Greatest Albums of the Decade

Paste takes a look back at the past decade—and its own 10-year history—with its list of the 50 best albums of the ‘00s:

No. 1. Sufjan Stevens, Illinoise: “His music pushed boundaries between pop and classical.”
No. 4. Radiohead, Kid A: Marked “the watershed artistic transition toward more electronic-based experimentation.”
No. 8. OutKast, Stankonia: “OutKast’s edgiest and most inspired record.”
No. 10. MIA, Arular: “Her thrilling, slang-tangled debut connected musical and political rebellion.”
No. 14. The Strokes, Is This It: “It saved rock ’n’ roll from the bloat that seemed inescapable in the Fred Durst era.”
No. 17. Kanye West, The College Dropout: “Every so often, an album rewrites the musical rulebook, and this one effectively murdered gangsta rap.”
No. 29. Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago: “One of the great bedroom masterworks of our time.”
No. 42. Jay-Z, The Blueprint: “The classic, a knockout punch by a heavyweight champion.”