Best Albums of 2021
Ranked by our critic's grades, best first.
DondaNearly two hours, three stadium listening parties, and maybe forty minutes of a very good album inside it.Read the review
Call Me If You Get LostA Gangsta Grillz tape made by a man with a passport and a boat, and the best pure rapping of his life.
King's Disease IIThe sequel is where the partnership clicks, darker and tighter, with nothing on it going to waste.
MagicNine tracks dropped on Christmas Eve, lean and cold and built for people who only want the rapping.
Untourable AlbumMade when nobody could play live, and it is the most focused thing they have released.
SourA breakup diary with a pop punk engine: the lyrics are sharp enough to cut, and the sound wears its influences a little too openly.
SlingSeventies soft rock recorded upstate with a famous producer, beautifully made and just a little sleepy.
The Melodic BlueBrilliant sound design and restless structure from someone still deciding what he wants to say.
30Her best writing by some distance, on an album almost nobody puts on for pleasure.
Love for SaleA Cole Porter set recorded as a farewell, and the circumstances give it a weight the music alone would not have.