From elaborate roll-outs to surprise releases, 2013 was a banner year for comebacks, break-outs, break-ups, and overnight sensations. The fact that the most oblique content could cause rampant controversy to reverberate through the blogosphere turned every song into a story and made every story seem epic. At the heart of it all are the sounds that defined this particular calendar year, from electronic pop to punk rock to hip-hop to hardcore and everything in between.

After much debate, we're proud of our little list and believe it represents releases that are among the best and most important of the year. Here are our top 50 LPs in two parts: 50-26 // 25-1 [prw username="audiofemme" boardname="audiofemmes-favorite-albums-of-2013" maxfeeds="21" divname="myList" printtext="0" target="newwindow" useenclosures="yes" thumbwidth="50" thumbheight="50" showfollow="none"] And check out our Top Albums of 2013 Playlist on Spotify.

In a given year, thousands of records are released, many of them having upwards of ten tracks apiece. So it's actually physically impossible to hear them all, and can be downright daunting to wrangle them into some kind of intelligible countdown. But we certainly have done our best, here cataloging the tunes we just couldn't stop playing, and stuck fast in our heads when we finally managed to turn them off. Here's our Top Tracks of 2013 Playlist on Spotify.

Staff Lists:

Not only are we as a culture stepping up to finally examine sexism and exploitation and appropriation within the industry, there are more acts than ever completely unafraid to do their own thing – be it overtly political (see: Priests) or revolutionary in its emotional candidness (looking at you, Waxahatchee).

Let’s all just agree to agree that hip hop as a genre won the album cover contest this year, okay?

Music has the ability to make or break a cinematic moment. Would Jaws be as scary if it weren’t for the theme song? Or would we cry as hard when Leo Dicaprio sunk to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean if Celine Dion didn’t belt “My Heart Will Go On” every five minutes? Probably not.

In the age of the ubiquitous think-piece, here’s another, and this time, it’s about think-pieces. In 2013 what think-pieces mean is that no one is about to get away with anything.

Mr. West has built up quite a reputation for himself. His musical talent has remained impressive throughout his 6-album career (Yeezus easily made several of this year’s “best of” lists, including our own) but Kanye’s persona has been the subject of parody and scandal for a long time now. This year, though, held several moments of Kanye-crazy that stood out among the plethora of examples from his memorable past.

At the beginning of 2013, adventure felt overdue — something about going to new places, with no routine or expectations, opens you up to hear music you’d never think to listen to otherwise.

Between the exciting festival rumors and anticipated album releases, 2014 is already shaping up to be a pretty amazing year (at least musically speaking).

AudioFemme's Best of 2013