We’re almost halfway through the decade, and it’s time to start digging deep into the past few years and decide what the best music of the 2020s has been so far. Later this year, there will be a ranked list of at least the 100 best albums and 200 best songs of the 2020s so far. In that process, I’ll revisit, relisten, and discover the best work year-by-year, artist-by-artist and come to the best conclusion I feel I can. To let you all into that process, I’ll be sharing unranked shortlists of the best albums from each year. I hope you listen to these along with me and think about what your favorites of the decade are so far. I’ve settled on having around 50 albums for each shortlist. The albums are listed in alphabetical order by artist.
First up is 2020. Looking back, this was a great year in music with some contentious albums to debate over. I certainly learned to love a few of these more in my relistens. My list of the 40 Best Albums of 2020 at the time has a lot of overlap, but a few from that list don’t even make the cut now.
100 gecs – 1000 gecs and the Tree of Clues
The 1975 – Notes on a Conditional Form
Adrianne Lenker – Songs
Amaarae – THE ANGEL YOU DON’T KNOW
Ana Roxanne – Because of a Flower
Armand Hammer – Shrines
Bad Bunny – YHLQMDLG
Bartees Strange – Live Forever
Bbymutha – Muthaland
Beatrice Dillon – Workaround
Bob Dylan – Rough and Rowdy Ways
Caribou – Suddenly
Charli XCX – How I’m Feeling Now
Chloe x Halle – Ungodly Hour
DEHD – Flower of Devotion
Destroyer – Have We Met
DJ Python – Mas Amable
Dogleg – Melee
Dua Lipa – Future Nostalgia
Duma – Duma
Duval Timothy – Help
Fiona Apple – Fetch the Bolt Cutters
Fleet Foxes – Shore
Flo Milli – Ho, Why Is You Here?
Freddie Gibbs & the Alchemist – Alfredo
Haim – Women in Music Pt. III
Jeff Parker – Suite for Max Brown
Jessie Ware – What’s Your Pleasure?
Kate NV – Room for the Moon
KeiyaA – Forever, Ya Girl
Kelly Lee Owens – Inner Song
Lianne La Havas – Lianne La Havas
Lil Uzi Vert – Eternal Atake
Mary Lattimore – Silver Ladders
The Microphones – Microphones in 2020
Moodymann – Taken Away
Moses Sumney – græ
Nubya Garcia – Source
Perfume Genius – Set My Heart on Fire Immediately
Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher
Playboi Carti – Whole Lotta Red
Porridge Radio – Every Bad
Run the Jewels – RTJ4
Soccer Mommy – Color Theory
The Soft Pink Truth – Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increase?
Special Interest – The Passion Of
Taylor Swift – Folklore
Ulla – Tumbling Towards a Wall
Waxahatchee – Saint Cloud
Yves Tumor – Heaven to a Tortured Mind
Bitter Melodies 