Cynicism about the state of music is the dominant attitude nowadays, from music critics, journalists, older generations, random people online, etc. In many eyes, the music industry is crumbling like many predominantly-American institutions. Questions and concerns about streaming royalties, ticket prices, and record label decision-making have not only NOT been resolved but have only been magnified in a post-COVID climate where money is funneling even more to the top. The economic incentive to make music — or at least to invest in producing era-defining albums — is harder than ever to justify.

Now this is the part where I say, art persists in the harshest climates like an emperor penguin cradling an egg on its feet. Yes, that can be said when looking at the 100 albums I’ve chosen here that best represent the last five years in music, but it’s hard not to think about what albums were never made or only half-conceived because of the climate in which they were produced. What artists are expending all their energy working a 9-5 or a night shift rather than crafting what’s rattling in their heads? These questions can arise when artists like Frank Ocean and Rihanna seem to have given up on making full-length releases; or when Kanye West becomes one of the most repugnant stains in pop culture history; or when hip-hop — an exciting melting pot of innovation, Black culture, and genre experimentation for 40+ years — becomes more dully homogenized, tasteless, and rudderless in much of its popular spaces (Playboi Carti innocent).

The overarching conclusion I had when making this list was that you need an open mind and have to dig a little to find the great albums — the ones that have a distinct character, are endlessly relistenable, don’t make you wince or snooze in any way. This is not a list of the most popular, culturally-important albums of the decade — why would we need music critics if that’s the list you want? Many of these albums barely made a dent in the cultural zeitgeist and some are even ones you might be hearing about for the first time if you’re not plugged into every New Music Friday or scrolling genre charts at rateyourmusic. I implore you to listen to those albums if that’s the case and come to your own conclusions about the state of music as we enter the rest of the 2020s. There are great albums being released every year, even a classic here and there — enough great music to satiate even the most cynical of critics.

Any full-length album, EP, mixtape, DJ mix, live record, original score/soundtrack released from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2024 was considered for this list — thank you for reading!

100. SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE – ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH (2021)

The Philly psychedelic pop group excel at filling the canvas to the margins with bright clashing colors and making you question why art can’t always be this adventurous.

99. Liv.e – Girl in the Half Pearl (2023)

Maybe the most interesting new voice in alt-r&b, she found inspiration in an array of genres here from drum and bass to hypnagogic pop.

98. Hikaru Utada – BAD MODE (2022)

The most successful act in J-Pop history is mostly only known in America for her Kingdom Hearts themes, but her eclectic, smartly-crafted brand of dance-pop should translate naturally everywhere.

97. Rx Papi & Gud – Foreign Exchange (2021)

Even at less than 20 minutes, this album stands out due to the perfect mix of Rx Papi’s belligerent delivery and Gud’s soft trance beats.

96. Huerco S. – Plonk (2022)

This absolutely jittery detour from the ambient dub great latches onto any receptive listener with an ear for complex repetition and distinct synth textures.

95. Chat Pile – God’s Country (2022)

The Oklahoma City sludge metal band found an audience through an equally uncompromising onslaught of yelling, guitars, drums and social critique.

94. Ulla – Tumbling Towards a Wall (2020)

Quietly one of the best ambient artists in the 2020s, Ulla crafted an album so subtly addictive in every drowned-out thud and warbly synth.

93. Rafael Toral – Spectral Evolution (2024)

One of the biggest ‘who the hell is this?’ moments in recent times came from hearing this Portuguese ambient guitarist’s bird-call-influenced, Eno-aspiring 47-minute track that stretches to wonderfully-endearing and strange places.

92. Nubya Garcia – Source (2020)

The most successful post-Kamasi saxophonist has been Nubya Garcia who arrived fully formed on her spiritual jazz debut, inspired by an array of genres and her family history.

91. Chris Corsano & Bill Orcutt – Made Out of Sound (2021)

This brilliant guitar/drum pairing makes improv noise rock seem so natural, electrifying, and fulfilling at every turn.

90. Makaya McCraven – In These Times (2022)

As a jazz drummer, McCraven is not one to show off or explode in a solo but rather hues closer to a r&b/hip-hop producer, holding the beat down for the leads to flourish.

89. KeiyaA – Forever, Ya Girl (2020)

The only album from this r&b newcomer showed a more aesthetically-murky and adventurous way forward for neo-soul than any other artist has this decade.

88. Earl Sweatshirt & The Alchemist – Voir Dire (2023)

The greatest rapper currently working doesn’t need much for us to hang on every word, but The Alchemist’s slow soul loops is an added delight.

87. KMRU – Peel (2020)

The breakthrough album for the Kenyan drone artist is a complete sensory wash, blanketing you in an unnerving brutalist aesthetic.

86. Astrid Sonne – Great Doubt (2024)

This spacious art pop gem with ambient and trip hop influences proves that the singular genius of Mica Levi is rubbing off on the next generation.

85. Rachika Nayar – Heaven Come Crashing (2022)

The best work to come out of the NNA Tapes label is a progressive electronic delight combining glitchy synth work with occasional eruptions of drum and bass.

84. Soccer Mommy – color theory (2020)

The Nashville indie rock wunderkind has already had a full-fledged legendary career by the age of 27 with the dreamy anthems of color theory being her peak.

83. Fleet Foxes – Shore (2020)

The highs of their early work may have overshadowed for many how utterly beautiful and inviting this entire album is.

82. 100 gecs – 10,000 gecs (2023)

As hyperpop has exploded in their wake following their 2019 debut, the 100 gecs duo still manage to be more innovative and entertaining than almost all of their counterparts.

81. Lil Uzi Vert – Eternal Atake (2020)

Before he essentially forgot how to make listenable music, Uzi made strangely infectious bangers, manically-yet-melodically cramming as many words in each song as he could.

80. Chuquimamani-Condori – DJ E (2023)

The Bolivian experimental artist formerly known as Elysia Crampton manipulates, blends, and filters many Andean indigenous music styles into this blown-out peculiar world of their own creation.

79. Tirzah – Colourgrade (2021)

Thankfully, the London experimental pop artist has not strived for accessibility after breaking through with 2018’s Devotion, leaning into harsher tones and discordant vocal production.

78. Cassandra Jenkins – My Light, My Destroyer (2024)

Jenkins has become the premier tranquil philosophizing singer-songwriter of the moment with an aesthetic blend of sophisti-pop drifting and heartland rock cruising.

77. Daphni – Cherry (2022)

This Dan Snaith (Caribou) alter-ego is an exploration of tech house — intricate and jubilant in equal measure.

76. Sexyy Red – Hood Hottest Princess (2023)

Women have been at the center of party rap the whole decade with Red being the most delightfully lascivious and bearing more similarities aesthetically to crunk legends like Three 6 Mafia than her counterparts.

75. Wednesday – Twin Plagues (2021)

Maybe more retroactively appreciated since their critical breakthrough in 2023, the Asheville band’s second album is loud/quiet guitar music at its finest.

74. Tyla – TYLA (2024)

Part of a wave of young African artists bringing Afrobeats to American audiences, Tyla’s songs have lush arrangements, tight percussion and addicting melodies.

73. The 1975 – Notes on a Conditional Form (2020)

Easily the most wrongly-dismissed album of the decade, the 1975’s 80-minute epic is a genre potpourri with impeccable production and the highest highs any band has aspired to in a minute.

72. Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul – Topical Dancer (2022)

The French/Belgian duo prove that humorous and lively electropop doesn’t have to be unburdened from biting social commentary.

71. Fever Ray – Radical Romantics (2023)

Karen Dreijer becomes more transparent with each release, going from masks, impenetrable vocal distortion and dark synths to front-and-center imaging, frisky lyricism and bouncy synths.

70. Arooj Aftab – Vulture Prince (2021)

The Pakistani chamber folk singer leans on spacious, jazzy arrangements and enchanting strings to powerfully sing of grief and lost love.

69. Nala Sinephro – Space 1.8 (2021)

The UK nu jazz artist offers a meditative, futuristic suite that glides, floats and revolves as if we’re sailing through the stars.

68. Grace Ives – Janky Star (2022)

Even in a music climate that’s starting to embrace electro-pop anthems about the daily anxieties of the feminine experience, Grace Ives is still a hidden gem.

67. Bladee – Cold Visions (2024)

The Swedish cloud rap scene has surprisingly been at the center of the online hip-hop conversation with Bladee routinely depicting his woes through unique bars and hooks.

66. ANOHNI and the Johnsons – My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross (2023)

ANOHNI’s music has always been magisterial with her voice commanding your full emotional investment, but there is a vulnerability here that rivals 2005’s I Am a Bird Now.

65. Björk – Fossora (2022)

A true artist in every way, Björk finds inspiration in everything around her from the mushrooms to the bass clarinets that run through this dense art pop masterwork.

64. Kelela – Raven (2023)

Few r&b acts have ever had an aesthetic as finely-tuned as Kelela’s, where 30 seconds of her progressive synth style can immediately hook you.

63. Jane Remover – Frailty (2021)

What was immediately clear from the debut of this 18-year-old was that they had more heart and good taste than the standard digicore ilk online.

62. L’Rain – Fatigue (2021)

This hiccuping psychedelic soul hybrid remains a pleasant shock to the system at its best.

61. Jaimie Branch – Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((World War)) (2023)

We lost Branch a year before this release, but her trumpet lives and breathes all across this posthumous magnum opus.

60. HAIM – Women in Music, Pt. III (2020)

The sister trio’s third album challenges Days Are Gone for their best album and stands as an accessible expertly-crafted pop rock album more bands should aspire to.

59. Dean Blunt – BLACK METAL 2 (2021)

The baritone art pop savant finally honed in on a collection of songs that are welcoming and unconventional in equal measure.

58. Alex G – God Save the Animals (2022)

With each new album, Alex G converts a few more to his DIY folksy slacker aesthetic with this one featuring some of his warmest melodies and least confrontational instrumentations.

57. Mdou Moctar – Afrique Victime (2021)

Possibly the best guitar music to come in the last five years came from this Niger quartet who specializes in a bluesy acid rock that would tour the countryside in the early ’70s.

56. Yaya Bey – Remember Your North Star (2022)

Solange’s A Seat at the Table is a critical text for 2020s r&b with Yaya Bey’s breezy breakthrough being its closest disciple.

55. Mabe Fratti – Sentir Que No Sabes (2024)

The Guatemalan art pop composer has consistently released fascinating cello-centric albums the entire decade, and her most recent felt like a true culmination of all her talents.

54. Amaarae – THE ANGEL YOU DON’T KNOW (2020)

Any listener that came across this unknown alt-r&b artist in 2020 immediately became a life-long fan of the high-pitched singer’s repertoire.

53. Asake – Mr. Money With the Vibe (2022)

This modern-day Afropiano classic released to little fanfare, but its pure and pleasant danceable vibes have converted any curious listener in its wake.

52. Mach-Hommy – Pray for Haiti (2021)

The Haitian-New Jerseyan rapper was a welcome voluble, shit-talking, dusty-beat-loving respite from much of the doldrums of 2020s hip-hop.

51. Dua Lipa – Future Nostalgia (2020)

Dua Lipa’s deserving rocket-blast of a rise came from arguably the most iconic dance pop album of the decade, bringing digestible house beats to the masses.

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