While the month has always been bountiful for new releases, some January albums often get left off of many year-end, best album lists. Those that do make it onto such lists have to be albums that are enjoyable enough to merit listens well into the later months of the year.
To celebrate these solid early-bloomers, I have compiled a list of the top ten best albums released in January since 2000.
Read on for a look at what discs made the list.
1. Animal Collective -- Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino, Jan. 6, 2009)
Merriweather Post Pavilion is the best album to be released in January in a long time -- perhaps ever. I may be a shameless indie whore, but this album is fucking good. It's the earliest released album on this list, and it managed to end up as a clear favorite for the year's best upon its release. There is a certain Midas Touch-bias towards AnCo, as the kids call them, with whatever the band or its solo members release instantly turning to gold, at least in the eyes of hip 16-35 year olds. I say they had to work hard to get that respect, and Merriweather Post Pavilion is their shining accomplishment -- the best album to be released in the month of January.