Some things are good. Some things are better than others. And making a list is the only way to tell the difference. Or something.

Since 2000, I’ve kept track of my favorite records of the year, and since 2003 I’ve kept them on a single Excel document, where I also keep track of every album coming out in the current year that I think I might want to listen to. You know, because I’m a nerd.

Anyway, the following pages represent my favorites of the Aughts, as they were at the time. My evaluations may have changed over the intervening years, and I’ve made a few notes to that effect, but the lists are as I made them, idiotic or short-sighted though my opinions may have been.

• Best of ’10 (cjkc)
• Best of ’10 (limesix)
• Best of ’09
• Best of ’08
• Best of ’07
• Best of ’06
• Best of ’05
• Best of ’04
• Best of ’03