For me, 2010 has been a way above average year when it came to discovering new music. Of all the albums I first heard in 2010 (not necessarily albums actually released that year, mind) there were 80 I thought were interesting enough to keep around permanently.
58 of those 80 I would rate as 'mere' three-star entries (on my usual 1 to 5 scale): decent albums that I will enjoy giving a spin every once in a while, but on the whole not works that I expect to become significant musical touchstones in my life. (Although you never know -- one reason why I keep some of these albums around is that it sometimes just takes a while for the quarter to drop).
There were 12 albums I'd give four stars: better-than-good albums, which I really enjoy as a whole, not just for individual songs. Typically, where a three-star album will have two or three excellent tracks, with the rest being average (in a good sense), a four-star albums tends to be excellent all over, with only two or three duds or average songs, if any.
In no particular order, my four-star albums of 2010 were:
mika - the boy who knew too much the madd - ongeneeslijk beat steely dan - katy lied novastar - almost bangor mylene farmer - anamorphosee justin currie - the great war jurk - avondjurk guilt machine - on this perfect day the coral - butterfly house the roots - how i got over feeder - renegades juan luis guerra y 440 - a son de guerra
Both The Coral and Juan Luis Guerra are notable for being artists that I had just about given up on, because for many years and albums I found nothing worthwhile in their music anymore. It's great to have them both come back with such strong efforts.
And finally, there were 10 five-star albums that have already become true personal favourites and are likely to stay that way indefinitely. In no particular order:
cocktail slippers - st valentine's day massacre a.c. newman - the slow wonder zoot woman - things are what they used to be crosby, stills, nash & young - déjà vu the madd - are pretty quick! neil young - after the gold rush neil young with crazy horse - everybody knows this is nowhere the contrast - god of malfunction the new pornographers - together robyn - body talk pt. 1/2/3
If I had to choose, I'd say the two artists that most defined 2010 for me have been Neil Young (whose back catalogue I'm only now beginning to plow through) and Robyn (who released not one, not two, but three excellent albums in 2010). I don't think I've gone a week without listening to something by either of them.
For completeness sake, here's the list of the three-star albums:
various artists - city to city steely dan - aja róisín murphy - overpowered c-mon & kypski - we are square air - love 2 transatlantic - the whirlwind acda en de munnik - jouw leven lang bij mij kasabian - west ryder pauper lunatic asylum thirty seconds to mars - this is war various artists - disco discharge megamix sahara hotnights - c'mon let's pretend 22-20s - 22-20s ian mcnabb - great things sahara hotnights - jennie bomb sahara hotnights - kiss and tell sahara hotnights - what if leaving is a loving thing matthew sweet - sunshine lies matthew sweet and susanna hoffs - under the covers vol. 1 matthew sweet and susanna hoffs - under the covers vol. 2 disco discharge - classic disco disco discharge - disco ladies disco discharge - euro disco disco discharge - gay disco and hi nrg rubén blades - cantares del subdesarollo rigby - everything must go ben folds - university a capella big boi - sir lucious left foot fiction plane - sparks vampire weekend - contra the national - high violet various artists - new-to-q dodgy - ace a's + killer b's adiemus - songs of sanctuary ayreon - into the electric castle ayreon - the final experiment zumpano - going' through changes tinted windows - tinted windows black sabbath - heaven and hell manic street preachers - postcards from a young man def leppard - on through the night biffy clyro - only revolutions poets of the fall - twilight theater the frames - burn the maps amorphis - am universum go back to the zoo - misc songs triggerfinger - triggerfinger triggerfinger - what grabs ya? jon anderson - olias of sunhillow kamelot - poetry for the poisoned spock's beard - x limited edition placebo - once more with feeling the babys - anthology bertolf - snakes & ladders grinderman - grinderman 2 foreigner - foreigner scissor sisters - night work super furry animals - dark days light years kylie minogue - aphrodite