It’s well known that publications tend to release their AOTY lists well ahead of December. Music nerds like us also like to get a jump start on compiling and sharing our lists for discussion. For these reasons, it seems inadvisable to release anything late in the year if hoping to get any publicity. But that doesn’t mean everyone has stuck to that rule.
So, what are some great albums that have come out late in the year? Late November examples are ok too.
Personally, it always takes a while to sort through what I’ve listened in any given year, revisit a ton of stuff, as well as get around to things I hadn’t gotten to yet. And of course, actually wait till the end of the year in case I was anticipating anything, or if there are any surprise drops. I probably take it a little too seriously and should think of it as a snapshot in time, because obviously the list will change over time.
Lots of great stuff in November though. November 2020 had two of my top 5 albums of the year, and possibly the decade so far in Jesu’s Terminus and the Pumpkins’ CYR.
David Bowie - Hunky Dory (December 1971)
Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (December 1973)
Patti Smith - Horses (December 1975)
The Clash - London Calling (December 1979)
The Fall - Perverted by Language (December 1983)
Dr Dre - The Chronic (December 1992)
It looks like there have been definite shifts in release patterns over the years. Releasing big albums in December seemed pretty common in the 60s, 70s and 80s and then more or less stopped in the mid-nineties.
In recent years there has been a bit of a trend of releasing unexpected albums late in the year.