2. Frank Ocean, 'Channel Orange'

Frank Ocean may have responded to his flood of Grammy nominations with a Tumblr’d “WTF” but the rest of us aren’t quite so surprised. Even before “the letter” changed the cultural conversation, anticipation for Frank’s avant-R&B album was astronomical. And kid came through with an old-school album that was more than its singles; that combined contemporary post-Drake melancholy with classic Stevie Wonder vocals; and that ranged from his ten-minute magnum opus "Pyramid" to soulful songs about crack and religion to the slow-motion satire "Super Rich Kids" alongside Odd Future cohort Earl Sweatshirt. Nobody’s changing this channel anytime soon. -- Joshua Ostroff