In June, the Grammys finally decided to remove the reductive word ‘urban’ from their awards categories. It’s not difficult to tell that Swift wrote and recorded her eighth album in Covid-19 isolation. Plus a plethora of releases from rock's rising stars. A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Future, Culture, Worklife and Travel, delivered to your inbox every Friday. 53. Jon Dolan & Brittany Spanos & Jonathan Bernstein & … “I will never shut up.” For that, we should all be thankful. Best Reggae Album For albums containing at least 51% playing time of new reggae recordings. –      The instrument that aided espionage. CLOSE. Though Blinding Lights’ explosive chorus is one of the year’s most familiar and uplifting, there’s a dash of darkness baked in that keeps things interesting. Read on to find out, and enjoy streams of the records as you scroll through. Largely produced by Aaron Dessner of popular rock band The National, it’s a wistful indie-folk record that features some of Swift’s most wrenching melodies and poignant lyrics. As on his previous LPs, Hadreas’s queer perspective sparks songwriting that feels utterly unique: standout track Jason is a devastatingly frank account of a sexual encounter with a repressed straight man. This year’s most talked-about single is an X-rated celebration of female sexual agency. Otherwise, all full-length studio albums (or mixtapes) released between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020 are eligible, though reissues, live albums, box sets and other compilations are excluded. "Folkore" by Taylor Swift took the top spot. The fruits of Guns N' Roses' long-awaited return to the studio, maybe. “I would do anything to get you out your room.” No wonder it struck a chord during a year when feelings of loneliness and isolation were increasingly tough to suppress. When you describe your latest track as a “modern-day Jolene”, it’s got to sparkle like one of Dolly Parton's rhinestones. When she sings “I was born to run, I don't belong to anyone,” you really believe her. ROOTS RADICS Sly & Robbie & Roots Radics MASS MANIPULATION Steel Pulse MORE WORK TO BE DONE Third World; World Music. December 8, 2020 • Radio Milwaukee's Tarik Moody leads a discussion on NPR Music's number one album pick and why it's one of 2020's most important and potent releases. Capaldi’s 2019 debut topped 1 million chart sales in the UK in September, including 456,000 from 2020. Featuring well-judged cameos from Pharrell Williams and legendary singer-activist Mavis Staples, RTJ4 is an incendiary call-to-arms that rails against ingrained racism, police brutality and America’s rigged class system. From the clattering post-punk of Ladies for Babies (Goats for Love) to the melancholy atmospherics of Prayer Mat, Shah’s music is as compelling as her lyrics. Release date is Friday, January 11, 2021. This highlight from Styles’ second album Fine Line shows exactly why he’s managed to leave One Direction behind. Whole Life is a swelling ballad with echoes of Roy Orbison, while the skittering beats of Your Body Changes Everything recall 1980s Kate Bush. Previous albums from this British singer-songwriter have explored mental health issues and the Syrian refugee crisis, but Kitchen Sink feels like her most righteous work yet. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. We’ve rounded up some of the best pop albums 2020 has seen thus far, check it out. You can also browse our Top 100 Albums and listen to the Rough Trade Edit Podcast Albums of the Year 2020 Special. Where previous LPs from 2012’s Red to 2019’s Lover saw her embrace pop and grapple with a fluctuating public image, Folklore feels more self-contained and introspective. Whether you call it world music, global music, ethno, Trad, or folk music, there was plenty of excellent material to choose from. Whether she's calling out racial microaggressions on STFU!, celebrating her queer support network on Chosen Family, or subverting traditional gender roles on Comme des Garçons (Like the Boys), Sawayama is a uniquely captivating artist who demands (and deserves) your full attention. Sales Data = WORLD ALBUMS. The 10 best albums of 2020 (so far) Kevin Coffey Jul 24, 2020 Jul 24, 2020 Updated Sep 24, 2020; 2 ... a few select covers and their wonderful new album. In fact, Natalie Don’t is executed with such self-confidence that Raye even slips in the canny line “like Dolly begged Jolene...” On this evidence, she’s definitely an artist to bookmark. Grande’s angelic vocals complement Gaga’s grittier tones exquisitely, making Rain on Me a perfect pop song about accepting life’s less than perfect moments. The Best Albums of 2020 (So Far) At the midway point of 2020, Complex counts down the 50 best albums of the year so far. Fittingly enough for such a confounding and overwhelming year, there’s no unifying theme to this year's best albums. These are Complex’s picks … Despite that, the first half of 2020 was still led by a bountiful crop of all-timer albums. WORLD ALBUMS … Though it includes the 17-minute epic Murder Most Foul, on which he intricately explores the cultural impact of JFK’s assassination, there are also moments of levity. The Best Albums of 2020 From Bob Dylan, to Taylor Swift, Run The Jewels, and BTS—these are the releases that transcended the noise of a horrible year. “Now I send their babies presents.” A stunning album that surely seals her status as an all-time great songwriter. When Walking in the Snow references the 2014 killing of Eric Garner, who was placed in a lethal chokehold by a policeman, it tragically foreshadows the barbaric murder of George Floyd just nine days before this album came out. … Dylan’s first album of original songs in eight years is a richly poetic meditation on life, death and his own mythology. It was one of the best-selling albums of … © 2021 METACRITIC, A RED VENTURES COMPANY. Half-a-billion streams later, WAP continues to pack a massive punch because rap superstars Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion outline their desires in a way that’s not just unapologetic, but also staggeringly graphic. When Cardi B brags “I don’t cook, I don’t clean, but let me tell you how I got this ring,” it's one of the few printable couplets. This year more than ever, it feels desperately needed. To the end of a year that has already gone down in infamy as one of the weirdest (and worst) in decades. As the pandemic turned the world upside down nine months ago, many musicians and their livelihoods were heavily impacted. To call the results timely and vital feels like an understatement. 2020 was set to play host to a new Deftones album, but in February – before the world fell apart – underground UK metallers Loathe released a collection of baritone-fuelled anthems so brutally beautiful that the collective guitar consciousness briefly forgot about the long wait for Stef Carpenter and co's latest opus. Notable Video Game Releases: New and Upcoming, Music title data, credits, and images provided by, Movie title data, credits, and poster art provided by. The massive success of Eilish's debut record continues on into 2020 as it has sold 194,000 units in 2020. Thankfully, this deceptively peppy disco-pop song lives up to its billing. He makes no attempt to disguise the weariness in his 79-year-old voice, which only heightens the power of his beautifully wrought laments: these songs are sometimes folky, sometimes bluesy, and often downright transcendent. The No. Get your order fast and stress free with free curbside pickup. When Gaga sings “I'd rather be dry, but at least I'm alive”, she's nodding to a period of her life when she used alcohol to “numb” herself. Above is Metacritic's list of the 40 best-reviewed albums of 2020, ranked by Metascore. Despite the pandemic, 2020 was a good year in terms of world music releases. A week after Run the Jewels’ Killer Mike delivered an impassioned speech at a Black Lives Matter rally in Atlanta, the hip-hop duo dropped this year’s essential protest album. “Cold was the steel of my axe to grind for the boys who broke my heart,” she sings knowingly on Invisible String. Whispers suggested the big names were back: A new AC/DC album, perhaps. Though it dropped at the end of 2019, Blinding Lights would go on to dominate 2020, eventually spending a record 33 weeks in the top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100. RAPTURE - WINNER Koffee AS I AM Julian Marley THE FINAL BATTLE: SLY & ROBBIE VS. Explore our list of The Best Albums Of 2020, World at Barnes & Noble®. One half of eccentric electronic duo Moloko until 2004, Ireland's Róisín Murphy has since proven herself to be a consistently inventive solo artist. The Grammy Award for Best Global Music Album is an honor presented to recording artists for quality albums in the world music genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. In a confounding and overwhelming year, music has allowed us both to reflect on the state of the world and escape from it with equal brilliance, writes Nick Levine. A new Deep Purple album, definitely. Named after a line delivered by Gillian Anderson in BBC miniseries The Fall, it’s a thrillingly idiosyncratic art-pop album that Apple mostly recorded at home; she even uses the bones of her dead dog for percussion. Showing off the songwriting chops that have already been tapped by Beyoncé and Ellie Goulding, the British rising star makes us root for her over a romantic rival who “walks in like a model”. San Cisco – Between You & Me Albums are ranked by Metascore prior to rounding based on scores as of December 23, 2020. For more of our mid-year coverage, check out our Best Albums and Songs Of 2020 So Far . Most excitingly of all, Ungodly Hour signposts a stunningly bright future for the Bailey sisters: Chloe especially shows off serious production chops here, while Hailey has been cast as Ariel in Disney’s upcoming remake of The Little Mermaid. 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