In popular music, a debut album is often the make-or-break moment that sets the tone for the rest of an artist’s career, and maybe even determines whether they’ll have a career at all. Sometimes a debut album completely drives the narrative that fans and critics construct around an artist, for better or for worse. On the other hand, the most divisive artists can often make the most exciting music. For many of the best debut albums, artists have had to overcome skepticism and criticism to find an audience. These are the Most Unexpectedly Fire Debut Albums that came out of left field and killed it.
RELATED: The 50 Best Albums of 2016