Tuesday Top Ten: Favorite Albums of the 2010s by Year

Last week, we took a look at my favorite songs of the 2010s by year, and this week, I'm upping it to my favorite albums of each year of the 2010s.  Again, this is not a "best albums of the 2010s" list.  It's my completely subjective list of my personal favorite albums of the last decade, year by year.  Like last week's list, there is a pretty wide variety of genres, though admittedly (and unsurprisingly), it's dominated by hard rock and metal, but there's plenty of soul, garage rock, pop, blues, glam, bar rock, art rock, indie rock, punk, and many other genres.  Some albums are by well-established and well-known bands and artists, and some are more under the radar or one-off projects.  There are a lot of repeated bands and artists, and a lot of bands and artists for which I only own one album.

By my count, I acquired over 230 albums released between 2010 and 2019.  Whether I bought a CD, a digital album, or a vinyl record (I don't believe I purchased a cassette tape last decade), it's included here, with a couple caveats.  Here are some rules for this list:

• I am only including albums that I own in total, so if I only have a song or a handful of songs from an album, it's not included.
• I am excluding compilations and greatest hits albums, although albums by various artists are included as long as the album was recorded in the 2010s.
• Reissues or albums of previously unreleased material (assuming songs were recorded prior to 2010) are excluded because that just wouldn't be fair.  Otherwise, this would be a list dominated by Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and The Rolling Stones.
• No live albums
• No EPs -- which I define as an album of fewer than seven songs.

Here's how it's gonna go.  For each year, I'm going to list my favorite album and tell you a little bit about it and provide a YouTube video of my favorite song from the album.  Then I'm going to list my remaining nine favorite albums released that year, in order from 2-10 (without any commentary).  Then I'm going to list the remaining albums released that year that I own (in alphabetical order by artist), so that you can see what I excluded.

As you can see, there are a lot more albums on the list in the first half of the decade than in the second half, as I've obviously had more time to accumulate albums from years that are farther away from the present time than years that are more recent.  For the love of Odin, don't hold that against me.  And I have to give a shout-out to The Darkness, who released four fantastic albums this decade, but each one was barely edged out by another album, so they have four #2s on my list.  But they're still the best live band out there not named The Hives!

1.  2010:  J. Roddy Walston & The Business - J. Roddy Walston & The Business

It should come as no shock that one of the bands that I saw in concert most last decade would have an album that would top my list in one of the years.  Baltimore's J. Roddy Walston & The Business's eponymous 2010 album is a rock and roll gem. There's not a bad song on the album, and there are fast-paced, foot-stomping rock songs, sing-along choruses, and excellent ballads.  It was tough to pick a favorite song.

Favorite song:  "I Don't Wanna Hear It"


Other albums in Top 10:
2.  The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang
3.  Slash - Slash
4.  The Black Keys - Brothers
5.  John Legend & The Roots - Wake Up!
6.  Foxy Shazam - Foxy Shazam
7.  Taddy Porter - Taddy Porter
8.  Everybody Was in The French Resistance . . . NOW! - Everybody Was in The French Resistance . . . NOW!
9.  Gary Clark, Jr. - Gary Clark, Jr.
10.  American Bang - American Bang

Remaining albums I own:
22-20s - Shake, Shiver, Moan; Best Coast - Crazy You; Codeine Velvet Club - Codeine Velvet Club; Dead Weather - Sea of Cowards; Fitz & The Tantrums - Pickin' Up the Pieces; Greenhornes - ****; Harlem - Hippies; The Head and The Heart - The Head and The Heart; The Hold Steady - Heaven is Whenever; JEFF The Brotherhood - Heavy Days; The Joy Formidable - A Balloon Called Moaning; Kings of Leon - Come Around Sundown; Living Sisters - Love to Live; Matt Pond PA - The Dark Leaves; The Postelles - The Postelles; Grace Potter & The Nocturnals - Grace Potter & The Nocturnals; Robert Randolph & The Family Band - We Walk This Road; Eli "Paperboy" Reed - Come And Get It; Saint Jude - Diary of a Soul Friend; Weezer - Hurley; The Whigs In the Dark

2.  2011:  Those Darlins - Screws Get Loose

Those Darlins were a quartet, with three females up front and a male drummer.  Taking a cue from The Ramones, all three of the females took on pseudonyms with the last name "Darlin."  If you mixed The Ramones, Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash, The Raveonettes, The Andrews Sisters, '60s girl groups, and The Detroit Cobras together, the result might be Those Darlins.  They played good, catchy garage punk, sprinkled with a splash of Nashville and a splash of humor.  Screws Get Loose was their sophomore album, and it's pretty much what I just described.

Favorite song:  "Hives"


Other albums in Top 10:
2.  Black Joe Lewis and The Honeybears - Scandalous
3.  Foo Fighters - Wasting Light
4.  The Black Keys - El Camino
5.  Township - One More Summer
6.  Diarrhea Planet - Loose Jewels
7.  Vintage Trouble - The Bomb Shelter Sessions
8.  Rival Sons - Pressure and Time
9.  Admiral of Black - Blood & Fire
10.  JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound - Want More

Remaining albums I own:  The Answer - Revival; Arctic Monkeys - Suck It and See; Art Brut - Brilliant! Tragic!; The Black Lips - Arabia Mountain; Cage the Elephant - Thank You Happy Birthday; Dum Dum Girls - Only in Dreams; JEFF The Brotherhood - We Are The Champions; Manraze - Punkfunkrootsrock; The Sheepdogs - Learn and Burn; The Strokes - Angles; Super Happy Fun Club - Go Fun Yourself; The Vaccines - What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?; Various Artists - A Very Metal Christmas; Various Artists - Son of Rogue's Gallery:  Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Chanteys; Wild Flag - Wild Flag

3.  2012:  The Gaslight Anthem - Handwritten

As I mentioned last week, The Gaslight Anthem is one of my favorite bands of the last decade, and my favorite song from 2012 -- "'45'" -- is from their Handwritten album, a fantastic album full of great, heartfelt, Jersey rock and roll, blurring the lines of hard rock, bar rock, punk, and power pop.  The songwriting is great, and like Springsteen before them, the band writes and performs songs that have universal themes that we can all relate to -- and that you can bob your head to.  Since I already gave you my favorite song last week, I'm going to go with my second-favorite song from the album.

Favorite song:  "Blue Dahlia"


Other albums in Top 10:
2.  The Darkness - Hot Cakes
3.  Alabama Shakes - Boys & Girls
4.  Jack White - Blunderbuss
5.  Slash featuring Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators - Apocalyptic Love
6.  Foxy Shazam - The Church of Rock and Roll
7.  The Hives - Lex Hives
8.  Gary Clark, Jr. - Blak and Blu
9.  Halestorm - The Strange Case Of . . .
10.  Rival Sons - Head Down

Remaining albums I own:  Delta Spirit - Delta Spirit; Craig Finn - Clear Heart Full Eyes; Garbage - Not Your Kind of People; JEFF The Brotherhood - Hypnotic Nights; Mumford & Sons - Babel; Soundgarden - King Animal; The Last Vegas - Bad Decisions; Van Halen - A Different Kind of Truth

4.  2013:  Black Joe Lewis - Electric Slave

Whether crediting his backing Honeybears or not, Black Joe Lewis is a great talent.  If there is such a genre as garage soul -- which I would describe as a combination of garage rock and Memphis soul -- I have to think Lewis is at the forefront.  If that sounds like something you would like -- and it should -- immediately go out and buy all of his records.  Or maybe just download them.  Hell, I don't know what you kids do these days.  Electric Slave is a collection of fuzzed out guitars, horns, wailing vocals, and toe-tapping beats.  Own it.

Favorite song:  "The Hipster"


Other albums in Top 10:
2.  Ghost - Infestissumam
3.  J. Roddy Walston & The Business - Essential Tremors
4.  Scorpion Child - Scorpion Child
5.  Diarrhea Planet - I'm Rich Beyond Your Wildest Dreams
6.  Cage the Elephant - Melophobia
7.  So So Glos - Blowout
8.  Kate Nash - Girl Talk
9.  Various Artists - Sound City:  Real to Reel
10.  Black Star Riders - All Hell Breaks Loose

Remaining albums I own:  The Answer - New Horizon; Arctic Monkeys - AM; Black Sabbath - 13; JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound - Howl; Cream Pie - Unsigned 2.0; Fitz & The Tantrums - More Than Just a Dream; Franz Ferdinand - Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action; The Fratellis - We Need Medicine; Iceage - You're Nothing; Kings of Leon - Mechanical Bull; Pearl Jam - Lightning Bolt; The Strokes - Comedown Machine; Those Darlins - Blur the Line; The Virgins - Strike Gently

5.  2014:  The Pretty Reckless - Going to Hell

The Pretty Reckless is a great metal band, fronted by Taylor Momsen, who some people may know better as Cindy Lou Who in How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Jenny Humphrey in Gossip Girl.  Thankfully for metal lovers, she hung up her acting shoes -- and I assume actors have special shoes -- and traded them for black leather and studs.  Going to Hell was the band's sophomore album.  It hit the Top 10 in the US (#5), Canada (#5), and the UK (#8), and it features three songs top the Billboard Mainstream Rock charts:  "Heaven Knows," "Messed Up World" (real title "Fucked Up World"), and "Follow Me Down," making The Pretty Reckless the first female-fronted band to top the Mainstream Rock charts twice, much less thrice.  

Favorite song:  "Going to Hell"


Other albums in Top 10:
2.  Royal Blood - Royal Blood
3.  The Hold Steady - Teeth Dreams
4.  Foo Fighters - Sonic Highways
5.  Black Pistol Fire - Hush or Howl
6.  The Strypes - Snapshot
7.  The Gaslight Anthem - Get Hurt
8.  Benjamin Booker - Benjamin Booker
9.  Twin Peaks - Wild Onion
10.  Jack White - Lazaretto

Remaining albums I own:  AC/DC - Rock or Bust; The Black Keys - Turn Blue; Bleachers - Strange Desire; Cage the Gods - Badlands; Catfish & The Bottlemen - The Balcony; Cloud Nothings - Here and Nowhere Else; De La Soul - Smell The DA.I.S.Y.; Neil Diamond - Melody Road; Ace Frehley - Space Invader; Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas - Secret Evil; Kaiser Chiefs - Education, Education, Education & War; The Last Internationale - We Will Reign; Jodee Lewis - Whiskey Halo; Parquet Courts - Sunbathing Animal; Rival Sons - Great Western Valkyrie; Sleeper Agent - About Last Night; U2 - Songs of Innocence; Weezer - Everything Will Turn Out All Right In The End; Pharrell Williams - G I R L 

6.  2015:  Ghost - Meliora

This was a really tough choice, as you can consider Last of Our Kind by The Darkness a 1a, but Ghost's Meliora slightly edged it out.  Led by a demonic pope character that changes his look with every album and backed by the Nameless Ghouls, Swedish metal band Ghost wear costumes to mask their true identities.  The fact of the matter is that the costumes would seem like more of a gimmick if the music didn't stand up.  But it does.  Meliora is the band's third studio album, and it is full of creepy metal anthems.  Since "Cirice" was my favorite song of 2015 and I already gave you the video last week, I'm picking "From the Pinnacle to the Pit," which is a driving metal song that starts off with a crunchy bass intro and then explodes into melancholy.

Favorite song:  "From the Pinnacle to the Pit"


Other albums in Top 10:
2.  The Darkness - Last of Our Kind
3.  Leon Bridges - Coming Home
4.  Bully - Feels Like
5.  Cage the Elephant - Tell Me I'm Pretty
6.  Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats - Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
7.  JEFF the Brotherhood - Wasted on the Dream
8.  Low Cut Connie - Hi Honey
9.  Iron Maiden - Book of Souls
10.  Palma Violets - Danger in the Club

Remaining albums I own:  The Answer - Raise a Little Hell; The Arcs - Yours, Dreamily; Blackfoot Gypsies - Handle It; Def Leppard - Def Leppard; Eagles of Death Metal - Zipper Down; Elle King - Love Stuff; Gary Clark, Jr. - The Story of Sonny Boy Slim; Colleen Green - I Want to Grow Up; Judith Hill - Back In Time; The Sonics - This is The Sonics; Vintage Trouble - 1 Hopeful Rd.; York Album Project - We Are The Music

7.  2016:  The Struts - Everybody Wants

The Struts kind of burst onto the scene in 2016 and were ready to bring arena rock back to the world.  Their 2016 debut album, Everybody Wants, is a fun, top-to-bottom rock masterpiece, with elements of glam, the Stones, and Queen, all the while sounding original.  As you learned last week, "Put Your Money On Me" is my favorite song of 2016, so I'll give you "The Ol' Switcheroo," a catchy little ditty about wanting to swap girlfriends with your best friend, for a night anyway.  Also, if they come to your city, do yourself a favor and see their live show.

Favorite song: "The Ol' Switcheroo"


Other albums in Top 10:
2.  Metallica - Hardwired. . . To Self Destruct
3.  The York Album Project - This Is Amateur
4.  Diarrhea Planet - Turn To Gold
5.  The Pretty Reckless - Who You Selling For
6.  So So Glos - Kamikaze
7.  The Amorettes - White Hot Heat
8.  Wolfmother - Victorious
9.  Scorpion Child - Acid Roulette
10.  The Regrettes - Feel Your Feelings Fool!

Remaining albums I own:  The Answer - Solas; BadBadNotGood - IV; Cheap Trick - Bang Zoom Crazy Hello;The Last Shadow Puppets - Everything You've Come to Expect; The Rolling Stones - Blue & Lonesome; Weezer - Weezer (The White Album) Rob Zombie - The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Collaboration Dispenser

8.  2017 - From the Fires by Greta Van Fleet

Don't try to tell me I shouldn't like Greta Van Fleet because they sound like Led Zeppelin.  Everyone has their influences, and some bands wear their influence on their sleeves (or leather vests, as it were) more than others.  Plus, maybe the world needs more bands -- certainly ones comprised of four teenagers from Frankenmuth, Michigan -- that are influenced by Led Zeppelin.  From the Fires is classified by some as an EP, but it has eight songs, so fuck that.  Plus, it won the Grammy for Best Rock Album, so there.

Favorite song:  "Safari Song"


Other albums in Top 10:
2.  The Darkness - Pinewood Smile
3.  Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears - Backlash
4.  J. Roddy Walston & The Business - Destroyers of the Soft Life
5.  Black Pistol Fire - Deadbeat Graffiti
6.  Royal Blood - How Did We Get So Dark?
7.  Ron Gallo - Heavy Meta
8.  Japandroids - Near To The Wild Heart of Life
9.  Foo Fighters - Concrete and Gold
10.  Cheap Trick - Christmas Christmas

Remaining albums I own:  Craig Finn - We All Want the Same Things; Robert - Plant Carry Fire; Tennis - Yours Conditionally

9.  2018:  Ghost - Prequelle

Yes, this is a second Ghost album on the list, and yes, it deserves to be here.

Favorite song:  "Dance Macabre"


Other albums in Top 10:
2.  The Struts - Young & Dangerous
3.  Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears - The Difference Between Me & You
4.  Razorlight - Olympus Sleeping
5.  Andrew W.K. - You Are Not Alone
6.  Art Brut - Wham! Bang! Pow! Let's Rock Out!
7.  Greta Van Fleet - Anthem of the Peaceful Army
8.  Jack White - Boarding House Reach
9.  The Vaccines - Combat Sports
10.  York Album Project - York Album Project 2018

10.  2019:  The Hold Steady - Thrashing Thru the Passion

I love The Hold Steady and have seen them live more than any other band or artist.  They released Thrashing Thru the Passion, their seventh studio album earlier this year, and it is everything I love about the band.  Great songs with great stories, and the kind of music you wish was on every bar jukebox.

Favorite song:  "Denver Haircut"


Other albums in Top 10:
2.  The Darkness - Easter is Cancelled
3.  The Black Keys - Let's Rock
4.  The Raconteurs - Help Us Stranger
5.  Bruce Springsteen - Western Stars