50 best albums of the 21st century, according to critics

- Metascore: 92
- Release date: Aug. 6, 2001

'In Search Of…' is the debut album by N.E.R.D., a side project for the Neptunes' members Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo. The group served as an outlet for the hip-hop veterans to experiment with other sounds, from funk rock to bossa nova. "In Search Of…" is notable for being released in two versions: The first is electronic, produced by the Neptunes, and came out in 2001; the second is a rock version produced by Spymob released in 2002.

- Metascore: 92
- Release date: June 11, 2013

Deafheaven's "Sunbather" is filled with black metal's trademark screaming vocals and crashing percussion. However, the San Francisco Bay Area band also mixed in the sounds of shoegaze, a musical style marked by distortion, reverb, and high volume.

- Metascore: 92
- Release date: Aug. 29, 2011

American singer, songwriter, and musician Ry Cooder is perhaps best known for producing the hugely popular "Buena Vista Social Club" album of Cuban musicians in 1996. Fifteen years later, his political album, "Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down," earned accolades for protesting bank bailouts, inequality, and war.

- Metascore: 92
- Release date: Feb. 4, 2022

Seven-piece British rock outfit Black Country, New Road followed an acclaimed studio album debut with this sophomore standout. It features tighter songwriting and incorporates both string instruments and horns. But just before the album was released, frontman Isaac Wood unexpectedly left the band, though they've continued touring and recording music.

- Metascore: 92
- Release date: April 23, 2016

Beyoncé's "Lemonade," her sixth album released along with an hourlong film, tackles issues of infidelity, family, relationships, and race. In the film "Lemonade," viewers see her husband Jay-Z's grandmother at her 90th birthday party, ostensibly explaining the album's name, saying she had been given lemons and "made lemonade."

- Metascore: 92
- Release date: Oct. 22, 2021

British singer-songwriter Rebecca Taylor—aka Self Esteem—conjures personal themes and bombastic melodies on her sophomore album. Various critics have hailed "Prioritise Pleasure" as a radical pop masterpiece, picking up where previous artists such as Madonna and Britney Spears left off.

- Metascore: 92
- Release date: June 17, 2022

The second studio album from British duo Nova Twins was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize in 2022, the coveted annual award given to the musical act from the U.K. or Ireland with the best album of the year. "Supernova" spans a variety of aggressive rock styles while dipping its toes into hip-hop and EDM.

- Metascore: 92
- Release date: April 25, 2011

When jazz saxophonist and composer Marius Neset released "Golden Xplosion" in 2011, an esteemed Norwegian jazz journalist called him "the most talented Norwegian saxophonist since Jan Garbarek in the 1960s." The then-25-year-old musician's mature songwriting, paired with energetic performances, set him apart.

- Metascore: 92
- Release date: June 19, 2012

For his seventh album, jazz pianist Dave Stapleton recruited aforementioned saxophonist Marius Neset, drummer Olavi Louhivuori, bassist Dave Kane, and the Brodowski String Quartet. "Flight" is widely considered Stapleton's most ambitious project, blending contemporary jazz with classical music.

- Metascore: 93
- Release date: Feb. 21, 2012

The Menzingers are a popular punk band from Scranton, Pennsylvania. After two indie releases, "The Impossible Past" is their debut album with Epitaph Records. The album notably moves away from their initial hardcore punk sound to, as Anna Gaca of Pitchfork described it, "melodic pop-punk comfort food."

- Metascore: 93
- Release date: April 5, 2018

Saba's "Care for Me" is a deep dive into grief as he raps about his late cousin, who was stabbed to death on a train in Chicago. The deeply personal album also features guest appearances by Chance the Rapper, Kaina, and theMIND.

- Metascore: 93
- Release date: Sept. 8, 2023

Allison Russell's sophomore solo album, "The Returner," garnered her four Grammy nominations, including one win. The Americana artist took home the Best American Roots Performance award for the album's track "Eve Was Black."

- Metascore: 93
- Release date: Sept. 24, 2021

Billy Strings incorporated an array of influences in his fourth studio album. The result sees the bluegrass musician embrace elements of heavy metal, psychedelic, and classic rock without straying too far from his signature sound. The experiment worked: "Renewal" topped Billboard's Bluegrass Albums chart for nine weeks.

- Metascore: 93
- Release date: Sept. 11, 2001

Bob Dylan's 31st studio album, "Love and Theft," was released on the same day as the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Some hardcore fans and conspiracy theorists have argued that premonitions were hidden in the lyrics. The album, filled with sounds of blues and swing, won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album, along with two other nominations.

- Metascore: 93
- Release date: Sept. 14, 2018

Noname, a Chicago rapper born Fatimah Warner, made "Room 25" as a follow-up to her mixtape "Telefone." She financed the album's production and imbued it with the same humor and conversational tone her first project delivered.

- Metascore: 93
- Release date: March 24, 2017

Songwriter Phil Elverum, who records under the name Mount Eerie, made the concept album "A Crow Looked at Me" as a tribute to his late wife, Geneviève Castrée. She died of pancreatic cancer in 2016, leaving him with their young daughter. On the painfully honest album, he sings about grief, memory, loss, and gratitude.

- Metascore: 93
- Release date: Oct. 9, 2020

"Untitled (Rise)" was the second album British R&B group Sault released in 2020. Like its predecessor "Untitled (Black Is)," which came out in June, "Untitled (Rise)" explores the modern-day Black experience. The album was shortlisted for the 2021 Mercury Prize.

- Metascore: 93
- Release date: March 23, 2004

"Madvillainy" is a collaborative creation of rapper MF Doom and producer Madlib, released under the name Madvillain. The album was enormously popular, and fans have been hoping for a reunion of the two stars of underground hip-hop ever since.

- Metascore: 94
- Release date: Feb. 14, 2023

From 2005 to 2017, Caroline Polachek was one-half of the indie pop group Chairlift. The split came as a shock, as the members seemed to get along and continued to grow in each of their three albums. However, after the breakup, Polachek kept evolving as a solo artist, and Pitchfork's Cat Zhang called this sophomore solo album the best of her career. In addition to receiving critical acclaim, "Desire, I Want To Turn Into You" was also nominated for a Grammy.

- Metascore: 94
- Release date: March 18, 2022

The third studio album from Spanish singer Rosalía is a creative tour de force that draws upon various influences and genres, from reggaetón to hip-hop. It features contributions from hit-makers like Pharrell Williams and the Weeknd. The album won Rosalía the Latin Grammy for Album of the Year and Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album at the 65th Grammys.

- Metascore: 94
- Release date: Oct. 25, 2019

"The Livelong Day" is Lankum's second album since changing their name from Lynched. The Irish band is folk on paper, but their music fuses the genre with components of psychedelia and punk to create something brand new. "The Livelong Day" won the Choice Music Prize for Album of the Year, a top honor in their home country.

- Metascore: 94
- Release date: Aug. 28, 2012

"One Wing" is the fifth and final album by Atlanta-based post-hardcore band the Chariot. The band was founded by former Norma Jean singer Josh Scogin, who wanted to go in a more punk-metal direction than his former bandmates. After a decade together, the Chariot disbanded in 2013, a year after the release of "One Wing."

- Metascore: 94
- Release date: Nov. 22, 2010

Kanye West's fifth album, "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy," has an array of guest appearances, including Nicki Minaj, John Legend, Bon Iver, Kid Cudi, Beyoncé, and Jay-Z. The acclaimed album wasn't nominated for the Grammys' Album or Record of the Year, which many saw as a snub at the volatile artist. In 2022, awards predictors at Gold Derby called it one of the 10 most "unforgivable Grammy snubs" for Album of the Year.

- Metascore: 94
- Release date: July 25, 2006

"Savane" is the final solo album by Ali Farka Touré. It was released posthumously in July 2006, just months after the African blues star died from bone cancer at age 66. Pitchfork's Joe Tangari called it "a deeply felt album that stands among his best."

- Metascore: 95
- Release date: June 7, 2024

Charli XCX delivered her most successful album to date with "Brat." The pop star's sixth album showcases her love of French dance music from the late '90s and 2000s, with Pitchfork's Meaghan Garvey calling it "one of the best pop albums of the year." It sparked the viral trend "brat summer" (which even 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris got in on). "Brat" was also shortlisted for the 2024 Mercury Prize.

- Metascore: 95
- Release date: Sept. 9, 2016

"Skeleton Tree" was the 16th album by Australian rocker Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. It was recorded as Cave mourned the loss of his 15-year-old son, who fell from a cliff in England in 2015, though most of its somber sounds and dark lyrics were written before the accident.

- Metascore: 95
- Release date: March 15, 2024

Like many, Charles Lloyd was troubled by the state of the world in 2020, so the legendary jazz saxophonist set out to create music with a new ensemble featuring pianist Jason Moran, bassist Larry Grenadier, and drummer Brian Blade. Together, they made "The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow," an album that shows all sides of the musician, who turned 86 on the day of its release.

- Metascore: 95
- Release date: Feb. 19, 2021

British rapper Ghetts (aka Justin Clarke) 's third studio album is his first on a major recording label. Filled with gritty stories of life in East London, it mixes a hip-hop sound with funk, strings, and horns.

- Metascore: 95
- Release date: Sept. 9, 2016

After putting out four EPs, Doe released their debut album, "Some Things Last Longer Than You," in 2016. The London-based indie rock trio took inspiration from bands like Sleater-Kinney and Weezer and showcased that influence while wearing their hearts on their sleeves.

- Metascore: 95
- Release date: July 12, 2024

After his debut mixtape, "DEMOTAPE/VEGA," was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize in 2021, BERWYN followed it up with a critically acclaimed debut album. "WHO AM I" sees the Trinidad-born, London-bred singer-songwriter tap into genres ranging from trap to bedroom pop as he navigates personal subjects like addiction and racism in his lyrics.

- Metascore: 95
- Release date: May 10, 2019

"Eternal Forward Motion" is the third album from U.K.-based metalcore band Employed to Serve. The woman-fronted group meshes punk and metal with pop sensibilities and continues to evolve with each album while staying true to its core sound.

- Metascore: 95
- Release date: June 19, 2020

Rose City Band isn't a band but rather the moniker for Ripley Johnson's solo project. The second album from the artist of Wooden Shjips and Moon Duo fame sees him straddling the line between psychedelia and country rock music, enhancing the sound with the jaw harp, mandolin, and pedal steel guitar.

- Metascore: 95
- Release date: Aug. 25, 2023

Jaimie Branch's third and final album was released posthumously after the avant-garde trumpeter died of an accidental drug overdose in 2022. Critics praised "Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die (world war)" for bringing punk rock ethos to jazz music, showcasing the incredible potential Branch had as a genre-defying artist before her tragic death.

- Metascore: 95
- Release date: April 3, 2012

California band Joyce Manor is known for mixing power pop, emo, and punk sounds, and their sophomore album did just that. The nine-track album is also a picture of efficiency, clocking in at just over 13 minutes. As DIY Magazine's Heather McDaid said: "It speaks volumes on their fearlessness to release an album so short and so stripped back, yet pull it off so seamlessly."

- Metascore: 95
- Release date: Dec. 15, 2014

R&B star D'Angelo released his third album, "Black Messiah," following a 14-year absence. Filled with protest songs, the album arrived amid political turmoil over police brutality after the killings of two unarmed Black men in the summer of 2014—Eric Garner in New York and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Their deaths are directly referenced in D'Angelo's track "The Charade." "Black Messiah" went on to win Best R&B Album at the 58th Grammys.

- Metascore: 95
- Release date: June 19, 2020

When Bob Dylan released "Rough and Rowdy Ways" in 2020, it marked the first time in eight years that he'd given the world new original music. A quick listen revealed the prolific Dylan hadn't lost his touch, with each track containing the myths, magic, and truths we've come to expect from the then-79-year-old singer-songwriter.

- Metascore: 95
- Release date: April 14, 2017

Not only did "DAMN." win a Grammy for Best Rap Album, but it also made history in 2018 as the first album to win a Pulitzer Prize that wasn't classical or jazz. The committee said "DAMN." had "vernacular authenticity and rhythmic dynamism" that captured "the complexity of modern African American life."

- Metascore: 95
- Release date: Oct. 31, 2000

"Stankonia" is the fourth album by the funky hip-hop duo OutKast, comprised of Big Boi and André 3000. The album, which Pitchfork's Kris Ex praised as "the group's most expansive and abrasive effort," went on to win the Grammy for Best Rap Album in 2001. The hit single "Ms. Jackson" took home the award for Best Performance by a Duo or Group.

- Metascore: 95
- Release date: March 27, 2024

Cindy Lee is the drag alter ego of Patrick Flegel. Under the moniker, the former frontperson of the band Women explores themes like alienation and gender identity washed in haunting avant-garde pop songs. "Diamond Jubilee" is Lee's seventh studio album, and when it came out in March 2024, its 9.1 rating made it the highest-scoring album on Pitchfork since Fiona Apple's "Fetch the Bolt Cutters" earned a perfect 10 in 2020.

- Metascore: 95
- Release date: June 9, 2023

"Fountain Baby" is the second album by Ghanaian American artist Amaarae. The 14-song collection tackles themes like race and gender through unconventional R&B sounds, combined with her tantalizing vocals. With her sophomore album, NPR's Tarisai Ngangura said Amaarae "redefines herself as a pop auteur."

- Metascore: 96
- Release date: Nov. 10, 2014

"Bloodstone & Diamonds" is Machine Head's eighth studio album and the first with bassist Jared MacEachern. The project notably builds on the intense sound the metalcore pioneers established on the band's previous two albums, "The Blackening" and "Unto the Locust."

- Metascore: 96
- Release date: June 9, 2009

Composer David Lang's choral piece was inspired by two famous works: Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Match Girl" and Johann Sebastian Bach's "Saint Matthew Passion." The piece premiered at Carnegie Hall in 2007, won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2008, and was released to the public a year later.

- Metascore: 96
- Release date: Oct. 4, 2019

Nick Cave described "Ghosteen" as having two acts: The songs in the first half are the children, and the songs in the second are their parents, according to Rolling Stone. Like "Skeleton Tree," "Ghosteen," Cave's 17th album with the Bad Seeds, is imbued with his grief over the death of his teenage son four years earlier. On the album, Cave "sounds simultaneously alone at the edge of the world and surrounded by benevolent spirits," as AV Club described.

- Metascore: 96
- Release date: March 16, 2015

The working title of Kendrick Lamar's second major label studio release was "Tu Pimp a Caterpillar" in honor of the late rapper Tupac Shakur. Touching on highly personal topics like fame, depression, and death, "To Pimp a Butterfly" scored Lamar five Grammys, including Best Rap Album in 2015. He was nominated for 11 awards that year, the most for any artist since Babyface scored 12 nods in 1996.

- Metascore: 97
- Release date: May 14, 2013

"The Greatest Generation" is the Wonder Years' fourth full-length album. In addition to being praised for its creativity, it also brought the Philadelphia-based pop-punk outfit mainstream success. It was the band's first album to land in the top 20 on the Billboard 200 chart and outsold all of its predecessors.

- Metascore: 97
- Release date: April 27, 2004

Produced by Jack White of the White Stripes, "Van Lear Rose" is widely considered one of Loretta Lynn's best albums. It was the 42nd studio album by the country music legend from Butcher Hollow, Kentucky, who was married at 13 and had four children by age 18. It features the song "Miss Being Mrs.," about the death of her husband. "Van Lear Rose" won the Grammy for Best Country Album and picked up another for her and White's "Portland Oregon" in the Best Country Collaboration with Vocals category.

- Metascore: 97
- Release date: Sept. 28, 2004

Former Beach Boy Brian Wilson made "SMiLE" from the band's unfinished 1967 album "Smile," recreating songs that include a lively, pared-down version of "Good Vibrations." Though he'd earned four Grammy nominations with the Beach Boys nearly four decades earlier, the album won Wilson his first award: Best Rock Instrumental Performance for "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow."

- Metascore: 98
- Release date: March 4, 2016

Muncie Girls wowed the pop-punk world with their politically charged debut album "From Caplan to Belsize," with NME's James McMahon calling it "one of the most special indie rock records to emerge in an age." The U.K.-based trio released its sophomore album "Fixed Ideals" in 2018 before breaking up in 2023.

- Metascore: 98
- Release date: April 17, 2020

"Fetch the Bolt Cutters" was the first album singer-songwriter Fiona Apple released in eight years (and as of September 2024, she hasn't released another). It was recorded in the house where the reclusive artist had been living, and its title comes from a line in the British mystery series "The Fall" starring Gillian Anderson.

- Metascore: 99
- Release date: May 22, 2012

"Ten Freedom Summers" is a 19-track, four-disc set by jazz trumpeter and composer Wadada Leo Smith. It centers on 10 key years of the Civil Rights Movement, from the Dred Scott v. Sandford case of 1857, which stated that enslaved people were not citizens of the U.S., to the post-9/11 landscape in which it was released. JazzWire's Kevin Le Gendre praised the album—a finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in music—as a "deeply moving and artistically ambitious work."

Story editing by Jaimie Etkin. Copy editing by Robert Wickwire. Photo selection by Lacy Kerrick.