From Fiona Apple’s Fetch The Bolt Cutters to Imploding The Mirage by The Killers and Taylor Swift’s latest, the best albums of the year
Annus horribilis? Not for pop. This has been a year when music has meant more than ever. Old favourites have found new life, as when Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams went viral in a TikTok video, and there’s been an exceptional crop of new albums.
Here are ten that will bring a touch of class to a Christmas stocking.
Fiona Apple: Fetch The Bolt Cutters
This magnificent maverick was working from home before everyone else was. With her chant-like songs, she turned her furniture into instruments and her troubles into beauty
JARV IS…: Beyond The Pale
Don’t be put off by the clunky name: it’s Jarvis Cocker, back on form 25 years after Common People. Declaiming witty lines with cuddly menace, he’s halfway between Alan Bennett and Leonard Cohen
Laura Marling: Song For Our Daughter
The gig of the year was Marling’s livestreamed show at the Union Chapel in London. Watched by an audience of stained-glass saints, she sang her steely ballads with a piercing intensity
Taylor Swift: Folklore
After famously ditching country for pop, Swift swerved again, towards navel-gazing electro-folk. She captured the mood of the moment and made her best album
Pet Shop Boys: Hotspot
From a duo who haven’t made a bad record in 35 years, another 40 minutes of fastidious euphoria
Megan Thee Stallion: Good News
The woman who made her name on Cardi B’s smash-hit WAP may be the sweariest person in hip-hop, which is saying something. But she does it with charm, and some great samples
Teddy Thompson: Heartbreaker Please
Born into a family of folk-rockers, Teddy goes his own way by exploring country and soul. These different roads lead to the same destination: delicious music
Joan As Police Woman: Cover Two
Joan Wasser takes songs by Prince, Blur, Talk Talk and Neil Young and makes them her own with audacious arrangements and smouldering charisma
Ren Harvieu: Revel In The Drama
Her second album took seven years, on account of some trouble at t’record company, but it was worth the wait. Harvieu is still Salford’s answer to Dusty Springfield, and the velvet vocals now come with added grit
The Killers: Imploding The Mirage
The men who brought us Mr Brightside deliver more of their urgent anthems, purpose-built for stadium shows that may one day take place