25 Best Albums Of 2013

Did that just happen? WHAT a year for music! We had the return of some real musical behemoths (David Bowie, Daft Punk), we were gifted with some astronomical debut albums (Disclosure, Haim, London Grammar) - and as well as all this we were swimming in dazzling albums from bands that have stomped footprints over our hearts over the last decade: The Strokes, Vampire Weekend, The National.

Whilst cross-genre "Best Of" lists such as these can be derided by the cynic as being about as useful as comparing the day Tuesday with the colur blue, let's not forget what lists like these are really for - a lot of fun. They allow us to celebrate the albums we played to death over the past 12 months, hopefully highlight some albums that our readers might have missed, and give you the chance to validate your taste in music (I'm joking!).

We recognise this short list of 25 albums can in no way be a definitive list of the 25 greatest albums of 2013 - and what does that even mean, anyway? But here are the albums that made the WhatCulture writing team laugh, cry, dance, and scream over the past 12 months. We'd love to hear what flicked your switch in the comments below...

PS - here are some honourable mentions that just didn't quite make the cut, but we felt we had to give a shout-out to: Mount Kimbie, King Krule, NO CEREMONY///, Beyoncé, Jon Hopkins, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Lorde, Parquet Courts, Forest Swords, James Blake, Iceage, Phosphorescent, Autre Ne Veut, Suede, Atoms For Peace, Foxygen, Kurt Vile, John Grant, Justin Timberlake, Janelle Monáe, Volcano Choir - thank you all!