Top 10 Albums of 2022
“I always knew the world moves on. I just didn’t know it would go without me.”
It’s fascinating how time passes, taste in music shifts, and what was once the apex of anticipation gives way to the new. In music, as Ratatouille’s Anton Ego says, “the new needs friends.” If you scroll through a list of albums released in 2022, you’ll be stunned that you wouldn’t have heard of ninety-nine percent of the albums, let alone the artists who created them. Likewise, there will be albums from artists you had no idea released new music this year, even though they were once the chart-toppers of yore. Did you know there was a new John Legend album in 2022? A compilation cover album by Bruce Springsteen? Christina Aguilera? Kiefer Sutherland?! Two albums by Red Hot Chili Peppers? Yes, the new needs friends, but sometimes the old does, too.
I’ve always had reverence for the new music put out by legends (and, well, Legend), but only a crazy hipster would say that Paul McCartney’s best work came from 2015 to 2021, as opposed to 1963 to 1970. It’s interesting how the greatest to ever do it can tread and become so banal by the time their careers arrive at denouements. Why does this happen? What do they lose? Is it the fading 18–49 demographic that comes for us all? Will it come for Taylor Swift one day? It happens to almost all of them (not you, David Bowie). McCartney, Elton John, Stevie Nicks. Their new records just don’t have the same energy, vivacity, and cutting perspectives that made them such trailblazers in the first place. It’s why Billy Joel refuses to un-retire from creativity and just plays the hits at Madison Square Garden.
That being said, I respect both pathways. And we all know I’ve leaned on name recognition in the past (the Lindsey Buckingham-Christine McVie [R.I.P.] collaborative album from a couple years ago was among my favorites). This year, though, that reverence gave way to the “new.” Some newer faces to the scene who have been on my lists before, but also some new pop stars, rappers, and alternative artists who are more than just fascinating figures and catchy creators at this point in the development of my music taste. They’re the favorites. I’m ready for the bops, the jams, the effortlessly cool songs. These people provide them. Let’s have a great time with tunes that help us feel more alive.
Honorable Mentions: Higher by Michael Bublé, Legend by John Legend, Only the Strong Survive by Bruce Springsteen
10. Unlimited Love and Return of the Dream Canteen by Red Hot Chili Peppers
After 2016’s The Getaway, the Red Hot Chili Peppers stepped away from the spotlight. It wasn’t the usual “we released an album, now enjoy while we tour and make another” hiatus, though. For years there were rumblings that the band hadn’t even been in a writing room or a recording booth yet. Had Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Chad Smith, and Josh Klinghoffer run out of viable things to say in their music? This notion was dismissed when John Frusciante shockingly rejoined the band and the group scrapped whatever they had written so far (along with Klinghoffer, sadly) before starting again as a cohesive unit. What resulted was a fascinating confluence in 2022 as the band released their first album in six years, Unlimited Love, and then came back just a few months later with a whole other album, Return of the Dream Canteen. It wasn’t an A-sides and B-sides affair, however. Nor was it a demand of more content from the label. Instead, it seemed like Taylor Swift-esque sister albums that varied between moving ruminations (“The Drummer,” “Eddie”), classic RHCP jams (“Black Summer”), and casual RHCP nonsense (“Aquatic Mouth Dance”). Not their best, but still a singular 2022 achievement in music.
9. Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers by Kendrick Lamar
There’s a lot that is holding Kendrick Lamar’s latest (and, if he is to be believed, final) album. (An inexcusable Kodak Black collaboration, for one.) But there’s also a lot that Kendrick Lamar is reaching for as he reconfigures his own position in music’s landscape, as well as the notion that he has now taken on an outsized role of influence and legacy for fans and aspirational artists alike. He doesn’t always get there. To Pimp a Butterfly, Damn, and even the Black Panther soundtrack each stand alone as their own holistic statements. Yet, with his trademark, flash-smart lyricism and soaring hooks, Mr. Morale still sits as a worthy feature in the Lamar discography — even if it is a bit messier. “Father Time,” for example, is on the Mount Rushmore of Kendrick songs.
8. Surrender by Maggie Rogers
Maggie Rogers’ 2019 album, Heard It in a Past Life, is among the stronger debut albums I’ve heard in recent years. Surrender doesn’t quite attain the same heights, but it is still sonically consistent and among the most authentic vocal showcases we have to enjoy in the indie folk music landscape. “Horses” and the closing track, “Different Kind of World,” are among the standout examples of her persistent artistry. It didn’t get the same love from the critical community, writ large, but I vibed with it. Maybe my expectations were lowered, but I thought her songs veered into rock soulfulness more so than even her traditional singer-songwriter roots. Melancholic at times and rousing at others, the stories told in Surrender feel like they’ve passed more through generations than a label’s checklist.
7. Renaissance by Beyoncé
Something about Beyoncé always lands her in this range for my lists. She’s not my favorite pop star, but I do like her music. She’s not the greatest concert performer (in my opinion), but I have great admiration of her. There’s just something that holds me back from diving into a Beyoncé obsession completely in the way I do for Taylor Swift or Rihanna. The same was true for Renaissance. Undeniably a towering achievement in music this year (her first album since Lemonade in 2016), but not one I loved or have even revisited all that much. Most of the songs floated at the surface for me, but I can attest that “Cuff It” and “Thique” are both far beyond the horizon, while “Break My Soul” was a perfect choice for the lead single. My thoughts don’t matter when it comes to music criticism, never mind to Beyoncé. But there’s still plenty to respect here musically, even if I ever clicked emotionally.
6. SOS by SZA
The latest major release of 2022 was also one of music’s best. SOS was the most that SZA resonated with me since I was first demolished by her stratospheric vocals on “All the Stars” with Kendrick Lamar on the Black Panther soundtrack in 2018. Yes, SOS includes collabs with Phoebe Bridgers (“Ghost in the Machine”) and ODB (“Forgiveless”), but while the team-ups may be a draw, the beauty and truth of SOS is in the SZA of it all. From the isolated “Smoking on My Ex Pack” to the sumptuous “Kill Bill,” SOS is stuffed full of ruminations, each one more revealing than the last. It’s an album that benefits from its length and one that has gotten better the more I’ve thought about it. I’m sure it might be higher than top six one day, too. What most impressed me about SOS is that SZA simultaneously does what she’s known for the best she’s ever done it while also branching out into new genres that she makes work for herself really well. It’s a complete gem that is deserving of its tear across the tops of the charts right now.
5. The Loneliest Time by Carly Rae Jepsen
Carly Rae Jepsen is capable of crafting pop anthems with the same heights and consistency as ABBA. For a while, my impression of her was that she was a one-hit wonder, courtesy of “Call Me Maybe,” but the more I saw the PopHeads subreddit celebrate her praises and symphonies, the more I was inclined to dip into her discography. What I’ve since individually unearthed is an overwhelming trove of true, genuine, bona fide bangers. There’s no other way to describe them. They’re just jams. She’s the Canadian Robyn. Pure party dance music is within her soul and it emanates with each album. I have not been able to sit with the songs of “The Loneliest Time” as much as I would have liked yet (the album came out on the same day as my number one on the list), but I added nearly every song to my daily rotation of music. “The Loneliest Time,” “Beach House,” “Far Away,” “So Nice,” “Keep Away.” All rippers. But the true brilliance of Jepsen’s work is that her 2022 collection also revealed a more heartfelt angle with “Go Find Yourself or Whatever,” which might be my favorite of the bunch. Now, that’s an arc.
4. Panorama by Hayley Kiyoko
It may not be much, since she’s only had two albums so far, but Panorama is the highlight of Hayley Kiyoko’s musical career thus far. I love “Demons” as much as anyone and while there may not be a “Demons”-level track on Panorama, the album is top-to-bottom A-quality hits (“Demons” is an A+, if that helps clarify things). Her musical prowess is elevated throughout with moments of edginess, clarity, and an unabashed sense of self. (“For the Girls” might embody that most directly — especially as one of the album’s best tracks.) Lyrically, Kiyoko veers deftly into a territory of self-acceptance and an understanding of the inescapability of struggling. Musically, Kiyoko continues to develop bops that would be the perfect soundtrack to a sexually charged nightclub or an extremely cool and young bar. That’s the best way to describe it, I feel; Panorama makes me feel like a cool young adult. I recognize that even typing that sentence makes me uncool, but I’ll take tips from “Sugar at the Bottom” and tell you that the best of me is right on the surface anyway.
3. Laurel Hell by Mitski
Jepsen, Rogers, Lamar. These are all artists with whom I’ve been fondly familiar for years. Mitski, on the other hand, was someone I didn’t even know existed until February 2022. A very kind person in my life gave me a list of a bunch of artists and songs they wanted me to listen to and none of them resonated nearly as much as Mitski did. (“It’s good timing, too, because Mitski just put out an album,” she told me.) I listened to Laurel Hell blindly, asking my girlfriend’s Google Home to simply play the album while I closed my eyes and fixated — without the track listing in front of me. I didn’t initially know which song was which, but it didn’t matter because I loved them all. “Working for the Knife,” “That’s Our Lamp,” and “Stay Soft” are some of the best indie pop songs I’ve ever heard. “The Only Heartbreaker” is one of the best songs I’ve ever heard, regardless of genre? Laurel Hell blew me away to the point where I made plans to see Mitski and all of her pained artistry live at a music festival in Maryland within eight months of even learning she existed. There is no one on this list whose next album I’m anticipating more highly. I’ll even say I used to have Laurel Hell at number four on this list, but as I wrote this blurb, I was compelled to bump it up to number three.
2. Harry’s House by Harry Styles
I wrote about this a bit when I ranked every song on Harry’s House, but “As It Was” is one of my favorite pop songs ever written. It’s lyrically accessible while still being specific enough to not be generic and sonically, it’s a vision. Forget about the fullness of “As It Was,” its musicality and its sound. That alone would have it in contention for Song of the Year. Yet, it’s the ethereal nature that of it that makes me feel enveloped in the niche world created by the song. How can the most popular song of the year (so popular I’ve heard it at Wawa gas stations for eight months now) still feel so personal and fresh every time I listen to it? That’s the wonder of “As It Was,” the best song on Harry’s House and probably the best pure pop single since “Royals.” And all that is without even mentioning the funky “Late Night Talking,” the intimate “Matilda,” and the moving “Keep Driving.” For a pop star who became so beloved that he looped back around to side-eyed, it’s quite an impressive feat that Harry’s House transcends celebrity altogether and becomes a purely great pop album. It was my favorite for most of the year. Until…
1. Midnights by Taylor Swift
This might be my adjective of the year, but Taylor Swift’s Midnights? Undeniable. You’ll see this in a bit, but I recently went through, like, seventy years’ worth of music and albums to figure out what my top five (and favorite) were from each year before putting them in a spreadsheet. With Midnights at number one this year, this is now the fifth time Taylor Swift has topped the list! She’s completely deserving in 2022, too. We all expected another “(Taylor’s Version)” was coming, either for Speak Now or 1989. Instead, she shocked the world with Midnights, an entirely original album, and a corresponding tour announcement (The Eras Tour) that might have ruined the future of Ticketmaster. Largely produced by her closest collaborator, Jack Antonoff, Midnights also featured input from Zoë Kravitz, Lana Del Rey, Joe Alwyn, and — of course — Aaron Dessner. On Midnights proper, Taylor dances mysteriously through the provocative “Question…?” She redefines a concept synonymous with her fame through “Karma.” She perseveres on a bridge through all of her past eras in “You’re on Your Own, Kid.” She delves into lyrical surreality through one of her best-ever singles, “Anti-Hero.” And she transcends her own persona with one of the finest in her entire catalog, “Maroon.” That’s all without even mentioning the boppy Target exclusive, “Hits Different,” and some of the best songs in the entire shebang on her 3am Edition, “The Great War,” “Paris,” and “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve.” While Taylor has been comfortable and confident for some time now, Midnights stands as a testament to her growth in both reflective and progressive ways. It is among her truer artistic statements and the runaway winner for the best album of 2022. I didn’t love listening to anything more.
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