Top albums of 2024 in my very correct and professional opinion

And some other music things!

I listened to an unreasonable amount of music this year—particularly new music from artists I’d never heard of, or had heard of but didn’t get into until this year. I easily listened to more music than I have in my entire life, but especially in the last few years — I experienced some hardcore music burnout in 2022 and 2023 that made me unable to listen to anything outside of a few comfort records, for the most part, but I lifted myself out of it toward the end of 2023 and sailed into 2024 with a rejuvenated love of music and a desire to listen (and discover) constantly. Here are the ones that stood out to me the most this year:

10. Doechii - Alligator Bites Never Heal
    Favorite tracks: SLIDE, NISSAN ALTIMA, CATFISH

This was a late addition to my list, but it snuck in at the very last minute. I had listened to Doechii casually but her NPR Tiny Desk launched me into full-blown fandom, and thank god it did because I have barely listened to anything except this for weeks now.

9. Gillian Welch & David Rawlings - Woodland
   Favorite tracks: North Country, Here Stands A Woman

Gillian + David can do no wrong. This album fixed me, broke me, and fixed me again.

8. Jack White - No Name
   Favorite tracks: Bless Yourself, Tonight (Was A Long Time Ago), Missionary

Another album that made a casual fan a full fan. I listened to this nonstop for the first few weeks it was out, and I saw Jack White for the first time at Basement East earlier this year.

7. Bleachers - Bleachers
   Favorite tracks: I Am Right On Time, Self Respect, Ordinary Heaven

One of my favorite bands forever. I love nearly every song on this album, but there are a few songs that feel like a punch in the gut, like “Self Respect” and “Ordinary Heaven.” Hearing these live at The Ryman earlier this year was very important to me.

6. Fontaines D.C. - Romance
   Favorite tracks: Here’s The Thing, Starburster, Bug, Favourite

Perfect album front to back. One of those that I would regularly put on and listen to in order over and over again.

5. IDLES - TANGK
   Favorite tracks: POP POP POP, Gift Horse, Hall & Oates

I listened to Gift Horse and POP POP POP approximately 1 million times each this year.

4. Magdalena Bay - Imaginal Disk
   Favorite tracks: Image, Death & Romance, Tunnel Vision

I was late to the Magdalena Bay party (and still haven’t listened to a lot of their older stuff), but the first time I heard “Image” I felt like I was floating out of my body. This album is a masterpiece.

3. Mannequin Pussy - I Got Heaven
   Favorite tracks: Loud Bark, I Got Heaven, Nothing Like, OK? OK! OK? OK!

This is a perfect band and I Got Heaven is a perfect album. I listened to “Loud Bark” on repeat for days on end. No notes.

2. Charli xcx - Brat and it’s completely different but it’s also still brat
   Favorite tracks: I think about it all the time featuring bon iver, Guess featuring billie eilish, Girl, so confusing featuring lorde, Sympathy is a knife featuring ariana grande, 365, Apple, Von dutch

I’m just like every other bitch, except I’m a bitch who has listened to Charli xcx for over a decade now and I have an extreme superiority complex about it. There are so many incredible songs on Brat, it’s a truly beautiful album, but the cultural moment it had — seeing Charli finally get the flowers she’s deserved for years — was unmatched.

1. Clairo - Charm
   Favorite tracks: Second Nature, Slow Dance, Juna

I wrote about this album for work, so I’ll just repost that here (from this article):

The charm of Clairo’s Charm, her third full-length effort, lies in its intimate lyricism paired with fluttering jazz and funk-inspired instrumentation. Each song tells its own story about love in all its forms: she takes a microscope to longing on “Juna,” she zeroes in on desire in “Second Nature,” she calls out uncertainty in a lover on “Slow Dance.” Charm sounds like Broadcast meets Erykah Badu and Carole King, with sparkling production courtesy of soul and funk giant Leon Michels, who tracked the album live to tape using a fully analog recording process. The result is a warm and sensually confident body of work that embraces an uninhibited approach to womanhood, and in it Clairo proves that she is absolutely right: the third time is the charm.

Here’s a playlist of all of these albums, in order:

Honorable album mentions (other albums I loved but didn’t quite make the top 10, in no particular order):
Amyl and the Sniffers - Cartoon Darkness
Taylor Swift - THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT: THE ANTHOLOGY
Gustaf - Package Pt. 2
Madi Diaz - Weird Faith
MJ Lenderman - Manning Fireworks
The Dare - What’s Wrong With New York?
Orla Gartland - Everybody Needs a Hero
Kendrick Lamar - GNX
Maude Latour - Sugar Water
Sabrina Carpenter - Short n’ Sweet
Beyoncé - Cowboy Carter
The Bug Club - On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System
Shower Curtain - words from a wishing well
Elke - Divine Urge
Mama Zu - Quilt Floor
Eric Slick - New Age Rage
Vampire Weekend - Only God Was Above Us

Albums I listened to a fuck ton that did not come out this year:
Blondshell - Blondshell
Chappell Roan - The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess
Dijon - Absolutely
Renee Rapp - Snow Angel
Troye Sivan - Something To Give Each Other
Julia Jacklin - PRE PLEASURE

Songs I listened to on repeat that may or may not have come out this year:
Billie Eilish - “Lunch”
Blondshell - “Kiss City”
Taylor Swift - “Guilty As Sin”
Addison Rae - “Diet Pepsi”
Mannequin Pussy - “Loud Bark”
Orla Gartland - “The Hit”
IDLES - “POP POP POP”
Julia Jacklin - “Shivers”
Clairo - “Juna”
Magdalena Bay - “Image”
Gracie Abrams - “Close To You”
Chappell Roan - “Good Luck Babe”
Dijon - “Talk Down”
Maude Latour - “Officially Mine”
The Judds - “Love Is Alive”
Blondshell - “Docket (feat. Bully)”
Renee Rapp - “Not My Fault (with Megan Thee Stallion)”

Here’s another playlist of 50 songs I loved this year, in no order:

I love music! Thanks for reading!