Consequence’s Annual Report kicks off today with our list of the Best Albums of 2024. As the year winds down, stay tuned for more awards, lists, and interviews about the best music, film, and TV 2024 had to offer.
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It seems like every year, the same question resurfaces in one form or another: Is the album dead?
If you ask us, we’re inclined to say absolutely not. In fact, the albums on our list, particularly those that form the top 10, make a case for going bigger and bolder — not necessarily in terms of length or track count, but in sense of scope. As a staff, we found ourselves hitting repeat on albums that asked the existential questions, unraveled and reframed notions of genre, or saw artists laying themselves bare with intensely vulnerable revelations. We appreciated the odd and idiosyncratic, along with records brimming with confidence. If there’s any collective force tying these 50 albums together, it’s a deep level of commitment craft.
Again, the entertainment industry is in a constant state of evolution, but recent years have required creatives to become especially flexible and agile. In the process, streaming records have continued to be shattered, while the present-day touring landscape has started to take a good album and make a live show feel like the must-attend event of the year. Ideally, music is a communal experience, and many of the albums below managed to unlock virtual water cooler discussions within an increasingly narrow internet landscape.
Even as social media sites have begun disintegrating, streaming has completely shifted the industry’s approach to physical media, and there are fewer independent music sites than ever (ahem), the fact remains that people still want — if not need — to spend an hour or two with a good record. So if nothing else, listening through this collection of music below confirms that the album is far from dead.
Scroll on to read our full list of the 50 Best Albums of 2024, and enjoy our playlist with standouts from each album LP after seeing what’s at No. 1. Also, make sure to listen to the Consequence staff discussing our list making process and top personal picks on the new Consequence UNCUT: Annual Report podcast, exclusively available on Amazon Music. Follow the series for more insights and artists interviews throughout our Annual Report.
— Mary Siroky
Associate Editor
