Top 88 Music Albums of 2021
by 
babyBlueSedan 
My new year's resolution, besides stopping all the pollution, is to create a happy, positive 2021 year chart. Nice critiques only! Well, at least as far as I can without saying nice things about bad albums, because positivity without realism is worthless. But in a positive way!
Also putting more effort into nonsensical genres because what's more fun than that?!
May update: well so much for positivity - I feel like my rating has gotten even harsher. My optimistic side thinks it's because I've heard so much good music that it's harder for new things I hear to stand out, but my pessimistic side thinks it's because I'm too old and can no longer enjoy new music. I guess in both cases it just means I'm even pickier now.
- Chart updated: 02/12/2022 23:15
- (Created: 01/24/2021 03:31).
- Chart size: 88 albums.
There are 2 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 88 Music Albums of 2021 has an average rating of 89 out of 100 (from 3 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
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80/100
Disintegration noise
Low have shown up as a top 5 band on my Spotify Wrapped a few times now, and if they don't take the top spot this year I'll be pretty shocked*. You'd think based on that they're one of my favorite bands, but I actually find them really hit or miss. The amount I listen to them is based on trying all of their albums in the hopes I'll find one that's consistent; I swear they all have one or two amazing songs but are also all way too long and are dragged down by the one or two songs that are not just slow but actively against moving toward any kind of resolution. Trust is probably my favorite of theirs but it's an 80 tops and the majority of their stuff is in the 65-70 range for me.
I feel like I've reached some type of peace this year though in deciding that their early albums are not my thing. As I said, they have some gems. "Words" is an all timer, "Lullaby" is really nice, and the one-two punch of "Do You Know How to Waltz?" into "Dark" at the end of Curtain Hits the Cast may be my favorite moment of theirs on record. But overall they're just too slow. Which always seemed to be the point to me, so I thought I was missing the point of the band. But Double Negative saved me a bit, as it introduced me to their broken, noisy side. This led me back to Ones and Sixes (underrated, should have listened sooner) and The Great Destroyer. That one always seemed to get flack for being the antithesis of Low, but I think its overblown, pushing the speakers towards distortion loudness really suited the band. They started slow and quiet because they wanted to be the antithesis of alt rock, but The Great Destroyer isn't a Nirvana album. It's still intentionally difficult and off-putting, in its own way.
And in that sense I think HEY WHAT is The Great Destroyer more fully realized. It's not just loud but also fractured, the sound of a consistently broken mental state recorded onto wax. The first time I heard the anti-gospel of "Days Like These" I was blown away, only to be absolutely obliterated at the reprise of the main melody, the one where it blasts into the red and you can hear your speakers blowing out. It wasn't necessarily that I hadn't heard anything like it before, but I hadn't heard this done in this way, so sweetly soothing and uplifting but also drowned in tinnitus and ennui. So fuck if I wasn't absolutely floored by "More," which was even better, and pretty much the ideal of what I want from noisy music.
Thankfully this isn't just 45 minutes of "More," because that would be unbearable. But the rest still manages to be both beautiful and ugly, with harmonies set next to what must be a minute straight of the same chord between the first two songs. This is as cold and bleak as the Duluth winter, but also something that I feel fully envelops me, which I can't say about their first few albums. Low's trajectory reminds me a lot of Nick Cave's at least in the sense that this late career trilogy of albums are - against all odds - their best work.
*They took the second spot, behind Modest Mouse. I forgot I got obsessed with them once more and listened to all their albums a couple times over the summer. But Days Like These was my top song. [First added to this chart: 09/29/2021]
Disintegration noise
Low have shown up as a top 5 band on my Spotify Wrapped a few times now, and if they don't take the top spot this year I'll be pretty shocked*. You'd think based on that they're one of my favorite bands, but I actually find them really hit or miss. The amount I listen to them is based on trying all of their albums in the hopes I'll find one that's consistent; I swear they all have one or two amazing songs but are also all way too long and are dragged down by the one or two songs that are not just slow but actively against moving toward any kind of resolution. Trust is probably my favorite of theirs but it's an 80 tops and the majority of their stuff is in the 65-70 range for me.
I feel like I've reached some type of peace this year though in deciding that their early albums are not my thing. As I said, they have some gems. "Words" is an all timer, "Lullaby" is really nice, and the one-two punch of "Do You Know How to Waltz?" into "Dark" at the end of Curtain Hits the Cast may be my favorite moment of theirs on record. But overall they're just too slow. Which always seemed to be the point to me, so I thought I was missing the point of the band. But Double Negative saved me a bit, as it introduced me to their broken, noisy side. This led me back to Ones and Sixes (underrated, should have listened sooner) and The Great Destroyer. That one always seemed to get flack for being the antithesis of Low, but I think its overblown, pushing the speakers towards distortion loudness really suited the band. They started slow and quiet because they wanted to be the antithesis of alt rock, but The Great Destroyer isn't a Nirvana album. It's still intentionally difficult and off-putting, in its own way.
And in that sense I think HEY WHAT is The Great Destroyer more fully realized. It's not just loud but also fractured, the sound of a consistently broken mental state recorded onto wax. The first time I heard the anti-gospel of "Days Like These" I was blown away, only to be absolutely obliterated at the reprise of the main melody, the one where it blasts into the red and you can hear your speakers blowing out. It wasn't necessarily that I hadn't heard anything like it before, but I hadn't heard this done in this way, so sweetly soothing and uplifting but also drowned in tinnitus and ennui. So fuck if I wasn't absolutely floored by "More," which was even better, and pretty much the ideal of what I want from noisy music.
Thankfully this isn't just 45 minutes of "More," because that would be unbearable. But the rest still manages to be both beautiful and ugly, with harmonies set next to what must be a minute straight of the same chord between the first two songs. This is as cold and bleak as the Duluth winter, but also something that I feel fully envelops me, which I can't say about their first few albums. Low's trajectory reminds me a lot of Nick Cave's at least in the sense that this late career trilogy of albums are - against all odds - their best work.
*They took the second spot, behind Modest Mouse. I forgot I got obsessed with them once more and listened to all their albums a couple times over the summer. But Days Like These was my top song. [First added to this chart: 09/29/2021]
Year of Release:
2021
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,329
Rank in 2021:
Rank in 2020s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 1. Page 1 of 1
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Top 88 Music Albums of 2021 composition
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| Lana Del Rey | 2 | 2% | |
| R.A.P. Ferreira | 2 | 2% | |
| Cloud Nothings | 1 | 1% | |
| Deafheaven | 1 | 1% | |
| The Weather Station | 1 | 1% | |
| Japanese Breakfast | 1 | 1% | |
| The Armed | 1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| |
55 | 63% | |
 |
14 | 16% | |
 |
3 | 3% | |
 |
3 | 3% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 88 Music Albums of 2021 chart changes
| Biggest climbers |
|---|
| Up 3 from 6th to 3rd Inpariquipê by Kaatayra |
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 1 from 3rd to 4th Glow On by Turnstile |
| Down 1 from 4th to 5th Seek Shelter by Iceage |
| Down 1 from 5th to 6th Nafs At Peace by Jaubi |
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Other year charts by babyBlueSedan
(from the 2020s)| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top 19 Music Albums of 2023 | babyBlueSedan | 2023 year chart | 2023 | |
| Top 97 Music Albums of 2022 | babyBlueSedan | 2022 year chart | 2022 | |
| Top 88 Music Albums of 2021 | babyBlueSedan | 2021 year chart | 2022 | |
babyBlueSedan has created 71 other 2021 year charts - click here to explore them all.
Top 88 Music Albums of 2021 ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
N.B. The average rating for this chart will not be reliable as it has been rated very few times.
Showing all 3 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 02/09/2022 19:45 | DJENNY | 4,365 | 100/100 |
| ! | 06/06/2021 13:24 |  travelful | 208 | 99/100 |
| ! | 05/18/2021 08:34 |  Purplepash | 1,682 | 88/100 |
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Top 88 Music Albums of 2021 comments
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From babyBlueSedan 06/13/2021 16:13 | #270601
babyBlueSedan 06/13/2021 16:13 | #270601
Thanks for the rec! I've definitely been out of the hip hop loop the past few years, I hadn't even heard of Mach-Hommy until he showed up on one of billy woods's albums in 2019. I think I knew about the album he released a single copy of before hearing about the new one but then I saw he's got a huge discography and wasn't sure where to go next. It's hard for me to find the time lately to spend digesting new hip hop albums to the extent they deserve but I'll try to give it a chance when I can.
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From travelful 06/06/2021 13:29 | #270425
travelful 06/06/2021 13:29 | #270425
Glad you liked Mach-Hommy! He's one of the most underrated rappers currently, and its primarily his fault for making his music so inaccessible. His best album in my opinion is "Haitian Body Odor" (HBO) and thankfully it's on SoundCloud. Similar to "Pray For Haiti" it released under Griselda Records. It was his Griselda debut back in 2016 before him and Westside Gunn had a falling out due to creative differences. I think it's a top 10 hip-hop album of the last decade, maybe it would interest you.
Always love following your charts.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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