Top 5 Music Albums of 2026
by 
MadhattanJack 
- Chart updated: 14 hours ago
- (Created: 01/06/2026 08:12).
- Chart size: 5 albums.
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"Winged Wheel" sounds like a good name for a country-rock band, but no, this is more of a "leftfield" post-punk/post-rock remote-collab outfit that's just barely on the "more musical" side of noisepop. They're also a "supergroup," because they're all in other bands most of the time. (I know, I use too many "scare quotes.") The biggest name here is probably Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley, but there's also singer Whitney "Matchess" Johnson, who has multiple solo albums to her credit. The best tracks here are the ones that work their way into a kind of hypnotic groove, sometimes without your even realizing it until it's... TOO LATE! Frankly, the main weakness of this album (assuming you're okay with all the post-whatever experimentalism going on) is that there are too many tracks featuring singers other than Whitney Johnson. (I've seen better album covers too, if you really want to get all "snippy" about it.)
[First added to this chart: 01/10/2026]
Year of Release:
2026
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Here's a five-piece grungepop act from Portland, Oregon led by Chloe Flores, who sounds like she's just a few weeks' worth of chain-smoking away from having enough "vocal fry" to win a Courtney Love impressionism contest. In other words, her voice is perfect! The songs are not quite fun and only occasionally catchy, but they're not gloomy, angry or droned-out either, so I'm not sure where I'd put this on the ol' emotional resonance-o-meter. That's assuming I had one, though — I actually can't stand "emotional resonance," not even as a concept, so I threw mine in the trash back in 1999.
Year of Release:
2026
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Jenny is Jenny Hollingworth of the Norwich-based electropop duo Let's Eat Grandma. I haven't been a big fan of Let's Eat Grandma (I prefer my grandma undigested), so I wasn't expecting much here, to be honest. It's still "girlpop," but this record has some guitars in it which give it a nice crunch, and seems to be a bit less cheesy in general, so I guess what I'm trying to say is that I like it better when Jenny's on holiday and not eating Grandma. (Still no word on whose grandmother is being eaten, or what kind of cheese it is).
[First added to this chart: 01/10/2026]
Year of Release:
2026
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0
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Pullman are a Chicago band who hadn't put out an album in quite some time — their last one, "Viewfinder," came out in 2001, when it was still pretty common for cameras to have viewfinders. (That's a joke, actually — they're still pretty common, though I don't know for how long.) Supposedly they started recording it in 2016, had some problems here and there, and didn't finish until 2023. (I guess they spent the next three years getting the perfect photo of a moth on a window. Nice image, huh? I like it.) It's a pretty good album if you like your post-rock a bit more on the "experimental" and less-melodic side, and their use of acoustic instruments is interesting and distinctive, but I have to say it doesn't sound like it took a decade to record. I'm not sure how long it would have taken me to get similar results, though. Probably best not to speculate.
[First added to this chart: 01/09/2026]
Year of Release:
2026
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0
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Supposedly he's 26 years old at this point, but he still looks like he's 19, right? (Actually that's not him on the album cover, so you'll just have to take my word for it.) And he still does "bedroom pop," which is just another way of saying "lo-fi, but not intentionally." Some of the songs here are pretty good, though maybe a little twee-ish, and his singing is improving, if not his recording technique. He said his last album was his sixth, so I guess this is his seventh — pretty impressive! Anyway, this is all well and good, but if he doesn't settle on a nom de plume to replace "Pester" soon, I suspect he'll be in for a long career of frustration. I mean, who wants to be pestered all the time? Life's too short.
[First added to this chart: 01/09/2026]
Year of Release:
2026
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0
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Total albums: 5. Page 1 of 1
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Top 5 Music Albums of 2026 composition
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| Winged Wheel | 1 | 20% | |
| Dustbunny | 1 | 20% | |
| Jenny On Holiday | 1 | 20% | |
| Pullman | 1 | 20% | |
| Alex Pester | 1 | 20% |
Top 5 Music Albums of 2026 chart changes
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 1 from 2nd to 3rdQuicksand Heart by Jenny On Holiday |
| Down 1 from 3rd to 4thIII by Pullman |
| Down 1 from 4th to 5thYours by Alex Pester |
| New entries |
|---|
| Offerings For Weary Dogs by Dustbunny |
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Other year charts by MadhattanJack
(from the 2020s) MadhattanJack has shared 74 more 2026 year charts with the community. Browse them all here.| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top 5 Music Albums of 2026 | MadhattanJack | 2026 year chart | 2026 | |
| Top 100 Music Albums of 2025 | MadhattanJack | 2025 year chart | 2026 | |
| Top 100 Music Albums of 2024 | MadhattanJack | 2024 year chart | 2026 | |
Top 5 Music Albums of 2026 ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
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N.B. The average rating for this chart will not be reliable as it has been rated very few times.
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| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 01/10/2026 04:44 |  Repo | 563 | 100/100 |
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Top 5 Music Albums of 2026 comments
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From Repo 01/10/2026 04:45 | #312550
Repo 01/10/2026 04:45 | #312550
Great comments! Loving that Winged Wheel LP!
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