2016 in music.

Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly rightfully won 2015. Let's see who wins 2016. Insane year. Three of my favorites of the decade.

Billboard chart-topping albums of 2016:
Adelle - 25 (cont. from 2015)
David Bowie - Blackstar
Panic at the Disco - Death of a Bachelor
Rihanna - Anti
Future - Evol
The 1975 - I'm not writing that shit out
Kendrick Lamar - Untitled Umastered
Gwen Stefani - This is What the Truth Feels Like
Zayn - Mind of Mine
Kanye West - The Life of Pablo
The Lumineers - Cleopatra
Prince - The Very Best of Prince
Beyonce - Lemonade
Drake - Views
Blink-182 - California
DJ Khaled - Major Key
Soundtrack - Suicide Squad
Frank Ocean - Blonde
Barbara Streisand - Encore
Travis Scott - Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight
Jason Aldean - They Don't Know
Shawn Mendes - Illuminate
Solange - A Seat at the Table
Green Day - Revolution Radio
Kings of Leon - Walls
Lady Gaga - Joanne
Jeezy - Trap or Die 3
Bon Jovi - This House is Not for Sale
A Tribe Called Quest - We Got It From Here ... Thank You 4 Your Service
The Weekend - Starboy
Cast - Hamilton
J. Cole - 4 Your Eyez Only

Billboard chart-topping singles of 2016:
Adelle - Hello (cont. from 2015)
Justin Bieber - Sorry (cont. from 2015)
Justin Bieber - Love Yourself (cont. from 2015)
Zayn - Pillowtalk
Rihanna - Work
Desiigner - Panda
Drake - One Dance
Justin Timberlake - Can't Stop the Feeling
Sia - Cheap Thrills
The Chainsmokers - Closer
Rae Sremmurd - Black Beatles

What are your top three albums for 2016? We will keep a running tally and eventually have some sort of bracket. For me it would be:
1. David Bowie - Blackstar
2. Frank Ocean - Blonde
3. Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor's Guide to Earth

What are some of the forgotten gems from the year? What is overrated? What did you discover at a young age and what did you discover later?

YEARS IN MUSIC • forum.chorus.fm

 

1. Ariana Grande - Dangerous Woman
2. Perfume - Cosmic Explorer
3. Daughter - Not to Disappear

S U R V I V E - RR7349
Foxes - All I Need
School of Seven Bells - SVIIB
Kero Kero Bonito - Bonito Generation
Tycho - Epoch
Navvi - Omni
LITE - Cubic
Chairlift - Moth
Bon Iver - 22, a million
Thrice - To Be Everywhere

 

The Suicide Squad soundtrack hit #1 but Dangerous Woman didn't.

 

1. The 1975 - I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It
2. Busted - Night Driver
3. The Hotelier - Goodness

4. Relient K - Air for Free
5. Babymetal - Metal Resistance
6. Kanye West - The Life of Pablo
7. Noname - Telephone
8. Chairlift - Moth
9. Carly Rae Jepson - Emotion: Side B
10. Rihanna - Anti
11. Pinegrove - Cardinal
12. Bon Iver - 22, A Million
13. Lydia Loveless - Real
14. Mannequin Pussy - Romantic
15. Tegan and Sara - Love You to Death
16. Regina Spektor - Remember Us to Life
17. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
18. Saosin - Along the Shadow
19. Frightened Rabbit - Painting of a Panic Attack
20. Panic! at the Disco - Death of a Bachelor

Fun year.

 

1. Flatland Cavalry - Humble Folks
2. JEW - Integrity blues
3. Brian Fallon - Pain killers

4. Butch Walker - Stay Gold
5. Jon Pardi - California Sunrise

 

1. Jeff Rosenstock - WORRY.
2. Frank Ocean - BLONDE
3. Jimmy Eat World - Integrity Blues

ALSO.... (absurd year)
A Tribe Called Quest - We Got It From Here... Thank You 4 Your Service
Yellowcard - Yellowcard
David Bowie - Blackstar
Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Nonagon Infinity
Bon Iver - 22, A Million
The Hotelier - Goodness
Kendrick Lamar - untitled, unmastered
Kanye West - The Life of Pablo
Touche Amore - Stage Four
Kid Cudi - Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin'
Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
PUP - The Dream Is Over
Young Thug - Slime Season 3
Angel Olsen - MY WOMAN
Taking Back Sunday - Tidal Wave
Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Denial
Blood Orange - Freetown Sound
Drake - Views
Death Grips - Bottomless Pit
Modern Baseball - Holy Ghost
Pinegrove - Cardinal
The Dillinger Escape Plan - Dissocation
Childish Gambino - "Awaken, My Love!"
The Weeknd - Starboy
Whitney - Light Upon the Lake
Travis Scott - birds in the trap sing McKnight
Young Thug - JEFFREY
Joyce Manor - Cody
The 1975 - i like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful and yet unaware of it
Isaiah Rashad - The Sun's Tirade
Parquet Courts - Human Performance
blink-182 - California
James Blake - The Colour in Anything
Lil Peep - crybaby
Future - Purple Reign
Green Day - Revolution Radio
21 Savage & Metro Boomin - SAVAGE MODE
Lil Uzi Vert - Lil Uzi Vert Vs the World
Future - EVOL
KAYTRANDA - 99.9%
Chance the Rapper - Coloring Book
Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels 3
Solange - A Seat at the Table

 

Possibly the most important music year for me ever? This is when streaming and I really clicked. Also lol @ "I Ain't Writing That Shit Out."

1. The 1975 - I Like It When You Sleep...

• One of my favorite albums of all time. I honestly don't revisit it too often because I listened to it so much the first few years it was out, but I used to fall asleep to it. This album soundtracked some of the most formative years of my life.

2. Relient K - Air For Free

• I don't think anyone, myself included, expected Relient K to bounce back from their worst album with one of their best. I especially didn't expect them to push their sound in new directions and deliver a cohesive 16 tracks. I don't love every song here, but I love the album as a whole and am glad we have it.

3. Jimmy Eat World - Integrity Blues

• One of my top JEW albums for sure. I love the nighttime sound, I love the experimentation, and I got to see them twice on this tour. Definitely the band firing on all cylinders and delivering their most consistent release in years.

Honorable Mentions
Joyce Manor - Cody

• My favorite Joyce Manor album by a pretty good margin. I think they successfully pushed at the margins of their sound and also put on a great show.

Chance the Rapper - Coloring Book

• Loved this when it came out. Like about half of it now. But this album was pretty inescapable at the time. I do wish more rap considered melody this much.

Panic! At the Disco - Death of a Bachelor

• Possibly my least favorite Panic! release, but there are still some great songs here.

Bad Suns - Disappear Here

• I think this is my favorite Bad Suns album. It really just takes everything from the debut and does it more succinctly.

PUP - The Dream Is Over

• See above (although my favorite PUP is Morbid Stuff).

Bowling For Soup - Drunk Dynasty

• Bowling For Soup releases yet another album. 4-5 songs here are worthy additions to their canon!

NOFX - First Ditch Effort

• See above, although I think this is the most consistent NOFX album in a ver4y long time.

The Hotelier - Goodness

• My favorite Hotelier album. I don't listen much to this album anymore because it is so dense, but I got to see them twice on this tour and meet Christian, who was very nice for having to play a dinky bar in Missoula, MT.

Descendents - Hypercaffium Spazzinate

• Descendents return with a well-produced batch of "chainsaw pop" and show why they're some of the best to ever do it. First half of this album bangs hard and they absolutely destroyed at the show I saw them play.

Kanye West - The Life of Pablo

• My first Kanye album as a "fan," and probably my favorite for that reason. I downloaded the leak and somehow escaped getting a computer virus. "Ultralight Beam" probably is my favorite Kanye song most days.

Beyonce - Lemonade

• I don't need to say much about this album. It's great. The visual album is great. Excited for whatever Beyonce does next (Lion King doesn't count as a solo album).

Brian Fallon - Painkillers

• I like this album more than most Gaslight albums. I think the more Americana sound fits his voice very well.

The Lonely Island - Popstar

• Yet another excellent addition into the comedy music canon. Some of these songs hold up excellently as just songs and it definitely helps the whole project that the movie is great too.

Wheeler Walker Jr. - Redneck Shit

• The most well-observed and pointed Wheeler Walker album.

The Weeknd - Starboy

• The Weeknd makes another excellent pop record that is way too long.

Butch Walker - Stay Gold

• One of my favorite Butch albums for sure. Among his most consistent and vulnerable.

Weezer - The White Album

• My 3rd favorite Weezer album dares to look backward and forward at the same time and is all the better for it.

Yellowcard - Yellowcard

• The final Yellowcard album (so far) is a great thesis statement for their career and where they might have ended up going.

Others
Crying - Beyond the Fleeting Gales

• Video game prog pop punk 80s band does good music.

DRAM - Big Baby DRAM

• I really only like a few songs from this album, but when they hit, they hit! That track with Young Thug is way underrated.

Frank Ocean - Blonde

• A difficult album that rewards repeat listens, I unfortunately never got into this much outside of a few tracks.

Blink-182 - California

• I listened to this album SO much when it came out. I think a lot of it doesn't work now, but honestly the band is at their best here when they aren't trying to be funny.

House of Heroes - Colors

• The last HoH album (so far). I've never loved this because I think both the songwriting and production kinda take a hit, but I am glad it exists.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - The Getaway

• The most underrated RHCP album, IMO.

Metallica - Hardwired... To Self-Destruct

• Metallica crafts a few more good songs to add to the setlist.

Tegan and Sara - Love You To Death

• A largely uninteresting album with some perfect pop songs.

A Giant Dog - Pile

• Dirty glam rock from Austin!

Green Day - Revolution Radio

• Not the late-period career-saving album that some folks consider it to be, there are nonetheless some great songs here and it's really too bad the band doesn't go in the direction of songs like "Still Breathing."

Against Me! - Shape Shift With Me

• A very strange little album with some excellent songs on it!

Sia - This Is Acting

• Some damn good songs on here, but some of them you can clearly hear who they were written for originally.

Bayside - Vacancy

• One of the lesser Bayside albums, but I've come around to it the last couple of years.

 

Gotta shout out my favorite song of the year. This song is such a fucking delight. Such a bummer what happened with the band.

 

2016 was stacked, holy shit. Probably missing some stuff but this is where I'm at atm:

1. Isaiah Rashad - The Sun's Tirade
2. From Indian Lakes - Everything Feels Better Now
3. Nothing - Tired of Tomorrow

• Basement - Promise Everything
• Balance & Composure - Light We Made
• DIIV - Is The Is Are
• JAWS - Simplicity
• Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition
• Somos - First Day Back
• The Hotelier - Goodness
• Happy Driving - Electric Soul Unity
• Jeff Rosenstock - Worry.
• Modern Baseball - Holy Ghost
• Slaughter Beach, Dog - Welcome
• Pup - The Dream Is Over
• Dikembe - Hail Something
• Microwave - Much Love
• Narrow Head - Satisfaction

 

For whatever reason, the summer of 2016 has been memed to death as "the best summer of our lives" but like... I remember living through 2016 (we all do it wasnt that long ago) and at the time, it was seen as "the worst year ever"

 

rest of the top 15:
4. LVL Up - Return to Love
5. Solange - A Seat at the Table
6. Bon Iver - 22, A Million
7. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
8. Cymbals Eat Guitars - Pretty Years
9. Beyonce - Lemonade
10. Anderson Paak - Malibu
11. Joyce Manor - Cody
12. Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition
13. Angel Olsen - My Woman
14. Drive By Truckers - American Band
15. Big Thief - Masterpiece

honorable mentions:
A Tribe Called Quest - We Got It from Here … Thank You For Your Service
Andy Shauf - The Party
ASAP Ferg - Always Strive and Prosper
Band of Horses - Why Are You OK
Bob Mould - Patch the Sky
The Body/Full of Hell - One Day You Will Ache Like I Ache
Bossk - Audio Noir
Brian Fallon - Painkillers
Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Denial
The Claypool Lennon Delirium - Monolith of Phobos
Conor Oberst - Ruminations
Daughter - Not to Disappear
Dawes - We’re All Gonna Die
Deftones - Gore
Descendents - Hypercaffium Spazzinate
Diiv - Is the Is Are
The Dillinger Escape Plan - Dissociation
Dinosaur Jr. - Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not
Every Time I Die - Low Teens
Explosions in the Sky - The Wilderness
Frameworks - Smother
Future - Evol
Gojira - Magma
Hamilton Leithauser - I Had a Dream That You Were Mine
Hinds - Leave Me Alone
Iggy Pop - Post Pop Depression
Isaiah Rashad - The Sun’s Tirade
John K. Samson - Winter Wheat
Kendrick Lamar - Untitled Umastered
Kevin Morby - Singing Saw
Kvelertak - Nattesferd
The Last Shadow Puppets - Everything You’ve Come to Expect
Leonard Cohen - You Want it Darker
Margo Price - Midwest Farmer’s Daughter
Metallica - Hardwired to Self-Destruct
Michael Kiwanuka - Love & Hate
Modern Baseball - Holy Ghost
Mogwai - Atomic
Neurosis - Fires Within Fires
Nick Cave - Skeleton Tree
NxWorries - Yes Lawd!
O’Brother - Endless Light
Okkervil River - Away
Parquet Courts - Human Performance
Pinegrove - Cardinal (fuck em)
Primal Scream - Chaosmosis
Pup - The Dream is Over
Run the Jewels - 3
Russian Circles - Guidance
Schoolboy Q - Blank Face LP
Thrice - To Be Everywhere is to be Nowhere
Touche Amore - Stage Four
True Widow - Avvolgere
Ty Segall - Emotional Mugger
Warpaint - Heads Up
The Weeknd - Starboy
Weezer - Weezer (The White Album)
Whitney - Light Upon the Lake
Wilco - Schmilco
YG - Still Brazy
Young Thug - Jeffery

stuff to check out:
Animals as Leaders - The Madness of Many
Blood Orange - Freetown Sound
Dance Gavin Dance - Mothership
Darkthrone - Arctic Thunder
Dream Theater - The Astonishing
Entombed AD - Dead Dawn
Grouplove - Big Mes
James Vincent McMorrow - We Move
Jeezy - Trap or Die 3
Jeff Rosenstock - Worry.
Lady Gaga - Joanne
Lisa Hannigan - At Swim
Lucinda Williams - The Ghosts of Highway 20
Maren Morris - Hero
Meshuggah - The Violent Sleep of Reason
Mick Jenkins - The Healing Component
Miranda Lambert - The Weight of These Wings
Mitski - Puberty 2
Oathbreaker - Rheia
Opeth - Sorceress
Rihanna - Anti
Skepta - Konnichiwa

 

Blackstar is the best end of career album we'v gotten

 

Incredibly difficult to pick a top 3 out of this year. Stacked.

1. Microwave - Much Love
2. Pup - The Dream is Over
3. Every Time I Die - Low Teens

HM:
Bon Iver - 22, A Million
All Get Out - Nobody Likes a Quitter
Taking Back Sunday - Tidal Wave
Angel Dust - Rock the Fuck on Forever
Brian Fallon - Painkillers
Chance the Rapper - Coloring Book
Direct Hit! - Wasted Mind
The Hotelier - Goodness
Modern Baseball - Holy Ghost
RTJ - 3
Saosin - Along The Shadow
Tiny Moving Parts - Celebrate
Yellowcard - Yellowcard

 

1. Jimmy Eat World - Integrity Blues
2. The 1975 - i like it when you sleep...
3. Bon Iver - 22, A Million

4. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
5. Anderson Paak - Malibu
6. Weezer - The White Album
7. Beyonce - Lemonade
8. Childish Gambino - Awaken My Love
9. Metallica - Hardwired...to Self Destruct
10. Kendrick Lamar - untitled, unmastered

11. Chance the Rapper - Coloring Book
12. Ingrid Michaelson - It Doesn't Have to Make Sense
13. Young The Giant - Home of the Strange
14. Run The Jewels - RTJ3
15. Taking Back Sunday - Tidal Wave
16. Blink 182 - California
17. David Bowie - Blackstar
18. A Tribe Called Quest - We Got It From Here...Thank You for Your Service
19. Frank Ocean - Blonde
20. Basement - Promise Everything

 

1. Kanye West - The Life of Pablo
2. Relient K - Air For Free
3. Jimmy Eat World - Integrity Blues
4. Ariana Grande - Dangerous Woman
5. Flume - Skin
6. Beyoncé - Lemonade
7. Bon Iver - 22, A Million
8. The Naked and Famous - Simple Forms
9. Lissie - My Wild West
10. Weezer - Weezer
11. Sleigh Bells - Jessica Rabbit
12. Taking Back Sunday - Tidal Wave
13. Butch Walker - Stay Gold
14. Maren Morris - Hero
15. Shura - Nothing's Real
16. Rihanna - Anti
17. AlunaGeorge - I Remember
18. Anderson .Paak - Malibu
19. PUP - The Dream Is Over
20. Saosin - Along The Shadow

 

and Black Star is one of the greatest pieces of hip-hop.

 

1. Avalanches - Wildflower

Unbelievable comeback imo. This is one of the greatest songs I've ever heard in my life.

2. Lina Tullgren - Wishlist

I don't care that it's an EP, people need to hear it.

3. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool

HM: Frank Ocean - Blonde
Kanye - Life of Pablo

There's an unbelievably good album in the best 10-12 songs here. Notebook tracklist is damn close. Sad that this was really the end.

Weezer - White
Kendrick Lamar - Untitled/Unmastered
Whitney - Light Upon the Lake
Cymbals - Pretty Years
Big Thief - Masterpiece

Unreal year for singles too: Hamilton and Rostam 1000 Times, Blood Orange - Best To You, literally every single on ANTI, the good Chance songs lol, Starboy

 

Hey, Chorus.fm was born this year!

 

1 Grouplove- Big Mess
2. Panic! at the Disco- Death of a Bachelor
3. Weezer- Weezer

 

2016 was an incredibly stacked year for me
1. The Hotelier - Goodness
2. Microwave - Much Love
3. Future of Forestry - Awakened to the Sound

4. Daughter - Not To Disappear
5. Jeff Rosenstock - WORRY.
6. Radical Face - Leaves
7. Gates - Parallel Lives
8. PUP - The Dream Is Over
9. My Epic - Vicera
10. Civilian- You Wouldn’t Believe What Privilege Costs
11. so long forgotten - S/T
12. Touché Amoré - Stage Four
13. Lucy Dacus - No Burden
14. Modern Baseball - Holy Ghost
15. Klangstof - Close Eyes to Exit
16. Everything In Slow Motion - Laid Low
17. Big Thief - Masterpiece
18. Bon Iver - 22, A Million
19. Owel - Dear Me
20. Thrice - To Be Everywhere is to be Nowhere
21. Florist - The Birds Outside Sang
22. Jimmy Eat World - Integrity
23. Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor’s Guide To Earth

 

Really good year for music.

1. dné - These Semi Feelings, They Are Everywhere
2. The Hotelier - Goodness
3. David Bowie - Blackstar

That dné album feels so profoundly content; in that sense, it's unlike a lot of what I listen to but from the first piano notes on the opener I'm locked in. Such a graceful record.

Honourable Mentions:

• Gojira - Magma
• Bon Iver - 22, A Million
• Black Peaks - Statues
• Raime - Tooth
• Daughter - Not To Disappear
• Shura - Nothing's Real
• CFCF - On Vacation
• Weezer - The White Album
• Weval - Weval
  
• Overhead, The Albatross - Learning To Growl
• Creeper - The Stranger (EP)
  
• Deftones - Gore

 

1. Jeff Rosenstock -WORRY
2. The Hotelier - Goodness
3. PUP - the dream is over
4. The 1975 - I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It
5. Cymbals eat guitars - pretty years

 

No love for Angelic 2 The Core? I kid. Stacked year though.

1. Touche Amore - Stage Four
2. Balance & Composure - Light We Made
3. Weezer - The White Album

———

Bon Iver - 22, a million
Childish Gambino - "Awaken, My Love!"
Deftones - Gore
Glass Animals - How to be a Human Being
Joyce Manor - Cody
Kanye West - The Life of Pablo
The Lonely Island - Popstar
Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels 3
Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor’s Guide To Earth
Thrice - To Be Everywhere is to be Nowhere
Whitney - Light Upon the Lake

 

Goodness, babyyyy. The closest that genre got to something transcendent

 

Looking back to this music year is fucking bizarre in retrospect. I was so deep into country music at the time, basically to the exclusion of everything else. Still love a lot of those records, but that's totally not where my listening is mostly concentrated these days. That, combined with pre-Trump election, makes 2016 feel like a different lifetime.

Anyway:

1. Butch Walker – Stay Gold
2. Maren Morris – Hero
3. Sturgill Simpson – A Sailor’s Guide to Earth

Tough cuts:

Jimmy Eat World – Integrity Blues
Brian Fallon – Painkillers
Dawes – We’re All Gonna Die
Miranda Lambert – The Weight of These Wings
Lori McKenna – The Bird and the Rifle
Brothers Osborne – Pawn Shop
Parker Millsap – The Very Last Day

Also love:

Yellowcard – Yellowcard
Vince Gill – Down to My Last Bad Habit
Weezer – The White Album
Donovan Woods – Hard Settle, Ain’t Troubled
The Hotelier – Goodness
Brandy Clark – Big Day in a Small Town
Sister Hazel – Lighter in the Dark
The 1975 – I Like It When You Sleep…

Honorables:

Bon Iver – 22 A Million
David Nail – Fighter
Green Day – Revolution Radio
Drive-By Truckers – American Band
Frankie Ballard – El Rio
Ingrid Michaelson – It Doesn’t Have to Make Sense
John Paul White – Beulah
Josh Kelley – New Lane Road
Ken Yates – Huntsville
Mandolin Orange – Blindfaller
Ryan Beaver – Rx
Sarah Jarosz – Undercurrent
Courtney Marie Andrews – Honest Life
Good Charlotte – Youth Authority
Hailey, It Happens – self-titled
Lydia Loveless – Real
Margo Price – Midwest Farmer’s Daughter
Nada Surf – You Know Who You Are
Red Hot Chili Peppers – The Getaway