Top 40 Albums of 2016

These days, dozens of online tastemakers can each have their own Top 10 list without overlapping any other list.  It’s a testament to the affordability of recording technology, to the direct connections artists forge with their fans, and to ever more insulated channels of musical taste.  Here are a few albums you might have missed but should probably check out before you lose yourself to all the glorious promises of 2017.

After the dust settled and forty records were assigned a place on Decibel’s vaunted list, five remained that probably could have swapped places with anything else on the list without causing any greater/lesser irritation than lists like this already stir up.  Why should they get left out?  Here are the five records that tied for #41 on our Top 40 Albums of 2016.

We’re sorry. We’re not trying to ruin the fun by posting this. But someone else already did. You probably shouldn’t click here. Really, you should just wait for the issue to arrive in the mail. For Christ’s sake, have you no willpower? OK, fine.