Dec 072012
 

I’m including this post in our LISTMANIA series more out of curiosity than anything else, because I don’t know many metalheads who get their music based on recommendations by Amazon.com. In fact, until this morning I didn’t know that Amazon even compiled Best of the Year staff picks. But they do. And because Amazon sells a shitload of music, I thought this was worth a mention.

There are actually three different lists that I’m including here. First, Amazon compiled a list of the 100 Best Albums of 2012. I waded through that list to find the metal albums that made it (at least as I define metal). And here they are, with their numerical rankings:

36.  Converge: All We Love We Leave Behind

39.  Godspeed You! Black Emperor: Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!

40.  High On Fire: De Vermis Mysteriis

46.  Baroness: Yellow and Green

67.  Gojira: L’Enfant Sauvage

I guess five metal albums out of 100 isn’t bad (though I’m sure I would get an argument from many of you about the inclusion of Godspeed You! Black Emperor as metal). Interestingly, the No. 1 album on Amazon’s list is My Head Is An Animal, the debut album by an Icelandic band named Of Monsters and Men.

Second, Amazon made a separate list of Best Music of the Year: Genre Highlights. In the category of Metal and Hard Rock they named one album — Converge — and one song: “March To the Sea” by Baroness.

Third, Amazon published a list of Customer Favorites: The 100 Bestselling Albums of 2012. For those of you who think metal ought to stay underground, you’ll be pleased to know that I didn’t see even one metal album on the list of the 100 bestselling albums on Amazon, with the possible exception of Clockwork Angels by Rush, which holds the No. 12 spot; I don’t consider Rush to be metal, but others do.

In case you’re wondering, the bestselling album of 2012 on Amazon (at least as of the time this list was compiled) is Slipstream by Bonnie Raitt.

Comments?

  4 Responses to “LISTMANIA CONTINUES: DID YOU KNOW AMAZON HAD A LIST?”

  1. Of Monsters and Men just played at a local radio rock festival I went to with my girlfriend and her friends last Sunday. I missed them due to a beer run.

  2. i have all of those albums, and ironically. also have bought that monster and men album when it came out

  3. Not surprising that metal doesn’t take up much space on those lists. Still, it’s good to see some metal get recognized, especially getting the top spot for Metal & Hard Rock. Yes, Amazon does sell a shitload of music and sometimes their recommendations are at least worth taking a look at. I wonder what iTunes has to say, being another shitload-of-good-music store…

  4. I think Godspeed is right up there with Sunn O))) as music that isn’t metal but is far more metal than a lot of the metal out there.

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