All month we've been reviewing lists of our volunteers' favorite music for this year. Of the hundred of albums submitted for consideration, here are the 10 that were cited the most often.

This year the top spot on the list goes to a Chicago artist whose 2nd album made a strong impression on many of our volunteers since its release in May. Call it R&B, call it Neo-Soul, there's no denying its musical power and inspiration.

From all of us at CHIRP, THANK YOU for listening to and supporting independent radio, and Happy New Year!

Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2019. Our next list is from Founder and General Manager, DJ (Saturday 12-2pm) Shawn Campbell.

I've seldom tended to order my lists, and I didn't again this year with the exception of #1. I couldn't be happier for the year Lizzo has had!

Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2019. Our next list is from volunteer and DJ Mick Reed.

CHIRP AOY

In the three years that I’ve been with CHIRP this is the first year that I can say that I genuinely felt like the majority of the albums I listened to were excellent. Not just good, not just fair, but excellent. As a result, this was the hardest list I’ve had to compile yet. It pains me when I think of all the worthy albums I’m leaving off either because I haven’t full absorbed them yet, or because I just haven’t gotten around to checking them out. The first couple of weeks of 2020 are going to be spent doing some major catch up listening and I really relish the opportunity to do a deep dive into everything 2019 had to offer.

That’s not to say that 2019 didn’t have its duds though. While there were hundreds of phenomenal albums released this year for our listening pleasure, roughly half of the albums I was actually anticipating checking out ended up being either mediocre (Sudan Archives, Angel Olsen), not up to the artist’s potential (Pivot Gang, Chance the Rapper, Sleater-Kinney), “Whelp, we did an album” low-effort affairs (Tacocat), bed sh*tting embarrassments (In Flames, Fallujah), or boring to the point of feeling like a personal insult (Sun O)))). But, this is not about what I didn’t like, this is a celebration of what made 2019 a landmark year in music. So before I get all needlessly hung up on negativity, allow me to introduce my top 10 (plus 40ish) albums of the year.

I hope this list inspires you to check out some of the albums I’ve written about, or at least introduces you to an artist you didn’t realize you needed in your life (or just listen to whatever you like, it doesn’t bother me either way). Enjoy!