Kendrick Lamar was the most critically praised artist of 2017.

He was also the best selling.

Kendrick's album DAMN. tops the year-end Billboard 200 album chart. It is followed by Burno Mars's 24K Magic and The Weeknd's Starboy. 

Ed Sheeran's Divide and Drake's More Life rank fourth and fifth, respectively.

The Moana soundtrack, Post Malone's Stoney, Migos' CULTURE, Hamilton: An American Musical and J. Cole's For Your Eyes Only round out the top ten.

Other high ranking Hip Hop albums include Drake's Views at 13, Future's Future at 15, Travis Scott's Birds In The Trap Sing Mcknight at 18, Big Sean's I Decided at 20 and Logic's Everybody at 25.

Billboard's formula for determining the top albums is "Radio Play + Sales Data + Streaming Data."

Billboard's year-end list charts performance between the dates of December 3rd, 2016 and November 25th, 2017. Which is why Taylor Swift, who will probably sell the most in the calendar year of 2017, isn't on the list.