| Rank | Artist | Recording | Label |
| 1 | Rosebuds | Loud Planes Fly Low | Merge |
| 2 | Cults | Cults | Columbia-In The Name Of |
| 3 | Wooden Birds | Two Matchsticks | Barsuk |
| 4 | Black Lips | Arabia Mountain | Vice |
| 5 | Arctic Monkeys | Suck It And See | Domino |
| 6 | Paleo | Fruit of the Spirit | Partisan |
| 7 | John Maus | We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves | Ribbon |
| 8 | William Elliott Whitmore | Field Songs | Anti |
| 9 | Marissa Nadler | Marissa Nadler | Box of Cedar |
| 10 | Woods | Sun and Shade | Woodsist |
| 11 | David Bazan | Strange Negotiations | Barsuk |
| 12 | Bodies Of Water | Twist Again | Thousand Tongues |
| 13 | Battles | Gloss Drop | Warp |
| 14 | Sea Pony | Go With Me | Hardly Art |
| 15 | Making Friendz | Social Life | Last Bummer |
| 16 | Coathangers | Larceny And Old Lace | Suicide Squeeze |
| 17 | Pictora | Countdown [EP] | Self-Released |
| 18 | Fonda | Better Days | Self-Released |
| 19 | Sebadoh | Bake Sale | Sub Pop |
| 20 | Fucked Up | David Comes To Life | Matador |
| 21 | Adele | 21 | Columbia |
| 22 | Tiger Darrow | You Know Who You Are | Self-Released |
| 23 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. | It’s A Corporate World | Quite Scientific |
| 24 | Boris | Attention Please/Heavy Rocks | Sargent House |
| 25 | The Head | Hang On | Self-Released |
| 26 | Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi | Rome | EMI |
| 27 | Unknown Mortal Orchestra | Unknown Mortal Orchestra | Fat Possum |
| 28 | Sondre Lerche | Sondre Lerche | Mona |
| 29 | 1, 2, 3 | New Heaven | Frenchkiss |
| 30 | Vetiver | The Errant Cub | Sub Pop |