Enough has been said about everything that 2020 brought and took away from our lives. One of the places where the year excelled the most came in the amount of good music it gave us. Even as everything seemed to shatter around us, top notch albums from all types of scenes kept me going.
Writing about my top records each year is always a weird task. I constantly second-guess how my picks line up or completely diverge from what the critics and my friends with similar taste have to say. It’s always an exercise to trust in myself and my personal listening habits from the past year.
If nothing else, these lists are litmus tests for albums that will stand the test of time in my rotation. However, crafting this list made it clear to me that dozens of records from this year will hover in my orbit for years to come. I tossed in my top songs of the year too, just in case you’re interested.
Honorable Mentions
Fiona Apple – Fetch the Bolt Cutters
Dogleg – Melee
Dua Lipa – Future Nostalgia
Fontaines D.C – A Hero’s Death
Jeff Rosenstock – NO DREAM
Megan Thee Stallion – Good News
Bruce Springsteen – Letter to You
Tame Impala – The Slow Rush
The 1975 – Notes on a Conditional Form
Waxahatchee – Saint Cloud
10. Fleet Foxes – Shore
Fleet Foxes fully embraced who they are by releasing Shore on the day of the fall equinox. In a year that forced us to reflect on our humanity more than some of us ever had, Shore continues Pecknold’s tradition of creating dense, layered folk sounds that stand tall on their own, making Shore the touching tribute to living that it is from start to finish.
Maybe this album stuck with me because of its timing. This record was the soundtrack to my fall, capturing the shortening days as the New England leaves changed all around me. Seasonal bias aside, Shore toys with living, memory, and nostalgia in a way that felt all too relevant in a year where many have lost and been challenged by so much.
9. Charli XCX – How I’m Feeling Now
How I’m Feeling Now was one of the first “quarantine” records released this year. Charli XCX’s frenetic sound already embodies the digital age like nothing else, but this record captured the claustrophbia that came with this year on top of it, oscillating between our distance from loved ones to the longing need for the parties and anthems that elude us with COVID.
Charli XCX has grown alongside me since her big break in 2014. The expansive sounds and features of Charli last year mirrored the massive moves I made by graduating from college and moving to Detroit. Less than a year later, How I’m Feeling Now represented a shared return to roots, with a sound focused on the essentials when all else fell by the wayside.
8. Run the Jewels – RTJ4
The fourth full-length from Run the Jewels packed an even bigger punch than any of us could have expected. Released in the early days of America’s race revolution, RTJ4 packs a dense dose of fervent anthems that accidentally soundtracked a moment the duo did not plan. The timing is just one piece of the puzzle, as the output speaks volumes on its own.
It may be hard to properly assess this record because of just how on-the-nose it seemed to be given the type of year 2020 has been. But, the duo’s production, chemistry, and lyrical potency carried the same weight of its predecessors, and then some. RTJ4 plays with all the same tricks that have earned the duo their cult status, and that alone is worth giving due credit.
7. Machine Gun Kelly – Tickets to My Downfall
The pop punk records I constantly had on loop through middle school and high school have some qualities that even my top records each year fail to fully replicate. Tickets to My Downfall captures that combination of new exposure, hormones, and faux nostalgia that made pop punk so unabashedly fun and addicting for so many folks around my age.
If nothing else, I should hold any of my favorites records to the same standard of pure fun that I attach to this brand of pop punk. This record and its deluxe edition capture an easily digestable pop punk sound that the scene has consciously moved on from (which is okay). What we get is an intoxicating sugar rush that surprised me in 2020.
6. Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher
Phoebe Bridgers rightfully earned a breakout moment with Punisher. The leap from her debut is hard to miss, balancing high energy catharsis with quieter introspection that was hard to ignore in a year that hurt so many. Even aside from the timely palette, Bridgers shows a command of sound that feels so natural it can be hard to really wrap your head around it.
I definitely took Punisher for granted this year. It was surreal to see all my friends latching onto a sound that defined my years in college radio this year. My listens carried weight each time, but part of me downplayed what the record offered because I was so familiar with this palette. Even so, in time, this record’s execution stood out in ways few others could.
5. Taylor Swift – evermore
We are still processing the deja vu that came with Taylor Swift’s second surprise record of 2020, but the impact of what we got is already clear. The slightly more experimental and mellow sister to folklore quickly affirmed to us that Swift’s “alternative” era was no fluke. Her command is as compelling as it is on folklore, but shows itself in even more distinct ways.
I know myself well enough to know that Taylor Swift’s catalog will be a significant part of my rotation for the rest of my life. This record may only be a few days old at this point, but it’s incredibly clear that evermore has all the same trappings that have made Swift’s past records some one of the most important of the century. I’m biased, but I have to stay true to me.
4. Taylor Swift – folklore
I didn’t think I had the audacity to put both Taylor Swift records back-to-back here. The first of Swift’s two surprises this year threw many for a loop, with folklore launching the “alternative” phase of her career with more even confidence than her leap from country to pop. It is hard to believe that this record came together in mere months, but we are lucky it did.
I thought about combining folklore and evermore under one roof for this post, but the subtle differences between these records feel strong enough to separate here. There is a distinct solace that comes with Swift’s more intentional pop-leanings on this record compared to its slightly moodier sister, but both shined bright lights in my life almost immediately.
3. The Chicks – Gaslighter
Gaslighter plays with love, loss, and moving on with major grace. The pairing of The Chicks and Jack Antonoff works so beautifully throughout the record, a combination that balances anthems like the title track with more somber affairs in a very natural way. It is frequently beautiful, cathartic, and funny, a potent mix from such an inherently excellent trio.
This record, like most on this list, cemented its impact in just a few listens. The Chicks build upon the intimacy of their feature on “Soon You’ll Get Better” to create such a welcoming space to share their whole selves on Gaslighter. I’m glad that my parents didn’t burn the trio’s CD during the Iraq War, because I would’ve hated missing out on this record.
2. Bad Bunny – YHLQMDLG
It is no secret that Bad Bunny had himself a year. The first of his three records this year was a masterclass that was as infectious as it was a showcase of Bad Bunny’s eclectic strengths as a songwriter. The overdue crossover smash of YHLQMDLG tells us a lot about what we can expect in the exciting decade of pop music that is on the horizon.
I found myself adddicted to these 20 tracks this year, with each one finding ways to quickly shift in a party-ready mood within seconds. I have no doubt that the clout of this record and the excellent El Ultimo Tour Del Mundo will sustain itself to the next-level world tour we will see once it is safe to see such a production come together.
1. HAIM – Women in Music, Pt. III
HAIM really freaked it on this one. HAIM was a band known for doing a small list of things really well, and blew that palette out of the water on this record. The seamless blend of modern influences on Women in Music, Pt. III feel timeless at the same time, crafting a record built for pensive afternoons, reckless nights, and everything in-between.
Women in Music, Pt. III passed the only real test that matters when I build out my end-of-the-year list. This album snuck its way into almost every part of my year, with a mix of songs that latched onto late nights, summer sunsets, and the parties I never got to have this year. HAIM made a relentlessly easy record to listen and love even more with each listen.
