So every year I make a top 2165 list, where the top 21 are the best albums of the year, and the other 44 are sort of honorable mentions. 2005 was another great year for good albums, but mediocre for great albums. But there was more than enough worth listening to.

1. Why? - Elephant Eyelash
2. Ticonderoga - Ticonderoga
3. The Dead Science - Frost Giant
4. The Robot Ate Me - Carousel Waltz
5. Sigur Rós - Takk
6. Fog - 10th Avenue Freakout
7. 65 Days of Static - One Time for All Time
8. Mi & l'Au - Mi & l'Au
9. Jr - La Jr
10. The Headphones - The Headphones
11. Akron/Family - Akron/Family
12. Half-Handed Cloud - Thy is a Word and Feet Need Lamps
13. Khanate - Capture & Release
14. Ben Folds - Songs For Silverman
15. Amandine - This Is Where Our Hearts Collide
16. Pelican - The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw
17. Dälek - Absence
18. CocoRosie - Noah's Ark
19. Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
20. Manuok - Manuok
21. Damien Jurado - On My Way To Absence
22. AK-momo - Return to N.Y.
23. M. Ward - Transistor Radio
24. Magnolia Electric Co. - What Comes After the Blues
25. Viking Moses - Crosses
26. Via Satellite - Cities Are Temples
27. Mount Eerie - No Flashlight
28. Boom Bip - Blue Eyed in the Red Room
29. The Decemberists - Picaresque
30. Mobius Band - The Loving Sound of Statice
31. Matt Pond PA - Several Arrows Later
32. Deerhoof - The Runners Four
33. Finn - The Ayes Have It
34. Josephine Foster - Hazel Eyes, I Will Lead You
35. Mercury Rev - The Secret Migration
36. Minus Story - No Rest For Ghosts
37. The Hold Steady - Seperation Sunday
38. Hauschka - The Prepared Piano
39. Hanne Hukkelberg - Little Things
40. Doves - Some Cities
41. Emiliana Torrini - Fisherman's Woman
42. Celebration - Celebration
43. Chevreuil - Chateauvallon
44. Aoki Takamasa + Tujiko Noriko - 28
45. 13+God - 13+God
46. Andrew Bird - Andrew Bird and the Mysterious Production of Eggs
47. Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy
48. Red Sparowes - At The Soundless Dawn
49. Odd Nosdam - Burner
50. Mt. Eerie - Eleven Old Songs of Mt Eerie
51. Marissa Nadler - The Saga of Mayflower May
52. Mars Volta - Frances The Mute
53. Low - The Great Destroyer
54. Laura - Mapping Your Dreams
55. Volcano! - Beautiful Seizure
56. Animal Collective - Feels
57. Logh - A Sunset Panorama
58. Mew - And the Glass Handed Kites
59. Wolf Parade - Apologies to The Queen Mary
60. Saxon Shore - The Exquisite Death of Saxon Shore
61. God Is An Astronaut - All Is Violent, All Is Bright
62. DangerDoom - The Mouse and the Mask
63. My Education - Italian
64. Black Mountain - Black Mountain
65. The Life and Times - Suburban Hymns

Previously: Year end lists from 1996-2004