Top 79 Music Albums of 2016 by 
Skinny 
After #41 this is a complete mess (obviously I like all of these records, but they're in no kind of order whatsoever, largely because I haven't yet figured out how much I like them). Will get it sorted properly when I have the time (maybe).
- Chart updated: 06/18/2016 11:15
- (Created: 01/07/2016 17:41).
- Chart size: 79 albums.
There are 5 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 79 Music Albums of 2016 has an average rating of 87 out of 100 (from 7 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
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Album of the year. YG staking a claim for best rapper alive. This is the type of hardnosed, angry g-funk shit that I've been needing. Every aspect of his rapping has continued to improve over the past few years, and he sounds completely comfortable switching up his flow at any given moment whilst definitely applying a much greater economy and sense of focus in terms of his lyrics, to the point that every line he spits now feels necessary. The production here is obviously in thrall to the likes of Dre and Quik, but there's a clarity and a muscular snap to these beats that stops them from sounding like cheap reconstructions, and they perfectly complement the confidence and newfound (subtle) ferocity in his rhymes. If Kendrick Lamar is Compton's conscience, YG is Bompton's soldier on the frontline, with all the paranoia that brings, not to mention the stubbornness and strict adherence to a street code which can seemingly only lead to an inevitably tragic/tragically inevitable ending. This is an uncompromising, relentlessly hard album, harking back to the spirit of Super Tight or, fittingly, The Don Killuminati, but mostly it's an album about standing tough even when the world seems to be crumbling around you, about refusing to let events in your life stop you from actually living. It's a love letter to the g-funk of Compton past, and it never feels less than utterly natural; this sort of shit is so obviously ingrained in YG's whole being and his artistry that he wears the city's musical history like a bulletproof vest. Right now, YG is a beacon of sorts, loudly declaring love for his city whilst steadfastly commenting on (and, crucially, never shying away from) the realities of being a wanted man in the ghetto, and he is in absolute beast mode here. I've commented before on Freddie Gibbs being the nearest thing modern hip-hop has to Tupac, but YG seems intent on proving me wrong about that. And making the best music of his life in the process.
[First added to this chart: 06/18/2016]
6
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This isn't the acid house Mr. Fingers I know and adore, but his transition to tasteful, constantly moving deep house befits a man whose career is now thoroughly in the 'mature' stage. His first release in years, this is like a perfect crossroads between Juan Atkins and Theo Parrish, mixing the mechanical Afrofuturism of the former with the soulful minimalism of the latter, and it's all done with an expert's touch. Really gorgeous, from start to finish.
[First added to this chart: 06/18/2016]
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Thirteen tracks, that's what I'm talking about; I've wanted something focused from Kodak. This dude comes from that Boosie School of Helium-Voiced Conflicted Street Preachers, and that's obviously a brilliant thing (good look on getting two legends for very solid features that make complete sense, as well). His storytelling is clear and powerful, even if his weathered voice can sometimes slur in a way that suggests apathy, or at least numbness, and his lines are filled with heavy implications - his music has real pathos. That said, he's still capable of sounding triumphant as fuck when he wants to, and his celebration tracks are infectious. He just has that intangible ability to make a listener relate to him, and in a hip-hop landscape that's increasingly crowded it's a very special talent to have. Lots of melancholy, rainy-day, minor key piano chords here, but with enough variation and colour to stop the tape from getting too bogged down in one particular vibe, and the whole thing feels like a sonic 'rags-to-riches' microcosm, with things starting off bleak and getting brighter by the time the tape is through (the lean runtime also means that the tape flies by, with no room for any filler or unnecessary repetition). There's definitely room for improvement, but over a selection of loveably naive beats, Kodak proves himself to be an old-school straight-talker in a young man's body.
[First added to this chart: 06/18/2016]
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It's not a perfect analogy by any means - one is a curator of talent, bringing together teams of writers and musicians to help achieve exactly what she wants to do, whereas the other was famously single-minded and self-sufficient when it came to his music - but the last two (arguably three) Beyoncé albums suggest that she might be the best artist since Prince when it comes to balancing her artistic vision with commercial ambitions, especially within the LP format. Here, she is turning her hand to a number of genres, without ever allowing those whims to subtract from the cohesion of the album, and always staying rooted in contemporary R'n'B, recalling Purple Rain or Sign 'O' the Times. I'm not saying her last two albums are as good as those, but nobody working in the pop sphere is putting out music of such quality at this moment.
[First added to this chart: 06/18/2016]
Year of Release:
2016
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,841
Rank in 2016:
Rank in 2010s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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Since being released from prison, no rapper has released as much excellent music as fka Lil Boosie (sorry, Future), and Out My Feelings may just be his best effort yet. It isn't as intentionally heavy as Touch Down 2 Cause Hell or In My Feelings (Going Thru It), but its personal, poignant moments are sharper and carry more impact, and he seems to have found a perfect balance between the cheap synth bounce of his early career and the dark, robust trap he's been putting out since his release. His storytelling here is thoroughly immersive, and his thoughts on the current state of the world (whilst often silly, and occasionally abhorrent) are filled with a fire and a passion that pretty much no other rapper currently working is capable of mustering. His tales of his pre-rapping days are a joy to listen to, even at their most depressing, and he's still more than capable of coming up with an effortlessly memorable hook. I'm struggling to think of a rapper, past or present, whose music feels quite as authentic as Boosie's, and when he's rapping with as much energy as he is here, over beats that completely suit him, he feels like one of hip-hop's most vital voices. Nothing in rap has made me happier in the past couple of years than Torrance Hatch's renaissance, and this record proves that he's only going from strength to strength. Long may it continue.
Label: self-released [First added to this chart: 02/10/2016]
Label: self-released [First added to this chart: 02/10/2016]
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Sleek, metropolitan deep house that is happy to find a groove and settle into it for a while. Sounds really great on the train in the city at night.
[First added to this chart: 06/18/2016]
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More of the same from everybody's favourite recently released Baton Rougeian, albeit this time under a questionable 'concept album' cloak. I'm not really sure that a rapper whose entire oeuvre consists of songs about life in the streets making an album about life in the streets really qualifies it as a 'concept album', but who am I to argue with The Almighty Boosie? The production here is more melancholy (and somewhat cheaper-sounding) than it was on Out My Feelings, but Boosie is still in absolute beast mode, deftly balancing traditional gangsta rap tropes with more subdued, thoughtful moments. If you didn't like his last one, this one will be of no use to you, but the vice versa is equally true. Boosie is on fire.
Label: self-released [First added to this chart: 04/13/2016]
Label: self-released [First added to this chart: 04/13/2016]
21. (=)
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It's not a genre I typically have a lot of time for, but there's something about The Hotelier's effortlessly anthemic emo - with its mature, world-weary lyrics, bright, clean production, and undeniable pop sensibilities - that I find extremely appealing. Their music feels earnest and vital, as though totally unencumbered by cliche or cloying self-awareness, recalling the heart-on-sleeves rock of The Replacements or The Hold Steady as much as any of their more obvious generic forebears. It's smart without feeling superior, ambitious without feeling self-important, nostalgic without feeling like an exercise in retrofetishism. Goodness fits alongside Mitski's Puberty 2 as an intelligent, emotionally transparent indie rock record in 2016 that doesn't need to rely on quirky, artsy flourishes to provide its thrills (not that there's anything inherently wrong with that), and the payoff is massive; this is their best yet.
[First added to this chart: 06/18/2016]
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Despite containing absolutely nothing that remotely resembles even the most subtle or tenuous of original ideas, there's something extremely comforting about this record. Nods to The Band, Neil Young, and that sort of chunky, warm, soulful, educated working class, long drives on sunny days, effortless and ever-so-slightly drunken country-tinged rock music that seemingly every bearded male in America used to specialise in just prior to punk, music that could soundtrack the cliched freewheeling early scenes of a fake rock band biopic, before all the drugs take over and the whole thing takes a decidedly darker turn. Been listening to this quite a lot in the last couple of days, especially in social situations, because it's very much a summer record, and because it seemingly pleases everybody, probably due to that wonderful familiarity that appears to put people immediately at ease. I'm not usually a fan of these sorts of earnest retro romps, but there's something completely loveable about this.
[First added to this chart: 06/18/2016]
Year of Release:
2016
Appears in:
Rank Score:
971
Rank in 2016:
Rank in 2010s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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On which our heroes GO POP!, eschewing their previously oblique compositions in favour of something genuinely catchy, adding synthetic 808 beats, clear female vocals, and cello to their unholy mix. They are still The Body, and this is still pretty antisocial stuff (as a brief foray into overwhelming power electronics proves), largely defined by all-encompassing, soaring doom metal chords and thundering drums, as well as by their now-trademark rooster-esque shrieking, but gone are the forays into dark, structureless, drone passages and angular, almost rhythm-less improvisations, replaced by more recognisable structures. It would be easy to miss the more outwardly experimental nature of earlier works if this wasn't so fucking good. It is harsh and lonely and extremely dynamic, and it stands as my favourite album by the group so far - an entirely unexpected success.
Label: Thrill Jockey [First added to this chart: 02/15/2016]
Label: Thrill Jockey [First added to this chart: 02/15/2016]
Total albums: 41. Page 1 of 5
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Top 79 Music Albums of 2016 composition
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
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| Boosie Badazz | 4 | 5% | |
| Future (Rap) | 2 | 3% | |
| Drake | 1 | 1% | |
| Sophia Loizou | 1 | 1% | |
| Paint | 1 | 1% | |
| The Body | 1 | 1% | |
| Gallant | 1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
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41 | 52% | |
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15 | 19% | |
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8 | 10% | |
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3 | 4% | |
 |
3 | 4% | |
 |
2 | 3% | |
 |
2 | 3% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 79 Music Albums of 2016 chart changes
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Other year charts (from the 2010s) by Skinny
Top 100 Music Albums of 2019 by Skinny (2019)Top 40 Music Albums of 2018 by
Skinny (2018)Top 50 Music Albums of 2017 by
Skinny (2017)Top 100 Music Albums of 2015 by
Skinny (2015)Top 100 Music Albums of 2014 by
Skinny (2015)Top 79 Music Albums of 2016 ratings
87/100 (from 7 votes)
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
N.B. The average rating for this chart will not be reliable as it has been rated very few times.
Showing latest 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 7 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
85/100  | 06/30/2017 20:21 |  bobbyb5 | | 90/100 |
75/100 | 02/10/2017 18:22 | dgarr22 | | 89/100 |
95/100 | 12/27/2016 02:55 |  phantom1305 | | 92/100 |
 70/100 | 06/08/2016 18:08 |  mickilennial | | 77/100 |
| 95/100 | 05/05/2016 14:59 |  RockyRaccoon | | 90/100 |
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Top 79 Music Albums of 2016 comments
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85/100
From bobbyb5 06/30/2017 20:22
bobbyb5 06/30/2017 20:22
Gold Panda!!!! Mr. Fingers!!!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
75/100
From dgarr22 02/10/2017 18:21
(I usually end up rating year lists lower, but I just don't see some of my favs here, like A Tribe Called Quest, or the other fantastic rap albums this year, or say carseat headrest
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
cestuneblague 07/19/2016 02:51
cestuneblague 07/19/2016 02:51
Yeah delectable as always for the endless stream of great recs and all the groovy jives my homie, anyways can't wait for the next update as well as your thoughts on Centres, and of course FDT
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From 
GeevyDallas 02/16/2016 23:22
GeevyDallas 02/16/2016 23:22
seen in your log you were looking for recs. skee mask and gunnar haslam's albums are both sick and worth checking out. cadell's album too.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From 
meccalecca 02/16/2016 16:40
meccalecca 02/16/2016 16:40
I will be coming here to pilfer frequently
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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