This is really hard, but here goes. Albums within one tier are very close in quality.
Album of the Year1. The Dear Hunter - Act V: Hymns With the Devil in Confessional
Excellent2. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Skeleton Tree
3. Fates Warning - Theories of Flight
4. Anciients - Voice of the Void
5. Ihsahn - Arktis.
6. Cult of Luna & Julie Christmas - Mariner
7. Haken - Affinity
Great8. Witherscape - The Northern Sanctuary
9. Thrice - To Be Everywhere Is to Be Nowhere
10. Devin Townsend Project - Transcendence
11. Slice the Cake - Odyssey to the West
12. Novembre - Ursa
13. Redemption - The Art of Loss
14. Moonsorrow - Jumalten Aika
15. Cliff Martinez - The Neon Demon OST
16. Avenged Sevenfold - The Stage
17. Sonata Arctica - The Ninth Hour
18. Evergrey - The Storm Within
19. Mono - Requiem for Hell
20. David Bowie - Blackstar
21. Avantasia - Ghostlights
Decent23. Megadeth - Dystopia
24. Alter Bridge - The Last Hero
25. Alcest - Kodama
26. Fallujah - Dreamless
Disappointing27. Dream Theater - The Astonishing
28. Myrath - Legacy
29. Rhapsody of Fire - Into the Legend
All in all, this was an amazing year. And I still have to listen to the new PtH, the new Destrage, the new Theocracy, the new Metallica, the new Bent Knee... honestly, this might end up being my favourite year in music, period. So many great albums.