A Giant Dog - Pile

What We Have to Say: The Texas band's hyperkinetic hooks are the glam rock equivalent to rum and coke - sticky, sweet and potentially intoxicating. You don't want to miss out on Pile's gritty awesomeness.

What Critics Have to Say: While only a few critics noticed these up-and-comers, the ones who did loved them. Metacritic Score: 78
What You Have to Say: With only 20,000 plays, the Last.fm community has yet to catch on. You should rectify that soon.
Most Played Track: Sex & Drugs 4,825 Scrobbles, 2,172 Listeners

Anderson .Paak - Malibu

What We Have to Say: Anderson Paak was one of the standout guests on last year's Compton: A Soundtrack by Dr. Dre, but on his second solo LP the rapper establishes himself as one of today's most commanding MCs and versatile musicians. Malibu is an album of personal stories, all powerfully told over a mix of groove, hip-hop and R&B sounds.

What Critics Have to Say: Critics love it too. Metacritic Score: 85.
What You Have to Say: With nearly half a million listens, Malibu is a Last.fm favorite.
Most Played Track: The Bird 85.7k Scrobbles, 21.8 Listeners

Anohni - Hopelessness

What We Have to Say: The former lead singer of Antony and the Johnsons returns with a subversive solo debut. Trading orchestral pop for experimental electronics, Anohni tackles the politics of protest as only she can. Her soulful vocals emphasizes how damaged a society ravaged by surveillance, drone warfare and ecocide really is, and yet she rises above the hopelessness.

What Critics Have to Say: The generally positive reviews are heartening, given its sometimes difficult subject matter. Metacritic Score: 83.
What You Have to Say: Hopelessness has a shockingly high play rate (over 600,000 listens) but no less deserving for a masterful statement of an album.
Most Played Track: Drone Bomb Me 157.5k Scrobbles, 35.8k Listeners

Bent Shapes - Wolves of Want

What We Have to Say: Self-effacing lyrics with an Ivy League level vocabulary rarely sound this happy or accessible. Bent Shapes' punky power-pop is on par with Los Campesinos! and the New Pornographers in the likability department, making Wolves of Want 2016's best kept secret.

What Critics Have to Say: The few folks who have reviewed the album seem pretty polarized by it. What gives? Metacritic Score: 70.
What You Have to Say: A shabby 14,000 plays - you need to listen to this more. Everyone needs to listen to this more!
Most Played Track: New Starts in Old Dominion 5,195 Scrobbles, 2,559 Listeners

Beyoncé - Lemonade

What We Have to Say: Combining the personal and the political, Queen Bey crafted a visual and sonic feast that more than lived up the hype. Perhaps the only surprise album of 2016 that was notable for more then its sudden drop.

What Critics Have to Say: Based on 33 glowing reviews, the album garnered a grand score of 92 on Metacritic making it the most praised album of her career and one of the best of the year.
What You Have To Say: It's hard to find someone who's NOT listening to Lemonade! With over 4 million plays it's one of your most played albums of the year so far.
Most played track: Formation 872.7k Scrobbles, 46.3k listeners

Listen to it on Tidal.

Blood Orange - Freetown Sound

What We Have to Say: Freetown Sound is deeply resonant in the face of political and personal struggle. Cloaked in smooth funk grooves, it's also an incredibly accessible pop album, making for a potent combination in a year where it's sorely and sadly needed.

What Critics Have to Say: Critics agree, it's Dev Hynes' best. Metacritc Score: 81.
What You Have to Say: With half a million listens, you're just as into it as we are.
Most Played Track: Augustine 48.2 Scrobbles, 19.5 Listeners

Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Denial

What We Have to Say: This is the first studio album by the prolific Will Toledo, who released over a dozen home-recorded releases in the past five years. Did we mention he's only 23? It's rare that an 70 minute long album can justify its length, but Teens of Denial is a stunner that rocks, because, not in spite of, its lyrical density.

What Critics Have to Say: Yeah, they love it as much as we do. Metacritic Score: 84.

What You Have to Say: With over 400,000 plays, Last.fm listeners are just as hooked as we are.

Most Played Track: Fill in the Blank 71.2k Scrobbles, 22.2k Listeners

Chance the Rapper - Coloring Book

What We Have to Say: Coloring Book is one of the most joyous albums of the year. Chance's undaunting optimism shines alongside gospel choirs, laid-back beats and killer cameos. Like a modern day church revival for the spiritual and secular alike, it's guaranteed to stir your spirit.

What Critics Have to Say: The mixtape is not only one of the critically rated hip-hop releases, but one of the most highly regarded albums of the year. Metacritic Score: 90.
What You Have to Say: With over a million listens, the Last.fm community is just as enraptured as we are.
Most Played Track: Blessings 146.9k Scrobbles, 26.7k Listeners

David Bowie - Blackstar

What We Have to Say: Stubborn and arty in all the right ways, Bowie's Blackstar is an uncompromising vision made brighter and more bittersweet in the context of his death.

What Critics Have to Say: With a score of 87 on Metacritic, it's been universally hailed as one of Bowie's best.

What You Have to Say: With over two million scrobbles, the Last.fm community definitely listened up.

Most Played Track: Lazarus 558.1k Scrobbles, 136.8 listeners

Deftones - Gore

What We Have to Say: Eight albums into their career, the Deftones remain just as vital as ever. While visceral and aggressive, Gore also contains melodic moments of beauty. It's this balancing act that's sustained them for decades and continues to set them apart from their alt-metal peers.

What Critics Have to Say: Gore has earned relatively favorable reviews, spurring a bit of renaissance for the band. Metacritic Score: 81.
What You Have to Say: You've listened to this album over a million times, making one of the Last.fm community's faves.
Most Played Track: Prayers / Triangles 102.6k scrobbles, 31.3k listeners

Explosions in the Sky - The Wilderness

What We Have to Say: Instrumental rock quartet Explosions In the Sky have released their first LP in 5 years, after spending a few years focusing on scoring films. The Wilderness is one of their most accessible efforts yet, with no song clocking in at over 7-and-a-half minutes.

What Critics Have to Say: Reviews have been mainly positive as well. Metacritic Score: 80.
What You Have to Say: Our listeners welcomed the band's return, as the album's been played over half a million times.
Most Played Track: Disintegration Anxiety 107.7k Scrobbles, 30.7k Listeners

Gojira - Magma

What We Have to Say: The French heavy metal band challenges notions of what metal is supposed to be. At once avant-gaarde and accessible, Magma will likely break the band beyond fans of genre.

What Critics Have to Say: It's the most acclaimed album of the band's career. Metacritic Score: 86.
What You Have to Say: With over 300,000 listens, the Last.fm community are way ahead of the rest of the world.
Most Played Track: Stranded 92.6k Scrobbles, 21k Listeners

Iggy Pop - Post Pop Depression

What We Have to Say: The proto-punk God hooked up an all-star backing band led by Queen of the Stone Age's Josh Homme for an invigorating set of sleazy, sexy tunes that are also rumored to be Pop's last.

What Critics Have to Say: Critics agree, it's Pop's best in ages. Metacritic Score: 79.
What You Have to Say: With over half a million listens, you guys dig it too.
Most Played Track: Gardenia 126.6k Scrobbles, 39.5k Listeners

Kamaiyah - A Good Night in the Ghetto

What We Have to Say: Kamaiyah, a 21-year-old native of Oakland, CA, uses her debut mixtape to tell stories of her come up, both good and bad, depressing and uplifting, and all honest. Listening to this promising debut, you won't help but feel like there are even bigger things to come from the young MC.

What Critics Have to Say: This under the radar artist hasn't garnered a whole lot of mainstream attention. We have a feeling that will change soon though. Metacritic Score: N/A
What You Have to Say: Our audience is definitely ahead of the trends - you've already listened to it over 100,000 times.
Most Played Track: I'm On 8,889 Scrobbles, 3,631 Listeners

Kanye West - The Life of Pablo

What We Have to Say: Kanye West is known for many things to many people, but increasingly less so for the music that helped establish him in the first place. His award-show antics, his desire to pursue a career in fashion, his high-profile marriage, and subsequent induction into the Kardashian universe, have made him consistent tabloid-fodder. But on The Life of Pablo, Kanye reminds us all that he is one of the most inventive artists of his generation, weaving together an album of sonic exploration and all-star collaborators.

What Critics Have to Say: With a middling Metacritic score of 75, it's by far Kanye's most polarizing release to date.
What You Have to Say: Love him or loathe him, you're definitely listening - Pablo's been played nearly 8 million times.
Most Played Track: Famous 666k Scrobbles, 106.4k Listeners

Margo Price - Midwest Farmer's Daughter

What We Have to Say: With so much twang and sass, Margo Price is a natural heir to country queens of yore, like Loretta Lynn. But beyond its retro sound, Midwest Farmer's Daughter stands its own ground with tales of hard-living from a woman who knows a thing or two about resilience - she pawned her wedding ring just to afford to record this debut album. It paid off.

What Critics Have to Say: With such great music and a killer back story it's hard for critics not to root for her. Metacritic Score: 85.
What You Have to Say: Despite increased media attention and a high profile SNL performance, the album's only been played 40,000 times on Last.fm.
Most Played Track: Hurtin' (On the Bottle) 8,781 Scrobbles, 3,488 Listeners

Mitski - Puberty 2

What We Have to Say: By utilizing and inverting indie-rock tropes, the Japanese American singer-songwriter finally broke through with this stunning portrait of adulthood, in which maturity is just a seamless, albeit painful, extension of adolescence.

What Critics Have to Say: It's might be Mitski's fourth album, but it's the first one to gain near universal accolades from the like of Pitchfork and the New Yorker. Metacritc Score: 87.
What You Have to Say: You've played the album over 150,000 times, but take it from us, that's not enough!
Most Played Track: Your Best American Girl 64.2 Scrobbles, 15.9 Listeners

Modern Baseball - Holy Ghost

What We Have to Say: On their third full-length album the emo quartet split songwriting duties among band members ala Outkast, as they tackle darker themes of depression, loss and the responsibilities of adulthood with upbeat pop-punk blasts. Growing up rarely sounds this good.

What Critics Have to Say: With a Metacritic score of 81, critics agree this is how you make emo relevant in 2016.
What You Have to Say: The Last.fm audience can't get enough of this record either. It's been played over 300,000 times.
Most Played Track: Wedding Singer 42.3 Scrobbles, 10.3 Listeners

Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool

What We Have to Say: Radiohead's long-awaited ninth album proved to be their most human and most humane in years. This time around, the band's anxiety and paranoia is far more personal than political, with string orchestrations and piano balladry only enhancing its emotional nature.

What Critics Have to Say: Of course they love it, it's Radiohead. Metacritic Score: 88.
What You Have to Say: Of course you love it, it's Radiohead. With over 4 million spins, it's one of the most played album of the year.
Most Played Track: Burn the Witch 824.2k Scrobbles, 141.5 Listeners

Rihanna - Anti

What We Have to Say: Spanning genres and personas, Anti contains multitudes. From dancehall bangers to slow-burning torch songs, it's the riskiest and most defiant album of her career, proving not all pop stars have to be boxed in.

What Critics Have to Say: Critics were pretty split on Anti. Not everyone was keen on its scattershot approach to tone and genre. Metacritic Score: 73.
What You Have to Say: With nearly 5 million plays, it's obviously one of the biggest releases of 2016.
Most Played Track: Work 1.3M Scrobbles, 165.5k Listeners

Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor's Guide to Earth

What We Have to Say: By combining brassy horns, stomping Southern rock and an unexpected Nirvana cover, Sturgill Simpson once again redefines the parameters of modern country music. Inspired by the birth of his son, the gravelly-voiced troubadour sounds as wise as his is awe-struck.

What Critics Have to Say: With a Metacritic score of 86, it's been universally hailed as one of the year's best.
What You Have to Say: Looks like you guys have were as won over as the critics, given the 200,000 listens.
Most Played Track: In Bloom (Nirvana cover) 39.9k Scrobbles, 14k Listeners

White Lung - Paradise

What We Have to Say: Paradise is a beast of record - loud, ferocious and a natural successor to the riot grrl punk ethos that underpin it. Angry and accessible in equal doses, it's the Canadian band's best.

What Critics Have to Say: It's garnered mostly positive reviews, and a few misguided ones off-put by the rage that makes it so great. Metacritic Score: 79.
What You Have to Say: With about 200,000 spins, Paradise is beginning to catch on.
Most Played Track: Hungry 40.1k Scrobbles, 12.6 Listeners

Whitney - Light Upon the Lake

What We Have to Say: From the ashes of buzz band the Smith Westerns, comes Whitney, with one of the gentlest, and most pleasurable debut albums of 2016. It's like the best 70s yacht rock with none of the cheese and all of the sincerity.

What Critics Have to Say: Whitney's soft sounds won over the critics too. Metacritic Score: 83.
What You Have to Say: With over 100,000 spins you guys are also digging it.
Most Played Track: No Woman 122.1k Scrobbles, 24.1k Listeners

William Tyler - Modern Country

What We Have to Say: William Tyler's Modern Country blends folk, country and blues in the most pastoral way. His intricate instrumental compositions evoke open roads and sprawling land, not to mention all the melancholia and nostalgia that comes with the territory.

What Critics Have to Say: While relatively unknown to the mainstream, he's garnered favorable reviews with a Metacritic score of 82.
What You Have to Say: With only 20,000 listens, he's yet to catch on with Last.fm listeners. We're hoping that will change.
Most Played Track: Gone Clear 13.4 Scrobbles, 7,972 Listeners

YG - Still Brazy

What We Have to Say: YG burst out of the gate with debut album My Krazy Life, an album of small-time gangster tales in Compton, California. Since then, YG's life has only gotten crazier. He was shot last year by an unknown assailant at his L.A. studio and had shots break out on the set of his "Thug" music video. Still Brazy finds YG reckoning with these incidents as he attempts to reconcile his high-profile persona and former street-level gangster identity.

What Critics Have to Say: With a Metacritic score of 84, it's one of the most critically acclaimed hip-hop records of the year.
What You Have to Say: Still Brazy's gotten around 100,000 listens to it's slowly catching on with the Last.fm community.
Most Played Track: Still Brazy 16.1k Scrobbles, 5,505 Listeners

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