Your Albums of the Year Over Time

[425]

I don't remember us ever having a thread like this, which is kind of surprising. The concept is simple. List your favorite album from each year going back as far as you want. I'm going to go back only to 1995 in the interest of time and because due to my definite recency bias, much earlier than that I start only knowing 2-3 albums per year.

Up to you whether you want to include live albums or just studio releases.


Here's mine, as of right now (a lot of tough choices):

2020: Haken - Virus (I actually can't listen to this album anymore because of life circumstances, but I think I still rate it highest)
2019: The Neal Morse Band - The Great Adventure
2018: Seventh Wonder - Tiara
2017: Lorde - Melodrama
2016: The Dear Hunter - Act V: Hymns with the Devil in Confessional
2015: The Neal Morse Band - The Grand Experiment
2014: Coldplay - Ghost Stories
2013: Haken - The Mountain
2012: Anathema - Weather Systems
2011: Dream Theater - A Dramatic Turn of Events
2010: Iron Maiden - The Final Frontier
2009: Transatlantic - The Whirlwind
2008: Opeth - Watershed
2007: Nightwish - Dark Passion Play
2006: Iron Maiden - A Matter of Life and Death
2005: Kamelot - The Black Halo
2004: Ayreon - The Human Equation
2003: Dream Theater - Train of Thought
2002: Nightwish - Century Child
2001: Transatlantic - Bridge Across Forever
2000: Iron Maiden - Brave New World
1999: Dream Theater - Metropolis, Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory
1998: Nightwish - Oceanborn
1997: Dream Theater - Falling Into Infinity
1996: Metallica - Load
1995: Iron Maiden - The X Factor

[The Letter M]

Oh this is a fun idea! It's way too late for me to start thinking of this tonight, but I'll be sure to come back to this post and post my list when I get around to it.

Also, nice picks with DT, TA, Ayreon, Anathema, and Haken! Great albums! This makes me think this'll be more difficult than originally thought...

Edit- okay, so here is my list. Some of the years from 2000 onward were fairly difficult to choose, and I could feel differently later on based on my feelings and mood about one band over another, but I feel pretty confident in my choices either way.

2021: Transatlantic - The Absolute Universe (so far)
2020: Pattern-Seeking Animals - Prehensile Tales

2019: Big Big Train - Grand Tour
2018: The Tangent - Proxy
2017: Big Big Train - Grimspound
2016: Big Big Train - Folklore
2015: The Tangent - A Spark In The Aether
2014: Flying Colors - Second Nature
2013: Big Big Train - English Electric Full Power
2012: Rush - Clockwork Angels
2011: Dream Theater - A Dramatic Turn Of Events (originally Haken - Visions, but I forgot about ADTOE)
2010: Spock's Beard - X

2009: Transatlantic - The Whirlwind
2008: Karmakanic - Who's The Boss In The Factory
2007: Porcupine Tree - Fear Of A Blank Planet (Vinyl Ver.)
2006: Frost* - Milliontown
2005: Kino - Picture
2004: Ayreon - The Human Equation
2003: The Tangent - The Music That Died Alone
2002: Spock's Beard - Snow
2001: Transatlantic - Bridge Across Forever
2000: Spock's Beard - V

1999: Dream Theater - Scenes From A Memory
1998: Spock's Beard - The Kindness Of Strangers
1997: Spock's Beard - Beware Of Darkness
1996: The Flower Kings - Retropolis
1995: Spock's Beard - The Light
1994: Porcupine Tree - The Sky Moves Sideways
1993: Rush - Counterparts
1992: Dream Theater - Images And Words
1991: Queen - Innuendo
1990: Béla Fleck & The Flecktones- s/t

1989: Marillion - Seasons End
1988: The Beatles - Past Masters Vol. 1 & 2
1987: Rush - Hold Your Fire
1986: Genesis - Invisible Touch
1985: Rush - Power Windows
1984: Rush - Grace Under Pressure
1983: Yes - 90125
1982: Rush - Signals
1981: Rush - Moving Pictures
1980: Rush - Permanent Waves

1979: Pink Floyd - The Wall
1978: Rush - Hemispheres
1977: Rush - A Farewell To Kings
1976: Rush - 2112
1975: Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
1974: Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
1973: Genesis - Selling England By The Pound
1972: Genesis - Foxtrot
1971: Yes - Fragile
1970: Genesis - Trespass

1969: The Beatles - Abbey Road
1968: The Beatles - The Beatles
1967: The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
1966: The Beatles - Revolver
1965: The Beatles - Rubber Soul

I don't have much music before 1970, so it ended up being all Beatles albums! *shrug*

-Marc.

[SoundscapeMN]

I swear we did these before as I recall posting them.

My thought is not this, but do an AOTY topic for every year. People post top 5-100 albums going back to at least 1965. it would make for a lot of topics, although whoever created it, could do 1 topic and change the subject with a new year, but the thread could get awfully long then.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

I like this thread concept, let's see....

2020: Spectral Lore & Mare Cognitum - Wanderers: Astrology of the Nine
2019: Warforged - I: Voice
2018: Messa - Feast for Water
2017: Der Weg einer Freiheit - Finisterre
2016: Vektor - Terminal Redux
2015: The Dear Hunter - Act IV: Rebirth in Reprise
2014: Casualties of Cool - Casualties of Cool
2013: Haken - The Mountain
2012: Anathema - Weather Systems
2011: Unexpect - Fables of the Sleepless Empire
2010: Deathspell Omega - Paracletus
2009: Between the Buried and Me - The Great Misdirect
2008: The Human Abstract - Midheaven
2007: Oceansize - Frames
2006: Agalloch - Ashes Against the Grain
2005: Moonsorrow - Verisäkeet
2004: Marillion - Marbles
2003: Coheed and Cambria - In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3
2002: Dream Theater - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
2001: Tool - Lateralus
2000: At the Drive-In - Relationship of Command
1999: Sigur Rós - Ágætis byrjun
1998: Arena - The Visitor
1997: Ocean Machine - Biomech
1996: Type O Negative - October Rust
1995: Blind Guardian - Imaginations From the Other Side
1994: Jeff Buckley - Grace
1993: Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
1992: Änglagård - Hybris
1991: Fates Warning - Parallels
1990: Judas Priest - Painkiller
1989: Marillion - Seasons End
1988: Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime
1987: Marillion - Clutching at Straws
1986: Fates Warning - Awaken the Guardian
1985: Rush - Power Windows
1984: Univers Zéro - Uzed
1983: The Police - Synchronicity
1982: Dire Straits - Love Over Gold
1981: Journey - Escape
1980: Rush - Permanent Waves
1979: Supertramp - Breakfast in America
1978: Rush - Hemispheres
1977: Rush - A Farewell to Kings
1976: Boston - Boston
1975: Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
1974: King Crimson - Red
1973: Yes - Tales From Topographic Oceans
1972: Deep Purple - Machine Head
1971: Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin [IV]
1970: Deep Purple - Deep Purple in Rock
1969: Beatles - Abbey Road
1968: Blue Cheer - Vincebus Eruptum
1967: Cream - Disraeli Gears

[ariich]

Nice idea! I think my list will have a decent amount of overlap with yours, 425.

In almost every year since 1958 there's been at least one album I love, and some years were very competitive particularly since 2000. There are a handful of years where there was no album I particularly love but still one I like enough to choose as a favourite, so I've included those in brackets and italics.

2021 so far: Soen - Imperial - but it's early in the year so this is pretty likely to change.
2020: Haken - Virus
2019: Insomnium - Heart Like a Grave
2018: Haken - Vector
2017: Arcane Roots - Melancholia Hymns
2016: The Dear Hunter - Act V: Hymns With the Devil in Confessional
2015: The Dear Hunter - Act IV: Rebirth in Reprise
2014: Anathema - Distant Satellites
2013: Haken - The Mountain
2012: Anathema - Weather Systems
2011: Frank Turner - England Keep My Bones
2010: The River Empires - The River Empires (Epilogue)
2009: The Dear Hunter - Act III: Life and Death
2008: Thrice - The Alchemy Index: Vols. III • IV - Air & Earth
2007: The Cat Empire - So Many Nights
2006: BT - This Binary Universe
2005: Porcupine Tree - Deadwing
2004: Pain of Salvation - Be
2003: Muse - Absolution
2002: Dream Theater - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
2001: Shpongle - Tales of the Inexpressible
2000: Pain of Salvation - The Perfect Element I
1999: In Flames - Colony
1998: Bruce Dickinson - The Chemical Wedding
1997: The Offspring - Ixnay on the Hombre
1996: Metallica - Load
1995: Queen - Made in Heaven
1994: Jeff Buckley - Grace
1993: Danny Elfman - Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas
1992: Dream Theater - Images and Words
1991: Queen - Innuendo
1990: Depeche Mode - Violator
(1989: Queen - The Miracle)
1988: Metallica - ...And Justice for All
1987: Pink Floyd - A Momentary Lapse of Reason
1986: Metallica - Master of Puppets
1985: Loreena McKennitt - Elemental
1984: Iron Maiden - Powerslave
1983: Pink Floyd - The Final Cut
1982: The Alan Parsons Project - Eye in the Sky
1981: King Crimson - Discipline
1980: Rush - Permanent Waves
1979: Pink Floyd - The Wall
1978: Queen - Jazz
1977: Pink Floyd - Animals
1976: Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life
1975: Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
1974: Tom Waits - The Heart of Saturday Night
1973: Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon
1972: Wishbone Ash - Argus
1971: The Who - Who's Next
(1970: Miles Davis - Bitches Brew)
1969: King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
1968: The Beatles - The Beatles [White Album]
1967: The Buddy Rich Big Band - Big Swing Face
(1966: The Beatles - Revolver)
1965: The Beatles - Rubber Soul
1964: Oscar Peterson Trio - Oscar Peterson Trio + One, Clark Terry
1963: Oscar Peterson Trio - Night Train
(1962: John Coltrane - Standard Coltrane)
(1961: Dizzy Gillespie - Perceptions)
1960: Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain
1959: Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
1958: John Coltrane - Blue Train

That's as far back as I can go really. Earlier years almost all either have nothing I really know, or some albums I know but none I'm very interested in.

[SwedishGoose]

I will only go back to 1969 as I have very few albums relesed before that.

This is how I felt today, some might change on another day but I think most are fixed.

2021 Transatlantic - The Absolute Universe Forevermore
2020 Fish - Weltschmertz
2019 Evan Carson  - Ocipinski
2018 Ostura  - The Room
2017 Beatrix Players  - Magnified
2016 Dream Theater  - The Astonishing
2015 The Gentle Storm  - The Diary
2014 IQ - The Road of Bones
2013 Steven Wilson  - The Raven that Refused to Sing
2012 iamthemorning  - ~
2011 Opeth - Heritage
2010 Moon Safari  - Lover's End
2009 Transatlantic  - The Whirlwind
2008 Karmakanic - Who's the Boss in the Factory
2007 Ritual  - The Hemulic Volontary Band
2006 Tool - 10.000 Days
2005 Gojira - From Mars to Sirius
2004 Pain of Salvation - BE
2003 King Crimson  - The Power to Believe
2002 Pain of Salvation  - Remedy Lane
2001 Tool - Lateralus
2000 A.C.T - Today's Report
1999 Dream Theater  - Scenes from a Memory
1998 Ayreon - Into The Electric Castle
1997 The Flower Kings  - Stardust We Are
1996 Pendragon - The Masquerade Overture
1995 The 3rd and the Mortal  - Nightswan
1994 Queensŕýche  - Promised Land
1993 IQ - Ever
1992 Dream Theater  - Images and Words
1991 Queen - Innuendo
1990 Jellyfish  - Bellybutton
1989 Andersson Bruford Wakeman Howe - s/t
1988 It Bites  - Once Around The World
1987 Marillion - Clutching at Straws
1986 Queensŕýche - Rage for Order
1985 Marillion  - Misplaced Childhood
1984 Dalbello  - Who Man Four Says
1983 Marillion - Script for a Jester's Tears
1982 Kate Bush  - The Dreaming
1981 City Boy  - It's Personal
1980 Kate Bush  - Never Forever
1979 City Boy - The Day the Earth Caught Fire
1978 Peter Gabriel  - 2
1977 Pink Floyd  - Animals
1976 Rush - 2112
1975 Pink Floyd  - Wish you were here
1974 King Crimson  - Red
1973 Genesis - Selling England By the Pound
1972 Yes - Fragile
1971 Genesis - Nursery Cryme
1970 Van der Graf Generator - H to He who is the Only One
1969 King Crimson  - In the Court of the Crimson King

[The Curious Orange]

I've gone back to 1969 as it was the year I was born:


1969 - Led Zeppelin - II
1970 - Black Sabbath - s/t
1971 - Carole King - Tapestry
1972 - Steely Dan - Can't Buy A Thrill
1973 - Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
1974 - Yes - Relayer
1975 - Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti / Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
1976 - Rush - 2112
1977 - Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
1978 - Bruce Springsteen - Darkness on the Edge of Town
1979 - Fleetwood Mac - Tusk
1980 - Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell
1981 - Rush - Moving Pictures
1982 - Dire Straits - Love Over Gold
1983 - Stevie Nicks - The Wild Heart
1984 - Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA
1985 - Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms / Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
1986 - Peter Gabriel - So
1987 - Def Leppard - Hysteria
1988 - Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
1989 - Marillion - Seasons End / Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe
1990 - Jane's Addiction - Ritual de la Habitual
1991 - Metallica - Black Album / Pearl Jam - Ten / Nirvana - Nevermind
1992 - Dream Theater - Images and Words
1993 - The Wildhearts - Earth vs The Wildhearts
1994 - Marillion - Brave
1995 - Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill
1996 - Stone Temple Pilots - Tiny Music...
1997 - Marillion - This Strange Engine
1998 - Dixie Chicks - Wide Open Spaces
1999 - Dream Theater - Scenes From A Memory
2000 - Iron Maiden - Brave New World
2001 - Tool - Lateralus
2002 - Rush - Vapor Trails
2003 - Dream Theater - Train of Thought
2004 - Marillion - Marbles
2005 - Dream Theater - Octavarium
2006 - Iron Maiden - A Matter of Life and Death
2007 - Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet
2008 - Tift Merritt - Another Country
2009 - Transatlantic - The Whirlwind
2010 - Spock's Beard - X
2011 - Drive-By Truckers - Go-Go Boots
2012 - Marillion - Sounds That Can't Be Made
2013 - Tedeschi Trucks Band - Made Up Mind
2014 - Bruce Springsteen - High Hopes
2015 - Nightwish - Endless Forms Most Beautiful
2016 - Delain - Moonbathers
2017 - Cellar Darling - This Is The Sound
2018 - Auri - s/t
2019 - Devin Townsend - Empath
2020 - Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott - Manchester Calling

[MirrorMask]

Curiosity - do you like Devin Townsend's Empath a lot? because if you found a slot for Cellar Darling's debut album in 2017, I'd daresay their 2019 album The Spell is even better and more deserving of being album of the year.

I mean, I don't even follow Devin so I don't know the album, hence the curiosity to know if you love his album more, or if simply you don't consider The Spell as good as the debut, 'cause I looooove the living shit out of that album.

[The Curious Orange]

Yeah, it was a difficult decision. I love Cellar Darling, and I agree that The Spell is brilliant and a much better album than their debut. However, Empath really blew me away. There are some years when I just couldn't find a decent album - 1996, for example, where I went with Stone Temple Pilots purely because I played it a lot that year and I honestly couldn't find anything else released that year that was better than that, but it's the weakest album on this list. Some years had lots of really strong albums, and it was hard to pick one. The Spell was my second best album of 2019, by a whisker.

[Stadler]

I don't even know how I go about starting this.  I would probably start in 1963, with the Beatles, but I'm going to hit a log-jam around '66, '67, and forget about '69 through '73.  No can do, amigo. 

[TheCountOfNYC]

I decided to make the cutoff the year I was born. I’m also including extended plays which comes into play for 1995, 2000, and 2014.

2020: Haken-Virus
2019: Billie Eilish-When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
2018: Haken-Vector
2017: Trivium-The Sin and the Sentence
2016: Avenged Sevenfold-The Stage
2015: Iron Maiden-The Book of Souls
2014: Haken-Restoration
2013: Haken-The Mountain
2012: Halestorm-The Strange Case Of...
2011: Dream Theater-A Dramatic Turn of Events
2010: Avenged Sevenfold-Nightmare
2009: Dream Theater-Black Clouds & Silver Linings
2008: Metallica-Death Magnetic
2007: Avenged Sevenfold-Avenged Sevenfold
2006: Muse-Black Holes and Revelations
2005: Dream Theater-Octavarium
2004: Sum 41-Chuck
2003: Avenged Sevenfold-Waking the Fallen
2002: Sum 41-Does This Look Infected?
2001: Tool-Lateralus
2000: Sum 41-Half Hour of Power
1999: Dream Theater-Metropolis Pt. 2; Scenes From a Memory
1998: The Offspring-Americana
1997: Foo Fighters-The Colour and the Shape
1996: Tool-Ænima
1995: Dream Theater-A Change of Seasons
1994: Dream Theater-Awake
1993: Nirvana-In Utero

[MirrorMask]

I'm tempted to join in but researching previous years is gonna be so difficult, with so many albums I might forget 

I mean, in amazing cases I don't need to remember, I know that my 1999 album of the year was Scenes from a Memory. But off the top of my head which albums came out in 2011 or in 2007 that I love so much? heck if I know, unless I go through my albums.

[twosuitsluke]

Before doing this I need to edit my whole iTunes library to make sure the release year for every album is correct. It would make the whole process a lot smoother.

[ariich]

See, having a nerdy approach to cataloguing and rating everything on RateYourMusic makes this sort of thing so much easier for me.

[Crow]

i feel like this is only valuable from like, 2015ish onwards when i actually started thinking about what my AOTY would be, and even then some of the answers i would've given at the time have changed for these

2015: David Maxim Micic - ECO (now: Wilderun - Sleep at the Edge of the Earth)
2016: Thank You Scientist - Stranger Heads Prevail (now: Mithras - On Strange Loops)
2017: The Hirsch Effekt - Eskapist (now: Sufjan & Co - Planetarium)
2018: Polymath - House of Wisdom | We Are the Devil
2019: A Novelist - Folie

haven't decided on 2020 yet, I need to make that video in the next month or two lol :V

here's from memory the stuff i would've called "best of the year" for some previous years though, i guess

2014: Casualties of Cool - Casualties of Cool
2013: Haken - The Mountain (now: tie between The Ocean - Pelagial and El Drugstore - Plague Ship)
2012: uhh.... I guess, Anathema - Weather Systems??? (now: tie between The Hirsch Effekt - Holon : Anamnesis and Thank You Scientist - Maps of Non-Existent Places)
2011: Protest the Hero - Scurrilous (now: East of the Wall - The Apologist)
2010: Haken - Aquarius
2009: Riverside - Anno Domini High Definition (now: tie between that as well as Thrice - Beggars and The Antlers - Hospice, what a year this was, three 5* records)
2008: Ayreon - 01011001 (that I have never found anything better than a 4* is a testament to how weak this year was and still feels, lol)
2007: uuhh well this is the year I started getting into metal and literally the only band I listened to was Dream Theater but I refuse to call Systematic Chaos my AOTY by default so let's pretend I was already into Oceansize - Frames by this time lol

and then before that are the dark ages

[Buddyhunter1]

This is a cool idea, I'll make mine soon-ish. I think Puppies and I will be sharing at least a few.

[hefdaddy42]

I don't even know how I go about starting this.  I would probably start in 1963, with the Beatles, but I'm going to hit a log-jam around '66, '67, and forget about '69 through '73.  No can do, amigo.

Same.  I wouldn't even know how to start to begin to think about this.

[kirksnosehair]

I can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday so this might be a bridge too far for this old man 

[Buddyhunter1]

Thankfully I have my entire collection in iTunes (and marked with the correct years) so for me it's as easy as scrolling through it by year and picking the album I currently think of the most highly.

[bosk1]

I'll start from birth.  It will probably take me several posts.  I'll try and do the '70s real quick.

1970:  Black Sabbath - Paranoid
1971:  The Who - Who's Next
1972:  Deep Purple - Machine Head
1973:  Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
1974:  Scorpions - Fly To the Rainbow (this was hard because there was just nothing this year that I rally like; yeah, lots of prog classics, but I have just never been into prog from this era)
1975:  Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
1976:  Y&T - Yesterday & Today
1977:  Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
1978:  Van Halen - I; hon. mention: Journey - Infinity (I like Infinity better now, but I cannot deny how much of an influence this Van Halen album had on me and my musical direction, as it was the first hard rock album I ever bought, and was such a game-changer for me at the time)
1979:  Pink Floyd - The Wall

The '70s are tough because, for my personal tastes, it was such a musical desert.  Still some good albums in there, but few that I would put on "all time" lists.  Anyhow, '80s coming later...

[EPICVIEW]

you guys are amazing    too difficult for me to do

[bosk1]

you guys are amazing    too difficult for me to do

Just pick a year, go to wikipedia for that year, and scroll... 

[HOF]

I think I could do this for just the albums I own. I don’t think 425 is asking us to definitively name the best album of each year, just our personal favorites from each year.

[EPICVIEW]

you guys are amazing    too difficult for me to do

Just pick a year, go to wikipedia for that year, and scroll... 

Haha   Good one Boss.... isnt that cheating? : )

[MirrorMask]

you guys are amazing    too difficult for me to do

Just pick a year, go to wikipedia for that year, and scroll... 

This, or maybe I was thinking I could look at my collection and map my favorite bands' years, they're gonna fill most of the list anyway, and then for blank years I could investigate a little more...

Some years are gonna be insanely difficult, let's take 1998 for example: Bruce Dickinson's The Chemical Wedding, Blind Guardian's Nightfall in Middle Earth, Iced Earth's Something Wicked this way Comes, Virgin Steele's Invictus, Rage's XIII... how to pick a clear winner?

[The Letter M]

I think I could do this for just the albums I own. I don’t think 425 is asking us to definitively name the best album of each year, just our personal favorites from each year.

This is what I did. I just scrolled through my Albums By Year on my phone (on my preferred music player, GoneMAD), and picked my favorite for each year. If it isn't on my phone, I probably don't care enough about it to consider it a favorite from that year, even if I like that album/band.

-Marc.

[bosk1]

you guys are amazing    too difficult for me to do

Just pick a year, go to wikipedia for that year, and scroll... 

Haha   Good one Boss.... isnt that cheating? : )

  No.  Why would it be?

[Buddyhunter1]

I don’t think 425 is asking us to definitively name the best album of each year, just our personal favorites from each year.

Of course not, this isn't a WildRanger thread.

[EPICVIEW]

you guys are amazing    too difficult for me to do

Just pick a year, go to wikipedia for that year, and scroll... 

Haha   Good one Boss.... isnt that cheating? : )

  No.  Why would it be?

Just kidding around ,,,, that would make it easy ,,,,and I always take the hard road  LOL

[Buddyhunter1]

Alright, here's mine. Starting from the year I was born. Had to make some real painful cuts, especially in the late 2000s-early 2010s.

1995: Porcupine Tree - The Sky Moves Sideways (not a great album but I barely have anything here)
1996: Tool - Ænima
1997: Devin Townsend - Ocean Machine: Biomech
1998: Opeth - My Arms, Your Hearse
1999: Agalloch - Pale Folklore
2000: Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven
2001: Opeth - Blackwater Park
2002: Porcupine Tree - In Absentia
2003: Dream Theater - Train Of Thought
2004: Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - Of Natural History (weak year, another I barely have anything for)
2005: Dream Theater - Octavarium
2006: Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain
2007: Porcupine Tree - Fear Of A Blank Planet (RIP Colors)
2008: Gojira - The Way Of All Flesh
2009: Devin Townsend - Addicted (RIP Anno Domini High Definition)
2010: Ihsahn - After
2011: Devin Townsend - Deconstruction
2012: Storm Corrosion - Storm Corrosion (RIP Weather Systems)
2013: The Ocean - Pelagial (RIP Bilo 3.0)
2014: Kauan - Muistumia
2015: Thy Catafalque - Sgùrr
2016: Moonsorrow - Jumalten Aika
2017: Ulver - The Assassination Of Julius Caesar
2018: The Ocean - Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic
2019: Devin Townsend - Empath
2020: Pure Reason Revolution - Eupnea

2008: Ayreon - 01011001 (that I have never found anything better than a 4* is a testament to how weak this year was and still feels, lol)

2008 was actually pretty strong for me; I felt bad cutting the Opeth, Dir En Grey and Ihsahn albums from that year.

[Revenge319]

My list will be kinda boring since as far as full albums go, I don't know many from a wide variety of artists. I'm still working on that, of course, but I figured I'd see what this kind of list would look like for me right now. Any honorable mentions will be listed in parentheses.

2020: Haken - Virus
2019: Dream Theater - Distance Over Time
2018: Between the Buried and Me - Automata II
2017: (none)
2016: Dream Theater - The Astonishing (Haken - Affinity)
2015: Steven Wilson - Hand. Cannot. Erase.
2014: (none)
2013: Haken - The Mountain (Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused To Sing)
2012: Between the Buried and Me - The Parallax II: Future Sequence
2011: Dream Theater - A Dramatic Turn of Events
2010: Haken - Aquarius
2009: Project DIVA Original Song Collection (Dream Theater - Black Clouds and Silver Linings; Transatlantic - The Whirlwind; BTBAM - The Great Misdirect; Riverside - Anno Domini High Definition; Porcupine Tree - The Incident)
2008: (none)
2007: Between the Buried and Me - Colors (Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet; Devin Townsend - Ziltoid the Omniscient; Dream Theater - Systematic Chaos)
2006: (none)
2005: Porcupine Tree - Deadwing (Dream Theater - Octavarium)
2004: (none)
2003: Dream Theater - Train of Thought
2002: Dream Theater - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (Porcupine Tree - In Absentia)
2001: Transatlantic - Bridge Across Forever
2000: Porcupine Tree - Lightbulb Sun
1999: Liquid Tension Experiment 2 (Dream Theater - Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From A Memory; Porcupine Tree - Stupid Dream)
1998: Liquid Tension Experiment
1997: Devin Townsend - Ocean Machine: Biomech

I can't really go any lower than 1997. I'd either have no album to call my favorite, or I'd only know one album from said year which would make it my favorite by default, regardless of how much I actually liked it.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

2012: Storm Corrosion - Storm Corrosion (RIP Weather Systems)

I call foul on the play....

[Buddyhunter1]

2012: Storm Corrosion - Storm Corrosion (RIP Weather Systems)

I call foul on the play....

Sacrifices had to be made, unfortunately.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

2012: Storm Corrosion - Storm Corrosion (RIP Weather Systems)

I call foul on the play....

Sacrifices had to be made, unfortunately.

Yeah I hear you. Most of the ones on your list I at least considered. I was also sad I had to cut Colors and Lift Your Skinny Fists.

[TAC]

I'm working on this now. Dug up my old Top 50 Thread and filled in 26 years. I'm starting from when I was born (1968).