Albums

1. Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (Def Jam)

2. Sleigh Bells, Treats (Mom & Pop)

Critic's Picks: Rob Sheffield's Best Albums and Singles of 2010

3. Busy Signal, D.O.B. (V.P.)
The Jamaican dancehall star Busy Signal is one world's great rappers — a wit and a charmer, with fearsome flow and great taste in beats. His latest album is his finest yet. Don't sleep, U.S. hip-hop headz!

4. Joanna Newsom, Have One on Me (Drag City)

Rolling Stone's Best of 2010: Music, Movies, Videos, Photos and More

5. Calle 13, Entren Los Que Quieran (Sony)

6. Trey Songz, Passion, Pain & Pleasure (Atlantic)
Step aside, R. Kelly and The-Dream. Trey Songz is R&B's sexiest, silliest, and most pop-savvy Casanova.

7. Standard Fare, The Noyelle Beat (Bar None)
This trio from Sheffield, England supplied one of the year's most unexpected pleasures: a very smart, very tuneful, old-fashioned Britpop album, full of bright melodies and vivid little stories about new love, bad love and lost love. A record to savor, a band to root for.

8. Best Coast, Crazy for You (Mexican Summer)

Critic's Picks: David Fricke's Top Albums and Under-the-Radar Reissues of the Year

9. Of Montreal, False Priest (Polyvinyl)

10. Fabolous, There Is No Competition 2 (The Funeral Service) (Mixtape)

Next: Jody Rosen's Best Singles of 2010

• 
  MUSIC 100 Greatest Debut Albums
• 
  MOVIES 'This Is the End' Brings the Goods
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  TV The Women of 'Mad Men'
• 
  POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix

Song Stories