top 100 albums of 2021
In the past year, WRIR DJs played 12,500+ songs from 6,500+ albums, EPs, and singles released in 2022. These included 300+ recordings from local artists and bands. Below is a chart of the top 100 albums, EPs, and singles (not included in an album or EP). Local artists are marked in bold.
| Rank | Artist | Album | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beyoncé | RENAISSANCE | Parkwood / Columbia |
| 2 | Wet Leg | Wet Leg | Domino |
| 3 | The Smile | A Light for Attracting Attention | XL |
| 4 | Los Bitchos | Let the Festivities Begin! | City Slang |
| 5 | Danger Mouse | Cheat Codes | BMG |
| 6 | Automatic | Excess | Stones Throw |
| 7 | Yeah Yeah Yeahs | Cool It Down | Secretly Canadian |
| 8 | Afro-Zen Allstars | The Buzz and the Bells | Aza Music |
| 9 | Russian Circles | Gnosis | Sargent House |
| 10 | Toro y Moi | MAHAL | Dead Oceans |
| 11 | Nilufer Yanya | PAINLESS | ATO / Fontana North |
| 12 | Mitski | Laurel Hell | Dead Oceans |
| 13 | Angel Olsen | Big Time | Jagjaguwar |
| 14 | Fly Anakin | Frank | Lex |
| 15 | Piranha Rama | Omniscient Cloud Cover | Brokers Tip |
| 16 | Butcher Brown & Michael Millions | BLACK MAN – Single | Concord |
| 17 | Trombone Shorty | Lifted | Blue Note |
| 18 | Justin Golden | Hard Times and a Woman | self-released |
| 19 | Ibibio Sound Machine | Electricity | Merge |
| 20 | Vieux Farka Touré & Khruangbin | Ali | Dead Oceans / Night Time Stories Ltd. |
| 21 | Doechii | she / her / black bitch – EP | Top Dawg / Capitol |
| 22 | Quelle Chris | Deathfame | Mello |
| 23 | Pusha T | It’s Almost Dry | GOOD / Def Jam |
| 24 | Kendrick Lamar | Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers | pgLang / Top Dawg Entertainment / Aftermath / Interscope |
| 25 | Big Thief | Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You | 4AD |
| 26 | TV Priest | My Other People | Sub Pop |
| 27 | Dumb Waiter | Gauche Gists | Ossein |
| 28 | The Beths | Expert in a Dying Field | Carpark |
| 29 | Marlowe | Marlowe 3 | Mello |
| 30 | Sudan Archives | Natural Brown Prom Queen | Stones Throw |
| 31 | Just Mustard | Heart Under | Partisan / Liberator Music |
| 32 | Björk | Fossora | One Little Independent |
| 33 | Belle and Sebastian | A Bit of Previous | Matador |
| 34 | Mister Earthbound | The Great Silence – Single | self-released |
| 35 | Sam Bush | Radio John: Songs of John Hartford | Smithsonian Folkways |
| 36 | Rina Sawayama | Hold The Girl | Dirty Hit |
| 37 | Calexico | El Mirador | Anti- |
| 38 | Secret Shame | Autonomy | self-released |
| 39 | Ett Eko | Modern Content | self-released |
| 40 | Makaya McCraven | In These Times | International Anthem / Nonesuch |
| 41 | Panic Shack | Baby Shack – EP | Brace Yourself |
| 42 | Noah-O | TRILLipino | Charged Up Ent |
| 43 | Deau Eyes | Legacies | Tone Tree Music / Subflora |
| 44 | Tomberlin | i don’t know who needs to hear this… | Saddle Creek |
| 45 | Spooky Cool | Existential Pie | self-released |
| 46 | Lizzo | Special | Nice Life / Atlantic |
| 47 | Shilpa Ray | Portrait of a Lady | Northern Spy |
| 48 | The Black Angels | Wilderness of Mirrors | Partisan / Liberator Music |
| 49 | Rikki Rakki | Quarantine Sessions – EP | self-released |
| 50 | Cate Le Bon | Pompeii | Mexican Summer |
| 51 | Viagra Boys | Cave World | YEAR0001 |
| 52 | Black Country, New Road | Ants From Up There | Ninja Tune |
| 53 | Porridge Radio | Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To the Sky | Secretly Canadian |
| 54 | Tanya Tagaq | Tongues | Six Shooter |
| 55 | Beach House | Once Twice Melody | Sub Pop |
| 56 | Strawberry Moon | Habitual Creatures | Sockhead |
| 57 | Noori & His Dorpa Band | Beja Power! Electric Soul & Brass from Sudan’s Red Sea Coast | Ostinato |
| 58 | Beth Orton | Weather Alive | Partisan / Liberator Music |
| 59 | Kevin Morby | This Is a Photograph | Dead Oceans |
| 60 | Spiritualized | Everything Was Beautiful | Fat Possum |
| 61 | The Cool Greenhouse | Sod’s Toastie | Melodic |
| 62 | Sadurn | Radiator | Run For Cover |
| 63 | Stereolab | Pulse of the Early Brain [Switched On Volume 5] | Duophonic UHF Disks / Warp |
| 64 | Seratones | Love & Algorhythms | New West |
| 65 | Sugaray Rayford | In Too Deep | Forty Below |
| 66 | Spread Joy | II | Feel It |
| 67 | Guerilla Toss | Famously Alive | Sub Pop |
| 68 | Wilco | Cruel Country | dBpm |
| 69 | Ben Harper | Bloodline Maintenance | Chrysalis |
| 70 | Lee Fields | Sentimental Fool | Dapone |
| 71 | Courtney Marie Andrews | Loose Future | Fat Possum |
| 72 | The Bug Club | Green Dream in F# | Bingo |
| 73 | Special Interest | Endure | Rough Trade |
| 74 | BKO | Djine Bora | Bongo Joe |
| 75 | Butcher Brown | Butcher Brown Presents Triple Trey | Concord Jazz |
| 76 | Jake Blount | The New Faith | Smithsonian Folkways |
| 77 | Catherine Russell | Send For Me | Dot Time |
| 78 | Twain | Noon | Keeled Scales |
| 79 | Shemekia Copeland | Done Come Too Far | Alligator |
| 80 | Cola | Deep in View | Fire Talk |
| 81 | Cat Power | Covers | Domino |
| 82 | Arooj Aftab | Vulture Prince (Deluxe Edition) | Verve |
| 83 | NO BS! Brass | Undying | self-released |
| 84 | Elvis Costello & The Imposters | The Boy Named If | EMI |
| 85 | Panda Bear & Sonic Boom | Reset | Domino |
| 86 | Holy Fuck | Ninety Five – Single | self-released |
| 87 | Plains | I Walked with You a Ways | Anti- |
| 88 | The Comet Is Coming | Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam | Impulse! |
| 89 | Gorillaz | Cracker Island (feat. Thundercat) – Single | Parlophone |
| 90 | Dehd | Blue Skies | Fat Possum |
| 91 | Billy Mohler | Anatomy | Contagious Music |
| 92 | Exek | Advertise Here | Castle Face |
| 93 | Boris | W | Sacred Bones |
| 94 | Billy Drummond & Freedom of Ideas | Valse Sinistre | Cellar Live |
| 95 | Arctic Monkeys | The Car | Domino |
| 96 | Xiomara Torres | La Voz Del Mar | Patois |
| 97 | Josean Jacobo Trio | Herencia Criolla | self-released |
| 98 | Alex G | God Save the Animals | Domino |
| 99 | Ghost Power | Ghost Power | Duophonic Super 45s |
| 100 | Kurt Vile | (watch my moves) | Verve |
Playlist
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