I have to wonder if other years have been similar, but I just never got to those other great albums.
One always wonders, of course. But I've been listening to about as many new releases this year as I did last year, and so far I'd say that this year is much better overall, even if there haven't been any albums released this year that blew me away and stuck with me the way that Andrew Bird and The Hold Steady and Sufjan did last year.