Alt Dialogue’s Top 100 Albums of 2018: The Preamble and Stats

It’s our favourite time of year, end of year Top Albums time!

Like 2017, we’re taking the same approach to 2018 – ranking our Top 100 Albums of the year, same rules apply…

• Release date of before December 1^st, 2018
• Studio albums only
• Full Albums only
• It’s been reviewed on Alt Dialogue

This year, the last rule has scuppered us a little. Due to various reasons things slipped a little and we’ve missed reviewing some cracking albums. In no particular order, here’s the ones that slipped through the net (that otherwise would have featured high up the list)…

• Joy as an Act of Resistance by IDLES
• Surrender Yourself by Primitive Weapons
• Shiny and Oh So Bright by Smashing Pumpkins
• Full Circle by Colorist
• Let Pain Be Your Guide by Portrayal of Guilt
• Inchoate With The Light I Go by He Was Eaten By Owls
• Head Cage by Pig Destroyer
• Aurora by Slow Crush

 

As normal, we’ll do a Readers Poll. This year we’ll do it after we’ve published the full 100. But now onto the statistics behind the Top 100.

Nationalities

• In the Top 100, 49% are English & 35% are American. (A reversal of last year). Again, Canadian and Australian lead the way in the other non-European nationalities, while Scotland and France have 3 places each.
• Drilling down to the Top 20, 60% are English with the Americans dropping to 30%. Denmark and Canada have one place each.

Previous Appearances

• 4 acts were in 2014’s Top 50, two placing higher (both in the top 10).
• 8 acts were in 2015’s Top 50, with equal numbers placing higher and lower.
• 12 acts were in 2016’s Top 100, seven placing higher this time.
• 4 acts were in 2017’s Top 100, with 3 of those placing higher, all with their second albums

Labels

• The Top 100 see a massive 59 different labels and 7 self releases.
• Holy Roar has 8 acts in the Top 100, they’ve had a stellar year and would have featured more if we’d reviewed all their releases
• Looking at the Top 20, Holy Roar take up a relatively huge 25%, with Epitaph having 2 acts and an equal distribution for the remainder

Month

• For the Top 100, February (15) and April (13) have the biggest share.
• Going to the Top 20 it’s all change with August drawing level with April on 4 each.

Letter

• It’s the return of the most useless stat… Bands starting with the letter D are the most heavily featured with 11. T & B come in joint second with 8 each. (Naturally the word ‘The’ is ignored).

Stay tuned for the first half of the Top 100 coming soon.