Top 100 Music Albums of 2016 by 
RockyRaccoon 
Also check out my 2016 Honorable Mentions chart: http://www.besteveralbums.com/thechart.php?c=30948
- Chart updated: 07/11/2023 16:15
- (Created: 01/08/2016 15:21).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
There are 10 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Music Albums of 2016 has an average rating of 93 out of 100 (from 24 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
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Danny Brown is odd, but if you've ever listened to him before, you know he is. And honestly, you either love him or hate him, the weird beats, the squawky voice, it's strange, but so unique and fantastic. I swear that Brown is the direct descendant of Outkast, it's a very similar feel. Brown takes bits and pieces from everywhere, whether electronic music or Joy Divison, whatever, he's takes stuff and pieces it together and it makes for such a unique, interesting album. Brown described himself best as a hipster who can tell you what's up in the streets, and that's how he is. Lyrically, Brown is strong, he can talk about serious stuff, but he can have fun too, and this album is a nice blend of the two.
[First added to this chart: 12/23/2016]
Year of Release:
2016
Appears in:
Rank Score:
5,996
Rank in 2016:
Rank in 2010s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
54
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It shouldn't be a surprise that Loretta Lynn has made another fantastic country album. The woman is a legend of the genre, and even at 80-some-odd years old, she can still kill it. Most of this album is covers, but it works because that's part of the tradition of country music, much like it's part of the tradition of folk music. But the Lynn originals that are on here are excellent, as expected, and her covers are perfectly executed. She does old classics like "Always On My Mind", "In The Pines", and many others. She features Elvis Costello and Willie Nelson on two tracks respectively as well, but Loretta is always at center stage. The woman just knows how to make a really good country album, she's straightforward and honest and her "tell it like it is" style of songwriting is what makes her so good. If you like old school country, this is the album for you.
[First added to this chart: 03/08/2016]
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If Cough had released this album 20 years ago, it would've been hailed as a classic in the doom genre, probably mentioned in the same breath as bands like Candlemass and Saint Vitus. However, it wasn't, it was released in 2016, and as such it will unfortunately not get as much notoriety as it should, but make no mistake, this is a fantastic doom metal album. This album is full of pain and misery, the vocals are harsh and torturous, so emotive that you feel like you've been thrown into this dark, lonely hell with them. It's a painfully beautiful album, and really just about everything a doom album should be.
[First added to this chart: 08/30/2016]
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Despite the fact that Henry Threadgill doesn't play a note on this album, you can still feel him there. The man's in his early-70s and he's still making jazz music unlike most anyone out there. What's beautiful about this album is just how much is going on all at the same time. I've said before that some albums are like Cirque du Soleil shows, because there's about four different things happening at the same time, all equally fascinating, and you have to decide on what you're going to focus on. This album is the same way. At first you may be focusing on the piano, then a bass line comes in that grabs you, and then all of a sudden you're focusing on the rhythm in the drums, and you keep refocusing and refocusing so much that you can listen to the album five different times and not hear the same thing. It's an absolutely fascinating album that shows that great jazz is still being made.
[First added to this chart: 05/03/2016]
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I was blown away by Nepenthe, I think it's the most ambitious and beautiful thing Julianna Barwick has ever done, and I'd be lying to you if I wasn't hoping for something in a similar style with this album. However, Will is not Nepenthe. It's a bit less polished and more rough than Nepenthe was, but it's still an excellent work of art. This is a bit darker than what she's done in the past, but it's not overly dark, rather there's a heavy fog, but always light at the end. It's a very evocative album, creating all kinds of dark figures and shapes with the music. Will is different from Nepenthe in its overall feel, and that's ok, because it's still a great album in the hands of one of the best artists out there.
[First added to this chart: 06/17/2016]
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To understand this album, I think context is a little important. This is a re-imagining of Henryk Górecki’s 3rd Symphony, a symphony that, at it's core, is about separation. The first movement is a lament of the Virgin Mary to Christ being crucified, the second, a message from a Polish gestapo prisoner to his mother in WWII, and the third, a folk song about the death of a soldier in the Silesian uprisings. To put it simply, this is an album about sorrow, hence the title. Children are being separated from their mothers, people being separated from the ones they love, this album feels like a grieving process, and Stetson does an amazing job with it. While Stetson generally goes for the more avant-garde styles, he reins himself in a bit and keeps Górecki’s symphony about melody. It's about pain and anguish, grief and emotional release, and Stetson communicates that beautifully through the music. It's a heavy listen and a difficult one, but a beautiful one in the end.
[First added to this chart: 05/16/2016]
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I almost don't want to call this a hip-hop album because it's so much more than that. At its heart, yes, of course this is a hip-hop album, but it channels so much gospel, soul, funk, spoken word, everything. It all coalesces into this one grand work that defies hip-hop norms and shows an incredible amount of maturity in Chance. Things have changed a lot for him since Acid Rap came out three years ago, and if you were looking for another Acid Rap on this album, look somewhere else. Chance is taking people to church, examining his faith in God and the ways he's changed as a person. The album, while not as good as Acid Rap in my opinion, is still a fantastic album and shows that Chance is still one of the best rappers in the game.
[First added to this chart: 07/19/2016]
Year of Release:
2016
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,165
Rank in 2016:
Rank in 2010s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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Leonard Cohen has always been known for being a bit pessimistic. It seems that, no matter what, his music has always had an eye on death, whether it's "Bird On A Wire" or "Hallelujah" or "Anthem", he's got line after line of beautifully-written lines that essentially say "Hey, life is messy, I did the best I could". This album was released three weeks before Cohen's death, and I'd say it's a safe bet that he knew this would be his poetic last will and testament. But what's wonderful about this album is this is Cohen's swansong in a way only he could do it. This isn't some overly-sentimental, "let me tell you how to live your life before I die" kind of thing. Rather, it's Cohen saying what he's always said, "This is life, and it's messy and it sucks and I've done what I can." He puts out lines like "If you are the dealer, let me out of the game/If you are the healer, I'm broken and lame/If thine is the glory, mine must be the shame" and you can't help but just hear the broken resignation in his voice. It doesn't get much clearer than the title track, where he says, multiple times, "I'm ready my lord". Leonard Cohen was ready to go, I just don't know if all of us were ever ready for him to leave. But what he left us with is beautiful.
[First added to this chart: 11/22/2016]
Year of Release:
2016
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,635
Rank in 2016:
Rank in 2010s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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This could possibly be the best album released by an Animal Collective member outside of the group. Deakin doesn't waste a single moment on this album, there's no self-indulgent experimentation or anything. This is a relatively calm, captivating album. It starts off with the reassuring and beautiful "Golden Chorus" and just keeps on going strong from there. Perhaps the most upbeat it gets is "Footy", an almost math-rock like tune. As a whole, this album is wonderful, the sum is greater than its parts, but the parts are pretty awesome too. It's an album that will keep you engaged and interested the whole way through.
[First added to this chart: 05/19/2016]
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ANOHNI is formerly Antony Hegarty of Antony & The Johnsons, and it's been about six years since we've heard anything from her, but this is a great way to come back. This album is full of rage and pain, but it doesn't wallow in despair musically, rather it creates lush electronic landscapes that you could almost dance to. Lyrically, this album is very political, and that could come across as preachy if it isn't done with the kind of nuance that ANOHNI does it with. She deals with global warming, drones, government corruption, and various other topics with relative ease. It's an excellent album, and it's fantastic to have ANOHNI back in the music world.
[First added to this chart: 07/08/2016]
Year of Release:
2016
Appears in:
Rank Score:
771
Rank in 2016:
Rank in 2010s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 100. Page 4 of 10
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Top 100 Music Albums of 2016 composition
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
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| Noname | 1 | 1% | |
| Kanye West | 1 | 1% | |
| Holy Fuck | 1 | 1% | |
| BJ The Chicago Kid | 1 | 1% | |
| Colin Stetson | 1 | 1% | |
| Tim Hecker | 1 | 1% | |
| Sarah Davachi | 1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
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|
|
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53 | 53% | |
 |
12 | 12% | |
 |
9 | 9% | |
 |
6 | 6% | |
 |
4 | 4% | |
 |
3 | 3% | |
 |
3 | 3% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Music Albums of 2016 chart changes
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 1 from 87th to 88th The Grander Voyage by Netherbird |
| Down 1 from 88th to 89th Telefone by Noname |
| Down 1 from 89th to 90th My Woman by Angel Olsen |
| New entries |
|---|
 My Thoughts On Youby The Band CAMINO |
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Other year charts (from the 2010s) by RockyRaccoon
Top 100 Music Albums of 2019 by RockyRaccoon (2021)Top 100 Music Albums of 2018 by
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RockyRaccoon (2023)Top 100 Music Albums of 2016 ratings
93/100 (from 24 votes)
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 24 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
100/100  | 04/21/2024 20:36 |  HoldenM | | 95/100 |
90/100 | 04/21/2024 11:02 |  Tamthebam | | 85/100 |
90/100 | 04/21/2024 10:10 | Johnnyo | | 80/100 |
 100/100 | 02/13/2022 13:19 |  sszwalbenest | | 79/100 |
| 100/100 | 01/19/2021 19:09 |  LedZep | | 84/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some charts can have several thousand ratings)
This chart is rated in the top 1% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 93.3/100, a mean average of 95.4/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 96.5/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 7.8.
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Top 100 Music Albums of 2016 comments
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100/100
From 
ForegroundNoise 02/17/2020 08:20
ForegroundNoise 02/17/2020 08:20
Comprehensive, detailed, varied. It boggles my mind how a single person can know a year so intimately. This is more than just an assembled list; each album has clearly been given due attention before its placement. There's just the right balance of familiar and obscure too, a surprise from someone whose overall chart has a fair bit of classic rock. This might as well be from a one-man music publication - I'll be sure to pay your charts more attention in future!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
95/100
From 
JulianR 03/09/2018 08:10
JulianR 03/09/2018 08:10
What a fantastic chart!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
Daydreamer 04/14/2017 15:08
Daydreamer 04/14/2017 15:08
This is great, I love the fact that you rate acclaimed and famous albums and the unknown ones the same. I hope to learn from your charts since I've never heard about a bit portion of stuff here.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
95/100
From AMBNTnoises 11/11/2016 14:59
There are a lot of fantastic albums on this chart, and a lot that I have to go listen to. Based on the albums that I have listened to on this chart, I'm excited to check out the other bands listed.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From 
Graeme2 10/12/2016 07:09
Graeme2 10/12/2016 07:09
Plenty to check. Very handy with the all the info too. Good stuff.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
70/100
From 
mickilennial 06/10/2016 14:57
mickilennial 06/10/2016 14:57
"This is an album that sounds like maybe it's at peace with itself" - probably because it's Richmond Fontaine final album? :F
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
70/100
From mickilennial 06/07/2016 18:10
mickilennial 06/07/2016 18:10
There's a lot here for me to look into, and already a bit I disagree with. Seems like it could be particularly interesting how this shifts as the second half of the year comes through. Will be looking through this lots.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From RockyRaccoon 05/05/2016 14:53
RockyRaccoon 05/05/2016 14:53
@dbz - dude that's awesome, lucky you.
And yes you need to check out that BJ Chicago Kid album, I'm interested to see what you think.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From RockyRaccoon 03/24/2016 18:16
RockyRaccoon 03/24/2016 18:16
u da best apple
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From 
Applerill 03/24/2016 13:41
Applerill 03/24/2016 13:41
y r u so smrat :'(
I was originally rating this so you could eventually rate my 2016 chart, but your comments once again show that I'm not worthy. Amazing job, Rocky, especially as your picks are just as extraordinary as what you write about them.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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| Best Artists of the 1980s | |
|---|---|
| 1. The Smiths | |
| 2. Prince | |
| 3. Pixies | |
| 4. The Cure | |
| 5. Talking Heads | |
| 6. U2 | |
| 7. Metallica | |
| 8. Kate Bush | |
| 9. R.E.M. | |
| 10. The Stone Roses | |
| 11. Sonic Youth | |
| 12. Michael Jackson | |
| 13. Bruce Springsteen | |
| 14. Tom Waits | |
| 15. Iron Maiden | |
| 16. Prince And The Revolution | |
| 17. Joy Division | |
| 18. New Order | |
| 19. Talk Talk | |
| 20. Rush |