2005

Fiona Apple – Extraordinary Machine (American art-pop, re-recording of an unreleased album from 2003)

The Fall – Fall Heads Roll (British post-punk)

Weezer – Make Believe (American power pop)

Gorillaz – Demon Days (Alternative dance/hip hop “virtual band” led by Blur singer Damon Albarn)

The Mountain Goats – The Sunset Tree (American folk-rock)

The New Pornographers – Twin Cinema (Canadian indie rock/power pop)

System Of A Down – Mesmerize (American alternative metal, one of two albums released within months of each other)

Bloc Party – Silent Alarm (British post-punk/indie rock, debut)

System Of A Down – Hypnotize (American alternative metal, the other one)

Clutch – Robot Hive / Exodus (American stoner rock/blues rock)

Audioslave – Out Of Exile (American hard rock/alternative metal supergroup consisting of Chris Cornell and ¾ of Rage Against The Machine)

Kanye West – Late Registration (American hip-hop)

Judas Priest – Angel of Retribution (British heavy metal, their first album in 15 years to feature original vocalist Rob Halford)

MIA – Arular (British alternative hip hop, debut)

High On Fire – Blessed Black Wings (American stoner metal)

Boards Of Canada – The Campfire Headphase (Scottish electronic music)

Deftones – B-Sides and Rarities (American alternative metal, compilation of b-sides and unreleased songs from 1995-2005)

Foo Fighters – In Your Honor (American alternative rock/post-grunge, half-electric, half-acoustic double album)

Limp Bizkit – The Unquestionable Truth, Part 1 (American nu metal, EP)

The Click Five - Greetings from Imrie House (American power pop, debut)

Alice Cooper – Dirty Diamonds (American hard rock/glam rock)

Queens Of The Stone Age – Lullabies to Paralyze (American stoner rock)

Fiery Furnaces – EP (American art-pop, compilation of material from three earlier singles plus two new songs)

Sufjan Stevens – Illinois (American indie-folk, concept album about the US state of the same name)

Napalm Death – The Code is Red…. Long Live the Code (British death metal)

Coldplay – X & Y (British alternative rock)

The Boy Least Likely To – The Best Party Ever (British twee pop, debut)

Wolf Parade – Apologies To The Queen Mary (American indie rock, debut)

Ladytron – The Witching Hour (British electro-pop)

Korn – See You On The Other Side (American nu-metal, featuring songs produced by pop production team The Matrix and frequent Trent Reznor collaborator Atticus Ross)

Paramore – All We Know Is Falling (American pop punk/emo, debut)

Pelican – The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon The Thaw (American post-metal)

Vitalic – OK Cowboy (French electro-house, debut)

Gojira – From Mars To Sirius (French progressive metal/ technical death metal, concept album with sci-fi and environmental themes)

Fall Out Boy – From Under The Cork Tree (American emo/pop punk)

Strapping Young Lad – Alien (Canadian progressive metal/ technical death metal)

The Game – The Documentary (American hip-hop, debut)

Editors – The Back Room (British post-punk, debut)

Nine Inch Nails – With Teeth (American industrial metal)

White Stripes – Get Behind Me Satan (American garage rock/indie rock)

LCD Soundsystem – LCD Soundsystem (American dance rock, debut album)

Art Brut – Bang Bang Rock And Roll (British indie rock)

Nevermore – This Godless Endeavor (American progressive metal)

Spoon – Gimme Fiction (American indie rock)

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (American indie rock, debut)

Antony & The Johnsons – I Am A Bird Now (American chamber pop, debut)

Lou Barlow – Emoh (American lo-fi/folk-rock, solo album by Dinosaur Jr and Folk Implosion member)

My Morning Jacket – Z (American psychedelic rock)

Róisín Murphy – Ruby Blue (Irish electronic/jazz pop, solo debut after the breakup of the duo Moloko)

 Notes:

I'm experimenting with how much chart-topping stuff I'm doing - back when I did 2001, I listened to eight of the top 10 Billboard top-selling albums. This time I was more selective about it - three of the albums I picked were Billboard top-sellers, namely Late Registration, X & Y, and The Documentary. 

The Amazon playlist doesn't quite have everything I listened to yet, and I may be adding stuff. I liked the methods I used for the 1981 and 2001 ones, where it's loosely organized: The first 15 tracks are the "hits" - I struggled with whether to include Black Eyed Peas' "My Humps" because I still don't actually like it, but I felt like it merited inclusion because it's one of the most "2005" songs there are. Then there's a loosely defined section of indie rock, followed by a little dance/electronic - LCD Sound System could have fit into either, but it felt more right with the electronic stuff, plus I just wanted to follow a song about Daft Punk with Daft Punk. Finally, there's some hard rock and alternative metal, followed by various subgenres of heavy metal.