Full disclosure before you read; this was supposed to come out nine months ago, and 2024 has been a massive year for music, none of which will be represented in the slightest by the list you're about to see. But hey, it's not like 2023's list didn't come out until months after it was made too... heh.... (look, we've all got bad habits...)
Disclaimer aside, this year's list was a lot of fun to put together (as it always is). This post is going to explain some of my methodology in composing the rankings, show off the new list, introduce (briefly) the new albums, and talk about some of the biggest takeaways and key changes.
Methodology
I briefly explained this before, but this list is not about me ranking the best albums ever for everyone; I am very very open about the fact that this is my list. I don't think this is a bad list, and I would totally vouch for (nearly) every album here's inclusion on a best of all-time list, but I know that these aren't the best albums ever for all of humanity. I have simply not had the time to listen to everything. So instead of complaining "UGH, why isn't _____ on here? Do you even LIKE music?", please just leave me your suggestions for other albums I should check out!
Also, I've had a few people suggest I make the list cap out at a specific number (50, 100, 200, etc). I don't really care for that idea because then something I love and feel strongly about won't be here. Instead of ranking my top x albums, I prefer to rank all the albums I feel are A tier or higher. This means everything here would rank as an S, A+ or A in a tier list. (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, read up on this system here.) This means that I get to include every album that I want to, but I still have to make hard decisions and can't include every album I like. It also means the list sometimes is a weird length, like this year it came out to 160. (If you don't like it, just think of it as top 150 with 10 honorable mentions.)
This year, the process I used (which I will likely use again) was that in the weeks leading up to the list build, I listened to all the albums that I felt were on the cusp (new or otherwise) as well as any of the albums already on the list that I felt needed a re-listen. Then, I gave all the albums a random number, randomly selected them one by one, and compared them to the albums previously chosen this way. It's a bit tedious, but being able to compare them one by one directly instead of guessing their placement is way better.
I didn't want this to be influenced by one particular mood on one day, so once all the albums were in, I let it sit. I took a week or so to see how I felt and made some adjustments here and there. After some swaps and extra time to think, I was ready to call it done. Then everything went into a spreadsheet so I could see all the nerdy stats because I'm a nerd.
Album eligibility
To be eligible for this list, the criteria that I arbitrarily set were as follows:
- I must have listened to the entire album at least once, more than once is preferred
- It must have been intended for straight-through listening. So no greatest hits albums or compilations (with rare exception)
- Live albums are also (with rare exception) excluded, as they tend to serve similar functions as greatest hit compilations
- This means movie scores are eligible, although many soundtracks might not be
- My first exposure to the album as a whole must be from over four months ago (to prevent recency bias), no exceptions
- Deluxe editions, re-releases, and so forth are valid, but only one version of an album can be included (I haven't run into any exceptions with this yet, but I imagine there might be one eventually)
The list
Highlights
This year saw the first time I've ever dropped an album from the list, ensuring that while it does keep getting longer, the list probably (hopefully) won't grow exponentially.
Newcomers
Dropouts
Largest jumps
Largest falls
Takeaways and conclusion
Now that it's been a few months, I think there are certain placements that I disagree with in hindsight. Gotye falling 55 spots is way too much, for one. There are also a few albums that I have on here that I'm not sure I should have added. I might make a separate category at some point for albums like Dark Side of the Moon and Thriller that are objectively incredible and important albums but are not my personal favorites. I've also thought about expanding this list to include the A- albums, but I honestly think that would double the size of the ranking, so that's off the table probably forever.
In the future, I hope to get this list out within a month of the new rankings, as the fact I don't agree with this ranking as I post it is kind of silly. That said, I felt like this was an important one to put out anyway so I can keep the habit going and so that 2025's list doesn't balloon into a ridiculously sized overblown writeup (like this one).
So that's that list! Let me know your thoughts! I'm always more than happy to give recommendations, and I do enjoy receiving them as well. Happy rest of your 2024! You should be seeing my year-end favorite albums list here soon, as well as the newest installment of this list in a few months. That is, unless I get distracted and sidetracked again...