The Best Albums of 2006

Yes, it's a rough gig, getting paid to dispense your opinions about music. You have to listen to tons of music that you get for free, you have to go see shows that you got free tickets to, and you have to write about something you've been totally in love with your whole life. Somebody's got to do it, and eMusic boasts some of the best at their craft.

You can tell our critics are careful and diligent listeners – none of the fifty records listed below were hyped by major labels, you had to dig a bit to find them. And a lot of these albums were not only tricky to find but took some time to understand. Albums like Joanna Newsom's Ys, Ornette Coleman's Sound Grammar and Scott Walker's The Drift are challenging listens. So, in their own way, are the Hold Steady's Boys & Girls in America, with its dark, dense heartland poetry and Cat Power's pained but triumphant The Greatest. And then there are some records that just go to work immediately, like J Dilla's Donuts and Belle & Sebastian's The Life Pursuit.

And you want to talk musical variety? How about a list that features Afro-folk-pop, swarming electronic ambient, rediscovered '70s soul, Brazilian forro, power-honky-tonk, acoustic blues, and indie-rock in all its increasingly eclectic glory?

It takes time and an open mind to find all this amazing stuff. We hope you'll check out at least a few of these records – they're all well worth a spin.

Contributors to this year's eMusic Critics Poll: Michael Azerrad, Andy Battaglia, Andy Beta, Larry Blumenfeld, Jeff Chang, Brian Cullman, Dan Epstein, Banning Eyre, Anna Fielding, Matthew Fritch, Jeanne Fury, Jason Gross, Keith Harris, Barney Hoskyns, Hua Hsu, J. Edward Keyes, Joe Lopez, Michaelangelo Matos, Mike McGonigal, Craig McLean, Bill Milkowski, Nate Patrin, Andrew Perry, Amanda Petrusich, Jack Rabid, Mark Richardson, Jay Ruttenberg, John Schaefer, Karen Schoemer, Rod Smith, Yancey Strickler, David Stubbs, Lindsey Thomas, Kevin Whitehead, Elisabeth Vincentelli, Douglas Wolk, Ron Wynn, Erick Zeidenberg.