Top 10 Albums This Year (So Far)
2020 has had many negative things happen so far, but music seems to be an escape that everyone can use through all scenarios. In quarantine, we have been listening to all albums of all genres and we decided to come up with our opinions on the best 10 albums this year. We tried to include all the genres as we can but we primarily included Hip Hop, Rap, and R&B. There were a few projects we felt could’ve made the list but couldn’t replace any of the ones below. Some honorable mentions include: Father of Motherf*ckers by Green Day, A Written Testimony by Jay Electronica, & Rare by Selena Gomez. Where we rank these albums are based on the project as a whole, start to finish, how well it is compared to the artist’s prior projects, the impact it had in music & how well it actually performed or sold.
#10 Funeral by Lil Wayne
This wasn’t Lil Wayne’s best project but it was definitely a satisfying retirement project, if it is his last one. He has had an enormous impact on the music industry, through his work, collaborations and his artists from YMCMB such as Drake, Tyga, Nicki Minaj & more.
Best Song: I Do it (feat. Big Sean & Lil Baby)
#9 Changes by Justin Bieber
This project has been a long time coming & was very interesting to see how the child star progressed throughout his career & life, and hear his creativity at this point in time. This may not have been Justin’s best project, but it was put together well, and had great features where it seemed to be needed.
Best Song: Intentions (feat. Quavo)
#8 Artist 2.0 by A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie
A Boogie experimented with sounds on this project, and it is a similar vibe he has with Justin Bieber, he has been around for quite some time and has released multiple projects. His fans held him to a certain level of expectations and he delivered, it sold well and was a good project from start to finish.
Best Song: Me & My Guitar
#7 Meet The Woo (Vol.2) by Pop Smoke
Unfortunately, Pop Smoke’s success was cut short after he was murdered in a Los Angeles home. His music lives on forever as his legacy, and Pop showed his true talent on this project. He showed he was here to stay, he had talent for the long game, he had 50 Cent vibes and he progressed so much in such a short time.
Best Song: Element
#6 My Turn by Lil Baby
I personally believe this wasn’t his best work but still delivered a great project as a whole. I like his versatility on this album, all the features and his flow on the whole project. It is definitely going to be interesting to see where he goes next.
Best Song: Emotionally Scarred
#5 Circles By Mac Miller
This album was truly special & even more so because it was unexpected. The concept that Mac had, ‘Swimming in Circles’ had a special aura behind it. The two projects definitely complimented each other and for Mac fans, it was satisfying to hear his voice on a new track after his unexpected death in 2018.
Best Song: Once A Day
#4 After Hours by The Weeknd
His long anticipated album finally released and he progressed so much since his last release. From start to finish, there is not one bad track & each song is so unique with different stories, wordplay, flows and sounds. The whole project was worth the wait for sure.
Best Song: Blinding Lights
#3 Music To Be Murdered By - Eminem
This was Eminem’s best album (more recently), and the surprise factor made it even better. He had a lot more features than I would’ve originally expected, and his feature choice was even more shocking. His track with Young M.A was perfectly executed, as well as his track with the late Juice Wrld. I personally enjoyed Eminem’s collaboration with Cole Bennett on the visuals, as they did a tribute for Juice Wrld at the end of the video.
Best Song: Godzilla (feat. Juice Wrld)
#2 Eternal Atake (Deluxe)
This was definitely the most impactful releases in a very long time, as Eternal Atake rumors have began since his last release nearly two years ago. The way he released the (full) project was brilliant, as he released it as two separate projects and essentially had two different sales. Both projects were received very well by fans and sold extremely well in the first two weeks of release.
Best Song:P2
Best Song (Deluxe): Bean (Kobe) [feat. Chief Keef]
#1 Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial
We know this technically wasn’t released in 2020, but it was just too special of a project, that we had to make it our #1 album released this (past) year. Tracks like Boom Boom Room, Big Stepper, High Fashion (feat. Mustard) & The Box just make this album an instant classic. Roddy has been in the Billboard Top 100 since the release of the album, and it is only his third album. Roddy is going to be one of few artists that will last the whole decade, if he chooses, so it will be exciting to see what route he takes in the future.
Best Song: The Box