All year long, Robin Hilton and I get to pick the music featured on All Songs Considered, but one of our very favorite shows is this one: our listener poll results. So, on this episode we count down the top 10 as voted by you. We also have a list with the top 100 albums at the bottom of the page, and hope it turns you on to music you may have missed in 2017. (It did for us).
Often, our annual listener poll ends up constructing some type of narrative about the music we listened to. For example, 2015 was kaleidoscopic in terms of genre diversity, while 2016 found listeners united in monumental releases that merged the personal and the political. But 2017 was a year where such a narrative was less clear.
If anything, your choices from 2017 reveal that this was a year for immense fan loyalty. Despite exceptional debut LPs from the likes of SZA, Moses Sumney, Phoebe Bridgers and Overcoats... not to mention Diet Cig, Jay Som, Cigarettes After Sex and Partner... almost all of the records on your list came from well-established acts. Though you agreed with NPR Music that Kendrick Lamar's DAMN. earned its spot as the album of the year, you rooted for legacy acts such as Arcade Fire and LCD Soundsystem as well. You also gravitated toward the Jack Antonoff-produced stylings of Lorde and St. Vincent (and lower down on the list, Taylor Swift), and new projects from Big Thief and The National.
You can hear us count down and play selections from the Top 10 albums with the play button at the top of the page, or read a list of the Top 100 at the bottom of the page.
You can also right-click to download a pdf of the Top 100 albums selected by listeners. -- Bob Boilen
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