When one closely observes how music changes from year to year, and matches the pulse of culture and politics, patterns emerge. When I reflect on the year, I see what a lot of critics see: Less consensus on top picks, more embracing of weird, challenging styles and niche audiences, and most importantly, it is albums by women that showcase 2019's most essential expression of the chaos, uncertainty and, maybe, hope for the future.
Some numbers: I listened to 185 albums, had 90 standout favorites that were whittled down to 50 (which means you shouldn't sleep on anything that didn't make the Top 50). I marked these favorites with a star ★. According to Spotify, I listened to over 84,000 minutes and my favorite genre was Art Pop (this is not a surprise).
I rated these albums before reading any top 10 lists. I am surprised how close I matched with the Guardian. See how my selections match up to the
NYTimes,
Pitchfork,
NPR,
Consequence Of Sound,
Stereogum,
The Guardian, and
The Needle Drop.