Friday 4th January 2013 by Grace Carroll | Photos by WENN

Tags: Mumford & Sons, Daft Punk

At least 2013 has arrived - and with it, all of our hopes and dreams for the upcoming albums of the year. We've been looking forward to some of these for months and months, so now that the release dates are drawing ever closer, it's safe to say that we're most definitely excited.

The announcements of new albums has been steadily increasing, and now it's looking positively hopeful for the state of music this year... with, as always, a few exceptions. While there's always the requisite X Factor winner's debut - which could possibly be slightly more interesting than usual this year - there's also a pleasant mix of big names and the up and comers.

Thom Yorke is doing something that isn't Radiohead for a change, and electronic outfit Daft Punk are set to release their first studio album in eight years. Plus, Vampire Weekend recently announced the follow up to their 2010 album Contra! Maybe 'excited' was actually an understatement...

So if you want to feel those butterflies and start clearing out space on your iPod, take a look through our gallery now - and let us know what you're most looking forward to this year.