Best Music of 2020... So Far

Bob Dylan released his first album of new material in eight years. It's called Rough and Rowdy Ways (2020). It scored a 95 on Metacritic, based on 22 reviews. It garnered nine reviews with 100 as the score. Alex Suskind at Entertainment Weekly says it's not a protest album but contains elements of protest. Yet, according to Metacritic, even Dylan doesn't have the best album of the year. That honor goes to Fiona Apple and her fifth studio album titled Fetch the Bolt Cutters (2020). It has a 98 on Metacritic, based on 26 reviews. It has eleven reviews with 100 as the score. Like with Dylan, her album comes eight years since her last of new material. Laura Barton of The Guardian calls it "a glorious eruption; after eight long years, an urgent desire to be heard." Dylan's lowest score is currently a 67, whereas Apple's lowest score is 80, which pretty much means universal acclaim here. I'm not as fond of Dylan's album, but I do love Fiona Apple's latest.

Roddy Ricch (pictured above) is a 21-year-old rapper from Compton, California. Ricch won a Grammy Award this year for his collaboration on the song "Racks in the Middle," which is the hit song that Nipsey Hussle released a month before he died. A year later, Ricch has probably the best-selling album of 2020. Ricch's debut album is Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial (2019). It came out in December and has been steadily climbing the charts until it hit number-one in late January. It then did a bit of a roller coaster, dipping in the charts before rising again, then repeating that pattern. The album has been #1 for 3 nonconsecutive weeks, but has since been certified platinum.

Lil Baby is the 25-year-old rapper from Atlanta, Georgia. He's not to be confused with DaBaby who is a 28-year-old rapper from Charlotte, North Carolina, who released his third album this year. No, Lil Baby is only on his second album this year called My Turn (2020). It also spent 3 nonconsecutive weeks atop the Billboard charts and was also certified platinum.

Grammy-winner The Weeknd (pictured above) released his fourth studio album called After Hours (2020). It sat atop the charts for four consecutive weeks, but, as far as I can tell, it hasn't been certified platinum. It's interesting that so far, most of the albums atop the Billboard 200 have been work by Black artists, namely rappers. One of the few exceptions is the latest album from Korean boy band, BTS. Their album Map of the Soul: 7 (2020) was certified quadruple-platinum in South Korea and platinum in Japan.

There have been nearly a dozen songs that have been number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The most successful has been "The Box," which is the lead single from Roddy Ricch's debut album. It debuted in 2019 but rose to the top of the charts and stayed #1 for 11 weeks. Its success was fueled by the social media app called TikTok. It makes the song's status almost akin to "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X last year. Lil Nas X and Roddy Ricch are the same age. Both of their songs were aided by TikTok. Given the similar success, one can probably predict that like Lil Nas X, Ricch will probably be up for Record of the Year.

"Blinding Lights" by The Weeknd was atop the charts for four, nonconsecutive weeks. That song might also be up for awards by year's end. Most of the other #1 songs of 2020 didn't impress me much with the exception of "Savage" by Megan Thee Stallion (pictured above) featuring Beyoncé . Megan Thee Stallion is a 25-year-old rapper from Houston, Texas. Her song also went viral thanks to TikTok. Her fame has come awfully fast. She hasn't even released a studio album yet, only a mixtape last year. She's featured on the HBO Max series Legendary, and her persona is just incredible.

Best Folk / Country

WORLD ON THE GROUND by Sarah Jarosz 
MONOVISION by Ray LaMontagne 
ITALIAN ICE by Nicole Atkins 
EXPECTATIONS by Katie Pruitt 
NIGHTFALL by Little Big Town 
THE END OF EVERYTHING [ep] by Noah Cyrus

Best Rock / Alternative

FETCH THE BOLT CUTTERS by Fiona Apple 
EL DORADO by Marcus King 
VELVET by Adam Lambert 
SEX EDUCATION [sndtrk] by Ezra Furman 
HOLLYWOOD PARK by The Airborne Toxic Event 
QUICKIES by The Magnetic Fields 
CORIKY by Coriky 

Best Pop / Electronic

SET MY HEART ON FIRE IMMEDIATELY by Perfume Genius 
LOVE, DEATH & DANCING by Jack Garratt 
SAWAYAMA by Rina Sawayama 
CAPE GOD by Allie X 
HOW I'M FEELING by Lauv 

Best R&B / Soul

UNGODLY HOUR by Chloe x Halle 
ANCHORS & ELEPHANTS (2019) by Jennah Bell
THE ALBUM by Teyana Taylor 

Best Rap / Hip Hop

RTJ4 by Run the Jewels 
3.15.20 by Childish Gambino 
THE LONG GOODBYE by Riz Ahmed 
UNLOCKED by Denzel Curry 
CIRCLES by Mac Miller (posthumous)

Best Individual Song from Non-Listed Album

"Savage" by Megan Thee Stallion f/ Beyoncé
"I'm Ready" by John Legend
"Nothing's Impossible" by Caroline Rose
"Plastic Doll" by Lady Gaga
"11:55 AM / This World" by Everything Is Recorded
"Teeth" by 5 Seconds of Summer
"Harm None" by Jess Williamson
"Belledonna" by Son Little
"...Again" by dvsn f/ Shantel May
"WHOO" by Nick Hakim
"So Alive" by Jonathan Wilson
"Sparrow" by Ashley McBryde
"Comeback" by Carly Rae Jepsen
"Gold" by James Alexander Bright
"Is It True" by Tame Impala

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