Best Of 2021: Albums In Order Of Preference Through June 30th
1 – Mother Love – Angelique Kidjo
2 – Deacon – serpentwithfeet
3 – Sour – Olivia Rodrigo
4 – Justice – Justin Bieber
5 – Heart & Soul – Eric Church
6 – Ten Songs of Worship & Praise for Our Tumultuous Times – St. Lenox
7 – Somewhere – Sun June
8 – Ultra Pop – The Armed
9 – Young Shakespeare – Neil Young
10 – ROADRUNNER: NEW LIGHT, NEW MACHINE – Brockhampton
11 – Oh! Pardon tu dormais… – Jane Birkin
12 – Dear Lemon House, You Ruined Me: Senior Year – Kaonashi
13 – Sound Ancestors – Madlib
14- Once Upon A Time – Chika
15- Madre – Arca
16 – J.T. – Steve Earle
17 – Los Dioses – Anuel AA, Ozuna
18 – Off The Yak – Young M.A.
January: a very quiet month (even if I included the first week of February, it would shake it up), the big surprise is Madlib, of course…
February: a short month and a slow month for the year, all the real action has been on the singles so far so despite Madlib and Sun June being near the top there is an overriding sense of the year not having started. Specifically, rap has been very quiet.
March – The year begins to settle in with serpentwithfeet, at least for now, gonna be difficult to dislodge from the top spot. As for Neil Young, that is one great performance…
April – The year has properly kicked in and for a month takes the limelight away from singles. Bieber went from a disappointment to the best album of the year, once you get past MLK, the deeply melodic and sweet strong ode to love (and God) improves and improves. It is possible Eric Church will replace him at # 1 at some point, or even serpentwithfeet will come all the way back. I am holding off putting box sets on this list, if I wasn’t The who and John Lennon would be here. Here is Justin:
May – a ton of albums but mostly indifferent rather than good, Olivia is the first new superstar, Young M.A. invents drill in her own image, mathcore has its masterpiece…
June – a hot and heated month, with two albums that vie for top spot, especially Kidjo’s Afropop masterpiece at the top, and very difficult to beat as well
