
There’s a lot of music that isn’t on this list. Because lord knows we need the distraction. Because the works of art below serve as a reminder that the 2010s weren’t all bad. Because we relish excuses to sound off on the music that’s affected us the most and to enlist some of our favorite writers to do so. Because some of the already unanimously beloved music on this list still merits further praise.

Because plenty of our favorite albums of the last 10 years could still use a boost.

Why now? Because - and there’s no reason to ignore the elephant in the room: SPIN stewardship has changed hands many, many times since we made the online jump - we got our chance.
