2000s: Albums

What an amazing decade for albums! Maybe our favorite decade since the 1970s, even! So many classic bands working at the top of their gang. More than anything else, this was the decade of indie labels and indie bands. As the record industry crumbled the indie labels thrived. 

Artist of the decade? Tough one. Radiohead, Ryan Adams and Wilco would surely all be up there, as would Sufjan Stevens, The Flaming Lips, Spoon and Arcade Fire. The best year of the decade? Probably 2002, followed closely by 2007. So many great new bands … almost too many to count.

So, here we go, Ze Catalist’s Top 60 Albums of the Naughts:

60. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular

59. The White Stripes - Elephant

58. Radiohead - Hail to the Thief

57. Ryan Adams - Jacksonville City Nights

56. Outkast - The Love Below

55. Buck65 - Square

54. Sole - Bottle of Humans

53. Granddaddy - The Sophtware Slump

52. Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy - Master and Everyone

51. Thunderhawk - Thunderhawk IV

50. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga 

49. Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights

48. The Decemberists - Castaways and Cutouts

47. Snowglobe - Our Land Brains

46. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver

45. Sufjan Stevens - Greetings From Michigan

44. Magnolia Electric Co. - Nashville Moon

43. Paul Westerberg - 49:00

42. Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise

41. Buck65 - This Right Here is Buck65

40. Radiohead - Amnesiac 

39. Evan Dando - Baby I’m Bored

38. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever to Tell

37. Built to Spill - There Is No Enemy

36. Lee Miles - Heathen Blux

35. The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi

34. Black Label Summer - Dirty All-Star Band

33. Stephen Malkmus - Face the Truth

32. Grandpaboy - Mono

31. Stephen Malkmus - Pig Lib

30. Radiohead - In Rainbows

29. The Flaming Lips - Embryonic

28. Sonic Youth - Sonic Nurse

27. The New Pornographers - Challengers

26. Killer Robots From Space - Powerlifting

25. The Mircophones - Mount Eerie

24. Spoon - Gimme Fiction

23. Paul Westerberg - Come Feel Me Tremble

22. The White Stripes - White Blood Cells

21. Ryan Adams - Gold

20. The Wrens - The Meadowlands

19. Spoon - Kill the Moonlight

18. Bright Eyes - Lifted …

17. Rilo Kiley - The Execution of All Things

16. The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls In America

15. Joanna Newsom - Ys

14. Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger

13. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Real Emotional Trash

12. The Microphones - The Glow, Pt. 2

11. Thunderhawk - Gravity Wins!

10. Wilco - A Ghost is Born

9. Ryan Adams - Cold Roses

8. The Arcade Fire - Funeral

7. The Strokes - Is This It

6. Radiohead - Kid A

5. Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker

4. Silver Jews - Bright Flight

3. Stephen Malkmus - Stephen Malkmus

2. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

1. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrox

Written by G. William Locke