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The Best Albums of 2016 (So Far)

Posted by Jason Tate
Best of 2016

As we pass the midway mark of 2016, it’s nice to sit back and reflect on the great albums that have come out so far this year. Below you’ll find a compiled list that looks at the selected albums from contributors and moderators to this website, as well as all of the broken down individual lists. Maybe there will be some albums you’ve heard of, hopefully there will be quite a few you haven’t checked out yet, and maybe there will be a few you’ll want to give a second look. I think it’s been a pretty damn good year for music so far and there’s quite a bit to still look forward to as well.

There’s a thread in our music forum where we’d love to see your lists.

15 Albums of 2016 (So Far)

  1. The Hotelier – Goodness
  2. The 1975 – I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it
  3. Thrice – To Be Everywhere is To Be Nowhere
  4. Kanye West – The Life of Pablo
  5. Modern Baseball – Holy Ghost
  6. PUP – The Dream is Over
  7. Pinegrove – Cardinal
  8. Chance the Rapper – Coloring Book
  9. Sturgill Simpson – A Sailor’s Guide to Earth
  10. Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool
  11. Tegan and Sara – Love You to Death
  12. Saosin – Along the Shadow
  13. Beyoncé – Lemonade
  14. Brian Fallon – Painkillers
  15. Daughter – Not to Disappear

Contributors

Jason Tate

  1. The 1975 – I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it
  2. The Hotelier – Goodness
  3. Sturgill Simpson – A Sailor’s Guide to Earth
  4. Pinegrove – Cardinal
  5. Direct Hit – Wasted Mind
  6. Blink-182 – California
  7. PUP – The Dream is Over
  8. Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool
  9. Daughter – Not to Disappear
  10. Ariana Grande – Dangerous Woman

There’s a lengthier discussion of my picks on a recent episode of Encore.

Drew Beringer

  1. The Hotelier – Goodness
  2. Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool
  3. Modern Baseball – Holy Ghost
  4. Into It. Over It. – Standards
  5. David Bowie – Blackstar
  6. Nothing – Tired of Tomorrow
  7. Tegan and Sara – Love You to Death
  8. PUP – The Dream is Over
  9. Nails – You Will Never Be One of Us
  10. Sumac – What One Becomes

Craig Manning

  1. Parker Millsap – The Very Last Day
  2. Sturgill Simpson – A Sailor’s Guide to Earth
  3. The 1975 – I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it
  4. Brian Fallon – Painkillers
  5. The Hotelier – Goodness
  6. Josh Kelley – New Lane Road
  7. Maren Morris – Hero
  8. Donovan Woods – Hard Settle, Ain’t Troubled
  9. Sister Hazel – Lighter in the Dark
  10. Brandy Clark – Big Day in a Small Town

Aaron Mook

  1. Kanye West – The Life of Pablo
  2. The Hotelier – Goodness
  3. Pinegrove – Cardinal
  4. Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool
  5. Chance the Rapper – Coloring Book
  6. Modern Baseball – Holy Ghost
  7. Weezer – Weezer (The White Album)
  8. Whiteney – Light Upon the Lake
  9. M83 – Junk
  10. David Bazan – Blanco

Keagen Ilvonen

  1. The Hotelier – Goodness
  2. Kanye West – The Life of Pablo
  3. Pinegrove – Cardinal
  4. PUP – The Dream is Over
  5. Chance the Rapper – Coloring Book
  6. The 1975 – I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it
  7. Lake Street Dive – Side Pony
  8. Architects – All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us
  9. Ariana Grande – Dangerous Woman
  10. Sturgill Simpson – A Sailor’s Guide to Earth

Zac Djamoos

  1. The Hotelier – Goodness
  2. Pinegrove – Cardinal
  3. Tiny Moving Parts – Celebrate
  4. The 1975 – I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it
  5. Somos – First Day Back
  6. Saosin – Along the Shadow
  7. Thrice – To Be Everywhere is To Be Nowhere
  8. Gates – Parallel Lives
  9. Daughter – Not to Disappear
  10. Brian Fallon – Painkillers

Craig Ismaili

  1. The Hotelier – Goodness
  2. The 1975 – I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it
  3. PUP – The Dream is Over
  4. Thrice – To Be Everywhere is To Be Nowhere
  5. Gates – Parallel Lives
  6. Daughter – Not to Disappear
  7. Tegan and Sara – Love You to Death
  8. Chance the Rapper – Coloring Book
  9. Summer Scouts – Furthest Reach
  10. Car Seat Headrest – Teens of Denial

Gregory Robson

  1. Bonnie Raitt – Dig in Deep
  2. Paul Simon – Stranger is Stranger
  3. Lake Street Dive – Side Pony
  4. Sturgill Simpson – A Sailor’s Guide to Earth
  5. Tegan and Sara – Love You to Death
  6. The 1975 – I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it
  7. Maren Morris – Hero
  8. The Monkees – Good Times
  9. Parker Millsap – The Very Last Day
  10. Young Mister – Young Mister

Ryan Gardner

  1. The Hotelier – Goodness
  2. Modern Baseball – Holy Ghost
  3. Pinegrove – Cardinal
  4. The 1975 – I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it
  5. Sturgill Simpson – A Sailor’s Guide to Earth
  6. Thrice – To Be Everywhere is To Be Nowhere
  7. Brian Fallon – Painkillers
  8. Deftones – Gore
  9. Chance the Rapper – Coloring Book
  10. Basement – Promise Everything

Anna Acosta

  1. Beyoncé – Lemonade
  2. Tegan and Sara – Love You to Death
  3. The Hotelier – Goodness
  4. Mitski – Puberty 2
  5. Tacocat – Lost Time
  6. PUP – The Dream is Over
  7. Rihanna – ANTI
  8. Fifth Harmony – 7/27
  9. The 1975 – I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it
  10. Margo Price – Midwest Farmer’s Daughter

Blake Solomon

  1. Pinegrove – Cardinal
  2. Modern Baseball – Holy Ghost
  3. PUP – The Dream is Over
  4. Tiny Moving Part – Celebrate
  5. Chance the Rapper – Coloring Book
  6. The Hotelier – Goodness
  7. Tokyo Police Club – Mellon Collie and the Infinite Radness
  8. Weezer – Weezer (The White Album)
  9. Kanye West – The Life of Pablo
  10. Explosions in the Sky – The Wilderness

Jonathan Bautts

  1. Thrice – To Be Everywhere is To Be Nowhere
  2. Kanye West – The Life of Pablo
  3. St. Lucia – Matter
  4. Beyoncé – Lemonade
  5. Dustin Kensrue – Thoughts That Float on a Different Blood
  6. Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool
  7. Kendrick Lamar – untitled unmastered.
  8. The 1975 – I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it
  9. Kaleo – A/B
  10. Sherwood – Some Things Never Leave You

Becky Kovach

  1. Like Torches – Shelter
  2. Panic! At the Disco – Death of a Bachelor
  3. Hands Like Houses – Dissonants
  4. PUP – The Dream is Over
  5. Into It. Over It. – Standards
  6. Vinnie Caruana – Survivor’s Guilt
  7. Modern Baseball – Holy Ghost
  8. With Confidence – Better Weather
  9. Aaron West – Bittersweet
  10. River Oaks – River Oaks

Chrisanne Grise

  1. The Hotelier – Goodness
  2. Explosions in the Sky – The Wilderness
  3. David Bowie – Blackstar
  4. Brian Fallon – painkillers
  5. The Lumineers – Cleopatra
  6. Birdy – Beautiful Lies
  7. Modern Baseball – Holy Ghost
  8. Band of Horses – Why Are You OK
  9. Fitz and the Tantrums – Fitz and the Tantrums
  10. Rooney – Washed Away

Kyle Huntington

  1. Gambles – Vicious Times
  2. The 1975 – I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it
  3. Friends in America – Be in Love
  4. David Bowie – Blackstar
  5. PUP – The Dream is Over
  6. Polyenso – Pure in the Plastic
  7. Cosmic Vagina – Subterranean Penetration
  8. Daughter – Not to Disappear
  9. Deftones – Gore
  10. The Bright Road – Ocean

Dave Gaslin

  1. Thrice – To Be Everywhere is To Be Nowhere
  2. The Hotelier – Goodness
  3. The 1975 – I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it
  4. Saosin – Along the Shadow
  5. Panic! At the Disco – Death of a Bachelor
  6. PUP – The Dream is Over
  7. Kendrick Lamar – untitled unmastered.
  8. Modern baseball – Holy Ghost
  9. Tegan and Sara – Love You to Death
  10. Gates – Parallel Lives

Eric Wilson

  1. The 1975 – I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it
  2. Saosin – Along the Shadow
  3. The Hotelier – Goodness
  4. Brian Fallon – Painkillers
  5. Margo Price – Midwest Farmer’s Daughter
  6. Thrice – To Be Everywhere is To be Nowhere
  7. Against the Current – In Our Bones
  8. Whitney – Light Upon the Lake
  9. Pierce the Veil – Misadventures
  10. Tegan and Sara – Love You to Death

Joe DeAndrea

  1. The Summer Set – Stories for Monday
  2. Drake – Views
  3. The 1975 – I like it better when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it
  4. Simple Plan – Taking One for the Team
  5. Cardiknox _Portrait
  6. Kanye West – The Life of Pablo
  7. Fifth Harmony – 7/27
  8. Beyoncé – Lemonade
  9. Rihanna – ANTI
  10. Skizzy Mars – The Red Balloon Project

Aj LaGambina

  1. Thrice – To Be Everywhere is To Be Nowhere
  2. Pinegrove – Cardinal
  3. Modern Baseball – Holy Ghost
  4. The Hotelier – Goodness
  5. Chance the Rapper – Coloring Book
  6. Basement – Promise Everything
  7. Loner Chic – Year of the Goth
  8. Teen Suicide – It’s the Big Joyous Celebration, Let’s Stir the Honeypot
  9. Saosin – Along the Shadow
  10. Greater Pyrenees – Greater Pyrenees

Ryan Dennehy

  1. Kanye West – The Life of Pablo
  2. Pinegrove – Cardinal
  3. Beyoncé – Lemonade
  4. Whitney – Light Upon the Lake
  5. Chance the Rapper – Coloring Book
  6. Kaytranada – 99.9%
  7. Rihanna – ANTI
  8. LUH. – Spiritual Songs for Lovers to Sing
  9. Joey Purp – iiiDrops
  10. ANOHNI – HOPELESSNESS

Thomas Nassiff

  1. Modern Baseball – Holy Ghost
  2. Pinegrove – Cardinal
  3. PUP – The Dream is Over
  4. Chance the Rapper – Coloring Book
  5. The Hotelier – Goodness
  6. Parker Millsap – The Very Last Day
  7. Kanye West – The Life of Pablo
  8. JANK – Awkward Pop Songs

Forum Moderators

Garrett L.

  1. Beyoncé – Lemonade
  2. Thrice – To Be Everywhere is To Be Nowhere
  3. Kanye West – The Life of Pablo
  4. Ariana Grande – Dangerous Woman
  5. The Lumineers – Cleopatra
  6. Explosions in the Sky – The Wilderness
  7. Chance the Rapper – Coloring Book
  8. Saosin – Along the Shadow
  9. Wet – Don’t You
  10. Dustin Kensrue – Thoughts That Float on a Different Blood

Henry

  1. Polica – United Crushers
  2. Daughter – Not to Disappear
  3. Foxes – All I Need
  4. Thrice – To Be Everywhere is To Be Nowhere
  5. Perfume – Cosmic Explorer
  6. Chairlift – Moth
  7. Babymetal – METAL RESISTANCE
  8. School of Seven Bells – SVIIB
  9. The Range – Potential
  10. gates – Parallel Lives

Chris Yates

  1. The 1975 – I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it
  2. The Hotelier – Goodness
  3. The Mercury Program – New Myths
  4. Thrice – To Be Everywhere is To Be Nowhere
  5. Sturgill Simpson – A Sailor’s Guide to Earth
  6. James Blake – The Colour in Anything
  7. Saosin – Along the Shadow
  8. Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool
  9. Explosions in the Sky – The Wilderness
  10. Brian Fallon – Painkillers

Scott

  1. Kanye West – The Life of Pablo
  2. The Hotelier – Goodness
  3. PUP – The Dream is Over
  4. Tiny Moving Parts – Celebrate
  5. David Bowie – Blackstar
  6. Ariana Grande – Dangerous Woman
  7. Beyoncé – Lemonade
  8. Chance the Rapper – Coloring Book
  9. Thrice – To Be Everywhere is To Be Nowhere
  10. James Blake – The Colour in Anything

Broken Parachute

  1. Deftones – Gore
  2. Thrice – To Be Everywhere is To Be Nowhere
  3. Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool
  4. Modern Baseball – Holy Ghost
  5. Nothing – Tired of Tomorrow
  6. Washer – Here Comes Washer
  7. Kanye West – The Life of Pablo
  8. Gwen Stefani – This is What the Truth Feels Like
  9. Chance the Rapper – Coloring Book
  10. Pinegrove – Cardinal