Here we are.
THE TOTALLY ACCURATE AND ENTIRELY FACTUAL LIST OF 2015'S 33 BEST ALBUMS.
We know this isn't really in the spirit of #content #promo but do you not sometimes find albums of the year lists a bit boring? The exciting lists are always the singles ones. What it probably comes down to is that singles can be perfect, but we all know that there really isn't any such thing as a perfect album. There's always one song that's a bit 'no thanks', or several songs that sag in the middle. There's often a sense of some songs only being included out of politeness, or as a way or persuading a songwriter or producer to cough up a far better song to release as a single. And so an albums of the year list is really just a list of the albums that are least bad.
Anyway now we've whipped you into a content-devouring frenzy, here are the best albums of 2015. (We did the singles as a countdown for dramatic purposes but this year's album of the year is so obvious that we're not even going to bother doing that.)
(Each selection comes with our pick of the best non-single song — we've whacked all those into a Spotify playlist.)
1. Carly Rae Jepsen – ‘E•MO•TION’
Best non-single: 'Boy Problems'
Rating: 9/10
2. Marina & The Diamonds – ‘Froot’
Best non-single: 'Better Than That'
Rating: 9/10
3. Troye Sivan – ‘Blue Neighbourhood’
Best non-single: 'Lost Boy'
Rating: 9/10
4. Ellie Goulding – ‘Delirium’
Best non-single: 'Lost & Found'
Rating: 8/10
5. Tove Lo – ‘Queen Of The Clouds’
Best non-single: 'Got Love'
Rating: 8/10
6. Tove Styrke – ‘Kiddo’
Best non-single: 'Walking A Line'
Rating: 8/10
7. Charli XCX – ‘Sucker’
Best non-single: 'Need Ur Love'
Rating: 8/10
8. Years & Years – ‘Communion'
Best non-single: 'Gold'
Rating: 8/10
9. Say Lou Lou – ‘Lucid Dreaming’
Best non-single: 'Glitter'
Rating: 8/10
10. Chvrches – ‘Every Open Eye’
Best non-single: 'Keep You On My Side'
Rating: 8/10
11. Galantis – ‘Pharmacy’
Best non-single: 'Firebird'
Rating: 8/10
12. Susanne Sundfør – ‘Ten Love Songs’
Best non-single: 'Slowly'
Rating: 8/10
13. Grimes — ‘Art Angels'
Best non-single: 'Realiti'
Rating: 8/10
14. Selena Gomez – ‘Revival’
Best non-single: 'Survivors'
Rating: 8/10
15. Halsey – ‘Badlands’
Best non-single: 'Colors'
Rating: 7/10
16. Madonna – ‘Rebel Heart’
Best non-single: 'Inside Out'
Rating: 7/10
17. Fleur East — ‘[ALBUM TITLE TOO BAD TO INCLUDE, GOOD MUSIC THOUGH]'
Best non-single: 'Paris'
Rating: 7/10
18. Sve — ‘My Religion'
Best non-single: 'Paint A Picture'
Rating: 7/10
19. Adam Lambert – ‘The Original High’
Best non-single: 'Shame'
Rating: 7/10
20. The Vamps — ‘Wake Up'
Best non-single: 'Cheater'
Rating: 7/10
21. Little Boots – ‘Working Girl’
Best non-single: 'Real Girl'
Rating: 7/10
22. Little Mix – ‘Get Weird’
Best non-single: 'OMG'
Rating: 6/10
23. Lana Del Rey — ‘Honeymoon'
Best non-single: 'Art Deco', they all sound the fucking same though so take your pick
Rating: 6/10
24. Miley Cyrus – ‘Мiley Cyrus And Her Dead Petz’
Best non-single: None of these songs were singles and 'Hands Of Love' is the only MC&HDP song on Spotify so let's just go for that one and move on.
Rating: 6/10
25. Florence — ‘How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful'
Best non-single: 'Third Eye'
Rating: 6/10
26. Justin Bieber – ‘Purpose’
Best non-single: 'Get Used To It'
Rating: 6/10
27. Will Young – ‘85% Proof’
Best non-single: 'I Don't Need A Lover'
Rating: 6/10
28. The Weeknd – ‘Beauty Behind The Madness’
Best non-single: 'Acquainted'
Rating: 6/10
29. V V Brown – ‘Glitch’
Best non-single: 'Talk About This'
Rating: 6/10
30. Nero – ‘Between II Worlds’
Best non-single: 'Circles'
Rating: 6/10
31. Seinabo Sey — ‘Pretend'
Best non-single: 'Ruin'
Rating: 6/10
32. One Direction – ‘Made In The AM’
Best non-single: 'What A Feeling'
Rating: 6/10
33. Hurts – ‘Surrender’
Best non-single: 'Rolling Stone'
Rating: 6/10
324,093,517. Alexander Armstrong — 'A Year Of Songs'
Best non-single: NO NO NO NO NO.
Rating: ‑INFINITY/10
So there you go. Have we forgotten something? It feels like we have. Should the Jess Glynne album be on the list? No it should not. Is it strange that Adele's not included? Yes it is, a bit. Do we feel bad about not including Leona? Not really, we said no to work because we had an interview with her booked in, which she then cancelled.
Anyway, not a classic year for albums, but that's every year isn't it? This is why singles are the best.
