Here's my AotY for each year from 1970, with a runner up (or two) following.
Pink Floyd and Yes aren't here, King Crimson is, so I'll include King Crimson

1.Black Sabbath - Paranoid

2.Deep Purple - In Rock

3.Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV

4.Black Sabbath - Master Of Reality

5.Uriah Heep - Demons And Wizards

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In alphabetical order.

1.

2.Afterbirth - Four Dimensional Flesh

3.Behold The Arctopus - Hapeleptic Overtrove

4.Boris - 2R0I2P0 [Collaboration]

5.Creature (FRA) - Ex Cathedra

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I feel like my overall favorites list is getting too long. I'm splitting it up by rating.

1.Thy Catafalque - Meta

2.Sepulcros - Vazio

3.Kassad - Faces Turn Away

4.Dream Theater - Black Clouds & Silver Linings

5.Xanthochroid - Of Erthe And Axen: Act I

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1 album per band per subgenre
work in progress, updating as I go through the song-by-song ratings on RateYourMusic.com
I will typically update my black metal faves - https://metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=6924
and my death metal faves - https://metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=6298
prior to updating this one

1.Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime

2.King Diamond - Abigail

3.Voivod - Dimension Hatröss

4.Mastodon - Crack The Skye

5.Lykathea Aflame - Elvenefris

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This is a list of all the death metal albums I have listened to that I thought were at all worth remembering. Like my other genre lists, this is just a record of my own listening experience that I use for personal organization, not a definitive account of the best or all of the death metal out there; there will probably be albums or bands that are not death metal in the strictest sense. You'll find some OSDM, melodeath, tech death, death-doom, maybe a bit of deathcore, I don't know. Maybe some non-death metal albums by death metal bands that I put in here just because.

1.Death - The Sound Of Perseverance

2.Death - Symbolic

3.At The Gates - With Fear I Kiss The Burning Darkness

4.At The Gates - Slaughter Of The Soul

5.Amon Amarth - With Oden On Our Side

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My very subjective ranking of all heard metal and metal-adjacent albums 2020.

1.Imperial Triumphant - Alphaville

2.Oranssi Pazuzu - Mestarin Kynsi

3.Mamaleek - Come & See

4.Sweven - The Eternal Resonance

5.Afterbirth - Four Dimensional Flesh

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Subjective list | Top albums of 2020

1.Mare Cognitum - Wanderers: Astrology Of The Nine [Collaboration]

2.Countless Skies - Glow

3.Caligula's Horse - Rise Radiant

4.Bell Witch - Stygian Bough: Volume I [Collaboration]

5.Katatonia - City Burials

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1.Abyssus - Into The Abyss

2.Acephalix - Decreation

3.Ascended Dead - Abhorrent Manifestation

4.Auroch - From Forgotten Worlds

5.Auroch - Taman Shud

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YET another list of my faves in the death metal genre this time in the year of our Lord Satan 2020. Haven't heard all the stuff I'd like yet and I welcome all the recommendations in the comments, cheers!

1.Aborted - La Grande Mascarade

2.Abysmal Dawn - Phylogenesis

3.Æpoch - The Scryer

4.Aeternam - Al Qassam

5.Æther Realm - Redneck Vikings From Hell

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My source was looking at the most popular 1000 metal albums (excluding demos and EPs) of the year in question on the RateYourMusic website. I liked more than these but these are the ones that spoke to me the most. I went through all 1000, chose carefully, then went back to my short list and eliminated a few. Surprisingly, there aren't any Mariusz Lewandowski pieces featured here which is unfortunate because like a lot of people I'm quite a fan of his art. List is in order of popularity rather than being ranked by my preference.

1.Ulcerate - Stare Into Death And Be Still

2.Neptunian Maximalism - Éons

3.Black Curse - Endless Wound

4.Testament - Titans Of Creation

5.Cirith Ungol - Forever Black

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1.Faceless Burial - Speciation

2.At The Gates - Slaughter Of The Soul

3.Death - Symbolic

4.Entombed - Left Hand Path

5.Necrot - Blood Offerings

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Surely not everything I've listened to, not even close. Every year I use Spotify to make some megalist and start plowing through. Most albums are listened to and discarded, but those that pique my interest get shunted into the Keeper playlist. (I also use other media when needed - particularly Bandcamp - but Spotify remains my favorite.)

1.10,000 Years - 10​,​000 Years

2.Acid Mammoth - Under Acid Hoof

3....And Oceans - Cosmic World Mother

4.Aversio Humanitatis - Behold The Silent Dwellers

5.Baardvader - Baardvader

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No particular order.

1.Dark Tranquillity - Moment

2.Draconian - Under A Godless Veil

3.Havukruunu - Uinuos Syömein Sota

4.Wolfheart - Wolves Of Karelia

5.Sylosis - Cycle Of Suffering

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2020 has been nothing short of a horrific year. The music industry was quite possibly changed forever due to the pandemic, we saw tours and festivals canceled, and as of now, live shows seem to be a thing of the past.

However, this year ( especially in metal), we saw some big releases, impressive debuts, and the return of several bands that had been on hiatus for decades. Overall for albums, 2020 was rather impressive. Here's my favorite 100 metal albums of 2020...

1.Spectral Lore - Wanderers: Astrology Of The Nine [Collaboration]

2.Cryptic Shift - Visitations From Enceladus

3.Psychotic Waltz - The God-Shaped Void

4.Akhlys - Melinoë

5.Ulcerate - Stare Into Death And Be Still

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1.Konvent - Puritan Masochism

2.Paradise Lost - Obsidian

3.Incantation - Sect Of Vile Divinities

4.Anaal Nathrakh - Endarkenment

5.Imperial Triumphant - Alphaville

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