Of course the industry is pushing consumers to vinyl (really expensive, cumbersome, non-portable, and degrading playback quality with every spin) and streaming (a format where the majors can game the stream-count system and walk with 99% of the available royalties), but FTS, for sound quality and convenience, life is better on the CD side. These are albums I bought with my own cash, in the superior physical format – the compact disc. My list, as it is every year, is a bit different. In the age of streaming, home-recorded albums, and a decentralized music journalism ecosystem - there is no such thing as consensus anymore, so most of the albums you’ll see here probably won’t see anywhere else - but unlike many year end lists, I bet you’ve heard of most of these artists. Most every title in my Top 50 is Top 10 worthy, and since music is not a competitive sport, I come out the big winner here because my music library is all the richer thanks to every damn title I’ll dish more about below. On the music front, it was one of the best years ever. Trump is out of the White House (for now), vaccinations are at least available, and we’re not in a recession, depression, or zombie apocalypse (for now). OK, here’s a provocative and probably unpopular opinion – 2021 was a pretty good year.

Dropkick murphys albums ranked