Music’s biggest name ... Taylor Swift. Picture: Jamie McCarthy Source: Getty Images

Music writers Kathy McCabe and Cameron Adams have nominated the best and worst albums of 2014 below.

BEST ALBUMS IN 2014

CAMERON ADAMS’ LIST

1. Taylor Swift — 1989

Top selling album and single ... Taylor Swift’s 1989 album cover. Source: Supplied

Taking paid leave from country music, Taylor Swift treats making a pop album as a creative challenge, not a dumbing-down. Literate lyrics and diverse collaborators (from Max Martin to Imogen Heap) elevated the genre for wonderful songs and dazzling success that remind you the right pop song at the right moment is one of the simple pleasures in life.

Missed hit: Style. Ironically the song about Harry Styles (allegedly) is a better pop song than anything his band have ever managed to make.

TAYLOR SWIFT: Dates and venues for 1989 tour of Australia in 2015

2. Damien Rice — My Favorite Faded Fantasy

On his own record label ... Damien Rice”s My Favourite Faded Fantasy album cover. Source: Supplied

Ed Sheeran’s hero returned after a long break (and indeed being broken) and casually picked up where he left off. That is documenting affairs of the heart with brutal honesty and one of those voices whose passion and emotion effortlessly provides the authenticity that sets him apart from a folkie pack that got quite crowded in his time off.

Missed hit: the woozy 10 minute waltz It Takes a Lot To Know a Man.

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3. Paolo Nutini — Caustic Love

Arguably Scotland’s biggest musician ... Paolo Nutini’s Caustic Love cover. Source: Supplied

There a lot of voices out there, which means Nutini’s cuts through more than ever in a sea of TV karaoke and slick precision. Recorded when he, not the world, was ready, this is a glorious ride from over-qualified busker to `70s funk, mellow soul man to romantic rock star. This is precisely the kind of album people say they don’t make any more.

Missed hit: Better Man, this year’s All of Me, a symphony of unbridled joy.

PAOLO NUTINI: Caustic Love is real music with raw power and passion

4. The War on Drugs — Lost In the Dream

Finished Australian tour ... The War On Drugs’ Lost in the Dream CD cover. Source: Supplied

Hipster heroes for a while, the US band’s third album found a sweet spot between Springsteen and the Arcade Fire — accessible but still esoteric. Frontman Adam Granduciel wrote about his depression but rather than being draining, it’s actually quite uplifting and moving. And An Ocean In Between the Waves captures their mastery of dynamics.

Missed hit: Red Eyes, the pumped-up chorus alterna-radio secretly love.

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5. Sam Smith — In the Lonely Hour

Six Grammy Award nominations ... Sam Smith’s In the Lonely Hour. Source: Supplied

Since Adele, unique, authentic voices have helped keep pop real ahead of the pretenders. 22 year old pasty Brit Sam Smith was an unlikely soul star, opening multiple veins over unrequited love made this the year’s go-to heartbreak companion. And there’s a Trojan Horse bonus here — a man connecting with the masses by documenting his love for another man is reminding the world that love is love.

Missed hit: the open-wound pain of Not in That Way — Smith slays with sad songs.

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6. Chet Faker — Built On Glass

Favourite to win Triple J’s Hottest 100 ... Chet Faker’s Built On Glass cover. Source: Supplied

The appeal of local hero Chet Faker is pretty obvious — he’s one of those artists who lets you into his world and whose music transports you. Without sounding too cheesy, Built On Glass is an immerse experience and exists for all the right reasons. Nick Murphy (aka Chet) can give you mood elevators like the misery pity disco of 1998 or comedown jazz of Release Your Problems.

Missed hit: Cigarettes and Loneliness — Nick Murphy channels James Murphy for a LCD Soundsystem style love post mortem.

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7. St Vincent — St Vincent

Multi-instrumentalist ... St. Vincent — aka “Annie” Clark — on her album cover. Source: Supplied

Threatening — and frequently delivering — greatness for years, St. Vincent’s fourth album was exactly the kind of twisted pop record Lady Gaga didn’t have the guts to make. It was a good year for bespoke, female, odd-sock pop courtesy of Kimbra, Tuneyards and Lana Del Rey, but this self-penned record delivered something special, repeatedly.

Missed hit: Digital Witness bursts with the kind of strut Prince left in 1988.

8. Mary J Blige — The London Sessions

Inspired and excited ... Mary J Blige’s London Sessions. Source: Supplied

A modern concept album — Blige needed amazing songs and the new breed of British music needed a muse. Everyone wins here. Sounding inspired and excited again, Blige vocally soars over the calmer drama of doubt, reunites with Disclosure for some ocean-deep house and via Emeli Sande’s Whole Damn Year gets the emotional ballad she used to make.

Missed hit: Nobody But You — MJ Cole serves up a vintage club classic that could have come from the first Soul II Soul album.

9. Sun Kil Moon — Benji

Mark Kozelek’s fine work ... Album artwork for Sun Kil Moon’s 2014 album Benji. Source: Supplied

With Red House Painters, Mark Kozelek had form for intimate records. On Benji, he made you his therapist. His over-sharing is what made this album so personal, from detailing his teenage conquests to musing about his own mortality projecting how he’ll miss his mother when she’s gone. Sounds grim, is actually touching.

Missed hit: Carissa, the haunting, blow-by-blow account of his cousin’s death

10. Megan Washington — There There

Reborn ... Megan Washington’s There There album artwork. Source: Supplied

Washington’s new muse Sam Dixon (Sia) helped refine her scattergun approach to shoehorning ideas in song, without losing an ounce of what initially charmed the nation. From jettisoned engagements (Marry Me) to open-heart musical surgery (To Or Not Let Go) this was more early proof Washo’s in this for the long haul, and it’s never going to be boring..

Missed hit: Begin Again is the sound of a heart leaking into a piano.

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KATHY McCABE’S LIST

1. Sia — 1000 Forms Of Fear

Controversial but supremely gifted ... Sia’s 1000 Forms of Fear album cover. Source: Supplied

Pop music got a desperately needed makeover on this wildly ambitious and deeply emotional record which veered from the epic Chandelier to anthemic Eye Of the Needle. Her imperfect, emotion-laden vocals elevated it to most real record of the year.

Missed hit: Hostage

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2. Royal Blood — Royal Blood

Two piece UK band ... The cover of Royal Blood’s eponymous album. Source: Supplied

The best record Jack White didn’t release this year and no doubt he wasn’t happy about it. The British garage blues rock duo made a mighty noise without sacrificing the melodic swagger of Mike Kerr’s vocals.

Missed hit: Loose Change

3. Hilltop Hoods — Walking Under Stars

A masterpiece ... Hilltop Hoods’ Walking Under Stars album cover. Source: Supplied

The Australian hip hop kings are at the peak of their powers on their seventh album, which veers crazily from the party tunes Cosby Sweater and The Art Of the Handshake to the heart-on-the-sleeve, soul stirrers Won’t Let You Down and Live and Let Go.

Missed hit: Through the Dark.

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4. Black Keys — Turn Blue

A real hit ... The Black Keys album, Turn Blue. Source: Supplied

The divorce album of the year reunited Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney with unofficial third member Brian Burton (aka Danger Mouse) and pushed the soulful blues rock of El Camino into more psychedelic territory.

Missed hit: Weight Of Love.

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5. Chet Faker — Built On Glass

It was all about the soulmen in 2014 and Australia’s award-winning tunesmith offered a slow-burning, electronica take on the genre. His revealing, uncluttered and beguiling songs sounded both effortless and meticulously crafted as evidence by Talk Is Cheap and 1998.

Missed hit: Dead Body.

6. St. Vincent — St. Vincent

Annie Clark’s infectious enthusiasm for everything she did this year was distilled onto this fantabulously singular album. Her confident experimentation conjured intriguing yet accessible soundscapes for her clever commentary.

Missed hit: Every Tear Disappears.

7. Spoon — They Want My Soul

US rock band ... Spoon’s They Want My Soul album cover. Source: Supplied

A foot-stomping, booty-shaking rock album from the Stones-esque opener Rent I Pay to the groove-laden, synthtastic closer New York Kiss. This is the sound of a band rejuvenated and reclaiming their heart.

Missed hit: They Want My Soul.

8. You + Me — Rose Ave

Surprising musical coupling ... You + Me’s album cover for Rose Ave. Source: Supplied

This unlikely collaboration between Alecia Moore (Pink) and Dallas Green (City & Colour) demonstrated the spine-tingling beauty of two voices meshed effortlessly in harmony. Their version of Sade’s No Ordinary Love will make you weep.

Missed hit: Open Door.

YOU+ME: How an Australian put Alicia Moore and Dallas Green together

9. Paolo Nutini — Caustic Love

The finest soul R & B record to emerge from the UK since the 1970s confirmed the green-eyed Scottish soul man as the singer to bring sexy back in 2014 from the oh-so-smooth Let Me Down Easy to the raucous Scream (Funk My Life Up).

Missed hit: Fashion featuring Janelle Monae

10. Flight Facilities — Down To Earth

In top 50 most blogged about in 2014 ... Flight Facilities’ Down to Earth album cover. Source: Supplied

Finally someone on the planet understands that the album format began as a marketing device to compile singles. Each song should have its own summer cocktail concocted in its honour.

Missed hit: Heart Attack.

FLIGHT FACILITIES: How Kylie Minogue came to sing on debut album

THE WORST ALBUMS OF 2014

CAMERON ADAMS’ LIST

1. Robin Thicke — Paula

Robin Thicke’s album cover of Paula. Source: Supplied

It’s like the world suddenly came to their senses and went “this man is a colossal douche”. This album was an apology to his wife. Like the rest of the world, she wasn’t listening. Justifiably, he went from millions of sales last year to a thimbleful this year but, hey, you know he wanted it.

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2. Jessie J — Sweet Talker

52 different songwriters worked on this loud Brit’s third album. And no one could get her anything vaguely original. No amount of over-singing can disguise generic songs. And once the migraine from her voice subsides this is everything that’s wrong with modern pop — the distinct odour of desperation of trying to crack America. This album joined Jennifer Lopez, Jennifer Hudson and Nicole Scherzinger in stinking without a trace.

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Nothing original ... Jessie J’s album. Source: Supplied

3. Nickelback — No Fixed Address

Look, in their defence, the Foo Fighters released a modern rock album that went through the motions too this year. It’s just that Chad Kroeger’s motions are just so unpleasant. There was a bit of Dalek-vocals on one track, and admittedly they tried something different with the reggae (no really) vibe of Got Me Runnin’ Round but their choice of guest rapper? Flo Rida. Isn’t that what their Triple M-loving fans would call “rap crap”?

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No heavy hitter ... Nickelback’s album, No Fixed Address. Source: Supplied

4. MKTO — MKTO

Shame, Australia, Shame. We’re the only country who even feigned interest in this US duo. Their album sums up the state of modern pop — too many interchangeable acts making interchangeable songs and absolutely nothing about them screams that they’re worthy of needing a whole album of their offerings.

Shame ... MKTO's Tony Oller and Malcolm Kelley lacked substance on their album. Picture: Julie Kiriacoudis Source: News Corp Australia

5. Pitbull — Globalization

The sweaty rapper releases albums with impressive regularity. There’s more of his musical fibre here, designed to soundtrack the kind of event Redfoo may attend. The lack of hits and sales suggests he’s now outstaying the welcome at his own party. The only saving grace here were the endless string of guests, including a douche squared moment when Chris Brown pops up like a dank turd in a swimming pool.

Poor act ... Pitbull churns the albums out but none have had global sales success. Source: AFP

WORST ALBUMS OF 2014

KATHY MCCABE’S LIST

1. Coldplay — Ghost Stories

Lost the touch ... Coldplay’s Ghost Stories. Source: Supplied

Cheer up, Chris Martin, and record some more happy songs with Swedish dance producers.

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2. Michael Jackson — Xscape

Missing songs Jackson never intended to put on an album finished by glory hounds. Nothing to hear here.

Not worth a listen ... the late Michael Jackson’s Xscape album. Source: Supplied

3. Jennifer Lopez — AKA

Also Known As the album in desperate search of a hit. When you decide to put a song called Booty on your record because your kids like it, it’s all downhill from there.

Not hot ... Jennifer Lopez still looking for a hit. Picture: Theo Wargo Source: Getty Images

4. Pentatonix — That’s Christmas To Me

American a cappella group who won a television talent quest. They slaughter pop hits and kill Christmas songs.

A cappella group ... Pentatonix have had airtime but their music isn’t amazing. Picture: Jens Meyer Source: AP

5. Pink Floyd — The Endless River

The sound of a band second-guessing everything they have ever done. And then doing it again.

Second guessing ... Pink Floyd went wrong with his album. Source: Supplied

COMMENT BELOW: What’s your pick for best and worst album this year?