Readers’ Poll: The 10 Most Anticipated Albums of 2013

It's been seven long years since Tool last released a studio album, and the group's hardcore fans are getting pretty antsy. Brief tours in 2009 and 2012 did much to appease them but, by this point, they won't be satisfied with anything besides a new album. The prog-metal quartet swear they've been chipping away at songs since 2009 and they hope to finally release them this year, but we'll believe it when we see it. This is a group that works very slowly. They've been around 23 years and only have four albums to show for it. 

With widespread reports that Britney is leaving The X Factor after just one season, there's presumably plenty of time for her to wrap up the follow-up to 2011's Femme Fatale. That album was a big success, landing "Hold It Against Me," "Till the World Ends" and "I Wanna Go" all over the radio. Britney's 2007 meltdown is now a distant memory, and she's once again one of the most reliable hit-makers in the industry. Not much is known about the new album, but we'd be shocked if she didn't work with Max Martin and Dr. Luke again. Why mess with a winning formula?

Black Sabbath's first new album with Ozzy Osbourne since 1978's Never Say Die! has faced some roadblocks. First, original drummer Bill Ward announced he wasn't going to participate in the reunion until he was presented with a fair contract, then guitarist Tony Iommi announced he was undergoing treatment for cancer. It forced them to cancel the vast majority of their 2012 tour, and the work on the Rick Rubin-produced album was moved to England so Iommi could be near his doctors. His condition seems to have improved remarkably, and an April tour of Australia is already on the books.

What's less clear is the fate of the album, though odds are high it will come out sometime this year. Sadly, Ward has yet to reach a deal with the group, and it seems highly unlikely he'll play on the rec0rd. After all these years, fans hoped the metal greats would be able to come together one last time, but it doesn't seem like that will be the case. 

What's that? You've never heard of Josh Krajcik? Then you're one of the handful of people who didn't watch the inaugural season of The X Factor in 2011. That was before Simon Cowell fired Paula Abdul, Cheryl Cole and Nicole Scherzinger in a failed effort to revive the show's ratings. After that, even though they brought in Britney Spears and Demi Lovato, the ratings still went down.

Anyway, Krajcik came in second place. He sounds like a combination of young Joe Cocker, Bob Seger and old Joe Cocker. He released an EP last year, and the full-length is due sometime in this year. 

Queens of the Stone Age haven't released a new album since the summer of 2007. That's back when Spider-Man 3 was in theaters, and that entire franchise has already been rebooted. During their downtime, original drummer Joey Castillo left the group, so Dave Grohl filled his seat for the new album. The group hopes to get it in stores sometime in the next six months, and it supposedly features contributions from Trent Reznor, Jake Shears and former Queens bassist Nick Oliveri. Beyond that, the LP is pretty much a mystery. 

Over the past year, Arcade Fire have let their fans closely monitor the making of their fourth studio album. Every couple of days, Win and Regine upload the latest demos to their website, and a live webcam broadcasts from their studio 24/7. As soon as a song is done, they post it on Facebook, and fans vote whether or not it should be on the album. Fans have even been allowed to submit their own songs, and the six best will be covered by Arcade Fire on the album. Actually, none of that is true. Imagine the exact opposite of that scenario, and you'll have some idea of the secrecy surrounding this album. We know that Arcade Fire have been working on the disc up in Canada for quite some time, and that James Murphy will be involved to some degree, but beyond that it's all a giant question mark. 

As hard as it is for many of them to admit, most American Idol winners peak the minute they win the show. With a few very notable exceptions, their fame begins dwindling the minute the janitors start wiping up the confetti in the studio. We all remember Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood from the early seasons, but somewhere around season five it gets a little fuzzy. Most people have stored David Cook in the fuzzy part of their brains. He's from season seven, when he beat David Archuleta, best remembered as the little Mormon kid with the crazy dad. Cook was like a one-man Nickelback, and a small but devoted cult formed around him. The cult wasn't big enough to prevent him from being dropped by RCA, but it was enough to get him high on this list. He has a new album out this year. 

Pearl Jam have kept a relatively low profile these past couple of years. Sure, they released a documentary and played some huge shows to celebrate their 20th anniversary, but they haven't released a new album since 2009, and they haven't done a real American tour since early 2010. During that time, Eddie Vedder has focused on his solo career, drummer Matt Cameron reunited with Soundgarden and Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard have worked with their side bands. They have been picking away at new Pearl Jam songs, though. "[We're] maybe halfway there," Vedder recently told Rolling Stone. "We're taking our time." A new album much later in the year seems like a strong possibility, but don't be shocked if it winds up being 2014. 

Most bands would see No Line on the Horizon as a hugely successful album. It sold millions of copies and the supporting tour was the single biggest tour of all time. But U2 aren't most bands. It didn't generate any real hit singles, and they saw the sales as highly disappointing. (In hindsight, "Get On Your Boots" shouldn't have been the first single.) The fact it hit right around the time Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark was going through just about the worst press beating in Broadway history didn't help matters. Even in the midst of a sold-out stadium tour, U2 seemed like they were in free-fall. In the past, U2 have responded to a "failure" by "dreaming it all up again." That meant the club-ready sounds of Achtung Baby after the rootsy Rattle and Hum, and it meant the back to basics approach of All That You Can't Leave Behind after the electronic sounds of Pop. 

This time around, it seems like their move is to dump their longtime producing team of Daniel Lanois, Brian Eno and Steve Lillywhite in favor of Brian "Danger Mouse" Burton. He helped the Black Keys score huge hits in a market that has very little interest in rock & roll, and U2 clearly hope he can use that same magic on them. U2 has been working feverishly on this material ever since the 360 tour ended in the summer of 2011, and not a single note has leaked out. Nobody knows what it sounds like. When asked about the project, Bono merely says, "U2's gotta do something very special to have a reason to exist right now." We're excited to hear what they come up with.