The Music's Top 20 Albums of 2021

Say what you will about 2021 (we'll just be happy once it's over), but it produced a wealth of amazing albums. The quality and quantity of new music released over the past 12 months both at home and abroad was sensational (it seems many artists were productive during lockdown) and while narrowing down a top 20 was a hard task, we took a poll around the office and with our writers to curated a list that we believe at least in part defined 2021.

Published: December 22, 2021 00:44 Source

# 1
30 by Adele
Album • Nov 19 / 2021 Pop Soul
# 2
Album • Sep 10 / 2021 Garage Punk
# 3
Album • Oct 15 / 2021 Pop Rap Conscious Hip Hop
# 4
Album • Jul 30 / 2021 Alt-Pop Contemporary R&B
# 5
Album • Aug 20 / 2021 Shoegaze
# 6
Under These Streets by Emma Donovan & The Putbacks
Album • Sep 17 / 2021
# 7
Album • Oct 22 / 2021 Metalcore Mathcore
# 8
Album • Nov 12 / 2021 Deep House Dance-Pop
# 9
Album • Mar 15 / 2021 Neo-Soul
# 10
Album • Aug 27 / 2021 Art Pop Alternative Rock Electronic
# 11
Album • Jun 25 / 2021 Neo-Soul
# 12
Album • Jun 11 / 2021 Neo-Psychedelia Psychedelic Pop
# 13
Album • Mar 19 / 2021 Indie Rock
# 14
3 by Ngaiire
Album • Aug 27 / 2021 Alternative R&B Art Pop
# 15
Album • Feb 25 / 2021 Chamber Pop Art Pop
# 16
Album • Feb 05 / 2021 Art Pop Alt-Pop
# 17
Album • May 21 / 2021 Pop Singer-Songwriter
# 18
Album • Oct 22 / 2021 Post-Punk Indie Rock
# 19
Album • Aug 27 / 2021 Post-Hardcore Alternative Rock
# 20
Album • May 14 / 2021 Alternative Rock Power Pop