2016-12-15

It was a monumental year for music. A lot of major artists dropped albums that were as big as they were important, speaking to events on both a personal and global scale. Seven out of the top 10 spots in our 2016 listener poll went to well-established or legacy artists, from Radiohead and Beyoncé to Bon Iver, David Bowie and Leonard Cohen. But if you dig a little deeper into the list you'll find some of 2016's best new artists, including Big Thief, Margaret Glaspy, Noname, Pinegrove and Joseph.

Some years these polls aren't even close, but this time it was a tight race for the top five most popular albums of 2016. In the end, Radiohead's A Moon Shaped Pool squeaked ahead of Beyoncé's Lemonade for the top spot. They were followed, in order, by David Bowie's Blackstar, Bon Iver's 22, A Million and Car Seat Headrest's Teens Of Denial.

On this week's All Songs Considered, we count down and talk about the poll's top 25 albums. You'll find those records below, along with a list of our listeners' top 100 albums.

The All Songs Considered Listener Poll's Top 100 Albums Of 2016

Radiohead, A Moon Shaped Pool

Beyoncé, Lemonade

David Bowie, Blackstar

Bon Iver, 22, A Million

Car Seat Headrest, Teens Of Denial

Chance the Rapper, Coloring Book

Frank Ocean, Blonde

A Tribe Called Quest, We got it from Here... Thank You 4 Your service

Anderson .Paak, Malibu

Sturgill Simpson, A Sailor's Guide To Earth

Leonard Cohen, You Want It Darker

Solange, A Seat at the Table

Kanye West, The Life Of Pablo

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Skeleton Tree

Angel Olsen, MY WOMAN

Big Thief, Masterpiece

case/lang/veirs, case/lang/veirs

Pinegrove, Cardinal

Mitski, Puberty 2

Wilco, Schmilco

Margaret Glaspy, Emotions And Math

ZAYN, Mind Of Mine

Margo Price, Midwest Farmer's Daughter

Whitney, Light Upon The Lake

Childish Gambino, "Awaken, My Love!"

Andrew Bird, Are You Serious

Drive-By Truckers, American Band

Rihanna, Anti

Blood Orange, Freetown Sound

Glass Animals, How To Be A Human Being

Paul Simon, Stranger To Stranger

Conor Oberst, Ruminations

James Blake, The Colour In Anything

Parquet Courts, Human Performance

Hiss Golden Messenger, Heart Like A Levee

Iggy Pop, Post Pop Depression

The Avett Brothers, True Sadness

The 1975, I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it

Savages, Adore Life

Various Artists, Hamilton Mixtape

ANOHNI, HOPELESSNESS

Noname, Telefone

Kishi Bashi, Sonderlust

The Lumineers, Cleopatra

Andy Shauf, The Party

She Makes War, Direction Of Travel

Lucius, Good Grief

Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam, I Had A Dream That You Were Mine

Kendrick Lamar, untitled unmastered.

Sia, This is Acting

Lady Gaga, Joanne

Kaytranada, 99.9%

Michael Kiwanuka, Love & Hate

Jim James, Eternally Even

Thao & The Get Down Stay Down, A Man Alive

Lucy Dacus, No Burden

Frightened Rabbit, Painting Of A Panic Attack

Band of Horses, Why Are You OK

NAO, For All We Know

The Rolling Stones, Blue And Lonesome

The Avalanches, Wildflower

Weezer, Self-Titled (White Album)

PJ Harvey, The Hope Six Demolition Project

Shearwater, Jet Plane And Oxbow

Danny Brown, Atrocity Exhibition

Damien Jurado, Visions Of Us On The Land

Birdeatsbaby, Tanta Furia

The Jayhawks, Paging Mr. Proust

The Suffers, The Suffers

The Weeknd, Starboy

Esperanza Spalding, Emily's D+Evolution

Dawes, We're All Gonna Die

Lambchop, FLOTUS

Ariana Grande, Dangerous Woman

The Posies, Solid States

Local Natives, Sunlit Youth

NxWorries, Yes Lawd!

Kevin Morby, Singing Saw

Lake Street Dive, Side Pony

Miranda Lambert, The Weight of These Wings

Drake, Views

Gallant, Ology

Tedeschi Trucks Band, Let Me Get By

M83, Junk

DIIV, Is The Is Are

Joseph, I'm Alone No You're Not

Tegan and Sara, Love You to Death

Brandy Clark, Big Day In A Small Town

Parker Millsap, The Very Last Day

Cass McCombs, Mangy Love

Regina Spektor, Remember Us To Life

Flock of Dimes, If You See Me, Say Yes

Maren Morris, HERO

Frankie Cosmos, Next Thing

Pixies, Head Carrier

The Hotelier, Goodness

Chris Staples, Golden Age

Carly Rae Jepsen, Emotion Side B

AURORA, All My Demons Greeting Me As A Friend

Phish, Big Boat

Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

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