So i've decided to do an Album of the Year contest among all i own.  No EPs or singles, no compilations, live albums OK.  Pickings are slim until the mid-80s.  Unsurprisingly, some years have a winner that may not be a favorite, but it's the best of the bunch.  Other years have 2 or 3 massive albums so choosing one is tough.

1956: Duke Ellington and His Orchestra - Ellington at Newport 1956 (Complete)
1957: Duke Ellington and His Orchestra - Such Sweet Thunder
1958: Duke Ellington and His Orchestra - Black, Brown and Beige
1959: Miles Davis - Kind of Blue

1962: Duke Ellington, Charlie Mingus, Max Roach - Money Jungle
1963: Lee Morgan - The Sidewinder
1964: John Coltrane - A Love Supreme

1966: Duke Ellington and His Orchestra - The Far East Suite
1967: The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced

1969: Leo Kottke - 6- and 12-String Guitar

1970: Santana - Abraxas
1971: Led Zeppelin - [untitled]
1972: Duke Ellington and His Orchestra - Latin American Suite
1973: Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
1974: King Crimson - Red
1975: Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti
1976: Jean Michel Jarre - Oxygène
1977: Pink Floyd - Animals
1978: Jean Michel Jarre - Équinoxe
1979: The Police - Reggatta de Blanc

1980: Talking Heads - Remain in Light
1981: King Crimson - Discipline
1982: Andy Summers & Robert Fripp - I Advance Masked
1983: The Police - Synchronicity
1984: Hüsker Dü - Zen Arcade
1985: Soda Stereo - Nada Personal
1986: Peter Gabriel - So
1987: Depeche Mode - Music for the Masses
1988: Living Colour - Vivid
1989: Pixies - Doolittle

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12/16 '20 10 Comments
Go buy some Bowie right now and redo the 70s.
Been there, done that. https://rone.dreamwidth.org/2016/12/04/

I should fix the embedded videos that didn't survive the LJ>DW migration.
I was looking for a quote for Calvin, for his...senior...yearbook...oy...and going through DW to find it. So many broken links :/
Wayback Machine!
Interesting. We have so much musical overlap that assumed that Hunky Dory, Ziggy, or Scary Monsters would have won their years...
Hm, the title associated with John Sheridan is not "Remain in Light".
I didn't take you for a Babylon 5 fan.
I forget how, but I recently stumbled upon some misplaced directory that happened to contain Jean Michel Jarre's Équinoxe. I loooooved that album in the mid/late 80s, and listening to it again was like revisiting a dear, close friend.
Without consulting my music library, only two counters.
1970 - American Beauty over Abraxas (personally, Live/Dead over either).
1978 - VH1 without question

For 1991 I have no idea how you choose between Nevermind and The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld.
VH and Nevermind were epochal events, but as standalone albums, they were not my choice.