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So, I've never done a personal chart before, so be nice to me!

 

I have decided that because I love so many albums released this year, that it would be fun to countdown my top 40 favourite albums of the year with you guys.

 

Think it is time to get started (with the hope that there are no massive surprise drops happening within the next 3 weeks). Obviously I am one of the moderators of the R&B forum, so you should expect to see quite a lot of my favourite R&B releases of the year on the list, but hopefully the list will have a good mix of different genres and will include albums you will already be aware of, and possibly some gems that may have passed people by.

 

I hope you guys will be interested, and will enjoy my small commentary on each album. Can't wait to get started in the next couple of days.

So lets get started...

 

40. Little Mix - Glory Days

 

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What a year it has been for Little Mix. After the massive success of their 3rd album ‘Get Weird’ anticipation seemed to be higher than ever for a new record, with ‘Glory Days’ coming in swiftly to ride the wave of the hype. This album, although not the girls’ best effort by any means, is a massive grower and has some great moments. ‘Touch’, ‘No More Sad Songs’ and ‘Power’ especially lift this record up from just sounding like a rushed pop effort. Instead, they released a commercial smash and a pretty strong pop record. Well done girls.

 

39. Katy B - Honey

 

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Much like in the vein as Little Mix before, Katy B has given us better records than ‘Honey’. In fact, it is easily her worst from her three albums to date. Having said that, Katy’s voice still sounds gorgeous throughout, and songs like ‘I Wanna Be’, ‘Dark Delirium’, 'Chase Me' and the solo version of ‘Turn The Music Louder’ are absolutely essential additions to her back catalogue. I can enjoy it far more when I view it not as a proper album, but instead as a side-project based on collaborations. On that basis, I really can enjoy it fully, and hope Katy can release something even better than ‘Honey’ soon.

 

38. Drake - Views

 

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Possibly the biggest star of the year, Drake comes into my list at 38. At a massive 20 tracks in length, there is no doubting that ‘Views’ is a mammoth album, and had mammoth sales both sides of the pond too. I find the whole project too long and a little over-thought compared to his previous releases, which all certainly had more charm than this album. Having said that, there are great tracks throughout, and it is a rewarding listen if you can manage to sift through the filler; tracks like ‘9’, ‘Feel No Ways’, ‘With You’ are gems, along with the smash hits ‘Controlla’, ‘Too Good’ and ‘One Dance’ (how am I still not bored of them?)

 

37. Azealia Banks - Slay Z

 

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When Azealia isn’t supporting Trump or just generally losing her mind on social media, she can actually make some great music. I have no clue why the name ‘Slay Z’ was kept when she scrapped the idea of making this a Jay Z sample project, but then again does anything really make sense with Azealia? This isn’t anywhere near the quality of ‘Broke With Expensive Taste’ (otherwise it would be in my top 5 easily) but it is still a great fun mixtape released for us fans. ‘Queen Of Clubs’ is an absolute hot mess of a track (in the best way possible), and ‘The Big Big Beat’ is still one of my favourite songs of the year. Slay AZ, I suppose.

 

36. M.I.A. - AIM

 

 

This was one of my most hyped releases of the year, and unfortunately it wasn’t quite what I wanted. Perhaps the age old problem of releasing the best songs first? Despite it not quite working as a full project, the quality of the highs are incredible. The Diplo version of ‘Bird Song’ might end up being my favourite M.I.A. track ever. It’s a shame the rest wasn’t quite up to that standard, bar ‘Borders’, ‘Go Off’ and ‘The New International Sound, Part 2’. I hope she remedies that by going back on her word about this being her last ever album.

 

Hi Davidson!

 

I really love that Little Mix album not as much as I do Get Weird but it is really good and yes for Touch next single :wub:

 

Hmm I did like Katy B's side Project I mean their was some great moments from it :o

 

Views is okay but for me good old too quick :(

CAN'T WAIT FOR SOLANGE

Katy B has delivered some great music this year! Great to see her album do so well! I'll have to take your word that it's not as good as her other stuff as I haven't really given her the attention in previous years.

So up next at 35 is...

 

35. Kendrick Lamar - Untitled Unmastered

 

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After releasing the most critically acclaimed album of 2015, I think most people were expecting Kendrick to keep a low profile this year, working on his next masterpiece. Instead, the opposite seemed to happen. When he wasn’t getting involved in high profile collaborations (the Maroon 5 collab is still not forgivable Kendrick), he was releasing mixtapes of old tracks that hadn’t made the previous album. It says a lot when even Kendrick’s outtakes are better than most albums released this year.

 

34. Sia - This Is Acting

 

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Kendrick wasn’t the only one who spent their year releasing left-over tracks. Maybe he got the idea from Sia, who released ‘This Is Acting’ back in January, an album full of Rihanna and Shakira rejects. And what good rejects they were. Although ‘This Is Acting’ may be a tad more generic than we are used to hearing from Sia, it offered some of the year’s most exciting pop moments. ‘Cheap Thrills’ was inescapable, and it is clear that the anthem ‘Move Ya Body’ should also be a massive hit at some point if there is any justice (we can still wish, yeah?). Although these tracks were originally intended to help out other artists, they ended up propelling Sia even further into stardom and raising her profile higher than ever before.

 

33. All Saints - Red Flag

 

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Who would have thought All Saints could have a #3 peaking album in 2016? I hope you are taking notes MKS (Sugababes), get that album out! Coming back with a bang with ‘One Strike’ clearly wasn’t enough for the girls, who subsequently hit us with a whole album of great tracks. Shaznay Lewis’ great songwriting can be heard on ‘One Woman Man’, ‘This Is A War’ and ‘Make U Love Me’, as well as the lead single. Unfortunately the quality does slip around half way through the album, but still a great effort from the girls. A comeback done properly.

 

 

This should be good, I have a feeling our favourites of the year will be pretty similar.

I'm anticipating high finishes for Lemonade, A Seat at the Table, MALIBU, Blonde.. 😍

 

I agree with pretty much everything so far. Views and AIM were two big disappointments for me.

32. James Blake - The Colour In Anything

 

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32 seems like a dissapointing entry for Blake in the end, given how excited I was for this record at the beginning of the year. The thing is, the album wasn't even a disappointment at all, it really is a gorgeous listen from start to finish. It just goes to show how strong this year was. It is definitely the James Blake album I have returned to least from all his three, and to be honest I don't know if there is a legitimate reason why. It really is just as perfectly put together and as melodically beautiful as one would expect from him. I think I may need to get back to listening to it a little more to be honest.

 

31. Lady Gaga - Joanne

 

 

So I'll be the first to admit, I was kind of dreading the release of Gaga's 5th studio album. When 'Perfect Illusion' was released, my hype went down to an absolute minimum (I still stand by that it is one of the worst songs of the year and one of the worst she's ever recorded, sorry fans). However, I said to myself I would try and go in with an open mind and try to not compare it to the wonderful crazy pop superstar Gaga we once knew. However, by the end of my first listen, I found that promise to not compare it to her other work very hard to keep, especially when I realised that it was a massive step up from 'ArtPop'. Much to my surprise the album had beautiful heartfelt moments ('Million Reasons' and 'Angel Down') along with a lot of fun ('John Wayne' and 'Dancin' In Circles'). 'Joanne' was never going to be one of my favourite records of the year, but it was going to be a record I could fully enjoy.

 

30. The Weeknd - Starboy

 

 

The Weeknd continued to up his star power this year, with the release of his third proper LP 'Starboy'. Only being released just over two weeks ago, it hasn't taken long for this album to gain my affections. It definitely seems like a step up from his previous effort 'Beauty Behind The Madness'. It all feels very natural and I think he got the mix of old-school mixtape The Weeknd vibe and his new pop sensibilities more in balance on this record than previously, and it works very well. Unfortunately it does drag a little, and doesn't need to be 18 tracks in length. This as an extremely succinct 13-14 track record would have found itself challenging for my top 20 to be honest.

 

Hi Davidson, your write-ups are excellent, a really good read, you put your views into words very nicely *-*

 

Joanne really surprised me too, some of the tracks are so catchy still and there are still some gorgeous heartfelt moments as you mentioned. It's a huge shame that her charts career seems to have been completely ruined now, not sure what she can do to come back with a hit now. She's already in a similar situation to the likes of Britney I think :///

I like all of them to a certain degree but my favourites are Joanne, Starboy and This is a war all have such solid tracklistings and cleae highlights :heart:

 

I think This is acting is very good too might give it another listen at sone point 'Move Your Body' Should have been a single tbh :(

Thanks Josh for your positive feedback, much appreciated. Glad you are enjoying reading!

 

Apparently 'Move Your Body' HAS just been announced as the next Sia single, so we can be happy about that.

29. Skepta - Konnichiwa

 

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So in at 29 on my list, and the only grime artist to make it into my top 40, is Skepta. Obviously as a lover of R&B and Urban music, I would always say that Grime has been one area of it that I have never been able to get totally into (that’s why ML Hammer works perfectly to counteract me in the R&B forum), however ‘Konnichiwa’ changed that. The whole record is forward thinking, fresh sounding and just so well put together. With the album reaching #2 on the UK album chart and pick up The Mercury Music Prize this year, it is clear that it was not just me that really took to it. Consider me well and truly won over.