Are We In Midst Of The 8 Strongest Months For New Music Since 2000?


This has been an exceptional month for new music. Last week gave us album releases from Divine Fits, Bob Mould, Jens Lekman, and Cat Power, and today, both the the xx and David Byrne and St. Vincent put out exceptional records in Coexist and Love This Giant. And September’s only going to get better with eagerly anticipated albums from Band of Horses, G.O.O.D. Music, Ben Folds Five, Grizzly Bear, and Jay Electronica to come.

So, in honor of this fantastic September, rather than a normal 5 Albums Coming Out This Week That Don’t Suck, I’m trying something different: let’s figure out which month since 2000 has been the best month for new music. Here’s the highly scientific formula.

1. Best Ever Albums is a wonderful website that tracks which albums appear in the most year-end lists. For instance, in 2000, Radiohead’s Kid A appeared in 825 charts, the most of any release in the 2000s. This isn’t a perfect formula (for instance, Coldplay’s Parachute is #2 in 2000, with appearances in 241 charts), but it’s the only fair way of judging “strongest” without resorting to personal taste. (For what it’s worth, Mass Romantic by the New Pornographers should be A LOT higher than #35.)

2. For every Best Ever year, I only looked at selections #1-20; the charts go to #100, but I can’t convince myself that The Mark, Tom, And Travis Show is the best of anything, except perhaps the best album to rhyme “Twelve majestic lies” with “Tom has sex with guys.” Also, I only went back to 2000 because charting album release days in the 1990s, not to mention the 1970s and 1980s, is unreliable at best, a total sh*tshow at worst.

3. I went off of American physical release dates only, aka not UK or when they were available via streaming.

#8. March 2007 (there were nine months with four year-end albums, so I went with the strongest of the group — so much for not letting opinions into the piece, I know)

Neon Bible by Arcade Fire
Sound of Silver by LCD Soundsystem
Person Pitch by Panda Bear
We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank by Modest Mouse

#7. April 2008

Third by Portishead

The Seldom Seen Kid by Elbow

Antidotes by Foals

In Ghost Colours by Cut Copy

The Midnight Organ Fight by Frightened Rabbit

#6. July 2006

Black Holes and Revelations by Muse

The Eraser by Thom Yorke

Return to Cookie Mountain by TV on the Radio

Silent Shout by the Knife

Carnavas by Silversun Pickups

#5. March 2005

Frances the Mute by Mars Volta

Deadwing by Porcupine Tree

Picaresque by the Decemberists

In Between Dreams by Jack Johnson

Lullabies to Paralyze by Queens of the Stone Age

#4. September 2004

Funeral by Arcade Fire

American Idiot by Green Day

Antics by Interpol

Smile by Brian Wilson

Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Kasabian by Kasabian

#3. September 2001

Toxicity by System of a Down

The Blueprint by Jay-Z

The Glow Pt. 2 by the Microphones

Gold by Ryan Adams

“Love and Theft” by Bob Dylan

Room for Squares by John Mayer

#2. October 2000

Kid A by Radiohead

Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea by PJ Harvey

Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven by Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Stankonia by Outkast

All That You Can’t Leave Behind by U2

Hybrid Theory by Linkin Park

#1. May 2010

High Violet by the National

Brothers by the Black Keys

This Is Happening by LCD Soundsystem

Total Life Forever by Foals

The ArchAndroid (Suites II and III) by Janelle Monáe

Innerspeaker by Tame Impala

Crystal Castles by Crystal Castles