Honorable mention
• Crystal Castles, Crystal Castles [Motown/Universal]
• Deerhunter, Halcyon Digest [4AD]
• The Dillinger Escape Plan, Option Paralysis [Season of Mist]
• High on Fire, Snakes for the Divine [Koch]
• Joanna Newsom, Have One on Me [Drag City]
• Jonsí, Go [XL]
• LCD Soundsystem, This is Happening [DFA/Virgin]
• Sufjan Stevens, The Age of Adz [Asthmatic Kitty]
• The Tallest Man on Earth, Sometimes the Blues is Just a Passing Bird (EP) [Dead Oceans]
• The Walkmen, Lisbon [Fat Possum]
• The White Stripes, Under Great White Northern Lights [Warner Bros.]
• Women, Public Strain [Jagjaguwar]