2018 Power Rankings

Albums

Ranked albums of 2018 as rated by the committee of one.

RANK	ARTIST	ALBUM	GENRE	POWER INDEX
1	Denzel Curry	TA13OO	Trap Rap	83. 9
2	Wye Oak	The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs	Art Rock	82. 2
3	Maribou State	Kingdoms In Colour	Electropop	81. 7
4	Lauv	I met you when I was 18. (the playlist)	Pop	80. 2
5	Tom Misch	Geography	Alternative R&B	78. 5
6	LANY	Malibu Nights	Indie Poptimism	78. 3
7	The Rare Occasions	Into The Shallows	Indie Rock	78. 1
T8	Lord Huron	Vide Noir	Folk-Rock	78. 0
T8	Mimicking Birds	Layers Of Us	Indie Folk	78. 0
T8	SALES	Forever & Ever	Shimmer Pop	78. 0
11	Boy Bjorn	Mistaken Animals	Ambient Folk	77. 9
12	Ray LaMontagne	Part Of The Light	Neo-Psychedelia	77. 8
13	Jungle	For Ever	Synth Funk	76. 0
14	Vacationer	Mindset	Indie Pop	75. 0
15	ISLAND	Feels Like Air	Indie Rock	74. 5
T16	J. Cole	KOD	Rap	74. 2
T16	Until The Ribbon Breaks	Until The Ribbon Breaks	Dark Pop	74. 2
T16	Hippo Campus	Bambi	Indie Pop	74. 2
19	6LACK	East Atlanta Love Letter	Alternative R&B	73. 9
20	Snail Mail	Lush	Indie Rock	73. 3
21	HONNE	Love Me / Love Me Not	Electro-R&B	72. 8
22	Novo Amor	Birthplace	Ambient Folk	72. 5
23	Bazzi	COSMIC	Pop	72. 4
24	Janelle Monáe	Dirty Computer	Alternative R&B	72. 3
T25	Now, Now	Saved	Indie Poptimism	72. 1
T25	Roosevelt	Young Romance	Electropop	72. 1
T27	Justin Timberlake	Man Of The Woods	Pop	72. 0
T27	Phosphorescent	C'est La Vie	Alt-Country	72. 0
29	Beach House	7	Dream Pop	71. 7
30	Gia Margaret	There's Always A Glimmer	Ambient Folk	71. 5
T31	Rhye	Blood	Indie R&B	71. 3
T31	Muse	Simulation Theory	Post-Rock	71. 3
33	The Beths	Future Me Hates Me	Indie Rock	70. 8
T34	Moon Taxi	Let The Record Play	Indie Rock	70. 6
T34	Unknown Mortal Orchestra	Sex & Food	Neo-Psychedelia	70. 6
T34	The Internet	Hive Mind	Alternative R&B	70. 6
T34	Lykke Li	so sad so sexy	Dark Pop	70. 6
T34	Still Corners	Slow Air	Electroclash	70. 6
T34	Wild Nothing	Indigo	Metropop	70. 6
T34	AK	Branches	Downtempo	70. 6
T34	AK	Sleepless In Berlin	Downtempo	70. 6
42	Big Red Machine	Big Red Machine	Ambient Folk	70. 4
T43	THE CARTERS	EVERYTHING IS LOVE	Rap	70. 1
T43	City And Colour	Guide Me Back Home	Mellow Alternative	70. 1
45	Jon Hopkins	Singularity	IDM	69. 7
46	Arin Ray	Platinum Fire	Urban	69. 5
47	Typhoon	Offerings	Indie Rock	69. 4
T48	Travis Scott	ASTROWORLD	Trap Rap	69. 3
T48	Hello June	Hello June	Indie Rock	69. 3
50	Hayley Kiyoko	Expectations	Pop	69. 2
51	Glades	To Love You	Shimmer Pop	68. 6
T52	Nils Frahm	All Melody	IDM	68. 5
T52	Christine And The Queens	Chris	Indie Poptimism	68. 5
T54	Megan Bonnell	Separate Rooms	Folk Singer	67. 8
T54	Damien Jurado	The Horizon Just Laughed	Chamber Folk	67. 8
T54	Passenger	Runaway	Folk Singer	67. 8
T54	The Paper Kites	On The Corner Where You Live	Folk-Rock	67. 8
T54	Haley Heynderickx	I Need To Start A Garden	Indie Folk	67. 8
T54	Low	Double Negative	Experimental	67. 8
60	Folly & The Hunter	Remains	Indie Rock	67. 6
T61	First Aid Kit	Ruins	Chamber Folk	67. 5
T61	Jorja Smith	Lost & Found	Pop-Soul	67. 5
T61	Lucy Dacus	Historian	Indie Rock	67. 5
T61	Years & Years	Palo Santo	Indie Poptimism	67. 5
T65	Bearcubs	Ultraviolet	Electro-R&B	67. 4
T65	Mitski	Be The Cowboy	Progressive Indie	67. 4
T65	Sweeps	Civilization	Downtempo	67. 4
T68	Pale Waves	My Mind Makes Noises	Indie Pop/Rock	66. 7
T68	DEGA	Dega	Electropop	66. 7
70	San Holo	album1	Future Bass	66. 6
71	Soccer Mommy	Clean	Indie Rock	66. 4
72	Jonathan Wilson	Rare Birds	Chamber Pop	66. 1
73	BØRNS	Blue Madonna	Indie Poptimism	65. 9
T74	Post Malone	beerbongs & bentleys	Alternative R&B	65. 5
T74	The Kite String Tangle	The Kite String Tangle Presents: In A Desperate Moment	Ambient Folk	65. 5
76	Adrianne Lenker	abysskiss	Indie Rock	65. 4
77	SAINt JHN	Collection One	Trap Rap	65. 3
78	Ariana Grande	Sweetener	Pop	65. 2
T79	S. Carey	Hundred Acres	Ambient Folk	65. 0
T79	Extravision	Waking Up	Neo-Psychedelia	65. 0
T79	Austin Basham	You And Me For Now	Folk Singer	65. 0
T79	The Marcus King Band	Carolina Confessions	Blues-Rock	65. 0
83	Bas	Milky Way	Alternative Rap	64. 9
84	Man Without Country	Infinity Mirror	Gauze Pop	64. 6
85	Aquilo	ii	Ambient Folk	64. 5
86	NAO	Saturn	Alternative R&B	64. 2
87	tUnE-yArDs	I can feel you creep into my private life	Progressive Indie	63. 9
88	Thomas Azier	Stray	Art Pop	63. 8
T89	Courtney Barnett	Tell Me How You Really Feel	Indie Rock	63. 6
T89	Ben Howard	Noonday Dream	Indie Folk	63. 6
T89	Robyn	Honey	Indie Poptimism	63. 6
92	ZHU	RINGOS DESERT	Deep House	63. 3
93	Logic	Bobby Tarantino II	Rap	63. 1
94	Foxing	Nearer My God	Post-Rock	62. 8
95	Thirty Seconds To Mars	AMERICA	Dark Pop	62. 6
96	HAERTS	New Compassion	Chamber Pop	62. 5
97	Migos	Culture II	Trap Rap	62. 4
T98	Black Panther	Black Panther \|The Album Music From And Inspired By\|	Alternative Rap	62. 0
T98	Kacey Musgraves	Golden Hour	Country	62. 0
T98	Milo Greene	Adult Contemporary	Indie Pop	62. 0
T98	Father John Misty	God's Favorite Customer	Chamber Pop	62. 0
T98	Generationals	State Dogs: Singles (2017-18)	Indie Pop	62. 0
T103	The Paper Kites	On The Train Ride Home	Folk Singer	61. 9
T103	XXXTENTACION	?	Alternative R&B	61. 9
T103	courtship.	Denial In Paradise	Indie Pop/Rock	61. 9
T106	Cardi B	Invasion Of Privacy	Rap	61. 4
T106	The 1975	A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships	Indie Pop	61. 4
T108	Saba	CARE FOR ME	Alternative Rap	61. 3
T108	Tiny Deaths	Magic	Poptron	61. 3
T108	Mumford & Sons	Delta	Folk-Pop	61. 3
111	Glorietta	Glorietta	Alt-Country	61. 0
T112	Lake Street Dive	Free Yourself Up	Rock-Soul	60. 9
T112	Milagres	Ziggurat	Indie Pop/Rock	60. 9
T114	Son Lux	Brighter Wounds	Art Pop	60. 7
T114	Mastersystem	Dance Music	Indie Rock	60. 7
T116	Drake	Scorpion	Rap	60. 4
T116	Logic	YSIV	Rap	60. 4
118	I'm With Her	See You Around	Indie Folk	60. 2
119	The Knocks	New York Narcotic	Pop	60. 1
120	James Bay	Electric Light	Singer/Songwriter	59. 8
T121	Jim James	Uniform Distortion	Indie Rock	59. 4
T121	Bad Bad Hats	Lightning Round	Pop/Rock	59. 4
123	Astronauts, Etc.	Living In Symbol	Neo-Psychedelia	58. 9
124	MØ	Forever Neverland	Pop	58. 5
125	ZAYN	Icarus Falls	Pop	58. 1
T126	Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats	Tearing At The Seams	Rock-Soul	57. 4
T126	Wild Child	Expectations	Indie Pop	57. 4
128	Porches	The House	Metropop	56. 7
129	Field Report	Summertime Songs	Folk-Rock	56. 1
130	Chromeo	Head Over Heels	Alternative Dance	55. 6
T131	Mathbonus	Whelmer	IDM	55. 5
T131	The Neighbourhood	Hard To Imagine The Neighbourhood Ever Changing	Dark Pop	55. 5
133	Ne-Yo	GOOD MAN	Urban	55. 3
134	Alessia Cara	The Pains Of Growing	Pop	54. 5
T135	Sweeps	Departure	Downtempo	54. 4
T135	Lupe Fiasco	DROGAS WAVE	Rap	54. 4
137	Noname	Room 25	Jazz Rap	54. 0
T138	Half Waif	Lavender	Metropop	53. 7
T138	Kamasi Washington	Heaven And Earth	Jazz	53. 7
T138	BROCKHAMPTON	iridescence	Alternative Rap	53. 7
T138	DaniLeigh	The Plan	Urban	53. 7
142	Tinashe	Joyride	Urban	53. 3
143	Lucius	Nudes	Chamber Folk	52. 7
144	Anderson .Paak	Oxnard	Alternative Hip-Hop	52. 5
145	U.S. Girls	In A Poem Unlimited	Art Pop	52. 2
146	Alison Wonderland	Awake	Future Bass	52. 0
147	Coheed And Cambria	The Unheavenly Creatures	New Prog	51. 8
148	J.I.D	DiCaprio 2	Alternative Rap	51. 4
149	Tall Heights	Pretty Colors For Your Actions	Indie Pop	51. 0
150	Let's Eat Grandma	I'm All Ears	Art Pop	50. 4
151	Brownout	Fear Of A Brown Planet	Funk	50. 3
152	Shoffy	Lenses	Pop	50. 1
153	St. Lucia	Hyperion	Electropop	49. 3
154	Dirty Projectors	Lamp Lit Prose	Progressive Indie	49. 1
155	Sun Glitters	Lo-Fi-Lo-Ve	Chillwave	48. 6
T156	Arctic Monkeys	Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino	Indie Rock	46. 4
T156	Kali Uchis	Isolation	Neo-Soul	46. 4
158	Ours	New Age Heroine II	Alt-Rock	46. 0
159	CHVRCHES	Love Is Dead	Poptron	44. 4
160	Wet	Still Run	Shimmer Pop	44. 2
161	Dawes	Passwords	Alt-Country	42. 0
162	Doja Cat	Amala	Urban	41. 4
163	Car Seat Headrest	Twin Fantasy (Face To Face)	Indie Rock	40. 7
164	The Decemberists	I'll Be Your Girl	Alt-Country	39. 7
165	Cavetown	Lemon Boy	Indie Pop	39. 3
166	Fall Out Boy	M A N I A	Emo-Pop	38. 6
167	St. Vincent	MassEducation	Progressive Indie	35. 5
168	Strand Of Oaks	Harder Love	Indie Rock	34. 2

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Spotify Apple Music

The Fine Print

The aFIREintheattic Power Index formula is top secret… but here’s a frivolous hint since we like you: It’s sort of like a logarithmic function on the weighted mean of the committee’s song ratings, which is then standardized-ish and scaled from 0 to 100. Talk nerdy to me.
All songs on an album or EP are rated and contribute to its Power Index. As a result, releases that are cohesive and consistently good, with fewer filler tracks, will invariably score higher than those with only a handful of great songs and a bunch of throwaways. Here, a release cannot be greater than the sum of its parts. For rankings that take that phenomenon into account, look to the aFIREintheattic Awards at the end of each year.
Note that EPs can tend toward higher scores than albums because sometimes an EP is a precursor to a full album and that album will contain the songs from the EP but with the addition of filler tracks that drag the Power Index score down.
Albums with a Power Index of 80 or higher and EPs with a Power Index of 70 or higher are a solid bet for a top 10 finish. The two highest scoring albums of all-time are Radiohead’s Kid A at 100.0 and OK Computer at 99.9 and the highest scoring EPs are Vancouver Sleep Clinic’s Winter at 96.7 and James Bay’s The Dark Of The Morning at 94.7. And we’ll be forthright: they probably always will be.
If a release is in the power rankings but is not in the playlist above, it’s not available on Spotify. The playlist is made up of the most popular song from each album in order based on its current power ranking.

EPs

Ranked EPs of 2018 as rated by the committee of one.

RANK	ARTIST	EP	GENRE	POWER INDEX
1	Amber Mark	Conexão	Alternative R&B	89. 7
2	Sasha Sloan	Loser	Pop	85. 4
3	Pusha T	DAYTONA	Rap	84. 2
T4	DNCE	People To People	Pop	81. 3
T4	Hozier	Nina Cried Power	Folk Singer	81. 3
T4	ASL	Beach House	Electropop	81. 3
7	Art School Girlfriend	Into The Blue Hour	Electro-R&B	80. 3
T8	Lucas Nord	Ego	Electro-R&B	79. 9
T8	SG Lewis	Dark	Electro-R&B	79. 9
T8	Lennon Stella	Love, Me	Pop	79. 9
11	Patrick Droney	Patrick Droney	Singer/Songwriter	79. 3
12	Bay Ledges	In Waves	Indie Pop/Rock	79. 0
T13	Shallou	Souls	Glitch Pop	78. 1
T13	H.E.R.	I Used To Know Her: Part 2	Alternative R&B	78. 1
15	Cautious Clay	Blood Type	Electro-R&B	73. 1
16	Betty Who	Betty, Pt. 1	Pop	72. 4
17	Snakehips	Stay Home Tapes (= --__-- =)	Pop	70. 8
T18	Utah	Five	Chillbeat	70. 2
T18	AK	New Age	Downtempo	70. 2
20	Aeris Roves	Moon By Island Gardens	Neo-Soul	69. 8
T21	Penguin Prison	Turn It Up	Indie Pop	69. 6
T21	Lucky Daye	I	Alternative R&B	69. 6
T21	The Mowgli's	I Was Starting To Wonder	Indie Pop	69. 6
T21	Cautious Clay	RESONANCE	Electro-R&B	69. 6
T21	King Princess	Make My Bed	Indie Poptimism	69. 6
26	Colouring	Bn	Neo Mellow	69. 0
27	Sabrina Claudio	No Rain, No Flowers	Alternative R&B	68. 8
28	AUGUST 08	FATHER	Alternative R&B	67. 9
T29	The Weeknd	My Dear Melancholy,	Alternative R&B	66. 7
T29	Yuno	Moodie	Neo-Psychedelia	66. 7
31	Slow Magic	AWAY	Glitch Pop	65. 7
T32	Vancouver Sleep Clinic	Therapy Phase 01	Gauze Pop	65. 3
T32	The Tallest Man On Earth	When The Bird Sees The Solid Ground	Folk Singer	65. 3
34	Vic Mensa	HOOLIGANS	Rap	65. 1
35	Kanye West	ye	Alternative Rap	64. 4
36	Transviolet	Valley	Pop	64. 0
T37	Vince Staples	FM!	Alternative Rap	63. 5
T37	Nathaniel Marc	Nathaniel Marc	Folk Singer	63. 5
T39	Pale Waves	ALL THE THINGS I NEVER SAID	Indie Pop/Rock	63. 4
T39	Wale	Self Promotion	Rap	63. 4
T39	MUTEMATH	Voice In The Silence	Post-Rock	63. 4
42	SG Lewis	Dusk	Electro-R&B	63. 3
T43	Nothing But Thieves	What Did You Think When You Made Me This Way?	Alternative Pop/Rock	63. 1
T43	Another Sky	Forget Yourself	Art Rock	63. 1
T45	Phangs	Happy Season	Electropop	62. 2
T45	Gryffin	Gravity, Pt. 1	Pop	62. 2
47	Cannons	In A Heartbeat	Shimmer Pop	60. 1
T48	ZHU	Ringos Desert, Pt. 1	Deep House	59. 9
T48	Dustin Tebbutt	Chasing Gold	Ambient Folk	59. 9
T50	Khalid	Suncity	Pop	59. 8
T50	Leo Kalyan	The Edge	Dark Pop	59. 8
T50	Hatchie	Sugar & Spice	Indie Poptimism	59. 8
53	POLIÇA & s t a r g a z e	Music For The Long Emergency	Art Pop	58. 8
54	Loote	single.	Pop	58. 7
55	Still Parade	Soon Enough	Neo-Psychedelia	58. 1
56	Iron & Wine	Weed Garden	Indie Folk	57. 8
57	AlunaGeorge	Champagne Eyes	Alternative R&B	57. 4
58	The Wild Wild	Love Is God	Indie Pop/Rock	57. 1
T59	First Aid Kit	Tender Offerings	Chamber Folk	56. 6
T59	Haywyre	Panorama: Form	Filter House	56. 6
T59	girl in red	Chapter 1	Lo-Fi Indie	56. 6
T59	Kim Cesarion	Bleed	Pop	56. 6
63	boygenius	boygenius	Indie Rock	55. 8
T64	[SEBELL]	Songs For Flight Delays	Pop	55. 5
T64	Say Lou Lou	Immortelle	Art Pop	55. 5
66	THEY.	Fireside	Alternative Hip-Hop	54. 8
67	Elijah Blake	Bijoux 23	Urban	54. 6
T68	KIDS SEE GHOSTS	KIDS SEE GHOSTS	Experimental Hip-Hop	54. 3
T68	The Decemberists	Traveling On	Alt-Country	54. 3
T68	H.E.R.	I Used To Know Her: The Prelude	Alternative R&B	54. 3
T71	Vancouver Sleep Clinic	Therapy Phase 02	Gauze Pop	54. 0
T71	Lake Street Dive	Freak Yourself Out	Rock-Soul	54. 0
T71	WESLEE	9F	Neo-R&B	54. 0
74	Mathbonus	Holy Park	IDM	52. 6
75	Fall Out Boy	Lake Effect Kid	Emo-Pop	51. 3
76	Cavetown	Dear.	Indie Pop	49. 2
77	Son Lux	Yesterday's Wake	Art Pop	49. 0
T78	Wale	Free Lunch	Rap	47. 9
T78	Smallpools	So Social	Indie Pop/Rock	47. 9
T78	Pink Sweat$	Volume 2	Pop	47. 9
T81	Geographer	Alone Time	Indie Pop	47. 6
T81	Haley Heynderickx & Max García Conover	Among Horses III	Indie Folk	47. 6
T81	Haywyre	Panorama: Discover	Filter House	47. 6
84	Prinze George	Airborne	Shimmer Pop	47. 0
85	ASL	Cabin	Electropop	46. 7
86	Negative Gemini	Bad Baby	Experimental	40. 9
87	Usher x Zaytoven	A	Urban	37. 6
88	Nas	NASIR	Rap	36. 2
89	Amber Run	The Assembly	Neo Mellow	28. 3
90	Karajishi	Realm	Urban	26. 3
91	Unknown Mortal Orchestra	IC-01 Hanoi	Avante-Garde Jazz	24. 6
92	Wale	It's Complicated	Rap	21. 7

SCROLL →

Spotify Apple Music

The Fine Print

The aFIREintheattic Power Index formula is top secret… but here’s a frivolous hint since we like you: It’s sort of like a logarithmic function on the weighted mean of the committee’s song ratings, which is then standardized-ish and scaled from 0 to 100. Talk nerdy to me.
All songs on an album or EP are rated and contribute to its Power Index. As a result, releases that are cohesive and consistently good, with fewer filler tracks, will invariably score higher than those with only a handful of great songs and a bunch of throwaways. Here, a release cannot be greater than the sum of its parts. For rankings that take that phenomenon into account, look to the aFIREintheattic Awards at the end of each year.
Note that EPs can tend toward higher scores than albums because sometimes an EP is a precursor to a full album and that album will contain the songs from the EP but with the addition of filler tracks that drag the Power Index score down.
Albums with a Power Index of 80 or higher and EPs with a Power Index of 70 or higher are a solid bet for a top 10 finish. The two highest scoring albums of all-time are Radiohead’s Kid A at 100.0 and OK Computer at 99.9 and the highest scoring EPs are Vancouver Sleep Clinic’s Winter at 96.7 and James Bay’s The Dark Of The Morning at 94.7. And we’ll be forthright: they probably always will be.
If a release is in the power rankings but is not in the playlist above, it’s not available on Spotify. The playlist is made up of the most popular song from each album in order based on its current power ranking.