1970

Getting closer to the 60's the albums just keep getting better. One thing I've noticed while writing this blog is that the 1960's is actually among the best decades of music. It's not just the Beatles and Bob Dylan, but there's a whole range of amazing bands and artists, that for some reason I had connected to 1970's in my mind. Also the 1960's is full of bands that have lived a really hectic lives. The Doors, for example, made six fantastic albums in four years, while touring at the same time. No wonder they needed something to ease their stress. The year 1970 has an amazing list of fabulous albums. There's folk, hard rock, blues rock, pop-rock and psychedelia. Every one of these albums is a classic and I cannot think of any albums that I could've included over these. What a great year once again! This was a golden time in music!

1971

1971 list of best albums is so full of classic and fantastic albums, that I couldn't have left any of these out. Most of these albums are widely acclaimed, but some of them are just important to me personally. The early 1970's can be considered a golden time for classic rock albums. These are the ones that show up in almost all the greatest albums of all times lists. More accurate genres include blues-rock, glam-rock, hard rock, pop-rock, heavy rock, progressive rock and folk. I kept changing the order of these albums quite a bit while making the list, but the albums on the list stayed the same all the time. Even though there are quite a lot of good albums that were left out, I always came to the conclusion that these ones should really be on the list. We'll soon approach the 1960's, which also has some amazing albums coming up. 1971, however is one of the best years in this blog!

1972

The year 1972 is again pretty awesome year in music. Most of the albums this year can be categorised in either glam-rock or folk genres. However, there's also some funk, psychedelia and pop-rock in there. Again, the vintage factor is quite high. It's weird to realise, how in 1972, almost all the best albums are considered mainstream, wheres today, very few mainstream albums are at all listenable. I guess this is due to the way record companies work these days. But back to 1972. This year did not wow me as much as the years around it, but that's no reason to say that this year wouldn't be as good. When I get closer to the 1960's I find that most of the albums I consider to be core albums of the 70's are actually really early 70's albums. This era has been one of the most influential eras in popular music since then.

1973

The year 1973 is one of the best year's in this blog. Many classic albums, some cult albums and impossibility to fit everything good in. The genres include psychedelic rock, glam-rock, singer-songwriter blues, jazzy pop-rock, hard rock, multi-instrumental alternative rock and Krautrock. This year is one of the epicentres of classic concept albums. There were many great albums I couldn't include, because there were these ten better ones. The toughest competition was made for the last place on the list, because all the others were sort of must-include cases. I'm glad I chose the one on the tenth place as well though. Enjoy!

2013

I've listened to more new music this year than I've probably ever listened to. As a consequence, I've found a staggering amount of great bands. That's why I find, that presenting only the ten best albums, would be way too restrictive. This is why I'm presenting top 15 albums for this year. I know the blog's name is Annual top 10, but hey, it's my blog and I can do what I want with it. The year is filled with interesting new artists and beautiful melodies and sounds. I was generally disappointed with many of my old favourite artists' new albums. They did not have that much new to offer and some bands or artists like Arcade Fire, The National and John Grant really disappointed me by making albums that were not interesting to me even though I've liked all their previous stuff. This is why this list consists of artists I have found this year. I really like each and everyone of these 15 albums.

First of all I must mention a few albums that are not on the list, even though they're in my opinion really good. The reason why they're not on the list is that I can't really rate them objectively. These albums are Vronsky's Throat Specific Mixture by Vronsky, Pimeä Saari by Risto Juhani and Trains by Johannes Laitila. Vronsky is my own band, so it's clear that even though I would like to shamelessly call it the best album of the year, it's hard to be objective. Risto Juhani on the other hand is one of my best friends, as is Johannes Laitila, who is also my flat mate. Even though these albums do not appear on my list, I recommend them warmly and truly think they are among the best albums of the year. Listen to Vronsky here, Risto Juhani here and Johannes Laitila here.

But after saying this, let's get on with the top 15 albums of 2013 (well-excluding those three mentioned above).

1974

Compared to many other years around 1974, this year is not particularly amazing. It was fairly difficult to find ten great albums for this list. but this kind of situation is, in a way, nice. It makes me search for new albums and lets me list some weird albums outside my usual favourites. In the end when I look at the list, it has quite many good albums, which I have listened to too little of. The genres are again rather varied. There's piano-blues, rock-opera, folk, glam-rock, rock n' roll, progressive rock, funk, jazz and synthesiser art music. Some of these albums may need a few listens to get into, but I think they're all pretty great once you get into them.

1975

The year 1975 was a year of classic and epic rock albums. Most of the artists on this list are considered to be mainstream and everyone knows them. This goes to show that in the 70's actually the best bands were in mainstream. I couldn't have left any of these albums from the list, since they're all important to me as well as objectively appreciated albums. The vintage factor of this list is quite amazing. Musical styles range from folk to progressive rock and from rock operas to hard rock and folk. Also glam rock and electronica are featured. It looks to me as though the year 1975 was the culmination of the big stadium bands, before punk took over showing that everyone could make music again. There's a funny colour pattern in the top four. Perhaps white was in fashion in 1975.

1976

If the year 1977 was a year of punk, 1976 offers one of the widest ranges in musical styles in my blog. Punk was beginning to appear, mainstream was all about disco, synthesiser bands were reaching bigger audiences, funk combined more mainstream disco sounds and more experimental jazz sounds. Records were still mostly ambitious concept albums. This years list does not include any of my super-favourites, but as a whole list I'm really pleased in the selection. There's punk, synthesiser space-music, more conventional rock, rock-opera, afrobeat/funk, piano-blues and folk. This year was again about finding new albums. There are a few classics I've listened to for years, but also a few newcomers, which I'm very pleased about. I confronted this problem last in the 90's, but now again, it's getting harder and harder to decide what to put on the list, since I have to leave some brilliant albums out.

1977

The year 1977 is mostly about the first wave of punk. Some of the most classic punk albums appeared at this time. This is not the best year in my view, but still it has its moments. It was fairly easy to find good songs from the albums that were released this year, but the whole albums leave something to hope for. In addition to punk, this list has electro, late versions of glam rock, more traditional rock, reggae, progressive rock and film noir piano blues. I even left out some truly classic albums, even though they have value as something different. The reason mostly is that I just don't enjoy listening to them. This list has many different albums in good and bad.

1978

The 1970's kick off really impressive. The amount of classic albums is amazing. What intrigues me is that in 80's, 90's and 2000's, I've handled mostly alternative music sciences, but coming to the 70's, a lot of the best albums are actually pretty main stream. Not everything though, but there are substantially more great mainstream artists in the 70's than in the later decades. This year's list has all sorts of musical genres ranging from electronica to punk and from art-pop to stadium rock. This is again among my favourite lists of this blog. It was difficult to decide on the order of the top three, so I want you to consider the whole top three this year as potential number ones. The whole list is quite amazing!

1979

Welcome to the 70's! This decade is often seen as the golden decade for music. The birth of metal, glam-rock, progressive rock, stadium rock, disco, punk, birth of electronica, and birth of new wave all happened in this decade. Most of the most iconic concept albums are from the 70's. 1979 list is still closely linked to approaching 80's, but already the list is a lot better than most of the lists in the 80's. The sounds detach themselves from electronic, overly-produced sounds and authentic instruments are more audible. Of course there are few synthesiser sounds here and there, but their use is classy. This year's list consists mainly of different versions of post-punk and modifications of punk's first wave. The songs are more melodic than couple of years before. This year is full of great songs and great albums! There are a couple of huge classics on this list!

1980

The first (or last of this blog) year of the 1980's sounds already like the 1980's, but there are strong elements from the end of 1970's punk and rock movements present. This year, there were enormous amount of good songs released, but when it comes to full albums, there were not that many great albums. These ten on the other hand are all pretty good. I'm glad that after this list I'm done with 80's and can move on to the 70's which is a much more interesting decade in music. First wave of punk, Birth of synthesiser music, rock giants, art-pop glam-rock, great folk singer-songwriters, progressive rock, reggae and birth of heavy metal all define this decade. This years list has post-punk, alternative guitar rock, electro, classic rock, new wave, ska and influences from African rhythms and reggae. The top three this year is exceptionally good!

1981

In approaching the 1970's, the artificial and tacky sounds are not as common as in the later years. Post-punk still dominates the scene of good music at the time. The influence of joy Division's success is audible. Goth aesthetic is in fashion. This year's list mainly consists of post-punk albums, but there are some electronic vibes as well as more straight-forward pop and rock. I'm glad to be soon out of the bleak 80's in the 70's, when concept albums thrived and bands still had great stories and skills. 1981 is a fairly good year in music, but still it's not in the same level as the years after the 80's. There are few new finds on this list and most of the bands have already been seen in this blog before.

1982

The year 1982 already starts to show signs of approaching 1970's. Most of the bands are somehow connected to the post-punk movement and new wave. The sounds are dark and you can hear industrial coldness in there. On the other hand few bands show upbeat melodies in the weird mixture of punk, ska and reggae, which was back then favoured amongst skinheads (mostly not like skinheads today). Some people may be outraged that I didn't add Michael Jackson's Thriller on this list. I understand that that album is one of the most important albums ever when you look at things from objective perspective. I don't really listen to Jacko's music personally though and that was my reason to leave it off the list even though some of the songs on it are fairly good. But anyway, here's the list. I guess people who enjoy experimental sounds and cold melancholia, as well as great bass-lines are going to like this list.

1983

I'm a bit embarrassed of the year I was born. most of the albums made in this year were really bad. I had to listen to almost 200 albums to come up with this list. Although most of those albums were utter crap, I was able to put together pretty good list of the albums. Most of the albums portrayed here were new to me, although some old classics are there as well. The genres this year include synthesiser jazz, alternative rock, folk punk, pop-rock, ambient and post-rock. To look on the bright side, no other list in this blog took me so much effort and thus this introduced me to most new albums and bands. I hope you enjoy these albums.

1984

This year is surprisingly good. Some of the albums I've known from since I was just starting to listen to popular music. Some of these are brand new finds for me. There's quite a lot of variety between the albums this year. There's heavy metal, synth space music, stadium rock, alternative pop-rock, post-punk, rock n' roll and art rock. Some of these albums I don't really listen to a lot anymore, but they've been important for me at one point of my life. I'm basically talking about the heavy metal albums. I just had to include them, because they represent a young me learning to play guitar and getting into music big time. Enjoy the list!

1985

This blog has now made it to the half way of the 80's. I think I've been able to find decent albums to be portrayed here, even though I still think these top 10 lists in the 80's are no match for other decades. I guess I would be able to find better albums if I had more patience for this, but since most of the albums I listen to from the 80's are not good, I can only listen to a limited amount of those albums. 1985 in my opinion doesn't have any spectacular albums. It has ten good albums, but none of them is in my books excellent. The genres on this list range from alternative rock to synth-pop and from post-punk to dream-pop. No surprises there I suppose. All in all this list is quite good, even though there are no spectacular albums there.

1986

1986 is one of the most disappointing lists in my blog so far. That said, the first few albums on this list are great. I would say that five of the albums are great and would have made it even in some other years, but the five others are merely on the list for having some good things about them. I know that this sounds pretty bad. I'm not saying that all of these 10 albums wouldn't be pretty good albums. All I'm saying is that they're not really up to the quality i've come to expect while making this list. The genres are deep in the 80's top genres: alternative rock, heavy metal, synth-pop, electro and hard rock. There's one more folk orientated album there as well though. Here we go!

1987

This year is actually quite good. All of the albums mentioned here, I could see myself listening to any time at home. It was, however, fairly difficult to come up with this list. I had to listen to quite a lot of unfamiliar music to find ten good albums. Most of these were already familiar, but there are some albums there, that I only found while making this list. This is actually the case with most of the years in the 80's. I have to seek quite a lot of new stuff in order to compile these lists. In other decades I can just make the list out of my already familiar favourites. This 80's way is more fun I guess, since I'm finding a lot more great music. The genres include alternative rock, hard rock, electro-pop, rock n' roll, post-punk and dream-pop. Enjoy!

1988

1988 is already deep in the 80's sounds. This means that I'm not a big fan of the year. I was able to find ten albums that are worth listening, but the quality is not as strong as in the previous lists. I could've included few more heavy metal albums from this year, but since I don't really enjoy listening to those anymore, I wanted to take this opportunity to showcase other albums. This year's list includes mainly alternative rock. A large number of these albums can be seen as inspiration to later greats. Top five this year is great, but other five are there as good and interesting albums that I wish to bring up even though I don't think I listen to them that much.

1989

Welcome to the 1980's. This decade is in my opinion by far the worst decade in popular music since the  beginning of rock n' roll. Some unique styles were born in the 80's but their musical potential was fulfilled only later on. 80's music is full of tacky synth-pop and alternative rock or heavy, where melodies had to move away from experimentalism. 1989, on the other hand, is actually pretty good year in albums. These albums already show signs of the 90's mentality. Genres include early grunge, alternative rock, folk, hard rock, dream pop and early pre-brit-pop. Even though I badmouth the 80's, 1989 was a pretty good year in albums.

1990

In 1990 most of the music still sounded a lot like the whole 80's. Some new alternative guitar bands brought with them the new sound that would evolve into brit-pop and guitar indie. Shoe-gazing and heavy guitar walls were in fashion, as well as electronic synth bands. Grunge movement had already started, but the biggest albums and hits were still yet to be released. Most of the albums on this years list can be categorised in three categories: alternative rock, synth pop or shoe-gazing. This year's list is not one of my favourites, but there are some really good albums there.

1991

In 1991 I was still fairly young and I wasn't paying attention to a lot what was going on in popular music. In fact, I was mostly still listening to children's music. Many of the albums of 1991 have had a huge impact on my life afterwards. Some of the albums on this list made me interested in playing guitar myself and made me appreciate skilful playing. Almost all of the bands listed in this top 10 could be called classics. Genres include grunge, hard rock, rock opera, alternative rock, trip-hop, brit-pop and guitar indie. As we move towards the 80's my lists are getting worse in my opinion, but 1991 is a great year before the 80's.

1992

The beginning of the 90's resembles the 80's quite heavily. Alternative music is full of heavy guitars, melody is not in fashion and grunge rules the music world. I usually say each year that the list in question is amazing etc. This year I'm not going to say that, since the list could be much better. I'm not saying that the albums featured here are not good. I'm just saying that 1992 wasn't  by far the best year in albums. This list consist mostly of alternative music albums that are hard to place in any genre categorisations. It has some great music, but I'm not too impressed. The number one this year is a surprise though, since I hadn't listened to it before I started writing this blog.

1993

As we move closer to the 80's, the music is getting heavier. brit-pop is only in the very beginning and grunge still rules the music scene. 1993's top ten is not as good as the later years', but it still manages to include a number of great albums. There are more genres involved than in the mid-90's. This years list consists of brit-pop, grunge, alternative rock, art-rock, indie pop, power pop, shoegaze and progressive rock. Some of the grunge albums from this year have amazing songs but don't really succeed in becoming great whole albums. Well, enough chit-chat, here's the list.

1994

The year 1994 continues the list of exceptionally great albums. I had to make some really tough decisions what to include on the list and some really great albums were left out. This year, like 1995, is in the heart of the brit-pop's golden years. In addition to brit-pop, there is one more heavy sounded alternative rock album, lo-fi classic, one of the most beautiful singing voices of all times, grunge-folk and weird Finnish rock band's greatest masterpiece. Enjoy the top ten of 1994, one of the best lists!

1995

Here we go! This top 10 is again one of the best ones in this blog. This is the golden time of britpop and you can see it by the massive hit albums that changed the tops of the charts of all time greatest albums. This list is mainly about britpop. Eight out of ten could be categorised under that headline. Only two US albums have made their way on this list. Other one is some kind of beautiful farewell hymn to grunge and the other one is the waking moment of new folk. Every single album on this list is a classic. So enjoy!

1996

1996 takes us even closer to the golden age of Brit-pop. There are some really great albums which have been hailed by the critics. this list does not compare to the best lists in this blog, but it's definitely not amongst the worst either. Genres include Brit-pop, indie-pop, indie-rock, funk, alternative country, power pop and dream-pop. Quite a lot of good albums were again left out so enjoy these ten that made it.

1997

This year's list contains again some amazing albums. It's not however, among the best years. 90's britpop is visible, but the best albums were made earlier in the decade. 1997 seems to be a transfer period from 90's music to the more experimental sounds of 2000's. Genres include indie rock, folk, britpop, trip-hop and art rock. Only one American artist has found its way on this list. Well, here's the list!

1998

1998 seems to be one of the best years in this blog. It includes two of my all-time favourite albums...ever! And the other albums are not bad either. Genres include electro, dream-pop, alternative folk/country, trip-hop, guitar-indie, brit-pop, folk-punk and of course melancholic singer-songwriter stuff. This list competes, with 2001 and 2005 in the hardest lists to make so far. So enjoy the sweet sounds of 1998.

1999

Welcome to the 90's! this year's list is not as amazing as the years before and after it. I don't know why. This is a chance though to bring forward artists, that wouldn't have the chance to be introduced in this blog otherwise. And don't get me wrong, there are some exceptionally good albums here. Not many of them are that special to me personally though. Genres include post-rock, brit-pop, psychedelia, guitar-indie, folk, indie-pop, garage and space-rock. As we move to the 90's the bands featured are a bit bigger acts, since some really good acts ended up in the mainstream at that time.

2000

The year 2000 again includes outstanding albums from terrific artists. This list has a lot of singer-songwriters with melancholic songs and to even up the balance there are a few really sunny and happy albums. As we move closer to 1990's I'm surprised how old some of the music that I'm constantly listening to is. I guess it's true what some people say, that one's taste in music is largely defined in the age when people are becoming adults. At least for me the most important albums are from late 90's and early 2000's. So once again, enjoy the list of outstanding music.

2001

The year 2001 is probably the hardest list for me to make. I just couldn't fit all the outstanding albums in this top ten. About two years ago me and Heini made a list of our 100 favorite albums of all times (176albumia.blogspot.com) and all of these ten albums were on that list. So you could say that this years list contains 10 per cent of my all time favorite albums. At least five albums that appear on my top 100 list are also missing from this list, because I can't fit 15 into 10. This list is mostly about indie rock and cool sounds. There are influences of garage, britpop, art pop, rock n' roll, folk, country and synth pop. I don't know if there will be any better lists than this so enjoy!

2002

2002 is yet again an excellent year in music. List contains probably the best alternative country album of all times, excellent post rock, a weird and alternative concept album, beautiful ballads, rock opera manifest, heavy guitars, catchy pop melodies and singer songwriter brilliance! Some of the most iconic albums from 2000's are found on this list. I've come to realise that making a top 10 of one year is an extremely difficult thing to do, since there is so much excellent music around. There are always few albums that I heavy heartedly have to leave out of the list. When I'm done with this blog at some point I must give credit to all those albums, that were left out.

2003

This year's list doesn't stand out as anything exceptional even though it features some of my long-term favourites. I guess that the standards are just really high, since the first half of 2000's is full of amazing albums. I had again some difficulties with constructing the list in a way that nothing amazing is left out so there is nothing to complain about. Sunny melodic pop, power pop, folk, country, electronica and melancholic indie rock. All of these genres can be found on this list. There are albums from many different countries as well. Especially the Nordic Countries have a good representation here. 2003 was especially the year of Ben Gibbard, since he is the main author of two of these albums.

2004

Year 2004 continues the list of excellent albums. Some of my all time favourites are on this list. There are well known classics but some less known albums as well. Genres include for example post punk revival, britpop, alternative pop, alternative country, folk, baroque pop and singer-songwriter stuff. Once again I had to make some really difficult decisions and leave some good albums and bands out. Hopefully I get to portray some of their other albums on some other year's list. Enjoy the sounds of 2004!

2005

Year 2005 list is the best one so far. The list is full of amazing albums. Every single one of them might have been number one, had they been published in some other year. This might also be a sign that moving towards the early part of 2000's gets my nostalgia going. Either way, this list has some of the greatest albums of all times and if you have missed some of them, I strongly encourage you to correct that wrong. So, here it is, top 10 albums of 2005. Enjoy!

2006

2006's list involves some great albums, but I think I've made some choises that leave good albums from bands already featured or to be featured out to make way for excellent bands that wouldn't get a chance to be on my lists otherwise. 2006's list was still fairly easy to make compared to the lists coming up. The first half of 2000's is really dear to me and I'll have to make some really difficult choices in the upcoming lists. But now, enjoy the best of 2006! There is a weird red and brown colour coding in this year's album covers.

2007

It was extremely difficult to choose the top 10 of 2007. Not because it has spectacular albums but because it's hard to put these albums in a certain order. Some of the most obvious choises that lay at the top of other best of lists are absent from this list. Maybe because they didn't make that much of an impression for me personally. This list contains great albums from a broad range. Hopefully you enjoy them!

2008

Year 2008 was an outstanding year in music and it was really sad to leave some spectacular albums out of this list. This top 10 includes influences from folk, punk, powerpop, rap, trip hop, electro and guitar-indie. You might say that the range is wide. Absolutely brilliant albums! One of the most colourful lists when it comes to the album covers and for that matter the music itself.