Béyonce, Kanye West, Chance The Rapper, Frank Ocean, and Young Thug all finished in the top 10 of Rolling Stone’s 50 Best Albums of 2016.
Queen Béy lead the way with her highly-acclaimed ‘LEMONADE’ topping the list. The platinum-selling album’s placement came to no surprise to some, after its worldwide popularity and countless awards and accolades.
“Beyoncé shut everyone else down this year with a soul-on-fire masterpiece, testifying about love, rage and betrayal that felt all too true in the America of 2016,” wrote the magazine. “The queen not only made the album of the year (and make no mistake, David Bowie would have been the first to say so), she delivered a confessional, genre-devouring suite that feels larger than life yet still heartbreakingly intimate, because it doubles as her portrait of a nation in flames.”
Chance The Rapper, Frank Ocean, and Young Thug all followed Béyonce in the top 10 for their albums ‘Coloring Book’, ‘Blonde’, and ‘Jefferey’, respectively. Both Chance and Franky Ocean have received high praise for the continuous success of their projects while being indepedent.
Drake’s ‘Views’ finished 42nd after ‘If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late’ placed third last year, behind Kendrick Lamar’s ‘To Pimp a Butterfly’ and Adele’s ’25’.
Other hip-hop notables include: Danny Brown’s ‘Atrocity Exhibition’ (19th), Rihanna’s ‘ANTI’ (25th), A Tribe Called Quest’s ‘We Got it From Here…Thank You 4 Your Service’ (30th), Alicia Keys’ ‘HERE’ (32nd), Maxwell’s ‘blackSUMMERS’night’ (40th), and Future’s ‘Evol’ (43rd).
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