@TIME

Read more from the list here

@TIME

🎧 “Celia,” @TiwaSavage

“Savage has an innate understanding of how various strains of music from the Black diaspora fit together, so R&B, rap, Afrobeats, and global pop coalesce seamlessly on the record,” writes @andrewrchow

@TIME

🎧 “We’re New Again – A Reimagining,” @MakayaMcCraven

“McCraven matches Gil Scott Heron’s gruff compassion, lurching cadences and probing intellectual curiosity to create something that sounds both wholly invigorating and like Heron’s aesthetic home,” writes @andrewrchow

@TIME

🎧 “Agüita,” Gabriel Garzón-Montano (@ggm)

@andrewrchow: “The sonic trademarks that have defined the bilingual casanova are all present on his latest offering: there are brooding funk jams, Fender Rhodes swells, psychedelic orchestral vignettes and exquisite use of blank space”

@TIME

🎧 “Set My Heart on Fire Immediately,” @perfumegenius

@raisabruner: “Perfume Genius has always nodded at the pain of self-discovery in his music, mining identity for art. Here, he’s at his most joyful and also his most opaque”

@TIME

🎧 “Eternal Atake,” @LILUZIVERT

@andrewrchow: “The Philadelphia rapper teased the release of ‘Eternal Atake’ for years, and the final result did not disappoint: the album is as colorful, ambitious, silly and extraterrestrial as its album art suggests”

@TIME

🎧 “Gaslighter,” @thechicks

“‘Gaslighter’ seethes with righteous rage, conveys a desire for comeuppance and change and—in its most heart-wrenching moments—celebrates the wholesome, soothing glory of female solidarity,” writes @raisabruner

@TIME

🎧 “Fetch the Bolt Cutters,” Fiona Apple

@raisabruner: “This album displays the art of a woman shedding preconceptions, baring her teeth—and her insecurities—and finding catharsis in the process of creation”

@TIME

🎧 “Ungodly Hour,” @chloexhalle

The Bailey sisters crafted “13 unimpeachable songs, each with inventive production flourishes and endless replay value,” writes @andrewrchow

@TIME

🎧 “Folklore,” @taylorswift13

“‘Folklore’ is Swift finding the beauty—and pop power—in stillness and reflection. Perhaps that’s the most we could hope to achieve in quarantine,” writes @raisabruner

@TIME

Whether released before the world changed or after, the albums that stuck with us this year hit as worlds we could disappear into when we most needed refuge.

Here, the 10 best albums of 2020