AOTY archive

This is an archive of all our album-of-the-year lists. We’ve also included EPs that exceed six tracks or 25 minutes in runtime. “At the Time” signifies what we originally posted in that year, and “Now in Retrospect” signifies how we feel now. Years that lack these distinctions are years in which we either did not publish a year-end list or do not feel differently about.

2025

  1. 5 Seconds of Summer – Everyone’s a Star!
  2. Lorde – Virgin
  3. Bradley Simpson – The Panic Years
  4. Calum Hood – ORDER chaos ORDER
  5. Bad Suns – Accelerator
  6. Michael Clifford – Sidequest
  7. Miley Cyrus – Something Beautiful
  8. Bon Iver – SABLE, fABLE
  9. Daughtry – Shock to the System
  10. Alessia Cara – Love & Hyperbole
  11. The Summer Set – Meet Me at the Record Store
  12. Christopher – Fools Gold
  13. To Kill a King – The King Is Dead
  14. Julien Baker & TORRES – Send a Prayer My Way
  15. Fickle Friends – Fickle Friends

2024

  1. Luke Hemmings – boy
  2. Ashton Irwin – Blood on the Drums
  3. Bastille – “&” (Ampersand)
  4. Beyoncé – Cowboy Carter
  5. Local Natives – But I’ll Wait for You
  6. Taylor Swift – The Tortured Poets Department
  7. Future Utopia – Django’s High
  8. The Story So Far – I Want to Disappear
  9. twenty one pilots – Clancy
  10. American Authors – Call Your Mother

2023

  1. Chelsea Cutler – Stellaria
  2. Niall Horan – The Show
  3. The National Forest – King of the Enchantments
  4. The Brook & The Bluff – Bluebeard
  5. Ed Sheeran – – (Subtract)
  6. boygenius – The Record
  7. Miley Cyrus – Endless Summer Vacation
  8. Olivia Rodrigo – GUTS
  9. American Authors – Best Night of My Life
  10. twentylove – pressure in my head again
  11. Hozier – Unreal Unearth
  12. Local Natives – Time Will Wait for No One

2022

At the Time…

  1. Greyson Chance – Palladium
  2. 5 Seconds of Summer – 5SOS5
  3. Bad Suns – Apocalypse Whenever
  4. The Summer Set – Blossom
  5. Conan Gray – Superache
  6. Harry Styles – Harry’s House
  7. Taylor Swift – Midnights
  8. Bastille – Give Me the Future

Now in Retrospect…

  1. Greyson Chance – Palladium
  2. 5 Seconds of Summer – 5SOS5
  3. Bad Suns – Apocalypse Whenever
  4. The Summer Set – Blossom
  5. Louis Tomlinson – Faith in the Future
  6. Conan Gray – Superache
  7. Harry Styles – Harry’s House
  8. Taylor Swift – Midnights
  9. Bastille – Give Me the Future

2021

At the Time…

  1. Taylor Swift – evermore
  2. Luke Hemmings – When Facing the Things We Turn Away From
  3. Lucy Dacus – Home Video
  4. Lorde – Solar Power
  5. The Brook & The Bluff – Yard Sale
  6. Dream Jacuzzi – Lemon Hazy Nights
  7. Alessia Cara – In the Meantime
  8. Olivia Rodrigo – SOUR
  9. Justin Bieber – Justice

Now in Retrospect…

  1. Taylor Swift – evermore
  2. Luke Hemmings – When Facing the Things We Turn Away From
  3. Lucy Dacus – Home Video
  4. Lorde – Solar Power
  5. Walk the Moon – Heights
  6. Christopher – My Blood
  7. The Brook & The Bluff – Yard Sale
  8. Dream Jacuzzi – Lemon Hazy Nights
  9. Alessia Cara – In the Meantime
  10. Olivia Rodrigo – SOUR
  11. Daughtry – Dearly Beloved
  12. Justin Bieber – Justice

2020

  1. The Vamps – Cherry Blossom
  2. Taylor Swift – folklore
  3. Harry Styles – Fine Line
  4. Ashton Irwin – Superbloom
  5. 5 Seconds of Summer – CALM
  6. Movements – No Good Left to Give
  7. All Time Low – Wake Up, Sunshine
  8. Future Utopia – 12 Questions
  9. The Aces – Under My Influence
  10. The Magic Gang – Life of the Party
  11. Neon Trees – I Can Feel You Forgetting Me
  12. Conan Gray – Kid Krow
  13. Bring Me the Horizon – Post Human: Survival Horror
  14. Lauv – ~how i’m feeling~
  15. New Hope Club – New Hope Club

2019

At the Time…

  1. Greyson Chance – portraits
  2. Bastille – Doom Days
  3. Local Natives – Violet Street

Now in Retrospect…

  1. Greyson Chance – portraits
  2. Taylor Swift – Lover
  3. Local Natives – Violet Street
  4. Bastille – Doom Days
  5. The Brook & The Bluff – First Place
  6. Carly Rae Jepsen – Dedicated
  7. Bad Suns – Mystic Truth
  8. Bon Iver – i,i
  9. American Authors – Seasons
  10. MILKK – Headrush

2018

At the Time…

  1. 5 Seconds of Summer – Youngblood
  2. LANY – Malibu Nights
  3. The Aces – When My Heart Felt Volcanic
  4. Charlie Puth – Voicenotes
  5. Fickle Friends – You Are Someone Else
  6. Florence + the Machine – High As Hope
  7. Waterparks – Entertainment
  8. Ryan Beatty – Boy in Jeans

Now in Retrospect…

  1. 5 Seconds of Summer – Youngblood
  2. LANY – Malibu Nights
  3. Fickle Friends – You Are Someone Else
  4. The Aces – When My Heart Felt Volcanic
  5. Charlie Puth – Voicenotes
  6. Rüfüs Du Sol – Solace
  7. Ryan Beatty – Boy in Jeans
  8. Florence + the Machine – High As Hope
  9. The Dangerous Summer – The Dangerous Summer
  10. twenty one pilots – Trench
  11. Blood Orange – Negro Swan

2017

At the Time…

  1. Paramore – After Laughter
  2. Lorde – Melodrama
  3. Harry Styles – Harry Styles
  4. The Maine – Lovely Little Lonely
  5. The Menzingers – After the Party
  6. Movements – Feel Something

Now in Retrospect…

  1. Lorde – Melodrama
  2. Taylor Swift – reputation
  3. Movements – Feel Something
  4. Paramore – After Laughter
  5. Walk the Moon – What If Nothing
  6. PVRIS – All We Know of Heaven, All We Need of Hell
  7. Harry Styles – Harry Styles
  8. The Menzingers – After the Party
  9. Mount Eerie – A Crow Looked at Me
  10. The Vamps – Night & Day (Night Edition)
  11. All Time Low – Last Young Renegade
  12. The Maine – Lovely Little Lonely
  13. Creeper – Eternity, in Your Arms
  14. Citizen – As You Please

2016

At the Time…

  1. Young the Giant – Home of the Strange
  2. Green Day – Revolution Radio
  3. Local Natives – Sunlit Youth
  4. Pierce the Veil – Misadventures
  5. Real Friends – The Home Inside My Head
  6. Grouplove – Big Mess
  7. Moose Blood – Blush
  8. Fatherson – Open Book

Now in Retrospect...

  1. Local Natives – Sunlit Youth
  2. Beyoncé – Lemonade
  3. Young the Giant – Home of the Strange
  4. Bad Suns – Disappear Here
  5. The 1975 – I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it
  6. Bon Iver – 22, A Million
  7. Grouplove – Big Mess
  8. Bastille – Wild World
  9. Fatherson – Open Book
  10. The Summer Set – Stories for Monday
  11. Real Friends – The Home Inside My Head
  12. Anarbor – Anarbor

2015

  1. 5 Seconds of Summer – Sounds Good Feels Good
  2. Imagine Dragons – Smoke + Mirrors
  3. Carly Rae Jepsen – E•MO•TION
  4. Everything Everything – Get to Heaven
  5. All Time Low – Future Hearts
  6. Florence + the Machine – How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful
  7. The Wonder Years – No Closer to Heaven
  8. Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color
  9. twenty one pilots – Blurryface
  10. One Direction – Made in the A.M.
  11. The Vamps – Wake Up
  12. State Champs – Around the World and Back
  13. Fall Out Boy – American Beauty/American Psycho
  14. The Neighbourhood – Wiped Out!
  15. The Maine – American Candy

2014

  1. Ed Sheeran – × (Multiply)
  2. Bad Suns – Language & Perspective
  3. Walk the Moon – Talking Is Hard
  4. 5 Seconds of Summer – 5 Seconds of Summer
  5. Young the Giant – Mind Over Matter
  6. Hozier – Hozier
  7. Neon Trees – Pop Psychology
  8. Finish Ticket – Tears You Apart
  9. American Authors – Oh, What a Life
  10. PVRIS – White Noise
  11. Driver Friendly – Unimagined Bridges
  12. Set It Off – Duality

2013

  1. Lorde – Pure Heroine
  2. Local Natives – Hummingbird
  3. Paramore – Paramore
  4. The 1975 – The 1975
  5. The Dangerous Summer – Golden Record
  6. Bastille – All This Bad Blood
  7. Fall Out Boy – Save Rock and Roll
  8. Arctic Monkeys – AM
  9. Panic! at the Disco – Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die!
  10. The Civil Wars – The Civil Wars

2012

  1. Walk the Moon – Walk the Moon
  2. All Time Low – Don’t Panic
  3. Taylor Swift – Red
  4. Neon Trees – Picture Show
  5. Imagine Dragons – Night Visions
  6. Matchbox Twenty – North
  7. The Gaslight Anthem – Handwritten

2011

  1. The Dangerous Summer – War Paint
  2. Panic! at the Disco – Vices & Virtues
  3. Adele – 21
  4. Bon Iver – Bon Iver
  5. Metronomy – The English Riviera
  6. Rush of Fools – We Once Were
  7. Grouplove – Never Trust a Happy Song
  8. Ed Sheeran – + (Plus)
  9. The Civil Wars – Barton Hollow
  10. Yellow Ostrich – The Mistress
  11. Third Eye Blind – Ursa Major

2010

  1. Local Natives – Gorilla Manor
  2. Young the Giant – Young the Giant
  3. Taylor Swift – Speak Now
  4. Walk the Moon – i want! i want!
  5. My Chemical Romance – Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys
  6. Linkin Park – A Thousand Suns
  7. Ed Sheeran – Loose Change
  8. Neon Trees – Habits
  9. Katy Perry – Teenage Dream

2009

  1. The Dangerous Summer – Reach for the Sun
  2. Paramore – Brand New Eyes
  3. All Time Low – Nothing Personal
  4. Florence + the Machine – Lungs
  5. Daughtry – Leave This Town
  6. Bombay Bicycle Club – I Had the Blues but I Shook Them Loose
  7. Passion Pit – Manners
  8. The Summer Set – Love Like This
  9. Arctic Monkeys – Humbug
  10. Mutemath – Armistice
  11. Breaking Benjamin – Dear Agony
  12. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix