| Rank | Artist | Album | Label | Year | Buy |
|---|
| 1 | Arcade Fire | Funeral | Merge | (2004) |  |
| 2 | Radiohead | Kid A | Capitol | (2000) | |
| 3 | Wilco | Yankee Hotel Foxtrot | Nonesuch | (2002) | |
| 4 | Radiohead | In Rainbows | ATO | (2007) | |
| 5 | Sufjan Stevens | Illinois | Asthmatic Kitty | (2005) | |
| 6 | Death Cab for Cutie | Transatlanticism | Barsuk | (2003) | |
| 7 | The Flaming Lips | Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots | Warner Bros | (2002) | |
| 8 | Modest Mouse | The Moon and Antarctica | Epic | (2000) | |
| 9 | Band of Horses | Everything All the Time | Sub Pop | (2006) | |
| 10 | Fleet Foxes | Fleet Foxes | Sub Pop | (2008) | |
| 11 | The Strokes | Is This It | RCA | (2001) | |
| 12 | The National | Boxer | Beggars Banquet | (2007) | |
| 13 | The Shins | Chutes Too Narrow | Sub Pop | (2003) | |
| 14 | Interpol | Turn on the Bright Lights | Matador | (2002) | |
| 15 | The White Stripes | Elephant | V2 | (2003) | |
| 16 | The Postal Service | Give Up | Sub Pop | (2003) | |
| 17 | LCD Soundsystem | Sound of Silver | Capitol | (2007) | |
| 18 | Neko Case | Fox Confessor Brings the Flood | Anti- | (2006) | |
| 19 | Arcade Fire | Neon Bible | Merge | (2007) | |
| 20 | Animal Collective | Merriweather Post Pavilion | Domino | (2009) | |
| 21 | PJ Harvey | Stories From The City, Stories From the Sea | Island | (2000) | |
| 22 | Broken Social Scene | You Forgot It In People | Arts & Crafts/Paper Bag | (2003) | |
| 23 | The Wrens | The Meadowlands | Absolutely Kosher | (2003) | |
| 24 | The White Stripes | White Blood Cells | Sympathy for the Record Industry | (2001) | |
| 25 | Sigur Ros | Agaetis Byrjun | Fatcat | (2001) | |
| 26 | Sigur Ros | Takk | Geffen | (2005) | |
| 27 | Radiohead | Amnesiac | Capitol | (2001) | |
| 28 | Yeah Yeah Yeahs | Fever to Tell | Interscope | (2003) | |
| 29 | Beck | Sea Change | DGC | (2002) | |
| 30 | Radiohead | Hail to the Thief | Capitol | (2003) | |
| 31 | Bjork | Vespertine | Elektra | (2001) | |
| 32 | Elliott Smith | Figure 8 | Dreamworks | (2000) | |
| 33 | Amy Winehouse | Back to Black | Universal Republic | (2007) | |
| 34 | Beck | Guero | Interscope | (2005) | |
| 35 | TV on the Radio | Return to Cookie Mountain | Touch and Go | (2006) | |
| 36 | Neko Case | Blacklisted | Bloodshot | (2002) | |
| 37 | Shins | Oh, Inverted World | Sub Pop | (2001) | |
| 38 | Bright Eyes | I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning | Saddle Creek | (2005) | |
| 39 | Bloc Party | Silent Alarm | Vice | (2005) | |
| 40 | Ryan Adams | Heartbreaker | Bloodshot | (2000) | |
| 41 | The Hold Steady | Boys and Girls in America | Vagrant | (2006) | |
| 42 | Death Cab for Cutie | Plans | Atlantic | (2005) | |
| 43 | Outkast | Stankonia | LaFace / Arista | (2000) | |
| 44 | Modest Mouse | Good News for People Who Love Bad News | Epic | (2004) | |
| 45 | The National | Alligator | Beggars Banquet | (2005) | |
| 46 | Clap Your Hands Say Yeah | Clap Your Hands Say Yeah | self-released | (2005) | |
| 47 | Arctic Monkeys | Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not | Domino | (2006) | |
| 48 | Sigur Ros | ( ) | Fat Cat | (2002) | |
| 49 | The Decemberists | The Crane Wife | Capitol | (2006) | |
| 50 | M.I.A. | Arular | XL | (2005) | |
| 51 | Wolf Parade | Apologies to the Queen Mary | Sub Pop | (2005) | |
| 52 | Kings of Leon | Aha Shake Heartbreak | RCA | (2005) | |
| 53 | Spoon | Gimme Fiction | Merge | (2005) | |
| 54 | Spoon | Kill the Moonlight | Merge | (2002) | |
| 55 | Devotchka | How It Ends | Cicero | (2004) | |
| 56 | Nada Surf | Let Go | Barsuk | (2003) | |
| 57 | My Morning Jacket | Z | ATO/ RCA | (2005) | |
| 58 | Vampire Weekend | Vampire Weekend | XL | (2008) | |
| 59 | Band of Horses | Cease to Begin | Sub Pop | (2007) | |
| 60 | Beirut | The Flying Club Cup | Ba Da Bing | (2007) | |
| 61 | M.I.A. | Kala | Interscope | (2007) | |
| 62 | TV on the Radio | Dear Science | Interscope | (2008) | |
| 63 | The Mountain Goats | The Sunset Tree | 4AD | (2005) | |
| 64 | The Knife | Silent Shout | Mute | (2006) | |
| 65 | Bright Eyes | Lifted or The Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground | Saddle Creek | (2002) | |
| 66 | Beirut | Gulag Orkestar | Ba Da Bing! | (2006) | |
| 67 | Mclusky | Mclusky Do Dallas | Too Pure | (2002) | |
| 68 | Interpol | Antics | Matador | (2004) | |
| 69 | The Decemberists | Picaresque | Kill Rock Stars | (2005) | |
| 70 | The Black Keys | Rubber Factory | Fat Possum | (2004) | |
| 71 | The Black Angels | Passover | Light in the Attic | (2006) | |
| 72 | Grizzly Bear | Yellow House | Warp | (2006) | |
| 73 | Andrew Bird | Armchair Apocrypha | Fat Possum | (2007) | |
| 74 | Silversun Pickups | Carnavas | Dangerbird | (2006) | |
| 75 | Wilco | Sky Blue Sky | Nonesuch | (2007) | |
| 76 | My Morning Jacket | It Still Moves | ATO/RCA | (2003) | |
| 77 | Spoon | Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga | Merge | (2007) | |
| 78 | The Shins | Wincing the Night Away | Sub Pop | (2007) | |
| 79 | Panda Bear | Person Pitch | Paw Tracks | (2007) | |
| 80 | Phoenix | Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix | Glassnote | (2009) | |
| 81 | Built to Spill | You in Reverse | Warner Bros | (2006) | |
| 82 | Iron & Wine | Our Endless Numbered Days | Sub Pop | (2004) | |
| 83 | The Flaming Lips | At War with the Mystics | Warner Bros | (2006) | |
| 84 | Gnarls Barkley | St. Elsewhere | Downtown | (2006) | |
| 85 | The Thermals | The Body The Blood The Machine | Sub Pop | (2006) | |
| 86 | Franz Ferdinand | Franz Ferdinand | Domino | (2004) | |
| 87 | Bon Iver | For Emma, Forever Ago | Jagjaguwar | (2008) | |
| 88 | Tom Waits | Orphans | Anti- | (2006) | |
| 89 | Animal Collective | Strawberry Jam | Domino | (2007) | |
| 90 | Peter Bjorn and John | Writer's Block | Wichita | (2006) | |
| 90.3 | Portishead | Third | Mercury | (2008) | |
