Best Albums of 2021

Listed below are the best albums of 2021 as calculated from their overall rankings in over 59,000 greatest album charts. (Chart last updated: 2 hours ago).
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2021 year summaryThe best artists of 2021 were Little Simz, Black Country, New Road, Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra, Tyler, The Creator, Japanese Breakfast, Squid (2020s), Weezer, Black Midi, Low and Lana Del Rey.
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"This was significantly better than I expected. It's pop rap so I expect it to be thoroughly panned by this community which is fine. That's ok. Lil Nas X will keep doing his thing. It's fun, it's honest, it's relatable. There's some childish gambino vibes, there's some chance the rapper vibes, the..."  [+]  Reply
- corenfro | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
Year of Release:
2021
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Rank Score:
308
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62.
Inside (The Songs) 
Live soundtrack
Year of Release:
2021
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Rank Score:
308
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Year of Release:
2021
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Rank Score:
303
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"This might be the most fun album of the year. Prog rock epics, ostensibly about plants, sung by a madman with little regard for tone or pitch. I can't speak for everyone's pandemic experience, but this ridiculousness is just what I needed entering winter of '21."  Reply
- replacementlevel | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
Year of Release:
2021
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Rank Score:
298
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65.
30 
"Her best record by far in my opinion, Adele takes a few risks that really pay off, especially with the more jazz influenced sounds. Her songwriting skills have really sharpened on here too, with an album that sounds a lot less formulaic than perhaps what I was expecting. Definitely an improvement..."  [+]  Reply
- SD100852 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
Year of Release:
2021
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Rank Score:
296
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"Another solid entry into Mach-Hommy's dense and illustrious discography. Westside Gunn puts his impeccable ear for curation on show here once again, even if this does feel a bit cursory and convoluted at times. Mach's oft deeply reflective word-play seems a bit more "on-the-nose" through the enti..."  [+]  Reply
- MILQmane | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
Year of Release:
2021
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Rank Score:
292
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"What's immediately obvious is how thick this album is. Clocking in at just below the 40 minutes mark, you get the impression the material would easily justify an extra 10 or so minutes without dragging at all. It's not easy to digest, after two listens I am barely scratching the surface. This has..."  [+]  Reply
- kokkinos | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
Year of Release:
2021
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Rank Score:
290
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"I never thought that they would top the Saturation Trilogy, but this album is phenomenal. It's incredibly tight and focused, not wasting a single second. It hits you hard and fast, and it's infectiously catchy. It's Brockhampton at their absolute best. Don't sleep on this one."  Reply
- cgriffin060 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
Year of Release:
2021
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Rank Score:
290
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"I've never been a massive Foo Fighters fan - their debut being underrated and excellent and the Colour and the Shape being their best work, a smattering of great singles since and a great creative spark of innovation with Wasting Light - I wouldn't really call them an "albums" band. I saw them li..."  [+]  Reply
- lylecatcliffe | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
Year of Release:
2021
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Rank Score:
286
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"It's okay... some of the songs sound very similar. Highlights for me are Typhoons and Boilermaker. Quite like the closing piano track, it's very different to everything else they've ever done but it works for me. They'll need to diversify their sound as you can already see them starting to run ou..."  [+]  Reply
- wizardalien | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
Year of Release:
2021
Appears in:
Rank Score:
282
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Total albums: 1,000. Page 7 of 100

Best Albums of 2021 composition

Recognised  Year Charts (2025)
1. Albums of the year 2025 by The Telegraph (2025)
2. Albums of the year 2025 by Pitchfork (2025)
3. Best Albums of 2025 by The New Yorker (2025)
4. BrooklynVegan's Top 58 Albums of 2025 by BrooklynVegan (2025)
5. Albums of the year 2025 by Piccadilly Records (2025)
6. Top 50 Albums of 2025 by The Needle Drop (2025)
7. Top 100 Albums of 2025 by Louder Than War (2025)
8. Albums of the year 2025 by Crack Magazine (2025)
9. Albums of the Year 2025 by Loud And Quiet (2025)
10. Albums of the year 2025 by Stereogum (2025)