| Rank | Artist | Recording | Label |
| 1 | HA HA TONKA | Death Of A Decade | Bloodshot |
| 2 | DENGUE FEVER | Cannibal Courtship | Concord |
| 3 | TV ON THE RADIO | Nine Types Of Light | Interscope |
| 4 | TUNE-YARDS | W H O K I L L | 4AD |
| 5 | FEELIES | Here Before | Bar None |
| 6 | BLACK JOE LEWIS AND THE HONEYBEARS | Scandalous | Lost Highway |
| 7 | PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART | Belong | Slumberland |
| 8 | VIVIAN GIRLS | Share The Joy | Polyvinyl |
| 9 | SHILPA RAY AND HER HAPPY HOOKERS | Teenage And Torture | Knitting Factory |
| 10 | PAUL SIMON | So Beautiful Or So What | Hear |
| 11 | BEACH FOSSILS | What A Pleasure [EP] | Captured Tracks |
| 12 | FLEET FOXES | Helplessness Blues | Sub Pop |
| 13 | THAO AND MIRAH | Thao And Mirah | Kill Rock Stars |
| 14 | ADELE | 21 | Columbia |
| 15 | KILLS | Blood Pressures | Domino |
| 16 | YUCK | Yuck | Fat Possum |
| 17 | STEVE EARLE | I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive | |
| 18 | PARTS AND LABOR | Constant Future | Jagjaguwar |
| 19 | JOY FORMIDABLE | The Big Roar | Atlantic |
| 20 | ALISON KRAUSS AND UNION STATION | Paper Airplane | Rounder |
| 21 | DECEMBERISTS | The King Is Dead | Capitol |
| 22 | R.E.M. | Collapse Into Now | Warner Bros. |
| 23 | THOSE DARLINS | Screws Get Loose | Oh Wow Dang |
| 24 | BING JI LING | Shadow To Shine | |
| 25 | JOAN AS POLICE WOMAN | The Deep Field | Pias |
| 26 | LYKKE LI | Wounded Rhymes | Atlantic/LL |
| 27 | ELBOW | Build A Rocket Boys! | Co-Op |
| 28 | I'M FROM BARCELONA | Forever Today | Mute |
| 29 | RURAL ALBERTA ADVANTAGE | Departing | Saddle Creek |
| 30 | JONNY | Jonny | Merge |
