My Top 50 Albums of 2024
Here's the Spotify playlist with a track from each album:
1. Lucky Daye - Algorithm
Dernst "D'Mile" Emile II has produced a lot of my favorite R&B records of the last few years, but Algorithm really might be his and Lucky Daye's creative pinnacle, even if it didn't perform as well commercially as Lucky Daye's last album, the also pretty great Candydrip. "Hericane," "Pin," "Breakin' The Bank," fantastic songs. They should release the song featuring Teddy Swims as a single and try to breathe some life into this album since it got a couple Grammy nominations.
2. Mary Timony - Untame The Tiger
Learning that Mary Timony wrote her latest solo album over a period in which both her parents passed away has made the lyrics on Untame The Tiger resonate for me a little more, I lost my dad 7 years ago but it still feels like yesterday. Mostly, though, this is just a great guitar record, she really got on her Tom Verlaine shit on this album. And she just released a non-album single, "Curious Tides," that's right up to the same standard as Untame The Tiger, I don't know if it's an outtake or a one-off, but she's still reaching new heights over 30 years after Autoclave and Helium.
3. Kendrick Lamar - GNX
I feel like there's a good chance that Kendrick Lamar wouldn't have released an album if his back-and-forth with Drake hadn't become one of pop culture's main events of 2024, but I'm glad that something knocked him out of his cycle of taking years and years to deliver a very long, highly conceptual tentpole album. Even as a relatively 'no frills' Kendrick album, GNX is still pretty dense, thematically and musically, which almost makes it better, that we got to see him deliver something pretty nuanced and layered even while making a 44-minute album that's heavy on bangers and collaborations with regional street rap dudes.
4. Lainey Wilson - Whirlwind
In country music, everyone loves Dolly Parton and is influenced by her, but nobody actually sings like her, or at least nobody really reminded me of her until Lainey Wilson. And Wilson is now three albums into a pretty remarkable career, getting better with each album, experimenting more and more with her sound with producer Jay Joyce, one of the few women really thriving in a mainstream country climate that seems to tilt more in favor of male artists every year.
5. Sabrina Carpenter - Short n' Sweet
Sabrina Carpenter laughs on a conspicuous number of her songs, in addition to ridiculous puns and fourth wall-breaking ad libs ("that was cool" after a backing vocal enters on "Good Graces" or "a little fadeout?" at the end of "Bed Chem"). A lot of the songs on Short n' Sweet talk about relationships and heartbreak with real insight and emotional depth, but she's one of the few people in pop who sounds like she's having an absolute blast making records, singing, and coming up with words to sing. She pulled a Shelby Lynne this year (getting nominated for Best New Artist at the Grammys for her 6th album),
6. LL Cool J - The Force
LL Cool J made one of the best hip hop albums of 1985 and one of the best hip hop albums of 2024. Nobody's ever had longevity like that, it'll be years before anybody else can even attempt to match it. Even as someone who believed LL still had something like this in him, I'm still astonished he actually did it, and the album is even more audacious than I could've anticipated -- I mean, he raps the opening song from the perspective of Christopher Dorner. The fact that some major music sites didn't even review this album really pissed me off.
7. Doechii - Alligator Bites Never Heal
I already wrote about this a bit when it topped my Spin list of 2024's best hip hop albums by women. But I just love the way Doechii took that little bit of limelight she got from "What It Is (Block Boy)" and then totally changed the conversation and focused it back on her bars and her originality, this tape goes crazy.
8. Willow - Empathogen
Willow Smith has built a very interesting and unpredictable career since she walked away from a shot at pop stardom after releasing "Whip My Hair," but the jazz chords and intricate time signatures on Empathogen are so totally sick, I'm blown away by the sophistication and musicianship of these songs.
9. BigXthaPlug - Take Care
When you talk about "soul samples" in hip hop, most people generally think of Kanye or Ghostface, things like that. But soul and funk were such a big part of southern rap in the pre-crunk/trap era of UGK, Three 6, Outkast, 8Ball & MJG, etc. And I hear a lot of that lineage in Dallas rapper BigXthaPlug's first top 10 album, he sampled the Whispers, Gwen McRae, War, Willie Hutch, the Isley Brothers, Rick James and T.L. Barrett on this album. Given that Drake's Take Care is one of the biggest rap albums of the last 15 years, I raised an eyebrow at BigXthaPlug using that title, but it's sort of explained on the opening title track (there's a voicemail from an unidentified family member that concludes with "stay strong, keep your head up, I love you, take care").
10. GloRilla - Glorious
As many hits as GloRilla had this year, this album could potentially keep her on the radio through 2025, "Whatchu Kno About Me" is already getting a lot of spins but I think "Hollon" and "I Luv Her" and "Let Her Cook" and "How I Look" all deserve heavy rotation.
11. Vince Staples - Dark Times
This year "The Vince Staples Show" debuted on Netflix and was renewed for a second season. For a lot of people, Vince's autobiographical sitcom vindicated a common opinion that he's a more charismatic screen presence than a great MC, but for me it confirmed the opposite view. The show is okay, could improve in the future, but I think Staples is one of the best rappers we have these days ("ridin' witih the stick like witchcraft" is one of my favorite lines on this one), and his last couple projects have been some of his best. I spent a lot of 2024 feeling stupidly optimistic that Trump couldn't possibly win again and we were entering more hopeful times, but now I'm like, yeah, Dark Times, okay, you're right, Vince.
12. Chase Rice - Go Down Singin'
Last year, Chase Rice released I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go To Hell, an earthy and personal album that I thought was an unexpected masterpiece from a "bro country" B-lister who'd co-written Florida Georgia Line's "Cruise." And I'm happy that Rice returned with a follow-up in the same rich vein, proving that it wasn't a fluke.
13. Future & Metro Boomin - We Don't Trust You
This year Future continued to build on one of the best discographies in hip hop with three albums, including two with Metro Boomin, who brought back the crow from "Jumpman" on "Seen It All." A lot of people focus on Future's "toxic" lyrics about women, but I think it's underrated how much he's a funny rich asshole he says things like "Had to buy another mansion, I'm gettin' claustrophobic."
14. Future Islands - People Who Aren't There Anymore
20 years after they started playing together and 10 years after their big Letterman-assisted breakthrough, Future Islands are an incredibly consistent band. And I think they've gotten even better since adding Lake Trout's Mike Lowry, one of my favorite drummers ever, as an official fourth member, he's so good on "Iris" and "Give Me The Ghost Back." The additional non-album single "Glimpse" they released in September is really good too.
15. Morgan Wade - Obsessed
All of Morgan Wade's albums are excellent, but I think her third is her best so far, it's a little slower with more pedal steel, and there's just not a single misstep as she builds a mood over the course of Obsessed. The only feature on the album is "Walked On Water" featuring Kesha, which I think is one of the best things Kesha's ever done.
16. X - Smoke & Fiction
When a great band sets out to release its final album, I root for them to go out on a high note, and I think X released one of their best albums ever. I can put on Smoke & Fiction and forget it's not one of the band's '80s classics, although there's an occasional lyric that sort of situates it back in the present day.
17. Dwight Yoakam - Brighter Days
Dwight Yoakam has been mixing rock and country, but coming from the other side of things, almost as long as X, and I'm glad he recently came back with his first collection of new songs in 9 years. I'm sad that Yoakam and longtime producer Pete Anderson split acrimoniously, but Yoakam's self-produced later albums sound great, it always sounds like he just plugging in and playing and singing loud.
18. Ben Seretan - Allora
I think I could always be better about checking out new artists, part of the problem is that there are so many that it's hard to know where to begin when people I already like are always putting out new records. But sometimes I just randomly read a review and check out a record and am blown away, as I was by Ben Seretan's latest album, which he spontaneously recorded in Italy in a few days when a few European tourdates fell through. This guy might be my new indie rock guitar hero, the way these songs unfurl and explode is so cool.
19. J Mascis - What Do We Do Now
Speaking of which, the ultimate indie rock guitar hero also dropped a good one this year. As much as I love the prolonged reunion run of Dinosaur Jr.'s original lineup, both musically and symbolically, I'm glad that Mascis still periodically release solo albums. The main musical difference from Dinosaur is that solo Mascis usually has acoustic rhythm guitars and electric lead guitars (instead of all electric), and Mascis is an absolutely sick drummer, I love listening to him play.
20. ScHoolboy Q - Blue Lips
For a while, Top Dawg Entertainment felt like it was defined by inactivity, by how many of its acts were going years and years between albums. Then everything clicked and we got one of ScHoolboy Q's best albums as well as excellent new music from SiR, Ab-Soul, and SZA (to say nothing of Kendrick Lamar's first post-TDE album). This is isn't my favorite album called Blue Lips but it's awesome, so many weird and exciting production choices.
21. Kassi Ashton - Made From The Dirt
My favorite debut country album of 2024, Missouri singer-songwriter Kassi Ashton has a gorgeous voice and is better at writing sad slow songs than I would've expected from her singles.
22. Tierra Whack - World Wide Whack
A lot of the people who were excited about Tierra Whack when she released her 15-minute tour de force Whack World in 2018 seemed to have completely moved on by the time she released a proper full-length album this year. And that's a shame, because nobody's doing it like her, what an utterly unique talent,
23. Brittney Spencer - My Stupid Life
Brittney Spencer learned to sing in a Baltimore church before hearing the (fka Dixie) Chicks opened her eyes to the possibility of singing country music. And I love the playful, self-deprecating lyrical tone she developed on My Stupid Life, which is occasionally undercut by some disarmingly beautiful and earnestly sentimental moments.
24. Rachel Chinouriri - What A Devastating Turn of Events
There's a lot of heart and humor and pathos in the lyrics of London singer-songwriter Rachel Chinouriri's debut album. But the textures and guitar tones and arrangements, and the unusual way her voice fits into the mix, are really what made the album a delight to me, it's a really inventively assembled record.
25. Billie Eilish - Hit Me Hard And Soft
Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell opens her third album whispering "I feel in love for the first time" in a fragile ballad, and then on the second track she's joyfully singing about eating that girl for lunch. The duality of man! I'm a little alone in thinking that the sprawling, all-over-the-place Happier Than Ever is Eilish's best album, but the 10 songs on Hit Me Hard And Soft hang together really well too.
26. Rapsody - Please Don't Cry
I want Rapsody to release a whole album in the vein of "Back in My Bag" and really hit people over the head with how good she is, but I'm happy to get at least one song like that within a pretty personal album that otherwise goes pretty heavy on lush neo soul aesthetics.
27. Common and Pete Rock - The Auditorium Vol. 1
Lyrically, I don't think this is one of Common's better albums -- he's namedropping more than The Game these days -- but Pete Rock really rose to the occasion, I'm glad they're doing another album together and I hope a lot more people out there get Pete Rock beats now.
28. KMack Knokville and Jay Funk - UNK
KMack has been one of Baltimore's best rappers for almost 30 years at this point. You could say he has a raspy voice similar to Jadakiss, but he's been making records longer than The LOX, so you could also say that Jadakiss sounds like him. People who loved the Common/Pete Rock album should check this one out, Baltimore doesn't get enough credit for how many people are doing classic boom bap hip hop here, and Jay Funk is one of the best.
29. various artists - Thank You, Dream Girl
Over the summer, Matmos's Drew Daniel accidentally created a new genre when he tweeted about a dream he had of "hit em," a style of 212BPM tracks in 5/4 and many producers (including me) decided to give it a try. As someone who has lamented that even the most out-there electronic music is usually in standard 4/4 time, I love hearing so many people experiment with 5/4 on the first hit em compilation, and Eprom, RamonPang, and Thorne made some of my favorite tracks on Thank You, Dream Girl. Both Matmos and The Soft Pink Truth make appearances, so we get a couple glimpses of hit em from the perspective of the mind that created the genre, which is pretty cool
30. Kiana Lede - Cut Ties
I think Kiana Lede is the most underrated artist in R&B right now, she's 3 for 3 with her albums as far as I'm concerned. Cut Ties is pretty much all slow jams, mostly sex songs with a few breakup songs, playing right to her strengths.
31. Beyonce - Cowboy Carter
Most artists from outside country music who dabble in the genre, especially in 2024, tend to make really superficial country albums with the most obvious imagery and the most mainstream Nashville guests. Beyonce, on the other hand, approached Cowboy Carter almost like an academic dissertation, digging into the history and exploring the genre and her relationship with it from so many angles. It's a less consistently enjoyable album than her disco dissertation Renaissance, but it's more ambitious and further outside her comfort zone, and I love how she attacked the challenge.
32. Madi Diaz - Weird Faith
I slept on Madi Diaz's previous albums, but Weird Faith grabbed me with its barebones voice-and-guitar arrangements that foregrounded Diaz's intensely thoughtful and thought-provoking lyrics.
33. Combat - Stay Golden
I interviewed Combat this year, and some of the members of this band are literally half my age. Maybe that should make me self conscious, but it makes me just feel like Baltimore punk rock is in good hands when bands this good are still being formed.
34. Sarah Jarosz - Polaroid Lovers
Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk best known for producing the Kacey Musgraves album Golden Hour, and this year they were incredibly busy doing excellent work on albums by Sarah Jarosz, Leon Bridges, Brittney Spencer (just Tashian in her cause), and Musgraves. Jarosz's voice is so intoxicating and charming, and the two songs she added to the deluxe edition of the album make it even better.
35. Megan Thee Stallion - Megan: Act II
One of the big trends in the music industry that I observed is the supersizing of deluxe albums. Taylor Swift, SZA, Victoria Monet, and Megan Thee Stallion all released deluxe editions that had an entire 2nd album's worth of new songs. In the latter case, it feels like we got album Megan and mixtape Megan in the same year, and I love how that being packaged together feels like a more complete picture of the talent of one of the best, most consistent rappers of the last 5 years.
36. Illiterate Light - Arches
I got into the Virginia duo Illiterate Light about two years ago, just before they went on a prolific streak, releasing two albums and two EPs in the last 24 months. Arches is a little brighter and more uptempo than Sunburned, and the epic "Montauk" may be their best song to date.
37. Pearl Jam - Dark Matter
Andrew Watt's industry rep as the cool young millennial guy who could help old rockers like the Rolling Stones and Ozzy Osbourne stay relevant didn't really mean much to me. But as a lifelong Pearl Jam fan, he really knew how to get them to write together as a band again, and how to get some of those old school fireworks out of Mike McCready and Matt Cameron.
38. The Cure - Songs of a Lost World
I'm not a diehard Cure fan like I am a diehard Pearl Jam fan, so it didn't mean as much to me when Robert Smith came back with an excellent album. And I wish there was a little more sonic variety, every song on here has pretty much the same palette, but that approach does have a certain hypnotic effect, and I'll probably always associate this album with listening to it in the middle of the night the week it was released.
39. 21 Savage - American Dream
After a prolonged tour of duty giving Drake false street cred, 21 Savage returned with probably his best solo album. The promotional rollout was too clever by half, making people think it was a soundtrack to a janky-looking biopic rather than an album with a satirical movie trailer music video, but he still had a pretty good year.
40. Zach Bryan - The Great American Bar Scene
Zach Bryan was U.S. Spotify's third most streamed artist in 2024, right behind Taylor Swift and Drake. And even in a year that Morgan Wallen didn't release an album, it's pretty amazing that Bryan pulled ahead of him, considering that he's not really very visible on a pop culture level, aside from a weird beef with Barstool Sports this year. Bryan releases so much music that it all threatens to blur together, but The Great American Bar Scene holds up as having some of his best songs to date, and it feels like stardom hasn't really changed the thoughtful, understated feel of his songwriting.
41. Halsey - The Great Impersonator
Halsey followed up my favorite album of the last 5 years with a record that in some ways got a little overshadowed by unimpressed reviews and a really creative social media rollout. But The Great Impersonator is a pretty cool record that flaunts its wide range of inspirations while really revealing how much Halsey has developed her own unique voice.
42. Latto - Sugar Honey Iced Tea
I kind of rolled my eyes when Latto (accurately boasted) of being the biggest female rapper from Atlanta of all time while making terrible Dr. Luke crossover records like "Big Energy" and "Lottery," but she got back to playing to her strengths on her third album,
43. Charli XCX - Brat
I don't really think the most acclaimed of 2024 is even close to the artist's best album, and sometimes I'm amazed that Brat attained an aura of cutting edge cool while fixating on all these poorly dated artifacts of coolness from 5-15 years ago (Julia Fox, Red Scare, Von Dutch). There were enough great songs on Brat that I kept coming back to it, though, and don't resent its success.
44. Orla Gartland - Everybody Needs A Hero
I'd never heard of Irish singer-songwriter before one of my favorite local radio stations, WTMD, started heavily playing "Little Chaos" and "Late To The Party," and I just instantly became a fan, I love her voice and her guitar tone.
45. Willie Nelson - The Border
Willie Nelson has written over 300 songs in the last 70 years and I've listened to just about every version of all of them, and I'm still figuring out some way to catalog and write about that work. But I love that every year he releases one or two new albums and adds a handful of songs to that immense pile, and that he's retained his wit and humanity in all of that work.
46. MC Lyte - 1 of 1
I work with celebrities semi-regularly at my day job, and when I come face to face with them for a minute or two, it's usually just pleasantries and small talk and I don't wanna gush or pretend like I'm in a situation where I can really interview and pick their brain. But MC Lyte was one of the coolest people I met this year, I wish I had a minute to just tell her she's one of the greatest of all time, I'm sure she knows it, but she's a legend, and her new album really didn't get enough love, it's got some really dope shit on it.
47. BossMan Dlow - Mr Beat The Road
This year's funniest rap rookie, I love the way he just seems to work these repeating themes in his brags and boasts but makes them weirder and more specific every time he revisits them.
48. Joe P - Garden State Vampire
I'm still annoyed that the single "Don't Wanna Love U" didn't make it onto this album, but New Jersey singer-songwriter Joe P does great fuzzed-out bedroom pop on a major label level. And his choruses are naggingly catchy enough that I understand why Atlantic Records has let him just go off and self-produce these records, I think they know he could make a massive hit eventually.
49. GloRilla - Ehhthang Ehhthang
Glorious is a more complete 'album,' but I don't want her mixtape to get lost in the shuffle of GloRilla's big year, Ehhthang Ehhthang has some of her best songs of 2024, including "Yeah Glo!" and "Wanna Be" and "Opp Shit" and "All Dere."
50. The Lemon Twigs - A Dream Is All We Know
The D'Addario brothers make music that almost exclusively draws on the influence of records made decades before they were born, and their 5th album and Captured Tracks debut is their most Beach Boys/Beatles-y record to date. And you can't just do Brian Wilson type songs without some serious talent, so it almost feels like they worked their way up to making an album this pretty and even more rich in harmonies than 2023's Everything Harmony.
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