We're in the endgame now. Just a couple more days before the ball drops and one more day before we reach the number one spot. In second place is Blood Orange with Negro Swan.

If Solange's A Seat At The Table and Childish Gambino's Awaken, My Love had a love child, it would grow up to be Negro Swan. This album has all the soul and carefree swagger of Childish's record, matched together with the poignant skits and and subtle but stellar production of Solange's. This was no surprise to me given that Dev Hynes is a long time friend and collaborator of Solange's, however there's a difference to this record in comparison to Dev's previous Blood Orange records.

The title alone strikes up feelings before you even delve into the music. The juxtaposition of something often associated with ugliness, with something only ever linked with beauty poses enough intrigue to begin with. Dev's focus on depression, anxiety and battling with being on the outskirts of so many labels comes through in his beautifully poetic lyrics. Those sprinkled over the mostly cheery and funky beats balance out juxtaposition in the phrase Negro Swan very well. It's an album that you can dance and cry to all in one and that's definitely me favourite kind of album.  

My favourite songs on this at the moment are "Jewelry", "Holy Will (feat. Ian Isiah)", "Nappy Wonder", and "Out Of Your League (feat. Steve Lacy)", but that's changed over the past few months and will no doubt change again. The choice of collaborators and feature artists on this album is well thought out and a great match for the songs that they're on. However, the lack of UK collaborators is quite clear in the album's overall sound, which makes sense in the context of the album. Although I would have liked to see Dev, having been raised in London himself, use this album to put some more eyes on his UK counterparts. That aside, this is a fabulous body of work that I will continue to return to over the next year and beyond.

Have a read of my thoughts on last year's runner up here.

Closing in on the top spot and just thinking about these top two albums is getting me excited! They are both just so good!! But without further ado...

First runner up is Royal Blood by Royal Blood. The most record breaking album of the entire year! These boys went from two very normal Brightonians, to some of the most talked about and listened to musicians in the world... in the space of a year!! I was stupidly gobsmacked by how fast the whole thing happened. I'll never forget the first time I saw them live here and nobody was even lifting their arms up or moving around and people after the show were just like "Oh! That second band, they were alright weren't they?" Now, anyone who is lucky enough to get a ticket to their shows, knows and shouts every lyric to every song (b-sides included) and barely has room to breathe with all the pits forming and bodies pushing. Royal Blood are the new definition of viral.

When I first started getting into them here, I figured that they'd do well but never this well! "Out Of The Black" is easily one of my favourite songs of 2014. After ridiculously overplaying their singles I was just waiting on the edge of my seat for the record to drop. I will never forget the first time I listened to this thing in full. Beginning to end I was beyond impressed. EVERY. SINGLE. SONG. The whole album was great - lyrically and instrumentally. The only reason it didn't make it to my number one is - because I liked it so much, I overplayed it quickly and so grew tired of it pretty early on. To the point where just hearing people talk about the album made me like it a little less. After a little break from it, I came back to it and remembered just how good those songs sounded the first time I listened to them. As simple as some of them are, they each just sound so huge. Every track has been my favourite at one point or another but right now I'd say my favourite are "Blood Hands", "Ten Tonne Skeleton", "Better Strangers" and "Little Monster".

Even the b-sides on this record are killer. "Hole" for ages before the actual album came out, was my favourite track by them! And now "You Want Me" is up there in my favourites - another example of simple but awesome. Royal Blood are doing humungous things in the music industry right now. I just hope that they continue to move up and show that this wasn't just a (absolutely brilliantly executed) fluke.