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