What a year for music 2017 has been!

Along with a string of losses to the musical community, it seems like the amount of releases snowballed with each passing month. Long dormant artists like LCD Soundsystem, Liam Gallagher, Gorillaz, and even Broken Social Scene released their first albums in a long time, and they all managed to impress despite the hype. Posthumous records from Sharon Jones and Gord Downie exceeded expectations as well, showing just how important each artist was. On top of a myriad of artists releasing multiple records this year, Australia’s King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard is only one album short right now of their five album goal for 2017.

It was an exceptional year for hip hop as well, with a surprise release from Jay-Z as well as stellar releases from the likes of Kendrick Lamar, SZA, Kelela, Sampha, Wu-Tang Clan, Tyler, the Creator, Thundercat and even two back-to-back records from Future. Ignoring the pop world would’ve been a mistake this year with amazing releases from MØ, Cashmere Cat, HAIM, Tove Lo, Charli XCX, Zara Larsson, Lana Del Rey, Lorde and especially Tei Shi’s debut. Hell, even Harry Styles solo debut was a great guilty pleasure record.
The indie world was awash with huge new releases from St. Vincent, Father John Misty, Foxygen, Cigarettes After Sex, and the first records in years from Beck and Queens of the Stone Age. We even got the intercontinental collaboration record we didn’t know we needed from Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile. Here in Canada we saw progressive releases from Arcade Fire, Mac Demarco, Alvvays, Stars, Weaves, Austra and the brilliant debuts from She-Devils and Casper Skulls. New Pornographers and Destroyer even offered up their own separate records that both managed to impress fans.

We’ve only mentioned a handful of all the amazing releases from this year but with just about every big name artist putting out an album this year, it was hard to say 2017 was a particularly bad year in the music world. Polling our writers, we’ve rounded up our favorites of the year, how did they stack up with your dearest albums?

2017 Albums of the Year and Songs of the Year lists below.

TOP 10 ALBUMS

1. LCD Soundsystem – American Dream
2. Father John Misty – Pure Comedy
3. The National – Sleep Well Beast
4. ALVVAYS – Antisocialites
5. Kendrick Lamar – DAMN
6. Protomartyr – Relatives  in Descent
7. The War on Drugs – A Deeper Understanding
8. Slowdive – Slowdive
9. Tyler, the Creator – Flower Boy
10. Mac De Marco – This Old Dog

Honorable mentions:

• St Vincent – Masseduction
• Fleet Foxes – Crack Up

TOP 10 SINGLES

1. St. Vincent – New York
2. Father John Misty – Pure Comedy
3. LCD Soundsystem – Call the police
4. Spoon – Hot Thoughts
5. Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile – Over Everything
6. Sampha – (No One Knows Me) Like My Piano
7. Kendrick Lamar – Humble
8. Kamasi Washington – Truth
9. The War on Drugs – Pain
10. Alex Cameron – Stranger’s Kiss (Duet with Angel Olsen)

Honorable mentions:

• Slowdive – Sugar for the Pill
• Alvvays – In Undertow