14. The Suburbs-Arcade Fire (2010)

In 2004 Arcade Fire burst onto the scene with one of the more emotionally affecting debut albums of the century with Funeral, a record that deals with loss, love, and growing up. It’s a pretty perfect record and one that many bands would never be able to come close to topping. Arcade Fire are not most bands. And 2010’s magnum-opus The Suburbs is the perfect answer as to how. On The Surburbs Arcade Fire perfected the sound of the grand and sweeping statement song, something they’ve been working towards since Funeral. You can feel the emotion in every song on this record and at 16 songs it never overstays it’s welcome. Songs like the title tack, “We Used To Wait” and “Ready to Start” are obvious fan favorites, while “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)” aches with catharsis behind one of the most infectiously dancey arrangements in Arcade Fire’s discography. This is one hell of a record and one that I personally took a lot out of during my time in college, it’s also the best thing that Arcade Fire ever wrote.