Top 10 Albums of 2024

2024 has been a banner year for music. Week after week, there was new music that captured my attention and commanded my respect. Houseboats were docked at the Himbo Dome. Chords were struck in A Minor. Taylor Swift also made music. With so many great albums, I really lucked out in picking this year to start ranking albums as I listen to them. Starting in January, I aggregated and ranked every album I heard for the first time, including many newly released records. And now, I get to ring in the start of Tune In! by ranking my ten favorite new albums of 2024 in much further detail.

This was not an easy list to make. I only have one set of ears, and I happened to enjoy a lot of music this year. But I think I assembled ten worthy albums representative of an excellent year of music. From superstars and up-and-comers alike, these records stand as the cream of a very crowded crop.

10. Cowboy Carter - Beyoncé

- “AMERIICAN REQUIEM

Cowboy Carter is a tribute to (and reclamation of) the music and culture that Houston native Beyoncé grew up alongside. The tracklist features country legends like Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, and Linda Martell, notably the first commercially successful Black country artist. Additionally, the overarching “KNTRY Radio Texas” concept reads as a statement of Cowboy Carter’s legitimacy. Through simulating her own record getting radio play, Beyoncé commands our respect as someone who unquestionably belongs on country airwaves. Even the Cowboy Carter aesthetic reclaims a “white,” conservative-coded symbol: the American flag. These details not only affirm Cowboy Carter’s legitimacy, but demand legitimacy for other, smaller Black country artists, many of whom are featured on this record.

Beyond its discourse and its “statement,” Cowboy Carter is a pretty great collection of tunes. This is a massive album, both in scope (27 songs, 78 minutes) as well as in its production. Cowboy Carter weaves electronic drum and bass into a world of country acoustic guitar licks and a whole lot of reverb. Make no mistake, this is still a Beyoncé record, and moments like the percussive whip crack in the chorus of “16 CARRIAGES” add a country flair to her familiar sound. Despite the many great anthems about, “BODYGUARD” is the album at its best, with a lovely, distinct piano part that makes it a fan favorite. Overall, a potentially disastrous project ended up a pleasant surprise. As intimidating (and at times redundant) as its runtime may be, Cowboy Carter is still one of 2024’s most important and most electric records, worthy of a spot on this list.

9. Only God Was Above Us - Vampire Weekend

- “Classical”

On an album released shortly before his 40th birthday, lead singer Ezra Koenig distills Zoomer defiance into an album full of whimsy, rebellion, and a whole lot of piano. Pretentious? A little. Samey? Kind of. A damn good time? Absolutely.

Vampire Weekend’s fifth studio album is defined by its worldbuilding. Though the band is now mostly based in LA, Only God Was Above Us maintains the New York “feel” Vampire Weekend has always had. This is supplemented with lyrical name-drops; we visit Water Tunnel 3 and Grant’s Tomb, and New York art dealer Mary Boone gets a song of her own. Beyond its clear love for The Big Apple, Only God Was Above Us is also deeply concerned with units of time, from the second to the century. History and mythology color every corner of this record, and true to form, Vampire Weekend explores the mistakes of past generations and how “we” fit into that puzzle. 

Only God Was Above Us is remarkably consistent through its ten-song run, owing in large part to its stellar instrumentation. Intricate piano solos highlight a record containing one instrumental breakdown after another, and these moments give the album its color and charm. Opener “Ice Cream Piano” acts as an apt tone-setter, both lyrically and instrumentally. After Koenig laments his destiny to “scream piano” while the world self-destructs around him, the song swells to a violin solo as drums, guitar, and bass swirl around it. Then, just when you think the song is over, boom - second instrumental break! Only God Was Above Us is chock-full of moments like that, and they deliver each and every time. Vampire Weekend loves their ear candy, and this sugar rush lasts for 47 minutes of major keys and good vibes.

8. Scrapyard - Quadeca

- “EASIER”

To the delight of Hivemind fans everywhere, Quadeca released the 15-song mixtape SCRAPYARD early this year, and it’s a pretty great listen. Sitting somewhere between hip-hop, folk, and art pop, SCRAPYARD gets the mixtape label because it’s very much a collection of songs rather than a cohesive “statement.” SCRAPYARD is actually more or less a bunch of B-sides, serving as the culmination of his late 2023 SCRAPYARD EP series. Despite its name and origins, though, this is anything but a bargain-bin version of his 2022 album I Didn’t Mean To Haunt You. If anything, the project’s diversity works to Quadeca’s benefit; his refusal to stay in one place sonically allows his ambitious production to shine through. 

Quadeca’s exercise in genre whiplash is ceaseless. Take “EASIER,” a wonderfully tender guitar ballad, which transitions immediately into the harsh, industrial hip-hop track “EVEN IF I TRIED.” Later, the desolate and heartbreaking “U TRIED THAT THING WHERE UR HUMAN” gets followed by the acoustic guitar waltz “GUIDE DOG.” Other standout songs include the moody hip-hop track “A LA CARTE” (featuring brakence), and the project’s closer, piano ballad “TEXAS BLUE” (featuring Kevin Abstract). It might be surprising to hear me say this as an “album guy,” but I find it refreshing that SCRAPYARD doesn’t attempt to make one cohesive statement. Quadeca knows what this project is, and lets his artistry and versatility be the concept. Though it inhibits SCRAPYARD here on what is, ultimately, a ranking of albums, the mixtape idea is strong and consistently executed. I’m fascinated to see what direction he takes on his upcoming album Vanisher - but if SCRAPYARD is any indication, I have no worries.

7. HIT ME HARD AND SOFT - Billie Eilish

- “SKINNY”

On the heels of the Song of the Year-winning “What Was I Made For?” Billie Eilish’s third studio album is as expansive and mysterious as the body of water she appears to be in dire need of exiting. Billie’s post-Barbie success catalyzed a new(ish) direction; HIT ME HARD AND SOFT clearly takes great pride in being a capital R Record. The rollout notably didn’t include any singles in advance, which correctly bet on the album’s cohesion and the ten songs acting as a “family.” Of course, that didn’t last forever: lead single “LUNCH” was released alongside the album, and “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” ultimately couldn’t escape its inevitable TikTok mega-virality. This project sees Billie in a period of transition, falling out of love with a man and in love with a woman. The lyrics are vulnerable and laden with insecurity, with Eilish’s signature whispery vocals sounding like they’re about to snap in two. Billie drags us underwater with her, and we can feel her gasping for air.

Finneas’ production on this record wonderfully complements Billie’s songwriting, and serves as a refreshing reminder that pop can, in fact, be compelling to listen to. Crucially, Billie and Finneas identify and execute both the “big” moments and the “small” moments. The sweeping crescendos of “THE GREATEST” and “WILDFLOWER” have unmistakable power, thanks in large part to some career-highlight vocals from Billie. Meanwhile, lead single “LUNCH” sees Billie exploring her sexuality through subdued vocals over a low-key instrumentation. Really, though, no song on the album stays either “big” or “small” for its entirety. Though its lyrics may at times leave a little to be desired, HIT ME HARD AND SOFT is a consistently interesting and rewarding listen front-to-back. 

6. Charm - Clairo

- “Pier 4”

Clairo’s third studio album earns its place on this list with its extremely impressive cohesion and consistency. You could put Charm’s 11 songs in any order and it would be an equally strong record. That’s not a dig, either: Clairo and producer Leon Michels build a lovely world of flute and piano, held together by subdued drums and dotted with the occasional brass cameo. This is a refreshing sound for Clairo’s “new era” that feels incredibly hospitable. Charm sounds like a cup of hot chocolate under a warm blanket, or a coffee shop fireplace. If anything, Charm’s mid-July release date was some serious Clairo shade.

Charm’s power is its consistency in sound and “vibes,” but several moments on this record stand out above the rest. The midtempo, piano-driven “Sexy to Someone” and “Add Up My Love” are the immediate standouts here. The lyrics of “Sexy to Someone” see Clairo pining for purpose in life, while “Add Up My Love” is a fairly straightforward breakup song with one of the strongest choruses on the record. (Although, it should be said, that flute part is impossible to listen to without thinking of “Kung Fu Fighting.”) “Juna” is also fantastic, with a chorus so irresistible it’s no wonder TikTok fell in love with it. Another highlight is “Pier 4,” which really grew on me over time. It’s a great closer that neatly ties a bow on Charm’s themes of yearning and connection. Ultimately, though, every track is strong in its own right, thanks in large part to Charm’s consistently great instrumentation and production. Scoff at this ranking all you want, but Charm achieves everything it sets out to, and then some. Clairo may have had your attention before, but this project will earn her your respect, if it wasn’t there already.

5. CHROMAKOPIA - Tyler, The Creator

- “Darling, I”

Time will be kind to the latest Tyler, The Creator record, as people learn to appreciate what it is and not what they thought it would be. CHROMAKOPIA is not the brand of concept album that many Tyler fans have grown accustomed to. There aren’t any gimmicks, there’s no real “narrative,” and the album’s eccentric narrator character is… Tyler’s mom, Bonita Smith. The only concept to be found is Tyler himself, who internalizes Smith’s life lessons to reflect on his past and look towards his present and future. Tyler is at a crossroads; he’s “made it” and built a formidable career for himself, but his fame has given way to paranoia. Meanwhile, time is seemingly running out to settle down and start a family, but Tyler must first come to terms with his own absentee father. Yes, there’s a “mask” concept and a lot of sepia-toned imagery, apt for an album released the Monday before Halloween. But make no mistake: this is a no-frills record unified and elevated by its vulnerability.

CHROMAKOPIA is a really beautiful listen, especially in its back half. There are some strong moments early on; the opener “St. Chroma” and lead single “Noid” are both standouts. That said, there is a clear jump in quality in the middle of the record’s centerpiece “Sticky.” Specifically, the massive horn hit at 2:24 kicks CHROMAKOPIA into another gear: from a good record to a great one. The back-to-back tracks “Take Your Mask Off” and “Tomorrow” explore introspection through the mask concept, as Tyler reveals his reservations towards fatherhood. “Thought I Was Dead” has some of Tyler’s best rapping, while “Balloon” beautifully ties a bow on the record’s core concepts over a beat that remains stuck in my head. Yes, this record’s breadth is expanded by its many features and cameos (particularly Daniel Caesar, who is absolutely everywhere) but this is still Tyler’s own story, and a very well-executed one at that.

4. plastic death - glass beach

- “the CIA”

Turns out, Radiohead At Home is still pretty damn good. My AOTY for the first five months of 2024, plastic death is an album of incredibly high highs. The album packs a punch amplified by the production of frontperson J McClendon and lead guitarist Layne Smith, as well as the work of the mastering engineer, Philly’s own emo wizard Will Yip. Plastic death is a busy record, on its face messy and unfocused, but against all odds everything snaps into place. I think J McClendon said it best themselves: “This album is the Pacific garbage patch: cultural trash strewn together seemingly by accident, standing in stark juxtaposition to each other.” Ultimately, plastic death is a deceptively cohesive patchwork of ideas, genres, and instruments. The Radiohead comparisons during the rollout were always a high bar to reach (and, sure, McClendon strays a little too close to a Thom Yorke impression for my liking), but glass beach put in one hell of an effort to get there.

Despite its mystique, and its obtuse, sci-fi, thesaurisized lyrics, and that damn alien thing on the album art, plastic death’s “awesomeness factor” is as high as any album released this year. I mean, seriously, no album whose first two tracks are “coelacanth” and “motions” (two very easy contenders for my favorite new song of 2024) was ever escaping this top 5. “Coelacanth” is an opener in three acts, beginning with barely audible spoken conversation and gradually introducing the listener to plastic death’s themes of loneliness and struggle against authority. Meanwhile, “motions” is a flawlessly executed banger that sees McClendon trapped in a society they are disgruntled with. These two tracks foreshadow much of what makes plastic death click: nontraditional song structures and time signatures, societal commentary, and kickass guitar lines. I’d be remiss to omit the real star of plastic death: the marimba! The malleted instrument best known for being your iPhone’s default ringtone is regrettably only in “whalefall” and Act II of “coelacanth,” but it’s a really fun novelty addition that gives those tracks a sort of cartoon skeleton aesthetic.

3. The New Sound - Geordie Greep

- “Blues”

Days after black midi’s breakup, former frontman and permanent enigma Geordie Greep announced his debut solo album, The New Sound, alongside its lead single, “Holy, Holy.” And, boy, did the Internet have some opinions. Given this record’s release so soon after the breakup (prematurely) went public, and for its lead single to include lyrics like “I want you to be dressed like a sophisticated tart,” people were always going to be a bit up in arms. But as the Internet ran out of tomatoes to throw, people started to come around to what Greep was going for. The New Sound is equal parts honest and satirical, hyper-sensual and hyper-sexual at once. Geordie Greep looks at love in a funhouse mirror, fusing his own nightlife experiences with character studies in ego and passion.

Oh, and did I mention The New Sound was spontaneously recorded in Brazil and it’s at its core a jazz record with Latin influences? Yeah, this thing’s awesome.

The New Sound is chock-full of virtuosity, and Greep and his band often can’t help but indulge in their own musicianship. Take “Holy, Holy” and its insistent sixteenth-note pickups, or the (black midi-adjacent) chaos that is “Blues.” The title track is an instrumental emblematic of the Latin and jazz aspects of, well, the new sound. It reminds me a little of “Contusion” from Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life (high praise, I’m aware). All throughout, every instrument is mixed perfectly, while Greep delivers passionate vocal performances that (surprisingly) remain technically sound.

The twelve-minute penultimate track, “The Magician,” is emblematic of everything that makes The New Sound great. Initially a black midi concert staple, “The Magician” is set in the aftermath of a relationship. Its narrator wrestles with many of the same themes (the idealized partner, sexual and emotional insecurity) present in earlier songs like “Holy, Holy” and “As If Waltz.” Musically, “The Magician” is more vast and expansive than the songs that precede it, allowing Greep’s stream-of-consciousness lyrics to unravel. “The Magician” is a slow-burning gut punch, perfectly representing The New Sound’s ugly, virtuosic honesty.

2. Brat - Charli XCX

- Senator Joe Manchin (D - WV)

We have arrived at the defining cultural moment of 2024, and one of its best records to boot. Brat, the album, is for many people inseparable from brat, the summer, and Brat, the marketing campaign, and “brat,” the word that Jake Tapper told your grandparents is actually a good thing now. But I think it’s unfair to Charli XCX as an artist if discussion of Brat is pigeonholed to its rollout. What about Brat made it stick in the pop cultural zeitgeist?

Brat has a bunch of flair about it that make it “click” on a meaningful level, but the core ingredient here is really just the album being fun as hell. Brat is impossible to not head-bob along to, and it is for the most part extremely danceable. In its 41-minute runtime, Brat never lets go of its momentum, bouncing from “360” through serotonin-laden bangers like “Talk talk” and “Von dutch,” all the way to its bookend at “365.” Brat is invigorating, relentless, and quintessentially Charli. 

What earns Brat its place on this list, however, is that beneath all the layers of chartreuse, Charli injects nuanced discussion of her life as a (then) tweener pop star. Take “I might say something stupid,” where Charli reflects on imposter syndrome and “it girl”-dom. The Caroline Polachek-inspired “Apple” dives into Charli’s relationship with her family. Meanwhile, “I think about it all the time” sees Charli pondering starting a family of her own. “Sympathy is a knife” and “Girl, so confusing” explore Charli’s relationships with other artists - relationships that, in some cases, were worked out on the remix. Brat’s secret sauce isn’t how fun it is, but how interesting it is. Sure, Brat’s nuanced discussion of fame and authenticity might not have been why Kamala HQ adopted its branding, but it is emphatically for that reason that Brat lands among the top albums of this year.

1. Imaginal Disk - Magdalena Bay

- “The Ballad of Matt and Mica”

2024 has been an incredible year for music, and it’s still going! Making this list was not an easy task, and there were many great records omitted. Hell, there will probably be at least a few top 10 contenders released during or after the writing of this piece. But one decision was incredibly easy. Imaginal Disk by Magdalena Bay sits proudly atop this list, and it isn’t even remotely close.

From the first big drum hit of “She Looked Like Me,” Imaginal Disk commands your respect.  “She Looked Like Me” is a perfect opener: with its tempo and dynamic changes, it keeps you on your toes and asserts that you are in for an experience. You aren’t quite sure how this album can top itself; there’s so much power in every choice MagBay makes, a cavalcade of synths perfectly engineered to take you to some higher plane. And just when you don’t think Imaginal Disk can get any better, the next song starts.

Rinse and repeat that experience 14 more times, and you’ve got the best album of 2024.

There are so many reasons beyond “it’s just that damn good” that I hold Imaginal Disk in such high esteem. I could talk about the singles (especially “Image” and “Death and Romance”) and how their infectious choruses are some of the strongest you’ll ever hear. I could gush over Imaginal Disk’s versatility in genre, and how it so effortlessly weaves synth-pop, neo-psych, dance pop, yacht rock, and even prog rock into one cohesive sound. And yet, despite MagBay’s genre roulette, every track seamlessly fades into the next one, and it works time and time again. I could praise Mica Tennenbaum’s vocals, which have incredible range and an out-of-body airiness that’s absolutely perfect for this record. I could examine Imaginal Disk’s core concept - the idealized self in contrast with the “true you” - and how MagBay weaves the “lore” of the album into the music itself. I could highlight the album’s leitmotif; the melody of “She Looked Like Me!” reappears in “The Ballad of Matt and Mica” and the “Feeling DiskInserted” interlude. Given those last two points, I could even sit here and pitch an Imaginal Disk musical to you, not that anyone’s ready to hear that. 

I could dive into all of those things, but I won’t. Instead, I will suggest you listen to Imaginal Disk, preferably with headphones, and then prepare to listen again, and again, and again. It’s just that damn good.

And that’s a wrap on just 10 of the many excellent albums released this year. Though there were many great contenders, these 10 are united by their ambition and (for the most part) sheer infectious fun. As 2024 comes to a close, 2025 brings many questions in the music world. Who will rise, and who will fall? Which 2000s indie rock outfit will release a mediocre politically charged concept album? Will Chappell Roan get any better at doing press? All these questions, and more, weigh on me as this year ends and next year nears its beginning. For now, I’m appreciating all the good music we got in the last 12 months, and hoping 2025 can keep up.