First, some quick shout outs to the many honorable mentions for this list.

25. Show Me the Body - Trouble the Water

Not every sound on this sludge metal album hits, but the lyrics often do.

24. Akintoye - Anxiety & Circumstance

Akintoye has a strong voice and fast flows, but could make a better album if he slowed down from time to time.

23. Megan thee Stallion - Traumazine

Megan is at her best artistically when directly addressing her feelings about the past two years, but Traumazine feels heavily compromised with attempts at hot girl shit hits that don’t land like they used to.

22. The 1975 - Being Funny in a Foreign Language

Jack Antonoff’s production and a tighter tracklist make this not the band’s best effort, but a needed return to form.

21. beabadoobee - Beatopia

Solid indie pop, but missing some of the rocking energy of her previous album.

20. Weyes Blood - And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow

A slow album that is going to grow more and more with every listen, but its best moments don’t compare to some other records this year reaching for similar heights.

19. Polyphia - Remember That You Will Die

An insanely fun math pop album, moving in unexpected sonic directions with every track and guest appearance.

18. Richard Dawson - The Ruby Cord

A dense concept album with some incredible moments of profound storytelling, but is mostly more fun to think about than to listen to.

17. Conway the Machine - God Don’t Make Mistakes

A grimy boom bap album with a deep heart of darkness to it.

16. Joey Bada$$ - 2000

Joey continues a hot streak of great mixtapes, but occasionally falters.

15. Zach Bryan - American Heartbreak

A triple album opus with a lot of great songs, but not enough sonic or topical focus to justify the runtime.

14. Everything Everything - Raw Data Feel

A really out there art pop album, that’s occasionally too lyrically bizarre for its own good.

13. Ghais Guevara - There Will Be No Super-Slave

Ghais is deep in the trenches of a style of experimental hip hop production I’m a sucker for, but needs time to grow his voice and his beats beyond his influences.

12. Denzel Curry - Melt My Eyez, See Your Future

Not as consistently great as Zel’s last few projects, but Melt My Eyez is a welcome, introspective change of pace.

11. Kendrick Lamar - Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers

An album I have a lot of complicated feelings about, but in its best moments rocks my world like all of Kendrick’s discography.

Alright, now onto the main list…

10. Ian Noe - River Fools and Mountain Saints

Sweeping, Kentucky soaked Americana, Ian Noe tells stories like few songwriters today can. The production goes in a very neo-classical country direction that I love the sound of, but Ian’s voice is front and center.

9. Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You

An epic double album of indie folk and Americana greats, led by Adrianne Lenker’s poetic verses. An album often more than the sum of its parts, led by as many boot stomping clangs (“Time Escaping”) as it is by reverb drenched rock (“Little Things”).

8. Danger Mouse & Black Thought - Cheat Codes

Black Thought’s lyricism is as critical as ever, combined with Danger Mouse’s punchy and jazzy production with tons of A-level guest appearances (“Strangers” and “Belize” come to mind), Cheat Codes is a diamond of a collaboration between two elder statesmen of hip hop at their finest.

7. Little Simz - NO THANK YOU

Just a year after the genre defining Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, Simbi is back with a more confidence, concise and exploratory record that touches on her own newfound status as well as the struggles of Black women.

6. death’s dynamic shroud.wmv - Transcendence Bot

A vaporwave album combining psychedelic loops and metal crescendos with chopped up Katy Perry samples (yes, really) to create an album that feels like listening to the birth of a new kind of artificial intelligence, a baby crying out into cyberspace.

5. Muscadine Bloodline - Dispatch to 16th Ave.

My favorite country album of the year, Muscadine Bloodline brings a boot stomping good time, with a live album approach that lets each song segue into the next perfectly. Touching on falling in love, out of love, rebellion, and death, Dispatch to 16th Ave. is a sweeping effort.

4. The Weeknd - Dawn FM

Maybe an unpopular opinion, but Dawn FM rises high above After Hours in my mind. Abel and Oneohtrix Point Never craft a synth-scored descent into hell through heartbreak and self isolation, with hooks that sound instantly timeless.

3. J.I.D - The Forever Story

Onto my favorite hip hop album of the year. JID comes to us fully realized on The Forever Story, flexing just as much as he reflects on his come-up and his relationship with his family (“Sistanem”). The Forever Story feels like a journey of self-mobilization, with moshpits turned marches (“Raydar”) and soft ballads of newfound knowledge (“Kody Blu 31”).

2. Soul Glo - Diaspora Problems

Pierce Jordan’s vocals craft full dissertations on systematic oppression, mental health (“Five Years and My Family”) and the need to revolt (“John J”), in a raging hardcore album that will blow your ears off while it radicalizes you to go do something once you’re done.

1. Ethel Cain - Preacher’s Daughter

At the end of the day, I am a Southern person with religious trauma, so of course this is my album of the year. The story Cain crafts is one of grindhouse grime, but the way she tells it imbues it with a youthful spirit uplifted by angelic synths to create a blend of Americana and shoegaze that will define this year for me.