The Top Albums of 2022
The year 2022 was my first full year back in Minnesota; it was a year of settling in, rebuilding old connections, and beginning to build new ones.
According to the extensive lists I keep year-round on my phone, I have listened to 261 albums that were released in 2022. Like last year, when my total album count was very similar, I again felt like this number was a sweet spot that allowed me to reconnect with albums from past years that I hadn’t listened to in a while.
The 60 albums listed below are not all of the albums that I enjoyed from this year, but they comprise what feels to me like a manageable number of collections that really stuck with me or felt like they defined my year on some level.
This year I’m trying something new, which is to organize the list into sections. I am thinking of these sections like circles of friendship — the inner circle is my closest friends and family, the second is “best friends,” the third is “good friends,” the fourth is “friends,” and the fifth is “close acquaintances.” (I really do think of albums as friends! And furthermore, I think it’s charming, and I’ll never stop!)
As always, my hope is that you’ll find one or nineteen new albums to love in this list, and to that end I’ve provided one sample song per album — it might be my favorite, or it might just be one that stuck with me as a good example of what the collection sounds like as a whole. Enjoy, and remember: if you like the music, consider supporting these artists on Bandcamp or by purchasing concert tickets or merch. I’ve linked the album on Bandcamp whenever possible.
“These Are My Whole Heart,” or Closest Friends and Family, or #1–3
Big Thief — Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You (Support on Bandcamp)
Bartees Strange — Farm to Table (Support on Bandcamp)
The Beths — Expert in a Dying Field (Support on Bandcamp)
“Some More All-Timers,” or Best Friends, or #4–10
Bad Bunny — Un Verano Sin Ti
Tomberlin — i don’t know who needs to hear this… (Support on Bandcamp)
Rosalía — Motomami
Pinegrove — 11:11 (Support on Bandcamp)
Beyoncé — Renaissance
Oso Oso — Sore Thumb (Support on Bandcamp)
Alvvays — Blue Rev (Support on Bandcamp)
“Also Exceptionally Dear,” or Good Friends, or #11–22
Tegan & Sara — Crybaby
They Hate Change — Finally, New (Support on Bandcamp)
Charli XCX — Crash
Kendrick Lamar — Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers
Angel Olsen — Big Time (Support on Bandcamp)
redveil — learn 2 swim (Support on Bandcamp)
Fireboy DML — Playboy
Weyes Blood — And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow (Support on Bandcamp)
Vieux Farka Touré & Khruangbin — Ali (Support on Bandcamp)
MUNA — MUNA (Support on Bandcamp)
The 1975 — Being Funny in a Foreign Language (Support on Bandcamp)
Mitski — Laurel Hell (Support on Bandcamp)
“Other Year-Defining Beauties,” or Friends, or #23–37
The Smile — A Light for Attracting Attention (Support on Bandcamp)
Denzel Curry — Melt My Eyez See Your Future (Support on Bandcamp)
Kevin Morby — This Is A Photograph (Support on Bandcamp)
Julia Jacklin — Pre Pleasure (Support on Bandcamp)
Sudan Archives — Natural Brown Prom Queen (Support on Bandcamp)
Plains — I Walked with You a Ways (Support on Bandcamp)
Danger Mouse & Black Thought — Cheat Codes
Soccer Mommy — Sometimes, Forever (Support on Bandcamp)
The Linda Lindas — Growing Up (Support on Bandcamp)
Maggie Rogers — Surrender (Support on Bandcamp)
Bellows — Next of Kin (Support on Bandcamp)
Saba — Few Good Things
Obongjayar — Some Nights I Dream of Doors (Support on Bandcamp)
Alex G — God Save the Animals (Support on Bandcamp)
Florist — Florist (Support on Bandcamp)
“I’d Be Remiss Not To Mention…,” or Close Acquaintances and People I Enjoy Seeing at Parties Sometimes, or #38–60
Nilüfer Yanya — Painless (Support on Bandcamp)
Built to Spill — When the Wind Forgets Your Name (Support on Bandcamp)
Florence and the Machine — Dance Fever
Arcade Fire — WE
Vince Staples — Ramona Park Broke My Heart
Glorilla — Anyways, Life’s Great…
Hatchie — Giving the World Away (Support on Bandcamp)
Let’s Eat Grandma — Two Ribbons (Support on Bandcamp)
Death Cab for Cutie — Asphalt Meadows (Support on Bandcamp)
Sylvan Esso — No Rules Sandy (Support on Bandcamp)
Sharon Van Etten — We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong (Support on Bandcamp)
Open Mike Eagle — Component System With the Auto Reverse (Support on Bandcamp)
The Mountain Goats — Bleed Out (Support on Bandcamp)
Joey Purp — You and the Money
Frankie Cosmos — Inner World Peace (Support on Bandcamp)
King Princess — Hold On Baby
Aldous Harding — Warm Chris (Support on Bandcamp)
Poliça — Madness (Support on Bandcamp)
Kehlani — Blue Water Road
Will Sheff — Nothing Special (Support on Bandcamp)
Carly Rae Jepsen — The Loneliest Time
Why Bonnie — 90 in November (Support on Bandcamp)
Christine & The Queens — Redcar les adorables étoile (Support on Bandcamp)
