2013 was a cool year for me. I made a lot of friends. I got a new job. I met Taylor Swift. And I listened to a lot of music. So because Noisey is a music publication, and because it is the end of the year, I made a list of my favorite albums and records of 2013. My criteria was simple: what did I listen to most? And despite the answer to that obviously being Red, that album came out last year. So here's everything else I thought was awesome in 2013. Enjoy.

10. Blood Orange – Cupid Deluxe

This past summer, I saw Dev Hynes take the stage at Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago in the middle of the afternoon—before a sweaty, gross, and downright disgusting crowd—and he made everyone on that green lawn want to have sex with the person standing next to them. Fuck an album, because that type of swag is enough to get on any year-end list. (Also, Cupid Deluxe is really good.)

Listen to: "Cupid Deluxe"

9. Pusha T – My Name Is My Name

If you want to see how much I like this album, go ahead and watch the NPR Broadcast from when this dude performed at New York’s (le) poisson rouge during CMJ. I’m in the front row, dgafing out, pumping my rap hands in the most embarrassing way. “Hold On” forever. Kanye yelps forever. This. Is. Mother. Fucking. Pusha. T.

Listen: to "My Name Is My Name"

8. Rhye – Woman

If there weren’t so many great breakup records this year, this would be the breakup record of the year. Instead, this is just a really great record that happens to be about getting your ass dumped. Anyway, I didn’t know anything about the LA duo before I listened—including gender—and told people over and over how beautiful this woman’s voice was. I later found out that singer is actually a dude, and realized from that moment on that it’s only a matter of time before I get fired from my job as a professional music writer.

Listen to: "Woman"

7. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Push the Sky Away

Man, this is Nick Cave. If you don’t like Nick Cave, fuck you.

Listen to: "Push the Sky Away"

6. Kacey Musgraves – Same Trailer, Different Park

I didn’t think anyone could fill the pop country hole in my heart that Taylor Swift left after last year’s Red, but god damn, here we have Kacey Musgraves, one of the sharpest, charming, and leave-you-crying-while-sitting-on-your-living-room-couch-alone-or-even-if-you’re-with-your-roommates songwriters to come up this year. Her writing is so simply poignant that you’re bound to text an ex while listening.

Listen to: "Same Trailer, Different Park"

5. Earl Sweatshirt – Doris

This summer, I was at a friend’s party and at about 1:30am, someone told me that Earl Sweatshirt had showed up. He was apparently on the other side of the room, so I couldn’t see him (it was crowded, shut up). On the real, I’d had a few drinks at this point, so I don’t remember exactly how I handled the situation, but I do know I was pretty stoked to be standing in the same room as the guy who made Doris. I later found out that my friend was fucking with me, because Earl performed at a show in Florida that night and was absolutely nowhere near New York City, but I don’t really care because I still felt like I was in the same room as the person who made Doris. Anyway, we waited for you Earl. Thank you for delivering.

Listen to: "Doris"

4. Willis Earl Beal – Nobody knows.

I spent an afternoon with this dude earlier this year, and still maintain that our conversation is one of the strangest and most fascinating chats I’ve had in my life. With the evolution of music heading in the direction it is—with the Yung Leans, the RiFF RAFFs, the other super weird shit happening everyday (that, don’t get me wrong, I really do love)—sometimes it’s refreshing to listen to a guy who can just fucking sing his guts out.

Listen to: "Nobody knows."

3. Chance the Rapper – Acid Rap

This was the only piece of music I listened to for the entire month of May. Sorry.

Listen to: "Acid Rap"

2. Haim – Days Are Gone

I like this record. My roommates like this record. My dad likes this record. My brother likes this record. My coworkers like this record. My friends like this record. Various women I’ve unsuccessfully dated like this record. It seems like everyone likes this record—which probably makes you not want to like it—but then once you listen, once you let those three sisters take you on their whirlwind of emotions, charming you with their whipped up Fleetwood Mac-vibe, you also will like this record.

Listen to: "Days Are Gone"

1. Kanye West - Yeezus

The one word that dominated the cultural conversation in 2013 isn’t even found in the dictionary, and that word is Yeezus. I’m not even going to pretend to be biased. I believe, firmly, that Kanye West is the greatest artist of all-time, and Yeezus is his best work. He’s reinvented the wheel. He’s created a new genre of music. He now fistbumps with Jesus. There’s nothing I can possibly write to justify more how this has been Kanye’s year. The fact is that he is, indeed, the nucleus.

Listen to: "Yeezus"

Subscribe to Eric's Best Albums of 2013 (minus Chance, because it's a mixtape) on Spotify.

10. Daft Punk – “Get Lucky”

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9. Childish Gambino – “Telegraph Ave. (“Oakland by Lloyd”)”

I went ahead and took about 2500 words to tell you that I like Childish Gambino, but whatever, here I am again: I like Childish Gambino. “Telegrave Ave.” is my favorite song on Because the Internet. Recalling Frank Ocean’s “Swim Good” or “Bad Religion,” it captures everything record is about—themes of confusion and struggle within oneself, struggling to escape your own thoughts and technology—while just cruising along, allowing the world to fly by.

8. Drake – “Worst Behaviour”

We thought a lot about Drake when this dude released Nothing was the Same in September, but as you can see from above, it didn’t even make my year-end list. That probably speaks to the quality of music that released this year, but there’s no god damn way I was going to leave “Worst Behaviour” off of my singles list. This song is everything that Drake is—blending his insecurities with overt swag—and plus, it’s just a banger that gets anyone going. No joke, my parents visited me over Thanksgiving, and at about 1:30am on a Saturday night, I found myself doing rap hands with my father on the dance floor, forever proving that with Drake, anything is possible.

7. The Men – “The Brass”

I like the Men a lot, probably more than your average person, and I was disappointed to see their fantastic record New Moon go under the radar a bit this year (even though I tried really hard to make people care). “The Brass” just goes, though. Aggressive. Loud. Grimy. This song represents everything I want from a rock band in 2013, because it makes me want to do a bunch of cocaine and punch a train.

6. Kevin Gates – “Paper Chasers”

I’m from Iowa, and my parents recently retired and moved to Colorado. Earlier this year, I had to travel back to the Midwest to pack up my childhood and say goodbye to the room in which I first made out with a girl. I spent the week home driving around my small town, bidding farewell to every spot that meant something—the coffee shop, the Wal-Mart parking lot, my high school, that roof downtown we used to sneak on in the summers home from college and smoke weed—and Kevin Gates was my soundtrack. The boisterous, syrupy beats might not be the first thing that come to your mind when you think cornfields, but believe me, in that moment, there was nothing that could’ve sounded more appropriate.

5. Haim – “If I Could Change Your Mind”

This has been a year of #emotions and #girls, and I spent many evenings walking home from work, watching the sun go down over the Manhattan skyline, letting Haim play on repeat, wondering if anybody’d change their mind. Then I'd get home and my roommate would make a dick joke about the way I looked. Everything always works out.

4. Florida Georgia Line featuring Nelly – “Cruise”

Originally, I had “Hey Porsche” in this spot, but after Andrew Winistorfer went hard on Nelly’s 2013 yesterday, he successfully convinced me that “Hey Porsche” was just a giant ploy for Nelly to become a country star, and join in on Florida Georgia Line’s incredible “Cruise.” Honestly, I can’t tell you how many times I drunkenly sang along to this song this year. I'll leave you with this: “BABY YOU’RE A SONG YOU MAKE ME WANNA ROLL MY WINDOWS DOWN AND CRUISE.”

3. Justin Timberlake – “Mirrors”

After “Suit & Tie” and its unbelievable amount of terribleness, I was pretty certain that Justin Timberlake’s “comeback to music from making movies about romance and websites” was going to be awful. Ultimately, it kind of was—did anybody actually listen to the second half of The 20/20 Experience?—but god damn, none of that matters because “Mirrors” is perfect pop perfection. Back in the spring, I saw JT do the song at Manhattan’s Roseland Ballroom with my ex. Part of me believed that seeing him do “Mirrors” live would fix every problem that’d ever happened between us. It didn’t, and instead, the night left me, once again, a #sadboy. But that poignant blend of optimism and crushing reality about love is everything that “Mirrors” is, and everything I could ever want from Justin Timberlake.

2. A$AP Rocky featuring Kendrick Lamar, Joey Bada$$, Yelawolf, Danny Brown, Action Bronson, and Big K.R.I.T. – “1 Train”

I profiled A$AP Rocky earlier this year, and he fell asleep during my interview. I’m okay with it though, because this song fucking slays. If you want to talk about the “new generation of rap” or whatever the hell everyone always wants to talk about in regards to rap music in the year 2013, this song is pretty much the thesis statement for that movement. Also, Danny Brown's verse forever. #penguins

1. Kanye West – “Bound 2”

This past June was awesome. I saw Kanye West for the first time at Governors Ball. I heard “On Sight.” I shed a tear during “Runaway.” I took a vine of bros dancing to “Can’t Tell Me Nothin’.” The next night, I went to the Yeezus listening party. I stood two feet away from Kanye. I took 34 pictures of him. He told the room that the album is about not giving a fuck. Spit flew out of his mouth when he said that. The spit landed on my face. After the party, I listened to the “Bound 2” clip on his website at least 324 times. Then the album almost leaked. Then it didn’t. But then it did. And I listened to it, over and over again. It gave me goosebumps. I couldn’t focus on any work. I leaned back in my chair in the office and listened to “Bound 2” on repeat. Everyday. Then the album actually released on June 18, which is my birthday. I didn’t stop listening. I couldn’t stop listening. “Bound 2” over and over again. It was summer. I drank beers. I made friends. I kissed a girl. I kissed another girl. Those girls didn’t make it to Thanksgiving. Those girls won’t make it to Christmas. But I’m still here. You know. I’m not tired of loving. Uh-huh honey.

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Eric Sundermann understands that the banner at the top of this page says "Best & Worst" and he only put his "Best" on this list but he realizes that his music taste is actually the "Worst." Anyway, he's Noisey's Managing Editor and he's on Twitter — @ericsundy