Top 100 Music Albums of 2022
by 
Arthurknight 
2022 was a really pleasant year for music. I think that sense of post-Covid energy shines through a lot of the albums that have come out and I for one like this as a nice change from the trend of bored artists making boring lockdown recordings which were continually dolled out as low-stakes releases throughout 2020 and 2021. Musically, the 2020s continue to not be particularly radical – nobodies making anything daringly "new" – but I think a set of sounds that distinguish the decade are beginning to emerge: It's the return of softcore, the "rock band", the concept album, and political music being cool again. Meanwhile, Tiktok looms over us all as the cultural behemoth which will eventually consume the entire industry and convert all artists into short-form vloggers peddling portable smoothie blenders.
Top 15 Songs of 2022:
1. Black Country, New Road: The Place Where He Inserted The Blade
2. Bluetile Lounge: Easterly
3. Blackwinterwells, 8485: halo3
4. Yo La Tengo – Fallout
5. Rachika Nayar, Maria BC – Heaven Comes Crashing
6. julie: pg. 4 a picture of three hedges
7. Kendrick Lamar - The Heart, Part 5
8. Horsegirl: Anti-glory
9. Julia Holter: Heloise
10. Uboa, vi a: Dead Time's Broken Arrow
11. Saya Gray: If There's No Seat In the Sky (Will You Forgive Me???)
12. Sons Of: A Yellow Robe
13. Enablers: Year Of The Dog
14. Jessie Ware: Free Yourself
15. Oiseaux-Tempête: A Man Alone - In A One Man Poem
Additional "Significant" reviews (Written reviews in album comments):
Sobs - Air Guitar: 6
Ethel Cain – Preacher's Daughter: 6
Belle and Sebastian – A Bit of Previous: 6
Sault – Air: 6
Soul Glo – Diaspora Problems: 6
Nouns – While of Unsound Mind: 6
Desire – Escape: 6
Pusha T – It's Almost Dry: 6
Wet Leg – Wet Leg: 6
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Omnium Gatherum: 6
Pinegrove – 1111: 6
FKA Twigs – Caprisongs: 6
Leikeli47 – Shape Up: 6
Earl Sweatshirt – Sick!: 6
Yard Act – The Overload: 5.5
Father John Misty – Chloë And The Next 20th Century: 5.5
Soccer Mommy – Sometimes, Forever: 5.5
Melody's Echo Chamber – Emotional Eternal: 5.5
Black Star – No Fear of Time: 5.5
Soccer Mommy – Somtimes, Forever: 5.5
The Weeknd – Dawn FM: 5
Spoon – Lucifer On The Sofa: 5
Jack White – Fear Of The Dawn: 5
Everything Everything – Raw Data Feel: 4.5
070 Shake – You Can't Kill Me: 4
Arcade Fire – We: 4
Arctic Monkeys – The Car: 2
Unsurprisingly, Muse released the year's worst album: a crass and masturbatory exercise in fantasised hubris masquerading as music. Will Of The People is the closest Muse have got to creating music that can work like the "Killer Joke" from Monty Python's Flying Circus, and after listening to it I could only wish that they had succeeded. Solid attempts at releasing worse music this year were made by Drake, Jack Harlow, and most-daringly Avril Lavigne, but it's hard to actively criticise the sausage factory for the junk it pumps out. Instead, Muse claim to be making art.
- Chart updated: 11/22/2024 02:15
- (Created: 02/07/2022 05:58).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
There are 3 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Music Albums of 2022 has an average rating of 90 out of 100 (from 5 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
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9/10
I found this too late for my 2022 EOY List but this record is so remarkably top notch for something so utterly unacknowledged by anyone. Gabriel isn't marketing his music very well but I think this has potential to get picked up in the next couple of years. Big influences from early 00s projects like Thee More Shallows and The Microphones, as well as some influences from IDM, ambient and even lighter post-rock outfits like The Sea and Cake. Great!
_ [First added to this chart: 11/30/2023]
I found this too late for my 2022 EOY List but this record is so remarkably top notch for something so utterly unacknowledged by anyone. Gabriel isn't marketing his music very well but I think this has potential to get picked up in the next couple of years. Big influences from early 00s projects like Thee More Shallows and The Microphones, as well as some influences from IDM, ambient and even lighter post-rock outfits like The Sea and Cake. Great!
_ [First added to this chart: 11/30/2023]
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9/10
Most of the things I didn't like about "For the first time" have been resolved in this release, it coheres better and resultantly is a more mature sophomore release. The departure of Isaac Woods also frames this record in a certain way that both accentuates its vulnerabilities and renders it as finite – precious even. I still find Chaos Space Marines a kinda bland track – I don't like the saxophone part, and it just doesn't drive whatsoever. Meanwhile, the line "She had Billie Eilish style" off Good Will Hunting is an even more cringey lyric than "I told you I loved you in front of black midi."
Apart from that though, it's a great record. Favourite song is "The Place Where He Inserted the Blade," which is maybe the band taking themselves the most seriously. Concorde and Bread Song also sound good in the context of the album, while the entire second half is very enjoyable. I can understand the hype, even if I remain a little more cautious.
_ [First added to this chart: 02/09/2022]
Most of the things I didn't like about "For the first time" have been resolved in this release, it coheres better and resultantly is a more mature sophomore release. The departure of Isaac Woods also frames this record in a certain way that both accentuates its vulnerabilities and renders it as finite – precious even. I still find Chaos Space Marines a kinda bland track – I don't like the saxophone part, and it just doesn't drive whatsoever. Meanwhile, the line "She had Billie Eilish style" off Good Will Hunting is an even more cringey lyric than "I told you I loved you in front of black midi."
Apart from that though, it's a great record. Favourite song is "The Place Where He Inserted the Blade," which is maybe the band taking themselves the most seriously. Concorde and Bread Song also sound good in the context of the album, while the entire second half is very enjoyable. I can understand the hype, even if I remain a little more cautious.
_ [First added to this chart: 02/09/2022]
Year of Release:
2022
Appears in:
Rank Score:
7,156
Rank in 2022:
Rank in 2020s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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9/10
It's hard to imagine the former bassist for the utterly inconsequential Daniel Caesar would release one of 2022's most consequential album, let alone it be a sprawling 19-track 50 minute debut record that would go overlooked by almost everyone. Saya Gray is a Japanese Canadian artists and 19 Masters is a weird album that takes the pop song formula and turns all its tropes into textures. Acoustic guitars sound like they're run through cheese graters, vocals recorded in oil drums, drums like fingers tapping away at old mechanical keyboards; it's serene.
_ [First added to this chart: 11/22/2022]
It's hard to imagine the former bassist for the utterly inconsequential Daniel Caesar would release one of 2022's most consequential album, let alone it be a sprawling 19-track 50 minute debut record that would go overlooked by almost everyone. Saya Gray is a Japanese Canadian artists and 19 Masters is a weird album that takes the pop song formula and turns all its tropes into textures. Acoustic guitars sound like they're run through cheese graters, vocals recorded in oil drums, drums like fingers tapping away at old mechanical keyboards; it's serene.
_ [First added to this chart: 11/22/2022]
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8.5/10
Ok so I may be one of the only big Yonatan Gat proponents on this site – a major part of his appeal is probably conditional on being a guitarist – but I sincerely think he's on the cutting edge of contemporary instrumental music, which is odd because so much of his sound is in short: regressive. While it's a bit of a generalisation to say this, I think it rings true as a trend. I contend that guitarists of the modern post-rock-Zeitgeist era try to compose guitar parts that obscure the guitar and its being played as the sound-source. Whether it's boutique pedals or production that clips out plucking and diminishes the sound of space – studio space – or just melodies that are not ambitious or excessively proud (the guitar solo is dead for a reason), once the veritable co-frontman, the guitarists of today's bands have names unknown to even their biggest fans.
Yonatan Gat throws all that shadow-play out and makes music that centres the instrument and never lets you lose the visual image of a musician playing it, which is honestly – in this context of musical synthesisation – liberating to hear. It's only natural that, for this album, Gat re-arranged Antonin Dvořák's heavily folk-inspired classical suite into a improvisational masterstroke. With Greg Saunier of Deefhoof offering mesmeringly off-kilter rhythm parts and Mikey Coltun of Mdou Moctar fame on bass, there's really no weak spot on this album – excepting "Joke" (III Molto Vivace), which lacks complete thematic development. An essential listen for this year.
_ [First added to this chart: 11/22/2022]
Ok so I may be one of the only big Yonatan Gat proponents on this site – a major part of his appeal is probably conditional on being a guitarist – but I sincerely think he's on the cutting edge of contemporary instrumental music, which is odd because so much of his sound is in short: regressive. While it's a bit of a generalisation to say this, I think it rings true as a trend. I contend that guitarists of the modern post-rock-Zeitgeist era try to compose guitar parts that obscure the guitar and its being played as the sound-source. Whether it's boutique pedals or production that clips out plucking and diminishes the sound of space – studio space – or just melodies that are not ambitious or excessively proud (the guitar solo is dead for a reason), once the veritable co-frontman, the guitarists of today's bands have names unknown to even their biggest fans.
Yonatan Gat throws all that shadow-play out and makes music that centres the instrument and never lets you lose the visual image of a musician playing it, which is honestly – in this context of musical synthesisation – liberating to hear. It's only natural that, for this album, Gat re-arranged Antonin Dvořák's heavily folk-inspired classical suite into a improvisational masterstroke. With Greg Saunier of Deefhoof offering mesmeringly off-kilter rhythm parts and Mikey Coltun of Mdou Moctar fame on bass, there's really no weak spot on this album – excepting "Joke" (III Molto Vivace), which lacks complete thematic development. An essential listen for this year.
_ [First added to this chart: 11/22/2022]
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8.5/10
I listened to this twice, back to back, while furiously deep cleaning my house during a winter evening. I'm not sure whether that is the perfect way to listen to this album or a sign of insert-your-choice-of-mental health-concern, but it scratched some sort of itch. Wood calms down considerably on this album stylistically, and the music is much more personal and introspective than acerbic or blatantly cynical.
However, Wood still remains mostly impenetrable, so by 'personal' I don't necessarily mean that we get a proper window into the artist, but there is a sense here that – for example – when Wood sings about death, it's not simply to poke fun at it anymore. To keep with this particular theme, as Wood sings in Euthanasia, one can see how we've moved on from someone who has read a bit of Camus to someone who has had to linger on death: "And I know, I know it's not true... There's just no more you... But as long as there's no proof... Then I choose, I choose to believe... That we'll meet in sweet dreams." All up, this makes for a more sincere listening experience, and one that helps maintain attention for the over an hour total listening time.
In other reviews, people have condemned particular songs such as the Fitter Happier homage social media commentary "You Liked This (Okay, Computer!)", as well as other post-modern-esque lyrics that people seem to think critiques toxicity within left-wing and LGBT online discourse. Wood's lyrics sometimes are arguably completely vacuous and pompous in similar ways to – for example – certain Father John Misty songs, but the second point is much less valid. Wood really doesn't have much to say about queerness or dysphoria anymore, and makes a point not to. I think this, along with most of the vitriol surrounding Wood's previous attempts to shut down fan obsessions over his own gender and sexuality is largely bad-faith. However, to not chronically online people, you won't notice any of this so enjoy being blissfully ignorant to it all.
_ [First added to this chart: 08/10/2022]
I listened to this twice, back to back, while furiously deep cleaning my house during a winter evening. I'm not sure whether that is the perfect way to listen to this album or a sign of insert-your-choice-of-mental health-concern, but it scratched some sort of itch. Wood calms down considerably on this album stylistically, and the music is much more personal and introspective than acerbic or blatantly cynical.
However, Wood still remains mostly impenetrable, so by 'personal' I don't necessarily mean that we get a proper window into the artist, but there is a sense here that – for example – when Wood sings about death, it's not simply to poke fun at it anymore. To keep with this particular theme, as Wood sings in Euthanasia, one can see how we've moved on from someone who has read a bit of Camus to someone who has had to linger on death: "And I know, I know it's not true... There's just no more you... But as long as there's no proof... Then I choose, I choose to believe... That we'll meet in sweet dreams." All up, this makes for a more sincere listening experience, and one that helps maintain attention for the over an hour total listening time.
In other reviews, people have condemned particular songs such as the Fitter Happier homage social media commentary "You Liked This (Okay, Computer!)", as well as other post-modern-esque lyrics that people seem to think critiques toxicity within left-wing and LGBT online discourse. Wood's lyrics sometimes are arguably completely vacuous and pompous in similar ways to – for example – certain Father John Misty songs, but the second point is much less valid. Wood really doesn't have much to say about queerness or dysphoria anymore, and makes a point not to. I think this, along with most of the vitriol surrounding Wood's previous attempts to shut down fan obsessions over his own gender and sexuality is largely bad-faith. However, to not chronically online people, you won't notice any of this so enjoy being blissfully ignorant to it all.
_ [First added to this chart: 08/10/2022]
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8.5/10
Mark Richardson, writing about Prekop's last album, itself a deep dive into modular synthesis, called it music of "presence," conveying a sort of subtly but sensorily overwhelming immanence. Sons Of, now consisting of 2/3 of Sea and Cake, adds McEntire's gentle rhythmic sensibilities into the mix. The music still has this immediacy which was present in Comma (and I should say, arguably Sea and Cake/Prekop's entire discography up to this point too), but has expanded beyond ethereal soundscape into straight IDM. "A Yellow Robe" is a must listen track. Without hopefully sounding like I've lost my mind, Sons Of is outstanding music – pure sonic meditation. It fills all the silent spaces around you in just the least obtrusive way possible. Also, sleepy kitties.
_ [First added to this chart: 08/30/2022]
Mark Richardson, writing about Prekop's last album, itself a deep dive into modular synthesis, called it music of "presence," conveying a sort of subtly but sensorily overwhelming immanence. Sons Of, now consisting of 2/3 of Sea and Cake, adds McEntire's gentle rhythmic sensibilities into the mix. The music still has this immediacy which was present in Comma (and I should say, arguably Sea and Cake/Prekop's entire discography up to this point too), but has expanded beyond ethereal soundscape into straight IDM. "A Yellow Robe" is a must listen track. Without hopefully sounding like I've lost my mind, Sons Of is outstanding music – pure sonic meditation. It fills all the silent spaces around you in just the least obtrusive way possible. Also, sleepy kitties.
_ [First added to this chart: 08/30/2022]
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8.5/10
A great modern punk record, cleanly produced but with just enough DIY energy that it sounds right. I may be outing myself a little here, but punk music always sounds better when when made by socialists. However, interesting in this case (while it's invariably a left-wing project), the anti-capitalist bent of it is not the most impactful aspect. Instead, the criticism of anti-abortion nutjobs here feels so urgent that the aggressive nature of punk as a music genre becomes just a natural result of feminist outrage at US political backsliding following the Supreme Court decision (or the two month lead-up following the Alito draft opinion leak). Also, if you make your way through the entire project, you'll be treated to a gorgeous post-hardcore song in "Bones." A tremendous album!
_ [First added to this chart: 06/29/2022]
A great modern punk record, cleanly produced but with just enough DIY energy that it sounds right. I may be outing myself a little here, but punk music always sounds better when when made by socialists. However, interesting in this case (while it's invariably a left-wing project), the anti-capitalist bent of it is not the most impactful aspect. Instead, the criticism of anti-abortion nutjobs here feels so urgent that the aggressive nature of punk as a music genre becomes just a natural result of feminist outrage at US political backsliding following the Supreme Court decision (or the two month lead-up following the Alito draft opinion leak). Also, if you make your way through the entire project, you'll be treated to a gorgeous post-hardcore song in "Bones." A tremendous album!
_ [First added to this chart: 06/29/2022]
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8.5/10
"And let me tell you: blah blah blah." The bandcamp page for Oiseaux-Tempête– in a very french fashion – wildly over-intellectualises this album, but I'll excuse it because it's so good and I'm prone to doing the very same pompous bullshit anyway. The collective here traverse dark and sinister musical terrain and emerge with a work that is altogether quite menacing in a very immediate yet otherworldly way. It scales between feelings of the Uncanny and of abjection; it raises questions about its own aesthetic appreciation – how it ought to be consumed.
_ [First added to this chart: 11/22/2022]
"And let me tell you: blah blah blah." The bandcamp page for Oiseaux-Tempête– in a very french fashion – wildly over-intellectualises this album, but I'll excuse it because it's so good and I'm prone to doing the very same pompous bullshit anyway. The collective here traverse dark and sinister musical terrain and emerge with a work that is altogether quite menacing in a very immediate yet otherworldly way. It scales between feelings of the Uncanny and of abjection; it raises questions about its own aesthetic appreciation – how it ought to be consumed.
_ [First added to this chart: 11/22/2022]
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8.5/10
This is insanely good, revelatory even. Black Thought at his best since early Roots, Danger Mouse providing a very clean and modern take on classic beats, and a star studded list of features, each proving why they need to be included rather than being shoved in with nothing to do. Aquamarine is the key outstanding track, but Belize with the late MF Doom and Strangers with A$AP Rocky and Run the Jewels could just as easily hold that title.
_ [First added to this chart: 08/26/2022]
This is insanely good, revelatory even. Black Thought at his best since early Roots, Danger Mouse providing a very clean and modern take on classic beats, and a star studded list of features, each proving why they need to be included rather than being shoved in with nothing to do. Aquamarine is the key outstanding track, but Belize with the late MF Doom and Strangers with A$AP Rocky and Run the Jewels could just as easily hold that title.
_ [First added to this chart: 08/26/2022]
Year of Release:
2022
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,168
Rank in 2022:
Rank in 2020s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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8.5/10
While there was always an overlap between post-rock and post-hardcore, felt hardest towards the late 90s, somewhere along the way that connection waned. Post-hardcore music became far more influenced by midwest music trends, namely emo, while post-rock stayed very west-coast, very insular, and heavier outfits pulling more from metal than hardcore or punk. Deathcrash, without dropping the modern post-rock sound which has fully embraced the clarity of modern production, somewhat bring back that connection on return, and to great success. The return of an older seemingly forgotten sound harmonising the contemplative distance of post-rock and the fragile immediacy of hardcore. "Sundown", "American Metal", and "Wrestle with Jimmy" are standouts.
_ [First added to this chart: 10/06/2022]
While there was always an overlap between post-rock and post-hardcore, felt hardest towards the late 90s, somewhere along the way that connection waned. Post-hardcore music became far more influenced by midwest music trends, namely emo, while post-rock stayed very west-coast, very insular, and heavier outfits pulling more from metal than hardcore or punk. Deathcrash, without dropping the modern post-rock sound which has fully embraced the clarity of modern production, somewhat bring back that connection on return, and to great success. The return of an older seemingly forgotten sound harmonising the contemplative distance of post-rock and the fragile immediacy of hardcore. "Sundown", "American Metal", and "Wrestle with Jimmy" are standouts.
_ [First added to this chart: 10/06/2022]
Total albums: 100. Page 1 of 10
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Top 100 Music Albums of 2022 composition
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
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|||
| Black Midi | 1 | 1% | |
| Jockstrap | 1 | 1% | |
| Ghais Guevara | 1 | 1% | |
| Gospel | 1 | 1% | |
| Craig Finn | 1 | 1% | |
| Grace Ives | 1 | 1% | |
| Oiseaux-Tempête | 1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| |
46 | 46% | |
 |
20 | 20% | |
 |
6 | 6% | |
 |
4 | 4% | |
 |
3 | 3% | |
 |
3 | 3% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Music Albums of 2022 chart changes
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 1 from 28th to 29thThe Loser by Gospel |
| Down 1 from 29th to 30thRough And Beautiful Place by Mydreamfever |
| Down 1 from 30th to 31st春火燎原 [Shunka Ryougen] by 春ねむり [Haru Nemuri] |
| New entries |
|---|
| I Looked Out by Greg Freeman |
| Leavers |
|---|
| Air Guitar by Sobs |
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Other year charts by Arthurknight
(from the 2020s) Arthurknight has shared 74 more 2022 year charts with the community. Browse them all here.| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top 100 Music Albums of 2025 | Arthurknight | 2025 year chart | 2025 | |
| Top 100 Music Albums of 2024 | Arthurknight | 2024 year chart | 2024 | |
Top 100 Music Albums of 2022 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.
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N.B. The average rating for this chart will not be reliable as it has been rated very few times.
Showing all 5 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 01/24/2025 00:59 | ThuramThugood | 106 | 90/100 |
| ! | 07/24/2022 13:50 |  ForegroundNoise | 473 | 87/100 |
| ! | 07/16/2022 22:16 |  travelful | 208 | 99/100 |
| ! | 07/10/2022 20:39 |  ghosttomost | 56 | 85/100 |
| ! | 02/09/2022 19:47 | DJENNY | 4,365 | 100/100 |
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From ForegroundNoise 01/05/2023 12:39 | #292514
ForegroundNoise 01/05/2023 12:39 | #292514
Went to give this a 100/100 and praise your writing when I noticed I'd got there already! Interested to hear your thoughts on my own top 20 – got a piece on Ants From Up There coming out soon too
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From ForegroundNoise 07/24/2022 13:51 | #287785
ForegroundNoise 07/24/2022 13:51 | #287785
Another class year chart!! Genuinely a better standard of journalism than most 'Best of 2022 So Far' lists I've seen from major publications; looking forward to checking back on what it looks like in December!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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