Blog

Alright, as we near the end of this first Y2K decade, it's time to take a look back at all the best Albums that have been released in the last 40+ years.

I'll start off this extensive research with 2000, up until 2009. I'll then go back to 1980, all the way up to 1999, to then wrap things up with the 70s and before.

I'll be choosing my Top 25 Albums for each year; an ordered Top 10, and ~15 others worth mentioning. I'm also considering the live albums and EPs (~5), but they have their own section since songs on these have usually been released on official releases. The final result will be a Top 1000 for Official Albums, and Top ~250 for Live/EP albums.

These are general rankings of how I see them today, and based on my Last.FM songs playcounts (2005-now) put through the formula:

Total Sum of each Album's Song's (running time X playcount)
DIVIDED BY
Album's Total Running Time

Thanks to MediaMonkey and its amazing scripting abilities, that formula gives an Album's REAL playcount, taking into consideration every song's lenght & playcount in relation to the overall album's lenght and # of songs on it.
You'll see the result (# of times I've really listened to an album since 2005) besides each, along with my 10* Rating. (x/x)
Besides each Year, you get the Total of all Albums' Playcounts and the average of all Albums' Ratings. (x / %)

Note that I haven't necessarily discovered and enjoyed all these albums on their released years, some I discovered years later. So these are also based on how important (to me) some of these albums were at the time.

(**) are the complete albums I was into at that time;
(*) are albums that contained only a few song(s) I was into or listened to at that time;
and those without (*) are albums I discovered years later.

=======================
Favorite albums (1970-1979)
Favorite albums (1980-1989)
Favorite albums (1990-1999)
=======================

2000 (~140 / 81%)



1) Furnished Souls for Rent (48/10) (**)
2) The Screen Behind The Mirror (9/9) (**)
3) Universe (6/9) (**)
4) Dead Soul Men (6/9)
5) undefined (1/9)
6) A New Day Yesterday (1/9)
7) CAB (4/9)
8) Another Spin Around The Sun (5/8) (*)
9) Origin (9/8)
10) Stiff Upper Lip (1/8)

Live/EP:

-) S&M (-/10)
-) Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live (-/10)
-) Half the World Is Watching Me (-/9)
-) Earth, Sky and Everything in Between (-/9)
-) Spirit Of Live (-/8)
-) Not Enough Shouting (-/8)

worth mentioning:

-) Awake (3/8)
-) The Perfect Element, Part I (1/8)
-) SMPTe (3/8) (*)
-) Don't Give Me Names (1/8)
-) If_then_else (2/8)
-) You Go Now (6/8)
-) Rated R (6/8)
-) Outbound (1/8)
-) Brave New World (1/8)
-) Flamenco.A.Go.Go (1/8)
-) The Sickness (4/7)
-) Lightbulb Sun (3/7)
-) Shuttlecock (2/7)
-) Mer De Noms (3/7) (*)
-) My Favorite Headache (2/7)
-) Crush (9/7) (*)
-) Ice Cycles (2/7) (*)
-) Crack a Smile... and More (1994 album w/ Blues Saraceno) (1/7)




2001 (~100 / 84%)



1) Leitmotif (23/10)
2) Alive in an Ultra World (8/10) (**)
3) The Pleasure and the Greed (10/10) (**)
4) Amélie (3/10)
5) Huron Street (6/9)
6) Toxicity (3/9)
7) Contact (2/9)
8) Emalgamation (1/9)
9) Days of the New III (4/9)
10) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2/9) (**)

Live:

-) Live Scenes From New York (-/10) (**)
-) One Wild Night (-/10) (*)
-) Half Life (-/9)
-) Live at the Baked Potato (-/9)
-) The Deep End (-/8)
-) Pyramidion (-/8)
-) Live Frogs (-/7)

worth mentioning:

-) Lateralus (7/8)
-) Everyday (2/8)
-) Inertia (6/8) (*)
-) Manic Moonlight (1/8)
-) Feeding the Wheel (3/8) (*)
-) Bridge Across Forever (1/8)
-) Origin Of Symmetry (3/8)
-) Tantric (1/8)
-) Almost Heathen (3/8)
-) Invincible (1/8)
-) Unleashed Memories (1/8)
-) 2 (2/8) (*)
-) 10 000 Hz Legend (1/8)
-) The Interzone Mantras (1/7)
-) The Idiot King (2/7)
-) Buck Fever (1/7)
-) Book M (1/7)




2002 (~270 / 85%)



1) Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (25/10) (**)
2) Population 1 (36/10) (**)
3) Moon Babies (15/10) (**)
4) Songs For The Deaf (21/9)
5) 67 (28/9) (**)
6) Move (12/9)
7) In Absentia (11/9) (*)
8) Freak Guitar (3/9)
9) Saturate (25/9)
10) El Cielo (13/9)

Live/EP:

-) Live From Oz (-/10) (*)
-) Stolen Babies EP (-/9)
-) And All That Could Have Been (-/9)
-) Not for Your Ears (-/8)
-) Boozed, Broozed & Broken-Boned (-/7)

worth mentioning:

-) Bounce (4/9) (*)
-) X (13/8) (**)
-) By the Way (2/8) (*)
-) Exit Elvis (11/8) (**)
-) Weight of the World (3/8)
-) Steal This Album! (3/8)
-) So, It's Like That (1/8)
-) Remedy Lane (2/8)
-) Diorama (4/8)
-) Audioslave (6/8) (*)
-) Vapor Trails (7/8) (*)
-) From One (4/8)
-) Dead Soul Tribe (1/8)
-) The End of the Beginning (1/8)
-) Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones (3/7) (**)
-) Independent (3/7)
-) Believe (4/7)




2003 (~240 / 90%)



1) Train of Thought (41/10) (**)
2) The Quicksilver Meat Dream (35/10) (**)
3) Office Of Strategic Influence (38/10) (*)
4) Frengers (24/10)
5) The Moon is Falling (3/10)
6) Robot Monster (10/10) (**)
7) Re-Foc (12/9)
8) Summercamp Nightmare (2/9)
9) Good Bye Lenin! (1/9)
10) Absolution (14/9) (*)

Live:

-) Live at the Astoria (-/10) (**)
-) Rush in Rio (-/10) (**)
-) This Left Feels Right (-/8) (*)
-) 10 anos ao vivo (-/8)
-) Spatial/Design (-/8)
-) Animals Should Not Try To Act Like People (-/7)

worth mentioning:

-) Faceless (4/8)
-) Souvenirs (2/8)
-) Black Utopia (4/8)
-) In Lake 'ch (2/8)
-) Black Like Sunday (1/8)
-) Blues Deluxe (8) (*)
-) Little Worlds (1/8)
-) Jeff (1/8)
-) A Murder of Crows (1/8)
-) Walking on a Thin Line (1/8)
-) A Natural Disaster (2/8)
-) Fallen (21/8) (*)
-) St Anger (7/7) (*)
-) Quadropus (1/7)
-) Emergent (1/7)
-) Voyageur (4/7)
-) Thirteenth Step (2/7)




2004 (~160 / 83%)



1) We Are Not Alone (33/10)
2) Come Again (24/9) (**)
3) Mythology (10/9)
4) Live Manchester And Dublin (16/9)
5) Wake Pig (4/9)
6) Dreamcatcher (3/9)
7) The Big Eyeball in the Sky (1/8)
8) Time (1/8)
9) Rhythm of Time (2/8)
10) Fraktal (1/8)

Live/EP:

-) Live At Budokan (-/10) (**)
-) Hallucino-Genetics (-/10) (**)
-) Cloon Demo (29/9)
-) Live In Hyde Park (-/9)
-) Live All Over The Place (-/9)
-) 12:5 (-/9)
-) Anywhere But Home (-/9) (*)
-) Sessions From Room 4 (23/8) (**)
-) The Other Side (-/8)
-) Sleepy Buildings (-/8)
-) Southside Double-Wide: Acoustic Live (-/8)
-) Feedback (1/7)

worth mentioning:

-) The January Tree (1/8)
-) Wheel of Life (1/8)
-) Kallocain (3/8)
-) After We Go (2/8)
-) Legs to Make Us Longer (2/8) (*)
-) Seven Circles (2/8)
-) One Day Remains (3/8)
-) Talkie Walkie (3/8)
-) Blackfield (1/8)
-) Had To Cry Today (1/8)
-) Is There Love in Space? (1/8)
-) Passion for Life (1/8)
-) Amplifier (1/8)
-) Out Of Myself (3/7)
-) Graveyard Mountain Home (3/7)
-) This Type of Thinking (Could Do Us In) (4/7)
-) Perpetual (3/7)




2005 (~310 / 84%)



1) Love (76/10) (**)
2) Octavarium (62/10) (**)
3) Panzerballett (7/10)
4) Deadwing (30/9) (*)
5) Freak Guitar: The Road Less Traveled (7/9) (*)
6) Suspended Animation (17/9) (**)
7) Real Illusions: Reflections (11/8) (*)
8) Mesmerize (17/9) (*) & Hypnotize (1/8)
9) S.U.S.A.R. (8/8)
10) Catch Without Arms (9/8)

Live:

-) R30 (*) (-/10)
-) Montreal (-/9)
-) Jagged Little Pill Acoustic (-/9)
-) Gluttons for Punishment: Live in '05 (-/8)
-) Over the Years and Through the Woods (-/8)

worth mentioning:

-) Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (8/8) (**)
-) Art of Motion (3/8)
-) Organic (2/8)
-) 44 (2/8)
-) The Art Of Navigating By The Stars (1/8)
-) And The Glass Handed Kites (6/8)
-) riddle (1/8)
-) Ten Thousand Fists (7/8)
-) Second Life Syndrome (1/8)
-) Leva-me P'ra casa (17/8) (*)
-) Ogre Tones (1/8)
-) Stand Up (1/8)
-) Elements Of Persuasion (6/8) (*)
-) Lullabies To Paralyze (2/8) (*)
-) Octane (1/8)
-) Duality (2/7)
-) Out of Exile (5/7) (*)
-) World Play (1/7)




2006 (~200 / 84%)



1) Rodrigo Y Gabriela (34/10) (**)
2) Free (59/10) (**)
3) A Posteriori (22/9) (**)
4) The Lost Book Of Malchus (1/9)
5) Revelations (7/9) (*)
6) Development (5/9)
7) Black Holes and Revelations (9/9) (*)
8) The Butcher's Ballroom (2/8)
9) 10,000 Days (8/8) (*)
10) Leaving Lotus (1/8)

Live/EP:

-) Score (-/10) (**)
-) Cloon EP (11/10) (**)
-) Live At The Fillmore (-/9)
-) Raw (-/8)
-) Home (-/8)
-) Two Nights In North America (1/8)
-) Tour EP (1/8)
-) Yeah! (2/7) (*)

worth mentioning:

-) Phobia (12/8) (*)
-) The Hidden Land (1/8)
-) Erotic Cakes (1/8)
-) IV (2/8)
-) The Open Door (4/8) (*)
-) Upside Down (1/8)
-) There Be Squabbles Ahead (1/8)
-) Blood Of The Snake (6/8) (*)
-) Home (1/8)
-) Milliontown (1/8)
-) BE (1/8)
-) The Dark Third (3/8)
-) Stadium Arcadium (1/8)
-) You And Me (1/8)
-) Palace Of Mirrors (1/7)
-) Karmacode (1/7)
-) Insider (1/7)




2007 (~160 / 90%)



1) Snakes and Arrows (16/10) (*)
2) Systematic Chaos (30/9) (**)
3) Quantum (14/9) (**)
4) Sound Theories Vol. I & II (4/9) (*)
5) Ultra Payloaded (21/9) (**)
6) The End is Begun (9/9) (*)
7) Fear of a Blank Planet (22/9) (*)
8) The Gates of Gnomeria (2/8)
9) Art Metal (1/8)
10) Blackbird (2/8) (*)

Live:

-) The String Quartet Tribute to Dream Theater (-/10)
-) Made In Australia (2/9) (*)
-) MTV Unplugged (-/9)

worth mentioning:

-) Spontaneous Combustion (2/8) (*)
-) Clinophobia (2/8)
-) Spot De Rue (2/8)
-) Sloe Gin (1/8)
-) Scarsick (1/8)
-) Fates (5/8) (*)
-) Who Did It to Michelle Waters? (1/8) & Creepy Tales for Freaky Children (1/8)
-) Rapid Eye Movement (4/8) (*)
-) Libertad (1/8) (*)
-) A Lullaby for the Devil (1/8)
-) Era Vulgaris (3/8) (*)
-) Young Modern (2/8) (*)
-) Into the Presence (1/8)
-) Pocket Symphony (1/8)
-) Blackfield II (1/8)
-) Into the Wild (2/8)
-) Acid Test (1/8)




2008 (~120 / 83%)



1) Saudades de Rock (44/10) (**)
2) Death Magnetic (16/9) (**)
3) Seven Lives Many Faces (7/9) (**)
4) Existence (5/9) (**)
5) Starke Stücke (4/9)
6) The Cosmic Year (2/9)
7) Songs From The Sparkle Lounge (10/8) (**)
8) XV (3/8) (*)
9) Black Ice (1/8)
10) Chapter VII: Hope & Sorrow (8/8) (**)

Live:

-) Snakes & Arrows Live (-/10) (**)
-) Chaos In Motion (-/10) (**)
-) Live in Japan (-/10) (**)
-) Live At Mile High Music Festival (-/10)
-) Smart People (-/10) (*)
-) Playgrounds (-/9)
-) The Thing That Came From Somewhere (-/9) (*)
-) Reality Dream (-/8)
-) Hindsight (-/8)
-) Il Grande Silenzio (-/7) (*)

worth mentioning:

-) The End Begins (2/8) (**)
-) Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock (1/8)
-) Diffusion (1/8)
-) The Garden (1/8)
-) Experiments In Mass Appeal (1/8)
-) The Atomized Dream (1/8)
-) Sleeping In Traffic: Part Two (2/8)
-) Equilibrium (1/8)
-) Who's The Boss In The Factory? (1/8)
-) Chinese Democracy (1/8)
-) God Is An Astronaut (1/8)
-) Orquid (1/8)
-) Palmystery (1/8)
-) Black Sun (1/8)
-) Hope (1/7)
-) Cheat The Gallows (1/7)
-) Indestructible (*) (2/7)




2009 (~80 / 92%)



1) Black Clouds & Silver Linings (18/10)
2) Blood (19/10)
3) 11:11 (5/10)
4) Land of the Freaks (1/10)
5) Sing-Along Songs for the Damned & Delirious (3/9)
6) Idmen (1/9)
7) Street Sweeper Social Club (1/9)
8) Molecular Heinosity (6/9)
9) Them Crooked Vultures (1/9)
10) The Incident (3/9)

Live:

-) Where The Wild Things Are (-/10)
-) Liquid Tension Experiment (-/10)
-) Ilosaarirock (-/10)
-) Revisions (-/8)
-) When The Keyboard Breaks: Live In Chicago (-/7)

worth mentioning:

-) Hart Genossen (1/9)
-) Big Whiskey And The Groogrux King (1/9)
-) Chickenfoot (1/9)
-) No More Stories (1/9)
-) Amor Vincit Omnia (4/9)
-) The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion (2/8)
-) Tiny Pictures (4/8)
-) Sol Eye Sea I (1/8)
-) Don't Panic (1/8)
-) Anno Domini High Definition (1/8)
-) The Whirlwind (1/8)
-) The Ballad Of John Henry (1/8)
-) Of Fungi and Foe (1/8)
-) Mind Control (1/8)
-) The Resistence (1/8)
-) Chapters (1/8)
-) Dear Agony (1/8)
-) Magnified (1/7)




Coming up next: 1980s



Artists

3, 7for4, A Perfect Circle, AC/DC, Air, Alanis Morissette, Alter Bridge, Amplifier, Anathema, Andy McKee, Anekdoten, Antoine Dufour, Attention Deficit, Audioslave, Baby Animals, Beardfish, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, Bigelf, Big Wreck, Black Label Society, Blackfield, Blues Saraceno, Bon Jovi, Breaking Benjamin, CAB, Canvas Solaris, Caspian, Chevelle, Chickenfoot, Chroma Key, Cloon, Collective Soul, Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains, Cosmics, Cosmosquad, Counter-World Experience, Dave Matthews Band, Days of the New, Deadsoul Tribe, Def Leppard, Derek Sherinian, Devil's Slingshot, Diablo Swing Orchestra, Disturbed, Don Ross, Don Ross & Andy McKee, Dr Sin, DramaGods, Dream Theater, dredg, Eddie Vedder, Edwin, Enigma, Erik Mongrain, Estradasphere, Evanescence, Extreme, Flesh, Freak Kitchen, Frost, Gambale Donati Fierabracci, Geddy Lee, God Is an Astronaut, Godsmack, Gordian Knot, Gov't Mule, Guano Apes, Guns 'N Roses, Guthrie Govan, Hammer of the Gods, Harem Scarem, I Mother Earth, Indukti, Interférence Sardines, Into The Presence, Irepress, Iron Maiden, James LaBrie, Jeff Beck, Jesse Cook, Joe Bonamassa, Joe Satriani, Joel Hoekstra, John Petrucci, John Williams, Jon Gomm, Jonas Hellborg, Jordan Rudess, Kaki King, Karma to Burn, Karmakanic, King's X, Kingdom Come, Korn, Lacuna Coil, Les Claypool, Liquid Limbs, Liquid Tension Experiment, Liquid Trio Experiment, Lucia Moniz, Mattias IA Eklundh, Mechanical Poet, Metallica, Mew, Michael Jackson, Mourning Widows, MullMuzzler, Muse, Nine Inch Nails, Nuno Bettencourt, OSI, Ozric Tentacles, Paatos, Pain of Salvation, Panzerballett, Perry Farrell's Satellite Party, Pink Floyd, Planet X, Platypus, Poison, Population 1, Porcupine Tree, Primus, Pure Reason Revolution, Queens of the Stone Age, Ra, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Riverside, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Rush, Sam Aliano, Secret Chiefs 3, Sevendust, Sieges Even, Silverchair, Soul SirkUS, Spock's Beard, Street Sweeper Social Club, Steve Stevens, Steve Vai, Stolen Babies, Super TransAtlantic, System of a Down, Tantric, The Gathering, The Les Claypool Frog Brigade, The Mayan Factor, The Tea Party, Them Crooked Vultures, Thomas Leeb, Thornley, Tool, Transatlantic, Tribe of Judah, Unitopia, Velvet Revolver, Victor Wooten, Wolfstone, Yann Tiersen.