Since 2020, I’ve been ranking and reviewing the top 5 albums - plus a fair few extras - according to users on rateyourmusic.com (think IMDB for music) from every year from 1960 to the present. If you want to know more, I wrote an introduction to the ‘challenge’ here. You can also read all the other entries I’ve written so far by heading to the lovely index page here.

Welcome to 2002. The year the Tamil Tigers and Sri Lankan government signed a cease-fire agreement, ending 19 years of civil war, East Timor became a new nation, President Bush did his ‘axis of evil’ speech, Russia and the US agreed to reduce their nuclear weapons, and North Korea admitted they had some, in defiance of the treaty.

Musically, here’s what rateyourmusic.com users rate as the year’s top 5 albums:

#1 Boards of Canada - Geogaddi
#2 Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf
#3 Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
#4 Various Artists - The Fire This Time
#5 Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

And here’s a bunch of others I’m getting from further down the list.

#7 Sigur Rós - ()
#10 The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
#11 Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Yanqui U.X.O.
#16 The Mountain Goats - All Hail West Texas!
#19 Johnny Cash - American IV: The Man Comes Around
#22 Boris - Heavy Rocks

Finally, one from NPR readers’ best albums of all time by women list:

Tori Amos - Scarlet’s Walk

Off we go…

12. American IV: Man Comes Around

Johhny Cash

“American IV: The Man Comes Around is the sixty-seventh studio album by American country musician Johnny Cash, the last to be released during his lifetime. It is the fourth entry in Cash's American series of albums, considered by some critics to be his finest work towards the end of his life. The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.” - Wikipedia

There’s a stark beauty to the stripped-down production here, allowing Johnny Cash’s weathered, magnetic presence to take centre-stage. His renditions breathe new life into the material—none more so than on “Hurt,” a haunting, visceral performance that’s rightfully iconic. That said, it’s hard not to see it as ground zero for the wave of brooding acoustic covers that would saturate movie and game trailers for years to come. Fortunately, that trend seems to have run its course, and it’s tough to fault Cash for the imitators. While this collection of mostly covers doesn’t quite hit with the force of his finest work, it’s still a compelling listen—resonant, reflective, and unmistakably him.

7/10

“Heavy Rocks is the fourth studio album by Japanese band Boris, released in 2002. It is the first of three Boris albums titled Heavy Rocks, with the others released in 2011 and 2022; all feature the band exploring hard rock and heavy metal sounds.” - Wikipedia

Boris’s Heavy Rocks lives up to its title—a thunderous barrage of tidal riffs that surge with unstoppable momentum. The band melds sludgy textures with swaggering grooves, but it’s the lead guitarist’s wailing, expressive solos that truly set them apart, slicing through the chaos with electrifying precision. The vocals, delivered in Japanese, would likely be a lot more interesting if I understood them, and that’s what, unfairly, holds the album back for me. They just don’t quite do enough to pierce the language barrier for me.

7.5/10

10. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

The Flaming Lips

“Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots is the tenth studio album by American rock band the Flaming Lips. The album saw the band pursue a more electronic direction than previous efforts, incorporating acoustic guitars and rhythms influenced by hip hop and top 40 music. The album was well-received critically and commercially, helping the band break into popularity, and was adapted into a musical in 2012.” - Wikipedia

A warm, woozy pop record that drifts through themes of mortality and technology with a gentle smile. Yoshimi trades the emotional volatility of The Soft Bulletin for a more subdued, psychedelic sweetness. It’s full of lovely sounds and comforting melodies—though a little too smooth to truly astonish. A hug in album form, if occasionally a bit predictable.

8/10

9. Yanqui U.X.O.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor

“Yanqui U.X.O. is the third studio album by Canadian post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor. It was recorded by Steve Albini at Electrical Audio in Chicago in late 2001, and was the band's first album released after their slight name change (moving the exclamation mark from the "emperor" to the "you"). Shortly after its release, the group announced an indefinite hiatus so band members could pursue differing musical interests; it was their last album for a decade until the release of 2012's 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!.” - Wikipedia

More Godspeed You! Black Emperor, more epically sprawling post-rock—but Yanqui U.X.O. brings with it a colder, more sinister undertone. The grandeur is still there: surging crescendos, mournful strings, complexities buried in the mix. But there’s a sharper edge this time, a sense of dread hanging over everything. The melodies feel like they’re decaying as they unfold, and even the quiet moments are tense, like something is about to collapse. It’s less cinematic triumph, more slow-motion ruin. Another brilliant record from the band—just one that feels more haunted than hopeful.

8/10

8. Songs for the Deaf

Queens of the Stoneage

“Songs for the Deaf is the third studio album by the American rock band Queens of the Stone Age. It features guest musicians including Dave Grohl on drums, and was the last Queens of the Stone Age album to feature Nick Oliveri on bass. Songs for the Deaf is a loose concept album, taking the listener on a drive through the California desert from Los Angeles to Joshua Tree, tuning into radio stations from towns along the way such as Banning and Chino Hills. Songs for the Deaf received critical acclaim and earned Queens of the Stone Age their first gold certification in the United States.” - Wikipedia

I was first introduced to this album by a school friend who played in my band at the time, and while I liked it then, I’ve grown to appreciate it even more over the years. Josh Homme’s riffs have always had a singular presence—rugged, hypnotic, and dusted with the sun-baked grit he carried over from his Kyuss days. Grohl’s drumming, dry and tightly wound, doesn’t pack the raw punch of his In Utero performances, but that’s not the point. Here, his playing is like a frantic, mechanical heartbeat—urgent, precise, and perfectly offsetting Homme’s lurching guitar lines.

Vocals are shared between Homme, bassist Nick Oliveri, and the late Mark Lanegan, creating a dynamic push and pull that keeps things fresh while maintaining a surprising cohesion. It also reins in some of Homme’s more theatrical tendencies, adding grit and variety without ever losing the thread.

At its core, this is a hard rock record that leans into accessibility without sacrificing edge—call it pop hard rock, and I mean that in the best way. It’s sharp, weird, and catchy as hell.

8.5/10

“Turn On the Bright Lights is the debut studio album by American rock band Interpol. Upon release, the record peaked at number 101 on the UK Albums Chart. It reached number 158 on the Billboard 200 in the United States, as well as spending 73 weeks on the Billboard Independent Albums chart, peaking at number five.” - Wikipedia

If Is This It was New York’s cool, leather-jacketed reintroduction to the world, Turn on the Bright Lights is its sleepless, overthinking cousin. Interpol’s debut trades swagger for tension, cloaking its post-punk revival in shadowy poetics and a glacial sense of drama.

The lyrics often flirt with nonsense (“The subway is a porno”) but somehow land with conviction. They’re less about clarity and more about mood, vaguely remembered impressions. Paul Banks’ monotone drawl only deepens the mystique. Meanwhile, the drumming is far more forward than you might expect from anything of this ilk—crisp, commanding, propelling the band’s mid-tempo dirges as they slowly build into something almost grandiose. Guitars shimmer, loop, and echo into the void, subtly driving the songs while less subtly thickening the atmosphere. It’s like watching city lights blur through rain-streaked windows—steady, detached, and hauntingly beautiful.

8.5/10

“Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Wilco. The album showcased a more atmospheric and experimental sound than the band's previous work, and has been described as art rock and indie rock by music critics. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot received widespread acclaim from music critics at release, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest albums of the 2000s and of all time.” - Wikipedia

On the surface, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is just an album of simple, enjoyable songs, but the more you listen you realise it’s an album of simple, enjoyable, perfect songs. The production stays understated, never showy, but it’s laced with just enough experimental flair to keep things feeling fresh and quietly adventurous. Somehow, the album manages to echo countless influences while still sounding wholly its own—familiar yet distinct, and ultimately, timeless.

Song Picks: Jesus etc, Kamera, Pot Kettle Black

9/10

“Scarlet's Walk is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter and pianist Tori Amos. The 18-track concept album (described by Amos as a "sonic novel about a road trip") details the cross-country travels of Scarlet, a character loosely based on Amos, and was greatly inspired by the changes in American society and politics post-September 11, 2001.

The album was a commercial success, reaching number seven in the US and becoming Amos's fourth top 10 album. Considered one of her best and most conceptually elaborate works, it received positive reviews. “ - Wikipedia

At 75 minutes, Scarlet’s Walk should feel too long for a pop album, but it doesn’t. Tori Amos somehow keeps things engaging from start to finish without ever resorting to shock tactics or dramatic reinventions. She isn’t particularly edgy here, but she doesn’t need to be.

There are plenty of catchy choruses and familiar pop structures, but they’re wrapped in a kind of mystique that’s hard to define. It’s accessible and melodic, yet it moves with the pacing and depth of something more progressive. Maybe that’s the secret — Scarlet’s Walk feels like a pop album filtered through a sprawling, introspective lens. The result is something quietly compelling, even hypnotic.

9/10

“The Fire This Time is an audio documentary on the history and consequences of the Gulf War and following economic sanctions against Iraq. Produced by filmmaker Grant Wakefield, the 2-CD set featured music from electronic artists including Michael Stearns, Pan Sonic, and Aphex Twin.” - Wikipedia

The Fire This Time isn’t interested in subtlety, nuance, or even musical cohesion—and that’s part of what makes it so gripping. A sprawling, furious protest record released in the aftermath of 9/11, it fuses spoken word, dub, electronica, and sampled media into something more like an activist transmission than a traditional album.

The scattered production—sometimes sparse, sometimes dense—mirrors the global confusion and anger it’s responding to. That said, this is not a balanced or carefully moderated work. At times it feels like one of those very one-sided documentaries, hammering its points home with little room for interpretation. For some listeners, that might be off-putting—but the clarity of vision is also its power. It wants to persuade, unsettle, provoke. And for me, it did.

The instrumental second disc, while interesting, feels more like a bonus than an integral part of the experience. Without the political content, it loses much of the urgency and cohesion that makes the first disc so compelling.

Still, The Fire This Time completely sucked me in. It’s not easy listening, nor is it trying to be. But it captures a historical moment with fire and fury, and in doing so, becomes something more than just a compilation—it becomes a document, a statement, and a challenge.

9/10

“Geogaddi is the second studio album by Scottish electronic music duo Boards of Canada. The album was intended to be—and has been described as—darker in tone than their debut studio album Music Has the Right to Children, released in 1998. Geogaddi received critical acclaim upon release, in addition to being acclaimed by several publications as one of the year's best albums. It was listed by music website Pitchfork as one of the best intelligent dance music albums of all time.” - Wikipedia

Less optimistic than their debut, Geogaddi feels like a walk beside a 10-foot wall you’ve never been allowed to climb. You’ve been told what’s on your side is better—but you can’t shake the sense that you're being lied to. Tunneling synths and a subby, almost heartbeat-like kick drum lay the foundation, while disjointed field recordings and warped space-age flourishes flicker across the surface. It’s music that decorates decay, like ivy growing over an abandoned broadcast tower. Seductive, paranoid, and slightly unhinged.

9/10

“( ) (also referred to as Svigaplatan, which translates to The Bracket Album) is the third studio album by Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós. It comprises eight untitled tracks, divided into two parts: the first four tracks are lighter and more optimistic, while the latter four are bleaker and more melancholic. Lead singer Jón Þór Birgisson ("Jónsi") sang the album's lyrics entirely in "Hopelandic", a made-up language consisting of gibberish words.” - Wikipedia

Brackets is another post-rock masterpiece from arguably the genre’s finest band. Jónsi sings in a made-up language, using his voice less as a conveyor of meaning and more as an instrument of pure emotion. Compared to its predecessor, the album feels slightly more modern—its synth textures more prominent, its drums more compressed. It may meander more, but the journey is so unwaveringly beautiful that it hardly matters. Post-rock can sometimes lapse into formula, with predictable crescendos and valleys, but here Sigur Rós once again make every note feel intentional and deeply felt.

9.5

1. All Hail West Texas

The Mountain Goats

“All Hail West Texas is the sixth studio album by the Mountain Goats. After the slight increase in production values on The Coroner's Gambit album of 2000, All Hail West Texas was the last Mountain Goats album recorded entirely on John Darnielle's trademark Panasonic RX-FT500 boombox until 2020's Songs for Pierre Chuvin. Similarly, it marked the end of an era for the band, as it was the last album by the Mountain Goats to feature only John Darnielle until 2020.” - Wikipedia

Captured on a Panasonic boombox that sounds like it’s breathing its final, wheezing breath, this record is as lo-fi as they come. Long presumed dead, the tape recorder Darnielle had used for countless previous recordings was exhumed from a closet and miraculously sputtered back to life, just long enough to catch one more dispatch from the margins. What emerged is a set of raw, urgent acoustic sketches—melodic, immediate, and devastating in their intimacy—written in the solitude of a home suddenly too quiet, with his wife away and only the ghosts of ideas to keep him company.

There are no tricks here, no overdubs, no studio sheen—just Darnielle, a guitar, and the soft mechanical churn of the boombox as it spins tape into a kind of lo-fi transcendence. The fidelity may be primitive, but the emotional clarity is crystalline. These songs feel like they were written moments before the red light flicked on, catching Darnielle in the act of discovery. It’s a document of artistic impulse in its rawest, most unfiltered form - thus the core brilliance of the songwriting hits all the harder.

Song Picks: Jenny, The Mess Inside

9.5/10