Final Quarter Review 2020
My Top 25 Albums released in October, November, and December
In the music world, the last few months of every year are traditionally reserved for diving back into the past nine months. It can be incredibly rewarding to return to all your favorite albums from January through September, and remembering what they’ve meant to you and mean to you is important for processing and internalizing your journey.
One of the most challenging things about this, though, is that albums continue to be released apace through early or mid-December, and often the last six weeks of releases basically get lost in the shuffle. At the very least, it’s hard to find time to digest them fully. As always, the last quarter of 2020 had some releases I am sure I will at least enjoy and possibly fall in love with — albums by Four Tet, Rico Nasty, Matt Berninger, and Taylor Swift come to mind in particular — but as of today I still haven’t managed to find time to listen to them all the way through.
But no matter how much people pretend year-end lists are definitive, they are always, always a snapshot in time. So without further ado, here are my favorite albums from October, November, and December 2020 — today.
1. Ela Minus — acts of rebellion
2. Adrianne Lenker — songs
3. Bad Bunny — El Último Tour del Mundo
4. Juni Habel — All Ears
5. Kevin Morby — Sundowner
6. DaBaby — My Brother’s Keeper EP
7. Nilüfer Yanya — Feeling Lucky? EP
8. Helena Deland — Someone New
9. Kacey Johansing — No Better Time
10. Tomberlin — Projections EP
11. Sam Amidon — Sam Amidon
12. Ariana Grande — Positions
13. Kurt Vile — Speed, Sound, Lonely KV EP
14. Told Slant — Point the Flashlight and Walk
15. Megan Thee Stallion — Good News
16. Miloe — Greenhouse EP
17. TSHA — Flowers EP
18. BENEE — Hey u x
19. Sam Lynch — Little Disappearance
20. Xavier Omär — if You Feel
21. Deep Sea Diver — Impossible Weight
22. Routine — And Other Things EP
23. Jónsi — Shiver
24. Cartalk — Pass Like Pollen
25. Raye Zaragoza — Woman in Color
