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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Klezmer Spiderland
I've heard people say things like "I'd like this album more if it were instrumental," but I don't think I've ever personally felt that way before. Well, I have now. I don't dislike the singer's voice here, but the hammy, smarmy inflection he uses is infuriating to listen to. And the lyrics are so bad. Maybe just not my cup of tea, as I don't think I've read other complaints about them, but they're epically, impressively bad for me. Lyrical gems on this album include:
- Referencing that "the car goes beep beep beep" song
- "She sells chemtrails"
- Using the word Nutribullet, which isn't bad on its own I guess (Nick Cave once namedropped Wikipedia and it didn't ruin the song) but it sounded pretty bad in context
- Shouting "references, references!" in a dizzy climactic spiral
- Mentioning black midi, which was easily the worst lyrical moment here
I'm sure there were others too. What I dislike about that last one was its self-awareness, which came off a lot less clever than they probably thought. If you've read anything about this album it's probably about how indebted it is to Slint and the post-rock greats, and that they're kind of in the same class as black midi in that way (though they were much more indebted to post punk). There actually was a kind of funny part here where they call themselves the second best Slint tribute band, which at the time I thought was clever, but after hearing them continue to reference other bands, especially black midi, it just got tiring.
Here's the thing: I don't think the music here is really all that indebted to Slint. It's really great musically, and this isn't even a sound I typically like. The horns come in at just the right times, the drums skip along playfully, and the Eastern European influences are integrated well. I was pretty worried going into this that it would sound like a retread, and instrumentally I don't think it does. But slap on those vocals and you instantly get what might not even be the second best Slint tribute band. It's pretty hard to ignore especially when these songs are largely about ennui and feel like they're trying to be copies of "Don Aman," but one version of that song on an album is enough. Also nothing here sounds as creepy or suffocating as "Don Aman." I'm really not sure what vibe they were going for. Middle class disillusionment? Not something I'm totally interested in right now.
So yeah, if you're able to ignore lyrics give this a listen. [First added to this chart: 02/27/2021]
Klezmer Spiderland
I've heard people say things like "I'd like this album more if it were instrumental," but I don't think I've ever personally felt that way before. Well, I have now. I don't dislike the singer's voice here, but the hammy, smarmy inflection he uses is infuriating to listen to. And the lyrics are so bad. Maybe just not my cup of tea, as I don't think I've read other complaints about them, but they're epically, impressively bad for me. Lyrical gems on this album include:
- Referencing that "the car goes beep beep beep" song
- "She sells chemtrails"
- Using the word Nutribullet, which isn't bad on its own I guess (Nick Cave once namedropped Wikipedia and it didn't ruin the song) but it sounded pretty bad in context
- Shouting "references, references!" in a dizzy climactic spiral
- Mentioning black midi, which was easily the worst lyrical moment here
I'm sure there were others too. What I dislike about that last one was its self-awareness, which came off a lot less clever than they probably thought. If you've read anything about this album it's probably about how indebted it is to Slint and the post-rock greats, and that they're kind of in the same class as black midi in that way (though they were much more indebted to post punk). There actually was a kind of funny part here where they call themselves the second best Slint tribute band, which at the time I thought was clever, but after hearing them continue to reference other bands, especially black midi, it just got tiring.
Here's the thing: I don't think the music here is really all that indebted to Slint. It's really great musically, and this isn't even a sound I typically like. The horns come in at just the right times, the drums skip along playfully, and the Eastern European influences are integrated well. I was pretty worried going into this that it would sound like a retread, and instrumentally I don't think it does. But slap on those vocals and you instantly get what might not even be the second best Slint tribute band. It's pretty hard to ignore especially when these songs are largely about ennui and feel like they're trying to be copies of "Don Aman," but one version of that song on an album is enough. Also nothing here sounds as creepy or suffocating as "Don Aman." I'm really not sure what vibe they were going for. Middle class disillusionment? Not something I'm totally interested in right now.
So yeah, if you're able to ignore lyrics give this a listen. [First added to this chart: 02/27/2021]
Year of Release:
2021
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,037
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% | |
| Sir Babygirl | 1 | 1% | |
| Faye Webster | 1 | 1% | |
| Black Country, New Road | 1 | 1% | |
| The World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die | 1 | 1% | |
| Arooj Aftab | 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 | 1,684 | 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.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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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