As 2016 comes to a close it’s hard not to wonder what’s in store, to imagine our collective future: with anxiety, with trepidation, with dread. But there are some events on the horizon to which we can look with optimism, with hope, with excitement. And here at Stereogum, those events frequently take the form of albums — some of which we have been promised, some of which seem inevitable, some that may exist only as rumors, and some that have in fact been gestating for a long time now.

Hence, we present our list of the 101 Most Anticipated Albums Of 2017. The albums cataloged below have either been announced or we have good reason to reason to believe they will be. We kept wishcasting to a minimum (that’s why, for example, the Wrens are on here but not, y’know, the Smiths) but, there are a few educated guesses. As always several releases we included on the previous list — e.g., Chromatics, Haim, Beck, Japandroids — are back again.

As for the rankings… Well, we have advances of many of these albums: some are better or worse than we expected and that has helped us determine how “anticipated” we think they should be. Some we are just excited about even though we haven’t heard ‘em yet. Is there an album you’re anticipating that’s not listed? Let us know in the comments. Hopefully it won’t be a Tidal exclusive.

101 U2 – Songs Of Experience (Island)

100 Modest Mouse

99 King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Flying Microtonal Banana (ATO Records, 2/24)

98 Pearl Jam

97 Dropkick Murphys – 11 Short Stories Of Pain & Glory (Born & Bred Records, 1/6)

96 Mark Eitzel – Hey Mr. Ferryman (Merge, 1/27)

95 Julie Byrne – Not Even Happiness (Bada Bing, 1/27)

94 Ed O’Brien

93 Xiu Xiu – Forget (Polyvinyl, 2/24)

92 Dutch Uncles – Big Balloon (Memphis Industries, 2/17)

91 Land Of Talk

90 Belle & Sebastian

89 Vagabon – Infinite Worlds (Father/Daughter, 2/24)

88 Phife Dawg (Spring)

87 Bleachers

86 Kreator – Gods Of Violence (Nuclear Blast, 1/27)

85 That dog.

84 Tinashe – Joyride (RCA, Spring)

83 GZA – Dark Matter

82 Justin Timberlake

81 MGMT

80 Japanese Breakfast

79 Slonk Donkerson

78 Sorority Noise (Spring)

77 Mastodon (Spring)

76 Quasimoto (Stones Throw Records)

75 Moses Sumney

74 Depeche Mode – Spirit (Columbia, Spring)

73 Billy Corgan

72 SZA (Spring)

71 Bruce Springsteen

70 Jessie Ware

69 AFI – AFI (The Blood Album) (Concord, 1/20)

68 Fred Thomas – Changer (Polyvinyl, 1/27)

67 Aimee Mann – Mental Illiness (Spring)

66 The Flaming Lips – Oczy Mlody (Warner Bros., 1/13)

65 The Afghan Whigs (Sub Pop)

64 Queens Of The Stone Age

63 Sun Kil Moon – Common As Light And Love Are Red Valleys Of Blood (Verde Records, 2/28)

62 Black Hippy (TDE)

61 Cloud Nothings – Life Without Sound (Carpark Records, 1/27)

60 Pissed Jeans – Why Love Now (Sub Pop, 2/24)

59 Pile – A Hairshirt Of Purpose (Exploding In Sound Records, 3/31)

58 Spiritualized

57 Austra – Future Politics (Domino, 1/20)

56 Priests – Nothing Feels Natural (Sister Polygon Records, 1/27)

55 Sheer Mag

54 Lana Del Rey

53 The Shins (Columbia)

52 PWR BTTM

51 Carcass

50 Hannah Diamond

49 Lydia Ainsworth

48 Slowdive

47 Real Estate (Domino)

46 Girlpool – Powerplant

45 Ride

44 Alice Glass

43 Grandaddy – Last Place (30th Century, 3/3)

42 Kanye West/GOOD Music – Cruel Winter (GOOD/Def Jam)

41 The xx – I See You (Young Turks, 1/13)

40 Charli XCX (Atlantic, May)

39 Sampha – Process (Young Turks, 2/3)

38 The Magnetic Fields – 50 Song Memoir (Nonesuch, 3/3)

37 Nine Inch Nails

36 St. Vincent

35 Alvvays

34 Amber Coffman – City Of No Reply (Columbia)

33 Strand Of Oaks – Hard Love (Dead Oceans, 2/17)

32 Allison Crutchfield – Tourist In This Town (Merge, 1/27)

31 Jenny Lewis

30 Pallbearer – Heartless (March)

29 Spoon (Matador)

28 Ryan Adams – Prisoner (Pax Am/BlueNote, 2/17)

27 HAIM

26 Brand New

25 The National

24 Dirty Projectors (Domino)

23 Beck (Capitol)

22 Julien Baker

21 Gorillaz

20 Björk

19 Missy Elliott

18 The Jesus And Mary Chain – Damage And Joy (Warner Bros., 3/25)

17 Phoenix

16 Grizzly Bear

15 The Wrens

14 Father John Misty

13 Japandroids – Near To The Wild Heart Of Life (Anti-, 1/27)

12 Sky Ferreira – Masochism

11 Chromatics – Dear Tommy (Italians Do It Better)

10 Zack De La Rocha

09 Taylor Swift

08 Arcade Fire

07 Fleet Foxes – Crack-Up

06 Vampire Weekend

05 Lorde

04 The War On Drugs (Atlantic)

03 Neutral Milk Hotel

02 Run The Jewels – Run The Jewels 3 (Self-Released, 1/13)