Top 100 Music Albums of 2016
by 
RockyRaccoon 
Also check out my 2016 Honorable Mentions chart: http://www.besteveralbums.com/thechart.php?c=30948
- Chart updated: 11/04/2025 15:45
- (Created: 01/08/2016 15:21).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
There are 10 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Music Albums of 2016 has an average rating of 93 out of 100 (from 25 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
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There are few album releases that will come with the fanfare that a new Radiohead album comes with. People go over each Radiohead release with an intense fervor that is almost unmatched in music, some claiming it to be a revelation of music, others claiming it to be self-indulgent crap, but as with most things, the truth is somewhere in the middle. This is a fantastic album, it really is. It's far better than Radiohead's previous effort, The King Of Limbs, which, while a good album, felt more like Thom Yorke and his backup band rather than a Radiohead album. It felt more like The Eraser Part II. But this is a Radiohead album, this is the band together making music like only they can. This is distinctly Radiohead, yet simultaneously, builds upon their previous releases rather than rips from them. This is Radiohead exhaling slowly and trying to relax, they're not paranoid anymore, they're not jumpy, they're calm. Each and every song flows into the other, making for one cohesive work of art that will meld itself with you, completely surrounding you and enveloping you. Some of the best Radiohead songs we've heard in a long time (including album closer "True Love Waits") are on this album, and it makes for a fantastic addition in the discography of one of the greatest rock bands in history.
[First added to this chart: 05/11/2016]
Year of Release:
2016
Appears in:
Rank Score:
14,801
Rank in 2016:
Rank in 2010s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
It's easy for ambient/drone-focused music to be either too slow or too heavy (heavy meaning thick and difficult to process). But then sometimes, it can be beautiful, and Singulacra is the latter. While the album starts off a bit submerged, once the pads and vocals come in along with the sub bass, you start to feel this haze settle in and envelop you. The album is like constantly being in that state between falling asleep and being awake, like you're constantly dozing off and everything around you is becoming dreamlike, until a quick hi-hat hits you like a hypnic jerk and brings you back before you doze off again. It's melancholic but doesn't wallow in it. Rather there is a blend of the bleak with the upbeat, tracks like "Artificial Infinite" act as a small break through the haze. I think the beauty of this album is in the feeling, tracks like "Glimpses of Death" and "Order of Elements" just pour out emotions. It's a beautiful album that will hypnotize you and completely surround you.
[First added to this chart: 04/13/2016]
Brian Eno is just incredible. The man has been making music for the better part of 40 years, essentially pioneering and entire genre of music (ambient), and is still creating great things. The Ship is a beautiful work, Eno has this incredible ability to make the swells just as important as the lulls, he puts care into each, emptiness is just as important as fullness. The whole album has this melancholic, despondent tone to it, it's an album that's supposed to be a musical analogy for terrible effects of consumerism, which makes the tone make sense. Overall, The Ship is yet another addition to the incredible catalog of music Brian Eno has amassed all these years.
[First added to this chart: 06/17/2016]
One of the things I loved about The Haxan Cloak's album Excavation was how cinematic it sounded. And I don't mean that in the sense that it sounded like the score to a film, but rather it sounded like the plot to a psychological thriller. It kept you on edge, it would shock you and surprise you. Roly Porter does exactly that on this album. Third Law feels like some kind of frightening, mind-bending movie. He revels in silence, quietly and subtly weaving through until he crushes you with the power of a collapsing building. It may sound like it's a tiring venture, but it's not, Porter's very strategic in when and where he triggers your adrenaline, and instead of it being a frightening or tiring experience, it's exhilarating.
[First added to this chart: 01/29/2016]
This album isn't exactly accessible, and it's not supposed to be. This album is supposed to smack you across the face and completely disorient you. It's a sonic attack, meant to throw you for a complete loop so that, by the end of the 27-minute album, you're sitting there saying "What the hell just happened?". Similar to Roly Porter's release from earlier this year, Brood Ma bears a lot of similarity to electronic artists like Lotic and The Haxan Cloak, but what's most impressive about this album is how Brood Ma maintains his own unique sound throughout. There's definitely a certain, dystopian mood to the album, but there isn't a single style that you could put this in. It's a wild ride of an album, an impressive one, and one that will blow by you so fast you'll be left behind looking at the distant horizon that this album just sped past you towards.
[First added to this chart: 03/02/2016]
The Pineapple Thief have a gift for lush instrumentation. They've put together an album that exemplifies its brilliance in its subtleties and in its excellent composition. The band, on each song, builds an atmosphere that ultimately ends up in a climax that will envelop you and leave you in awe. What's great about this album is that it doesn't follow a formula. It doesn't fall into a post-rock soft then loud then soft again rut, rather it toys with that, while other songs are more upbeat, even funky at times. It's a diverse and fascinating album that's excellently composed and well executed.
[First added to this chart: 12/02/2016]
Desert Mountain Tribe's debut is bombastic, one of the best psych-rock records I've heard this year. The sound is huge, everything about this album is big. The guitars are heavy and thick with so much reverb, they sound like they were recorded in a stadium, the drums sound like there's two sets going at the same time, it's all made to sound big. The songs are crafted well too. If you take a look at album-closer "Interstellar", a nine-minute song that doesn't feel like nine minutes at all. It never outstays its welcome, it's grand, it's genuine, and it's a fantastic close to the album. Overall, this is a top-notch psych rock album that'll rock you about as well as anything Ty Segall's ever done.
[First added to this chart: 03/31/2016]
This is how you do black metal. This album is six straight tracks of pure, ethereal, dark black metal power. It reminds me of Immortal or Sacramentum, in that when I heard it, I felt a similar reaction. I was like "oh damn, this is powerful, this is heavy". They're not trying to imitate the black metal greats, they tap into it, but they make their own way with this debut. On occasion, some of the songs go a little long, but in general, this is an awesome album and one of the better black metal albums I've heard this year.
[First added to this chart: 06/28/2016]
Year of Release:
2016
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2
Rank in 2016:
Rank in 2010s:
Average Rating:
Comments:
The Soft Bounce defies a specific genre bracket. You can point out different influences, but it's hard to specify one particular genre. It's somewhere between 60s psychedelic and house music, and if that sounds strange, it's because it is. For being such an odd album though, it's remarkably accessible, it never gets so crazy that it's hard to listen to, but it stays interesting enough to be engaging. It's a strange album, but a great one, and one that you really just have to listen to to understand.
[First added to this chart: 09/16/2016]
James Blake has always done kind of a minimalistic electronic thing, and it took me awhile to really get it, but eventually I enjoyed it. But on this album, he almost entirely abandons the minimalism and rather spends his time bearing his soul. The way that Blake articulates the pain that he feels is beautiful, it feels so genuine, so full of sorrow, that it can't help but affect you on an emotional level. Blake does this through his somber pianos and keyboards, he says so much with so little, it's impressive. The inclusion of Bon Iver's Justin Vernon feels perfectly natural too, as does Frank Ocean as a co-writer. This album is beautiful and it's probably the best thing Blake has done yet.
[First added to this chart: 07/11/2016]
Year of Release:
2016
Appears in:
Rank Score:
522
Rank in 2016:
Rank in 2010s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 12. Page 1 of 2
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Top 100 Music Albums of 2016 composition
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| Brood Ma | 1 | 1% | |
| Ihsahn | 1 | 1% | |
| Nels Cline | 1 | 1% | |
| Jean-Michel Blais | 1 | 1% | |
| Frank Ocean | 1 | 1% | |
| Moonsorrow | 1 | 1% | |
| Nyck Caution | 1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| |
55 | 55% | |
 |
12 | 12% | |
 |
8 | 8% | |
 |
6 | 6% | |
 |
4 | 4% | |
 |
3 | 3% | |
 |
3 | 3% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Music Albums of 2016 chart changes
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 1 from 49th to 50thTrance Frendz by Ólafur Arnalds & Nils Frahm |
| Down 1 from 50th to 51stWhat One Becomes by Sumac |
| Down 1 from 51st to 52ndWode by Wode |
| New entries |
|---|
| Lovers, Part 1 by Timecop1983 |
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Top 100 Music Albums of 2016 ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
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.
Showing latest 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 25 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12/18/2025 08:50 | Juneof44 | 56 | 83/100 | |
| 04/21/2024 20:36 |  HoldenM | 479 | 95/100 | |
| 04/21/2024 11:02 |  Tamthebam | 651 | 85/100 | |
| 04/21/2024 10:10 | Johnnyo | 2,584 | 80/100 | |
| 02/13/2022 13:19 |  sszwalbenest | 29 | 79/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some charts can have several thousand ratings)
This chart is rated in the top 1% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 93.2/100, a mean average of 95.2/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 96.3/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 7.7.
Top 100 Music Albums of 2016 favourites
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Top 100 Music Albums of 2016 comments
Showing all 10 comments |
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From 
ForegroundNoise 02/17/2020 08:20 | #247888
ForegroundNoise 02/17/2020 08:20 | #247888
Comprehensive, detailed, varied. It boggles my mind how a single person can know a year so intimately. This is more than just an assembled list; each album has clearly been given due attention before its placement. There's just the right balance of familiar and obscure too, a surprise from someone whose overall chart has a fair bit of classic rock. This might as well be from a one-man music publication - I'll be sure to pay your charts more attention in future!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
JulianR 03/09/2018 08:10 | #210451
JulianR 03/09/2018 08:10 | #210451
What a fantastic chart!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
Daydreamer 04/14/2017 15:08 | #189261
Daydreamer 04/14/2017 15:08 | #189261
This is great, I love the fact that you rate acclaimed and famous albums and the unknown ones the same. I hope to learn from your charts since I've never heard about a bit portion of stuff here.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From AMBNTnoises 11/11/2016 14:59 | #178289
There are a lot of fantastic albums on this chart, and a lot that I have to go listen to. Based on the albums that I have listened to on this chart, I'm excited to check out the other bands listed.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
Graeme2 10/12/2016 07:09 | #176739
Graeme2 10/12/2016 07:09 | #176739
Plenty to check. Very handy with the all the info too. Good stuff.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
mickilennial 06/10/2016 14:57 | #168397
mickilennial 06/10/2016 14:57 | #168397
"This is an album that sounds like maybe it's at peace with itself" - probably because it's Richmond Fontaine final album? :F
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From mickilennial 06/07/2016 18:10 | #168128
mickilennial 06/07/2016 18:10 | #168128
There's a lot here for me to look into, and already a bit I disagree with. Seems like it could be particularly interesting how this shifts as the second half of the year comes through. Will be looking through this lots.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From RockyRaccoon 05/05/2016 14:53 | #165251
RockyRaccoon 05/05/2016 14:53 | #165251
@dbz - dude that's awesome, lucky you.
And yes you need to check out that BJ Chicago Kid album, I'm interested to see what you think.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From RockyRaccoon 03/24/2016 18:16 | #162429
RockyRaccoon 03/24/2016 18:16 | #162429
u da best apple
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
Applerill 03/24/2016 13:41 | #162413
Applerill 03/24/2016 13:41 | #162413
y r u so smrat :'(
I was originally rating this so you could eventually rate my 2016 chart, but your comments once again show that I'm not worthy. Amazing job, Rocky, especially as your picks are just as extraordinary as what you write about them.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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