We made it! Mostly. Kind of. The COVID era, which utterly derailed music and most other things for the better part of two years, isn’t quite over. But around the time that most of us got our second arm-jabs, the whole economy surrounding music started to sputter to life once again. It’s not quite the same as it was this time in 2019 yet, but it’s now possible for a band to release an album and then tour behind that album. We used to take that for granted. Now, it feels miraculous.
Even in the depths of the pandemic, artists never stopped releasing new music. But in the past few months, especially, we’ve seen a tidal surge of new records, and many of those new records are truly great. The music that we loved in 2021 didn’t adhere to any particular sound or sensibility. Some of our favorite albums this year twinkled and murmured and soothed. Some of them whooped and thumped and celebrated. Plenty of others clanged and howled and made a whole lot of noise. There’s no central theme to our list of the year’s best albums. There never is.
We, your Stereogum staff, owe a great debt to you, the Stereogum readers. We mean that in a metaphysical way, and we also mean it in a literal way. Last year, when this site went independent, you, the readers, raised enough money to keep us going, and we are eternally grateful. For the small staff of this website, all we really want to do is blather to anyone who will listen about the music that we like. You have made it possible for us to make our living doing that. Thank you.
In that spirit, here’s our list of the 50 albums that we liked best in 2021. The list was chosen entirely by the staff here at Stereogum. We all made our own personal lists, assigned points, came up with a ranking, argued over and tinkered with that ranking, and ended up with what you see below. Later on, we’ll give you our lists of the year’s best EPs and the best albums from certain genres, as well as a few other year-end goodies. But this list is the big list. You’ll probably find a few new things on it that you might like, and you’ll probably find a few reasons to argue with us, too. Enjoy both. —Tom Breihan