Top 97 Music Albums of 2022
by 
babyBlueSedan 
- Chart updated: 12/18/2022 20:45
- (Created: 02/12/2022 22:19).
- Chart size: 97 albums.
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Electric hoedown
The first singles from this were polar opposites for me. "Little Things" is a twinkling, synthetic, organic cascade of guitars and sounds. If not for "Not" it would be my favorite thing Big Thief have released. "Sparrow" was a chore, a plodding repetitive chug. I was worried that this album would sound mostly like "Sparrow," but to my relief it sounds mostly like "Little Things."
Another comparison: in 2019 Big Thief released two albums. One, UFOF was full of studio polish, still an "outside" folk album but one that felt pristine. Two Hands was a rough cut of that, something born from a log cabin with edges that needed sanding down. I didn't care much for Two Hands, outside of "Not," but I thought UFOF was beautiful. This new album is a set of Two Hands's spiky, splintery songs run through the varnish of UFOF.
You can't really call this folk or rock, I'd almost call some of these songs - like "Little Things" - some kind of krautrock. The main question with this album is if 80 minutes of it is too much of a good thing. My first listen breezed by, as did subsequent listens. I feel pretty confident now saying the length isn't a problem, as it allows the band to play around with lots of different styles, from the robotic hypnotism of "Time Escaping" to the bouncy hoedown of "Spud Infinity" to the almost indietronica of "Wake Me Up to Drive." Even "Sparrow" sounds good in the middle of all of it. [First added to this chart: 02/23/2022]
The first singles from this were polar opposites for me. "Little Things" is a twinkling, synthetic, organic cascade of guitars and sounds. If not for "Not" it would be my favorite thing Big Thief have released. "Sparrow" was a chore, a plodding repetitive chug. I was worried that this album would sound mostly like "Sparrow," but to my relief it sounds mostly like "Little Things."
Another comparison: in 2019 Big Thief released two albums. One, UFOF was full of studio polish, still an "outside" folk album but one that felt pristine. Two Hands was a rough cut of that, something born from a log cabin with edges that needed sanding down. I didn't care much for Two Hands, outside of "Not," but I thought UFOF was beautiful. This new album is a set of Two Hands's spiky, splintery songs run through the varnish of UFOF.
You can't really call this folk or rock, I'd almost call some of these songs - like "Little Things" - some kind of krautrock. The main question with this album is if 80 minutes of it is too much of a good thing. My first listen breezed by, as did subsequent listens. I feel pretty confident now saying the length isn't a problem, as it allows the band to play around with lots of different styles, from the robotic hypnotism of "Time Escaping" to the bouncy hoedown of "Spud Infinity" to the almost indietronica of "Wake Me Up to Drive." Even "Sparrow" sounds good in the middle of all of it. [First added to this chart: 02/23/2022]
Year of Release:
2022
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,288
Rank in 2022:
Rank in 2020s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Indie noise pop
Prior to this the most recent Death Cab album I had listened to was Plans, though I've been meaning to listen to Narrow Stairs for a while. I read good things about this though, and was on a kick where I listened to Transatlanticism and Plans and wanted more. And this was a very pleasant surprise. There's nothing here that's pushing any boundaries, even compared to what the band has done before, but for a band entering their third decade it's a very inspired set of tunes. There's a bit of noise pop influence, some straight indie rock, and the kind of indie pop songs like "Pepper" that have always been my guilty pleasure among the band's songs (seriously "Sound of Settling" is so good). And of course there's the centerpiece "Foxgloves Through the Clearcut" which combines poetic spoken word verses with those shimmery choruses.
I was a little more lukewarm on this the second time I listened to it, but I expect to keep coming back to it. [First added to this chart: 10/29/2022]
Prior to this the most recent Death Cab album I had listened to was Plans, though I've been meaning to listen to Narrow Stairs for a while. I read good things about this though, and was on a kick where I listened to Transatlanticism and Plans and wanted more. And this was a very pleasant surprise. There's nothing here that's pushing any boundaries, even compared to what the band has done before, but for a band entering their third decade it's a very inspired set of tunes. There's a bit of noise pop influence, some straight indie rock, and the kind of indie pop songs like "Pepper" that have always been my guilty pleasure among the band's songs (seriously "Sound of Settling" is so good). And of course there's the centerpiece "Foxgloves Through the Clearcut" which combines poetic spoken word verses with those shimmery choruses.
I was a little more lukewarm on this the second time I listened to it, but I expect to keep coming back to it. [First added to this chart: 10/29/2022]
History book rap
In 2019, after Hiding Places came out, I proclaimed billy woods to be one of my favorite rappers of all time. Almost immediately, woods started releasing music I had almost no interest in. This was partially because, as I've probably said on here countless times, I've never gotten into the flow of his close collaborator Elucid, which makes listening to Armand Hammer albums a chore. But his more away from the kinds of beats on Hiding Places and earlier albums, which had drums and hooks, also pushed me away, as I've never gotten into the kind of beats that rappers like Roc Marciano and Ka use. I was worried about this one because Preservation is in that same musical sphere, but to my pleasant surprise I'm actually pretty into this. These aren't bangers but there's enough going on that I can get into these songs musically and not get bored, and there are moments - like the kind of screaming vocal flourishes between verses on my favorite track "Remorseless" - that really drawn you in.
One reason the stark production challenged me was because woods is a rapper you have to pay constant attention to or risk losing the story, and when I found myself uninterested in the beats I drifted off and found it hard to follow him. That's not the case here, because woods is only getting more cutting and complex as his career progresses. He's packing even more into his stories, though the overall themes remain the same. These are songs where following along on Genius certainly helps, but it's not required to have a good time. The guests on this album are also amazing - Boldy James, El-P, and Despot all turn in incredible verses. [First added to this chart: 05/10/2022]
In 2019, after Hiding Places came out, I proclaimed billy woods to be one of my favorite rappers of all time. Almost immediately, woods started releasing music I had almost no interest in. This was partially because, as I've probably said on here countless times, I've never gotten into the flow of his close collaborator Elucid, which makes listening to Armand Hammer albums a chore. But his more away from the kinds of beats on Hiding Places and earlier albums, which had drums and hooks, also pushed me away, as I've never gotten into the kind of beats that rappers like Roc Marciano and Ka use. I was worried about this one because Preservation is in that same musical sphere, but to my pleasant surprise I'm actually pretty into this. These aren't bangers but there's enough going on that I can get into these songs musically and not get bored, and there are moments - like the kind of screaming vocal flourishes between verses on my favorite track "Remorseless" - that really drawn you in.
One reason the stark production challenged me was because woods is a rapper you have to pay constant attention to or risk losing the story, and when I found myself uninterested in the beats I drifted off and found it hard to follow him. That's not the case here, because woods is only getting more cutting and complex as his career progresses. He's packing even more into his stories, though the overall themes remain the same. These are songs where following along on Genius certainly helps, but it's not required to have a good time. The guests on this album are also amazing - Boldy James, El-P, and Despot all turn in incredible verses. [First added to this chart: 05/10/2022]
Year of Release:
2022
Appears in:
Rank Score:
685
Rank in 2022:
Rank in 2020s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Lo-fi drug dealing rap
Another excellent album from woods, I'm unsure whether I like this or Aethiopes more so I'm putting them one after the other for now. This doesn't have the clattering, murky feel that Aethiopes has but it still feels claustrophobic, only with jazz elements replacing the horror score elements in the beats. It also has two incredible songs in Pollo Rico and Magdalene which surpass anything not titled Remorseless from its predecessor. [First added to this chart: 12/18/2022]
Another excellent album from woods, I'm unsure whether I like this or Aethiopes more so I'm putting them one after the other for now. This doesn't have the clattering, murky feel that Aethiopes has but it still feels claustrophobic, only with jazz elements replacing the horror score elements in the beats. It also has two incredible songs in Pollo Rico and Magdalene which surpass anything not titled Remorseless from its predecessor. [First added to this chart: 12/18/2022]
Strut indie
For years I thought Spoon was severely overrated, but over the past couple weeks I think I may be coming around. My main gripes had, I think, mostly boiled to their guitar sound and how they felt a little sterile, mostly turning out three minute indie rock tunes on 40 minute indie rock albums that strayed here or there but never too far from their central sound. People praised them for being consistent, but Jeff Mathis is a consistent hitter. I think there must be some kind of element to their songwriting that only hits you if you're super tuned in, so maybe as I've gotten older those qualities have become more apparent to me.
Whatever the case, I'm always down for indie rock that claims to be influenced by ZZ Top and has kind of a big dumb rock feel. That's not true of everything here, but it's definitely true of the "Hardest Cut" and even the Smog cover "Held." "Wild" is a great pop song that ends way too early. This all sounds very nice and while it's a nice listen for now it still kind of sits in that "nice but not blowing me away" space that most of Spoon's stuff sits in. I hope it's a grower. [First added to this chart: 02/23/2022]
For years I thought Spoon was severely overrated, but over the past couple weeks I think I may be coming around. My main gripes had, I think, mostly boiled to their guitar sound and how they felt a little sterile, mostly turning out three minute indie rock tunes on 40 minute indie rock albums that strayed here or there but never too far from their central sound. People praised them for being consistent, but Jeff Mathis is a consistent hitter. I think there must be some kind of element to their songwriting that only hits you if you're super tuned in, so maybe as I've gotten older those qualities have become more apparent to me.
Whatever the case, I'm always down for indie rock that claims to be influenced by ZZ Top and has kind of a big dumb rock feel. That's not true of everything here, but it's definitely true of the "Hardest Cut" and even the Smog cover "Held." "Wild" is a great pop song that ends way too early. This all sounds very nice and while it's a nice listen for now it still kind of sits in that "nice but not blowing me away" space that most of Spoon's stuff sits in. I hope it's a grower. [First added to this chart: 02/23/2022]
Year of Release:
2022
Appears in:
Rank Score:
771
Rank in 2022:
Rank in 2020s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Conscious street rap
I've largely fell out of keeping up with new hip hop albums over the past few years. Part of it is my pandemic brain having no attention span for listening to lyrics, and part of it is a disinterest in many recent hip hop trends. I never got into trap, and the drumless stuff that's becoming more common bores me to death. So I've largely ignored what's coming out of the Griselda crew, mostly unfairly because I knew it wasn't aligned with either of those scenes. I read good things about this one though, and boy am I glad I gave it a listen. The beats are great, Conway's flow is calm but dead serious, and the guest appearances are terrific. Not a groundbreaking release but an album that excels completely at what it's trying to do, and it mixes the gangsta rap shit talking with conscious lyrics really well, eventually turning into an entirely conscious record by the end. This makes me want to go back and listen to the rest of his stuff. [First added to this chart: 03/15/2022]
I've largely fell out of keeping up with new hip hop albums over the past few years. Part of it is my pandemic brain having no attention span for listening to lyrics, and part of it is a disinterest in many recent hip hop trends. I never got into trap, and the drumless stuff that's becoming more common bores me to death. So I've largely ignored what's coming out of the Griselda crew, mostly unfairly because I knew it wasn't aligned with either of those scenes. I read good things about this one though, and boy am I glad I gave it a listen. The beats are great, Conway's flow is calm but dead serious, and the guest appearances are terrific. Not a groundbreaking release but an album that excels completely at what it's trying to do, and it mixes the gangsta rap shit talking with conscious lyrics really well, eventually turning into an entirely conscious record by the end. This makes me want to go back and listen to the rest of his stuff. [First added to this chart: 03/15/2022]
Wave 5 Emo Pop
This is a fun mix of post hardcore and melodic hardcore, as seen through an emo pop lens. It's not breaking any new ground and it won't blow you away, but this kind of thing is right in my sweet spot these days. [First added to this chart: 02/23/2022]
This is a fun mix of post hardcore and melodic hardcore, as seen through an emo pop lens. It's not breaking any new ground and it won't blow you away, but this kind of thing is right in my sweet spot these days. [First added to this chart: 02/23/2022]
Chamber screamo
I nearly didn't listen to this because it was tagged with influences of posts rock and chamber music on RYM, and coupled towards a general ambivalence to screamo I didn't think I'd like it. But I was wrong. It does feel a bit formless and the songs sometimes blur together or end too soon, but the strings are a nice touch and the vocals are terrific. [First added to this chart: 02/23/2022]
I nearly didn't listen to this because it was tagged with influences of posts rock and chamber music on RYM, and coupled towards a general ambivalence to screamo I didn't think I'd like it. But I was wrong. It does feel a bit formless and the songs sometimes blur together or end too soon, but the strings are a nice touch and the vocals are terrific. [First added to this chart: 02/23/2022]
Tape indie
House of Sugar was an album I unexpectedly loved; it was a nice mix of various styles of indie rock and folk next to sonic experiments. This one starts off great, with a hypnotic opener similar to House of Sugar's opener and Runner, one of my favorite songs of the year. After that the album continues in more or less the same vein with a few surprises like autotuned vocals or electronic elements. But it does, especially in the middle, rely on some sonic experiments that I don't always think pan out. It's actually pretty short on more traditional rock and folk songs, which were what I loved about its predecessor. There's no "In My Arms" or "Southern Sky" to break up the more difficult tracks here, and (again, especially in the middle) it kind of meanders in a way that takes you out of the album a bit.
This is right on the cusp of keeper / not keeper but I think I have to put it in the latter bucket unfortunately. I love Runner so much and a lot of the elements I like about it are present elsewhere, but these songs rely too heavily on weird experiments and acoustic guitar and it really needs more variety than that. [First added to this chart: 10/30/2022]
House of Sugar was an album I unexpectedly loved; it was a nice mix of various styles of indie rock and folk next to sonic experiments. This one starts off great, with a hypnotic opener similar to House of Sugar's opener and Runner, one of my favorite songs of the year. After that the album continues in more or less the same vein with a few surprises like autotuned vocals or electronic elements. But it does, especially in the middle, rely on some sonic experiments that I don't always think pan out. It's actually pretty short on more traditional rock and folk songs, which were what I loved about its predecessor. There's no "In My Arms" or "Southern Sky" to break up the more difficult tracks here, and (again, especially in the middle) it kind of meanders in a way that takes you out of the album a bit.
This is right on the cusp of keeper / not keeper but I think I have to put it in the latter bucket unfortunately. I love Runner so much and a lot of the elements I like about it are present elsewhere, but these songs rely too heavily on weird experiments and acoustic guitar and it really needs more variety than that. [First added to this chart: 10/30/2022]
Year of Release:
2022
Appears in:
Rank Score:
484
Rank in 2022:
Rank in 2020s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Dance night
This is really great when it's on, a free flowing set of dance tracks that all blend into each other. Break My Soul and Church Girl are the two I especially like. I haven't found myself coming back to it though, and I wonder if it's because the fact that it's so consistent means I don't like it much as an album. I'm sure there are times when this would be the best album ever, but in my normal listening environments - at work or alone at home - it feels a bit more out of place. And unlike a lot of the house I like, it's too in-your-face to just sit back and vibe too. A really great unexpected sound, just one I find myself not loving for some reason. [First added to this chart: 10/30/2022]
This is really great when it's on, a free flowing set of dance tracks that all blend into each other. Break My Soul and Church Girl are the two I especially like. I haven't found myself coming back to it though, and I wonder if it's because the fact that it's so consistent means I don't like it much as an album. I'm sure there are times when this would be the best album ever, but in my normal listening environments - at work or alone at home - it feels a bit more out of place. And unlike a lot of the house I like, it's too in-your-face to just sit back and vibe too. A really great unexpected sound, just one I find myself not loving for some reason. [First added to this chart: 10/30/2022]
Year of Release:
2022
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,560
Rank in 2022:
Rank in 2020s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 49. Page 1 of 5
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Top 97 Music Albums of 2022 composition
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| Brockhampton | 2 | 2% | |
| Billy Woods | 2 | 2% | |
| Kurt Vile | 1 | 1% | |
| Earl Sweatshirt | 1 | 1% | |
| Foxtails | 1 | 1% | |
| Praise | 1 | 1% | |
| Arcade Fire | 1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| |
49 | 51% | |
 |
18 | 19% | |
 |
6 | 6% | |
 |
5 | 5% | |
 |
5 | 5% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
 |
1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 97 Music Albums of 2022 chart changes
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 8 from 72nd to 80thTM by Brockhampton |
| Down 8 from 73rd to 81stTrouble The Water by Show Me The Body |
| Down 8 from 74th to 82ndShake The Feeling: Outtakes & Rarities 2015–2021 by Iceage |
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Top 97 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.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11/26/2022 21:36 |  travelful | 208 | 99/100 | |
| 11/15/2022 17:11 |  DommeDamian | 1,004 | 89/100 | |
| 10/30/2022 20:43 | DJENNY | 4,338 | 100/100 |
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