Before I get to the music, allow me to say welcome to 2019! I meant to post this in the final week of 2018 in case there was a dark horse entry, but no such luck. It’s probably for the best as family events took almost all my time. It’s amusing to me when I remember that I didn’t even start off 2018 with an active blog. One of the first entries upon resuming the site was catching up on all the music that I’d missed since the start of the year. What a musical year it was! As I looked back through all the Music Monday posts, I’m amazed at the number of albums I’d completely forgotten about, yet now get to enjoy all over again.

As you should all know by now, I dislike placing music in any sort of countdown order because it’s all subjective. What I might deem as a top ten contender this week might fall to higher spot next week. Styles/genres can raise or lower like an ocean buoy, so alphabetical order is the only fair way to go. With that in mind, here are [drumroll]…

The Best Albums of 2018

• Alejandro Escovedo: The Crossing
• Alice Bag: Blueprint
• Ambrose Akinmusire: Origami Harvest
• Art Brut: Wham! Bang! Pow! Let’s Rock Out!
• Arthur Buck: Arthur Buck
• Becky Warren: Undesirable
• Between The Buried And Me: Automata II
• Blood Orange: Negro Swan
• Brandi Carlile: By The Way, I Forgive You
• Buzzy Lee: Facepaint
• Camp Cope: How to Socialise & Make Friends
• Christine And The Queens: Chris
• Chvrches: Love Is Dead
• Confidence Man: Confident Music for Confident People
• Courtney Barnett: Tell Me How You Really Feel
• Cumulus: Comfort World
• Deafheaven: Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
• DeVotchKa: This Night Falls Forever
• Dream Wife: Dream Wife
• Frank Turner: Be More Kind
• Free Cake for Every Creature: The Bluest Star
• Gwenifer Raymond: You Never Were Much of a Dancer
• Happy Accidents: Everything but the Here and Now
• Hop Along: Bark Your Head Off, Dog
• illuminati hotties: Kiss Yr Frenemies
• Jeff Rosenstock: POST
• Joey Dosik: Inside Voice
• Kurt Vile: Bottle It In
• L.A. Salami: The City of Bootmakers
• Leon Bridges: Good Thing
• Let’s Eat Grandma: I’m All Ears
• Lucie Silvas: E.G.O.
• Lyrics Born: Quite A Life
• Mary Gauthier: Rifles and Rosary Beads
• Meshell Ndegeocello: Ventriloquism
• Mitski: Be the Cowboy
• Orquesta Akokán: Orquesta Akokán
• Peter Bjorn and John: Darker Days
• Remember Sports: Slow Buzz
• Restorations: LP5000
• Rubblebucket: Sun Machine
• Saintseneca: Pillar of Na
• Shuggie Otis: Inter-Fusion
• Snail Mail: Lush
• Soccer Mommy: Clean
• SOPHIE: OIL OF EVERY PEARL’S UN-INSIDES
• Spielbergs: Distant Star
• St. Paul & The Broken Bones: Young Sick Camellia
• Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks: Sparkle Hard
• Superchunk: What a Time to Be Alive
• Superorganism: Superorganism
• Tancred: Nightstand
• Teenage Wrist: Chrome Neon Jesus
• The 1975: A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships
• The Beths: Future Me Hates Me
• The Naked and Famous: A Still Heart
• The Republic of Wolves: Shrine
• Tom Grennan: Lighting Matches
• U.S. Girls: In a Poem Unlimited
• Young Fathers: Cocoa Sugar

Yes, I gave you 60 because I care more about your musical options than all those other music sites. I mention those sites because once I make my list I like checking out the others to see where we agree and disagree. I also then get to pick through the albums I missed to find more gems. Here they are in case you’re like me and haven’t had time to check them out yet:

Pitchfork
NPR
Rolling Stone
StereoGum
The Guardian
Billboard
The A.V. Club
NME