Having published their list of the 200 best tracks of the decade so farPitchfork is continuing its retrospective celebrations with their next, and possibly most hotly contested list: the best albums released since 2010.

The top 100 rankings are typically Pitchfork-ian, which is to say there’s a strong leaning towards American artists, a huge serving of rap, plenty of obscure electronica and avant-garde, and a number of much-championed indie acts. And forget about any heavier rock or metal (excluding Deafheaven). Full disclosure too, the list isn’t solely for conventional ‘albums’ – there’s a couple of mixtapes along with an unofficially leaked record and even an EP.

By way of a defence, Pitchfork explains the last five years has seen “artist playing around with what an album could be – surprise releases, wholes assembled from trickles of fragments, free downloads,” but still honours “the idea of the single-artist-driven listening experience that lasts between 30 and 90 minutes…”

Just as they made the top 200 tracks, Tame Impala invade the albums list, making them the only honorary Australians to make an appearance. Debut LP Innerspeaker scrapes in at #83, but more impressively 2012 follow-up Lonerism rises all the way to the Top 10.

Described as a record that “pulls your forward into an uncertain, exciting sonic terrain where the tangible past is reconfigured into an intangible set of fresh possibilities,” Lonerism sits proudly at #7 – squeezed between Vampire Weekend’s latest and Yeezus by Kanye West, who also took out the pole position.

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West’s 2010 opus My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is crowned as the best album of the last five years, praised for its duality as a state-of-the-nation address for both America and Kanye himself, an LP that “impresses with its impenetrable wholeness,” as Pitchfork describe; “The list ends here because it’s where the decade truly begins.”

Kanye West is one of several artists that scores dual album occupancies in the poll, along with Kendrick Lamar (ranked at #2 and #77); Frank Ocean (#4 & #54); Beach House (#5 & #53); Vampire Weekend (#6 & #46); Drake (#12 & #41); Real Estate (#13 & #86); Beyoncé (#14 & #39); Swans (#17 & #85); Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti (#20 & #81); Kurt Vile (#32 & #42); Arcade Fire (#33 & #88), and Danny Brown (#37 & #72).

Interestingly, 7% of the top 100 list contains some of 2014’s best albums so far – including LPs by the Meredith-billed The War On Drugs, Falls Festival-bound Todd Terje, Sun Kil Moon, Swans, Real Estate, How To Dress Well, and the debut full-length album from Laneway-rumoured FKA twigs.

Plus, for our money, Pitchfork have gone all Oscars with some of their selections; the same way the Academy often hands a coveted statuette to an actor for a performance that isn’t for their best work, and instead is an acknowledgement of their lifetime’s work, the same logic can be applied to selections from perennials like Godspeed You! Black Emperor, My Bloody Valentine, Erykah Badu, and Four Tet.

You can view the full list below and check out the full list here.

Pitchfork’s Top 100 Albums Of The Decade So Far

  1. Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
  2. Kendrick Lamar – Good Kid, m.A.A.d City
  3. Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest
  4. Frank Ocean – Channel Orange
  5. Beach House – Teen Dream
  6. Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires of the City
  7. Tame Impala – Lonerism
  8. Kanye West – Yeezus
  9. Sun Kil Moon – Benji
  10. Fiona Apple – The Idler Wheel…
  11. LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening
  12. Drake – Take Care
  13. Real Estate – Days
  14. Beyoncé – Beyoncé
  15. Grimes – Visions
  16. Destroyer – Kaputt
  17. Swans – The Seer
  18. Joanna Newsom – Have One On Me
  19. Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma
  20. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Before Today
  21. The War On Drugs – Lost In The Dream
  22. M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
  23. St. Vincent – Strange Mercy
  24. Disclosure – Settle
  25. Bill Callahan – Apocalypse
  26. Deafheaven – Sunbather
  27. Bon Iver – Bon Iver
  28. My Bloody Valentine – m b v
  29. Japandroids – Celebration Rock
  30. Titus Andronicus – The Monitor
  31. Daft Punk – Random Access Memories
  32. Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring For My Halo
  33. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
  34. Death Grips – The Money Store
  35. DJ Rashad – Double Cup
  36. Robyn – Body Talk
  37. Danny Brown – XXX
  38. EMA – Past Life Martyred Saints
  39. Beyoncé – 4
  40. Burial – Rival Dealer EP
  41. Drake – Nothing Was The Same
  42. Kurt Vile – Wakin’ On A Pretty Daze
  43. Jay Z & Kanye West – Watch The Throne
  44. Chromatics – Kill For Love
  45. Future – Pluto
  46. Vampire Weekend – Contra
  47. Waka Flocka Flame – Flockaveli
  48. Majical Cloudz – Impersonator
  49. Oneohtrix Point Never – Replica
  50. Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!
  51. Sky Ferreira – Night Time, My Time
  52. James Blake – James Blake
  53. Beach House – Bloom
  54. Frank Ocean – Nostalgia ULTRA.
  55. Andy Stott – Luxury Problems
  56. Chance The Rapper – Acid Rap
  57. tUnE-yArDs – w h o k i l l
  58. The-Dream – Love King
  59. Miguel – Kaleidoscope Dream
  60. PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
  61. Dirty Proejctors – Swing Lo Magellan
  62. The Knife – Shaking The Habitual
  63. Four Tet – There Is Love In You
  64. Haim – Days Are Gone
  65. Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles
  66. Todd Terje – It’s Album Time
  67. The Weeknd – House of Balloons
  68. Erykah Badu – New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh
  69. Blood Orange – Cupid Deluxe
  70. Killer Mike – R.A.P. Music
  71. Girls – Father, Son, Holy Ghost
  72. Danny Brown – Old
  73. Cloud Nothings – Attack On Memory
  74. Caribou – Swim
  75. The Caretaker – An Empty Bliss Beyond This World
  76. Jessie Ware – Devotion
  77. Kendrick Lamar – Section.80
  78. Darkside – Psychic
  79. Big Boi – Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son Of Chico Dusty
  80. Mac DeMarco – 2
  81. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Mature Themes
  82. Chief Keef – Finally Rich
  83. Tame Impala – Innerspeaker
  84. A$AP Rocky – LIVELOVEA$AP
  85. Swans – To Be Kind
  86. Real Estate – Atlas
  87. FKA twigs – LP1
  88. Arcade Fire – Reflektor
  89. Emeralds – Does It Look Like I’m Here?
  90. Waxahatchee – Cerulean Salt
  91. Actress – Splazsh
  92. Bat For Lashes – The Haunted Man
  93. Tim Hecker – Ravedeath, 1972
  94. How To Dress Well – What Is This Heart?
  95. Nicolas Jaar – Space Is Only Noise
  96. Young Thug – 1017 Thug
  97. Rustie – Glass Swords
  98. Earl Sweatshirt – Earl
  99. Jai Paul – Jai Paul
  100. Clams Casino – Instrumental Mixtape

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