Whatever next!
You'll be telling me a woman will be prime minister one day!

Jenny Lewis - Rabbit Fur Coat
A Camp - Colonia

Would be my first two thoughts...

Kate Bush - Aerial

other nominations:
KT Tunstall - Eye To The Telescope
Lily Allen - Alright Still
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sand (ignoring the fact that Bobs a bloke)

And I'm fully prepared for the derision, laughter and generally being ignored, but I did quite like ...
the first Dido album

...they got the number 1 spot on.

but I'd definitely have Liz Phair's eponymous album on my list.

Back To Black

Easy to overlook what a great musician she is.

trailer Park - Beth Orton
Milk-Eyed Mender - Joanna Newsom
Ingenue - k d Lang
Sensual World - Kate Bush

Most anything by Laura Nyro, but Gonna Take a Miracle is a good starting point

WOOPS just noticed this was the noughties, soz

album title says it all

OK, in addition to the excellent suggestions above I'd like to add

'Chemistry' - Girls Aloud
'The Fame Monster'- Lady Gaga
'Sol Angel & The Hadley Street Dreams- Solange
'Seventh Tree' - Goldfrapp
'She Wolf' - Shakira

My favourites have been;
Erykah Badu
Amy W
Little Jackie
Lisa Hannigan
El Perro del Mar
Our Broken Garden

Have only had a quick squint at the list, but personally I thought Ys was terrible, and why pick PJ Harvey's least interesting album for the top 10? The marvellous Uh Huh Her is head and shoulders above "Stories From The City..."

And one of them (Portishead) is questionable whether it should count.

(The others are Kate Bush's Ariel - which despite many others' comments I still find too winsome and insubstantial - and Juana Molina - who is excellent in the quirky way Kate used to be).

PS Reminded me of a joke headline I saw the other day - "kd lang changes name to KD Lang").

e.g. does an album by Portishead count as "an album by a woman"? Do they just mean woman singers? Anyway, my two penn'orth

The inclusion of Effluence and the Latrine is a travesty that shall never be forgotten and I'd have liked to have seen:

Amanda Palmer - Who Killed Amanda Palmer?
Charlotte Gainsbourg - 5:55
Amy Winehouse - Frank (better than Back to Black IMHO)
Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan - Ballad of the Broken Seas (if Rigid Digit can nominate Plant/Krauss, I'm nominating this)
She and Him - Volume One (actress Zooey Deschanel's band - a far better idea than it sounds)
CSS - CSS
Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out of this Country
St. Vincent - Actor (better than the one they included, I reckon)
The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike (if they count as a "woman" band)

Not great. Mind you, some notable absences, including other LPs by PJH, MIA, and Gillian Welch which would have boosted my score somewhat...

I actually only discovered Siouxsie recently via her 'Last Manta Ray' (edited video version from her KoKo gigs in 2008, on Sky Arts 1) around October last year. By Gawd that woman is a performer! I dug into the Banshees' content on Spotty and boy did I missed out!
A few duffers along the way but the highs outweigh the lows.

check Hyena with Robert Smith on geetar

Joni Mitchell - Both Sides Now (2000)

PJ Harvey - Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea (2000)

Gillian Welch - Time the Revelator (2001)

Lhasa - The Living Road (2004)

Kate Bush - Aerial (2005)

The Unthanks - Here's the Tender Coming (2009)

Roisin Murphy
Goldfrapp and
Yeah Yeah Yeahs for me especially. Robyn's another one.

Would agree with poster who mentioned Shakira, Girls Aloud and Lady Ga Ga (come round to appreciate the latter lately).

But Florence and The Machine - why do people rate that? It's beyond me. What an unpleasant, droning, poor singing voice and otherwise unremarkable music.

Generally though women are outdoing the guys musically of late I would say for invention, imagination, interest.

I've got about a fifth of the list. Personally my absolute favourite is Aimee Mann's Batchelor no. 2. I've been trying to love Joanna Newsome for years but I just can't get past her voice...

At least one of her albums deserves to be on the list - possibly Songs III or The Saga Of Mayflower May.
She is an amazing talent.

I'm feeling a bit bunged up and I can't be arsed

and I also feel the idea is a bit condescending.

HOWEVER, that never stops me from making a little list. I've watched "High Fidelity" far too much in the past few months to ignore list making as a valid pastime.

no particular order, but these are superb:

Gemma Hayes - The Roads Don't Love You
Gemma Hayes - The Hollow Of Morning
Bjork - Vespertine
All Saints - Studio 1
Amiina - Kurr
Bat For Lashes - Fur And Gold
Buffalo Daughter - I
Camille - Le Fil
Eileen Rose - Long Shot Novena
Emiliana Torrini - Fisherman's Woman
Feist - Let It Die
Hafdis Huld - Dirty Paper Cup
Karine Polwart - Faultlines
Lady Sovereign - Public Warning
Lily Allen - Alright, Still
Little Jackie - The Stoop
Martina Topley-Bird - The Blue God
Regina Spektor - Soviet Kitsch
Scarlett Johannsson - Anywhere I Lay My Head
Tanya Donelly - Beautysleep

The rest of my music is either a mix or mainly man made music.

The Best 5 from the above actually in order of preference:

1. Gemma Hayes - The Hollow Of Morning
2. Buffalo Daughter - I
3. Scarlett Johannsson - Anywhere I Lay My Head
4. Lady Sovereign - Public Warning
5. Bjork - Vespertine

Lovely stuff.

They appear to be limiting it to one album / artist and while I think Bachelor No 2 is Aimee Mann's best I'd like to have seen Lost In Space and The Forgotten arm there.
Nothing by Anne McCue, but I'd have thought Roll deserved to be there and Koala Motel would be a contender.
Neither of Caitlin Cary's albums, While You Weren't Looking and I'm Staying Out, feature and if Beth Gibbons and Rustin Man can feature the magnificent Begonias from Caitlin and Thad Cockrell should be there.
I'g have picked Patty Griffin's Impossible Dream ahead of 1,000 Kisses.
There's nothing by Tift Merritt but either Tambourine or Another Country deserve to be there.
Natalie Merchant's Motherland deserves a place.
World Without Tears is the correct choice by Lucinda Williams but West also deserves to be in there.
I'd have picked Rules Of Travel ahead of Rosanne Cash's Black Cadillac.
Unbelievably nothing by Kathleen Edwards. All three deserve to be in there, but I'd have settled for Asking For Flowers.
The Dixie Chicks - How can they ignore Home or Taking The Long Way?
Red Dirt Girl is probably the best Emmylou Harris album of the decade but I'm very partial to Stumble Into Grace too.
Suzy Bogguss's Sweet Danger is a notable omission from a fabuous singer.
Gretchen Peter's albums Halcyon and Burnt Toast & Offerings are worthy contenders.
Somebody else above mentioned The Greatest by Cat Power. I second that one.
Eileen Rose's Long Shot Novena and At Our Tables and probably Come the Storm as well.
I'll finish off by noting the omission of Nothing But The Truth by Eve Selis

I've got 25 of the 100. I think it's a fascinating list, there's a lot of stuff there I'm now going to investigate, like My Brightest Diamond - having been impressed with Shara Worden when she guested with the Decemberists.

I don't find the idea of the list at all patronising; and to clarify, the intro states that they're looking at albums by solo female artists, or bands fronted by women. There's no shortage of good stuff, and a quick glance through my collection reveals loads of tremendous stuff not included in the list. Such as:

An Equal Love - Christine Collister -greatest singer in the UK, blah blah
Cara Dillon - beautiful and fresh
The Joy of Sing-Sing - Sing-Sing - storming album from former Lush guitarist Emma Anderson and singer Lisa O'Neil
Trampin' - Patti Smith - Still got it
Underdog Victorious - Jill Sobule - it's perfect
A Girl Called Eddy - it's even more perfect
Peddlin' Dreams - Maria McKee - great talent finally hits the bullseye
Frank - Amy Winehouse - I've said it before...
Tale To Tell - The Mummers - Bjork without computers?
Choreography - Lauren Hoffman - A lot of people would love her if they heard her
The Roads Don't Love You - Gemma Hayes - already mentioned above, it's a classic
Nobody's Sweetheart - Sandy Dillon - Out of heartbreak comes great art
A Distant Bell - Caroline Lavelle - almost certainly the best singer/songwriter/cellist in the land
Nolita - Keren Ann - Full of mystery and magic
Clocks and Clouds - Rosie Brown - sensuous voice, gorgeous songs
Children Running Through - Patti Griffin - what a voice!
Kate Rodgers v Grand Central - one of the sweetest voices I've heard in years.

There are surely more too.

Leave To Remain - Kathryn Williams
Love Tattoo - Imelda May
The Beth Gibbons\ Rustin Man is bloody gorgeous
La Bush - Ariel
Ladyhawke
PJH - either the recent one with John Parrish or Uh Huh Her
The Unthanks - Here The Tender Coming

They are a splendid Scandinavian band, slightly skewed pop, heartwarming and heartrending in equal measure.

I can't access youtube from here but I commend them to The Massive and I'll add a link later.

And, of course, The Unthanks.

Would have thought "No Shouts, No Calls" would be there, and maybe their first (Rock it to the Moon) as well.

Others, off the top of my head:
Imelda May - Love Tattoo
PJ Harvey - Uh Huh Her
Nancy Elizabeth - Battle + Victory
Sleater Kinney - One Beat

I have 26 but wish I had 24 as I own both the Joanna Newsom albums but havent found anything worthwhile to do with them yet. In the olden days you could melt vinyl into interesting shapes.Any other creative ideas.

Not on the list but from last year I would add the Gretchen Peters album One from the heart, one from the head and also the Candi Staton album whose title I cannot recall.

... I only have twelve of these. Not terribly good is it? Was hoping to get all righteous about Mavis Staples as well only to find her on the list. And Nina Nastasia. Oh well. Whither Eliza Carthy and Anglicana though? Great album that.

I will say though, when I was young (and even more sexist than I am now obviously) accoustically inclined female singer songwriters were to be avoided. The sheer awfulness of Joni Mitchell's "Coyote" as heard on The Last Waltz had a truly negative effect on me which, I must confess, to this day, I'm still trying to shift. And I bought about five Joni Mitchell albums in a vain attempt to like her.

Glaring omission in my book:
the wonderful Corrine Bailey Rae.

I would also include:
Rickie Lee Jones - Balm in Gilead
Natacha Atlas - Ana Nina
Imelda Maye
Sinead O Connor - Throw down your arms.

Although it seems like an odd idea in this age to to be listing an artform by gender rather than genre but the voice is an instrument and so it's not really any different to listing best guitar albums. So here's my list
Girls & Boys - Ingrid Michaelson
Keep Your Silver Shined - Devon Sproule
The Sugar Tree - Amy Rigby
Seven Angels on a Bicycle - Carrie Rodriguez
Grey Will Fade - Charlotte Hatherley
Not The Tremblin Kind - Laura Cantrell
I'd also put a Black Box Recorder album on the list (but I don;t know which one) and I'm surprised Lily Allen isn't listed but it may be due to it being and American list.

for Carrie Rodriguez - love her albums with Chip Taylor - is the solo stuff equally as good? Laura Cantrell is also great but it seems a long time since she released anything - was her last album in noughties?

Whither Keren Ann's Nolita?
Amiina's Kurr & A Camp's Colonia would also be high up in my list, but there are many others I'm pleased to see there.

... "The Living Road" by the late, much missed Lhasa de Sela.

It was nice to see the Hildur Gudnadottír album in the list, though. Fine record.

I only have 12 of these - lots to investigate.

My favourites from the list would probably be Kate Bush, Emmylou Harris and Marissa Nadler.

Good to see lots of 'world' and 'folk/roots' on there, but puzzled by the list appearing to overlook jazz (unless I missed it): would've been good to see a vocalist like Claire Martin or Viktoria Tolstoy feature, or a gifted pianist like Geri Allen or Hiromi.

I agree that the inclusion of female-fronted bands is perhaps a bit odd, in itself. The voice isn't everything. It made me think of how vital Rennie Sparks's contribution to the Handsome Family is, even though she rarely takes a lead vocal.

let's not forget them after their October 2009 appearance on Now Hear This. Fantastic debut.

Dave Alvin & The Guilty Women ??

A favourite of mine, but I guess it is the inverse of a record that would qualify, as it is a bloke fronting a band of women.

Tanya Donelly - Lovesongs For Underdogs
Beth Orton - Central Reservation
Lisa Hannigan - Sea Sew

I've just been listening to this, recently downloaded from emusic. It's marvellous: fresh, idiosyncratic, beautifully sung, played and arranged. Anyone else here discovered what Shara Worden's day job is?

Sheryl Crow - Detours. I may be alone here in my appreciation for La Crow, but I routinely love her stuff. Detours is one of my favourites of the last couple of years from anybody.

There were a lot of good albums by French female singers in the last decade. My favourite was "Bye Bye Beaute" by Coralie Clement, but there was also stuff by Keren Ann and Colleen among others.