Last Updated on 06/01/2021
These are the top 30 best albums released in 2020. Read on to find out about the year’s greatest music listening experiences.
2020 is finally over. An extremely challenging year for many, particularly for those in the music community and industry. Thankfully many artists mercifully persisted , creating and releasing some really brilliant music to help us through the last 12 months.
And the year did at least provide us with extra time to listen to that music; working from home, stuck inside with restaurants and bars closed, music has been a great time filler and mind occupier. The album releases of 2020 have been extensively researched as a result…
Of that cornucopia of albums listened to, we thought we would share THE very best with you – these are the top 30…
30. Dark Matter, Moses Boyd
29. File Under UK Metaplasm, Rian Treanor
28. Miss Colombia, Lido Pimienta
27. A Hero’s Death, Fontaines D.C.
26. Help, Timothy Duval
25. Face Down in Meta, Pet Shimmers
24. My Agenda, Dorian Electra
23. Song For Our Daughter, Laura Marling
22. Purple Moonlight Pages, R.A.P Ferreira
21. We Will Always Love You, The Avalanches
20. Dinner Party, Terrance Martin, Robert Glasper and 9th Wonder.
Kamasi Washington, Terrace Martin, Robert Glasper and 9th Wonder have come together as Dinner Party, dropping a self-titled debut album that’s seven tracks of neojazz joy. Their press release described the album as being a result of “years of friendship”; “Dinner Party is a metaphor – a group, a project, a spirit, an imprint of time — Dinner Party is invite only, but it’s for everyone.” This intimacy really does accompany you as you listen.
It features a mix of instrumental tracks and dreamy lyricism from Phoelix, the Chicago vocalist. And although the project flows seamlessly as a holistic piece (not one to be shuffled), there are definitely some stand out tracks. “Love You Bad” almost sounds like it could be a dance remix. The offbeat, glitchy percussion mixes with soulful vocals and latin sounding sax; a simple track, but so effective. “Freeze Tag” is another particularly impactful song where the softness of Phoelix’s vocals and the pillowy instrumental poignantly juxtapose with the brutality of his lyrics.
A beautiful 23 minutes. Hopefully there’ll be slightly more to get our ears around next time!
19. UNLOCKED, Denzel Curry & Kenny Beats
Turns out Denzel Curry doesn’t miss, and neither does Kenny Beats.
Unlocked isn’t a meticulously planned masterstroke bursting with originality or innovation. Written and recorded within days, the lyrics have a ‘freestyle’ quality to them, the chameleonic vocals show shades of DMX, ODB and Eminem, and the beats are a hiphop collage of industrial and miami bass with MF DOOM style interludes. What it is though is a brief collision of two mercurial talents, resulting in a blinding supernova of creative energy.
Every part is masterfully executed throughout – Denzel’s super hooky flows resound from the meaty bass of the beats in track after track of unprecedented quality. Both show their extreme versatility and Denzel again proves himself to be modern hip-hop’s most powerful rap vocalist.
18. Inner Song, Kelly Lee Owens
With her sophomore release, Welsh music artist Kelly Lee Owens provides one of the most cerebral listening experiences of the year.
The sounds of tech-house are used to fashion its polar terrain. Taking cues most obviously from recent collaborator Jon Hopkins, Owens carves an expansive world of glacial synth progressions and warm glassy basslines. It acts as a slow moving but dynamic backdrop, evolving, flowing and even grooving (listen to instrumental single “Melt!”) – stimulating imagery of sunlight burrowing and refracting fluidly through smooth, thick ice. The production is gorgeous.
But this is only really half of the picture. Owens garnishes around half of the tracks on this record with pensive art-pop balladry. She pieces together several songs informed by themes of self-restoration and acceptance, lifted to heights of euphoric empowerment by winding melodies that wrap gently around Owens’ heavenly vocals.
17. The New Abnormal, The Strokes
The iconic indie rock band returned this year with a project that’s fresh and zesty without doing anything too polarising – it’s pretty easy to like. They stick to the post-punk revival sound they first became known for, spruced up with a laidback sunniness that sounds the perfect fit for a glorious day at a festival mainstage (as it may well have been w/o covid ☹).
Melancholy is still a major weapon in The Strokes’ arsenal. But why wouldn’t it be when Julian Casablanca’s drawn-out, yearning vocals sound as amazing as they do – for a singer who came up with a shouty growl, his high range is beautifully crisp and resonant.
And the song-writing is just a class act. The post-chorus on “Brooklyn Bridge To Chorus” is nearly enough on its own to make me love this album.
16. Circles, Mac Miller
Being tasked with offering closure on behalf of an artist loved by millions of dedicated fans is no easy task, nor would some have argued a sensible one. And yet Jon Brion has done an outstanding job of producing a posthumous release full of Mac Miller demos that act as a fitting companion collection to his exceptional album Swimming (2018).
The composition of a track like “Good News” is playful, peaceful, simple and even though it’s nearly six minutes in duration (a scarily long time for radio) it doesn’t drag one bit. The same can be said for songs like “Circles” and “Blue World”. They’re so subtle and mature that the beats just gently rock against your eardrums.
The lyrics, however, are what make the tracks on Circles so special. Although the beats are innocent enough, the words to Mac’s song are so incredibly introspective, a journey into the mind of someone who faced the daily pressures of depression and the expectations put on him to get better.
Mac’s voice is weary, tired even, and it’s truly hauntingly beautiful that we are able to listen to him one last time, as I’m sure many have since found solace in his words.
15. Women in Music Pt. III, HAIM
With a finger up in its title to music journalists who have consistently stuck them in a box, the L.A. trio bring their best album yet, full of indie-pop goodness.
Variety is the word that springs to mind with this project. Across its 16 tracks, the three sisters transform themselves over and over, casting shades of g-funk (“3AM”), folk and even UK garage (“I Know Alone”) across their glittering soft-rock. Topical variation is also abundant as they cover everything from the charmingly anecdotal to the touchingly thoughtful.
It resolutely sticks together though, drenched in a smooth, honey gold warmth that emanates from every hook, harmony, and guitar lick across the project.
And, shining gorgeously atop all this are brilliantly sunny melodies that sustain one of the year’s most consistently buoyant listens. It’s further testament to their melodic songwriting strength that all three promotional singles are included as mere ‘bonus’ tracks, which act simply as a sweet swansong for a fantastic album.
14. Songs, Adrianne Lenker
Andrianne Lenker, the lead singer of the indie-folk band “Big Thief”, used the time left by the band’s cancelled tour to write and record an absolutely gorgeous folk album this year – very boldly titled ‘songs’.
It’s much more than just that in many ways though. Overlooking the surplus of pretty melodies and insightful personal musings that this LP contains, it functions beautifully as an atmospheric soundtrack. Cosy Duvet, pouring rain outside the window; I don’t think there’s been a better record released this year to be cooped up inside to.
13. Cenizas, Nicolas Jaar
Nicholas Jaar’s second project of his three this year is a truly divine piece of ambient music.
Divine not just in the sense of ‘really good’. It is really good – but it also actually sounds godly. Listening to these spacious compositions gives me the sense of exploring a vast abandoned cathedral, but definitely not an earthly one; it all feels very alien.
Besides it’s unique atmosphere, Cenizas also presents a full set of highly moving musical progressions. Jaar displays mastery of the art of ‘not-doing-too-much-to-do-a-lot’; the ghostly vocals and surprisingly sticky synth parts meld flawlessly into the gaping vacuum that exists in between the album’s audible sections, constructing a magnetic listening experience.
12. GANG, Headie One & Fred Again…
At a tight squeeze of 22 minutes, Headie One packs this project full of genuinely affecting vocal performances, while Fred Again… fills the gaps with the most compelling beat selection to come out of the UK rap mainstream in recent memory. The result is an overwhelming torrent of sonic feeling – and I mean that in the best way.
On the production end, UK drill convention has been infused skilfully with new flavour. The intensity of the genre’s style remains but the menacing feeling common to drill tracks has been subverted into an aura of claustrophobia and loneliness – ethereal melodics and reverberating basslines constrict around the vocals as tightly as the interspersed moments of deafening quiet.
Headie One appropriately pairs this with a narrative detailing his personal struggle with entrapment – due to both a lifestyle of crime that he found himself stuck in and more literally his time in prison. He’s not a supreme wordsmith, but his performances sound so convincingly distressed that the occasionally questionable bar comes off as earnest. Quality back-up is provided too with FKA Twigs, Jamie XX, slowthai and Sampha all featuring.
All in all, this project is hugely exciting for UK rap; even more so if it signals the start of an increasingly aesthetically adventurous trend within it.
11. The Angel You Don’t Know, Amaarae
This year is the first time we’ve come across the alté scene that’s slowly begun to spill out of West Africa and, judging by Amaarae’s debut album, it’s something that we think is going to properly take off.
Amaarae, whose birth name translates into “woman of war” has been turning heads for a few years now. Previous singles like “Fluid” and “LIKE IT” have been massive for providing members of Ghana’s LGBTQ+ scene a voice in a country where the penalty for same-sex sexual activity is still 3 years imprisonment. And this album is no different with its emphasis on taking control of your life, your fashion choices, your sex, gender and doing whatever you want.
On top of that, the beats on Amaarae’s songs are just SO addictive. Right off the bat, the distorted riffs on “D*A*N*G*E*R*O*U*S” make you drop everything and listen and “FEEL A WAY” feels like an instant club classic largely thanks to those accentuated drum and bass parts being so punchy and the addition of some really addictive, electronic hooks.
The result is an incredibly liberating sound that couples nicely with the album’s lyrics.
10. Whole Lotta Red, Playboi Carti
This album sees Playboi Carti step assuredly out of the shroud of haze that he sheltered in on his psychedelic trap odyssey “Die Lit”. However, exposed and often without his infamous baby voice, Carti still innovates just as much this time around.
He brings punk to trap. With rough-around-the-edges beats and jarring vocal performances, there is a manic energy that drives a listening experience with an uncontainable aggression. It may be turning away droves of Carti fans who just want a vibe, but the result is electrifying and singles him out as one of the most artistically ambitious names in the hiphop mainstream today.
9. Deep Down Happy, Sports Team
On Sports Team’s boisterous debut outing, the aesthetic leans heavily on the nostalgic, but its perspective has its feet very firmly in the present.
The English indie rock band borrows copiously from the history of the genre, sounding like they’d perhaps have been more at home in the noughties or nineties. Yet they breathe new energy into the ‘catchy riffs-big chorus’ style with barely a stale moment and some of the year’s biggest anthems in “Camel Crew” and “Here it Comes Again”.
This is because, much like their English Indie Rock heroes, they have something to say, and entertain thoroughly as they do so. In stark contrast to other prevalent voices in British Indie rock today (Idles, for example), they have no intention of bodying the foremost social and political issues head on. Really, they’re far more in the vein of Pulp, satirising the everyday moans and groans of Brits. Only they focus on sardonically critiquing stagnant middle England from a decidedly middle-class perspective. “He’ll never buy you a drink, but he’ll let you know he can”, quips frontman Alex Rice on “The Races” in reference to some of his peers.
It is this ability to connect with their audience, as Pulp did, that makes them feel so vital.
8. After Hours, The Weeknd
The immensely compelling song writing and storytelling that lies beneath the surface of this LP is what sets it miles ahead of your average lavishly produced pop album.
Every song pretty much bangs on a mindless-sing-along level. But I also think there’s legitimate nuance to the message that Abel Tesfaye, the man behind The Weeknd, is crooning to you. He’s well known for his lyrics about partying and screwing girls over – he never tries to sugar-coat it. Yes, it’s romanticised a bit (as it is again on this album), but he doesn’t try to paint himself as the good guy; he’s quite openly a bit of a dick. On After Hours though, without it coming across like he wants you to feel sorry for him, he peels back a bit of his Rockstar façade to reveal some real darkness in how his lifestyle affects him. I don’t suddenly think he’s a great bloke, but through the album’s narrative I feel like there’s some genuine insight provided into how the drugs and women that he uses equally seem to consume him.
A dark pop album that can really go up a gear, if you open up and let it take you.
7. RTJ4, Run the Jewels
Duo Run the Jewels have always made immediately enjoyable hip-hop. Their punchlines are laugh-out-loud funny, the flows are catchy, the futuristic, pounding beats make you screw your face in rage or joy and the messaging is no nonsense.
The instrumentals are particularly excellent here: raw, primal and mechanical. But the vocal performances really steal the show. There’s a sense of sincere urgency that creeps into El-P’s dexterous delivery and Killer Mike’s bombastic one, as they provide compelling and at times chilling commentary on the barriers facing minority ethnic groups in America. The album’s centrepiece, “walking in the snow” is the highlight, with Mike movingly referencing a 2014 incident of police brutality that this year’s events underlined the continuing and horrifying relevance of.
Mike and El want you to know that they should be taken with the utmost seriousness here, ending the opening track with an appropriate mission statement for their often comically violent political messaging – “we don’t mean no harm/ but we truly mean all the disrespect” – and so they should.
6. Heaven To a Tortured Mind, Yves Tumor
Make way people, you might think from their aesthetic that Yves Tumor is just another standard industrial pop musician. But listen to Heaven To A Tortured Mind and you’ll instantly realise we’re dealing with the world’s latest and greatest rock star.
It’s true that the Miami-born musician is proud to cite industrial music pioneers Throbbing Gristle as a major influence, but comparing both musicians’ sounds rather than their music videos leads to a different conclusion. Whilst Yves’ satanic costumes can DEFINITELY stay, sonically they’re more like the starchild of Jimi Hendrix and David Bowie.
Heaven To A Tortured Mind continues to organise chaos into a nice little package following the success of their previous album Safe In The Hands of Love (2018). “Gospel For A New Century” opens the album ambitiously with multiple disorienting instruments but at the heart is a killer guitar riff, hard bass, thrashing drums, and the presence of an irresistible frontperson. Then you’ve got tracks like “Kerosene!” which fuse Brian May-esque guitar solos and modern day chillwave.
It’s just great to listen to something so new and rule-breaking and yet so familiar at the same time.
5. Ateriavia, Anthony1, Exodia & Sienna Sleep
Made available in only December via underground Californian label Dismiss Yourself, Ateriavia is a blown-out, sugar-rush-high of an album. The trio’s ‘lo-fi trance’ sound transcends the mishmash of hardcore, techno and trance influences to elevate your mind to a hazey kind of dreamstate that My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless (or even Playboi Carti’s Die Lit) lies adjacent to.
The cover art actually provides an accurate insight into how this experience differs though; blissfully hurtling around downtown of a night-time metropolis in a pixelated road racer is not a specific feeling music has generated for me before.
And if their bandcamp bio is to be believed, we should be excited for more to come. This album apparently serves not only as ‘a landmark album for the [lo-fi trance] scene but a blueprint for what’s in store for the future. This is only the beginning.’
Gassed.
4. how i’m feeling now, Charli XCX
With beats as sharp as shattered glass, you won’t want to meet Charli XCX’s latest album down a dimly lit street at night. You’ll fail to predict it from start to finish.
Music’s always been a vehicle for Charli to experiment with her abundant musings, and she manages to mirror this task in her own sound better than anyone at the moment. Her previous album Charli (2019) saw her drag in assorted members of the industry to help design her wild world, but with how i’m feeling now she proves that she simply doesn’t need numerous collaborators to generate unique ideas – she alone is an intimidating creative force.
Take “pink diamond” for example. Charli wanted it at the top of the listing to purposefully divide opinion. She recognises that it’s one of those songs which will turn some people off and leave others obsessed. I am most definitely in the latter group. It has such an evil and haphazard melodic progression which then also leaks into great tracks like “forever” and “anthems”.
The album has such a brilliantly unhinged combination of typical pop lyricism and anti-pop beat making, making it a fantastic addition to our 2020 list.
3. The Silhouettes Project
The Silhouettes Project was founded by Asher Korner (Kosher Music) and Jaden Osei-Bonsu (Eerf Evil) in 2019. “It’s not a record label or a management team, it’s a community project”; with a recording studio and live venue in the Total Refreshment Centre in Hackney, The Silhouettes Project provides a space for up and coming hip hop, soul and jazz artists to “connect and create”. Collaboration is at the core of this initiative; a plethora of MCs, producers, vocalists and musicians have come together to produce the self-titled compilation album, which is made up of 15 individual singles released throughout 2020. It was important to Korner and Osei-Bonsu to create a physical space where creatives could grow together, “especially with the consistent withdrawal of funding from the arts sector in the UK and with the constant threat of gentrification which has seen the closure of countless community and grassroots creative organisations”.
The tracks can be taken on their own, but the resulting album is an absolute joy to listen to. From soulful lofi beats to jazz rap and storytelling rap to neo soul, there’s a lyrical and sonic variety to this album that can only arise through employing this cross-genre collaborative technique.
2. Visions of Bodies Being Burned, clipping.
Inspired by the horror genre at large, trio clipping. bring some genuinely skin-crawling moments to experimental hip-hop.
Acting as a kind of thematic sequel to 2019’s There Existed An Addiction To Blood, a horrifying tale or unsettling subject is fleshed out into bloody reality on each track – every one of them densely referential to the classic horror cannon of film, music and folk-lore. It is far more than academic though. Rapper Daveed Diggs again shows himself to be an extremely talented and creative storywriter (and with his high voltage verses and scarily catchy hooks a great teller too!).
But it is on the production end that this album most consistently sets itself ahead of its sibling release, employing far more interesting beat choices. While the horror soundtrack effects are at times undercut by more conventional hip-hop devices, like the funky baseline on track “Check the Lock”, there are some pretty rouge instrumentals here. “Eaten Alive”‘s ghostly swamp-scape is fashioned awkwardly from a rickety and wildly swaying musical construction, forming a beat as bizarre as it is disquieting. Yet every unusual instrumental miraculously comes off fantastically, with each experiment landing as firmly as the last.
We are left with what is just an incredible set of tracks. One of the year’s best, definitely its spookiest.
1. What’s Your Pleasure?, Jessie Ware
Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia has been 2020’s biggest nu-disco album by far, and not for no good reason – it’s a quality set of songs – but What’s Your Pleasure is at least a couple of cuts above.
Jessie Ware sinks into nostalgia here too, but the ‘future’ element is dutifully neglected for an unadulterated slice of escapism to the ‘70s sparkling dance floor. Sound-tracked by truly luscious instrumentals, the opulent grooves draw ‘the dance’ out from the most inaccessible corners of your soul. The production is absolutely gorgeous.
Ware’s vocal parts are equally enthralling. She plays sensual, sensitive and theatrical disco-queen as the bewitching melodies she whips up sooth your busy mind and seduce you into the thick mist and sparkling lights of the dancefloor. There’s so much clever nuance to her dance-pop song-writing, producing ridiculously addictive melodies and lightly massaging your brain’s pleasure centres.
This is really one to feel – just give it a listen or two and get lost in the hedonistic haze of Jessie Ware’s masterpiece.
Particular honourable mentions also go to the excellent debut records:
- Pa Salieu’s Send them to Coventry
- Nana Adjoa’s Big Dreaming Ants
- and Working Men’s Club’s Self-Titled
that didn’t quite make the list.
Listen to taster tracks from all our picks in the playlist below.
