When I mentioned that I was working (as I have every year recently) on a 2012 Top 10 list to my wife (and why do I bother), she asked me how I was qualified to make such a list? How many new albums had I actually listened to this year? I explained that I had listened to a decent amount - definitely 100+ though (with the jazz listening increase of the year) certainly less than past years. Still, as I had touched many of the well respected albums, I felt enough to compile a list. She then commented that I hadn't even listened to my daughter's One Direction album (one of the year's most popular) thus decreasing my credibility in wanting to compile a top 10.
Sometimes it's best to smile and move on - certainly One Direction's boy band pop cookie cutter model (which btw I HAVE heard seemingly endless times coming from my daughter's room, so I feel I have listened) isn't fresh or creative enough to appear on any critic's top 10. Still, in her comments, my wife raises a basic truism about any top 10 list. How much listening does one need to really judge music?
Funny thing is, looking back, to say the 1960s, if you had listened to 100 or 200 albums, you almost certainly had listened to not only the greatest albums of the day but a lot of bad albums. Now, however, there is so much music released in so many different styles, I frequently seem some of my favorites listed as low as 400 or 500 in Rate Your Music. You could easily listen to 500 albums (quite an accomplishment) and STILL miss some great, critically impressive albums (who among us hasn't seen a music review website's top X list and haven't recognized several picks.
Furthermore, even if (like many here) one has listened to hundreds of releases each year, have these albums been given ENOUGH listens over time to really judge them...and will the test of time change those opinions. In my case, I freely admit that because of increased time listening to other music this year, I haven't put in the ear-work (so to speak) to truly judge albums the way I would normally like. Still, even in years (like last year) where new music listening was at a high, I look back and note that there are albums on my top ten list from last year that I have not played ONCE since that list. Sad...too much music, too little time.
Ah, well...a lengthy discussion raising eternal questions about music that I and others have raised before. None of these issues are going to stop me from posting the list below. I personally have not been as excited with some of the music in general that came out this year; still, I am excited about the ten albums below - they're pretty cool albums and some are bound to be long term faves.
So post your lists below. I'm sure you've thought about the same issues/disclaimers above too - if not, why haven't you started this thread weeks ago 
Source:
http://www.musicgourmets.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9611&p=478156