Last year was such a weird, interesting one. It was the first full calendar year after the big COVID lockdown when vaccines were fully available. Society is, by large, closer to where it was before 2020. And yet, we’re still in a pandemic. People everywhere are still getting very sick, among a public that has mostly ditched masks and other preventive measures that used to be required. It’s just…life now, it seems.

Naturally, this weird new “normal” seeps out into our art and colors it. How can it not? Even if COVID were to disappear tomorrow, we’ve all been changed by it in one way or another. We’re different people now. When looking out at the musical landscape of 2022, I’m still somewhat surprised by how much the lockdown itself has influenced musicians. Maybe I shouldn’t be – after all, there are still albums coming out that were started or mostly completed in 2020.

2022 strikes me as a year of transition. Of reconnecting. For me personally, it started off pretty rough but gradually got better as I worked to rebuild the community around me. Funny enough, the music has also matched that vibe. Some truly euphoric and uplifting music has come out with the goal of bringing people together in physical spaces. Of celebrating our new freedom of being out in the world again. It’ll take time – likely YEARS to fully adjust to life after lockdown. But it feels like the best way to get through all of the continual challenges and heartache the world throws at us is to reach out to those around us that give us energy and make life a little less lonely.

Here are my favorite albums of 2022.

30. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – Endless Rooms

29. Arcade Fire – WE

28. Fontaines D.C- – Skinty Fia 

27. Melody’s Echo Chamber – Emotional Eternal 

26. Σtella, Redinho – Up and Away 

25. Wet Leg – Wet Leg 

24. Bad Bunny – Un Verano Sin Ti

23. yeule – Glitch Princess 

22. Lupe Fiasco – Drill Music in Zion

21. Animal Collective – Time Skiffs

20. Arctic Monkeys – The Car

19. Destroyer – LABYRINTHITIS

18. Wilder Maker – Male Models

17. The 1975 – Being Funny In A Foreign Language

16. Panda Bear, Sonic Boom – Reset 

15. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Cool It Down

14. Yung Kayo – DFTK

13. Florist – Florist

12. Carly Rae Jepsen – The Loneliest Time 

11. Kendrick Lamar – Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers

10. Charli XCX – CRASH 

09. Pusha T – It’s Almost Dry

08. Beyoncé – RENAISSANCE

07. Sudan Archives – Natural Brown Prom Queen

06. Big Thief – Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You

05. The Weeknd – Dawn FM

04. Alvvays – Blue Rev

03. Maggie Rogers – Surrender 

02. ODESZA – The Last Goodbye

01. Beach House – Once Twice Melody