfect sense. During those years, my emotions were volatile and I didn't have an outlet to properly express them. So, in the stereotypical way anyone who knows me would expect, I turned to music. During commutes and in my downtime from school and work, I did everything I could to turn off my thoughts and tune into the emotions evoked by the albums that I connected with the most. By the end of this two-year period, these were my most-listened albums.

Frank Ocean: Blonde (2016)

Melancholic and comforting.

Keep a place for me, for me
I'll sleep between y'all, it's nothing
It's no thing, it's nothing
Keep a place for me

The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die: Harmlessness (2015)

Unapologetically literal album about dealing with mental health issues. Maximalistic and corny, full of emo and post-hardcore tropes.

Better to let them know sooner than later
Like you've never rolled down a window
In your whole life
Do you remember the start?
Where it all came down?

Julia Brown: An Abundance of Strawberries (2016)

Amazing mental imagery from the instrumentals. Try the song Snow Day - doesn't it literally sound like a snow day from your childhood?

I don't want to find
Anyone else to waste my time
I don't want to find
Anyone else to waste my time

Deafheaven: Sunbather (2013)

Powerful black metal. A wall of sound you can't ignore.

"I'm dying."
- "Is it blissful?"
"It's like a dream."
- "I want to dream."

The Japanese House: Pools To Bathe In (2015)

My first introduction to my favorite artist. Really cool vocoder-style harmonies.

I know something doesn't feel right
You know it's gotta feel right

Kendrick Lamar: To Pimp a Butterfly (2015)

Objectively the best album of the 2010s. Interesting, engaging, political. Still in love with verse 2 of Alright.

Shit don't change
Until you get up and wash yo' ass, boy

Julien Baker: Sprained Ankle (2015)

Beautiful vocals. Very minimalistic and intimate.

You're gonna run when you find out who I am
I know I'm a pile of filthy wreckage
You will wish you'd never touched
You're gonna run, it's alright, everybody does

Pinegrove: Cardinal (2016)

What even is alt-country? This album has a lot of staying power. As time passes, the lyrics become more and more relevant.

So satisfied I said a lot of things tonight
So long, aphasia, and the ways it kept me hiding
It's not so much exactly all the words I used
It's more that I was somehow down let them loose

Touché Amoré: Stage Four (2016)

It's an album about the singer's regret of missing his mother's death because he was performing at the time. The lyrics are brutal and honest, and the instrumentals hit hard.

And by gather myself I mean
Over analyze everything
Point my eyes to the ceiling
To evade what I'm feeling
In some cunning attempt to
Outrun the things that have made the night my home

Tame Impala: Currents (2015)

The only other vibin' album on my list. You, me, and everyone else loves this album, and we all know why!

But I know that I'll be happier
And I know you will, too
Said I know that I'll be happier
And I know you will, too
Eventually
Eventually

Here's a spotify playlist of some of my favorites from each album.