What’s The Frontrunner For The Best ‘Best Album Of 2012’?

YEAR-END MUSIC MANIAC MADNESS CAN U FEEL IT? Side effects include feeling nostalgic for songs that came out 10 months, making excuses for why the Sleigh Bells album “isn’t as bad as you remember,” and pledging to yourself that 2013 will be better because that’s when “chillwop fuzzwave will FINALLY break out.”

It’s also time for best-of album lists. We’ll have ours out soon (HINT: it’s probably going to be everything by The Darkness), but we were curious to see which artists have been dominating other “album of the year” rankings. Below you’ll find 15 major music publications and what they deemed to be THE musical document of 2012.

BBC: good kid, m.A.A.d. city by Kendrick Lamar (Via)

Decibel: All We Love We Leave Behind by Converge (Via)

Fact: good kid, m.A.A.d. city by Kendrick Lamar (Via)

FILTER: Lonerism by Tame Impala (Via)

Mojo: Blunderbuss by Jack White (Via)

New York: good kid, m.A.A.d. city by Kendrick Lamar (Via)

NME: Lonerism by Tame Impala (Via)

Paste: channel ORANGE by Frank Ocean (Via)

Pop Matters: channel ORANGE by Frank Ocean (Via)

Rolling Stone: Wrecking Ball by Bruce Springsteen (Via)

Spin: channel ORANGE by Frank Ocean (Via)

Spinner: The Idler Wheel… by Fiona Apple (Via)

Stereogum: The Idler Wheel… by Fiona Apple (Via)

Time: The Idler Wheel… by Fiona Apple (Via)

Uncut: Old Ideas by Leonard Cohen (Via)

Based on the rankings of these 15 publications, it’s a three horse race: Kendrick Lamar, Frank Ocean, and Fiona Apple, all of which appear in our top-10 (which we’ll publish very soon). Lonerism isn’t far behind, but it doesn’t have an annoyingly stylized name like good kid, m.A.A.d., The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do, or channel ORANGE. Trend of the year.

Let’s just ignore Rolling Stone‘s pick, yes?

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