According to Apple Music, I listened to 2,735 artists, 10,112 songs, and 381 albums this year. This equaled out to over 100,000 minutes of music. So, when it came time to narrow down a list of the Top 12, it took me quite a while. The biggest problem was that the more I thought about the best songs of the year, the more I realized that they were not in the best albums of the year. Artists like Sabrina Carpenter, Dua Lipa, Post Malone, and even Taylor Swift had some of the best songs of the year. So, their albums went in and out of this list. Yet, in the end, they just weren’t quite good enough as an album. Plus, I decided I wanted to shine a light on a few lesser known artists. So, without further ado, here are my picks for the 12 Best Albums of 2024!
12. Mdou Moctar, Funeral for Justice
This is one of those albums that I just keep coming back to every couple months when I want to get in a good mood. One song is busting an Arabic Khaliji sound and then the next is more like Jimi Hendrix in his prime. There is never a dull moment here. If you enjoy guitar solos and the percussion of East Africa then you are going to dig this album. I’m a huge Jimi Hendrix fan. So, my favorite track has to be “Imouhar”.
11. Tyla, Self-Entitled
When Tyla won the Grammy for Best African Music Performance the western world opened their ears a bit wider. With the release of her first album, their is no denying she is quite the talent. She perfectly blends the sounds of amapiano music with the type of modern pop that listeners have come to love. What this leads to is an album that is easily accessible for any pop audience, but unique enough that it feels like you are discovering something new. My favorite track is “Truth or Dare”.
10. Fabiana Palladino, Self-Entitled
This was the last album that I discovered in 2024 and I cannot stop listening to it. The vibe is largely reminiscent of great 80’s artists like Paula Abdul or Kate Bush. Yet, there is something decisively modern about these tracks. Honestly, every time I put this album on it just ends up playing over and over. It all just flows so well together. Yet, if I had to pick a favorite track I would have to go with “Stay with Me Through the Night”. If you dig that track then you are going to love this album.
9. Charlie XCX, Brat
I actually went back and forth between this album, Sabrina Carpenter, and Taylor Swift so many time that I thought I was going to lost my mind. They all have tracks on them that were so synonymous with 2024 that it seems crazy to have a list without them. Yet, the more I listened to each album I felt that this one had the most unique voice. Yes, it has some of the catchiest dance tracks in years, but there are also moments in songs like “Everything is romantic” that just sound like nothing else in pop music today! Still, my favorite on here is “Von Dutch”. It is just the most Brat song on this album.
8. Vampire Weekend, Only God Was Above Us
The lyrics across this album are so much more full of hope than much of their past work. They sound like a group who has grown up writing about the shit in the world around them and have decided that the gas is in-fact half full. I came down in a similar manner this year. There is a lot of rough stuff going on in my life, but there is also so much joy. Holding on to the injustice and negativity is no way to live. Which is why I have decided to just let some of the nonsense go. The final track on this album is titled “Hope” and it sums up this sentiment perfectly.
7. Kacey Musgraves, Deeper Well
The first time I listened to Kacey Musgraves latest album I certainly thought it was better than her last, but it mostly got lost in the background. Then I came back to it again and again all year long. This might actually be the only new album that I listened to all the way through every month since it came out. The lyrics are so self reflective and ponderous. I honestly think that just about anyone could relate her words. And the whole things just gets better and better each time I listen to it. There are several tracks that I really love on here, but ” The Architect” is the one that shines above them all.
6. Jelly Roll, Beautifully Broken
I have to be totally honest. When I first saw Jelly Roll I thought very little. I thought his name was terrible and his whole look just rubbed me the wrong way. Then I caught him performing a few times and could not help being wowed by his voice. So, I checked him out on SNL and really liked it a lot. This guy wasn’t selling bad habits. He was singing about acceptance of his addictions and fighting to become a better man. And he was doing it on some of the catchiest tracks of 2024! Despite the fact that this album has over 20 good tracks, it is the first one that is the best one. So, just press play and if you like “Winning Streak” then you are going to like this whole album.
5. Waxahatchee, Tigers Blood
I have discovered in the last couple years that I love folk music. I’m finally warming up to country music, but folk music is easily one of my favorite genres. It is not filled with a lot of memorable instrumentation or beautiful ballads. Nobody is going to argue that artist’s like Waxhatchee are unforgettable singers, but she is an amazing songwriter. She articulates moving on from addiction, bad relationships, and friends who were holding her back. These songs read like a woman who is writing her next chapter and the challenges of moving on with life. Yet, it is almost always upbeat and a fun ride. When it does slow down a bit, you get ” Rich Back To It”. Which is my favorite song on the album.
4. Bring Me The Horizon, POST HUMAN: NeX GEn
You’d be surprised to learn from my yearly picks that metal is one of my favorite genres by a mile. There is just so much garbage metal out there that it seems like it has been taken over by a bunch of folks who think screaming is something anyone can do. I hear an awesome riff for a few seconds and then these modern metal artists open their mouths and ruin it. Bring Me The Horizon used to be one of these bands, but over the last decade they have combined their metal roots with some of the catchiest pop riffs ever committed to heavy rock music.
POST HUMAN: NeX GEn is like Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream album for headbangers. Almost every track on this album is a certified pop metal hit and it will leave you jamming over and over. The perfect example of this is “Top 10 StaTues tHat CriEd bloOd”.
3. Linkin Park, From Zero
This album was my favorite surprise of 2024! Linkin Park is one of the best rock acts of the last 30 years and the last remnant of the Nu Metal I grew up on. I truly thought that I would never get the opportunity to see them live after Chester Bennington’s tragic suicide in 2017, but Mike Shinoda surprised the world this year when he introduced Emily Armstrong as their new lead singer. The moment she walked on stage to sing ” The Emptiness Machine” for the first time was one of the greatest musical introductions of the last decade.
It was clear from that moment that she was going to be the most talked about person in the rock world for some time. Some of that talk was negative, but I am 110% behind her and happily saw her shred it her in Dallas last month. Linkin Park is back! And ” The Emptiness Machine” is one of the best songs they have ever released.
2. Beyonce, Cowboy Carter
I have never had a Beyonce album on one of my lists. In fact, I don’t think I have ever even got all the way through a Beyonce album until this one. I have watched her live, seen documentaries about her, and listened to plenty of her songs. I just have never sat through an album that I enjoyed enough to listen to every track. Then Cowboy Carter came out and I listened to it 7 times in the first day. Not every song on here is great, but there are so many great tracks and covers on this album that it’s impossible to harp on the few weak spots. This is a 27 track master work by one of the greatest artists to ever pick up a microphone and she is doing it across genres. Despite the plethora of hit tracks on here, the song that sticks most with me is ” Protector”.
1. Billie Eilish, Hit Me Hard and Soft
Is there anything this young woman can do that will not just be gold. Everything she does just gets better and better. Her music gets deeper every time she puts something out and she seems to be honing her skills in a way that so few artists do. It helps that her brother is just as equally talented and his instrumentation on this album weaves a thread that is akin to a great film score. There is gorgeous orchestral instrumentation coupled with funky beats and even dance sounds that seem to come out of left field. This album manages to balance steady tonal shifts with varying styles like its just second nature. And this does not even take into account how catchy some of these songs are. How do you experiment like this and still spit out so many catchy songs on a 10 track album.
It should be clear to anyone at this point that Billie Eilish is a once in a generation artist and that Finneas might end up being one of the greatest songwriters of the 21st century. Only time will tell, but if they keep writing songs like “Birds of a Feather” then the world better hold its breath.
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