Best Albums of 2018
Ranked by our critic's grades, best first.
Be the CowboyFourteen songs, most under two minutes, each one a complete life. Nothing wasted anywhere.Read the review
DaytonaTwenty one minutes, seven songs, no filler and no excuses. The argument for editing, settled.
AstroworldThe one time everything lines up: the budget, the guests, the theme park, and a host who fits the room.
Black Panther: The AlbumKendrick Lamar turned a film tie-in into a real album: fifty dark, tight minutes of TDE and friends that hold together as a record.
Kids See GhostsThe one Wyoming record that got finished, and the best argument that the short format suited him.
7They break their own formula on purpose, get louder and stranger, and make their most alive record.
FettiThirty minutes of luxurious loops and two rappers who never sound like they are trying, which is the appeal.
Drip HarderTwo voices that fit together perfectly, forty minutes, no fat. The best pure hangout record of its era.
TestingThe experimental record Rocky promised, which turned out to be more sketchbook than statement.
YeTwenty four minutes cut in Wyoming against a deadline, rough at the edges and more honest than anything around it.