The 10 Best Albums of 2024

Music is in a truly fascinating state right now. Some of the biggest names in pop music are once-niche bubblegum-bass pioneer Charli XCX, theatrical lesbian Chappell Roan, constantly evolving enigma Billie Eilish, and child star-turned-superstar Sabrina Carpenter. Some of the biggest hits this year were a Drake diss track and the return of legends Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars. Outside of the few absolute stinkers this year (looking at you, Benson Boone), the year-end chart is almost entirely composed of phenomenal songs. 

And yet, the undeniable earworms that have been released this year are far from the best of the year. Yes, you could make a fantastic top 10 list solely from the most popular albums of the year. But you could make an even better one composed of all the smaller albums that dominated critics spaces. Music is at an all-time high at the moment, so these are the ten best of the best albums released during this year.

Faye Webster is in a fascinating place genre-wise. She rose to prominence as the new indie girl, but her sound is so much deeper than the generic TikTok indie noise we’ve been hearing these days. She’s a little bit country, a little bit jazz, a little bit rock, and with her newest project Underdressed at the Symphony, she’s also a little bit hip hop!

Faye is a gorgeous singer with a unique voice that lends itself to any genre she tries. Her ear for producing alongside Dan Vandenberg) remains golden. The Atlanta-born musician takes a new turn on her 5th album, allowing herself to be a little riskier. She even brings on Lil Yachty for a song about Legos of all things! Her songs are longer and feature somewhat simple and repetitive lyrics, but the meanings she instills in her songs largely come from the instrumental vibe she cultivates. It’s clear she’s trying to take a step away from the indie singer-songwriter tropes that have become so hackneyed and instead create something uniquely her own. Even her weakest songs lyrically bring something interesting to the table by taking a page from country instrumentation and featuring heavy strings.

The album is a little under 40 minutes but really has it all. It has so many standouts that succeed for a wide variety of reasons. The title track is similar to her older work in its melancholic lyricism. “Lego Ring” makes the most of her lifelong friendship with fellow Atlanta native Lil Yachty. “But Not Kiss” has a piano hook so memorable you can’t stop repeating it and the live Minion-themed version subsequently. “He Loves Me Yeah!” is just plain fun. 

Best Track: “Thinking About You”

Wunderhorse came to me by way of Twitter. I always have a fair bit of skepticism when I see a band develop its hype through the internet, but Wunderhose deserves every bit of attention it is getting and more. It has developed an ever-growing fanbase following opening runs for both Fontaines D.C. and Sam Fender, with many hailing them as the future of British alternative rock. I don’t disagree. There are a lot of bands out there trying to become the next Arctic Monkeys or Wallows, but not Wunderhose. Instead, they develop their own sound in a way that is akin to finding their own footing while simultaneously already knowing the path they are carving out for themselves. Midas takes their sound from a wistful indie rock to a roaring alternative sound that feels like both the future of music and its past. While I’m partial to their debut, Cub, Midas is a worthy successor by all means. Lead singer Jacob Slater has found out how to make all parts of his work heavy, from lyrics to instrumentals. With bandmates Harry Fowler (guitar), Peter Woodin (bass), and Jamie Staples (drums), they together create a loaded atmosphere you would be loath to find anywhere else. And while Midas is one of the best albums of the year, more than anything, it makes me excited for the band’s work to come and for the implications it has in one of the most interesting music scenes.

Best Track: “Silver”

Speaking of that particular scene… 

Grian Chatten may be the best modern frontman working right now. Everything about Fontaines’s music is great, but it is Chatten’s raw presence that elevates them to being one of the best bands in recent years.

Hailing from Dublin, Ireland, Fontaines D.C. is rising as the defining post-punk band of their generation. If Grammy-nominated album A Hero's Death solidified them as a band to be watching, and Skinty Fia solidified them as the band to be watching, then multiple-Grammy-nominated album Romance has solidified their status as a band whose rise I would regret missing if I had not already been there.

The sequential release of the first two singles, “Starburster” and “Favourite” was perhaps the best time to be a Fontaines fan. Yes, we knew they were good, but it was nonetheless a surprise to realize that this band we loved was now making all-timer material here. The singles have kept their place as two of the most memorable songs of the year, with “Starburster” as the angry scream-along anthem we all needed and “Favourite” as perhaps the most cherished song of the year. The rest of the album doesn’t quite meet those highs, even if every track is great and a handful (“Bug”, “Sundowner”, “Death Kink”) are exceptional. Alas, it is hard to match the quality of two of the best songs of the decade so far. Romance is an exceptional run from Fontaines that improves on every listen.

Best Track: “Favourite”

Mk.gee is the stage name of 28 year old New Jersey born Michael Gordon. I say this because this is a name you will need to remember, as he is about to be everywhere. Since releasing Two Star, it has already been announced that he is working on Justin Bieber’s next project, and everyone from Matty Healy to Travis Scott to Fred Again to Eric Clapton has already cited him as either an inspiration or one of the most exciting musicians right now.

Two Star and the Dream Police is his first true album, following his 2020 mixtape, and it sees him and producer Dijon take on a fresh lo-fi and R&B-flavored bedroom pop sound. Gordon’s guitar hooks are simple, yet he’s so careful with the sounds he puts into it. Meanwhile, his vocals are uniquely perfect for the sound he’s created. He creates simple yet thoughtful lyrics — even creating an entire new word, “Rylee”, to use instead of a traditional “baby” because he loves his girlfriend so much — and his entire sound is produced to send the listener into a dreamlike state. 

Oh, and “Alesis” is the song of the year. 

Best Track: “Alesis”

It hurt me to put this as low as it is, but I truly believe that any album from here on out would be #1 in any other year. It just so happens that we are in a beyond stacked year for music.

I have been rooting for Magdalena Bay since before their first album. I knew they had it in them to become the next big artist for music fans on my first listen to each Mini Mix. And, just like with Chappell Roan, I called it! Their latest release Imaginal Disk became the undisputed winner of the internet’s album of the year. Though it frustrated me slightly that all of these people started claiming to be the biggest fans ever despite not listening to any of their other work (especially their debut album, as “You Lose!” is just the most perfect song ever), I was beyond thrilled for their reception. 

Making unique pop music in this world is hard, as it seems like everything is a sample of a sample or outright stolen from the 80s. But Magdalena Bay has fought against that by doing something unheard of in this day of age: make a phenomenal pure pop album. There’s no denying it either; you can call it an experimental pop album or even a pop epic, but above all else, it really just is great pop music. From infectious sounds, great vibes, and even great visuals, this album has it all. Imaginal Disk feels like a project meant to be listened to in order at all times, that every song builds into the other to create a feeling of victory at the end. 

Best Track: “Cry for Me”

Being an angel pre-brat was just waiting for her mainstream crossover. We thought it would finally be “Good Ones”, or really any track from Crash, but that never happened. We were obviously hopeful about brat, but didn’t expect it. It sometimes felt like Charli would always be a major piece of Music Twitter and gay culture, but never again become the it girl of the moment.

We all know what happened next. “Brat summer” was inescapable whether you liked it or not. Everything was lime green and about bumpin’ that. She finally got her moment, and brat is the perfect album to cement Charli’s name alongside the main pop girls.

There are two sides to brat: one about being a 365 partygirl and the other about female existential crisis. Both sides are equally compelling. After all, there’s no way to listen to Club classics or Von dutch without wanting to be at one of Charli’s Boiler Room sets or a dingy house party. But there’s also a vulnerable side to the album, with songs about comparing yourself to other women obsessively and worrying about the future of your career. The two themes work perfectly together, because on a night out you’re inevitably going to end up drunk crying over your future or panicking about a girl you went to high school with. This is the human experience, highs and lows galore, and Charli successfully captured that with this addictive album.

If the success of brat wasn’t enough, Charli doubled down on it with a remix album featuring quite literally every legend of the year. She got Robyn and Yung Lean on the same track. She got The 1975 and Julian Casablancas on the same album after they notoriously fought on social media last year! What can’t Charli do? brat and it’s completely different but also still brat has features from Troye Sivan, Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, Bon Iver, and even more, but it never feels forced. It’s a remix album of artists interpreting her songs in a way that feels meaningful to them, with some even improving the original tracks. There is not a pop culture moment this year more iconic and impactful than Charli and Lorde working out their differences on their remix of “Girl so confusing”.

Best Track: “Sympathy is a knife”/“The girl so confusing remix with lorde”

There are truly no words to encapsulate what an extraordinary album Geordie Greep has made. Some interpretations describe it as a concept project about a man who falls in love with a prostitute who gives him an STD and then makes him go insane. Greep himself says it is inspired by the horrific stories he’d hear men casually tell at bars. If that all sounds crazy, it is, but The New Sound is ambitious and technically perfect in a way that you rarely see.

The lyrics and story are abrasive and shocking at times, though also somewhat funny at others. He’s blunt, using the word “balls” and the phrase “your pussy is holy” a few too many times, but not to the point it becomes unnecessary. Really, Greep is reflecting on authentic disgustingness he has heard before in a way that shows the humanity behind it too. It is a fascinating concept that’s done in a way that never becomes insensitive. It is just brilliant.

But outside of the concept and the lyrics, this is sonically a masterpiece. Just in the opening 10 seconds of the first track, “Blues”, you get a sense for Greep’s unimaginable gift on the guitar. He’s doing things both musically and lyrically that most people would never dare to with no hesitation and total mastery of the artform. This is a busy album with no quiet moment (outside of the oddly serene closing cover of a Frank Sinatra song), but every moment shows an attention to detail that made Greep’s old band Black Midi a critical favorite and his new album The New Sound quite literally a new sound.

Best Track: “Walk Up”

As a Clairo stan through and through, maybe I’m biased! But is there any artist as sonically lovely as her working? Not really. She has left the bedroom pop style that made her a Tumblr darling and has moved on to create a sultry, jazz-inspired, soft rock album. 

Charm is aptly titled, as above all else, it is charming. You can add sexy, soft, and lovely to the list of best-suited adjectives for this album. She invites a woodwind section onto her songs that adds a layer of delicacy and almost a vintage feel to the tracks. Clairo and producer Leon Michels take the listener back to the 70’s with a warm energy that makes you want to both dance and curl up under a warm blanket. 

After expressing her anxiety about fame in her second album, Sling, it’s nice to see Clairo comfortable in her own skin. She commands the album with a soft but firm presence, guiding every song through with beautiful piano playing and even sillier bits like the mouth trumpet portion on “Juna”. Charm is the album of a woman who knows she is perfect and has thus made a perfect work of art.

Best Track: “Slow Dance”

This is the best-produced album of the year. Every listen of the Gen-Z icon’s third album allows you to discover something new to love in the layers of production. Billie and her brother Finneas have layered every vocal, created every synth loop, and added every instrument in a way that you can fully sink your teeth into without ever getting the full bite. 

What Eilish has proved on her third record is that she is an ever growing artist that is always maturing and trying new sounds. Made fun of her whisper singing? Too bad, she now has tracks like “THE GREATEST” or “WILDFLOWER” have her belting in a way that adds “Vocalist of her Generation” to her stacked list of achievements alongside “Lyricist of her Generation” and “Artist of her Generation.” 

There’s not a dull moment on HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, with a quiet and introspective intro song that takes you into a electro pop song about lesbian sex before thrusting you into a two-parter song that starts as an ethereal pop dream and then includes elements of electronica. No element is lacking here; if you want brilliantly heartbreaking lyrics listen to “WILDFLOWER” and if you want incredible production listen to “BITTERSUITE”. She never does the same thing twice and she does not need to. This is Billie Eilish, and her entire career is made on being purely herself and doing whatever she wants with her music. Listening to any track on this album makes you perfectly understand why she has gotten this big. There is nothing here to not adore.

Best Track: “CHIHIRO”

I’m from the South, so no genre of music is as embedded into my body as country music. Hailing from North Carolina, Lenderman has made an album that simultaneously feels like the music I grew up with and the music I love now. MJ Lenderman is not revelatory by any means, despite what people with no connection to the South will make you believe. However, as I listen to his music, I cannot shake the feeling that I am hearing someone who will one day become one of the greats.

Manning Fireworks, above all for me, made me feel like I was home. He throws out little quips about both adolescence and life in the South that, combined with the style, has become a defining album for my music taste. I am a country girl who loves rock music, and it seems that Lenderman is the same.

What makes Manning Fireworks the album it is is the sense of youthfulness and humor found in its lyrics. I could make an entire essay solely from the best lyrics on this album, the ones that make me think of home the most, and the lines that make me laugh. He invented the phrases “DUI scooter” and “Himbodome”. He wrote a mid-life crisis anthem at the age of 24. This is a man who is looking at the world around him and making blunt observations that happen to be rather funny yet almost uncomfortably real. Because yes, there is something incredibly lonely about a smartwatch the more you think about it! 

Manning Fireworks is an album about being young in the South, with little pieces of life that make a bigger picture. Seeing someone open the Bible to the very first page in a public place isn’t that noteworthy in the grand scheme of things, but it’s a small detail that makes the surrounding world of the South as distinct as it is. Manning Fireworks is not monumental, but it is special, authentically MJ Lenderman, and authentically southern. It is a perfect album about the imperfections of life and the little humors that come alongside it. 

Best Track: “She’s Leaving You”