Top 100 Music Albums of 2014 by buzzdainer

The juxtaposition of light and dark is the metaphor that makes the most sense of my 2014. On the light side, I relocated from North Carolina to Colorado to live with my then-partner. It was a purposeful and beautiful time in my life, when I finally quit a tenure-track academic job to be with the person I loved most in the world. We spent a magical summer and fall exploring together the trails in the Flatirons, Indian Peaks, and James Peak Wilderness. We went to farmer's markets together, listened to podcasts, cooked tasty and nutritious meals, and played at the dog park. But like most things in life of such otherworldly splendor, it didn't last. Hence, darkness. To my good fortune, though, I was returned to the West, the place where, turns out, I believe I was meant to end up. The Rocky Mountains took hold of me, and much of the music I listened to that year reflects the feelings of majesty and grandeur that I felt about those mountains. 2014 wasn't quite as strong a year, musically, as 2013, but it contained at least as much depth. And the quality 2014 did provide was perhaps even more rewarding because it could often be found in surprising and unexpected places.

• Chart updated: 11/27/2022 18:45
• (Created: 02/19/2016 19:25).
• Chart size: 100 albums.

There are 2 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Music Albums of 2014 has an average rating of 88 out of 100 (from 3 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.

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1. (4) 3

Sylvan Esso 

 Sylvan Esso

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Sylvan Esso's fusion of quirky folk and earnest electropop is instantly charming, at least to me, because it feels like the most natural outgrowth of North Carolina's divergent yet complimentary music scenes: the folky LEAF festival scene, which is really a celebration of the natural beauty of the Southern Appalachians and the music inspired by it, and the Moogfest scene, which is a tribute to the creative potential of technology. That, in a nutshell, is Sylvan Esso. "Coffee" is an ideal place to start when trying to wrap your head around their sound: "Wild winter, warm coffee / Mind's gone, do you love me?" [First added to this chart: 07/10/2016]

Year of Release:

2014

Appears in:

35 charts

Rank Score:

187

Rank in 2014:

134

Rank in 2010s:

1,336

Overall Rank:

6,862

Average Rating:

 77 (35 votes)

Comments:

2

2. (1) 1

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After The Disco 

 Broken Bells

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Initially I didn't quite understand how this collaboration between James Mercer and Danger Mouse fully utilizes Danger Mouse's talents, since there are few traces here of his solo work or his work with Gnarls Barkley. What I've come to understand is that Danger Mouse is the type of collaborator and producer who draws out the unique abilities of those with whom he works, almost always creating something new, fresh, original, and distinct from their usual sound. This second full-length album from Broken Bells really works--the melodies are flawless, the songs are groovy, and every time I hear a track from this album, I want to turn it up loud. Perhaps that's one ultimate test for what makes an album great: its turnupability. These lines from "Leave It Alone" carry special resonance for me: "You were sheltered, loved and fed / But you just couldn't leave it alone." A pretty good summary of the forces that undo a lot of relationships. [First added to this chart: 02/26/2016]

Year of Release:

2014

Appears in:

76 charts

Rank Score:

431

Rank in 2014:

57

Rank in 2010s:

598

Overall Rank:

3,408

Average Rating:

 70 (162 votes)

Comments:

14

3. (2) 1

1989 

 Taylor Swift

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I'd successfully ignored Taylor Swift until the release of 1989, and even when the critics swooned over this album as if it were the second coming of Sgt. Pepper, it still barely registered a notice from me. It was only when Ryan Adams released what amounted to a very reverent, nearly note-for-note cover album of all the tracks on this album that I finally took notice. The quality of the songwriting here is tough to deny, and I even found myself moved at times by Swift's performances. Ironically, I've begun to tire of the drama-filled celebrity romances that inspire much of Ryan Adams's own songwriting these days. It's likely that Taylor Swift's work stands the test of time better for me. She is an undeniably enormously talented songwriter. [First added to this chart: 04/22/2016]

Year of Release:

2014

Appears in:

255 charts

Rank Score:

1,619

Rank in 2014:

19

Rank in 2010s:

159

Overall Rank:

1,091

Average Rating:

 66 (433 votes)

Comments:

43

4. (3) 1

This Is All Yours 

 alt-J

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Alt-J has the distinction of releasing three albums in the 2010s, all of which are among my favorite albums of the decade. This Is All Yours is probably the warmest and bassiest of the three albums, the one where their electronic effects have the greatest cumulative emotional impact--though on the whole, I still love An Awesome Wave just a little bit more. It's a kind of concept album, I suppose, though the exact subject matter is a little obscure to me. I'm not exactly sure what to make of the songs with "Nara" in the title, except to say it's an ancient city in Japan known for its beautiful primeval forests. Maybe that's enough. One reviewer called alt-J the "Wes Anderson of song lyrics," which might be giving them too much credit, though I will say they manage something magical through impressionism rather than literal meaning. [First added to this chart: 05/09/2016]

Year of Release:

2014

Appears in:

260 charts

Rank Score:

1,726

Rank in 2014:

17

Rank in 2010s:

150

Overall Rank:

1,029

Average Rating:

 72 (511 votes)

Comments:

29

5. (=)

Ryan Adams 

 Ryan Adams

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Although Ryan Adams--as you can tell from even a cursory look at my charts--is one of my favorite recording artists of the new century, I don't always love his aesthetic choices. One of the weirdest of all these was his decision to cast Cassandra Peterson, a.k.a. vampish horror hostess Elvira, in his video for "Gimme Something Good." As one of my friends remarked of the 63-year-old Elvira's cleavage-heavy performance in the video, "Good for her?" So Ryan's pop culture tastes can be, er, questionable. As for the songs on this album, this is about as close as Ryan Adams gets to a straight-ahead rock-and-roll album that isn't merely a nod to his influences. It's a driving collection of solidly written, energetically performed songs, catchy as hell and ideally suited for the Red Rocks Amphitheater performance I saw where Ryan and his band had their performances punctuated, and ultimately truncated, by one of the fiercest thunderstorms I've ever witnessed. [First added to this chart: 02/26/2016]

Year of Release:

2014

Appears in:

77 charts

Rank Score:

247

Rank in 2014:

101

Rank in 2010s:

1,027

Overall Rank:

5,378

Average Rating:

 76 (81 votes)

Comments:

8

6. (=)

Swimmin' Time 

 Shovels & Rope

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Charleston, South Carolina, husband-and-wife duo Shovels & Rope made waves in the Americana scene with their 2012 debut O' Be Joyful, a set of rowdy sloppy-tonk songs with a Southern gothic tinge. Swimmin' Time is the successful follow-up, pitching drawling vocal harmonies against a bluesy, lo-fi backdrop of guitar, piano and drums. "Stono River Blues," named for a tidal channel that was the site of a major slave uprising in 1739, is the highlight, with its allusion-inflected lyrics: "I gotta sister on Wadmalaw / She floats all day in the Ledenwah / One day she left the chickens in charge / And floated off to Heaven on a party barge." [First added to this chart: 02/26/2016]

Year of Release:

2014

Appears in:

6 charts

Rank Score:

32

Rank in 2014:

711

Rank in 2010s:

6,508

Overall Rank:

27,136

Average Rating:

 73 (5 votes)

Comments:

1

7. (=)

Songs 

 John Fullbright

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If "farming accident ballad" were a recognizable musical category, "High Road" from this album would have to be the all-time greatest song of the genre. Then again, (I hope) there's not a lot of competition. There's a lot about this album that make it an unlikely candidate for my enjoyment. For one thing, the album title, Songs, strikes me as either just lazy or or a failed attempt at humility, or both. And then there's the fact that Fullbright is from Oklahoma, the home state of James Inhofe and Scott Pruitt. But Fullbright won me over with an excellent performance at the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival, and this album is chock full of well-written, authentically sung folk songs. Maybe I need to give Oklahoma a chance after all... Nah. [First added to this chart: 04/04/2016]

Year of Release:

2014

Appears in:

8 charts

Rank Score:

23

Rank in 2014:

897

Rank in 2010s:

8,334

Overall Rank:

33,430

Average Rating:

 75 (9 votes)

Comments:

1

8. (=)

Stay Gold 

 First Aid Kit

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Although I loved the predecessor to this album, The Lion's Roar, particularly the song "Emmylou," which is in my pantheon of best-written songs ever, I nevertheless had my doubts about the staying power of First Aid Kit. I needn't have worried, though, as this follow-up cemented their place as one of the best acts of the 2010s Americana movement, and the fact that these sisters are from Sweden and not Eastern Tennessee only makes them that much more intriguing. What this album lacks in a single transcendent track is more than compensated for by its consistency and maturity. [First added to this chart: 06/12/2016]

Year of Release:

2014

Appears in:

88 charts

Rank Score:

398

Rank in 2014:

61

Rank in 2010s:

651

Overall Rank:

3,647

Average Rating:

 75 (87 votes)

Comments:

4

9. (=)

Lighght 

 Kishi Bashi

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I first saw Kishi Bashi the thirty-fifth and final summer that downtown Asheville, North Carolina, held its annual free concert series called Bele Chere. Most of the people I know in Asheville weren't sad to see it go, as it made getting around the city pretty inconvenient, but I loved all the free music and street performers and other weirdness that came along with it. It also gave me the opportunity to see Kishi Bashi live, which was a genuinely affecting and beautiful virtuoso performance. He's an incredible violinist who uses looping technology to amazing effect onstage. His songs all seem to have bizarre titles, but they don't come off nearly so weird when he performs them live, instead settling into some gorgeously entrancing grooves and harmonies. Lighght isn't quite as consistent as its predecessor, but it's a very fine album that deserves a place near the top of 2014's list of best albums. [First added to this chart: 05/10/2016]

Year of Release:

2014

Appears in:

39 charts

Rank Score:

112

Rank in 2014:

222

Rank in 2010s:

2,158

Overall Rank:

10,401

Average Rating:

 79 (31 votes)

Comments:

4

10. (=)

Shake Shook Shaken 

 The Dø

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Parisian duo Dan Levy and Olivia Bouyssou Merilahti make polished, danceable pop songs, and this is their most refined effort to date, in which the ramshackle percussion of their previous albums, a trait that I found charismatic but perhaps not a recipe for long-term growth, is replaced by warm synths and laptop beats. Perhaps because I was feeling a little emotionally maimed at the time, the epic track "Lick My Wounds" is the one that most grabbed my attention, but "Trustful Hands" is another sugar-sweet highlight. [First added to this chart: 07/06/2016]

Year of Release:

2014

Appears in:

16 charts

Rank Score:

63

Rank in 2014:

416

Rank in 2010s:

3,800

Overall Rank:

17,180

Average Rating:

 76 (20 votes)

Comments:

3

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Total albums: 100. Page 1 of 10

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Top 100 Music Albums of 2014 composition

Artist	Albums	%
Tanya Tagaq	1	1%
Angus & Julia Stone	1	1%
Nickel Creek	1	1%
Lake Street Dive	1	1%
James Vincent McMorrow	1	1%
Rosanne Cash	1	1%
Parquet Courts	1	1%
Show all

Country	Albums	%
	78	78%
	8	8%
	6	6%
	2	2%
	2	2%
	2	2%
	1	1%
Show all

Top 100 Music Albums of 2014 chart changes

Biggest climbers
Up 3 from 4th to 1st Sylvan Esso by Sylvan Esso

Biggest fallers
Down 1 from 1st to 2nd After The Disco by Broken Bells
Down 1 from 2nd to 3rd 1989 by Taylor Swift
Down 1 from 3rd to 4th This Is All Yours by alt-J

Top 100 Music Albums of 2014 similarity to your chart(s)

Other year charts (from the 2010s) by buzzdainer

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Top 100 Music Albums of 2014 ratings

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Rating	Date updated	Member	Chart ratings	Avg. chart rating
100/100	11/12/2019 01:40	DJENNY	4,408	100/100
100/100	04/29/2019 02:48	NickVolos	112	92/100
80/100	03/19/2019 23:31	mickilennial	718	77/100

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Top 100 Music Albums of 2014 comments

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From buzzdainer 09/28/2019 19:03

Thanks for that kind comment, NickVolos! Glad to see we're aligned on Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, among many others. I'm pretty excited to hear Sturgill Simpson's new album, which just dropped yesterday.

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Rating:  

100/100

From NickVolos 04/29/2019 02:54

Thank you for commenting on my chart! You've got a great chart going here as well. Yes, we've got some selections in common for the year. But you've also got a lot more here that I haven't heard yet. Will certainly use your chart as an inspiration when revisiting 2014.

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

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