Albums that rocked our world in 2011

Getting away from it all could be quite difficult in these last, tumultuous 12 months, but these 10 nationally released albums were the best bet for doing just that. (I'll have a list of the top area releases next week.)

1 Jay-Z and Kanye West, Watch the Throne: Proof that 1 percenters do have a soul. This pairing of hip-hop's reigning kings was a genuine blockbuster that delivered everything it promised: Sizzling hooks, irresistible beats, boasts often tipping into pensive monologues and a respect for the past. Bold, brilliant and bristling with ambition, Watch the Throne managed to have a considerable impact on the culture, even in this age of isolation and atomization.

2 Adele, 21: This year's soundtrack for heartbreak, 21 cemented Adele's status as the decade's pre-eminent torch singer. A wounded, wide-eyed artist not above sharp-elbowed revenge, the British songbird became a superstar with her sophomore effort, racking up an armful of Grammy nominations. But after all the accolades fade away and endless spins on radio cease, we'll be left with these indelible, exquisite songs, full of loneliness and life.

3 Bon Iver, Bon Iver: Not unlike Adele, Justin Vernon, the singer-songwriter behind the Bon Iver brand, enjoyed quite the breakout 2011, thanks to a richly textured, wholly cinematic record that commands your attention. (Several Grammy nominations didn't hurt, either.) The lyrics slip past in an elliptical blur, leaving only the beautifully conceived soundscapes, catapulting folk music into staggering new dimensions.

4 Tom Waits, Bad as Me: The strangle-voiced troubadour's first album of wholly original material in nearly a decade neatly captured the full sweep of life -- "the thunder and the roar," as he puts it in this album's title track. From the musician's lament Pay Me through to the searing battlefield dispatch Hell Broke Luce, Waits pirouettes from one style to another, uniting them with the force of his singular vision. He is a peculiar, undeniable American institution.

5 The Roots, Undun: A late (the album was released just two weeks ago) but worthy entry, the Philadelphia hip-hop collective's 11th studio album is a lean, bleak conceptual piece about the short, violent life of a fictional street youth. Tension churns beneath the austere, elegantly mounted songs, which unfold in reverse chronological order (from death to birth) and showcase a fiercely avant-garde side of one of America's most underappreciated bands.

6 The Pistol Annies, Hell on Heels: Miranda Lambert was everywhere in 2011 -- selling out Billy Bob's Texas twice, taking home truckloads of industry trophies, marrying her sweetheart, fellow superstar Blake Shelton. And although she released her much-anticipated fourth solo LP in the fall, it was this below-the-radar side project, which materialized at summer's end, that best captured Lambert's collaborative spirit. Blending her honeyed voice alongside Angaleena Presley's and Ashley Monroe's, Lambert made this slice of Hell absolutely heavenly.

7 Fleet Foxes, Helplessness Blues: No sophomore slump in sight for these bearded Seattle exports. This rambling, surprisingly audacious follow-up to 2008's self-titled debut proved there was life beyond close-harmony approximations of mid-'70s folk. Exotic and sprawling, the Robin Pecknold-led outfit guaranteed it would not be relegated to the flannel ghetto, instead taking its sparkling songcraft to strange new heights.

8 Florence + the Machine, Ceremonials: The sort of sweeping, proudly left-of-center record that major labels just don't bankroll anymore. Flame-haired British siren Florence Welch seized the opportunity to make a bombastic, keenly felt collection that walks the line between breakdown and uplift. Hers is a singular voice, capable of bending in peculiar directions, yet never failing to find the humanity at the core of even the most sinister lyric. In a just world, these songs would reverberate from sold-out stadium walls.

9 The Black Keys, El Camino: One day, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney will slip, making a record that's merely OK, instead of the reliably great LPs they have been turning out for the better part of 10 years. Again teaming with producer Danger Mouse, the songs on El Camino back away from the distortion-spiked blues-rock of albums past, instead embracing the hip-shaking rhythms of surf rock and glam, dusting these muscular slices of Americana with a hint of glitter.

10 Frank Ocean, Nostalgia, Ultra: Perhaps the most contemplative member of the raucous Odd Future gang (one of the year's most consistent sources of provocation), Ocean almost stole the show on Watch the Throne, contributing a handful of sterling vocal performances. But before nearly upstaging Jay and 'Ye, the New Orleans native, stifled by record-label machinations, released this free mixtape, which fractures pop music (wholesale appropriations of Coldplay and the Eagles) and reassembles the pieces into a compelling, kaleidoscopic whole.