Well, here we are. Another year of music in the books, and I get to reflect on it.
2021 was not a good year. It was not a good year for global health, and it was not a good year for music. I honestly blame the supply chain.
I was hoping for a deluge of exciting releases this year after so many artists seemed to be pushing pause on releases and tours when COVID exploded in 2020. But as we all fondly remember, pandemic uncertainty continued throughout the year as cool people like the quarterback of the Green Bay Packers encouraged folks to question the vaccine. I think that’s partially to blame — I honestly think there was supposed to be a Cardi B album in 2020 that still hasn’t dropped.
But what did we get instead? All my favorite indie artists went Jack Antonoff and released some of the blandest records we’ve heard since everyone was so giddy about The War On Drugs (no, their 2021 release is not on this list). Drake half-assed it, no song of the summer, “Girls Want Girls” is gross and “Way 2 Sexy” should not exist and proves we are in the darkest timeline. Young Thug seems to be out of inspiration, he only put out bad music this year. What else sucked? That Halsey album, what a heartbreak. Don’t call your album If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, tell me Trent Reznor is producing, then leave out the fact it’ll sound like one of his fucking movie soundtracks instead of Nine Inch Nails.
Look at everyone else’s top lists. There’s a goddamn CLASSICAL album in the aggregate top three people. That mess Billie Eilish put out is #14. We are stretttttttcccccchhhhhhiiiiing.
And it’s not all just kvetching — thanks to my new system I have data to back it up. By rating albums as I go through them (behind the scenes), I can compare music year over year. Here are some fun facts — this year’s #8 record would have been around #20 last year. Last year’s #50 would have been around #33, or in other words, somewhere around #34 on you’d be in the honorable mentions section last year. I couldn’t even come up with ten honorable mentions this year, only five. That doesn’t mean these aren’t all great albums — I truly love them and am excited to share this list with you! I’m just usually leaving out a lot of records I really enjoy that couldn’t make it, and this year… well, gang’s all here I guess!
I did admittedly set new rules for how I approached this year (which I went into more in my songs list intro), which largely made me less obsessive about going through each and every corner of the internet for music — so please, tell me what I left out! I know you would enjoy it! I’ll let you know if I missed it, or I just thought it sucked.
Spotify version of the list is embedded below! Have at it, people.
- CHAI – WINK
- Danny L Harle – Harlecore
- Hand Habits – Fun House
- Doja Cat – Planet Her
- PinkPantheress – to hell with it
- Vince Staples – Vince Staples
- Isaiah Rashad – The House Is Burning
- underscores – fishmonger
- Slayyyter – Troubled Paradise
- Migos – Culture III
- Sega Bodega – Romeo
- JPEGMAFIA – EP2!
- Tyler, The Creator – CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST
- glaive & ericdoa – then i’ll be happy
- Wednesday – Twin Plagues
- Pi’erre Bourne – The Life Of Pi’erre 5
- slowthai – TYRON
- Baby Keem – The Melodic Blue
- Magdalena Bay – Mercurial World
- illuminati hotties – Let Me Do One More
- Andy Shauf – Wilds
- Lil Wayne & Rich The Kid – Trust Fund Babies
- AUDREY NUNA – a liquid breakfast
- kryptogram – krypt. vol2
- glaive – all dogs go to heaven
- Faye Webster – I Know I’m Funny haha
- Jasiah – War
- Fuego – Supremo (EP)
- Ashnikko – DEMIDEVIL
- Young Dolph & Key Glock – Dum and Dummer 2
- Adult Books – Grecian Urn
- SG Lewis – times
- Snail Mail – Valentine
- AminĂ© – TWOPOINTFIVE
- Bachelor – Doomin’ Sun
- Hovvdy – True Love
- 박혜́§„ Park Hye Jin – Before I Die
- Goat Girl – On All Fours
- Olivia Rodrigo – SOUR
- Alice Longyu Gao – High Dragon and Universe (EP)
- Pom Pom Squad – Death of a Cheerleader
- Bankroll Freddie – Big Bank
- Weezer – OK Human
- VanJess – Homegrown
- Cake Pop – Cake Pop 2
- Starrah – The Longest Interlude
- Wet – Letter Blue
- Kero Kero Bonito – Civilisation
- Iceage – Seek Shelter
- Lana Del Rey – Chemtrails Over The Country Club
Honorable Mentions:
Tinashe – 333
Kacey Musgraves – star-crossed
Megan Thee Stallion – Something for Thee Hotties (Mixtape)
Lana Del Rey – Blue Banisters
GoldLink – HARAM!
feed the dog. 