2017 Power Rankings

Albums

The top Albums of 2017, as ranked by the committee of one.

RANK	ARTIST	ALBUM	GENRE	POWER INDEX
1	Gang Of Youths	Go Farther In Lightness	Indie Rock	98. 1
2	Phoebe Bridgers	Stranger In The Alps	Indie Rock	89. 2
3	Nadia Reid	Preservation	Indie Folk	85. 9
4	LANY	LANY	Shimmer Pop	83. 9
5	SZA	Ctrl	Alternative R&B	83. 0
6	The Chain Gang Of 1974	FELT	Electropop	82. 7
7	Day Wave	The Days We Had	Dream Pop	82. 0
T8	Lorde	Melodrama	Art Pop	81. 7
T8	The War On Drugs	A Deeper Understanding	Indie Rock	81. 7
T10	Betty Who	The Valley	Pop	81. 1
T10	Petit Biscuit	Presence	Glitch Pop	81. 1
T10	flor	come out. you're hiding	Indie Pop/Rock	81. 1
13	Vince Staples	Big Fish Theory	Alternative Rap	78. 7
14	Ásgeir	Afterglow	Art Pop	78. 5
T15	A R I Z O N A	GALLERY	Pop	78. 3
T15	Noah Gundersen	WHITE NOISE	Indie Rock	78. 3
T17	Close Talker	Lens	Indie Rock	78. 1
T17	Dua Lipa	Dua Lipa	Pop	78. 1
T19	Andrew Belle	Dive Deep	Neo Mellow	78. 0
T19	Hippo Campus	Landmark	Indie Rock	78. 0
T19	Big Thief	Capacity	Indie Rock	78. 0
T19	David Ramirez	We're Not Going Anywhere	Folk Singer	78. 0
T19	London Grammar	Truth Is A Beautiful Thing	Dream Pop	78. 0
24	Grizzly Bear	Painted Ruins	Neo-Psychedelia	77. 9
T25	Cigarettes After Sex	Cigarettes After Sex	Dream Pop	77. 8
T25	Sir Sly	Don't You Worry, Honey	Dark Pop	77. 8
27	ODESZA	A Moment Apart	Glitch Pop	76. 3
28	Fenech-Soler	Zilla	Electropop	75. 2
T29	MUNA	About U	Electropop	75. 0
T29	Bonobo	Migration	IDM	75. 0
T31	SOHN	Rennen	Electro-R&B	74. 5
T31	Novo Amor & Ed Tullett	Heiress	Ambient Folk	74. 5
T31	Slum Sociable	Slum Sociable	Electropop	74. 5
T34	Sylvan Esso	What Now	Indie Electronic	74. 2
T34	Halsey	Hopeless Fountain Kingdom	Dark Pop	74. 2
T34	Nothing But Thieves	Broken Machine	Alternative Pop/Rock	74. 2
T34	Calvin Harris	Funk Wav Bounces, Vol. 1	Pop	74. 2
38	Marika Hackman	I'm Not Your Man	Indie Rock	74. 0
T39	Laura Marling	Semper Femina	Chamber Folk	73. 8
T39	Dan Croll	Emerging Adulthood	Indie Pop	73. 8
T39	Wy	Okay	Dream Pop	73. 8
42	WALK THE MOON	What If Nothing	Indie Pop/Rock	73. 7
T43	Kendrick Lamar	DAMN.	Alternative Rap	73. 3
T43	Tall Ships	Impressions	Post-Rock	73. 3
45	Slowdive	Slowdive	Dream Pop	72. 9
46	Lights	Skin&Earth	Pop	72. 7
47	The National	Sleep Well Beast	Indie Rock	72. 3
T48	Paramore	After Laughter	Emo-Pop	72. 2
T48	Daley	The Spectrum	Pop-Soul	72. 2
50	John Mayer	The Search For Everything	Pop/Rock	71. 9
T51	J.I.D	The Never Story	Alternative Rap	71. 5
T51	Joan Shelley	Joan Shelley	Folk Singer	71. 5
T53	Alvvays	Antisocialites	Lo-Fi Indie	71. 3
T53	Hundred Waters	Communicating	Metropop	71. 3
T53	Kelela	Take Me Apart	Alternative R&B	71. 3
56	Elbow	Little Fictions	Rock	70. 8
T57	Francis And The Lights	Just For Us	Art Pop	70. 6
T57	Waxahatchee	Out In The Storm	Indie Rock	70. 6
59	Ryan Adams	Prisoner	Alt-Country	69. 7
60	Tove Lo	BLUE LIPS (Lady Wood Phase II)	Pop	69. 6
61	Temples	Volcano	Neo-Psychedelia	69. 5
62	Henry Jamison	The Wilds	Folk Singer	69. 4
63	Julie Byrne	Not Even Happiness	Indie Folk	68. 9
64	BROCKHAMPTON	SATURATION II	Alternative Rap	68. 2
T65	Perfume Genius	No Shape	Art Pop	68. 0
T65	Elijah Blake	Audiology	Pop	68. 0
T67	Jay-Z	4:44	Rap	67. 8
T67	Horse Thief	Trials & Truth	Indie Rock	67. 8
T69	Talos	Wild Alee	Ambient Folk	67. 7
T69	Father John Misty	Pure Comedy	Baroque Pop	67. 7
T69	Cannons	Night Drive	Indie Electronic	67. 7
72	Majid Jordan	The Space Between	Alternative R&B	67. 4
73	Miguel	War & Leisure	Alternative R&B	66. 9
T74	Oh Wonder	Ultralife	Shimmer Pop	66. 8
T74	St. Vincent	MASSEDUCTION	Progressive Indie	66. 8
T76	Big Sean	I Decided.	Rap	66. 7
T76	Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile	Lotta Sea Lice	Alt-Country	66. 7
T78	Arcade Fire	Everything Now	Indie Rock	66. 4
T78	Giraffage	Too Real	Glitch Pop	66. 4
T80	Jesca Hoop	Memories Are Now	Indie Folk	66. 3
T80	Aquilo	Silhouettes	Shimmer Pop	66. 3
T80	Little Comets	Worhead	Indie Pop/Rock	66. 3
T80	Vic Mensa	The Autobiography	Rap	66. 3
84	Quinn XCII	The Story Of Us	Pop	65. 8
85	Syd	Fin	Alternative R&B	65. 7
86	Logic	Everybody	Rap	65. 5
87	Taylor Swift	reputation	Pop	65. 1
T88	SACRED PAWS	Strike A Match	Indie Pop	65. 0
T88	Thomas Azier	Rouge	Art Pop	65. 0
T88	Sun Glitters	It Will Be Forever	Chillwave	65. 0
T91	H.E.R.	H.E.R.	Alternative R&B	64. 9
T91	Mighty Oaks	Dreamers	Folk-Pop	64. 9
T91	Rationale	Rationale	Shimmer Pop	64. 9
T91	Stars	There Is No Love In Fluorescent Light	Indie Pop	64. 9
95	Drake	More Life	Rap	64. 8
T96	Joywave	Content	Indietronica	64. 5
T96	MUTEMATH	Play Dead	Post-Rock	64. 5
T98	Son Little	New Magic	Rock-Soul	64. 2
T98	Chris Brown	Heartbreak On A Full Moon	Urban	64. 2
T98	Daniel Caesar	Freudian	Alternative R&B	64. 2
101	Washed Out	Mister Mellow	Chillwave	64. 0
102	Daughter	Music From Before The Storm	Video Game Music	63. 8
T103	Circa Waves	Different Creatures	Indie Pop/Rock	63. 6
T103	Theme Park	Is This How It Starts?	Indie Pop	63. 6
T103	HAIM	Something To Tell You	Pop/Rock	63. 6
T103	Aldous Harding	Party	Chamber Pop	63. 6
T103	Foreign Fields	Take Cover [Dark Versions]	Ambient	63. 6
T108	Lyrica Anderson	Adia	Urban	63. 5
T108	Jamila Woods	HEAVN	Alternative R&B	63. 5
110	THEY.	Nü Religion: Hyena	Alternative Hip-Hop	63. 1
T111	Amber Run	For A Moment, I Was Lost	Rock	62. 8
T111	Natalia Lafourcade	Musas, Vol. 1	Mexican Pop	62. 8
T113	Vancouver Sleep Clinic	Revival	Indie Electronic	62. 6
T113	Fleet Foxes	Crack-Up	Chamber Folk	62. 6
T113	Slow Magic	Float	Glitch Pop	62. 6
T116	Shy Girls	Salt	Electro-R&B	62. 5
T116	Darius	Utopia	Filter House	62. 5
T116	Sam Smith	The Thrill Of It All	Pop-Soul	62. 5
T116	Marc Broussard	Easy To Love	Pop/Rock	62. 5
120	Mura Masa	Mura Masa	Glitch	62. 3
121	Khalid	American Teen	Pop	62. 1
T122	Bleachers	Gone Now	Indie Pop/Rock	62. 0
T122	Jaymes Young	Feel Something	Dark Pop	62. 0
T122	BROCKHAMPTON	SATURATION	Alternative Rap	62. 0
T122	Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit	The Nashville Sound	Alt-Country	62. 0
T122	Sufjan Stevens	The Greatest Gift	Ambient Folk	62. 0
127	Electric Youth	Breathing \|Original Motion Picture Soundtrack From A Lost Film\|	Original Score	61. 9
128	dvsn	Morning After	Alternative R&B	61. 7
129	Niia	I	Pop-Soul	61. 5
T130	Incubus	8	Alt-Rock	61. 3
T130	Pond	The Weather	Neo-Psychedelia	61. 3
T132	Misterwives	Connect The Dots	Indie Pop	61. 2
T132	Jordan Klassen	Big Intruder	Folk-Rock	61. 2
134	Loyle Carner	Yesterday's Gone	Alternative Rap	60. 7
135	Lemaitre	Chapter One	Filter House	60. 5
T136	Strand Of Oaks	Hard Love	Indie Rock	60. 2
T136	Katy Perry	Witness	Pop	60. 2
T136	Broken Social Scene	Hug Of Thunder	Art Rock	60. 2
T136	Iron & Wine	Beast Epic	Indie Folk	60. 2
140	COIN	How Will You Know If You Never Try	Indie Pop/Rock	59. 9
T141	Gloom Balloon	Drying The Eyes Of The Goddess Of Gloom, Underneath The Stars And The Moon	Indie Pop	59. 6
T141	Bruno Major	A Song For Every Moon	Singer/Songwriter	59. 6
T143	Zara Larsson	So Good	Pop	59. 4
T143	Japanese Breakfast	Soft Sounds From Another Planet	Progressive Indie	59. 4
145	Phoenix	Ti Amo	Indie Pop	58. 9
146	San Fermin	Belong	Chamber Pop	58. 7
147	Sampha	Process	Electro-R&B	58. 4
148	Kehlani	SweetSexySavage	Pop	57. 9
T149	The xx	I See You	Indie Electronic	57. 4
T149	Crywolf	Skeletons	Gauze Pop	57. 4
T149	White Sea	Tropical Odds	Poptron	57. 4
T149	The Lone Bellow	Walk Into A Storm	Folk-Pop	57. 4
T153	Hurray For The Riff Raff	The Navigator	Folk Singer	57. 2
T153	Queens Of The Stone Age	Villains	Hard Rock	57. 2
155	Colony House	Only The Lonely	Rock	56. 8
T156	Said The Whale	As Long As Your Eyes Are Wide	Indie Pop	56. 7
T156	Passenger	The Boy Who Cried Wolf	Folk Singer	56. 7
158	∆	RELAXER	Art Rock	56. 5
159	Eisley	I'm Only Dreaming	Rock	55. 8
T160	Ed Sheeran	÷	Pop/Rock	55. 2
T160	Snoh Aalegra	Feels	Neo-Soul	55. 2
162	Coasts	This Life, Vol. 1	Indie Pop/Rock	55. 1
163	Lana Del Rey	Lust For Life	Dark Pop	55. 0
T164	Tiny Deaths	Elegies	Indie Electronic	54. 6
T164	Widowspeak	Expect The Best	Dream Pop	54. 6
166	Dirty Projectors	Dirty Projectors	Progressive Indie	54. 2
167	Hey Violet	From The Outside	Pop	54. 0
168	Maroon 5	Red Pill Blues	Pop	53. 8
169	Jamiroquai	Automaton	Synth Funk	53. 7
170	Noga Erez	Off The Radar	New Rave	52. 6
171	LCD Soundsystem	american dream	Alternative Dance	51. 7
172	Fyfe	The Space Between	Shimmer Pop	51. 4
173	Julien Baker	Turn Out The Lights	Dream Pop	51. 0
174	Little Hurricane	Same Sun Same Moon	Garage Rock Revival	49. 9
175	Spoon	Hot Thoughts	Indie Rock	49. 8
T176	Susanne Sundfør	Music For People In Trouble	Indie Folk	49. 7
T176	Phaeleh	Lost Time	Ambient	49. 7
178	Wolf Alice	Visions Of A Life	Indie Rock	48. 9
179	Wavves	You're Welcome	Power Pop	48. 6
180	Beach House	B-Sides And Rarities	Dream Pop	48. 2
181	Future	HNDRXX	Trap Rap	48. 0
T182	U2	Songs Of Experience	Alternative Pop/Rock	47. 8
T182	Zander Hawley	When I Get Blue	Folk Singer	47. 8
184	Surfer Blood	Snowdonia	Power Pop	46. 6
185	Mogwai	Every Country's Sun	Atmospheric Rock	46. 4
186	Future Islands	The Far Field	Alternative Dance	46. 3
187	Rapsody	Laila's Wisdom	Rap	43. 7
188	BROCKHAMPTON	SATURATION III	Alternative Rap	42. 8
189	Passion Pit	Tremendous Sea Of Love	Indie Pop	41. 9
190	Björk	Utopia	Art Pop	40. 3
191	Dame D.O.L.L.A.	CONFIRMED	Rap	34. 0
192	Future	FUTURE	Trap Rap	30. 6
193	Jim James	Tribute To 2	Lo-Fi Indie	29. 7
194	Noble Oak	Collapsing Together	Gauze Pop	28. 1
195	NER*D	NO ONE EVER REALLY DIES	Alternative Hip-Hop	25. 5
196	Bibio	Phantom Brickworks	Ambient	14. 7

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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

The top EPs of 2017, as ranked by the committee of one.

RANK	ARTIST	EP	GENRE	POWER INDEX
1	Hippo Campus	warm glow	Indie Rock	93.6
2	Mathbonus	Evergreen	IDM	83.7
T3	Bearcubs	Underwaterfall	Electro-R&B	81.3
T3	ZHU	stardustexhalemarrakechdreams	Electro House	81.3
T3	Bibio	Beyond Serious	Progressive House	81.3
6	Vallis Alps	Fable	Shimmer Pop	80.3
T7	Coldplay	Kaleidoscope	Pop/Rock	79.9
T7	Mathbonus	Mopeworld	IDM	79.9
9	Glades	This Is What It's Like	Shimmer Pop	78.5
10	Amber Mark	3:33am	Alternative R&B	78.4
11	Sabrina Claudio	Confidently Lost	Neo-Soul	72.7
12	Mars Today	Bits & Pieces	Alternative R&B	72.1
T13	Peter Silberman	Impermanence	Dream Pop	71.7
T13	Shallou	All Becomes Okay	Shimmer Pop	71.7
T13	Kevin Garrett	False Hope	Dark Pop	71.7
T13	The Lighthouse And The Whaler	Paths	Indie Pop/Rock	71.7
T13	CloZee	Harmony	Future Bass	71.7
18	Great Good Fine OK	III	Electropop	71.4
19	The Japanese House	Saw You In A Dream	Art Pop	71.2
T20	Astronomyy	Rest In Paradise	Electro-R&B	70.2
T20	Panama	Hope For Something	Electropop	70.2
T20	Dafina Zeqiri	King	Pop	70.2
T23	Novo Amor	Bathing Beach	Ambient Folk	69.6
T23	Tourist	Wash	Glitch Pop	69.6
T23	Mighty Oaks	Storm	Folk-Pop	69.6
26	Treasureseason	XY	Shimmer Pop	69.0
T27	JMR	Boyish	Shimmer Pop	67.9
T27	Echosmith	Inside A Dream	Pop	67.9
T29	Apollo Wild	No Love Lost	Alt-Rock	66.7
T29	Davie	Black Gospel, Vol. 1	Urban	66.7
31	Tom Misch	5 Day Mischon	Indie Electronic	65.3
32	EARTHGANG	Rags	Alternative Rap	64.3
T33	Snow In Mexico	Breath	Electroclash	63.4
T33	Colouring	Heathen	Neo Mellow	63.4
35	Nick Murphy	Missing Link	Art Rock	63.1
36	Elliot Moss	Boomerang	Electro-R&B	61.5
37	Frightened Rabbit	Recorded Songs	Indie Rock	60.7
T38	Parcels	Hideout	Alternative Dance	59.8
T38	Miami Horror	The Shapes	Alternative Dance	59.8
40	Wild Beasts	Punk Drunk & Trembling	Art Rock	59.2
41	Born Cages	Exit Signs In A Burning Building	Indie Pop/Rock	59.0
T42	Hundred Waters	Currency	Indie Electronic	58.9
T42	Smallpools	THE SCIENCE OF LETTING GO	Indie Pop/Rock	58.9
44	Kaskade	Redux EP 002	Electro House	58.8
45	The Knocks	TESTIFY	Pop	57.4
46	Vic Mensa	The Manuscript	Rap	56.8
T47	Amtrac	True Value	Progressive House	56.6
T47	Amtrac	1987	Progressive House	56.6
T47	MTNS	Like A Stone	Shimmer Pop	56.6
50	DaniLeigh	Summer With Friends	Urban	56.0
51	Ravyn Lenae	Midnight Moonlight	Alternative R&B	54.3
T52	Milo Greene	Never Ender	Indie Rock	54.0
T52	The Neighbourhood	Hard	Dark Pop	54.0
54	Transviolet	Kaleidoscopes	Electropop	52.6
55	Lyrica Anderson	Nasha Pearl	Urban	50.3
56	DJ Shadow	The Mountain Has Fallen	Plunderphonics	49.2
T57	Rationale	Vessels	Shimmer Pop	49.0
T57	Son Lux	Remedy	Art Pop	49.0
T57	Flume	Skin Companion EP II	Future Bass	49.0
T60	Run River North	Superstition	Folk-Pop	47.6
T60	EARTHGANG	Robots	Alternative Rap	47.6
T60	MØ	When I Was Young	Pop	47.6
63	Pell	girasoul	Alternative Rap	47.0
64	San Holo	The Trip	Future Bass	40.7
65	Grouplove	Little Mess	Indie Pop	26.3

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.