2018 in Review

A lot of what was big in 2017 really continued into 2018. Post Malone’s beerbongs & bentleys, and Invasion of Privacy by Cardi B were two of the biggest releases of the year, along with the popular, but underwhelming, double album Scorpion by Drake. Coming off his biggest year commercially, Kendrick Lamar starred in and curated the Black Panther movie soundtrack, which featured other growing stars like SZA. And Travis Scott, A$AP Rocky, Playboi Carti and 21 Savage built up their popularity as well.

The number of indie rock guitar ladies – like members of boygenius, Courtney Barnett – continued to grow, with new artists like Soccer Mommy and Snail Mail getting some attention.

One change in the rock world though was the rise, or rebirth, of punk, post-punk and some post-hardcore bands that started to emerge and show more creativity and experimentation than other rock genres. Idles’ Joy as an Act of Resistance became a critical darling and was the first of many punk records to pave the way for aggressive and creative releases over the next five years. Other notables in 2018 included Shame’s Songs of Praise, and Parquet Courts’ Wide Awake!, which showcased a more indie punk and garage style.

2018 is also known for Kanye West’s Wyoming Sessions and a feud between Kanye’s Good Music and some of Drake’s Cash Money affiliates. Over the summer Kanye put out five short albums for artists in consecutive weeks that he produced, including a solo record, surrounding the release of Drake’s supersized record. The aforementioned Scorpion was the biggest release of the rivalry, both in size and popularity, but was also pretty clearly the worst of the releases as a whole, while Pusha T’s Daytona was by far the best.

Pop music was kind of a mixed bag. “This Is America” was an unexpected song to be the biggest hit of the summer, but Childish Gambino joined Post Malone and Carti B on the radio, alongside Panic At The Disco and Ariana Grande. Indie pop had less mainstream contributions from The 1975, Superorganism, Robyn and Let’s Eat Grandma, country saw Kasey Musgraves became mainstream, and a group of creative, poppy R&B and soul records were released by Janelle Monae and Kali Uchis.

Songs of the year

2018 Albums

Album	Artist	Stars	Score	Genre
Singularity	Jon Hopkins	★★★★½	91	Electronic	Ambient
Double Negative	Low	★★★★	87	Rock	Ambient	Slowcore
Joy As An Act of Resistance	IDLES	★★★★	85	Rock	Punk Rock	Post Punk
DiCaprio 2	JID	★★★★	84	Hip-Hop
Daytona	Pusha T	★★★★	84	Hip-Hop
FM!	Vince Staples	★★★★	83	Hip-Hop
Twin Fantasy	Car Seat Headrest	★★★★	83	Rock	Alternative Rock	Indie Rock
Cocoa Sugar	Young Fathers	★★★★	82	Hip-Hop	Alternative Hip-Hop	Neo-Soul
7	Beach House	★★★★	80	Rock	Alternative Rock	Deam Pop
i am > i was	21 Savage	★★★★	81	Hip-Hop
Songs of Praise	Shame	★★★★	80	Rock	Alternative Rock	Post Punk
Room 25	Noname	★★★★	80	Hip-Hop	Alternative Hip-Hop	Jazz Rap
Care For Me	Saba	★★★½	79	Hip-Hop	Alternative Hip-Hop	Jazz Rap
Wide Awake!	Parquet Courts	★★★½	78	Rock	Punk Rock	Indie Rock
Golden Hour	Kacey Musgraves	★★★½	77	Country	Pop Rock
Redemption	Jay Rock	★★★½	75	Hip-Hop
Art of Doubt	Metric	★★★½	74	Rock	Alternative Rock
Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides	Sophie	★★★½	75	Electronic	Art Pop	Glitch Pop
Be The Cowboy	Mitski	★★★½	73	Pop	Indie Pop	Indie Rock
Drogas Wave	Lupe Fiasco	★★★½	71	Hip-Hop
Isolation	Kali Uchis	★★★½	72	Hip-Hop	R&B
Die Lit	Playboi Carti	★★★½	72	Hip-Hop
TA13OO	Denzel Curry	★★★½	70	Hip-Hop
iridescence	BROCKHAMPTON	★★★	68	Hip-Hop	Alternative Hip-Hop
Chris	Christine and the Queen	★★★	69	Rock	Indie Pop
Post-	Jeff Rosenstock	★★★	68	Rock	Alternative Rock	Emo
Sweetener	Ariana Grande	★★★	68	Pop	R&B
KOD	J. Cole	★★★	66	Hip-Hop
ASTROWORLD	Travis Scott	★★★	67	Hip-Hop
Lush	Snail Mail	★★★	65	Rock	Alternative Rock	Indie Rock
In A Poem Unlimited	U.S. Girls	★★★	64	Pop	Indie Pop	Art Rock
Tell Me How You Really Feel	Courtney Barnett	★★★	63	Rock	Alternative Rock	Indie Rock
Clean	Soccer Mommy	★★★	63	Rock	Alternative Rock	Indie Rock
Jericho Sirens	Hot Snakes	★★★	63	Rock	Punk Rock	Post-Hardcore
Ordinary Corrupt Human Love	Deafheaven	★★★	65	Rock	Metal	Post-Metal
Wanderer	Cat Power	★★★	61	Rock	Country Rock
Microshift	Hookworms	★★★	61	Rock	Psychedelic Rock
Kids See Ghosts	Kids See Ghosts	★★★	61	Hip-Hop	R&B
Honey	Robyn	★★★	61	Pop	Electropop	Synthpop
Little Dark Age	MGMT	★★★	60	Rock	Indie Pop	Psychedelic Pop
All Melody	Nils Frahm	★★★	60	Electronic	Ambient
Dirty Computer	Janelle Monae	★★★	60	Pop	R&B	Neo-Soul
Black Panther	Kendrick Lamar	★★½	59	Hip-Hop
Hope Downs	Rolling Blackout Coastal Fever	★★½	58	Rock	Alternative Rock	Jangle Pop
I’m All Ears	Lets Ear Grandma	★★½	58	Pop	Art Pop	Synthpop
Czarface Meets Metalface	MF Doom, Czarface	★★½	58	Hip-Hop
Book of Ryan	Royce Da 5’9″	★★½	58	Hip-Hop
Freedom’s Goblin	Ty Segall	★★½	57	Rock	Alternative Rock	Indie Rock
Crack-Up	Fleet Foxes	★★½	57	Rock	Folk	Indie Folk
East Atlanta Love Letters	6lack	★★½	57	Hip-Hop	R&B
Negro Swan	Blood Orange	★★½	57	Hip-Hop	R&B	Neo-Soul
New Material	Preoccupations	★★½	56	Rock	Alternative Rock	Post Punk
Criminal	The Soft Moon	★★½	56	Rock	Industrial	Post Punk
Safe in the Hands of Love	Yves Tumor	★★½	55	Rock	Soul	Experimental
El Mal Querer	Rosalia	★★½	55	Pop	Art Pop
Thank You For Today	Death Cab For Cutie	★★½	55	Rock	Indie Pop	Indie Rock
Vacation in Hell	Flatbush Zombies	★★½	53	Hip-Hop
ye	Kanye West	★★½	53	Hip-Hop
boygenius	boygenius	★★½	52	Rock	Alternative Rock	Indie Folk
Historian	Lucy Dacus	★★½	52	Rock	Alternative Rock	Indie Folk
Invasion of Privacy	Cardi B	★★½	52	Hip-Hop	Pop Hip-Hop
Everything Is Love	Bey-Z	★★½	52	Hip-Hop
First Flower	Molly Burch	★★½	51	Rock	Alternative Rock	Indie Rock
Nasir	Nas	★★½	51	Hip-Hop
Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino	Arctic Monkeys	★★½	50	Rock	Alternative Rock
A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships	The 1975	★★½	50	Rock	Indie Pop	Synthpop
You Won’t Get What You Want	Daughters	★★½	50	Rock	Industrial	Noise Rock
Superorganism	Superorganism	★★½	50	Pop	Indie Pop	Synthpop
Beerbongs & Bentleys	Post Malone	★★½	50	Hip-Hop	Pop Hip-Hop
Marauder	Interpol	★★½	50	Rock	Alternative Rock	Post Punk
Testing	A$AP Rocky	★★½	50	Hip-Hop
Bobby Tarantino II	Logic	★★	49	Hip-Hop
Forever and Ever	SALES	★★	49	Rock	Indie Pop	Bedroom Pop
I Don’t Run	Hinds	★★	48	Rock	Alternative Rock
Beyondless	Ice Age	★★	48	Rock	Alternative Rock	Post Punk
Elastic Days	J Mascis	★★	48	Rock	Alternative Rock
Lamp Lit Pros	Dirty Projectors	★★	48	Rock	Art Pop	Indie Folk
Scorpion	Drake	★★	45	Hip-Hop	Pop Hip-Hop
Flamingo & Koval	Bobby Feeno	★★	44	Hip-Hop
Violence	Editors	★★	42	Rock	Alternative Rock	Post Punk
Tha Carter V	Lil Wayne	★★	42	Hip-Hop
Lil Boat 2	Lil Yachty	★★	42	Hip-Hop
The Now Now	Gorillaz	★★	40	Pop
Some Rap Songs	Earl Sweatshirt	★½	38	Hip-Hop	Alternative Hip-Hop	Experimental
Virtue	The Voids	★½	34	Rock	Alternative Rock
Francis Trouble	Albert Hammond Jr.	★½	33	Rock	Alternative Rock	Indie Rock
SR3MM	Rae Sremmurd	★	23	Hip-Hop

50 Best Songs

Bodys – Car Seat Headrest
Never Fight A Man With A Perm – IDLES
a lot – 21 Savage
Noid – Yves Tumor
Luminous Beings – Jon Hopkins
Chewing Gum – Blood Orange, S$AP Rocky, Project Pat
Shoota – Playboi Carti, Lil Uzi Vert
Love It If We Made It – The 1975
Immaterial – SOPHIE
SICKO MODE – Travis Scott
Make Me Feel – Janelle Monae
Everything Connected – Jon Hopkins
Your Dog – Soccer Mommy
Nobody – Mitski
Santeria – Pusha T
Ullswater – Hookworms
Skrawberries – JID, BJ The Chicago Kid
BUSY/SIRENS – Saba, theMIND
Silhouettes – American Football
Wow – Young Fathers
If You Know You Know – Pusha T
Fly – Low
Friction – shame
Last Ride – Beach House
Reborn – KIDS SEE GHOSTS
Focus – Charli XCX
Potato Salad – Tyler, The Creator, A$AP Rocky
Fast Slow Disco – St. Vincent
Nameless, Faceless – Courtney Barnett
Prayer Song – Noname, Adam Ness
Jupiter 4 – Sharon Van Etten
Cute Thing – Car Seat Headrest
Danny Nedelko – IDLES
Vacation – Flatbush Zombies, Joey Bada$$
SIRENS/Z1RENZ – Denzel Curry, JID
Let Them Win – Jeff Rosenstock
King’s Dead – Jay Rock, Kendrick Lamar, Future, James Blake
We’re Not Done (End Title) – Mogwai
Nice For What – Drake
Six Wave Hold-Down – Hot Snakes
After The Storm – Kali Uchis, Tyler, The Creator, Bootsy Collins
If You Really Love Nothing – Interpol
Honey – Robyn
J’OUVERT – BROCKHAMPTON
Tenderness – Parquet Courts
This Is America – Childish Gambino
Off Deez – JID, J. Cole
Rainbow – Kacey Musgraves
King Nas – Lupe Fiasco
Tweakin’ – Vince Staples

Genre Highlights

Rock

Hip-Hop

Pop

2018 Albums

50 Best Songs

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