In the s, as playlists swelled with unrelated tracks and algorithms shot listeners off in all directions, the full-length release started to feel on the verge of becoming an antique. But great artists will always want to create works that expand their visions, and this decade, they found new ways to push the LP forward. They pioneered the visual album, perfected the surprise drop, and stretched running times as long as they pleased, no longer beholden to physical media.
So the form endures, and at the end of a turbulent decade, it is thriving. Here are our top albums of the decade. For more about how we put together this list, read this letter from our editor-in-chief Puja Patel.
All releases featured here are independently selected by our editors. When you buy something through our retail links, however, Pitchfork may earn an affiliate commission. Had they been released earlier, they would have been included here. Listen to selections from this list on our Spotify playlist and Apple Music playlist. Storming from the stoops of Harlem to the bustling storefronts of Canal Street are the gaptooth spitfire Wiki and the languid daydreamer Hak, whose relentless banter never loses steam.
In the late s and early s, plenty of indie bands sprang up with crystalline guitars, cryptic lyrics, and an aversion to sharing basic biographical details. Who could sustain such intensity; who would want to? But despite their differences, they complement each other perfectly, whether rapping or producing. That balance carries over to their wide array of guests who all rise to meet their energy.
Some 21st-century death metal acts embraced digital technology and the clarity it brought; imagine listening to a jackhammer busting through concrete in hi-def. That modern crispness is nowhere to be found in the eruptive music of Portal, who instead update old-school death metal by making their music sound not like just one tsunami but dozens of them. All the band members are anonymous and perform masked.
