Mid-Decade Lists (Best of the 2020s So Far)

The 100 Best Albums of the 2020s So Far
The 100 Best Songs of the 2020s So Far

Guess it's time for these. Feel free to compile your own in here too.

 

I have a lot to say about both these, but the main and most pressing issue for me—why the fuck are we pretending 2019 is part of the 2020s

 

That album list is crazy haha. Dijon & mk.gee on there rocks though.

 

a lot of surprising things on that list but I am most shocked at Punisher's placement. I thought that would be seen as one of the best.

 

That album list is one of the more interesting ones I've seen in a while. Lots of good stuff on there.

I don't think this decade has produced very many "all-time" classics for me yet. A ton of really good music, but not a lot that I think will be on the end of 2020s list, imo.

 

Yeah, that one definitely feels low. Arguably the most influential album of the decade so far?

 

Lol at the MJ Lenderman blurb

 

Pretty good list from pitchfork there actually, definitely have issue with the ordering but that’s an impossible task. I often barely agree with my own sequencing haha

 

Is this explained anywhere? Or is it just as simple as "These three came out after we locked our decade list that we for some reason had to publish in October"?

 

FTBC as number one is extremely correct

 

Whoa Yasmin Williams with the appearance. I completely agree, but shocked to see it on there.

Also, idk why certain 2019 albums made the list, but Purple Mountains is an all timer that def should be there if they are including 2019.

 

Here's a quick top 10 for me so far;

1. There Will be Fireworks - Summer Moon
2. Julien Baker - Little Oblivions
3. Foreign Television - Cartoon Sun
4. Young Fathers - Heavy Heavy
5. The Tallest Man on Earth - Henry St
6. Japanese Breakfast - Jubilee
7. Spanish Love Songs - Brave Faces Everyone
8. Porridge Radio - Every Bad
9. Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher
10. Novo Amor - Cannot Be, Whatsoever

Very quick, and nothing from this year yet, but that looks about right to me.

 

Album list from p4k is pretty good, though I found myself groaning through the top 10 a bit. And no Hum Inlet is a shame.

Song list is the bad version of p4k to a t

 

Off the cuff top ten of the decade so far for me:

Maxwell Stern - Impossible Sum
Spanish Love Songs - No Joy
The Wonder Years - The Hum Goes On Forever
Gang of Youths - Angel In Realtime
Signals Midwest - Dent
Spanish Love Songs - Brave Faces Everyone
Adjy - The Idyll Opus (I-VI)
Maxwell Stern - In the Good Light
The Gaslight Anthem - History Books
The Killers - Pressure Machine

Honorable mentions: Sour, both Bleachers albums, Being Funny In a Foreign Language, Aaron West.

 

lol Im definitely not that target audience for that album p4k list, I've only listened to like 10% of it. Glow On is the only album there that would make any 2020s decade list if I made one.

 

Chuquimamani-Condori album is very cool

 

huge shoutout for including that TMOE album! this is a cool list, I'll check out the ones I haven't heard

 

top of my head, alphabetical order

Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want To Turn Into You
Cassandra Jenkins - An Overview on Phenomenal Nature
Christian Lee Hutson - Beginners
Dominic Fike - Sunburn
Gang of Youths - angel in realtime.
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Reunions
Katie Pruitt - Expectations
Ken Yates - Quiet Talkers
Master Peace - How To Make A Master Peace
Nation of Language - Introduction, Presence
Olivia Rodrigo - GUTS
Pusha T - It's Almost Dry
Ratboys - The Window
Ruston Kelly - Shape & Destroy
Strand of Oaks - In Heaven
Strange Ranger - Pure Music
Taylor Swift - Folklore
The War On Drugs - I Don't Live Here Anymore
Waxahatchee - Saint Cloud
The 1975 - Being Funny In A Foreign Language

---

year order shows biases towards pandemic listening

2020
Christian Lee Hutson - Beginners
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Reunions
Katie Pruitt - Expectations
Ken Yates - Quiet Talkers
Nation of Language - Introduction, Presence
Ruston Kelly - Shape & Destroy
Taylor Swift - Folklore
Waxahatchee - Saint Cloud

2021
Cassandra Jenkins - An Overview on Phenomenal Nature
Strand of Oaks - In Heaven
The War On Drugs - I Don't Live Here Anymore

2022
Gang of Youths - angel in realtime.
Pusha T - It's Almost Dry
The 1975 - Being Funny In A Foreign Language

2023
Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want To Turn Into You
Dominic Fike - Sunburn
Olivia Rodrigo - GUTS
Ratboys - The Window
Strange Ranger - Pure Music

2024
Master Peace - How To Make A Master Peace

 

Services 1 — SMALL ALBUMS

 

I think this is probably my top 10 right now, acknowledging that 2024 is not over yet and might still shake things up!

1. Gang of Youths – angel in realtime.
2. Katie Pruitt – Expectations
3. Taylor Swift – folklore
4. Ken Yates – Quiet Talkers
5. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – Reunions
6. The Killers – Pressure Machine
7. Kelsea Ballerini – Rolling up the Welcome Mat
8. Zach Bryan – American Heartbreak
9. Holly Humberstone – Paint My Bedroom Black
10. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – Weathervanes

 

@Craig Manning did you ever listen to that Strand of Oaks record?

 

Yes! I had kind of forgotten about it, but remember enjoying it in 2021. Should revisit.

The ones I haven't heard on your list:

Cassandra Jenkins - An Overview on Phenomenal Nature
Dominic Fike - Sunburn
Master Peace - How To Make A Master Peace
Nation of Language - Introduction, Presence
Pusha T - It's Almost Dry
Strange Ranger - Pure Music

 

tracks 8 and 9 on the Strand Of Oaks album would tank it out of my list if 5 of the first 7 weren't so stunningly good at a time when I really needed to hear them.

Cassanda Jenkins and Strange Ranger are the two from here I'd recommend for you. that Strange Ranger album in particular is like Jimmy Eat World doing The Blue Nile's Hats.

Take CJ on a nature walk and Strange Ranger on a night drive.

 

I’ll do a much more in-depth re-listen of stuff some time next year to make a better list, but my gut reaction list has, in some order:

The Arcadian Wild - Welcome
Colony House - Leave What’s Lost Behind
Fleet Foxes - Shore
Hippo Campus - LP3
Kings Kaleidoscope - Baptized Imagination
Manchester Orchestra - The Million Masks of God
Misterwives - SUPERBLOOM
MUNA - MUNA
Noah Kahan - Stick Season
Novo Amor - Cannot Be, Whatsoever
Oh Wonder - 22 Break
Orla Gartland - Woman On The Internet
PVRIS - Use Me
SYML - The Day My Father Died
Vampire Weekend - Only God Was Above Us