My 50 Greatest Albums In 50 Years - Year By Year

Unlike my other blog post on music albums, My Top 68 Albums Of All Time, this one lists what I think is the best album of the year for 50 years, from 1960 to 2010. I stopped at 2010 to allow albums made after that year the room to breathe and secure a bit more longevity - but also for personal reasons on the grounds of not having listened to anything like us much musical variety in the past 7 years. Here's my list, and as you (hopefully) enjoy some of my favourites, and (hopefully) recall some of your own, I hope it evokes some nice memories for you, as it did for me:

 

1960 - Let No Man Write My Epitaph - Ella Fitzgerald

1961 - Genius + Soul = Jazz - Ray Charles

1962 - Burnin' - John Lee Hooker

1963 - A Christmas Gift For You - Phil Spector

1964 - A Hard Day's Night - The Beatles

1965 - Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan   

1966 - Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys   

1967 - Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles  

1968 - Astral Weeks - Van Morrison

1969 - Abbey Road  -The Beatles

1970 - After the Gold Rush - Neil Young  

1971 - Blue - Joni Mitchell

1972 - Can't Buy A Thrill   Steely Dan  

1973 - Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd 

1974 - Diamond Dogs - David Bowie  

1975 - Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd  

1976 - Songs in the Key of Life - Stevie Wonder  

1977 - Rumours - Fleetwood Mac  

1978 - Parallel Lines - Blondie  

1979 - Rust Never Sleeps - Neil Young  

1980 - Scary Monsters and Supercreeps - David Bowie

1981 - Moving Pictures - Rush

1982 - The Dreaming - Kate Bush

1983 - Script for a Jester's Tear - Marillion

1984 - Hatful of Hollow - The Smiths  

1985 - Hounds of Love - Kate Bush  

1986 - The Queen is Dead   The Smiths  

1987 - Strangeways Here We Come - The Smiths  

1988 - Daydream Nation - Sonic Youth

1989 - The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses  

1990 - Heaven or Las Vegas - The Cocteau Twins

1991 - Screamadelica - Primal Scream

1992 - Automatic For The People - R.E.M

1993 - Suede - Suede

1994 - Dummy - Portishead  

1995 - The Bends - Radiohead  

1996 - If You're Feeling Sinister - Belle & Sebastian

1997 - OK Computer - Radiohead  

1998 - Adore - Smashing Pumpkins  

1999 - Ophelia - Natalie Merchant

2000 - Kid A - Radiohead

2001 - Let It Come Down - Spiritualized

2002 - No More Shall We Part - Nick Cave

2003 - Think Tank - Blur

2004 - Funeral - Arcade Fire

2005 - Z - My Morning Jacket

2006 - Back To Black - Amy Winehouse

2007 - In Rainbows - Radiohead

2008 - @#%&*! Smilers - Aimee Mann

2009 - XX - The XX

2010 - Plastic Beach - Gorrilaz