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Category: best albums 2010

Listmas 2010: The Top 50 Albums of the Year [#10-1]

Here they are, my Top 10 Albums of 2010. We’ve been down a long and tough road to get here, but these are the ten records that stood out the most for me in the past year. I love the variety, along with the healthy mixture of veterans and a couple newcomers. The last couple entries may only be from some well-established, hotly hyped artists, but to be fair, they did have banner years. If you’re going to read any entry on this site for the next 365 days, please make it this one. A lot of time and thought went into creating this list and I hope you either agree with my choices, or at least understand why I made them. It’s what the paragraphs below the numbers are for. In case you missed the rest of this lengthy Top 50 Albums countdown, here’s some handy links to check out those other entries:

Top Albums #50-41
Top Albums #40-31
Top Albums #30-21
Top Albums #20-11

Before jumping into this, I just want to note quickly that outside of a couple tiny updates, Faronheit will be on vacation through the end of 2010. It’s been an interesting year for this site to say the least, what with my old Blogspot address and 3+ years worth of archives being wiped clean off the face of the earth…but I actually couldn’t be happier with the current layout and the official “dot com” at the end of the address. Been going revamped and stronger than ever since April. 2011 will bring a couple small site tweaks, but nothing you need to worry about, just some added fun perks. Anyways, I hope your holidays are enjoyable and we’ll play catch up officially come January 3rd.

Without further ado, here are Faronheit’s Top 10 Albums of 2010:

Listmas 2010: The Top 50 Albums of the Year [#20-11]

This is the home stretch, the leg of this “race” just before the final one, where there’s light at the end of the tunnel if you could only make it there. Tomorrow I reveal my Top 10 Albums of 2010, and that should be pretty great. RIght now I’ll give you some subtle hints as to what will be on that list. There are two debut albums that crack the top ten, along with one psych-rock band and a handful of other indie darlings. If you’ve been reading up on your year-end lists, there’s a halfway good chance you can guess most of my list. My #1 album of the year though, I’ve yet to see anybody place it atop their lists yet, so some of you might be surprised (but not REALLY surprised). Anyways, enough about tomorrow, let me make quick mention of what we’ve been counting down the last couple days:

Top 50 Albums #50-41
Top 50 Albums #40-31
Top 50 Albums #30-21

As with thet previous sets of 10, I’ve once again included mp3s with the albums (when allowed) to give you an audio taste should you want one. I’m also continuing to solicit comments from you, either in regards to this list or a list of your own. I’m interested to hear your thoughts on the best of the year. So let me delay this no longer, I’m proud to present my Top Albums of 2010, #20-11.

Listmas 2010: The Top 50 Albums of the Year [#30-21]

It’s Hump Day my friends, and it just so happens we’re also journeying over the proverbial hump of this Top 50 Albums list. Today tackles #30-21. If you’re just now stumbling across the countdown and have yet to see the other couple sets that go all the way back to #50, let me introduce you to them via the following links:

Top 50 Albums #50-41
Top 50 Albums #40-31

Great stuff so far, even greater stuff to come. Be sure to check back for the rest of the week until the #1 album is revealed on Friday. As usual, I do encourage commentary from you, letting me know your thoughts on what albums deserved placement other than what I’ve already thrown at you, or what might otherwise be regarded as “underrated”. If you’ve got your own list of Top Albums, by all means share that as well. So here we go, Faronheit’s Top 50 Albums of 2010: #30-21!

Listmas 2010: The Top 50 Albums of the Year [#40-31]

With Part One all sealed off in Faronheit’s Top 50 Albums of 2010 list, I’m now proud to present a humbling Part Two, in which the game gets just a little more exciting and nothing is exactly what it seems. Just to take a moment to give you a brief insight as to exactly WHY I take 5 days to roll out a list of 50 albums instead of just throwing them at you in one fell swoop, the simplest explanation is that I think you need the slow burn rather than the fast cut in order to have a real appreciation for the year in music. You can scroll past these albums and not read any of the blurbs I’ve written in association with them, but the hope is that if you’ve only got ten at a time, you’ll be more inclined to stop for a minute in your day. Fifty at once, that’ll take you a good 10 minutes to sift through and do you really have that time to take in this “every second counts” world? Also, the slower roll out gives me moments to breathe and ponder these records more closely, rather than just listing them in plaintext. Thirdly, I get a little starved for content this time of year, so taking a week to unveil these choices is easier when it comes to creating content. That’s about as honest as I get. Anyways, there’s still three more parts to go, each one of increasing importance as I count down my favorite albums of the year. Please enjoy #40-31 and the associated mp3s. Perhaps you’ll discover something new. Also, I’m soliciting for comments on your favorite records of 2010, or just your thoughts on this list so far – feel free to leave a note below.

Listmas 2010: The Top 50 Albums of the Year [#50-41]

Welcome to Faronheit’s Top 50 Albums of 2010! Every year this is the most exciting list to compose and write, mostly because it requires looking back at what a great year in music it was. 2010 was pretty solid, though arguably not the best year (what is, really?). Difficult though it may have been at times, composing this list was not as challenging as it has been in past years. It’s still early in the week and this thing is being rolled out in installments of 10 through Friday, but I’ll drop you an early hint in regards to my favorite album of the year: not Kanye. Wait until Friday to see how THAT shakes out. Anyways, let’s get started with this list. Full albums released between January 1st – December 31st, 2010 are the only ones eligible for this list, and you may get a brief list counting down the best EPs of the year sometime soon. Today I’m proud to present my Top Albums #50-41. We begin right after the jump, complete with some mp3s to help get you some samples wherever possilble:

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