The Roots Music Report's
Top Alternative Rock Album Chart
for the Year of 2020
| Album Title | Band/Artist Name | Label | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | XOXO | The Jayhawks | SHAM |
| 2 | Work Hard and Be Nice | Michael Franti & Spearhead | Boo Boo Wax |
| 3 | Daylight | Grace Potter | Concord |
| 4 | III | The Lumineers | Dualtone |
| 5 | Broken at the Break of Day | Fruition | Fruition |
| 6 | Hyperspace | Beck | Capital |
| 7 | Bitter Better | Laura Cortese & The Dance Cards | Compass |
| 8 | Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent | Lewis Capaldi | Vertigo Berlin |
| 9 | "Let's Rock" | The Black Keys | Nonesuch |
| 10 | Texas Sun | Khruangbin | Dead Oceans |
| 11 | Self Made Man | Larkin Poe | Trick-Woo |
| 12 | The Juice | G. Love & Special Sauce | Thirty Tigers |
| 13 | Black Hole Rainbow | Devon Gilfillian | Capitol |
| 14 | Color Theory | Soccer Mommy | Loma Vista |
| 15 | The Slow Rush | Tame Impala | Island |
| 16 | Everyday Life | Coldplay | Atlantic |
| 17 | Social Cues | Cage the Elephant | RCA |
| 18 | Monovision | Ray LaMontagne | RCA |
| 19 | Good Luck with Whatever | Dawes | HUB |
| 20 | New Age Norms 1 | Cold War Kids | AWAL |
| 21 | 20/20 | The Walk-a-Bout | Shred The Evidence |
| 22 | Jaime | Brittany Howard | ATO |
| 23 | Rearrange Us | Mt. Joy | Dualtone |
| 24 | Holiday | Jennah Barry | Forward Music |
| 25 | You Deserve Love | White Reaper | Elektra |
| 26 | Black Pumas (Deluxe) | Black Pumas | ATO |
| 27 | The Waterfall II | My Morning Jacket | ATO |
| 28 | Free Yourself Up | Lake Street Dive | Nonesuch |
| 29 | Imploding the Mirage | The Killers | Island |
| 30 | FEVER DREAM | Of Monsters and Men | Republic |
| 31 | The Unseen in Between | Steve Gunn | Matador |
| 32 | Best of Luck | Christopher Paul Stelling | Anti |
| 33 | Fetch the Bolt Cutters | Fiona Apple | Epic |
| 34 | The Modern Lives Vol. 2 | Jackie Greene | Blue Rose |
| 35 | Living Mirage | The Head and The Heart | Warner Brothers |
| 36 | Love is the King | Jeff Tweedy | dBpm Records |
| 37 | Father of the Bride | Vampire Weekend | Columbia |
| 38 | The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, Pt. 1 | Saint Motel | Elektra |
| 39 | Song for Our Daughter | Laura Marling | Chrysalis |
| 40 | In the Morse Code of Brake Lights | The New Pornographers | Concord |
| 41 | Gigaton | Pearl Jam | Monkey Wrench |
| 42 | The New Abnormal | The Strokes | RCA |
| 43 | Chorus | The Mother Hips | Blue Rose Music |
| 44 | Free Love | Sylvan Esso | Loma Vista |
| 45 | Carrie & Lowell | Sufjan Stevens | Asthmatic Kitty |
| 46 | SOUND & FURY | Sturgill Simpson | Elektra |
| 47 | Fuzzybrain | Dayglow | Self-Release |
| 48 | Without Fear | Dermot Kennedy | UMG |
| 49 | Are You in Love? | Basia Bulat | Self-Release |
| 50 | Mordechai | Khruangbin | Dead Oceans |
| 51 | Sister | Puss N Boots | UMG |
| 52 | Saint Cloud | Waxahatchee | Merge |
| 53 | All That Emotion | Hannah Georgas | Brassland |
| 54 | Help Us Stranger | The Raconteurs | Third Man |
| 55 | All Mirrors | Angel Olsen | Jagjaguwar |
| 56 | Women in Music Pt. III | Haim | Sony |
| 57 | Anybody out There? | Sadler Vaden | Dirty Mag |
| 58 | Dixie Blur | Jonathan Wilson | Self-Release |
| 59 | Deep Down Happy | Sports Team | Bright Antenna |
| 60 | Busyhead | Noah Kahan | Republic |
| 61 | Beginners | Christian Lee Hutson | Anti |
| 62 | Caretakers | Pete Yorn | Shelly |
| 63 | Father of All... | Green Day | Reprise |
| 64 | Invisible People | Chicano Batman | ATO |
| 65 | The Main Thing | Real Estate | Domino |
| 66 | Earth | EOB | Capitol |
| 67 | Have You Lost Your Mind Yet? | Fantastic Negrito | Cooking Vinyl |
| 68 | In Isolation | Elle King | RCA |
| 69 | Bury the Moon | Ásgeir | One Little Indian |
| 70 | Made of Rain | The Psychedelic Furs | Cooking Vinyl |
| 71 | Aloha | Son Little | Anti |
| 72 | Babel (Deluxe Version) | Mumford & Sons | Universal |
| 73 | Punisher | Phoebe Bridgers | Dead Oceans |
| 74 | There is No Other… | Isobel Campbell | Cooking Vinyl |
| 75 | Devotion | Margaret Glaspy | ATO |
| 76 | Making a Door Less Open | Car Seat Headrest | Matador |
| 77 | Wasteland, Baby! | Hozier | Rubyworks |
| 78 | Thrilled to Be Here | Bailen | Fantasy |
| 79 | All Your Favorite Bands | Dawes | HUB Records |
| 80 | What is There | Delta Spirit | New West |
| 81 | Bon Iver | Bon Iver | Jagjaguwar |
| 82 | Sigh No More | Mumford & Sons | Glassnote |
| 83 | Part of the Light | Ray LaMontagne | Sony |
| 84 | True Care | James Vincent McMorrow | Self-Release |
| 85 | Take Good Care | The Revivalists | Concord |
| 86 | Foreigner | Jordan Mackampa | Self-Release |
| 87 | LEMONS | Nick Leng | SOTA |
| 88 | The Loves of Your Life | Hamilton Leithauser | Glassnote |
| 89 | Sugaregg | Bully | Sub Pop |
| 90 | Indistinct Conversations | Land of Talk | Saddle Creek |
| 91 | Getting into Knives | The Mountain Goats | Merge |
| 92 | New Medicine | Mondo Cozmo | Last Gang |
| 93 | How To: Friend, Love, Freefall | Rainbow Kitten Surprise | Elektra |
| 94 | Happy Birthday | Sneaks | Merge |
| 95 | Set My Heart on Fire Immediately | Perfume Genius | Matador |
| 96 | Building Balance | Allen Stone | ATO |
| 97 | Marigold | Pinegrove | Rough Trade |
| 98 | Witness | Benjamin Booker | ATO |
| 99 | Myopia | Agnes Obel | Strange Harvest |
| 100 | Dreamland | Glass Animals | Polydor |
| 101 | En Garde | Ethan Gruska | Warner |
| 102 | Oh Alright | Lily Vakili Band | SoundKlaxon |
| 103 | Our Two Skins | Gordi | Jagjaguwar |
| 104 | Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was | Bright Eyes | Dead Oceans |
| 105 | Vagabon | Vagabon | Nonesuch |
| 106 | Non-Secure Connection | Bruce Hornsby | Zappo |
| 107 | The Neon Skyline | Andy Shauf | Anti |
| 108 | Gold | Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds | Thirty Tigers |
| 109 | Critical Equation | Dr. Dog | We Buy Gold |
| 110 | Moments | Hollow Coves | Nettwerk |
| 111 | Someone New | Helena Deland | Luminelle |
| 112 | Still Flying | Bridget Kearney & Benjamin Lazar Davis | Verve Forecast |
| 113 | The Big Exercise | The Homesick | Sub Pop |
| 114 | Random Desire | Greg Dulli | Royal Cream |
| 115 | Through a Dark Wood | Sea Wolf | Dangerbird |
| 116 | Waiting on a Song | Dan Auerbach | Nonesuch |
| 117 | Earth to Dora | Eels | E Works |
| 118 | Silver Tongue | Torres | Merge |
| 119 | Hot Thoughts | Spoon | Matador |
| 120 | You Know I'm Not Going Anywhere | The Districts | Fat Possum |
| 121 | The New Sounds of Late Capitalism | Star Parks | Modern Outsider |
| 122 | WITH | Sylvan Esso | Loma Vista |
| 123 | Half the City | St. Paul & The Broken Bones | Single Lock |
| 124 | For Their Love | Other Lives | ATO |
| 125 | Scripting the Flip | Jon Stickley Trio | Organic |
| 126 | High Water Line | Mark Oblinger | Self-Release |
| 127 | Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In-Between | Man Man | Sub Pop |
| 128 | Misfits' Jubilee | Jim White | Fluff & Gravy |
| 129 | Karaoke Angel | Molly Sarle | Partisan |
| 130 | My Finest Work Yet | Andrew Bird | Concord |
| 131 | Out of My Province | Nadia Reid | Spacebomb |
| 132 | Uncle, Duke & the Chief | Born Ruffians | Yep Roc |
| 133 | I Am Easy to Find | The National | 4AD |
| 134 | Anak Ko | Jay Som | Polyvinyl |
| 135 | Like So Much Desire | Flock Of Dimes | Sub Pop |
| 136 | Black Lipstick | Chicano Batman | ATO |
| 137 | Doom Days (This Got out of Hand Edition) | Bastille | Virgin |
| 138 | Jade Bird | Jade Bird | Glassnote |
| 139 | Cause and Effect | Keane | Island |
| 140 | Violet Street | Local Natives | Loma Vista |
| 141 | A Wave of Golden Things | Tall Tall Trees | Joyful Noise |
| 142 | Out of Body | NEEDTOBREATHE | Elektra |
| 143 | I,i | Bon Iver | Jagjaguwar |
| 144 | Do No Harm | The Deer | Keeled Scales |
| 145 | Young Sick Camellia | St. Paul & The Broken Bones | Columbia Red |
| 146 | Ghosteen | Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds | Self-Release |
| 147 | Ordinary Man | Ozzy Osbourne | Epic |
| 148 | Power | Seratones | Nine West |
| 149 | Shade is on the Other Side | Girl Skin | Jullian |
| 150 | AWake | Jayme Stone | Borealis |
| 151 | Remind Me Tomorrow | Sharon Van Etten | Jagjaguwar |
| 152 | Nick Waterhouse | Nick Waterhouse | Innovative Leisure |
| 153 | Busted Jukebox, Vol. 2 | Shovels & Rope | New West |
| 154 | Junior | Corridor | Sub Pop |
| 155 | The Magic | Deerhoof | Polyvinyl |
| 156 | American Utopia | David Byrne | Nonesuch |
| 157 | A Blemish in the Great Light | Half Moon Run | Glassnote |
| 158 | Wild Wild East | Sunny Jain | Smithsonian Folkways |
| 159 | Wave | Patrick Watson | Secret City |
| 160 | Delta | Mumford & Sons | Glassnote |
| 161 | So when You Gonna... | Dream Wife | Lucky Number |
| 162 | The Archer | Alexandra Savior | 30th Century |
| 163 | Outer Peace | Toro Y Moi | Carpark |
| 164 | Benjamin Booker | Benjamin Booker | ATO |
| 165 | Automatic Changer | Dead Ghosts | Burger |
| 166 | South of Reality | The Claypool Lennon Delirium | ATO |
| 167 | Away is Mine | Gord Downie | Arts & Crafts |
| 168 | Everything Hits at Once: the Best of Spoon | Spoon | Matador |
| 169 | Sweet Unknown | Erika Wennerstrom | Partisan |
| 170 | Signal | Automatic | Stones Throw |
| 171 | Changes | Neal Francis | Karma Chief |
| 172 | This Night Falls Forever | DeVotchKa | Concord |
| 173 | Case/lang/veirs | case/lang/veirs | Anti |
| 174 | Natural Disguise | HalfNoise | Congrats |
| 175 | The Fight | Overcoats | Loma Vista |
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