Best Albums of 2012

Listed below are the best albums of 2012 as calculated from their overall rankings in over 58,000 greatest album charts. (Chart last updated: 8 hours ago).
Best albums by year or decade
Decade:
Year:
2012 year summaryThe best artists of 2012 were Kendrick Lamar, Tame Impala, Frank Ocean, Beach House, Death Grips, alt-J, Fiona Apple, Lana Del Rey, Swans and Grimes.
View chart at point in time
 Show this chart as it was on the following date
Share this chart
Collector's summary (top 1,000) Help The maximum rank used by the Collector's Summary is configurable from your profile (top 1,000 is currently selected). Log in or register to discover the great albums that are missing from your music collection!
Sort Sort by
"Alcest are one of the bands burdened with the unfortunate label of "shoegazing." Of all the stupid genre names, I may hate that one the most, since it describes behavior and not musicality. Alcest is metal. Yes, it's of the more melodic, atmospheric, French variety. But Les Voyages de L'ame is st..."  [+]  Reply
- zdwyatt | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
Year of Release:
2012
Appears in:
Rank Score:
177
Rank in 2012:
Rank in 2010s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Year of Release:
2012
Appears in:
Rank Score:
176
Rank in 2012:
Rank in 2010s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Year of Release:
2012
Appears in:
Rank Score:
171
Rank in 2012:
Rank in 2010s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Narcissus gave up all hope. "I'm incapable of love", sadly that seems to be the point, but the music plays well crafted and the voice still holds a reminder of the days when it sung about nothing but love (or maybe the struggle to be loved)."  Reply
- O.T. | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
Year of Release:
2012
Appears in:
Rank Score:
170
Rank in 2012:
Rank in 2010s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"This is indie rock for the walkmen quite the same as any other walkmen release save for a more cheery outlook. The first three tracks are pretty solid and features my favorite walkmen song in a (long) while, "heartbreaker". In fact, this could be my favorite walkmen album to date!"  Reply
- paladisiac | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
Year of Release:
2012
Appears in:
Rank Score:
166
Rank in 2012:
Rank in 2010s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"The three albums would have made a good double album or a fantastic single album. As it is, listening to the three albums back to back, by track 5 of this album I'm tired of Green Day. So I took a break (meeting at work) came back. The album finishes very strong."  Reply
- Listmeister | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
Year of Release:
2012
Appears in:
Rank Score:
157
Rank in 2012:
Rank in 2010s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"This is a lot to dig into. Five spins in and I feel like I'm only scratching the surface of this one. I was warned before listening that this is Kevin Barnes' most introspective album, and if it really is that's pretty scary. Because this album is scary. Like Scott Walker's The Drift scary. Like ..."  [+]  Reply
- ShaneSpear | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
Year of Release:
2012
Appears in:
Rank Score:
156
Rank in 2012:
Rank in 2010s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"A surprisingly dance-y record from Saint Etienne who show that they've still got it with synthpop bangers and an intelligent set of lyrics firmly rooted in the love of music and the love of life. Similarly to the work of "Boards of Canada", the record does have a heavy tinge of nostalgia and floa..."  [+]  Reply
- | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
Year of Release:
2012
Appears in:
Rank Score:
155
Rank in 2012:
Rank in 2010s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"This is, I would say, the best album Norah Jones has done to this date. I would also say that that is, in part, due to it’s production by none other than the great Danger Mouse (Brian Burton). After working with Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi on a couple of tracks of “Rome" (another great album y..."  [+]  Reply
- RockyRaccoon | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
Year of Release:
2012
Appears in:
Rank Score:
155
Rank in 2012:
Rank in 2010s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"To me its a very ok album. Never gets me fully engaged and nothing that I dislike. Never think it will be one of my favourites, but will give it a few more listens, but others will grab my attention more."  Reply
- mightyram | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
Year of Release:
2012
Appears in:
Rank Score:
150
Rank in 2012:
Rank in 2010s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 1,000. Page 16 of 100

Best Albums of 2012 composition