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- The worst album of every year since 2000, according to music critics
The worst album of every year since 2000, according to music critics
Since the turn of the century, the review aggregator Metacritic has compiled an annual list of the year's most poorly received albums by assigning scores based on composite critical reception.
We selected the most critically panned album from each year, starting with 2000 (and including the worst of 2018 so far). The resulting list includes appearances from popular artists like Justin Timberlake, The Chainsmokers, and Lil Wayne.
Check out the worst album of each year in the new century so far:
2000: Enya — "A Day Without Rain"
Critic score: 41/100
User score: 8.5/10
What critics said: "Yanni is Tchaikovsky by comparison, Sarah McLachlan, Ella Fitzgerald. Like Master P or Michael Bolton only worse, she tests one's faith in democracy itself." — The Village Voice
2001: Run-DMC — "Crown Royal"
Critic score: 43/100
User score: 4.3/10
What critics said: "The musical equivalent of Willie Mays stumbling around in the outfield years after his skills were gone, 'Crown Royal' fails in the most arbitrary, impersonal way possible." — The AV Club
2002: Phil Collins — "Testify"
Critic score: 34/100
User score: 6.3/10
What critics said: "Middle-age is no excuse for such an unforgivably bland collection of over-emoted love songs." — Q Magazine
2003: Limp Bizkit — "Results May Vary"
Critic score: 33/100
User score: 4.1/10
What critics said: "Since the music has no melody, hooks, or energy, all attention is focused on the clown jumping up and down and screaming in front, and long before the record is over, you're left wondering, how the hell did he ever get to put this mess out?" — AllMusic
2004: Dirty Vegas — "One"
Critic score: 35/100
User score: 2.1/10
What critics said: "Exhaustingly awful." — Blender
2005: Alanis Morissette — "Jagged Little Pill Acoustic"
Critic score: 40/100
User score: 6.0/10
What critics said: "Like Mike Oldfield's 'Tubular Bells II' and Meat Loaf's 'Back Into Hell,' it doesn't so much play as fall out of the speakers with a flump: the sound of a towel being thrown in." — The Guardian
2006: Kevin Federline — "Playing With Fire"
Critic score: 15/100
User score: 2.2/10
What critics said: "Federline's rhyme flow is the opposite of tight." — Rolling Stone
2007: The Stooges — "The Weirdness"
Critic score: 44/100
User score: 5.7/10
What critics said: "An album that hideously disgraces the band's original work." — Pitchfork
2008: Louis XIV — "Slick Dogs and Ponies"
Critic score: 37/100
User score: 5.9/10
What critics said: "'Slick Dogs' never coalesces into anything more than the sum of its noisy, jagged parts." — Boston Globe
2009: Chris Brown — "Graffiti"
Critic score: 39/100
User score: 5.1/10
What critics said: "A curiously faceless album that largely thumbs its nose at close reading." — The New York Times
2010: Lil Wayne — "Rebirth"
Critic score: 37/100
User score: 3.0/10
What critics said: "The songs might have been better as parodies than as imitations, although 'Knockout' — a Coldplay homage backing a raunchy lyric — comes close to being both." —The New York Times
2011: Viva Brother — "Famous First Words"
Critic score: 34/100
User score: 2.7/10
What critics said: "This album is an abomination. It's a rancid pile of regurgitated tripe." — No Ripcord
2012: Chris Brown — "Fortune"
Critic score: 38/100
User score: 3.4/10
What critics said: "Not all of 'Fortune' is so unctuous, but none of it is inspired." — The AV Club
2013: Megadeth — "Super Collider"
Critic score: 41/100
User score: 5.5/10
What critics said: "Super Collider is so mired in midtempo drudgery and familiar hard rock (not thrash) tropes that it never really connects." — All Music
2014: Jennifer Lopez — "A.K.A."
Critic score: 44/100
User score: 5.4/10
What critics said: "On New Glow, they’ve either finally dumbed things down too much, or simply reached the end of where this rudimentary songwriting can take them." — The AV Club
2015: Matt and Kim — "New Glow"
Critic score: 52/100
User score: 5.1/10
What critics said: "A poor album due to poor production and song writing, poor sales and poor vocal delivery." — PopMatters
2016: Charlie Puth — "Nine Track Mind"
Critic score: 37/100
User score: 4.4/10
What critics said: "'Nine Track Mind' whimpers like a sick kitten." — Q Magazine
2017: The Chainsmokers — "Memories: Do Not Open"
Critic score: 43/100
User score: 1.8/10
What critics said: "Whether the album’s title is a plea or a warning does not matter, as the effect is the same: The Chainsmokers have one song, and if you don’t want to hear 12 versions of it, please do not un-click the latch holding this box closed." — Spin
2018 (so far): Justin Timberlake — "Man of the Woods"
Critic score: 55/100
User score: 5.5/10
What critics said: "Too much of 'Man of the Woods' is musically and thematically shallow; at 66 minutes, it’s a mile wide and an inch deep." — Pitchfork