Best Albums of 2020

Last week, I released an episode on my podcast, "Groupie and Harmony" that discussed the albums I considered to be the 10 best albums in depth (I also discussed 5 honorable mentions, 3 of which were ineligible for my list and 2 of which just missed the mark).  Here, I will list all the 2020 albums I graded 5 stars, the albums that just missed, the albums I considered the worst, and breaking down the albums into genres and other groupings.

The albums that are considered here are original studio albums released in 2020.  Examples of albums excluded include albums not released in 2020, live albums, extended plays, compilation albums, and re-recordings of previously released albums.  Three examples that I graded as 5 stars that are excluded are Fine Line by Harry Styles (released in late 2019 and I accidentally left it off my 2019 list thinking it was released in early 2020), The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo by Mr. Bungle (a re-recording of a previously released demo with minimal new material), and Post Human:  Survival Horror by Bring Me the Horizon (considered an extended play by the band).  While I am open to including extended plays in the future due to the high number of K-pop groups that release EP's rather than albums, I didn't account for them this year.  I also didn't listen to every album released in 2020, but I listened to over 100 of various genres.

Before I list the albums here, I would like to clarify my grade system.  In a 5 star scale, many consider 1 star to be bad, 2 stars to be below average, 3 stars to be average, 4 stars to be great, and 5 stars to be a legendary album (some critics have the mindset that no album should be a 5 star album).  I disagree with this mindset when an album is new because nobody knows how the album will age, so avoiding giving an album 5 stars for any reason other than it isn't a 5 star album is ridiculous.  Rather, I grade new albums as 1 stars is horrible, 2 stars is somewhere between bad and below average, 3 stars is average, 4 stars is good, 5 stars is great.  My grades are different if I consider albums released more than around 5 years ago (my scale then approaches the scale I described initially).  Due to my more generous rankings for newer albums, my grades are frequently higher those of many critics and I have a high number of 5 star albums.  This year, I graded 29 albums as 5 stars and seriously considered 12 others.

5 Star Albums

These are the 29 albums I gave stars to.

1. Punisher, Phoebe Bridgers
2. Grae, Moses Sumney
3. Rough and Rowdy Ways, Bob Dylan
4. Folklore, Taylor Swift
5. The Ascension, Sufjan Stevens
6. Manic, Halsey
7. Ohms, Deftones
8. The Goat, Polo G
9. Underneath, Code Orange
10. Good News, Megan Thee Stallion
11. It Is What It Is, Thundercat
12. Chromatica, Lady Gaga
13. Do You Wonder About Me, Diet Cig
14. 3.15.20, Childish Gambino
15. Evermore, Taylor Swift
16. Fetch the Bolt Cutters, Fiona Apple
17. The Ghost Inside, The Ghost Inside
18. Shore, Fleet Foxes
19. RTJ4, Run the Jewels
20. Defender, August Burns Red
21. Melee, Dogleg
22. Letter to You, Bruce Springsteen
23. Women in Music Pt. III, Haim
24. After Hours, The Weeknd
25. Miss Anthropocene, Grimes
26. McCartney III, Paul McCartney
27. Gaslighter, The Chicks
28. High Risk Behavior, The Chats
29. YHLQMDLG, Bad Bunny

Close Calls

While there were several albums I gave 4.5 stars, these 12 narrowly missed being named 5 stars.

1. Good Souls Better Angels, Lucinda Williams
2. Ungodly Hour, Chloe x Halle
3. My Turn, Lil Baby
4. Map of the Soul:  7, BTS
5. Reunions, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
6. Alicia, Alicia Keys
7. Palimpset, Protest the Hero
8. Djesse Vol. 3, Jacob Coulier
9. Visions of Bodies Being Burned, Clipping.
10. A Heroes Death, Fontaines D.C.
11. Alfredo, Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist
12. Set My Heart on Fire Immediately, Perfume Genius

Best Rock Albums

I considered any album that is alternative, indie, metal, punk, or any forms of rock music.  Art pop and pop rock were considered on a case-by-case basis.

1. Punisher, Phoebe Bridgers
2. Ohms, Deftones
3. Underneath, Code Orange
4. Do You Wonder About Me, Diet Cig
5. Fetch the Bold Cutters, Fiona Apple
6. The Ghost Inside, The Ghost Inside
7. Defender, August Burns Red
8. Melee, Dogleg
9. Letter to You, Bruce Springsteen
10. Women in Music Pt. III, Haim

Best Pop Albums

I considered any album generally considered pop.  Art pop was considered on a case-by-case basis.  I also grouped K-pop in here, but reggaeton and Latin trap were generally grouped under rap/hip hop.

1. Folklore, Taylor Swift
2. Manic, Halsey
3. Chromatica, Lady Gaga
4. Evermore, Taylor Swift
5. After Hours, The Weeknd
6. Map of the Soul:  7, BTS
7. Set My Heart on Fire Immediately, Perfume Genius
8. How I'm Feeling Now, Charli XCX
9. These Two Windows, Alec Benjamin
10. Kid Krow, Conan Gray

Best Rap/Hip Hop Albums

I considered any album considered hip hop, rap, trap, drill, punk rap, emo rap, experimental hip hop, and any other style of rap/hip hop.  I also typically grouped reggaeton and Latin trap here, but K-pop with hip hop influence is groups under pop.

1. The Goat, Polo G
2. Good News, Megan Thee Stallion
3. 3.15.20, Childish Gambino
4. RTJ4, Run the Jewels
5. YHLQMDLG, Bad Bunny
6. My Turn, Lil Baby
7. Visions of Bodies Being Burned, Clipping.
8. Alfredo, Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist
9. A Written Testimony, Jay Electronica
10. Legends Never Die, Juice Wrld

Best Heavy Albums

In this category, I considered any album that is any style of metal, hard rock, post-hardcore, and any album that is arguably metal (i.e. Cloudkicker is on here, who is somewhere between progressive rock, progressive metal, and drone metal depending on the release).

1. Ohms, Deftones
2. Underneath, Code Orange
3. The Ghost Inside, The Ghost Inside
4. Defender, August Burns Red
5. Melee, Dogleg
6. Palimpset, Protest the Hero
7. Solitude, Cloudkicker
8. Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism, Napalm Death
9. Afterburner, Dance Gavin Dance
10. Power Up, AC/DC

Best Warped Tour Style Albums

I considered any artist that is pop punk, emo, punk, metalcore, hardcore punk, deathcore, and similar forms of music.  Post-punk is considered on a case-by-case basis.  An artist that has emo lyrics but stylistically isn't traditionally emo will not be included in this section (i.e. Phoebe Bridgers).

1. Underneath, Code Orange
2. The Ghost Inside, The Ghost Inside
3. Defender, August Burns Red
4. Melee, Dogleg
5. High Risk Behavior, The Chats
6. Ultra Mono, Idles
7. Afterburner, Dance Gavin Dance
8. Alphabetland, X
9. Tickets to My Downfall, Machine Gun Kelly
10. What the Dead Men Say, Trivium

Best Debut Albums

This list considers debut studio albums.  It does not account for mixtapes or EP's released previously; if an artist had a mixtape or EP released prior to their studio album, I only accounted for the album.

1. Good News, Megan Thee Stallion
2. Melee, Dogleg
3. High Risk Behavior, The Chats
4. A Written Testimony, Jay Electronica
5. ADHD, Joyner Lucas
6. Nightmare Vacation, Rico Nasty
7. These Two Windows, Alec Benjamin
8. Kid Krow, Conan Gray
9. The Album, Blackpink
10. Shoot for the Moon, Aim for the Stars, Pop Smoke

Best Weird Albums/Artists/Styles

This is subjective, but this list considers any artists whose music is eclectic, any album that utilizes an experimental or unusual style of music, or utilizes a wide variety of styles.  This does not necessarily mean I found the album to be strange.

1. Grae, Moses Sumney
2. The Ascension, Sufjan Stevens
3. Ohms, Deftones
4. It Is What It Is, Thundercat
5. Fetch the Bolt Cutters, Fiona Apple
6. Miss Anthropocene, Grimes
7. Visions of Bodies Being Burned, Clipping.
8. Set My Heart on Fire Immediately, Perfume Genius
9. Solitude, Cloudkicker
10. Ghosts VI:  Locusts, Nine Inch Nails

Best Albums that Didn't Chart on the Billboard 200.

This is a list of albums that didn't chart in the Top 200 on Billboard's U.S. Albums charts.  These albums might have charted in other countries or on other Billboard charts, but not on the Billboard 200.

1. Grae, Moses Sumney
2. Do You Wonder About Me, Diet Cig
3. Melee, Dogleg
4. Palimpset, Protest the Hero
5. Djesse Vol. 3, Jacob Coulier
6. Visions of Bodies Being Burned, Clipping.
7. A Hero's Death, Fontaines D.C.
8. Set My Heart on Fire Immediately, Perfume Genius
9. Whole New Mess, Angel Olsen
10. Solitude, Cloudkicker

Best Grammy Nominated Albums

These albums were nominated for an award at this year's Grammys.  Albums with a song nominated where the album wasn't nominated are not considered here.  Due to the eligibility period, no album released after August 31st is eligible to be nominated.

1. Punisher, Phoebe Bridgers
2. Folklore, Taylor Swift
3. It Is What It Is, Thundercat
4. Chromatica, Lady Gaga
5. Fetch the Bolt Cutters, Fiona Apple
6. Women in Music Pt. III, Haim
7. YHLQMDLG, Bad Bunny
8. Good Souls Better Angels, Lucinda Williams
9. Ungodly Hour, Chloe x Halle
10. Djesse Vol. 3, Jacob Coulier

Worst Album

Out of the albums I listened to, these are the albums I consider the worst of the year.  There were only 5 albums I considered noticeably worse than the others, so I only included 5 here.

1. Changes, Justin Bieber
2. The New Abnormal, The Strokes
3. Father of All Motherf*ckers, Green Day
4. CMFT, Corey Taylor
5. Rare, Selena Gomez

What were your favorite albums of the year?  What were your least favorite?  Any that you disagree with me about?  Let me know in the comments!