10 Best Albums of the 2000s, Ranked

There were so many things that happened in the 2000s, and not all of them were particularly good, so how do you go about introducing such a decade? It’s one a lot (can’t say “most” on some parts of the internet) of people online remember, and there was also so much music released throughout it. Maybe it’s best just to focus on the music, and not all the other, you know, stuff.

But even just focusing on the music is a bit overwhelming. There were too many styles and genres that got popular, or just picked up attention in critical circles, and to try to crown just a few as the best is difficult. It’s not going to make people happy. One could devote a huge chunk of their life to listening to every album from the 2000s, and what that person picks as their favorites will still seem disagreeable to others. An attempt was made to single out the best albums of the 2000s here, or at least a few truly great ones from that not-too-far-back decade (and with a limit of one release per artist).

10

‘Kid A’ (2000)

Radiohead

Radiohead were there to make the 2000s get off to a bleak and uncertain start, with the release of Kid A, which can’t claim to have set the tone for the 21st century, given 2000 was the final year of the 20th century… but still, maybe it was just a little ahead of the curve. Kid A sounded futuristic at the time, especially compared to the previous Radiohead albums, all of them with more of a rock focus than Kid A.

Kid A was mostly electronica, or if it did count as rock, then it was art rock that really put the emphasis on the “art” part even more than OK Computer. Radiohead might’ve been a little too forward-thinking here, at least based on how some of the contemporary reviews expressed confusion about the album, but Kid A has now aged exceptionally well, and is usually a contender for the crown of “Best Radiohead Album,” whenever that discussion comes up.

9

‘Donuts’ (2006)

J Dilla

There’s a lot that’s been said (and, more recently, disputed) regarding the story behind J Dilla making Donuts, but whatever the case, it’s a beautiful and bittersweet album that did come out just three days after Dilla passed away at just 32. It’s made up of more than 30 tracks, but it’s not an especially long album, at under three-quarters of an hour, so lots of those tracks only last for about a minute or so.

They’re instrumental, with the voices heard being reworked samples, so it’s best defined as an instrumental hip-hop album, with songs you could maybe imagine being stretched out and then rapped over on a “regular” hip-hop album. But it would also be a shame to distract from what’s offered instrumentally here, because the music’s enough to create a unique experience, with it being a pretty easy album to fall into and feel immersed in.

8

‘Untrue’ (2007)

Burial

Speaking of immersive albums that are mostly instrumental and use samples memorably throughout, here’s Untrue by Burial, which is technically a dubstep album, but it doesn’t sound like the sort of music people usually think of when they hear the term “dubstep” (it’s really not Skrillex). Untrue feels like a concept album about, like, walking around by yourself, in the middle of the night, during winter, hearing signs of life (or maybe a party) in the distance, and trying to find the source of those sounds, but never getting there.

And then it feels like the music equivalent of giving up and being alone, but finding a sort of eerie beauty in the loneliness… while the feeling of isolation also manages to be soul-crushing. It conjures some very vivid feelings in ways that aren’t the easiest to summarize, and so it might well sound like something different to different people. Everyone should give it a shot, though, or at least anyone who doesn’t mind moody/eerie/slightly sad music every once in a while.

7

‘Discovery’ (2001)

Daft Punk

A different sort of electronic music entirely can be found on Discovery, which is usually the album people single out as Daft Punk’s best… unless they’d rather go with Random Access Memories. But that one was a decade-defining 2010s release, and so not really relevant, while Discovery was also decade-defining, but for the 2000s, and what do you know? That makes it very relevant.

Look, Discovery earns its spot here for the opening run of tracks alone. “One More Time” to “Aerodynamic” to “Digital Love” to “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” feels almost like the duo showing off, but they really are phenomenal songs, so it’s like, eh, let ‘em show off. Maybe the center of the album sags a little energy-wise, but Discovery does thankfully conclude almost as well as it starts, thanks to “Face to Face” being the penultimate track, and the epic (not to mention fittingly named) “Too Long” being the closer.

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Release Date

May 28, 2003

Runtime

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66 Minutes

Director

Leiji Matsumoto, Daisuke Nishio, Hirotoshi Rissen, Kazuhisa Takenouchi

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Writers

Thomas Bangalter, Cédric Hervet, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo

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Cast

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  Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo

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6

‘Sound of Silver’ (2007)

LCD Soundsystem

The thing about LCD Soundsystem is that persistent embracing of being a little out of step with whatever is technically cool at any given time, but then taking heavy influence from things that used to be cool, and making those things cool again. And also not really caring about the “not being cool” thing, or at least addressing it in ways that are either funny or heartbreaking.

That’s more or less LCD Soundsystem. There’s some stuff from the 1970s and ‘80s chopped up and reworked, lots of angst, self-deprecating humor, brutally honest reflections on life and growing old, and really danceable music tying all that stuff together. Sound of Silver is perhaps the band’s most consistent (from what’s still a regrettably small discography… at the time of writing, it’s been nine years since their last studio album), and is also a perfect entry point if you’ve never heard anything by LCD Soundsystem before and feel curious.

5

‘Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’ (2001)

Wilco

If you’re into indie rock, you’ll probably like this Wilco album, but if you also like more old-fashioned sorts of rock, you’ll likely also find things to like here. It’s just a great rock album, is probably the easiest thing to say, though it is a pretty mellow kind of rock at times. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is also a rather sad album, but that’s to be expected when things kick off with a song named “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart.”

Thankfully, it’s a beautiful and sometimes cathartic kind of sadness heard throughout, and also, there are songs here that lyrically go beyond more personal topics like love, loss, and loneliness. Some of the songs here are quite long, and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot also clocks in at over 50 minutes all up, but you never really come close to feeling any sort of length here, in a bad way. The whole thing unfolds seamlessly, and it’s more than earned its reputation as one of the first truly great albums of the 21st century.

4

‘Funeral’ (2004)

Arcade Fire

Arcade Fire’s downfall or downward spiral hasn’t been as publicized as what’s happened with the next artist mentioned in this ranking, but it’s been a bit sad to see the band that might well have been the greatest indie act of the 2000s and early 2010s implode. To focus on the good times, though, there is Funeral, which is a darkly funny title to give to your debut studio album, but it’s appropriate, because there’s a focus on death and dying at some points throughout the album.

Not a lot, though, because Funeral also has a high level of youthful energy that an aging band can’t help but not really recapture, after a certain point (though Neon Bible, The Suburbs, and the less-loved but overall dark horse Reflektor are also pretty great). It was an album that meant a lot and had people feeling a lot of things back in 2004, which was the perfect time for its sound and style, and there does still remain something oddly timeless about parts of it, more than two decades later.

3

‘The College Dropout’ (2004)

Kanye West

Maybe the mighty has fallen, or the mighty fell a while ago, but what was made during the period of mightiness still exists, and can even be enjoyed. Enter The College Dropout, and it’s not the only Kanye West album that features him being vulnerable at times, but it is pretty much the only one where he feels humble and down-to-earth, because increasing success post-2004 put him in something of a spiral, ego and controversy-wise. There’s a lot more that can be said, but that’s all that’s being said for now.

As for The College Dropout specifically, it’s an incredible album, and a perfect gateway into hip-hop as a genre. It comes close to being Kanye West’s best album overall, and there remains something special about it as a debut, owing to how it sounds (having so many perfect examples of sampling throughout sure helps a great deal, too).

2

‘Since I Left You’ (2000)

The Avalanches

So, The Avalanches are a bit of an odd act to try to explain. They’ve only made three studio albums to date, and for a while, it really felt like Since I Left You would be their only one (it took until 2016’s Wildflower for there to be a follow-up). It was this weird feeling, because The Avalanches had gifted the world one perfect – and also staggeringly unique – album, and one could understand struggling to follow it up, but there was still that desire for more Avalanches.

There has indeed been more from The Avalanches, but Since I Left You remains the best album of a great bunch. The title track here is worth the price of admission alone, and “Frontier Psychiatrist” also proves to be a highlight, while various other songs blend in interesting ways, making the album almost sound like one continuous piece of hour-long music. Oh, and it’s pretty much all done with an overwhelmingly large number of samples, too. This album really is something else.

1

‘Illinois’ (2005)

Sufjan Stevens

Throughout an eclectic career, Sufjan Stevens has released soul-crushing albums, almost aggressive experimental ones, and even one that was a concept album about the solar system. He’s done a bit of everything, and he keeps on finding new things to do. At one stage, he was apparently even more ambitious than he is now, since he expressed a desire to make 50 albums, with one for each State in the U.S.

It officially ended after two were finished, but both Michigan and Illinois were so good, most people can’t get angry at the project’s abandonment (it also helps that subsequent Stevens albums have been so fantastic in other ways). Illinois is his crowning achievement, though, and potentially the best concept album of the 21st century so far. You get all the sides of Sufjan Stevens here, a selection of some of his all-time best songs (like “Chicago,” “Come On! Feel the Illinoise!,” “Casimir Pulaski Day,” and “The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!”), and a list of tracks that flows phenomenally from one to the next for almost 75 minutes. It’s a beautiful album that sounds better every time you revisit it, and it already sounds like one of the best albums ever upon first listen. That’s how you know, pretty well, that it’s something incredibly special.

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