2020 is a year that will go down in infamy historically… but, has been a remarkable year musically.
For the last several years I have put out a list of my top albums of the year. This year, I kept a list of all the new albums I listened to. Instead of limiting to a finite number of favorite albums, I ranked them all. This worked out to 366 albums, one for each day of the year.
Here are my favorite albums that came out in 2020. The year may have sucked, but the music was fantastic. Thanks to Henry Rollins and his KCRW Radio Show, Iggy Pop’s Iggy Confidential, NPRs All Songs Considered, and all the other music sites that help to keep it fresh.
What did you listen to in 2020?
2020 Albums of the Year
- Spanish Love Songs, Brave Faces
Everyone
- Public Enemy, What You Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down
- IDLES, Ultra Mono
- Arca, KiCk i
- Nick Cave, Idiot Prayer
- clipping., Visions of Bodies Being Burned
- Mac Miller, Circles
- Run the Jewels, RTJ4
- Sault, Untitled (Black Is)
- Sarah Mary Chadwick, Please Daddy
- Mark Lanegan, Straight Songs of Sorrow
- Touche Amore, Lament
BAMBARA, Stray
- Tricky, Fall to Pieces
- Eminem, Music to be Murdered By
- Fontaines DC, A Hero’s Death
- Juice WRLD, Legends Never Die
- Drakeo the Ruler, Thank You for using GTL
- Fantastic Negrito, Have you lost your mind yet?
- Amnesia Scanner, Tearless
- Jeff Rosenstock, No Dream
- The Avalanches, We Will Always Love You
The Flaming Lips, American Head
- Protomartyr, Ultimate Success Today
- Perfume Genius, Set my heart on fire immediately
- Quakers, II-The Next Wave
- 2nd Grade, Hit to Hit
- Oh Sees, Panther Rotate
- Oh Sees, Metamorphosed
- Porridge Radio, Every Bad
- Nothing, The Great Dismal
- Grimes, This story is dedicated to all those cyberpunks
- Bill Callahan, Gold Record
- Cabaret Voltaire, Shadow of Fear
- Alien Nosejob, Suddenly Everything is Twice as Loud
- X, Alphabetland
- Princess Nokia, Everything Sucks
- Princess Nokia, Everything Is Beautiful
- Emel, The Tunis Diaries
- Metz, Atlas Vending
- Busta Rhymes, Extinction Level Event 2: The Wrath of God
- Coriky, Coriky
- Bob Mould, Blue Hearts
- Big Sean, Detroit 2
- Halsey, Manic
- Dogleg, Melee
- Juicy J, The Hustle Continues
- Orville Peck, Show Pony
- Sevdaliza, Shabrang
- Son Lux, Tomorrows II
Son Lux, Tomorrows I
- Oh Sees, Protean Threat
- Cliquey Bitches, Scorpio Scorpio
- Gulfer, Gulfer
- J. Zunz, Hibiscus
- Black Thought, Streams of Thought Volume 3
- Shut it Down: Benefit for the movement for Black Lives
- Arca, Riquiqui Bronze Instances
- Ghostemane, Anti-icon
- Drakeo the Ruler, We Know the Truth
- Futuro, Os Segredos do Espaco e Tempo
- Sufjan Stevens, The Ascension
- Humanist, Humanist
- Drive by truckers, The New OK
- Logic, No Pressure
- The Innocence Mission, See You Tomorrow
- Le Butcherettes, Don’t Bleed
- Magik Markers, 2020
- Boris, Refrain
- Nerrves, We Were Too Late Anyway
- Alien Nosejob, Once Again the Present Becomes the Past
- Sleeper and Snake, Fresco Shed
- Oneohtrix Point Never, Magic Oneohtrix Point Never
- The Bug, In Blue
- Pop Smoke, Shoot for the stars aim for the moon
- Soakie, Soakie
- Diet Cig, Do you wonder about me?
- Svalbard, When I Die Will I Get Better?
- Ustad Saami, Pakistan is for the Peaceful
Body Count, Carnivore
- Neil Young, Homegrown
- Helena Deland, Someone New
- Chubby and the Gang, Speed Kills
- Pup, This place sucks ass
- Jehnny Beth, To Love is to Love
- Floral Tattoo, You can never have a long enough head start
- Moses Sumney, grae
- Kid Cudi, Man on the Moon iii
- J. S. Ondara, Folk n Roll Vol 1, Tales of Isolation
- Adrianne Lenker, instrumentals
- Soul Glo, Songs to Yeet at the Sun
- Adrianne Lenker, songs
- Bartees Strange, Live Forever
- Lomelda, Hannah
- Pearl Jam, Gigaton
- Waxahatchee, Saint Cloud
- The Psychedelic Furs, Made of Rain
- Dead lips, dead lips
- The Waterboys, Good Luck, Seeker
- Illuminati hotties, FREE I.H. This is not the one you’ve been waiting for
- Ozzy Osbourne, Ordinary Man
- AC/DC, Power Up
- Good Sad Happy Bad, Shades
- Mourn, Self Worth
- Gorillaz, Song Machine Episode 6
- Childish Gambino, 3.15.20
- The Cravats, Hooraland
- Little Simz, Drop 6
- Anti-Flag, 20/20 Vision
- Hamilton Leithauser, The Loves of your life
- The Weekend, After Hours
- Charli XCX, how I’m feeling now
- Grimes, Miss Anthropocene
Undeath, Lesions of a Different Kind
- Angel Olson, Whole New Mess
- Avett Brothers, The Third Gleam
- Oklou, Galore
- Lambchop, Trip
- Death Valley Girls, Under the Spell of Joy
- The Mountain Goats, Getting Into Knives
- The Sea The Sea, Stumbling Home
- Rina Sawayama, Sawayama
- Deafbrick, Deafkids & Petbrick
- Open Mike Eagle, Anime, Trauma, and Divorce
- Jello Biafra & The Guantanomo School of Medicine, Tea Party Revenge Porn
- Sleaford Mods, All That Glue
- Eighth Blackbird, Singing in the Dead of Night
- Phoebe Bridgers, Punisher
Rita Indiana, Mandinga Times
- Miley Cyrus, Plastic Hearts
- Fleet Foxes, Shore
- Knot, Knot
- Noveller, Arrow
- Siti Muharam, Siti of Unguja
- Jockstrap, Beavercore
- Damaged Bug, Bug on Yonkers
- Bob Dylan, Rough and Ready Ways
- The Strokes, The New Abnormal
- Dizzee Rascal, E3 AF
- Fuzz, III
- Alan Vega, City
- Seth Bogart, Men on the Verge of Nothing
- Boris, No
- Halsey, Manic: Or are you normal
- Tori Amos, Christmastide
- Tom Morello, Comandante
- Black Eyed Peas, Translation
- Bright Eyes, Down in the Weeds, Where the world once was
- Elvis Costello, Hello Clockface
- Juliana Barwick, Healing is a miracle
- Code Orange, Underneath
- Eminem, Music to be Murdered by Side B
- Annaca, Solace
- Sightless Pit, Grave of a Dog
- Nova Twins, Who are the girls?
- Ian William Craig, Red Sun Through Smoke
- Krust, The Edge of Everything
- Taylor Swift, Evermore
- David Bowie, ChangesNowBowie
- Elliot Smith, Elliot Smith Expanded 25th Anniversary Edition
- The White Stripes, Greatest Hits
- Beastie Boys, Beastie Boys Music
- Pylon, Pylon Box
- David Bowie, Liveandwell.com
- Pearl Jam, MTV Unplugged
- Special Interest, The passion of
- Stormlight, Natoma
- Fake Names, Fake Names
- Boneflower, Armour
- The Lawrence Arms, Skeleton Coast
- Stay Inside, Viewing
- Daniel Blumberg, On&On
- No Home, F’ing Hell
- Kath Bloom, Bye Bye These are the Days
- Closedown, Bask in the Dancing Light
- Dream Wife, So When You Gonna
- A. Swayze & the Ghosts, Paid Salvation
- L. A. Witch, Play with fire
- Awich, Partition
- Lafawndah, The Fifth Season
- Same, Plastic Western
- Mozzy, Beyond bulletproof
- Permanent Residue, S/T Tape
- Fossil Arm, In Bad Decline
- Wednesday, I was trying to describe you to someone
- The Cool Greenhouse, The Cool Greenhousefpo
- Megan thee Stallion, Good News
- Bree Runway, 200ANDEVA
- Wayfarer, A Romance with Violence
- Brigid Dawson and the Mother Network, Battle of Apes
- Lucinda Williams, Good souls better angels
- Songdog, A Happy Endin
- Infant Island, Sepulcher
- Midewife, Forever
- Deradoorian, Find the Sun
- Sneaks, Happy Birthday
- Alicia Keys, Alicia
- Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist, Alfredo
- Sad13, Haunted Painting
- Frock Destroyers, Frock4Life
- Green Day, Father of all
- Fra Fra, Funeral Songs
- The Suicide Machine, Revolution Spring
- THICK, 5 Years Behind
- Thundercat, It is what it is
- Cold Beat, Mother
- Jonsi, Shiver
- Roisin Murphy, Roisin Machine
- Lucrecia Dalt, No Era Solida
- 21 Savage, Savage Mode II
- King Princess, Cheap Queen
- Junglepussy, JP4
- Speaker Music, Black Nationalist Sonic Weaponry
- Yaeji, What We Drew
- Frail Hands, parted/departed/apart
- Ora Cogan, , Bells in the Ruins
- Apollo Brown and Che Noir, As God Intended
- Wu Fei and Abigail Washburn, Wu Fei and Abigail Washburn
- Autechre, Sign
- TORRES, Silver Tongue
- Nas, King’s Disease
- Boston Manner, Glue
- Sam Prekop, Comma
- Shackleton, Primal Forms
- JARV IS…, Beyond the Pale
- Wind Atlas, Arche-Fossil
- Days and Daze, Show me the blueprints
- Nine Inch Nails, Ghosts V
- Nine Inch Nails, Ghosts VI
- A. G. Cook, Apple
- Bad Bunny, YHLQMDLG
- Strike Anywhere, Nightmares of the West
- Jake Blount, Spider Tales
- dj blackpower, BLP2020 King of the Night
- Travis, 10 Songs
- Arrested Development, Don’t Fight Your Demons
- Tame Impala, The Slow Rush
- Brendan Benson, Dear Life
- Adulkt Life, Book of Curses
- The Beths, Jump Rope Gazers
- Palm Reader, Sleepless
- Loma, Don’t Shy Away
- Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou, May Our Chambers Be Full
- Mr Bungle, The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo
- Soko, Feel Feelings
- Numun, Voyage Au Soleil
- KA, Descendents of Cain
- Jay Electronica, A Written Testimony
- Marilyn Manson, We Are Chaos
- Crack Cloud, Pain Olympics
- Wilma Archer, A Western Circular
- Fossil Island, In Bad Decline
- The Chats, High Risk Behavior
- Sweeping Promises, Hunger for a way out
- Nils Frahm, Empty
- Yuja Wang, John Adams: Must the devil have all the good tunes?
- Es, Less of Everything
- Dua Lipa, Future Nostalgia
- Paul McCartney, McCartney III
- Kelly Lee Owens, Inner Song
- Haley Williams, Petals for Armor
- Car Seat Headrest, Making a door less open
- FACS, Void Moments
- JFDR, New Dreams
- Lithics, Tower of age
- Algiers, There is No Year
- Nazar, Guerilla
- Blawan, Immulsion
- Gaika, Seguridad
- Nuvolascura. As we suffer from memory and imagination
- Melenas, Dias Raros
- Behemouth, A Forest
- Michael Rother, Dreaming
- Mutant Love, Revolution Redacted Pt. 1
- Lady Gaga, Chromatica
- Annie, Dark Hearts
- Anjimile, Giver Taker
- Hilary Woods, Birthmarks
- Hook, Crashed My Car
- The Bombpops, Death in Venice Beach
- Inexorum, Moonlit Naviation
- Soccer96. Tactics
- Soccer mommy, color theory
- Cable Ties, Fair Enough
- Alice Bag, Sister Dynamite
- The Soft Pink Truth, Shall we go on sinning that grace May increase?
- Four Year Strong, Brain Pain
- Lil Uzi Vert, Eternal Atake
- Ratboys, Printer’s Devil
- Spun Out, Touch the Sound
- Troye Sivan, In a dream
- Jonnine, Super Natural
- Hamerkop, remote
- Drive-by truckers, the unraveling
- Gorillaz, Song Machine, Season One: Strange TImez
- Five Finger Death Punch, F8
- Aesop Rock, Spirit World Field Guide
- Small Bills, Don’t Play it Straight
- The 1975, Notes on a Conditional Form
- Godcaster, Long Haired Locusts
- Fiona Apple, Fetch the bolt cutters
- Garcia Peoples, Nightcap at Wits’ End
- The Lovely Eggs, I Am Mormon
Pure X, Pure X
- Code Orange, Under the Skin
- Disclosure, Energy
- James Williamson & Deniz Tek,Two to One
- Andy Bell, The View from Halfway Down
- Rafiq Bhatia, Standards Vol 1
- Nicole Atkins, Italian Ice
- The Revivalists, Made is Muscle Shoals
- Mura Masa, RYC
- envy, The Fallen Crimson
- Duma, Duma
- Big Freedia, Louder
- Khruangbin, Mordechai
- Bit of, teenage wasteland
- Peach, Peach
- Baxter Dury, The Night Chancers
- Kevin Morby, Sundowner
- Polo G, The Goat
- Tamikrest, Tamotait
- Bishop Nehru, Nehruvia: My disregarded thoughts
- GVLLS, Ep 2020
- Cantine Sbuccia Split by Deaf Lingo, Double No
- Cowboy Junkies, Ghosts
- Partynextdoor, Partymobile
- David Keenan, A Beginners Guide to Bravery
- Forest Drive West, Parallel Space
- Folian, Blue Mirror
- Wire, Mind Hive
- Smarts, Who Needs Smarts Anyway
- Ohmme, Fantasize Your Ghost
- Black 47, Saint Patrick’s Day Party
- CJ Fly, RUDEBWOY
- Afterbirth, Four Dimensional Flesh
- Kamaiyah, Got it Made
- Future, High Off Life
- Marcus King, El Dorado
- Sufjan Stevens and Lowell Brams, Aporia
- Lukas Nelson, Naked Garden
- Bobby Conn, Recovery
- Lido Pimienta, Miss Colombia
- Wasted Shirt, Fungus II
- Pa Salieu, Send them to Coventry
- Bbymutha, Muthaleficent
- Too Much, Club Emotion
- Trupa Trupa, I’ll Find
- Agnes Obel, Myopia
- AWOLNATION, Angel Miners and the Lightning Riders
- Peel Dream Machine, Agitprop Alterna
- Brian Fallon, Local Honey
- Royce Da 5’9″, The Allegory
- Melenas, Dias Raros
- Isobel Campbell, There is no other
- 070 Shake, Modus Vivendi
- Billie Joe Armstrong, No Fun Mondays
- No Joy, Motherhood
- Jessie Ware, What’s Your Pleasure
- Johanna Warren, Chaotic Good
- Brent Faiyaz, F the World
- Future Islands, As Long As You Are
- Paul Weller, On Sunset
- Buscabulla, Regresa
- Delanila, Overloaded
- Tide Lines, Eye of the Storm