EOY 2014 Complex's 50 Best Albums of 2014

[bootsy]

1. Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels 2
2. YG - My Krazy Life
3. Lana Del Rey - Ultraviolence
4. J. Cole - 2014 Forest Hills Drive
5. D'Angelo - Black Messiah
6. Travi$ Scott - Days Before Rodeo
7. Ariana Grande - My Everything
8. Taylor Swift - 1989
9. Caribou - Our Love
10. FKA Twigs - LP1
11. Popcaan - Where We Come From
12. Rich Gang - Tha Tour Part 1
13. Vince Staples - Hell Can Wait
14. Nicki Minaj - The Pinkprint
15. Azealia Banks - Broke With Expensive Taste
16. Lil Boosie - Life After Deathrow
17. Trey Songz - Trigga
18. Shlohmo & Jeremih - No More
19. Jeezy - Seen It All: The Autobiography
20. Perfume Genius - Too Bright
21. Gangsta Boo & Beatking - Underground Cassette Tape Music
22. St. Vincent - St. Vincent
23. Big K.R.I.T. - Cadillactica
24. Sam Smith - In the Lonely Hour
25. Schoolboy Q - Oxymoron
26. Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire for No Witness
27. Jessie Ware - Tough Love
28. Kehlani - Cloud 19
29. Ty Dolla $ign - Sign Language
30. Isaiah Rashad - Cilvia Demo
31. PARTYNEXTDOOR - PARTYNEXTDOOR TWO
32. Charli XCX - Sucker
33. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Piñata
34. Lecrae - Anomaly
35. Chris Brown - X
36. Lykke Li - I Never Learn
37. Pharrell - G I R L
38. Cozz - Cozz & Effect
39. A$AP Ferg - Ferg Forever
40. Real Estate - Atlas
41. Lucki Eck$ - Body High
42. Migos - No Label 2
43. Arca - Xen
44. Omarion - Sex Playlist
45. Logic - Under Pressure
46. King Louie - Tony
47. Various Artists - ShadyXV
48. Tinashe - Aquarius
49. Low Pros - EP 1
50. Riff Raff - Neon Icon

[arnaud]

Songs :
http://www.complex.com/music/2014/12/be ... alea-fancy
1 Drake – 0 To 100 / The Catch Up
2 Rich Gang – Lifestyle (feat. Young Thug & Richie Homie Quan)
3 Bobby Shmurda – Hot N*gga
4 T.I. – About the Money (feat. Young Thug)
5 Wiz Khalifa – We Dem Boyz
6 Jeremih – Don't Tell 'Em (feat. YG)
7 Rae Sremmurd – No Flex Zone
8 Ariana Grande – Love Me Harder (feat. The Weeknd)
9 Popcaan – Waiting So Long
10 Dej Loaf – Try Me
11 Lil Wayne – Believe Me
12 Sam Smith – Stay With Me
13 Rae Sremmurd – No Type
14 Charli XCX – Boom Clap
15 I LOVE MAKONNEN – Tuesday (feat. Drake)
16 Taylor Swift - Blank Space
17 Jessie Ware – Kind Of...Sometimes...Maybe
18 Nicki Minaj - Chi-Raq (feat. Lil Herb)
19 Chris Brown – New Flame (feat. Usher & Rick Ross)
20 Tink - Don't Tell Nobody (feat. Jeremih)
21 Big Sean – I Don't Fuck With You
22 Rick Ross – Sanctified (feat. Kanye West & Big Sean)
23 FKA twigs – Two Weeks
24 Run The Jewels – Oh My Darling Don't Cry
25 Nicky Minaj – Lookin Ass
26 French Montana – Don't Panic
27 Travi$ Scott - Skyfall (feat. Young Thug)
28 Tinashe – 2 On
29 Lana Del Rey – Shades Of Cool
30 YG – Really Be (Smokin N Drinkin) (feat. Kendrick Lamar)
31 Sia – Chandelier
32 Vince Staples – Hands Up
33 A$AP Rocky – Multiply
34 Og Maco – U Guessed It
35 The Weeknd - Often
36 Vic Mensa - Down on My Luck
37 Future – Move That Dope
38 Ariana Grande – Problem
39 Young Thug – Old English
40 St. Vincent – Digital Witness
41 Pusha T – Lunch Money
42 Kendrick Lamar – i
43 Kiesza – Hideaway
44 Puff Daddy – Big Homie (feat. Rick Ross & French Montana)
45 Migos – Fight Night
46 Kehlani – FWU
47 Federal Reserve – Dipsh*ts (feat. Cam'ron, A-Trak & Juelz Santana)
48 Ty Dolla $ign – Or Nah (feat. The Weeknd, Wiz Khalifa and DJ Mustard) - Remix
49 Father – Look At Wrist (feat. Ilovemakonnen & Key)
50 Iggy Azalea – Fancy

[Henrik]

Complex is a major music site, but I'm afraid they don't have (m)any album reviews and therefore these lists are not eligible.

[bootsy]

Not sure why this matters. It's a ranking/list of Albums for 2014. Why do they need reviews. The AllMusic lists have reviews but aren't eligible, these are RANKED lists with no reviews and still aren't eligible. Makes no sense.

[Matski]

AllMusic is very much eligible. We discussed this in previous years and it's only the overall 'Best Albums' list that counts towards to the final tally. I post the genre lists (with a clear illegibility notification besides them) out of interest...

...Or is it out of boredom/to feed an obsessive compulsion?

[Henrik]

Not sure why this matters. It's a ranking/list of Albums for 2014. Why do they need reviews. The AllMusic lists have reviews but aren't eligible, these are RANKED lists with no reviews and still aren't eligible. Makes no sense.

Sources with no reviews do not offer much music criticism.

[charliepanayi]

Complex is a major music site, but I'm afraid they don't have (m)any album reviews and therefore these lists are not eligible.

Stereogum is eligible, and they don't review albums.

[Harold]

Stereogum is a music site, exclusively. That's pretty much all they cover.

Here's the mission statement of Complex.com, directly from the music-site link on Complexmedia: "Complex.com covers the latest trends in fashion, music, sneakers, sports and everything in between. Complex is the go to site for fashion-forward, ahead of trend men who often lead their peers as influencers."

It can be a fine line and a judgment call, I know. God knows Rolling Stone covers more than just music (in the wake of the campus-rape story fiasco, I'll bet they wish they didn't), but that's where they started and I think most people still think of RS primarily as a music magazine. Complex consciously brands itself as a general culture site, directed at young men, that happens to put a fair amount of emphasis on music.

[bootsy]

Not sure why this matters. It's a ranking/list of Albums for 2014. Why do they need reviews. The AllMusic lists have reviews but aren't eligible, these are RANKED lists with no reviews and still aren't eligible. Makes no sense.

Sources with no reviews do not offer much music criticism.

It's a EOY list. That is very much music criticism. They have lists posted on that site all the time, some are listed on this site in the Critics lists section.

Complex (USA) - The 100 Best Albums of the Complex Decade 2002-2012
Complex (USA) - The 100 Best Bob Marley Songs (2012)
Complex (USA) - The 100 Best Kanye West Songs (2012)
Complex (USA) - The 100 Best Songs of the Complex Decade 2002-2012 (2012)
Complex (USA) - The 50 Best Rolling Stones Songs (2012)
Complex (USA) - The Top 100 Songs of the 2000s (2009)
Complex (USA) - Top 100 Albums of the 2000s (2009)

If you are going to not count or count Complex then do it all the way one way or the other.

[Henrik]

The stricter rules are necessary for eoy lists, as there would be hundreds of lists without them, and the main sources would drown among all lists. Even when using these rules, there are over 100 albums lists. I know it doesn't make perfect sense to include some Complex lists and some not, but this is the best solution I have come up with.

The reviews criterion is perhaps most important for songs lists, as there are a lot of entertainment/music news sites that lists the top songs of the year. Those lists are basically the bestselling singles.