10 is the magic number

10 of our critics pick their 10 best albums of 2010

10 of our critics pick their 10 best albums of 2010

Lauren Murphy

1 John Grant

Queen of Denmark

READ MORE

2 Villagers

Becoming a Jackal

3 Laura Marling

I Speak Because I Can

4 Beach House

Teen Dream

5 Cathy Davey

The Nameless

6 Owen Pallett

Heartland

7 Janelle Monáe

The ArchAndroid

8 Jónsi

Go

9 O Emperor

Hither Thither

10 The Drums

The Drums

Tony Clayton-Lea

1 Villagers

Becoming a Jackal

2 Tracey Thorn

Love and Opposite

3 Strands

Strands

4 Oliver Cole

We Albatri

5 Rumer

Seasons of My Soul

6 Teenage Fanclub

Shadows

7 John Grant

Queen of Denmark

8 Jónsi

Go

9 Divine Comedy

Bang Goes the Knighthood

10 Laura Marling

I Speak Because I Can


Ailbhe Malone


1 Everything

Everything Man Alive

2 Hurts

Happiness

3 Rihanna

Loud

4 Best Coast

Crazy for You

5 Villagers

Becoming a Jackal

6 Tinie Tempah

Disc-Overy

7 Music Go Music

Expressions

8 Robyn Body

Talk Trilogy

9 Laura Marling

I Speak Because I Can

10 Joanna Newsom

Have One on Me

Ray Comisky

1 Django Bates

Belovèd Bird

2 Food

Quiet Inlet

3 Tom Harrell

Roman Nights

4 Lee Konitz

Live at the Village Vanguard

5 Loose Tubes

Dancing on Frith Street

6 Charles Lloyd

Mirror

7 Neon Quartet

Catch Me

8 Gwilym Simcock

Blues Vignette

9 Christine Tobin

Tapestry Unravelled

10 Norma Winstone

Stories Yet to Tell

Brian Boyd

1 Deerhunter

Halcyon Digest

2 Band of Horses

Infinite Arms

3 Robert Plant

Band of Joy

4 MGMT

Congratulations

5 O Emperor

Hither Thither

6 Jónsi

Go

7 John Legend and The Roots

Wake Up!

8 Gorillaz

Plastic Beach

9 Villagers

Becoming a Jackal

10 Beach House

Teen Dream

Joe Breen

1 Bruce Springsteen

The Promise

2 Richard Thompson

Dream Attic

3 Taylor Swift

Speak Now

4 Willie Nelson

Country Music

5 Robert Plant

Band of Joy

6 Basia Bulat

Heart of My Own

7 Rachel Harrington

Celilo Falls

8 Natalie Merchant

Leave Your Sleep

9 The Duke and the King

Long Live the Duke and the King

10 Neil Young

Le Noise


Sinéad Gleeson

1 Beach House

Teen Dream

2 Caribou

Swim

3 Joanna Newsom

Have One on Me

4 The National

High Violet

5 Tame Impala

Innerspeaker

6 Sufjan Stevens

The Age of Adz

7 Stornoway

Beachcomber’s Windowsill

8 Villagers

Becoming a Jackal

9 Warpaint

The Fool

10 Pearly Gate Music

Pearly Gate Music

Michael Dervan

1 Mark Padmore (tenor), Paul Lewis (piano)

Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin

2 Maurizio Pollini (piano)

Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1

3 Freiburger Barockorchester/ Petra Müllejans, Gottfried von der Goltz

Telemann’s Musique de Table

4 La Serenissima/Adrian Chandler (violin)

Antonio Vivaldi – Gods, Emperors and Angels

5 Chor der Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, La Cetra Barockorchester Basel/Anthony Rooley

Hayes’s The Passions

6 Nina Janßen (clarinet), Ensemble Modern/Franck Ollu, Johannes Kalitzke

Ensemble Pieces by Arnulf Herrmann

7 Belcea Quartet, Valentin Erben (cello)

Schubert’s String Quintet & Late Quartets

8 Roberta Invernizzi (soprano), Thomas E Bauer (bass), Furio Zanani (bass), La Risonanza/ Fabio Bonizzoni (harpsichord)

Handel’s Italian Cantatas, Vol 7

9 Andreas Scholl (counter tenor,baritone), Shield of Harmony

Oswald Von Wolkenstein – Songs of Myself

10 London Symphony Orchestra/Valery Gergiev

Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet

Jim Carroll

1 Flying Lotus C

osmogramma

2 Villagers

Becoming a Jackal

3 Janelle Monáe

The ArchAndroid

4 Beach House

Teen Dream

5 Gorillaz

Plastic Beach

6 Sleigh Bells

Treats

7 Gil Scott Heron

I’m New Here

8 Kanye West

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

9 Lindstrøm & Christabelle

Real Life Is No Cool

10 Perfume Genius

Learning

Siobhan Long


1 Peadar Ó Riada, Martin Hayes & Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh

Triúr Sa Draighean


2 Andy Cutting

Andy Cutting

3 Matt Cranitch & Jackie Daly

The Living Stream

4 Louis de Paor & Ronan Browne

Agus Rud Eile/And Another Thing

5 BrendAn Begley & Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh

Le Gealaigh/A Moment of Madness

6 Nuala Kennedy

Tune In

7 Lunfardia

Acollarados

8 Téada

Ceol Agus Cuimhne/Music and Memory

9 Andy Irvine

Abocurragh

10 Chris Wood

Handmade Life