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What were the best pop albums of 2014?
Below is Rolling Stone’s ranking in the order reproduced by Album of the Year, along with the release dates shown on that list. The ranking is best read as a snapshot of one critic-led publication’s idea of pop in 2014—not as a settled consensus or a measure of sales.
- Charli XCX — SUCKER (December 15)
- Taylor Swift — 1989 (October 27)
- Lana Del Rey — Ultraviolence (June 13)
- Maroon 5 — V (September 2)
- Ariana Grande — My Everything (August 22)
- 2NE1 — CRUSH (February 26)
- Lykke Li — I Never Learn (May 5)
- Various Artists — The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Pt. 1 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (November 17)
- Kimbra — The Golden Echo (August 19)
- Ed Sheeran — x (June 23)
- “Weird Al” Yankovic — Mandatory Fun (July 15)
- Pharrell Williams — G I R L (March 3)
- La Roux — Trouble in Paradise (July 21)
- Sam Smith — In the Lonely Hour (May 26)
- Calvin Harris — Motion (October 31)
- Kitten — Kitten (June 24)
- Nick Jonas — Nick Jonas (November 10)
- One Direction — FOUR (November 17)
- Shakira — Shakira. (March 25)
- Sia — 1000 Forms of Fear (July 4)
Why does the list include such different sounds?
“Pop” here is a broad category, not a single production style. Rolling Stone’s reproduced descriptions point to Ariana Grande’s My Everything as a blend of “bubblegum diva vocals with EDM break beats,” while describing Charli XCX’s SUCKER as an updated take on punk pop. The same ranking includes electropop, pop rock, K-pop and a film soundtrack, as well as Yankovic’s musical parody.
That range makes the list useful for exploring 2014’s mainstream and adjacent pop, but it also means the ranking answers a particular editorial question: which records fit Rolling Stone’s expansive pop category and stood out to its editors?
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How did other 2014 year-end lists differ?
Other contemporary lists used different scopes and methods, so their positions should not be averaged with Rolling Stone’s into a pretend consensus.
| Source and approach | What it placed prominently | How to read it |
|---|---|---|
| Rolling Stone’s pop-focused list, reproduced by Album of the Year | Charli XCX’s SUCKER first, 1989 second | A ranking specifically framed around pop albums. |
| Pitchfork readers’ poll | FKA twigs’ LP1 fifth; 1989 tenth; Beyoncé’s Beyoncé twenty-third; Ultraviolence twenty-seventh | A reader poll across albums, not a pop-only critics’ ranking. |
| Pitchfork critics’ Top 50, listed in Year-End Lists and dated December 17 | Run the Jewels 2 first, FKA twigs’ LP1 second, 1989 thirty-first | A broader critics’ albums list, with a different scope from Rolling Stone’s pop selection. |
The contrast is more informative than a cross-list average: a pop-specific editorial list, a broad critics’ ranking and a reader poll are measuring different kinds of judgment. For example, 1989 ranks second in Rolling Stone’s pop list, tenth in the Pitchfork reader poll, and thirty-first in Pitchfork’s broader critics’ Top 50.
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Which 2014 pop albums were overlooked?
In a December 22, 2014, TIME feature, writer Nolan Feeney offered a contemporary impression rather than a measured release count: “Considering how many A-list pop stars crowded the last quarter of 2013 — Britney, Beyoncé, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga — 2014 felt a little light on pop releases by comparison.”
Feeney also highlighted albums he considered underrecognized, including Katy B’s Little Red, Bleachers’ Strange Desire and Tove Lo’s Queen of the Clouds. He described Little Red as moving Katy B from “dubstep sweetheart” toward a “’90s dance diva,” and noted its continuous mix. His feature also pointed to Ariana Grande and Meghan Trainor as up-and-coming artists. These picks reflect a focus on attention and recognition, rather than simply extending Rolling Stone’s ranked list.
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For listeners choosing where to start, 1989 is a useful point of comparison across lists because it appears prominently in all three rankings, while the more pop-specific selection offers a wider stylistic path through records such as CRUSH, Trouble in Paradise and Mandatory Fun.
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