2021 often felt like a “just get through it” type of year in the music industry. To be honest, not many albums came out this year that felt unmistakably “classic.” The depth of good music coming out every week was staggering as always, but rarely were there great albums that everyone stopped and listened to together (Where were Kendrick/Rihanna/Frank/Beyoncé?). For the most part, you didn’t know when or where a great album was going to come from — it started with a ‘Who is (L’Rain/Dry Cleaning/Cassandra Jenkins/Mdou Moctar, etc.)?’ and ended with you listening to them the rest of the year. That doesn’t mean everything came out of left field; you still had the War on Drugs, Tyler the Creator, Snail Mail, and Low stick to their guns and deliver.
Here are the 25 albums that made for the best front-to-back listens in 2021.
25. Claire Rousay – a softer focus
24. MIKE – Disco!
23. Lost Girls – Menneskekollektivet
22. Magdalena Bay – Mercurial World
21. SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE – ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH
20. Dean Blunt – Black Metal 2
19. Tyler, the Creator – CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST
18. Mach-Hommy – Pray for Haiti
17. The War on Drugs – I Don’t Live Here Anymore
16. Nala Sinephro – Space 1.8
15. Indigo De Souza – Any Shape You Take
14. Faye Webster – I Know I’m Funny haha
13. Snail Mail – Valentine
12. Japanese Breakfast – Jubilee
11. Tirzah – Colourgrade
10. Playboi Carti – Whole Lotta Red
9. Cassandra Jenkins – An Overview on Phenomenal Nature
8. Mdou Moctar – Afrique Victime
7. Dry Cleaning – New Long Leg
6. The Weather Station – Ignorance
5. Turnstile – GLOW ON
4. L’Rain – Fatigue
3. Low – HEY WHAT
2. Jazmine Sullivan – Heaux Tales
1. Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & the London Symphony Orchestra – Promises
Bitter Melodies 