Top 5 Albums of the Decade (2010s)

Top+5+Albums+of+the+Decade+%282010s%29

Joseph Kamps

With the 2010s soon over, the time has come for many to reflect. For a lot of people, music is something we can live are lives to and make many memories from. Whether that be from jamming out in the car to having sad, deep reflections sitting in the darkness of your room (or in a parking lot, but that’s too personal), music is an integral part of many people’s lives. Many fantastic albums have been released over the past decade. And now, the time has come to count down the top 5 albums of the 2010s.

#5 Jack White – Boarding House Reach (2018)

With rock music largely remaining stagnant in the mainstream throughout the decade, Jack White, a veteran to both the genre and the music industry, took it upon himself to shake up rock music with his 3rd solo effort, Boarding House Reach. By incorporating elements from all across music’s soundscape (borrowing from jazz, hip-hop, gospel, along with Jack’s more typical blues rock with country elements) to create a truly diverse, yet focused and full listening experience. This album is also fantastically produced, with great instrumentation from a variety of collaborators (and Jack himself), as well as creative vocal deliveries and sonic concepts.

Favorite Tracks: Connected By Love, What’s Done Is Done, Everything You’ve Ever Learned, Over and Over and Over, Corporation

#4 Tyler, the Creator – IGOR (2019)

Tyler, the Creator’s most recent album is both a fantastic hip-hop album and an introspective look into a crumbling relationship. The album’s storyline follows Tyler character rapping as a man named Igor, who is in a relationship but sees his lover pulled away by their ex. The album sees Igor going through the motions of his emotions, holding onto the love he had, going through a mental breakdown, and exasperatedly trying to maintain a platonic connection to his lover. This album is fantastically produced, and encapsulates the difficulties many people face in maintaining interpersonal relationships, while also being a fantastic album to listen to.

Favorite Tracks: IGOR’S THEME, EARFQUAKE, RUNNING OUT OF TIME, NEW MAGIC WAND, A BOY IS A GUN*, WHAT’S GOOD

#3 Kids See Ghosts – Kids See Ghosts (2018)

Kids See Ghosts debut album sees longtime collaborators Kanye West and Kid Cudi teaming up to deliver one of the most fantastic and diverse music experiences of the decade. Sampling from speeches, 1930s Christmas songs, an unreleased song from Kurt Cobain, and many other fantastic samples, Kids See Ghosts sees the duo creating a fantastic yet straightforward approach to how they feel, with both Kanye and Cudi dealing with mental health issues leading up to the album, and use these fantastic samples and their vocal deliveries to create an album unlike anything released this decade.

Favorite Tracks: ALL OF THEM, but Top 3 Tracks are: 4th Dimension, Reborn, Cudi Montage

#2 Frank Ocean – Blonde

Frank Ocean’s sophomore album is, in many’s views, is perhaps the number one album of the decade and handily better than his initial release, channel ORANGE. While the merits of Frank’s first offerings can be debated, one thing that is assured is that Blonde has some of the highest highs of any of the albums released this decade. Whether that be the fantastic Nights or Solo, or the more moody tracks like Ivy and Close to You, Blonde delivers many fantastic tracks that are well-produced and also contain good instrumentation and vocals.

Favorite Tracks: Nikes, Ivy, Solo, Nights, Close To You, White Ferrari, Futura Free

#1 Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

While Kanye West’s efforts can be debated as to the quality of his records, one thing is for sure: Kanye is almost always on the cutting edge of music, and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (often abbreviated to MBDTF), is considered his magnum opus, and it is easy to see why. With Kanye moving away from Rap with his last two releases, Graduation and 808s and Heartbreak, leaning more into Pop and Electronic Music, Kanye returns to the Rap Music that made him famous, and once again samples generously and ingeniously from many gospel and soul samples, as well as samples from across many different genres. While this album is heavy on features, many features accentuate the many fantastic tracks that can be heard on this album, which sees Kanye reach some highs that he has yet to match over his career.

Favorite Tracks: Dark Fantasy, Gorgeous, POWER, Devil In A New Dress, Runaway