This Collider feature picks out one standout rock album for each year of the 2010s, arguing that although rock's mainstream dominance faded after the 1990s, the decade still produced work worthy of the genre's legacy. It mixes veteran acts adapting to new eras with younger bands carving out fresh identities, showing rock's continued creative relevance even as it lost commercial ground to other genres.

The albums highlighted in the excerpt include Alice in Chains' post-Layne Staley comeback records, Foo Fighters' Wasting Light (2011), Vampire Weekend's Modern Vampires of the City (2013), Deftones' Diamond Eyes, and Arctic Monkeys' AM (2013), each discussed for how it balanced a band's established sound with growth or reinvention. The full piece (cut short here) continues through further entries covering the remainder of the decade.

– Rock stayed vital in the 2010s despite declining mainstream popularity, this list argues
– Featured albums include Wasting Light, Modern Vampires of the City and AM
– Piece blends veteran bands' reinventions with newer acts' evolving sounds