I have been compiling my list of the best albums of 2012 over the past few weeks. Other music publications will start to roll out their lists as December goes on. I usually go back and assess all the albums that I took the liberty of listening to from beginning to end and re-listen to them, even if I didn’t like them at first. Then I rank the albums that make the final cut based on three things: replay value, overall creativity, and originality. All of these things are subjective, but I think the subjectivity makes the process a lot more fun.

Last year, it was easier for me to select an album because I had Adele’s “21” on repeat since it was released  in February, and in my opinion no album compared to it. This year, making my list is going to be a lot more difficult. There were lots of really great releases in almost every genre of music, from Kendrick Lamar’s “Good Kid m.A.A.d city,” to Linkin Park’s “Living Things.”

From the lists that I have seen so far, I am pretty sure that most critics are going to select Frank Ocean’s “channel ORANGE” as the No. 1 album.I can see why, as it is one of the more cohesive and thematic albums released this year. Unlike last year, I don’t have many pop albums to put on my list. There are actually more hip-hop albums on there than there are pop albums. With the pop music released this year, I was pretty disappointed with one or more aspect of, whether it was the repetitiveness of themes in the songs or the finished product sounded rushed.

Since I have no industry angle, I don’t expect anyone to take my list seriously when I send it in to be published next week, but like I said before it’s all for fun. Do you guys have any favorite albums for 2012? Favorite songs?