The 75 Best Albums of 2009
Based on charts published by: Mojo, NME, Paste, Pitchfork, Q, Rolling Stone, Spin & Uncut
| Rank | High | Artist | Album |
Score | Lists | Single |
| 1 | 1 | Animal Collective | Merriweather Post Pavilion | 379 | 8 | My Girls |
| 2 | 2 | Yeah Yeah Yeahs | It’s Blitz! | 326 | 8 | Heads Will Roll |
| 2 | 4 | Grizzly Bear | Veckatimest | 326 | 8 | Two Weeks |
| 4 | 2 | Dirty Projectors | Bitte Orca | 283 | 8 | Stillness Is the Move |
| 5 | 3 | Phoenix | Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix | 281 | 7 | 1901 |
| 6 | 2 | The XX | The XX | 213 | 5 | Crystalised |
| 7 | 6 | Bat For Lashes | Two Suns | 205 | 6 | Daniel |
| 8 | 2 | Florence and the Machine | Lungs | 196 | 5 | Cosmic Love |
| 9 | 9 | Fever Ray | Fever Ray | 187 | 5 | When I Grow Up |
| 10 | 7 | Neko Case | Middle Cyclone | 179 | 6 | This Tornado Loves You |
| 11 | 7 | Wilco | Wilco (The Album) | 160 | 6 | Wilco (The Song) |
| 12 | 5 | Girls | Album | 157 | 4 | Lust for Life |
| 13 | 8 | Fuck Buttons | Tarot Sport | 155 | 5 | Surf Solar |
| 14 | 4 | Wild Beasts | Two Dancers | 151 | 5 | Hooting & Howling |
| 15 | 4 | The Low Anthem | Oh My God, Charlie Darwin | 145 | 4 | Charlie Darwin |
| 16 | 5 | Manic Street Preachers | Journal For Plague Lovers | 142 | 4 | Me and Stephen Hawking |
| 17 | 1 | The Horrors | Primary Colours | 140 | 4 | Scarlet Fields |
| 17 | 4 | The Flaming Lips | Embryonic | 140 | 4 | Powerless |
| 19 | 12 | Mastodon | Crack the Skye | 127 | 4 | Divinations |
| 19 | 4 | Bob Dylan | Together Through Life | 127 | 4 | This Dream of You |
| 21 | 7 | Mos Def | The Ecstatic | 126 | 5 | Life in Marvelous Times |
| 21 | 1 | Kasabian | West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum | 126 | 3 | Secret Alphabets |
| 23 | 6 | Arctic Monkeys | Humbug | 125 | 4 | Secret Door |
| 24 | 10 | Sonic Youth | The Eternal | 117 | 5 | What We Know |
| 25 | 2 | Bill Callahan | Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle | 116 | 3 | Jim Cain |
- U2 -- No Line On The Horizon
- Raekwon -- Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Pt. II
- Doves -- Kingdom Of Rust
- Lily Allen -- It's Not Me, It's You
- Monsters of Folk -- Monsters of Folk
- The Dead Weather -- Horehound
- Bruce Springsteen -- Working On A Dream
- Japandroids -- Post-Nothing
- Green Day -- 21st Century Breakdown
- Drake -- So Far Gone
- Antony and the Johnsons -- The Crying Light
- Sunn O))) -- Monoliths & Dimensions
- Richard Hawley -- Truelove's Gutter
- Jamie T -- Kings & Queens
- Tinariwen -- Imidiwan: Companions
- The Big Pink -- A Brief History Of Love
- Micachu and the Shapes -- Jewellery
- Madness -- The Liberty Of Norton Folgate
- The Pains of Being Pure at Heart -- The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
- The Avett Brothers -- I And Love And You
- Jay-Z -- The Blueprint III
- St. Vincent -- Actor
- Passion Pit -- Manners
- Camera Obscura -- My Maudlin Career
- The Cribs -- Ignore the Ignorant
- Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba -- I Speak Fula
- La Roux -- La Roux
- Pearl Jam -- Backspacer
- White Denim -- Fits
- Super Furry Animals -- Dark Days/Light Years
- The Antlers -- Hospice
- Elvis Perkins in Dearland -- Elvis Perkins In Dearland
- Yo La Tengo -- Popular Songs
- PJ Harvey & John Parish -- A Woman A Man Walked By
- David Bazan -- Curse Your Branches
- Brandi Carlile -- Give Up The Ghost
- The Decemberists -- Hazards of Love
- Muse -- The Resistance
- The-Dream -- Love Vs. Money
- Frank Turner -- Poetry of the Deed
- Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson -- Summer Of Fear
- Jack Penate -- Everything Is New
- Ida Maria -- Fortress Round My Heart
- Jay Reatard -- Watch Me Fall
- Neon Indian -- Psychic Chasms
- Mayer Hawthorne -- A Strange Arrangement
- Devendra Banhart -- What Will We Be
- Amadou & Mariam -- Welcome To Mali
- Thao with the Get Down Stay Down -- Know Better, Learn Faster
- Dizzee Rascal -- Tongue N' Cheek
A little explanation:
- Rank: Rank on this overall chart
- High: Highest rank achieved on any of the eight individual charts
- Artist: Name of the artist/band
- Album: Name of the album
- Score: Number of points received by the album (1st place on a chart is worth 50pts, 2nd place is 49pts...)
- Lists: How many of the eight individual charts the album appeared on
- Single: If a single from the album appeared on a singles chart, it's listed here; otherwise, it's an
AMG recommended track on the album
Sources: Stereogum's excellent
collection of "Best Of..." lists and
the Swear I'm Not Paul blog who was nice enough to transcribe some
print-only lists for the world to read/use.