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The best album of every year since 2000, according to critics

Work by Kanye West, Bob Dylan, and Kendrick Lamar is among that which has topped Metacritic's annual list of the most critically acclaimed albums.

Kanye West.

Each year in music, one album stands out from the crowd as the most critically acclaimed work of the year.

Since the turn of the century, the review aggregator Metacritic has compiled an annual list of the year's best-received albums, assigning scores based on their composite critical reception.

We selected the top album from each year, starting with 2000 (and including the best album of 2017 so far). The resulting list includes appearances from artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Bob Dylan, and Kanye West as well as a few lesser-known LPs.

Check out the best album of each year in the new century so far:

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2000: Outkast — "Stankonia"

Critic score: 95/100

User score: 8.9/10

What critics said: "Stankonia reeks of artful ambition rendered with impeccable skill — or as one song title so concisely has it, 'So Fresh, So Clean.'" — Entertainment Weekly

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2001: Bob Dylan — "Love and Theft"

Critic score: 93/100

User score: 8.8/10

What critics said: "" — Rolling Stone

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2002: The Streets — "Original Pirate Material"

Critic score: 90/100

User score: 8.9/10

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What critics said: "'" — Village Voice

2003: The White Stripes — "Elephant"

Critic score: 92/100

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User score: 8.6/10

What critics said: "" — Spin

2004: Brian Wilson — "Smile"

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Critic score: 97/100

User score: 8.0/10

What critics said: "" — Pitchfork

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2005: Sufjan Stevens — "Illinois"

Critic score: 90/100

User score: 9.0/10

What critics said: "" — Billboard

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2006: Ali Farka Toure — "Savane"

Critic score: 94/100

User score: 8.4/10

What critics said: "" — The Guardian

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2007: The Field — "From Here We Go Sublime"

Critic score: 90/100

User score: 6.6/10

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What critics said: "'" — BBC

2008: The Bug — "London Zoo"

Critic score: 90/100

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User score: 6.4/10

What critics said: "'" — The Observer

2009: Serge Gainsbourg — "Histoire de Melody Nelson"

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Critic score: 96/100

User score: 8.7/10

What critics said: "" — Tiny Mix Tapes

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Note: "Histoire de Melody Nelson" was originally released in France in 1971. The album was released for the first time in North America in 2009.

2010: "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" — Kanye West

Critic score: 94/100

User score: 8.9/10

What critics said: "'" — Rolling Stone

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2011: Ry Cooder — "Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down"

Critic score: 92/100

User score: 6.8/10

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What critics said: "" — The Observer

2012: Wadada Leo Smith — "Ten Freedom Summers"

Critic score: 99/100

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User score: 4.8/10

What critics said: "" — PopMatters

2013: Deafheaven — "Sunbather"

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Critic score: 92/100

User score: 8.3/10

What critics said: "" — Sputnik Music

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2014: D'Angelo — "Black Messiah"

Critic score: 95/100

User score: 8.7/10

What critics said: "'" — The AV Club

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2015: Kendrick Lamar — "To Pimp A Butterfly"

Critic score: 96/100

User score: 9.0/10

What critics said: "" — The Telegraph

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2016: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds — "Skeleton Tree"

Critic score: 94/100

User score: 8.8/10

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What critics said: "" — NME

2017: Kendrick Lamar — "DAMN."

Critic score: 95/100

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User score: 8.8/10

What critics said: "

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