Best Albums of 2020
Like so many other people this year, I have no energy to write an essay attempting to grapple with what 2020 meant, either at a personal or cultural level. In lieu of a cohesive piece, here are a few thoughts about what I heard (or did not hear) in this year's listening.
I'm a little tired of seeing my top two at the top of so many lists but they're also the records I spent the most time with this year, so it would feel disingenuous to put any other records above them.
My listening behavior changed dramatically this year, which forced me to concentrate on albums where I had assignments. I certainly managed to hear records that weren't work-related, but I may not have spent as much time with them as I might've liked. If I had, maybe they'd rank higher on the list.
This list is arranged in order of preference but the intensity of the preference lightens around 40 or so. Give me another week or month and the placements would certainly change. (Lists are a snapshot of the time of their creation, after all)
If an album isn't listed here, it could mean that I forgot it or I didn't hear it or I didn't like it. I will follow up with a list of albums I outright disliked, it'll arrive next week with any luck.
If an artist released two albums this year I liked, I decided to put them on the same entry instead of separating them. Sometimes, the distinction isn't cost-effective (Sturgill Simpson), sometimes I'm still sorting out a preference (Taylor Swift).
Judged just on the albums alone, 2020 was a pretty good year! A lot of strong records, a couple of seeming masterpieces, and a bunch of surprises.
A reissue list is set for later this week.
Fiona Apple—Fetch The Bolt Cutters
Bob Dylan—Rough And Rowdy Ways
Stephen Malkmus—Traditional Techniques
Soccer Mommy—Color Theory
Low Cut Connie—Private Lives
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit—Reunions
The Strokes—The New Abnormal
Brandy Clark—Your Life Is A Record
Zephaniah Ohora—Listening to the Music
Taylor Swift—Folklore/Evermore
Lilly Hiatt—Walking Proof
HAIM—Women In Music, Pt. III
H.C. McEntire—Eno Axis
AC/DC—Power Up
Waylon Payne—Blue Eyes, The Harlot, The Queer, The Pusher & Me
Sam Morrow—Gettin’ By On Gettin’ Down
Bruce Springsteen—Letter To You
Waxahatchee—Saint Cloud
Rina Sawayama—Sawayama
JARV IS…—Beyond the Pale
Charley Crockett—Welcome to Hard Times
Public Enemy—What You Gonna Do When The Grid Goes Down?
Paul McCartney—McCartney III
Dua Lipa—Future Nostalgia
Charli XCX—How I’m Feeling Now
Bob Mould—Blue Hearts
Aoife Nessa Frances—Land of No Junction
Mike & The Moonpies—Touch of You: The Lost Songs of Gary Stewart
X—Alphabetland
Wade Bowen & Randy Rogers—Hold My Beer, Part 2
Margo Price—That’s How Rumors Get Started
Sturgill Simpson—Cuttin’ Grass, Vol. 1/Cuttin' Grass, Vol. 2
…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead—X: The Godless Void And Other Stories
Hot Country Knights—The “K” Is Silent
Brothers Osborne—Skeletons
Cornershop—England is a Garden
Jessie Ware—What’s Your Pleasure?
John Anderson—Years
Torres—Silver Tongue
Pearl Jam—Gigaton
Mandy Moore—Silver Landings
Kip Moore—Wild World
Luke Haines & Peter Buck—Beat Poetry for Survivalists
Rufus Wainwright—Unfollow the Rules
Whitney Rose—We Still Go To Rodeos
Bobby Rush—Rawer Than Raw
Miley Cyrus—Plastic Hearts
Beabadoobee—Fake It Flowers
The Mountain Goats--Getting Into Knives
Ashley McBryde—Never Will
Bill Callahan—Gold Record
Elvis Costello—Hey Clockface
Brent Cobb—Keep Em on They Toes
Elvin Bishop & Charlie Musselwhite—100 Years of Blues
Johnny Iguana’s Chicago Spectacular
Sam Hunt—Southside
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever—Sideways To New Italy
Roisin Murphy—Roisin Machine
Kelsea Ballerini—Kelsea/Ballerini
Garth Brooks—Fun
Lady Gaga—Chromatica
The Killers—Imploding the Mirage
Phoebe Bridgers—Punisher
Carly Rae Jepsen—Dedicated Side B
Puss N Boots—Sister
Norah Jones—Pick Me Up Off The Floor
Hayley Williams—Petals for Armor
Brendan Benson—Dear Life
Thundercat—It Is What It Is
Lydia Loveless—Daughter
Cam—The Otherside
Caroline Rose—Superstar
Paul Weller—On Sunset
Pam Tillis—Looking for a Feeling
Dan Penn—Living on Mercy
Gum Country—Somewhere
Phish—Sigma Oasis
Chris Stapleton--Starting Over
Aubrie Sellers—Far From Home
Run the Jewels—RTJ4
Lera Lynn—On My Own
Drive-By Truckers—The Unraveling/The New OK
Jeff Tweedy—Love Is The King
The Cadillac Three—Country Fuzz
Huey Lewis & The News—Weather
Tyler Childers—Long Violent History
Tenille Townes—The Lemonade Stand
Swamp Dogg—Sorry You Couldn’t Make It
Butch Walker—American Love Story
Marcus King—El Dorado
Courtney Marie Andrews—Old Flowers
Willie Nelson—First Rose Of Spring
M Ward—Migration Stories/Think of Spring
Early James—Singing For My Supper
Niall Horan—Heartbreak Weather
Selena Gomez—Rare
Kenny Chesney—Here And Now
The Jayhawks—XOXO
The Chicks—Gaslighter
Arlo McKinley—Die Midwestern
Ben Watt—Storm Damage
The Claudettes—High Times in the Dark
Watkins Family Hour—Brother Sister
Ganser—Just Look At That Sky
Lemon Twigs—Songs for the General Public
Ingrid Andress—Lady Like
Old 97s—Twelfth
James Dean Bradfield—Even in Exile
Pretenders—Hate For Sale
Cordovas—Destiny Hotel
Annie—Dark Hearts
Jules Shear—slower
Frances Quinlan—Likewise
Jonny Polonsky—Power and Greed and Money and Sex and Death
Psychedelic Furs—Made of Rain
Joey Molland—Be True To Yourself
The Texas Gentlemen—Floor It!!
Oceanator—Things I Never Said
Sault—Untitled (Black Is)/Untitled (Rise)
RVG—Feral
Stephanie Lambring—Autonomy
Chris Cornell—No One Sings Like You Anymore
Billie Joe Armstrong—No Fun Mondays
Lou Turner—Songs for John Venn
Hinds—The Prettiest Curse
Shelby Lynne—Shelby Lynne
Walter Martin—The World At Night
Bright Eyes—Down in the Weeds, Where The World Once Was
Kesha—High Road
Chris Stamey & the Fellow Travelers—A Brand-New Shade of Blue
Andy Shauf—The Neon Skyline
Ruston Kelly—Shape & Destroy
Bruce Hornsby—Non-Secure Connection
Gorillaz—Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez
Fantastic Negrito—Have You Lost Your Mind Yet?