The Board Dot's Top 200 Releases of the 2010s

[Timbo]

1. Kanye West – Yeezus (997)

[Timbo]

And that's it. Big shout out to both chvrchbarrel and monasterymonochrome for their help in tabulating. I'll post the facts later.

[sthubbins]

rumors of the board changing have been greatly exaggerated

[llamaoftime]

Legitimately over estimated the cancelled effect

Am very surprised at Yeezus over MBDTF but eh

[krentist]

I just sent Anhoni a link to the Lollaboard.

[Timbo]

Mar 4, 2020 15:24:57 GMT -6 sthubbins said:

rumors of the board changing have been greatly exaggerated

Just wait till you read my facts. 

[facts]

The Kanye discography is the Joe Biden coalition of board tastes. It has some problematic baggage attached and there are other fresher picks to choose from, but it is the rally-round-the-flag pick in times of upheaval

[goodson]

frank ocean is bernie sanders:

got screwed!!!!!

[llamaoftime]

Mar 4, 2020 15:30:58 GMT -6 facts said:

 but it is the rally-round-the-flag pick in times of upheaval

It shouldn't be though, that should go to the Elizabeth Warren of this which is The Monitor. it even calls for you to rally around the flag!

[wanny]

This board is gonna suck until April if every thread turns into dank political memes

Thanks for doing this Timbo, no real surprise on the list. Good list

[Timbo]

No album met the delegate threshold.

[mookie]

Thanks to you guys for setting this up. Legit shocked Blonde did not win

[Timbo]

Here are some fun (to me) facts based on the data we have collected over the last decade. A few things of note, the 2012 list is weird in that we have 2 lists, weighted and unweighted, and no totals. We also do not have the 2010 list, so keep that in mind with totals.

The Biggest Losers of the Decade

Looking at albums that showed up on 4 or more lists, but still had low totals.

1. Radiohead: The King of Limbs - 4 lists (90 points)
2. St. Vincent: St. Vincent - 4 lists (96 pts)
3. The Tallest Man on Earth: The Wild Hunt - 5 lists (131 pts)
4. Wilco: The Whole Love - 5 lists (137 pts)
5. Pusha-T: DAYTONA - 4 lists(137 Pts)

The Biggest Winners of the Decade

Looking at Albums that Appeared on the Most Lists

1. Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (12)
2. LCD Soundsystem- This is Happening (12)
3. Kanye West – Yeezus (11)
4. Arcade Fire- The Suburbs (11)
5. Frank Ocean - Blonde (10)

Looking at our top 20 album artists, this is how many points they've accumulated vs. how they did in the 2000s for us

Kanye West - 5884 (4 solo albums, 1 w/ Jay-Z, 1 w/ kid Kudi) / 2133 (4 albums)
The National - 4203 (4 albums) / 2973 (3 albums)
Kendrick Lamar - 3493 (3 albums, 1 b-sides ??) / n/a
Vampire Weekend - 3359 (3 albums) / 750 (1 album)
Father John Misty - 3314 (4 albums) / n/a
Frank Ocean - 2928 (4 albums) / n/a
Angel Olsen - 2605 (3 albums) / n/a
Deerhunter - 2463 (4 albums) / 678 (1 album)
War on Drugs - 2326 (2 albums)/ no albums qualified
Car Seat Headrest - 2223 (2 albums, 1 comp) / n/a
Sufjan Stevens - 2135 (2 albums) / 1182 (3 albums)
Arcade Fire - 1972 (3 albums) / 2541 (2 albums)
Lana Del Rey - 1866 (5 albums) / n/a
LCD Soundsystem - 1406 (2 albums) / 1505 (2 albums)
Lorde - 1392 (2 albums) / n/a

Titus Andronicus - 950 (3 albums) / 272 in 2000s (1 album)

So that would mean our artist of the decade is Kanye West. Our 2000s artist was Radiohead, so how did they do comparitively?

Radiohead - 2056 (2 albums) / 3633 in the 2000s (4 albums)

Breakdown by year

2010 - 58
2011 - 75
2012 - 69
2013 - 74
2014 - 64
2015 - 61
2016 - 68
2017 - 84
2018 - 70
2019 - 50

Best Return Album: A Tribe Called Quest - We got it from here…Thank You 4 Your service
Oldest album on the list: Vampire Weekend - Contra
Youngest album on the list: FKA Twigs - Magdelene


Radiohead and Fiona Apple are the only artists to appear on 3 decade lists (90s, 00s, 10s) in the top 50.

Wilco, NIN, Spiritualized and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds have appeared on all 3 decade lists.

Best Album from a 1 album musician/artist/group - Darkside - Psychic


Where are they now?

2011: Hurry Up We're Dreaming is #81
2012: Fear Fun is at #29 / GKMC is at #7
2013: Yeezus is our album of the decade
2014: RTJ2 is #52
2015: I Love You, Honeybear is #11
2016: A Moon Shaped Pool is #45
2017: Sleep Well Beast is #275
2018: 7 is #189
2019: Remind Me Tomorrow is #122

Most Appearances in the top 200, divided by how many albums they put out

Vampire Weekend: 3 out of 3 - 100%
Beach House: 4 out of 5 - 80%
Kendrick Lamar: 3 out of 4 - 75%
Danny Brown: 3 out of 4 - 75%
Frank Ocean: 3 out of 4 - 75%
Father John Misty: 3 out of 4 - 75%
Big Thief: 3 out of 4 - 75%
Kanye West: 5 out of 7 - 71%


Best Debut Albums of the Decade


1. Frank Ocean - Channel Orange (Nostalgia Ultra is a mixtape)
2. Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit...
3. Phoebe Bridgers - Stranger in the Alps
4. Vince Staples – Summertime ‘06 (Hell Can Wait is an EP)
5. Father John Misty – Fear Fun


No more than 2 months later, our 2019 list would look like this, based on the ranking

1. Lana Del Rey - Norman Fucking Rockwell (4)
2. Tyler the Creator - Igor (9)
3. Big Thief - Two Hands (3)
4. Vampire Weekend - Father of the Bride (2)
5. Lingua Ignota - Caligula (55)
6. Big Thief - U.F.O.F. (6)
7. Burial - Tunes 2011-2019 (not listed)
8. Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains (10)
9. Aldous Harding- Designer (18)
10. FKA twigs – MAGDALENE (5)


And for comparison's sake, here's how the rest of our top 10s would change. Interesting to see how the board has changed even in just a year, and how diverse our opinions are on albums.


2018

1. Kacey Musgraves – Golden Hour (15)
2. Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer (4)
3. Earl Sweatshirt - Some Rap Songs (14)
4. U.S. Girls - In a Poem Unlimited (19)
5. The 1975 - A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships (42)
6. Robyn - Honey (3)
7. Pusha T - DAYTONA (2)
8. Soccer Mommy - Clean (7)
9. Beach House – 7 (1)
10. Kids See Ghosts- s/t (26)

2017

1. Lorde – Melodrama (9)
2. Julien Baker – Turn Out the Lights (4)
3. Phoebe Bridgers - Stranger in the Alps (45)
4. Kendrick Lamar – DAMN.(2)
5. Charli XCX – Pop 2 (97)
6. Big Thief – Capacity (11)
7. Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked at Me (27)
8. Tyler the Creator - Flower Boy (24)
9. Father John Misty - Pure Comedy (22)
10. Vince Staples – Big Fish Theory (3)

2016

1. Frank Ocean - Blonde (8)
2. Car Seat Headrest – Teens of Denial (7)
3. A Tribe Called Quest - We got it from here…Thank You 4 Your service(4)
4. Beyonce - Lemonade (9)
5. Whitney- Light Upon the Lake (12)
6. Kanye West - The Life of Pablo (3)
7. David Bowie - Blackstar (2)
8. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Skeleton Tree (6)
9. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool (1)
10. Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition (11)

2015

1. Sufjan Stevens – Carrie and Lowell (2)
2. Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear (1)
3. Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly (8)
4. Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit... (5)
5. Vince Staples – Summertime ‘06 (3)
6. Bjork - Vulnicura (14)
7. Carly Rae Jepsen - Emotion (20)
8. Grimes- Art Angels (10)
9. Earl Sweatshirt - I Don’t Like Shit I Don’t Go Outside (33)
10. Young Thug - Barter 6 (40)

2014

1. The War on Drugs – Lost in the Dream (4)
2. D’Angelo- Black Messiah (10)
3. Against Me!- Transgender Dysphoria Blues (41)
4. Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels 2 (1)
5. Spoon - They Want My Soul (2)
6. Protomartyr - Under Color of Official Right (8)
7. Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire for No Witness (6)
8. Sturgill Simpson - Metamodern Sounds In Country Music (66)
9. Sun Kil Moon - Benji (19)
10. Taylor Swift - 1989 (38)

2013

1. Kanye West – Yeezus (1)
2. The National - Trouble Will Find Me (2)
3. Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City (3)
4. Darkside - Psychic (11)
5. Chance the Rapper – Acid Rap (23)
6. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Push the Sky Away (7)
7. DJ Rashad - Double Cup (64)
8. Deerhunter – Monomania (12)
9. Chvrches - The Bones of What You Believe (13)
10. Lorde - Pure Heroine (n/a)

2012

1. Kendrick Lamar - Good Kid, MAAD City (1|3)
2. Frank Ocean - Channel Orange (2|2)
3. Fiona Apple - the Idler Wheel… (24|30)
4. Japandroids- Celebration Rock (4|4)
5. Father John Misty – Fear Fun (3|1)
6. Passion Pit – Gossamer (10|13)
7. Dirty Projectors - Swing Lo Magellan (8|8)
8. Spiritualized- Sweet Heart, Sweet Light (14|19)
9. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! (15|18)
10. Death Grips - The Money Store (10|11)

2011

1. Destroyer - Kaputt (15)
2. Danny Brown - XXX (n/a)
3. St. Vincent - Strange Mercy (16)
4. Bon Iver - Bon Iver (7)
5. M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming (1)
6. Bill Callahan - Apocalypse (44)
7. Kanye West & Jay-Z - Watch the Throne (2)
8. The Weeknd- House of Balloons (31)
9. Frank Ocean - nostalgia ULTRA (n/a)
10. John Maus - We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves (n/a)

2010 (no data to compare)

1. Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
2. LCD Soundsystem- This is Happening
3. Arcade Fire- The Suburbs
4. The National - High Violet
5. Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest
6. Titus Andronicus – The Monitor
7. Vampire Weekend - Contra
8. Beach House - Teen Dream
9. Sufjan Stevens - Age of Adz
10. Joanna Newsom Have One on Me

and thus concludes this chapter of our lives.

[sthubbins]

Can you post the full list as spoilered text in the first post?

[Timbo]

Mar 4, 2020 20:37:48 GMT -6 sthubbins said:

Can you post the full list as spoilered text in the first post?

Sure. It'll be tomorrow tho.

[Tweet]

Mar 4, 2020 15:24:57 GMT -6 sthubbins said:

rumors of the board changing have been greatly exaggerated

I said I'm trying to only post when I have something to say what more do you want?

[Tweet]

Other takes from looking at this list at the top 100, because, like, c'mon:

Lingua Ignota album is a lot but absolutely worth your time if you can listen to it uninterrupted. Live show is incredible too. Whenever the next show is I hope it’s at Thalia and I’ll be there either way.

I wanna write some riffs on the next one of these lists. Can we do the 80s next? The 80s sounds like a time and a half on here.

These Danny Brown albums are all outta wack and I demand recounts immediately tomorrow afternoon in the High Fidelity thread. Maybe I’m more interested in knowing what people think the best Danny Brown songs are.

Passion Pit’s critical re-appraisal will happen at some point about his/the band’s output and story this decade. Glad to see the board on top of it. I think Gossamer would’ve cracked my top 200 if I went that far.

I went ahead and saved “The Life of Pablo” but I don’t remember this being great!

Fun fact about the last time Nicolaas Jaar played here. I was so hungover/distraut from the election the night before I couldn’t force myself to go. I need nana to rule in on what the rule is for trapper keepering an act, cause I only saw maybe 15 minutes of Darkside because I did something painful to my foot at Bonnaroo. What I’m saying is Jaar needs to play Thalia again and it’d be pretty neato if he brought Dave along with him.

This board gave me Papa John Sexy backlash.

Pretty stunned that Phoebee Bridgers album made is this far up. Some sort of fam did it?

I am going to try The Monitor one more time, completely uninterrupted all the way through. I don’t know when this will happen. But I will do it. And I will continue to tell you I hate it. Here are the other albums I'm gonna listen to again to see what all the hubbub is about: Gang of Youths, Burial, US Girls, Strange Mercy, and not Sucker.

[Timbo]

first post updated with list in spoiler tags. Also put it in the completed board projects thread.

[sthubbins]

Thanks Timbo!

[Timbo]

Here are my thoughts on the lists, with hot takes galore, and maybe music as a whole. When I first joined the board back in 2009, it was largely b/c I had just recently gotten into independent music. Prior to 2008/2009 I wasn’t so much about mainstream rock, I just didn’t know where else to go for it outside of radio. Moving to a college town helped open my horizons. I went extreme independent tho, I didn’t listen to very much outside of that area.

Back then, most of the board was into indie music, with only a handful of folks still pushing the word of pop on us. Back then, it wasn’t uncommon to find yourself in a conversation about obscure and semi-obscure bands like Raspberry Bulbs, Cindy Lee, Running, or Mind Spiders. They weren’t dominating Pitchfork BNMs or Stereogum, but we had a strong collective of folks who were hellbent on expanding everyone’s palette. This was largely the reason why I stuck around was b/c the onslaught of new music was just so powerful I was so addicted. Something new every week basically. But just as music shifts, so does the board.

Case in point, A Moon Shaped Pool. Our number 1 album of 2016 (this was the last list done on the old board btw), drops to the 40s here, and above it are 3 Kanye records, Beyonce, a country album, a punk band that for years was critically panned but got a reappraisal after the lead singer came out as trans, one of the most polarizing artists of the last decade in Lana Del Rey, the girl who sang Royals, and some Ohio kid with like 10 albums of bedroom rock under his belt BEFORE the one on our list even came out. This isn’t to demean these artists at all. But the days when Radiohead dominated our lists is over. I remember doing the 2008 list at the old board, and Krentist and I were back and forth trying to convince folks what the best 2008 album was: Kanye West’s 808s, or Deerhunter’s Microcastle. I won, but it was close as I think 808s came in at #2. This would go vastly different if we did it now. Our 2000s list had both in the top 3, with Vampire Weekend sandwiched between (Kanye won this time Krentist, you can finally gloat).

Obviously some things will never change. We have reflected fondly on Arcade Fire still. The Suburbs in the top 10, and Funeral being our top album of the 2000s, isn’t surprising. The National still dominated, but as the decade closed it’s become apparent that we don’t care too much for the new directions. 2019’s I Am Easy to Find was the first album by the National to not crack the top 10 since I’ve been here. And Everything Now? More like Everything On this Album Sucks. And yet it still got points. Not a lot, but still. Kanye and Deerhunter were once towering examples of our tastes, and now it wouldn’t surprise me if their next releases didn’t even rank; to be fair though, no one voted for Jesus is King last year. The constant fickleness with music – not just here, but abroad too – is how things are constantly needing to be reassessed by publications that lack identities. Stereogum is desperately trying to get back to having an identity, and that’s why all of their AOTW picks have largely been unknowns outside of Soccer Mommy, when there are clearly more high profile acts to highlight. Pitchfork is expanding to world music and moving away from the experimental stuff. Spin hasn’t had an identity in over a decade so that’s no loss. One constant though, COS still sucks.

This isn’t a bad thing, it’s just how we change. Opti had a theory on the old board that I agree with. The follow-up tarnishes the masterpiece. At least in our day and age. Maybe 30 years from now it will be viewed differently. This is only true if the artist has a landmark album, and this pretty much excludes Radiohead and Kanye. So as we compiled our lists, perhaps you thought to yourself “Damn, I really loved “Pure Comedy”….. but “I Love You, Honeybear” was better.” Or No Age’s “An Object” tarnished “Everything in Between.” Or everything that James Blake has done since his debut has made us reappraise that album to the point that it didn’t even place on our lists. That album was huge in 2011. Where did it place on the decade list? #555 w/ 24 points. Sure it was overrated, but no more than Vampire Weekend or Deerhunter were/are.

Basically music is boring now. It needs to be quick and hit us and if it doesn’t we don’t want to waste our time with it. Not specific to here, a majority of folks rely on a Best New Music accolade to consider listening to it. We as a community barely even talk about music. We post jpegs of album covers, and we might post a song in the currently listening thread. But overall we spend more time on movies, politics, and mayonnaise. If we were to ask what we’re excited about coming up? Me personally, I’m all about the new Perfume Genius, No Age, Yves Tumor, and Waxahatchee records. But we have no Radiohead on the way. There’s no hinting at a new Kendrick Lamar record (though if there were, we wouldn’t care b/c nothing tops Good Kid). Most reunion albums suck. There’s so little we’re looking forward to anymore, and very little to catch us off guard. Nothing surprises us. Nothing excites us. We won’t have another “m b v” wine drinking night. Has the quality really dipped or are we just moving on from these experimental and new acts, and fitting comfortably into that “this is safe, I like this?” I’m not finger pointing, I’m doing the same thing. I love the new Strokes song, and I have a tough time writing that statement in 2020. I will continue to fight the good fight, and push new stuff, but it’s fallen on deaf ears. We don’t have time anymore to invest in new stuff unless it’s making a huge impact – Soccer Mommy is raging now, not out of nowhere but certainly not the artist I would have predicted 3 years ago this board giving a rat crap about. The newest artist in our top 20 is probably Car Seat Headrest and I can tell already he’s going through a re-appraisal by critics who are indifferent to his shtick despite him tirelessly working to expand his horizons.

On the flip side, our inclusion has changed so much. Our 2010s list includes more women and people of color than our other decade lists. We have truly become a community that embraces musicians from all walks of life, not just sad white boys anymore, we’re listening to some vastly different genres than we did in the 2000s: rap and hip hop that’s not Kanye was well represented like Tribe (hubbins, I just listened to this last week fyi) and Vince Staples, and even some love for Open Mike Eagle from Tweet. We have welcomed Latin music into our lists – tho OMG no Rosalia on our decade list wtf; and we have country albums, we have a friggin Taylor Swift album, we have the goddamn 1975, something called 100 gecs that no one cared about 6 months ago, and The Koz all rounding out our list because we don’t just listen to the same genre anymore. As annoying as it is to see something like HAIM ranking higher than Women or Iceage, it’s also comforting to know that at least we’re not all confined to one genre anymore and living in our own “echo chamber” of genres.

Now that we’re in the new decade, I have some wild predictions for the next 10 years. So here come even more hot takes.

- Deerhunter will call it quits. Possibly before a follow-up to WHEAD. Atlas Sound will tour but Lockett will retire to focus on fatherhood and just make small recordings.
- Latin music will get even bigger and expand from pop and hip-hop to rock.
- We will get another SZA album.
- Bey will drop another surprise album, this time though it’ll be as a duo with Solange, and it’ll outline the steps to divorcing Jay-Z. A week later, the divorce will be in motion.
- Kanye will bounce back, but it will be too late. He and Kim will split, and he will golf with Trump at least once.
- Speaking of Trump, he’ll get reelected, and the ideas of Bernie Sanders will move onto another candidate, a younger one, who will actually get young people to show up during the primaries and win in 2024. Bon Iver and Vampire Weekend will tour together for the cause.
- Frank Ocean will not release another album.
- Fiona Apple will and it will be our album of the 20s.
- We will not see another Beach House album until 2022 and it will be largely electronic.
- Tame Impala will go away, and Kevin Parker will work with Bad Bunny.
- One more Seeds album, and one more Grinderman album, and then Nick Cave will retire.
- Charli XCX will be one of the biggest pop stars of the 20s. Her critical analysis will plummet though.
- Justin Vernon will make another band that’s not Big Red Machine, and it will suck. He will ultimately be a legacy act at Lolla in 2029.
- Rostam will rejoin Vampire Weekend.
- The Walkmen will reunite for one more great album.
- Those My Bloody Valentine EPs or LPs are not happening, and Shields is never heard from again.
- Xam will implement a paywall for the board
- Janelle Monae will be the female David Bowie of the 20s, and manage to combine pop and experimental, and weird and avant garde successfully. She will only rise slightly in popularity tho.
- Kendrick Lamar will not follow up DAMN until after Black Panther 2.
- The Microphones will return.
- Run the Jewels will not.
- Katie Alice Greer will join Death Grips.
- Arcade Fire will never rebound from Everything Now, but they will not break up.
- Big Thief will be the biggest indie rock band for at least 2 years, then fade away.
- Bjork’s got another one coming, and it’s gonna be the weirdest shit she’s ever done and it will be Pitchfork’s last AOTY before being shutdown in 2025.
- The brothers from the National will get into a fight and dissolve the band ala Oasis, and neither’s solo careers will amount to anything.
- Spoon will still make albums, but Divine Fits will be back.
- Earl Sweatshirt will be the biggest rapper in the world for 6 months with a crossover hit, and his fanbase will turn on him b/c it will feature a guest spot from Lauren Mayberry of CHVRCHES.
- Titus Andronicus will get worse and worse.
- Lana Del Rey’s next album will tank and everyone will realize that NFR was a fluke, and largely credited to Antonoff for making her listenable for a few years.
- FKA Twigs will be huge.
- Chance the Rapper will not make up those tour dates.
- There will be another shoegaze revival.
- The future of rock is Car Seat Headrest. A style of longer songs that transition constantly to fit the short attention span of teens.
- Tool will intentionally release an all instrumental album. No one will realize that it’s just Fear Inoculum backwards and with Maynard’s vocal track removed.
- Odd Future (w/ Frank and Tyler) will do a world tour.

That’s it for now.

[Deleted]

Mar 5, 2020 0:26:52 GMT -6 Tweet said:

These Danny Brown albums are all outta wack and I demand recounts immediately tomorrow afternoon in the High Fidelity thread. Maybe I’m more interested in knowing what people think the best Danny Brown songs are.

i had Atrocity Exhibition somewhere in my top 20 i think and Old was down near 50 so that probably muddled some shit


but i think every track on AE bangs. Old maybe has some better hits but it drags for me at times.