50. Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker: In a decade full of good records (11 albums in 10 years!) his debut remains his finest; his songwriting never got more heartfelt and beautiful than it did on "Oh My Sweet Carolina".
49. Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose: A country legend and Jack White made this decade's most random and most brilliant team-up. This is the best of Jack's uncountable side projects and a fitting tribute to her 5-decade plus career.
48. Portishead - Third: After 11 years of waiting, we got another masterpiece out of them. When you need a late-night mood setter, nobody tops the battered voice of Beth Gibbons.
47. Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots: Creating a "worthy" follow-up to The Soft Bulletin is almost impossible, but they did it by finding humanity in electronic music and achieved a strange route to popularity on the way.
46. Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury: In a decade full of unreleased mixtapes and fights with record labels, Clipse managed to release one brutal, raw rap landmark into stores.
45. White Stripes - White Blood Cells: The genius started two records ago for them, but the spotlight starts here. After this, Jack owns rock music for the rest of the decade.
44. Dave Matthews Band - Lilywhite Sessions: Can I include this even though it isn't a real album? Dave peaks as a songwriter and a singer, but you have to go to a bootlegger to hear it.
43. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes: One of the decades most instantly adored debut record. They delivered folk ballads and stunning harmonies, and it landed them on every prime time TV show within months.
42. Beck - Sea Change: It wasn't a very solid decade for Beck, but he dropped one stunner by setting a new standard in break-up albums.
41. Bob Dylan - Love & Theft: Past the age of 60, Bob moves forward by reaching even further back in the American songbook. He set a trend of aging geniuses reviving their career this decade.
40. Sunn O)) - Monolith's and Dimensions: Is this a classical piece or a metal album? Just one of the most inexplicably beautiful albums in years.
39. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!: This guy is having one brilliant mid-life crisis: think Iggy Pop preaching the Bible on drugs. It was a great decade to be Nick.
38. Over The Rhine - Ohio: A soft, fragile, and mostly overlooked album that explores religion and womanhood from enough angles to fill two discs. I think painfully beautiful sums it up best.
37. LCD Soundsystem - Sounds Of Silver: This album has the power to make you laugh and cry, but mostly just dance. "All My Friends" might be one of the decade's most memorable tracks.
36. Joanna Newsome - Y's: What is there to say about a orchestral harp-based record with elf sounding vocals? I guess you just have to hear it. It's the storytelling that really sticks with you.
35. Coldplay - A Rush of Blood To The Head: I know they were everywhere and they are overbearing, but can't we admit they did some great records this decade? This is their best balance of dramatic songwriting and pop hooks.
34. Panda Bear - Person Pitch: Some of the decade's best records came from people making electronic music warm and human. That's part of the story here, but the bursts of harmonies and what really stick with you.
33. Green Day - American Idiot: Even Green Day fans had no idea that they were capable of this depth and complexity. The radio will be playing these songs decades from now.
32. Tom Waits - Alice: Of all the great albums Tom released this decade (there were 4 of them) the haunting storytelling and bleak orchestrations make this the best.
31. Dizzee Rascal - Boy In Da Corner: This album has a brutal, raw emotion that is rarely even matched in hip-hop and brilliant production to match it.
30. TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain: Soul music Incorporated into indie rock: why don't more people try that. A rare album that manages to be funky and brooding.
29. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Abattoir Blues/Lyre Of Orpheus: Nick tries to do everything he's ever done in his career on two discs and everything works. The scope of moods and lyrics on this album is the right kind of overwhelming.
28. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible: On their second masterpiece, they turn to Bruce Springsteen and Joy Division for influence and write more rock anthems we can all yell along with.
27. Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica: Another band who had multiple brilliant albums this decade, this one was the best: catchy guitar hooks and rants about science and death.
26. Joe Henry - Civilians: This album takes my award for most overlooked record of the decade. Brilliant stories, deep blues rhythms, heart wrenching vocals... and barely anybody flipped over this album?
25. Flaming Lips - Embryonic: Call this a late entry. After gaining popularity for live shows and having the official Oklahoma rock song, they head right back to the underground and make a mutant drug-trip of a record. No band surprised me more times this decade.
24. The Streets - Original Pirate Material: This might be the first proof that you can make a brilliant influential record alone on your lap-top. The spare electronic beats and vocal humor influenced a lot of what was to come for underground hip-hop.
23. Death Cab For Cutie - Transatlanticism: An already solid band gets famous for releasing their best record? One this album started getting played on TV shows, America took notice of the beauty in their spare guitar hooks and emotional lyricism.
22. Scott Walker - The Drift: Maybe the bleakest album ever made. Also a stunning composition and a modern work of art for anybody who isn't scarred away from it.
21. Sufjan Stevens - Greetings From Michigan: This guy might be the most confusing figure in indie music, but he's also a genius. This is a stunning trip though the aftermath of economic ruin and the wavering faith in God and love. Tell me you didn't cry once during this record.
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