Born To Die will be making my best albums list. The songwriting was brilliant. No one is touching Lana's story telling. And the fact that people write essays on what her **** means. The production is immaculate and totally different from anything we hear today. Whoever did that **** is a genius. How to combine Country with Hip Hop and Pop. No she's not a great vocalist at all, but her I love her tone. Dolly Parton meets Johnny Cash meets Marilyn Monroe (a non-singer) and it fits so amazingly well with the production.
Born To Die is one of the few albums so well-written that it can be transformed into a book. I'm DREAMING when I listen to this.
an honorable mention before we start the albums list, whenever that will be.
Nicki Minaj, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded – The Re-Up
Didn't come close to making the actual top 25, but I want to give her a shoutout. As messy as it collectively is — I personally dropped her ass about a week after IT happened — the hip hop parts are fun, well-realized, and underrated. The Re-Up, aside from the trash that is the first two singles, did its job in providing some b0ps while proving she didn't completely lose it. gooooo Young Nicholas, you don't totally suck.
edit: this is an honorable mention now, how sad for him.
The Weeknd, Trilogy
Perhaps not technically a 2012 release, but it contains three new tracks as well as a remaster of every song from his 2011 mixtape trilogy, so HEY. Anyway, taking it in as a whole, this is a very cool thematic PBR&B record. House of Balloons remains easily the best individual set, but when all three tapes are looked at together as a whole, they tell an interesting story not previously seen on any of the original singular records. It can be difficult to absorb all at once, but it's a fascinating listen.
Very nice progressive R&B album/EP. She was previously a member of Danity Kane (xoxo) and then Diddy – Dirty Money, but on her solo debut she establishes a convincing presence of her own. She does a lot of cool things with the genre.
My all-time fave. Admittedly this album is a bit of a mess, but it's a diverse and enjoyable listen that experiments with multiple genres in unexpected ways. His rapped performance is consistently excellent throughout each of its 17 songs.
Also, points for outselling Ke$ha during his debut week despite not being backed by the #2 song in the country.
OH btw he was an exception to the release date rule, just because he's a legend. I'm pretty sure nothing else from December made the list but they would instead be eligible for next year's if I did one.
The production is immaculate and totally different from anything we hear today. Whoever did that **** is a genius. How to combine Country with Hip Hop and Pop. 
No she's not a great vocalist at all, but her I love her tone. Dolly Parton meets Johnny Cash meets Marilyn Monroe (a non-singer) and it fits so amazingly well with the production.
Admittedly this album is a bit of a mess, but it's a diverse and enjoyable listen that experiments with multiple genres in unexpected ways. His rapped performance is consistently excellent throughout each of its 17 songs.
He might make my 2013 list since that album is amazing.