Similar to how it’s hard to rank a global R&B star’s album-length foray into house music against a cult screamo band’s sophomore record 20 years removed from their debut, processing our writers’ ballots for year-end lists always feels like trying to compare the various states of comfort offered by artists who’ve been consistently releasing quality albums every three years, versus decades-old faves returning to form, versus emerging artists’ debut albums scratching an itch long unattended. How can you say one’s better than another when music fills so many different roles in our day-to-day lives that we’re constantly relying on it to help us through a broad slate of experiences ranging from grieving a loss to enduring particularly dense freeway traffic on a Friday afternoon?

The answer, probably, is that you can’t—but it’s worth a shot, if only for posterity. While the list of 25 albums outlined below accurately represents what we’ve been enjoying most over the past 12 months, it’s also a stab at which releases we’ll have the fondest recollections of a few years from now when that pop artist tries her hand at Berlin-school progressive electronics, or another two decades down the line when that screamo band drops their third LP. It’s also a killer resource for soundtracking the next time traffic’s at an unexpected standstill in almost literally any scenario. — Mike LeSuer

25. Moor Mother, Jazz Codes

Over the course of the pandemic, poet,…