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Top Albums of 2021

Time for our annual list of most-loved and most-played albums of 2021, with our Top 100 albums of the year, and Top 25 albums in jazz, punk/metal, folk/roots and blues. Enjoy!

CFBX Top 100 Albums for 2021

Artist – Title (Label)

  1. Allison Russell* – Outside Child (Fantasy)
  2. Steve Marriner* – Hope Dies Last (Stony Plain)
  3. Paragon Cause* – Autopilot (Neko)
  4. Nutrition** – No EP (Slow Death)
  5. Tunic* – Exhaling (Artoffact)
  6. Dione Taylor* – Spirits in the Water (Matay)
  7. Kiwi Jr.* – Cooler Returns (Mint)
  8. The Halluci Nation* – One More Saturday Night (Radicalized)
  9. Ducks Ltd.* – Modern Fiction (Royal Mountain)
  10. The Weather Station* – Ignorance (Next Door)
  11. David Rotundo Band* – So Much Trouble (Independent)
  12. Homeshake* – Under the Weather (Dine Alone)
  13. METZ* – Atlas Vending (Sub Pop)
  14. Nova Scotiables* – We’re Gonna Need A Bigger Boat (Independent)
  15. Brandi Disterheft* – Surfboard (Justin Time)
  16. Suuns* – The Witness (Secret City)
  17. Chad VanGaalen* – World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener (Flemish Eye)
  18. Susan Ellenton* – Learning to Listen (Independent)
  19. Jack de Keyzer* – Tribute (Blue Star)
  20. Kat Danser* – One Eye Open (Black Hen)
  21. Caroline Wiles* – Grateful (Independent)
  22. JP Lancaster** – Around Town/Shapes in the Dark EP (Factotum Co.)
  23. Bad Waitress* – No Taste (Royal Mountain)
  24. Bill Bourne* – A Love Fandango (Twelve Point)
  25. Terminal Station* – Brotherhood (Hard Rain)
  26. Brandon Isaak* – Modern Primitive (Independent)
  27. Montreal Jazz Trio* – Montreal Jazz Trio (Odd Sound)
  28. J.Alpinist* – VHS DUBS (Independent)
  29. Sook Yin Lee and Adam Litovitz* – Jooj 2 (Mint)
  30. Erin Propp and Larry Roy* – We All Want the Same Things (Chronograph)
  31. Dee Daniels* – The Promise (Independent)
  32. Fiver* – With the Atlantic School of Spontaneous Composition (You’ve Changed)
  33. Craig Cardiff* – All This Time Running (True North)
  34. Teenanger* – Good Time (Telephone Explosion)
  35. The Garrys* – Get Thee to a Nunnery (Grey)
  36. PUP* – This Place Sucks Ass EP (Little Dipper)
  37. Finny McConnell* – The Dark Streets of Love (True North)
  38. Colin James* – Open Road (Stony Plain)
  39. Hillsburn* – Slipping Away (LHM)
  40. Sue Foley* – Pinky’s Blue (Stony Plain)
  41. Becky Buller – Distance and Time (Dark Shadow)
  42. Websites* – Second Album (Independent)
  43. Da’at* – Demo (Independent)
  44. JW Jones* – Sonic Departures (Solid Blues)
  45. Helena Deland* – Someone New (Luminelle)
  46. Jen Hodge All-Stars* – The Girl in the Groove (Independent)
  47. Jake Ian* – Everything Has Holes (Independent)
  48. Ada Lea* – One Hand on the Steering Wheel, the Other Sewing a Garden (Next Door)
  49. Tunetown* – Entering Utopia (Three Pines)
  50. Brenda Brown* – Life Among Giants (Independent)
  51. J Blissette* – All Things Considered, Rock Music Was a Mistake (Independent)
  52. Janette King* – What We Lost (Hot Tramp)
  53. Dave Dunlop* – Midnight Gamble (Independent)
  54. Bill King* – Mondo Jumbo (Independent)
  55. Anybodys* – Acts of Endurance (Independent)
  56. Sunday Wilde* – Peace in Trouble (Independent)
  57. Donovan Woods* – Without People (Meant Well)
  58. Mother Mother* – Inside (Warner)
  59. betaboys* – So Shy EP (Independent)
  60. Alex Lefaivre Quartet* – Naufrages (Independent)
  61. Owen Pallett* – Island (Domino)
  62. Daniel Romano’s Outfit* – Cobra Poems (You’ve Changed)
  63. No Museums* – There’s Always an Ending (and Always Another) (Independent)
  64. Girlfriends and Boyfriends* – Fallcy of Fairness (Pop Era)
  65. Gustaf – Audio Drag for Ego Slobs (Royal Mountain)
  66. Plants and Animals* – The Jungle (Secret City)
  67. Sean Luciw** – Funk-O-Lation EP (Ulusulu)
  68. Robert Finley – Sharecropper’s Son (Easy Eye Sound)
  69. Bike Club* – Find Romance (We Are Busy Bodies)
  70. Steve Hill* – Desert Trip (No Label)
  71. Peggy Seeger – First Farewell (Red Grape)
  72. Bad Hoo* – Right as Rain (Independent)
  73. Born Ruffians* – Pulp EP (Yep Roc)
  74. Maxime Gervais* – Une Nouvelle Forme de Joie (Cuchabata)
  75. Touching* – Isolation Blues (Independent)
  76. Dresser* – Seventeen Blocks and Then Some (Independent)
  77. Gord Downie* – Away is Mine (Arts and Crafts)
  78. Status/Non-Status* – 1, 2, 3, 4, 500 Year EP (You’ve Changed)
  79. Electric Religious* – Tragic Lover (Independent)
  80. Figure Walking* – Vertical Horizontal (Disintegration)
  81. Meggie Lennon* – Sounds from Your Lips (Mothland)
  82. Iain Howie* – Patterns (Independent)
  83. John Nemeth – Stronger than Strong (Nola Blue)
  84. Rube and Rake* – Leaving with Nothing (LHM)
  85. Shred Kelly* – Like a Rising Sun (Devilduck)
  86. Various Artists* – Periodic Repeater (Eat Glass)
  87. Autogramm* – No Rules (Nevado)
  88. Jonathan Bauer* – Sings and Plays (Slammin)
  89. Leahy* – Good Water (Independent)
  90. futureVolt* – The futureVolt is Now! (Independent)
  91. The Bensard Lakes* – Are the Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings (Flemish Eye)
  92. Half Moon Run* – Inwards and Onwards (The Pepper Gang)
  93. Headcheese** – Demo 2020 (Slow Death)
  94. Islands* – Islomania (Royal Mountain)
  95. Tim Grimm – Gone (Vault)
  96. Baby God* – Another Suffer (Independent)
  97. THNDR* – Is it OK? (Independent)
  98. Peach Kelli Pop* – Lucky Star EP (Lauren)
  99. girlongirl* – Take (Independent)
  100. Cathy Grier and the Troublemakers – I’m All Burn (Independent)

CFBX Top 25 Jazz Albums for 2021

  1. Tunetown* – Entering Utopia (Three Pines)
  2. Erin Propp and Larry Roy* – We All Want the Same Things (Chronograph)
  3. Dave Dunlop* – Midnight Gamble (Independent)
  4. Bill King* – Mondo Jumbo (Independent)
  5. Brandi Disterheft* – Surfboard (Justin Time)
  6. Dee Daniels* – The Promise (Independent)
  7. Montreal Jazz Trio* – Montreal Jazz Trio (Odd Sound)
  8. Alex Lefaivre Quartet* – Naufrages (Independent)
  9. Jesse Ryan* – Bridges (Independent)
  10. Mike Freedman* – Into the Daybreak (Independent)
  11. Jen Hodge All-Stars* – The Girl in the Groove (Independent)
  12. Angela Wrigley Trio* – You Don’t Know What Love Is (Cellar)
  13. Jonathan Bauer* – Sings and Plays (Slammin)
  14. Doxas Brothers* – The Circle (Justin Time)
  15. Steve Maddock* – The Blues Project (Cellar)
  16. Brandee Younger – Somewhere Different (Impulse)
  17. Tom Keenlyside Quartet* – Fortune Teller (Cellar)
  18. Fawn Fritzen* – How to Say Sorry and Other Lessons (Chronograph)
  19. Brenda Brown* – Life Among Giants (Independent)
  20. Code Quartet* -Genealogy (Justin Time)
  21. Aubrey Wilson Quartet* – Honeysuckle Rose (Independent)
  22. Cory Weeds* – O Sole Mio! (Cellar)
  23. Jon Gordon* – Stranger Than Fiction (Independent)
  24. Junior Santos* – Conpambiche (Independent)
  25. Carol Welsman* – Dance With Me (Justin Time)

CFBX Top 25 Loud/Metal Albums for 2021

  1. Tunic* – Exhaling (Artoffact)
  2. Nutrition** – No EP (Slow Death)
  3. No Big D* – No Big D EP (Good Egg)
  4. Vagina Witchcraft* – Vagina Witchcraft (Independent)
  5. Bad Waitress* – No Taste (Royal Mountain)
  6. PUP* – This Place Sucks Ass EP (Little Dipper)
  7. Anybodys* – Acts of Endurance EP (Independent)
  8. White Cowbell Oklahoma* – Textos Raros (Slick Monkey)
  9. Sudden Waves* – We’re All Connected (Hell for Breakfast)
  10. Headcheese** – Demo 2020 (Slow Death)
  11. Trench* – Blossom (Independent)
  12. Websites* – Second Album (Independent)
  13. The Nailheads* – Live to See Tomorrow (Dental)
  14. Quit it* – Quit it EP (Independent)
  15. The Myopia Condition* – Event Horison (Independent)
  16. King Bull* – What Happened Here (Independent)
  17. Teenanger* – Good Time (Telephone Explosion)
  18. Maxime Gervais* – Une Nouvelle Forme de Joie (Cuchabata)
  19. Bad Hoo* – Right as Rain (Independent)
  20. Cluttered* – Cluttered EP (Independent)
  21. Dangersex* – Dangersex (Independent)
  22. Hedonist* – Sepulchral Lacerations (Independent)
  23. Death from Above 1979* – Is 4 Lovers (Spinefarm)
  24. Super Punk* – Kim Jong Goes to Cegep (Hell for Breakfast)
  25. Ape War* – 2020 EP (Independent)

CFBX Top 25 Folk/Roots Albums for 2021

  1. Allison Russell* – Outside Child (Fantasy)
  2. Susan Ellenton* – Learning to Listen (Independent)
  3. Jake Ian* – Everything Has Holes (Independent)
  4. Nova Scotiables* – We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat (Independent)
  5. Caroline Wiles* – Grateful (Independent)
  6. Finny McConnell* – The Dark Streets of Love (True North)
  7. Murray McLauchlan* – Hourglass (True North)
  8. Becky Buller – Distance and Time (Dark Shadow)
  9. Leahy* – Good Water (Independent)
  10. Caroline Marie Brooks* – Everything at the Same Time (Independent)
  11. Kristin Ormiston* – Love Found Me (Independent)
  12. Suzie Ungerleider* – My Name Is Suzie Ungerleider (MKVA)
  13. Craig Cardiff* – All This Time Running (True North)
  14. The Accidentals – Time Out Session #1 (Independent)
  15. Peggy Seeger – First Farewell (Red Grape)
  16. Rube and Rake* – Leaving with Nothing (LHM)
  17. Jeffrey Straker* – Just Before Sunrise (Independent)
  18. Wolf Willow* – Old Guitars and Shooting Stars* (Grey)
  19. Kyra and Tully* – Time (Sounds for Change)
  20. Rick Fines* – Solar Powered Too (Independent)
  21. Lula Wiles – Shame and Sedition (Smithsonian Folkways)
  22. Tomato Tomato* – It’ll Come Around (Denim on Denim)
  23. Joe Nolan* – Scrapper (Fallen Tree)
  24. William Prince* – Gospel First Nation (Six Shooter)
  25. Bumarang* – Echo Land (Fallen Tree)

CFBX Top 25 Blues Albums for 2021

  1. Steve Marriner* – Hope Dies Last (Stony Plain)
  2. Kat Danser* – One Eye Open (Black Hen)
  3. Brandon Isaak* – Modern Primitive (Independent)
  4. Sunday Wilde* – Peace in Trouble (Independent)
  5. Dione Taylor* – Spirits in the Water (Matay)
  6. Gravely James* – From Steve’s Shed (Independent)
  7. Terminal Station* – Brotherhood (Independent)
  8. David Rotundo Band* – So Much Trouble (Independent)
  9. Steve Hill* – Desert Trip (No Label)
  10. Sue Foley* – Pinky’s Blues (Stony Plain)
  11. Bill Bourne* – A Love Fandango (Twelve Point)
  12. Robert Finley – Sharecropper’s Son (Easy Eye Sound)
  13. Jack de Keyzer* – Tribute (Blue Star)
  14. Cathy Grier and the Troublemakers – I’m All Burn (Independent)
  15. Robert Billard and the Cold Calls* – Stop (Independent)
  16. Shakey Trill* – Shakey Trill (Independent)
  17. Veronica Lewis – You Ain’t Unlucky (Blue Heart)
  18. Gary Kendall* – Dusty and Pearl Revisited Vol. 1 (47 Records)
  19. Rob Stone – Trio in Tokyo (Blue Heart)
  20. The Blue Voodoo* – Back at it EP (Independent)
  21. Colin James* – Open Road (Stony Plain)
  22. Martin Lang – Bad Man (Random Chance)
  23. Kelly’s Lot – Where and When (Independent)
  24. Beauwater* – Who Works for Who? (Independent)
  25. Kirk Fletcher – My Blues Pathway (Independent)