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2024 may go down in history as one of the most abundant years for music releases in modern history. That sounds like a dramatic statement, but in years past, I’ve made a list of my top five releases of the year with moderate ease. This year, I struggled to fit my favorite releases of the year into a list of ten. This year brought new music from some new artists, some of my very favorite artists, some artists I didn’t expect, and so many memories tied to these songs it's hard to articulate just how special the releases of 2024 will be to me for many years to come. This is by no means a “ranking” of the quality of these albums, but rather a list of the albums that left an impact on me this year. Here are my favorite albums of this year - the ones that kept me repeatedly hitting play and soundtracked my 2024.
10. can we start over?, Charlotte Sands
MY STATS:
Released: January 23, 2024
First listened: January 28, 2024
Minutes listened: 352
Most streamed song: ‘use me’
Top 3 Favorite songs: ‘get over it,’ ‘spite,’ ‘can we start over?’
Seen live in 2024: No
With her debut LP can we start over?, Charlotte Sands emerged in the new year as a fully aflame force to be reckoned with. The project was released in January of 2024 - a period of time when the music industry is typically pretty quiet. A new-to-me artist in 2024, Sands’ project not only gave me music to be excited about at a time when most other music was on the back burner, but this album also opened some doors for me as a music journalist. Charlotte Sands is one of the first artists to have ever engaged with a review I’d written online, her PR company re-shared my review, and this review became my first piece of writing ever published in a physical format with the release of Rock Insider Press’s anniversary zine. can we start over? is relentless, empowering, passionate pop-rock from its unassuming opening notes to its illustrious conclusion. With Charlotte Sands’ unparalleled vocals and scorchingly introspective writing, can we start over? earns its way to a hard-fought number 10 on my list of top albums this year.
Full review of can we start over? can be found here: https://abbyander.wixsite.com/abbysalbums/post/review-charlotte-sands-s-debut-lp-reignites-the-flame-of-female-powered-pop-rock.
9. Deeper Well, Kacey Musgraves
MY STATS:
Released: March 15, 2024
First listened: March 16, 2024
Minutes listened: 404
Most streamed song: ‘Sway’
Top 3 Favorite songs: ‘Jade Green,’ ‘The Architect,’ ‘Heaven Is’
Seen live in 2024: Deeper Well World Tour, Chicago
While I first listened to Deeper Well when it was released in early spring, I really didn’t find solace in Kacey Musgraves’s sixth studio album until late summer as I was anticipating attending the Deeper Well World Tour. There was something about the fading of summer into fall that was romanticized by Musgraves’s search for something grounding in Deeper Well. Hopeful, human, and healing, Deeper Well was one of those albums this year that quite simply provided a soft comfort and light joy with each listen to its rich acoustic-based tracklisting. There are other albums this year that I counted down to, felt enthralled by their releases, and dedicatedly learned every word to as fast as humanly possible, and in all honesty Deeper Well fits none of those criteria. But spinning my vinyl record of Deeper Well and letting this album settle itself into my listening led to some of the most simplistically joyful listening of 2024.
8. HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, Billie Eilish
MY STATS:
Released: May 17, 2024
First listened: May 17, 2024
Minutes listened: 527
Most streamed song: ‘THE GREATEST’
Top 3 Favorite songs: ‘THE GREATEST,’ ‘BLUE,’ ‘WILDFLOWER’
Seen live in 2024: HIT ME HARD AND SOFT THE TOUR, Chicago
There is truly no artist quite like Billie Eilish. With her first album in almost three years, HIT ME HARD AND SOFT is a perfect balance of her first two projects, with its dark production and grit combined with its emotionality and gentle instrumentals. Billie has never been one to mold herself to fit into any kind of a metaphorical box either, and this album is the most confident in her unique artistry that she's ever been. I’m a self-proclaimed album nerd, and I have endless respect for any artist of Billie’s star power who sacrifices commercial success for the integrity of her art and releases the complete album as one. Quite simply, Billie Eilish is a world-class artist who creates some of the most captivating, electrifying music of the current scene - and for me, HIT ME HARD AND SOFT is one of the most ambitious, creative projects of this year.
7. Patterns, Kelsea Ballerini
MY STATS:
Released: October 25, 2024
First listened: October 25, 2024
Minutes listened: 772
Most streamed song: ‘Sorry Mom’
Top 3 Favorite songs: ‘This Time Last Year,’ ‘Patterns,’ ‘First Rodeo’
Seen live in 2024: No
I’ve been a fan of Kelsea Ballerini since before she even released her debut album, and after watching and admiring her for now almost ten years, everything I’ve ever believed Kelsea could be as an artist has come to fruition on Patterns. She has subtly reinvented herself and her brand of country-pop with each album she’s released over the last decade. Now she’s no longer looking for a radio hit or a viral lyric, but rather she’s leaned into owning her voice as well as her personal and musical strengths. Softer and more introspective than ever, Patterns is a love letter to that exact transformation. Each pre-release from this album stood on its own to mark the different tones on the album, but made so much more sense in the context of the full project, making me fall in love with each one so much more as they each found their place in the full sonic landscape of Patterns. My first concerts of the new year are Kelsea, and I’ve genuinely never been more excited to see her music come to life than I am now thanks to Patterns.
Full review of Patterns can be found here: https://abbyander.wixsite.com/abbysalbums/post/welcome-mat-out-baggage-unpacked-kelsea-ballerini-s-new-album-patterns-is-her-best-yet.
6. eternal sunshine, Ariana Grande
MY STATS:
Released: March 8, 2024
First listened: March 8, 2024
Minutes listened: 835
Most streamed song: ‘supernatural’
Top 3 Favorite songs: ‘bye,’ ‘supernatural,’ ‘imperfect for you’
Seen live in 2024: No
eternal sunshine is one of the albums that I truly never expected we would see in 2024. Ariana Grande had been absent from the music scene ever since 2020’s Positions. With everything we saw in the second half of the year with Wicked, I’m truly in awe that Ariana even had the time to make eternal sunshine, much less that it would come off as such an excellently executed, cohesive album. This album is everything there is to love about Ariana Grande: effervescent pop music, an undertone of existentialism, vocals that knock your socks off, and that bad b*tch energy that only Ariana can produce. She's rarely been so honest, free, reflective, and undoubtedly sure of herself. Ultimately, eternal sunshine is concise and dynamic, doesn't have a single skip, and is possibly Ariana Grande’s most impressive musical feat yet.
Full review of eternal sunshine can be found here: https://abbyander.wixsite.com/abbysalbums/post/eternal-sunshine-ariana-grande.
5. Short N Sweet, Sabrina Carpenter
MY STATS:
Released: August 23, 2024
First listened: August 23, 2024
Minutes listened: 2,328
Most streamed song: ‘Espresso’
Top 3 Favorite songs: ‘Good Graces,’ ‘Don't Smile,’ ‘Juno’
Seen live in 2024: Short N Sweet Tour, Chicago
Entering into the Top 5, we have what may be the absolute best album released in 2024 - Sabrina Carpenter’s Short N Sweet. There’s no other way for me to put it besides to say that Sabrina Carpenter is an absolute star, and undoubtedly the pop star we’ve been waiting for. Short N Sweet is possibly the biggest cultural phenomenon we saw in the music world in 2024. And what seems to make Sabrina Carpenter such a massive success is that she unabashedly embraces her womanhood, flaunts her faux pas, and still won’t shut up about how great her life is. She’s unafraid and unserious half the time but is so deeply confident in knowing what makes Sabrina Sabrina. Not to mention that Short N Sweet has given me some of the most purely fun music memories of 2024: from release day to the Short N Sweet Cafe and screaming “Have you ever tried this one?” at the top of my lungs in a pastel-and-glitter-glad crowd of 20,000 people, Short N Sweet is delectable, tart, ear-candy that has fueled my sugar addiction all year long.
Full review of Short N Sweet can be found here: https://abbyander.wixsite.com/abbysalbums/post/short-n-sweet-sabrina-carpenter.
4. BLOOD ON THE DRUMS, Ashton Irwin
MY STATS:
Released: June 12, 2024 (The Thorns) / July 17, 2024 (The Roses)
First listened: June 12, 2024
Minutes listened: 2,401
Most streamed song: ‘Straight To Your Heart’
Top 3 Favorite songs: ‘Indestructible,’ ‘The Canyon,’ ‘I See the Angels’
Seen live in 2024: Ashton Irwin: Live at the Belasco, Los Angeles
Oh, BLOOD ON THE DRUMS, where do I even begin? There is no other album on this list that has memories tied to it quite like this one. I first heard ‘Straight to Your Heart’ in a hotel room in San Francisco, The Thorns in the Dublin airport on my way to Paris, and The Roses was on repeat my whole four-hour flight from Chicago to Los Angeles on my way to review and photograph Ashton’s first and only solo show at the Belasco Theater. Every bit of my summer was soundtracked by BLOOD ON THE DRUMS, and those unbelievable memories are ones I will cherish for the rest of my life. There is no other album on this list that gets better and better every time I hear it quite like this one. I can make my list of favorite songs (I’m looking at you 'Indestructible,' 'I See the Angels,' and 'The Canyon') but I don’t think I can honestly say I’ve ever intentionally skipped a song on this album any time I’ve ever listened to it. There is no album on this list that was crafted with attention to detail quite like this one. There’s a distinct sonic difference between the grittier A-Side The Thorns and the softer B-Side The Roses, while the album somehow still remains stunningly cohesive. The red-and-black splatter vinyl record and its gothic rose packaging is one of the most beautiful in my collection. Each of the album's excellent music videos looks nothing like the one before it. So, Ashton, to you I say this - thank you for giving me an album to come back to again and again both for its artistic masterpiece and for the memories it’s given me this year that I wouldn’t trade for anything.
Full review of BLOOD ON THE DRUMS can be found here: https://abbyander.wixsite.com/abbysalbums/post/review-ashton-irwin-s-blood-on-the-drums-is-a-reflective-genre-bending-masterpiece
3. THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT: THE ANTHOLOGY, Taylor Swift
MY STATS:
Released: April 19, 2024
First listened: April 19, 2024
Minutes listened: 3,328
Most streamed song: ‘Fortnight (feat. Post Malone)’
Top 3 Favorite songs: ‘My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys,’ ‘The Black Dog,’ ‘Guilty As Sin?’
Seen live in 2024: The Eras Tour, Indianapolis
As Taylor herself said in ‘The Alchemy,’ “This happens once every few lifetimes.” Not only did Taylor give us a brand new album this year amid her re-recording project and The Eras Tour, but she also gave us the double The Tortured Poets Department album. Over the last seventeen years I’ve spent as a die-hard Swiftie, I can honestly say Taylor has never given us a creative work of art this colossal, this magical, and this utterly Taylor. Of all album releases this year, TTPD absolutely takes the title for the most memorable release night - not only did Taylor release sixteen songs all at once from the original album that very seriously made me jaw drop, cry, and burst out laughing, I was also one of those people who not-so-delusionally stayed up until 2am on TTPD release night to witness the surprise release of THE ANTHOLOGY half of the album. With its over-two hour run time and diaristic lyrical density, the true genius of TTPD lies in what can be read between the lines, so I’ll likely spend the next 20 years uncovering new things to love and appreciate about this album. TTPD simply doesn’t take the top spot on this list because the remaining two albums are just impossible to beat in terms of how deeply ingrained they were in my life and memories this year. But between nearly falling off my couch watching the Grammys as Taylor announced the album, a cold Black Friday morning spent snatching up THE ANTHOLOGY on vinyl, and witnessing one of only nine U.S. performances of The Tortured Poets Department set on The Eras Tour and everything in between, this album is one I’ll cherish for years to come.
Full review of The Tortured Poets Department can be found here: https://abbyander.wixsite.com/abbysalbums/post/the-tortured-poets-department-taylor-swift.
2. boy, Luke Hemmings
MY STATS:
Released: April 26, 2024
First listened: April 25, 2024
Minutes listened: 3,744
Most streamed song: ‘Close My Eyes’
Top 3 Favorite songs: ‘I’m Still Your Boy,’ ‘Close My Eyes,’ ‘Promises’
Seen live in 2024: Nostalgia For A Time That Never Existed, Chicago/Washington DC/Oakland/Los Angeles
Going into 2024, I only hoped that Luke Hemmings would make a return to solo music, so I truly could never have anticipated what would come in the next few months. boy was undoubtedly my most anticipated release of the year. I can vividly remember hearing the first snippet of boy’s lead single 'Shakes,' seeing the album cover for the first time, waking up to the news of dates for the Nostalgia for a Time That Never Existed Tour, the teaser videos for several other tracks on the album, and finding out that by some insane twist of fate that Luke had decided to release boy on my birthday. I feel endlessly grateful that I got to see Luke play his first solo shows over two nights at the Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles last year to debut the live performances of his first album, but that gratitude is multiplied tenfold by the gratitude I feel that I got to see the glitteringly existential songs from boy come to life night after night from coast to coast on his first solo tour - a tour that concluded with spending closing night in the front row for the recording of his live album (that feels surreal to write - like, how is that real?). When I think of 2024, I’m always going to think of boy and the endless ways it's intertwined with some of my favorite music memories I’ve ever created. Perhaps my favorite music memory of all from this year? Standing in the Hollywood Palladium singing, “Every word you said, I hang on every line, I’d do it all again, I guess I just feel better around you,” with Luke right in front of me at the end of weeks of making memories thanks to him and his music.
Full review of boy can be found here: https://abbyander.wixsite.com/abbysalbums/post/luke-hemmings-ep-boy-captures-nostalgia-amidst-growing-pains
1. The Secret of Us, Gracie Abrams
MY STATS:
Released: June 19, 2024
First listened: May 23, 2024
Minutes listened: 3,654
Most streamed song: ‘Risk’
Top 3 Favorite songs: ‘Blowing Smoke,’ ‘us. (feat. Taylor Swift),’ ‘Free Now’
Seen live in 2024: The Secret of Us Tour, Chicago/Nashville; The Eras Tour, Indianapolis
For the second year running, my favorite album of the year goes to none other than Miss Gracie Abrams. The Secret of Us is one of those albums that is simplistically magical and completely unexpected in all the best ways, and it romanticized so many sentimental moments throughout this year. One of the most extraordinary places I’ve ever been fortunate enough to visit in my life is Mont Saint Michel in France, and the stars aligned in such a way that The Secret of Us was released on the one night I got to spend in that idyllic place. Whenever I hear ‘Blowing Smoke,’ I picture the morning walk along the water I took to see the island as the sun was rising. Whenever I hear ‘I Love You I’m Sorry,’ I picture sitting in my hotel room window looking out at the tide coming in on beaches in Normandy. Whenever I hear ‘Close to You,’ I picture my friend and I dancing around in a hotel room on Sunset Boulevard on the night it was released. Whenever I hear ‘us.,’ I picture singing that song with a crowd for the first time at The Secret of Us Tour matching with my sister in pink striped pajamas and 21s on our hands. Whenever I hear ‘Good Luck Charlie,’ I picture the little smile and wave Gracie gave me in Nashville when I started the crowd of phone flashlights that filled the Ryman Auditorium. Whenever I hear ‘Let It Happen,’ I picture the 70,000 lights that filled a stadium when Gracie performed it at the Eras Tour. In a year of growth, beautiful memories, and experiences that I’ll remember for the rest of my life, The Secret of Us has been there with its refreshing honesty and sparkling vulnerability to soundtrack every little bit of my 2024.
Full review of The Secret of Us can be found here: https://abbyander.wixsite.com/abbysalbums/post/review-the-secret-of-us-is-gracie-abrams-most-refined-and-honest-work-yet
Here's to more great music & great albums in 2025. Thanks for reading. ~A
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