Albums of the year: Jack White to Jake Bugg (Nos. 50 - 41)

Part one of our best of 2012 album countdown

48. Clams Casino - Instrumental Mixtape 2: After the success of the first Instrumental Mixtape from Clams Casino, it was always a worry that the follow-up would fall too easily into the 'more of the same' category. Luckily, Instrumental Mixtape 2 sidesteps that entirely - forget the last mixtape, there's nothing that sounds even remotely similar on this. The best part is that there's nothing missing even without the MCing - Clams doesn't just fill the voids, he makes them sound like they never existed. Standout track: Lana Del Rey - 'Born To Die' (Clams Casino remix)

Monday 10th December 2012 by Gigwise

2012 is nearly over and we've been wracking our brains to remember which albums we were playing on repeat in the early months of the year to bring you our collection of the best albums of the past year.

All this week we'll be counting down our favourite albums of the year - ten a day. Fifty albums that range from international chart toppers to undiscovered gems that should have been listened to by the masses - but were edged to the sidelines by the likes of Muse, Mumford & Sons or Lana Del Rey.

As well as bringing you our favourite albums of the year, all through December we've been asking Gigwise readers to tell us their picks of the year's releases in our readers' poll. Currently at the top of the poll is 2010 X Factor winner Matt Cardle, who can certainly rely on fans to vote in polls - even if they are less inclined to keep him in the charts. He faces stiff competition from Muse, Aiden Grimshaw and Lana Del Rey however - click here to cast your vote.

Today, we're counting down the first of our albums of the year, numbers 50 to 41 - check out our picks below.