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.


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25. Claire Rousay – a softer focus 


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24. MIKE – Disco! 


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23. Lost Girls – Menneskekollektivet 


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22. Magdalena Bay – Mercurial World 


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21. SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE – ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH 


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20. Dean Blunt – Black Metal 2 


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19. Tyler, the Creator – CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST 


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18. Mach-Hommy – Pray for Haiti 


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17. The War on Drugs – I Don’t Live Here Anymore 


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16. Nala Sinephro – Space 1.8 


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15. Indigo De Souza – Any Shape You Take


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14. Faye Webster – I Know I’m Funny haha 


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13. Snail Mail – Valentine 


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12. Japanese Breakfast – Jubilee 


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11. Tirzah – Colourgrade 


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10. Playboi Carti – Whole Lotta Red 


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9. Cassandra Jenkins – An Overview on Phenomenal Nature 


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8. Mdou Moctar – Afrique Victime 


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7. Dry Cleaning – New Long Leg 


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6. The Weather Station – Ignorance 


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5. Turnstile – GLOW ON 


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4. L’Rain – Fatigue 


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3. Low – HEY WHAT


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2. Jazmine Sullivan – Heaux Tales 


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1. Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & the London Symphony Orchestra – Promises