100 Greatest Albums of 2009

Criteria: These music albums from the year 2009 were chosen for their initial and lasting popularity and their influence and impact on rock music in general. Also considered is critical acclaim. The list includes rock and roll and related genres that were influential on rock music.

Note: Yearly album lists go by earliest 'release date'. Not necessarily the year an album peaked in the U.S. charts.

1. Lungs
Florence + the Machine
2. Merriweather Post Pavilion
Animal Collective
3. The Blueprint 3
Jay-Z
4. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Phoenix
5. BLACKsummers'night
Maxwell
6. XX
The xx
7. The Resistance
Muse
8. The E.N.D.
Black Eyed Peas
9. 21st Century Breakdown
Green Day
10. The Ecstatic
Mos Def
11. Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Pt. 2
Raekwon
12. Sigh No More
Mumford & Sons
13. Embryonic
The Flaming Lips
14. It's Not Me, It's You
Lily Allen
15. Veckatimest
Grizzly Bear
16. Horehound
The Dead Weather
17. For Your Entertainment
Adam Lambert
18. Big Whiskey & the GrooGrux King
Dave Matthew Band
19. Black Gives Way to Blue
Alice in Chains
20. It's Blitz!
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
21. Them Crooked Vultures
Them Crooked Vultures
22. Bitte Orca
Dirty Projectors
23. Humbug
Arctic Monkeys
24. Post-Nothing
Japandroids
25. Ready
Trey Songz
26. Actor
St. Vincent
27. So Far Gone
Drake
28. Fever Ray
Fever Ray
29. Backspacer
Pearl Jam
30. Manners
Passion Pit
31. The Element of Freedom
Alicia Keys
32. Together Through Life
Bob Dylan
33. Tonight:
Franz Ferdinand
34. Middle Cyclone
Neko Case
35. No Line on the Horizon
U2
36. Battle Studies
John Mayer
37. Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel
Mariah Carey
38. Crack the Skye
Mastodon
39. The Crying Light
Antony and the Johnsons
40. Rated R
Rihanna
41. Man On The Moon: End Of The Day
Kid Cudi
42. The Eternal
Sonic Youth
43. The Fall
Norah Jones
44. Deeper than Rap
Rick Ross
45. The Hazards of Love
The Decemberists
46. Born Like This
DOOM
47. 11:11
Rodrigo y Gabriela
48. Swoon
Silversun Pickups
49. Primary Colours
The Horrors
50. Journal for Plague Lovers
Manic Street Preachers

51. Fantasies
Metric
52. Farm
Dinosaur Jr.
53. Waking Up
OneRepublic
54. A Strange Arrangement
Mayer Hawthorne
55. Only Revolutions
Biffy Clyro
56. All I Ever Wanted
Kelly Clarkson
57. Two Suns
Bat for Lashes
58. Love vs. Money
The-Dream
59. Daisy
Brand New
60. Hospice
The Antlers
61. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
62. The Fray
The Fray
63. La Roux
La Roux
64. Guns Don't Kill People, Lazers Do
Major Lazer
65. Relapse
Eminem
66. Bromst
Dan Deacon
67. Brand New Eyes
Paramore
68. Ocean Eyes
Owl City
69. Further Complications
Jarvis Cocker
70. Album
Girls
71. Monsters of Folk
Monsters of Folk
72. Noble Beast
Andrew Bird
73. Sounds of the Universe
Depeche Mode
74. West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
Kasabian
75. Far
Regina Spektor
76. The Great Misdirect
Between the Buried and Me
77. Malice N Wonderland
Snoop Dogg
78. Axe to Fall
Converge
79. Dragonslayer
Sunset Rubdown
80. Hold Time
M. Ward
81. Tarot Sport
Fuck Buttons
82. Blue Record
Baroness
83. My Maudlin Career
Camera Obscura
84. Strict Joy
The Swell Season
85. Sainthood
Tegan and Sara
86. Years of Refusal
Morrissey
87. Popular Songs
Yo La Tengo
88. Watch Me Fall
Jay Reatard
89. Never Better
P.O.S.
90. Now We Can See
The Thermals
91. Wilco (The Album)
Wilco
92. Tongue n' Cheek
Dizzee Rascal
93. IRM
Charlotte Gainsbourg
94. There is No Enemy
Built to Spill
95. No More Stories...
Mew
96. Logos
Atlas Sound
97. 200 Million Thousand
Black Lips
98. Travels with Myself and Another
Future of the Left
99. This is War
30 Seconds to Mars
100. Everything Goes Wrong
Vivian Girls
DigitalDreamDoor Editor Picks for 2009
Ryan's choice - An unheralded great album from 2009
* These Four Walls
We Were Promised Jetpacks

Bruce's choice:
* The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again
John Fogerty

Lew's choice:
* Draw the Line
David Gray
2008   |   2010