The Skinny's Top Ten Albums of 2022
We polled our music team for their favourite albums of 2022, which traverse dance, hip-hop, indie-rock, singer-songwriter, experimental, electronic and more
As always, the end of year brings with it a plethora of end of year lists to celebrate the year that's just passed. We polled our music team to find out what they'd been loving in 2022, and with well over 200 different records being submitted, it was hard to whittle our overall list down to just ten.
So before we get into the top ten, let us quickly celebrate the ten records that just missed out. At number 20 was The Weeknd's Dawn FM, released right at the start of 2022 via XO and Republic Records, while following a win for Best [Difficult] Second Album at the AIM Awards in September, Nilüfer Yanya's Painless came in at 19. Sharing the 17th spot was Japanese pop artist Hikaru Utada for her 11th studio album, Bad Mode, and The Smile, featuring Radiohead's Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, for their debut album A Light For Attracting Attention. Yard Act took the 16th spot for their massive debut album, The Overload, while Fontaines D.C. came in at number 15 for their third studio album Skinty Fia.
Their last album featuring lead singer Isaac Wood, Black Country, New Road's Ants From Up There landed in the 14th spot, while Kae Tempest latest effort, The Line Is a Curve came in at number 13. Just outside the top ten, and sharing the 11th spot, was FKA twigs for her exceptional mixtape Caprisongs, and Taylor Swift for Midnights, an album that sees Swift sounding like her most authentic self. Which leads us to our top ten, traversing everything from dance, hip-hop, indie-rock, singer-songwriter, experimental and electronica, with two of them (spoiler!) featuring samples of Robin S’s Show Me Love…
#10 Bjork – Fossora
Ten albums in and how can Björk continue to beguile, confuse and amaze? Obviously with a grief-stricken odyssey full of gabber beats, bass clarinet and a lot of mushrooms. It's not even surprising anymore – it's just Björk being Björk.
Her music is often transcendent, or otherworldly, but this is Iceland's greatest export getting down in the dirt, the creeping industrial dirges feeling positively subterranean at times (Victimhood), searching for a way to process all-too-human feelings.
The natural world's cycles of growth, death and regeneration loom large across Fossora, with motherhood the thematic glue holding it all together. Ancestress is a strikingly direct lament for Björk's mother who passed in 2018, weaving beautifully intimate moments alongside heartbreaking details like the ventilator that 'Revealed her resilience / And then it didn't'. But Björk's son Sindri Eldon also features on the song, as well as her daughter Ísadóra Bjarkardóttir Barney on the final track, Her Mother's House, hinting at wider, cross-generational cycles.
There's undoubtedly a lot happening on Fossora, frequently brilliant but always interesting. Björk is an artist so consistently innovative that she's taken for granted if not one-upping herself. But there's no need for gimmicks with music this good. Forget the 'alien-Marie-Antoinette-goes-foraging' album art – this is as real as Björk gets. [Lewis Wade]
#9 MUNA – MUNA
MUNA’s second album Saves the World was very nearly the band’s last. Dropped by their major label and plunged into lockdown, things looked over for the Californian group. Luckily Saddest Factory Records – the indie imprint set up by Phoebe Bridgers – snapped them up. Bridgers also features on the album’s sunny opening track Silk Chiffon. The gorgeous queer rom-com of a song sets the tone for MUNA’s most self-assured record yet.
'Life’s so fun! Life’s so fun!', frontwoman Katie Gavin sings on the breezy slice of summer pop before jolting us into perfect Robyn-esque club banger What I Want, a song that yearns for a chaotic post-pandemic night out. Lilting ballads Kind of Girl and Handle Me allow the group to lean into their country sensibilities. This mid-album quiet couplet showcases Gavin in a domestic setting: gardening, blowing on a dandelion, learning to live with who she is.
It makes sense that the band have chosen to stick their name on the record. MUNA is what this band are all about: massive singalongs, infectious beats, candid lyrics. It's a joyful celebration of what it means to be free – both literally and artistically. [Tara Hepburn]
#8 Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul – Topical Dancer
How often does it happen that one of the year’s most thought-provoking albums is also its funniest? Using a toybox full of sonic quirks and tricks, Topical Dancer's 13 tracks manage effortlessly to be both. Flitting between languages, the Belgian pair use punchy synths and slick, rolling bass to take apart racism and misyogyny on a record that will make you dance and laugh as much as it'll make you think.
Both artists are from immigrant backgrounds and on tracks like Esperanto they gradually dial up the exasperation at both witless microaggressions and patronising do-goodery ('Don’t say: I would like a black americano / Say: I'll have an African-American, please'), while on Blenda, Adigéry sings 'Go back to your country where you belong' before turning to ask Siri where that is.
HAHA turns the singer’s sampled laughter into first a gut-bursting moment of ecstasy and then a tortured sob. It’s catchier than almost anything you’ve heard this year. Meanwhile, Making Sense Stop is a rubbery funk workout that tosses off increasingly elaborate riffs on the Talking Heads classic until it eventually collapses into absurdism. There’s zero doubt it would make David Byrne smile.
Topical Dancer is an impressive declaration of purpose, but most of all it’s a chronicle of a duo that never stop moving. [Max Sefton]
#7 Jockstrap – I Love You Jennifer B
In a year with a few more joyous moments than the previous couple, with glimpses of the reckless freedom of pre-COVID time, Jockstrap's debut gave us a splash of kaleidoscopic neon to get lost in. There had been promise through their earlier EPs, but I Love You Jennifer B managed to impress on every level.
There are orchestral flourishes aplenty thanks to an 18-piece band, a nod to the duo's classical training. But the dancefloor is never far away as Taylor Skye's gloopy beats indulge everyone's love of a big, brash banger. This is often within the same song, and it doesn't stop at arrangements/production. Georgia Ellery has an incredibly emotive voice that manages to scale operatic highs while still telling a cogent story (Lancaster Court is basically a period drama; Concrete Over Water is howling-into-the-night purgation).
Yet it's still catchy. This is high culture you can sing along to. Just try getting highlights like Glasgow or Greatest Hits out of your head. This style of maximalism could be an absolute car crash in the wrong hands: either inducing sonic whiplash or derision at the pretentious gall of these art school kids. But Jockstrap tread the tightrope beautifully and have made one of the best debuts of the year. [Lewis Wade]
#6 Charli XCX – CRASH
CRASH is the subject of an ongoing argument between me and my dad, who claims that it relies too heavily on samples and is a sign that the young generation don't have any good music of their own. To that I say: is that such a bad thing? “Oh no, there’s too much Janet Jackson on this record!” Grow up.
Charli’s “Janet album” (her words) has more bangers per capita than any previous album, and a rhythm section that really captures her skill and energy as a performer. The sampling is also a nice nod to the album’s muse – so many of Janet’s hits feature injections from other tracks (Big Yellow Taxi, You’re So Vain, and Change’s The Glow of Love, to name but a few).
CRASH is a masterclass in interpolation – every borrowed hook, from the most obvious in Beg for You, to the subtle New Order nod on Lightning, is used to maximise danceability and fun (despite being Charli's most introspective record to date – not a single song is about being hot and dancing). Used to Know Me contains the best Show Me Love sample of the year, and I will not be told otherwise – not even by this list. [Laurie Presswood]
#5 Alex G – God Save the Animals
'How many more songs am I supposed to write / Before I should turn it off and say goodnight?', Alex G sings on Miracles. On his ninth record, God Save the Animals, Alex G constantly searches for belief in something, often in the face of crippling doubt. That doubt sometimes wins.
It makes the moments of clarity even stronger – moments like Runner, an easy song of the year contender which finds hope in friendship and an earworm melody. There’s hope on Cross the Sea, where he offers himself up as something to believe in. There’s even hope on Miracles, where he admits he wants kids even when he can’t imagine a future for himself.
God Save the Animals is full of the brilliantly scrappy and sincere songwriting ideas we’ve come to expect from the Pennsylvanian musician. There are surprises too, like a sudden burst of hyperpop that crashes into the end of No Bitterness, or the focus on toybox percussion that gives the record a childlike wistfulness. But like House of Sugar before it, it’s a consistent reflective spirit that makes this album so powerful. We hope he keeps writing and searching for years to come. [Skye Butchard]
#4 Rosalía – MOTOMAMI
'I didn’t base my career on making hits / I have hits because I formed the basis', sings Rosalía, the Catalan flamenco moderniser turned pop experimentalist, in Spanish on the catchy and insolent Bizcochito. What is the foundation of her confounding, neck-breaking white-knuckle ride of an album? Seemingly, everything. MOTOMAMI is a cultural melting pot, an ornate fusion of reggaeton, dembow, noise, hyperpop, jazz and plenty of other ingredients, zipped into a leather jumpsuit and biked headfirst into a brick wall, motors dripping in half-burnt oil and steam dissipating into the air.
To say Rosalía has no respect for boundaries would be to acknowledge that she sees them at all, gulping up styles like some musical world eater. Speeding through a tunnel, the pads on her knees skirt the tarmac, but despite being unbalanced, the power of the machine ultimately is under her control. MOTOMAMI is a harsh, often brittle, listen in comparison to the gorgeous angelic imagery of 2018's El Mal Querer, but the thrill of each gear change propels it. How exciting that one of the world’s biggest pop stars isn’t afraid to take risks and court failure, making music from a place of freedom. [Tony Inglis]
#3 Kendrick Lamar – Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers
When you’re consistently labelled one of the best of your generation, and everything you set your sights on is revered across the board, where do you go next? How do you follow up the only rap album to have ever won a Pulitzer Prize? If you’re Kendrick Lamar, you turn the lens firmly on yourself. Lamar’s fifth studio album, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, is the product of this introspective pivot, where he details with razor-sharp wordplay and stylistic precision the trauma, familial turmoil and modern-day anxieties of the Black experience.
'I've been goin' through somethin'', he begins sullenly on United In Grief. 'One thousand, eight hundred and 55 days, I've been goin' through somethin'' – referencing the five long years we’ve waited for new Kendrick material. While DAMN.’s poetry placed emphasis on the defiance, rage and emotion linked to living as a Black man in America, Mr. Morale... leads from a more reflective and vulnerable place. A confessional of sorts, the opener United In Grief, feels like an unburdening for the rapper, setting the tone for the honesty to follow, in tracks like Father Time, Count Me Out and the quietly powerful Mother I Sober.
Elsewhere on Mr. Morale..., the tap dancing motifs throughout, coupled with skittish production and oblique instrumentation adds an overall restlessness to a record that audaciously confronts a troubled self. With this album, the master storyteller we’ve come to respect and admire for his lyricism is taking the time to get some things off his chest and it makes for a journey that is tender and often uncompromising. This is Kendrick providing an explanation for his five-year absence but ultimately admitting that he needed the space to grapple with his demons and his trauma, just like we all do. As he boldly proclaims in the album’s closing track Mirror, as if offering us permission to do the same, 'I choose me, I’m sorry.' [Arusa Qureshi]
#2 Wet Leg – Wet Leg
The indie infatuation of 2022 arrived in the form of Wet Leg with their self-titled debut album back in April. Living up to the hype they created with the 2021 release of their seminal track Chaise Longue was no easy feat. But as more album cuts revealed themselves, it quickly became clear that the Isle of Wight outfit had more depth to their act than French furniture.
Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers’ self-effacing friendship is at the core of the group who have brought a refreshing zing to the often grotty, macho guitar scene. Tracks like Angelica harken to the psychedelia of The Beach Boys. Core bangers such as Wet Dream and Oh No are laden with Gen Z relatability. However, tender cuts like Piece of Shit harness pertinent themes of self-worth and make themselves heard among the album’s livelier moments. Too Late Now’s anthemic ending rounds off the listening proceedings on a high note… or a headbanging, mosh-pit inducing crescendo, if you like.
It's fun, cheeky, sexy and cool, which is just about everything that any great band should be. Oh, and it’s also just earned Wet Leg not one, but five Grammy nominations – excuse me, what? [Jamie Wilde]
#1 Beyoncé – RENAISSANCE
RENAISSANCE was an album conceptualised and brought to life partially within the isolation of lockdown: but this is not your typical lockdown album. Many other albums born of this period interpolated stillness and pause, mirroring the isolation of an unpredictable and scary time. Beyoncé took a different approach.
RENAISSANCE is an ode to collaborative joy, of sweat-soaked dancefloors and the freedom of letting go to reinvent and discover concealed parts of yourself. It is movement and dance as spiritual communion, a unity found between strangers when the lights dim low. It’s Black joy and liberation – a love letter to the queer Black DJs and producers responsible for the pioneering of house music in the late 1970s.
Transcending time and genre, RENAISSANCE draws from a range of styles: deep house and disco sit alongside Afrobeats, psychedelic soul, dancehall and hip-hop. Collaborators range from established names in contemporary and left-field pop (BloodPop, A.G. Cook, Tricky Stewart) and legendary names in the house scene (Honey Dijon), to prominent names in hip-hop and rap (No I.D., Beam, P2J). Elsewhere, timeless icon Grace Jones lends her vocals for track MOVE.
It was an ambitious feat, years in the making, and it paid off. From the first few bars of album opener I’M THAT GIRL, where Beyoncé drawls, poised and possessed of a self-assuredness: ‘I pull up in these clothes, look so good / Cause I’m in that hoe / You know all these songs sound good’ we know we’re in for a treat. The transitions between songs are effortlessly smooth throughout.
Especially notable is the transition between ENERGY into lead single BREAK MY SOUL, where Beam’s rapping on the former gives way to the instantly recognisable sample of Robin S’s Show Me Love, reworked into a contemporary ode to resilience, power and the bravery of joy in the face of adversity. Meanwhile HEATED evokes warmth and connection, Afrobeat melodies keeping the vibe fresh and fun. The final verse of this track sees Beyoncé take the mic to deliver a rap verse, showcasing her impressive range, and paying sweet homage to her late Uncle Jonny.
We see a new side to the artist too, as she challenged herself to, in her words, create a space “free of perfectionism and overthinking”, where nothing matters except the now and present, of losing yourself in music and communion, and finding yourself somewhere in their midst. In short, it was a cultural reset. With RENAISSANCE, Beyoncé once again proves her dynamic and well-earned legacy. [Anita Bhadani]
Here's a playlist featuring songs from our top 20 albums of the year.