As I say every time around this year, by now you’re probably sick of end of year album lists, but the fact that you are here shows that you still have at least a tiny bit of stamina for more, so thank you for visiting.
So these are my favourite albums of 2020, in order from 1st to 30th. 30 is too many really. Why anyone would be interested in my 26th favourite album of 2020 I have no idea. But at least it’s not a top 50. Ideally I would have stuck to 20, even if just so that I could have had a headline that read '20 from 2020' but I’ve listened to so much music this year I just couldn’t cut it down to that number without feeling that there were some good ones missing. It’s like inviting friends to a party – if I don’t invite certain people I’m going to feel really awkward about it.
Like the previous few years there’s no big write up, because my guess is all you want to do is have a look at how my list compares with yours and then bugger off again. If it's good enough for Barack Obama to throw his album list up on line with no commentary and get thousands of views, it's good enough for me.
If there’s something here you haven’t heard, why not give it a try. By way of introduction, I’ve made a playlist with one track from each record. Find it by clicking here. That means you get 2 Sault tracks and 2 by Taylor Swift as they both feature twice. Also, something that may be a surprise to those who saw my 2019 list is that there’s no Fontaines DC on this list (they produced my favourite of 2019). Sorry guys, I just didn’t feel the second album as much as the first.
For the first time ever I couldn’t decide on an overall number one and so two records share the top spot. Another Sky’s I Slept On The Floor and Wake UP! by Hazel English have been not only my favourite records of this year, but my most played. Both these two records seem strangely out of fashion and yet are weirdly and brilliantly all the better for it.
Another Sky’s record is the most complete album I have listened to this year. It feels like every track sits in the perfect place – there’s an ebb and flow that makes it the complete start to finish listen. It’s a record that I discover more every time I play it both musically and lyrically. It’s bloody brilliant. Wake UP! by Hazel English is a record that is just chock full of gorgeous sixties referencing indie pop melodies that won my heart on first listen and has stayed there ever since. It’s a record that makes me feel like I have a teenage crush on it.
Close behind these 2 wonderful albums is Sault’s much acclaimed Untitled (Black Is). It’s a record for our times; an essential statement that mixes R&B, funk, soul against the background of the Black Lives Matter and the death of George Floyd. It’s a hugely powerful piece of work on many levels.
Add to that Phoebe Bridgers' sublime reality-core songwriting on Punisher, Dua Lipa’s all killer no filler mainstream pop album that hugely improves on her debut, Charli XCX’s lockdown computer bangers, Georgia’s Mercury nominated electronically enticing Seeking Thrills, Erland Cooper’s closing record from his Orkney trilogy, Pottery’s riotous party punk funk of Welcome to Bobby’s Motel and E.M.M.A’s cinematic soundtracks to the top 10 and all in all it’s been a very good year for new music.
These are the records that I have listened to excessively, the ones I have lived and breathed and the ones that have got me through the year. Thank you to all these artists for doing what you do. I love you.
1= Another Sky - I Slept On The Floor
1= Hazel English -Wake UP!
3 Sault - Untitled (Black Is)
4 Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher
5 Dua Lipa – Future Nostalgia
6 Charli XCX – How I’m Feeling Now
7 Georgia – Seeking Thrills
8 Erland Cooper – Hether Blether
9 Pottery - Welcome To Bobby’s Motel
10 E.M.M.A – Indigo Dream
11 Taylor Swift - Evermore
12 Kelly Lee Owens - Inner Song
13 Nat Vazer - Is This Offensive And Loud?
14 The Blinders – Fantasies of A Stay At Home Psychopath
15 Laura Marling – Song For Our Daughter
16 International Teachers Of Pop - Pop Gossip
17 Ren Harvieu – Revel In The Drama
18 Mary Lattimore – Silver Lakes
19 Other Lives – For Their Love
20 Sault – Untitled (Rise)
21 Porridge Radio – Every Bad
22 Oh Wonder – No One Else Can Wear Your Crown
23 Emily A. Sprague – Hill, Flower, Fog
24 Taylor Swift - Folklore
25 The Avalanches – We Will Always Love You
26 The Budos Band - Long In The Tooth
27 Lady Gaga - Chromatica
28 Rosie Carney – The Bends
29 Baxter Dury – The Night Chancers
30 Gia Margaret – Mia Gargaret
I'll be back tomorrow with news on what I'm doing with the blog in 2021.
Here are two tracks from my two (equal) favourite albums of 2020
Hazel English - Milk and Honey
Another Sky - Tree
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