100 Greatest Albums of 2015

2015 record album covers for To Pimp a Butterfly, 25, Carrie & Lowell, and Hamilton: Original Broadway Cast Recording
Criteria: These music albums from the year 2015 were chosen for their immediate and lasting popularity, impact, influence, and acclaim from critics and musicians. This list does not include 'Greatest Hits' albums.

Note: Yearly album lists go by earliest 'release date'.
Not necessarily the year an album peaked in the U.S. charts.
  1. To Pimp a Butterfly - Kendrick Lamar
  2. 25 - Adele
  3. Carrie & Lowell - Sufjan Stevens
  4. Hamilton: Original Broadway Cast Recording - Lin-Manuel Miranda and cast
  5. Art Angels - Grimes
  6. Beauty Behind the Madness - The Weeknd
  7. Sound and Color - Alabama Shakes
  8. Emotion - Carly Rae Jepsen
  9. Traveller - Chris Stapleton
10. Sometimes I Sit and Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit - Courtney Barnett
11. Currents - Tame Impala
12. B'lieve I'm Goin' Down - Kurt Vile
13. Summertime '06 - Vince Staples
14. Wildheart - Miguel
15. In Color - Jamie XX
16. Vulnicura - Björk
17. Coming Home - Leon Bridges
18. I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside - Earl Sweatshirt
19. Something More Than Free - Jason Isbell
20. No Cities to Love - Sleater-Kinney
21. Blurryface - Twenty One Pilots
22. I Love You, Honeybear - Father John Misty
23. If You're Reading This It's Too Late - Drake
24. Have You In My Wilderness - Julia Holter
25. The Magic Whip - Blur
26. Surf - Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment
27. Star Wars - Wilco
28. Every Open Eye - Chvrches
29. Divers - Joanna Newsom
30. That's the Spirit - Bring Me the Horizon
31. A Head Full of Dreams - Coldplay
32. At.Long.Last.A$AP - A$AP Rocky
33. Painted Shut - Hop Along
34. Reality Show - Jazmine Sullivan
35. Depression Cherry - Beach House
36. DS2 - Future
37. Tomorrow is My Turn - Rhiannon Giddens
38. Uptown Special - Mark Ronson
39. The Most Lamentable Tragedy - Titus Andronicus
40. Pentatonix - Pentatonix
41. Compton - Dr. Dre
42. FFS - FFS
43. What a Time to Be Alive - Drake & Future
44. Unbreakable - Janet Jackson
45. Honeymoon - Lana Del Rey
46. Ego Death - The Internet
47. Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance - Belle and Sebastian
48. Purpose - Justin Bieber
49. Rose Mountain - Screaming Females
50. Blackheart - Dawn Richard
51. How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful - Florence + The Machine
52. Jack U - Skrillex & Diplo
53. Kintsugi - Death Cab for Cutie
54. Eat Pray Thug - Heems
55. Before This World - James Taylor
56. Cherry Bomb - Tyler the Creator
57. Short Movie - Laura Marling
58. The Things We Do to Find People Who Feel Like Us - Beach Slang
59. La Di Da Di - Battles
60. Wilder Mind - Mumford & Sons
61. Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper - Panda Bear
62. Foil Deer - Speedy Ortiz
63. Natalie Prass - Natalie Prass
64. American Beauty/American Psycho - Fall Out Boy
65. New Bermuda - Deafheaven
66. A Fool to Care - Boz Scaggs
67. The Waterfall - My Morning Jacket
68. Ivy Tripp - Waxahatchee
69. Ten Love Songs - Susanne Sundfor
70. What Went Down - Foals
71. Ratchet - Shamir
72. On Your Own Love Again - Jessica Pratt
73. Fetty Wap - Fetty Wap
74. Drones - Muse
75. Tetsuo & Youth - Lupe Fiasco
76. Fading Frontier - Deerhunter
77. Smoke & Mirrors - Imagine Dragons
78. Born Under Saturn - Django Django
79. Sprinter - Torres
80. Mutilator Defeated at Last - Thee Oh Sees
81. Sol Invictus - Faith No More
82. Get to Heaven - Everything Everything
83. Zipper Down - Eagles of Death Metal
84. Pale Horses - mewithoutYou
85. Made in the A.M. - One Direction
86. Beat the Champ - The Mountain Goats
87. Better Nature - Silversun Pickups
88. Multi-Love - Unknown Mortal Orchestra
89. Chasing Yesterday - Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
90. Yours. Dreamily - The Arcs
91. Full Communisim - Downtown Boys
92. Another Eternity - Purity Ring
93. Silver Bullets - The Chills
94. Apex Predator - Easy Meat - Napalm Death
95. What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World - The Decemberists
96. Still - Richard Thompson
97. Sounds Good Feels Good - 5 Seconds of Summer
98. Thank Your Lucky Stars - Beach House
99. The Pale Emperor - Marilyn Manson
100. Music Complete - New Order

To Pimp a Butterfly album cover

25 by Adele album cover

Carrie and Lowell - Sufjan Stevens album cover

Hamilton: Original Broadway Cast Recording album cover

Art Angels - Grimes album cover

Beauty Behind the Madness - The Weeknd album cover

Sound and Color by Alabama Shakes album cover
 DigitalDreamDoor Editor Picks for 2015
  Ryan's choice - An unheralded great album from 2015
 •  Split Figure - Line & Circle
  Lew's choice:
 •  Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats - Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats


Top 100 Albums by Year: