Top 30 Albums of 2015

A bit of background from my 2013 preamble for those new to my lists:

I do this more for me — as a way of discovering new music — than for you, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want you to get as much joy from these amazing artists as I did this year. My list-making secret is to start a “long list” of albums I like at the beginning of the year. I keep adding when something strikes my fancy and use the year-end holidays to figure out which ones really made the cut.

There are seven females (or female lead bands) on the list this year — same as last year, but better than 2013. This year I notice the laid-back sound of many of these albums and I’m particularly struck by the split between other-worldly electronic stuff and rootsy singer-songwriter stuff.

I’d say the Allan Rayman album is my favorite of the year that just about no one knows about.

Finally, this list was made a bit harder this year with the shutting down of Rdio and my move to Spotify thereafter. Having tried them all, I still think Rdio had the best service with a good understanding of how community can make a service richer and increase lock-in. I don’t think the race to be the ultimate music streaming service is near complete — I only hope we can keep the competition healthy and innovating until we get there.

For those interested, my previous Top 30 Albums are still online:

And now, my Top 30 Albums of 2015! Enjoy!

Note these are in alphabetical order. I could never rank these absolutely — it would change daily.







I’d love to know what albums we have in common and which ones you think should have made my list but didn’t. Use the comments people, don’t be shy!