What is the best indie album of the 2010s?

By YPB Team

The 2010s brought bedroom pop, the return of lo-fi, and a new wave of emotionally intense singer-songwriters. Which album from this decade meant the most to you?

  1. Bon Iver, Bon Iver — ranked #11
    Bon Iver, Bon Iver
    Bon Iver's 2011 second album, moving from cabin-folk isolation to lush orchestral indie pop in a stunning leap.
  2. Modern Vampires of the City — ranked #22
    Modern Vampires of the City
    Vampire Weekend's 2013 masterpiece, exploring mortality and faith with their most sophisticated songwriting to date.
  3. The Suburbs — ranked #33
    The Suburbs
    Arcade Fire's 2010 Grammy-winning double album, a wistful meditation on suburban America and lost youth.
  4. Teen Dream — ranked #44
    Teen Dream
    Beach House's 2010 dream pop breakthrough, all lush reverb and bittersweet nostalgia.
  5. Currents — ranked #55
    Currents
    Tame Impala's 2015 psychedelic transformation into electronic pop, one of the defining albums of the decade.
  6. Puberty 2 — ranked #66
    Puberty 2
    Mitski's 2016 breakthrough, raw and intense indie rock about alienation, identity, and desire.
  7. Carrie & Lowell — ranked #77
    Carrie & Lowell
    Sufjan Stevens' 2015 devastating and sparse folk album about grief, childhood, and his late mother.
  8. Teens of Denial — ranked #88
    Teens of Denial
    Car Seat Headrest's 2016 double album of confessional power-pop that brought Will Toledo's bedroom project to wide acclaim.
  9. Burn Your Fire for No Witness — ranked #99
    Burn Your Fire for No Witness
    Angel Olsen's 2014 album, a raw and haunting folk-rock statement that established her as a singular indie voice.
  10. Lush — ranked #1010
    Lush
    Snail Mail's 2018 debut, a remarkably assured confessional indie rock album from a teenage Lindsey Jordan.
  11. High Violet — ranked #1111
    High Violet
    The National's 2010 album, a lush and melancholic mid-life indie rock statement.
  12. Are We There — ranked #1212
    Are We There
    Sharon Van Etten's 2014 breakthrough, a powerful indie rock album exploring love, loss, and self-discovery.
  13. A Crow Looked at Me — ranked #1313
    A Crow Looked at Me
    Mount Eerie's 2017 devastating album about grief following the death of his wife, raw and almost unbearably intimate.
  14. Stranger in the Alps — ranked #1414
    Stranger in the Alps
    Phoebe Bridgers' 2017 debut, an emotionally transparent folk-rock album that heralded one of indie's great new voices.
  15. Halcyon Digest — ranked #1515
    Halcyon Digest
    Deerhunter's 2010 album, a dreamy and hypnotic blend of shoegaze, pop, and psychedelia.
  16. Lost in the Dream — ranked #1616
    Lost in the Dream
    The War on Drugs' 2014 expansive shoegaze-meets-Heartland-rock album, a slow-burn masterpiece.
  17. Sprained Ankle — ranked #1717
    Sprained Ankle
    Julien Baker's 2015 debut solo album, a spare and emotionally devastating set of guitar-and-voice indie folk songs.

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