2019 Power Rankings

Albums

Ranked albums of 2019 as rated by the committee of one.

RANK	ARTIST	ALBUM	GENRE	POWER INDEX
1	Bear's Den	So That You Might Hear Me	Folk-Rock	89. 2
2	Foals	Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost, Pt. 1	Post-Rock	86. 7
3	Highasakite	Uranium Heart	Indie Poptimism	83. 7
4	The Japanese House	Good At Falling	Indie Poptimism	82. 4
5	Jai Wolf	The Cure To Loneliness	Electropop	82. 0
6	Joseph	Good Luck, Kid	Folk-Rock	81. 7
T7	Clairo	Immunity	Indie Poptimism	81. 4
T7	MUNA	Saves The World	Indie Poptimism	81. 4
T9	Caroline Polachek	Pang	Indie Poptimism	81. 2
T9	Tove Lo	Sunshine Kitty	Pop	81. 2
11	Jadu Heart	Melt Away	Shimmer Pop	81. 1
12	Lucky Daye	Painted	Alternative R&B	80. 2
13	Flor	ley lines	Indie Pop/Rock	79. 5
T14	King Princess	Cheap Queen	Indie Poptimism	78. 0
T14	Shura	forevher	Indie Poptimism	78. 0
16	Mansionair	Shadowboxer	Shimmer Pop	76. 2
17	Sean McConnell	Secondhand Smoke	Folk Singer	75. 4
18	Nilüfer Yanya	Miss Universe	Art Pop	75. 0
T19	Anderson .Paak	Ventura	Alternative Hip-Hop	74. 5
T19	Private Island	5xx	Indie Rock	74. 5
T21	Great Grandpa	Four Of Arrows	Indie Rock	74. 2
T21	Vetiver	Up On High	Folk-Rock	74. 2
23	Coldplay	Everyday Life	Neo Mellow	74. 0
T24	Elbow	Giants Of All Sizes	Britpop	73. 8
T24	Hatchie	Keepsake	Dream Pop	73. 8
T24	A Winged Victory For The Sullen	The Undivided Five	Classical	73. 8
T27	Damien Jurado	In The Shape Of A Storm	Chamber Folk	73. 1
T27	The Tallest Man On Earth	I Love You. It's A Fever Dream.	Folk Singer	73. 1
29	Kidnap	Grow	Deep House	73. 0
30	Cayucas	Real Life	Indie Pop	72. 9
31	YBN Cordae	The Lost Boy	Alternative Rap	72. 7
32	Bon Iver	i,i	Ambient Folk	72. 6
33	Hozier	Wasteland, Baby!	Folk Singer	72. 5
34	Ariana Grande	thank u, next	Pop	72. 3
35	Big Wild	Superdream	Chillbeat	72. 0
T36	RY X	Unfurl	Ambient Folk	71. 5
T36	Our Girl	Stranger Today	Indie Rock	71. 5
T36	Palace	Life After	Indie Rock	71. 5
T36	Kate Tempest	The Book Of Traps And Lessons	Spoken Word	71. 5
T40	OWEL	Paris	Post-Rock	71. 3
T40	Close Talker	How Do We Stay Here?	Indie Rock	71. 3
T40	Michael Kiwanuka	KIWANUKA	Neo-Soul	71. 3
43	SAINt JHN	Ghetto Lenny's Love Songs	Melodic Rap	71. 1
44	Patrick Watson	Wave	Chamber Pop	70. 8
T45	Tourist	Everyday	Chillbeat	70. 6
T45	Alice Phoebe Lou	Paper Castles	Art Pop	70. 6
T45	Electric Youth	Memory Emotion	Chillwave	70. 6
T45	Tourist	Wild	Chillbeat	70. 6
T45	Gallant	Sweet Insomnia	Alternative R&B	70. 6
T45	Little Simz	Grey Area	Alternative Rap	70. 6
51	Carly Rae Jepsen	Dedicated	Pop	70. 3
52	Manatee Commune	pda	Chillbeat	69. 8
T53	Mark Ronson	Late Night Feelings	Pop	69. 6
T53	SONTALK	Stay Wild	Folk Singer	69. 6
T53	Kevin Garrett	Hoax	Pop	69. 6
T56	Broods	Don't Feed The Pop Monster	Shimmer Pop	69. 5
T56	James Blake	Assume Form	Electro-R&B	69. 5
58	Pell	Gravity	Pop-Rap	69. 4
59	Khalid	Free Spirit	Pop	69. 3
60	Jon Bryant	Cult Classic	Indie Poptimism	68. 9
T61	Marika Hackman	Any Human Friend	Indie Rock	68. 8
T61	The Royal Concept	The Man Without Qualities	Indie Pop	68. 8
T61	Angel Olsen	All Mirrors	Experimental	68. 8
64	PUP	Morbid Stuff	Post-Emo	68. 5
65	Vampire Weekend	Father Of The Bride	Indie Pop	68. 2
T66	Catfish And The Bottlemen	The Balance	Indie Rock	67. 8
T66	SACRED PAWS	Run Around The Sun	Indie Pop	67. 8
T66	DIIV	Deceiver	Indie Rock	67. 8
T66	Vacationer	Wavelengths	Downtempo	67. 8
T66	Black Pumas	Black Pumas	Pop	67. 8
T71	Noah Gundersen	Lover	Mellow Alternative	67. 7
T71	Post Malone	Hollywood's Bleeding	Melodic Rap	67. 7
T73	The Moth & The Flame	Ruthless	Alt-Rock	67. 5
T73	City And Colour	A Pill For Loneliness	Mellow Alternative	67. 5
T75	Big Thief	U.F.O.F.	Indie Rock	67. 4
T75	C Duncan	Health	Art Pop	67. 4
77	Loyle Carner	Not Waving, But Drowning	Alternative Rap	67. 3
T78	Jay Som	Anak Ko	Indie Rock	67. 1
T78	Tinashe	Songs For You	Urban	67. 1
80	Boy & Bear	Suck On Light	Indie Rock	66. 9
T81	Billie Eilish	WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?	Dark Pop	66. 7
T81	Steve Gunn	The Unseen In Between	Chamber Folk	66. 7
T81	Cigarettes After Sex	Cry	Dream Pop	66. 7
T81	FKA twigs	MAGDALENE	Alternative R&B	66. 7
T81	Kehlani	While We Wait	Urban	66. 7
T86	Local Natives	Violet Street	Indie Rock	66. 4
T86	Thom Yorke	ANIMA	Indie Electronic	66. 4
T88	Temples	Hot Motion	Neo-Psychedelia	66. 3
T88	Hand Habits	placeholder	Indie Rock	66. 3
90	Rich Aucoin	Release	Indie Pop	65. 8
T91	Banks	III	Dark Pop	65. 6
T91	The National	I Am Easy To Find	Indie Rock	65. 6
T93	Better Oblivion Community Center	Better Oblivion Community Center	Indie Rock	65. 4
T93	Joan Shelley	Like The River Loves The Sea	Folk Singer	65. 4
T93	Kishi Bashi	Omoiyari	Chamber Pop	65. 4
T96	Andrew Bird	My Finest Work Yet	Chamber Pop	65. 0
T96	Strand Of Oaks	Eraserland	Indie Rock	65. 0
T96	FONTAINES D.C.	Dogrel	Post-Hardcore	65. 0
T96	Hayden Thorpe	Diviner	Art Pop	65. 0
T96	KAYTRANADA	BUBBA	Neo-R&B	65. 0
101	BROCKHAMPTON	GINGER	Alternative Rap	64. 9
T102	Catching Flies	Silver Linings	Chillbeat	64. 6
T102	Florist	Emily Alone	Indie Folk	64. 6
104	Madeon	Good Faith	Electro House	64. 5
T105	SOAK	Grim Town	Indie Rock	64. 2
T105	Daniel Caesar	CASE STUDY 01	Alternative R&B	64. 2
107	Bag Raiders	Horizons	Electropop	64. 1
T108	Júníus Meyvant	Across The Borders	Rock-Soul	64. 0
T108	Jesca Hoop	Stonechild	Indie Folk	64. 0
T108	Lizzo	Cuz I Love You	Pop	64. 0
T108	Wy	Softie	Dream Pop	64. 0
112	Gryffin	Gravity	Pop	63. 8
T113	Grizfolk	Rarest Of Birds	Indie Pop/Rock	63. 6
T113	Chelsea Wolfe	Birth Of Violence	Experimental	63. 6
T113	Kano	Hoodies All Summer	Rap	63. 6
T113	Snoh Aalegra	- Ugh, those feels again	Neo-Soul	63. 6
T113	Sin Fang	Sad Party	Neo-Psychedelia	63. 6
118	Bibio	Ribbons	Art Pop	63. 3
119	J.S. Ondara	Tales Of America	Folk Singer	63. 2
120	Betty Who	Betty	Pop	62. 8
121	Little May	Blame My Body	Indie Rock	62. 6
T122	Julia Jacklin	Crushing	Indie Rock	62. 5
T122	Bat For Lashes	Lost Girls	Metropop	62. 5
124	HANA	Hanadriel	Poptron	62. 3
T125	Bad Suns	Mystic Truth	Indie Pop/Rock	62. 0
T125	Talos	Far Out Dust	Ambient Folk	62. 0
T125	Generationals	Reader As Detective	Indie Pop	62. 0
T125	Gold Spectacles	Gold Spectacles	Pop	62. 0
129	Third Eye Blind	Screamer	Alternative Pop/Rock	61. 6
T130	Sharon Van Etten	Remind Me Tomorrow	Art Pop	61. 3
T130	Teebs	Anicca	IDM	61. 3
T132	Dave	PSYCHODRAMA	Alternative Rap	61. 2
T132	Dreamville	Revenge Of The Dreamers III	Alternative Rap	61. 2
T132	Odessa	All Things	Chamber Pop	61. 2
T135	Ed Sheeran	No.6 Collaborations Project	Pop	61. 1
T135	Foals	Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost, Pt. 2	Post-Rock	61. 1
137	Valley	MAYBE	Pop	60. 8
T138	The Twilight Sad	It Won/t Be Like This All The Time	Experimental	60. 7
T138	Aldous Harding	Designer	Chamber Pop	60. 7
T138	Bastille	Doom Days	Indie Poptimism	60. 7
T138	DJ Khaled	Father Of Asahd	Rap	60. 7
T138	Two Door Cinema Club	False Alarm	Indietronica	60. 7
T138	The Teskey Brothers	Run Home Slow	Rock-Soul	60. 7
T138	Sabrina Claudio	Truth Is	Alternative R&B	60. 7
T138	Charli XCX	Charli	Pop	60. 7
146	Xavier Omär & Sango	Moments Spent Loving You	Alternative R&B	60. 2
147	Wallows	Nothing Happens	Indie Rock	59. 9
148	Brittany Howard	Jaime	Rock-Soul	59. 6
149	Royal Canoe	Waver	Indie Pop	59. 4
150	Freddie Gibbs & Madlib	Bandana	Rap	59. 1
151	Magic City Hippies	Modern Animal	Funk Rock	58. 9
152	Drake	Care Package	Rap	58. 5
153	Blaenavon	Everything That Makes You Happy	Indie Rock	58. 4
T154	Message To Bears	Constants	Ambient	58. 3
T154	Mauno	Really Well	Neo-Psychedelia	58. 3
156	Weyes Blood	Titanic Rising	Art Pop	58. 1
T157	Tora	Can't Buy The Mood	Electro-R&B	58. 0
T157	H.E.R.	I Used To Know Her	Alternative R&B	58. 0
159	Tyler, The Creator	IGOR	Experimental Hip-Hop	57. 8
T160	AK	Facets	Downtempo	57. 4
T160	Tegan And Sara	Hey, I'm Just Like You	Indie Poptimism	57. 4
162	Logic	Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind	Rap	57. 2
163	EARTHGANG	Mirrorland	Alternative Rap	57. 0
164	Deerhunter	Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared?	Neo-Psychedelia	56. 7
165	Sudan Archives	Athena	Alternative R&B	56. 5
166	Cate Le Bon	Reward	Art Pop	56. 1
T167	Stella Donnelly	Beware Of The Dogs	Indie Rock	56. 0
T167	Jamila Woods	LEGACY! LEGACY!	Alternative R&B	56. 0
169	Solange	When I Get Home	Alternative R&B	55. 8
170	Son Lux	Remnants	Art Pop	55. 2
171	William Tyler	Goes West	Baroque Folk	53. 3
172	The Head And The Heart	Living Mirage	Folk-Pop	52. 6
173	Taylor Swift	Lover	Pop	52. 1
T174	Shy Girls	Bird On The Wing	Indie R&B	52. 0
T174	Blaenavon	demoitis	Progressive Indie	52. 0
176	Big Thief	Two Hands	Indie Rock	49. 7
177	Caamp	By And By	Folk-Pop	49. 6
178	Mating Ritual	Hot Content	Indie Pop/Rock	49. 1
T179	Chance The Rapper	The Big Day	Pop-Rap	48. 7
T179	Marc Broussard	Home (The Dockside Sessions)	Singer/Songwriter	48. 7
T181	Beyoncé	The Lion King: The Gift	Alternative R&B	47. 8
T181	Quinn XCII	From Michigan With Love	Pop	47. 8
183	Lana Del Rey	Norman Fucking Rockwell!	Dark Pop	47. 5
T184	Wild Belle	Everbody One Of A Kind	Reggae-Pop	47. 4
T184	TOOL	Fear Inoculum	Alternative Metal	47. 4
186	Sunday Service Choir	Jesus Is Born	Contemporary Gospel	46. 6
187	Sara Bareilles	Amidst The Chaos	Singer/Songwriter	46. 3
188	Circa Waves	What's It Like Over There?	Indie Pop/Rock	46. 2
189	Said The Whale	Cascadia	Indie Pop	45. 5
190	Summer Walker	Over It	Urban	45. 4
191	Louis York	American Griots	Pop	41. 0
192	Switchfoot	Native Tongue	Alternative Pop/Rock	38. 1
193	Nick Murphy	Run Fast Sleep Naked	Art Rock	28. 1

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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 2019 as rated by the committee of one.

RANK	ARTIST	EP	GENRE	POWER INDEX
1	Highasakite	The Bare Romantic, Pt. 1	Indie Poptimism	89. 7
2	The Band CAMINO	tryhard	Indie Pop/Rock	84. 4
3	Kelsey Bulkin	Leucadia	Indie Electronic	81. 3
4	Sasha Sloan	Self Portrait	Pop	80. 5
5	Mosa Wild	Talking In Circles	Indie Pop/Rock	79. 9
6	Riah	Heartbreak Magic	Indie Poptimism	78. 8
7	A R I Z O N A	Asylum	Pop	73. 8
T8	Yoste	try to be okay	Shimmer Pop	72. 8
T8	AUGUST 08	Happy Endings With An Asterisk	Alternative R&B	72. 8
T10	BAYNK	Someone's EP II	Shimmer Pop	72. 5
T10	Sure Sure	What's It Like?	Indie Pop	72. 5
12	Cannons	Shadows	Shimmer Pop	71. 4
T13	kwassa	fka kyko	Pop	71. 2
T13	Another Sky	Life Was Coming In Through The Blinds	Art Rock	71. 2
T15	Geographer	New Jersey	Indie Pop	70. 8
T15	SG Lewis	Dawn	Electro-R&B	70. 8
T15	Slow Magic	Dreams	Chillbeat	70. 8
18	Bazzi	Soul Searching	Pop	70. 6
19	Utah	Utah + Friends	Chillbeat	70. 2
20	Denzel Curry	ZUU	Trap Rap	70. 1
21	Jessica Pratt	Quiet Signs	Chamber Folk	69. 7
22	Random Forest	Requiescence	Atmospheric Rock	69. 6
23	Saint Raymond	3	Indie Pop/Rock	69. 0
24	beabadoobee	Loveworm	Lo-Fi Indie	67. 8
T25	Cautious Clay	Table Of Context	Neo-R&B	66. 7
T25	Raffaella	Ballerina	Indie Poptimism	66. 7
T25	XYLØ	Yes & No	Dark Pop	66. 7
T28	Tycho	Weather	Chillwave	65. 5
T28	Hippo Campus	Demos I	Indie Pop	65. 5
30	Passenger	Sometimes It's Something, Sometimes It's Nothing At All	Folk Singer	65. 4
T31	Arin Ray	Phases II	Urban	65. 3
T31	Runnner	Fan On	Folk-Rock	65. 3
T31	Brothertiger	A Chain Of Islands	Chillwave	65. 3
T34	Loote	lost	Pop	65. 2
T34	Slum Sociable	L.I.F.	Indie Electronic	65. 2
36	Great Good Fine Ok	GGFOUR	Electropop	64. 0
37	John K	if we never met	Pop	63. 4
38	ISLAND	When We're Still	Indie Rock	63. 1
39	Bear's Den	Only Son Of The Falling Snow	Folk-Rock	60. 7
T40	Júníus Meyvant	Rearview Paradise	Rock-Soul	59. 8
T40	Run River North	Monsters Calling Home, Pt. 1	Indie Pop/Rock	59. 8
T40	beabadoobee	Space Cadet	Lo-Fi Indie	59. 8
T40	MisterWives	mini bloom	Indie Pop	59. 8
44	Noah Gundersen	WHITE NOISE B-SIDES	Indie Rock	58. 6
45	Hippo Campus	Demos II	Indie Pop	57. 8
T46	Lykke Li	still sad still sexy	Dark Pop	57. 4
T46	XYLØ	Pretty Sad	Pop	57. 4
48	The Range	Providence	IDM	56. 8
T49	Mighty Oaks	Driftwood Seat	Folk-Pop	56. 6
T49	The Mowgli's	American Feelings	Indie Pop	56. 6
T49	Bas	Spilled Milk 1	Alternative Rap	56. 6
T49	NIKI	Wanna Take This Downtown?	Pop	56. 6
53	Rhye	Spirit	Indie R&B	56. 0
54	Yeasayer	Erotic Reruns	Progressive Indie	54. 8
55	Kaash Paige	Parked Car Convos	Alternative R&B	54. 6
56	Magic City Hippies	Hippie Castle	Funk Rock	54. 3
57	Chelsea Cutler	brent	Pop	54. 0
58	Our Girl	Bedroom Record	Lo-Fi Indie	52. 2
T59	Lucy Dacus	2019	Indie Rock	51. 9
T59	DUCKWRTH	THE FALLING MAN	Alternative Rap	51. 9
61	beabadoobee	Loveworm (Bedroom Sessions)	Lo-Fi Indie	51. 4
62	Kanye West	JESUS IS KING	Alternative Rap	48. 6
T63	girl in red	chapter 2	Lo-Fi Indie	47. 9
T63	Pink Sweat$	Volume 2	Pop	47. 9
T63	AK	Moments	Downtempo	47. 9
T63	Run River North	Monsters Calling Me Home, Vol. 2	Indie Pop/Rock	47. 9
T63	Caterina Barbieri	Ecstatic Computation	Experimental	47. 9
T68	Glowie	Where I Belong	Pop	47. 6
T68	Lemaitre	Fast Lovers	Electropop	47. 6
70	Sweeps	City Nights	Downtempo	46. 0
71	Dame D.O.L.L.A.	Big D.O.L.L.A.	Rap	42. 0
T72	Thomas Azier	Raven On The First Floor	Art Pop	41. 2
T72	D Smoke	Inglewood High	Rap	41. 2
T74	The Chain Gang of 1974	Pollen	Poptron	40. 7
T74	Tiny Deaths	The Magic Acoustic Sessions	Poptron	40. 7
76	Bad Bad Hats	Wide Right	Pop/Rock	40. 5
77	Davie	Girls Raised In The South	Alternative R&B	36. 2
78	Oliver Tree	Do You Feel Me?	Experimental Hip-Hop	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.