Year-End Lists

NPR Music: 50 Best Albums of 2021

1. Jazmine Sullivan
   Heaux Tales
2. Little Simz
   Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
3. Lucy Dacus
   Home Video
4. Allison Russell
   Outside Child
5. C. Tangana
   El Madrileño
6. Floating Points / Pharoah Sanders / London Symphony Orchestra
   Promises
7. Arooj Aftab
   Vulture Prince
8. Arlo Parks
   Collapsed in Sunbeams
9. Vince Staples
   Vince Staples
10. Wild Up
    Julius Eastman Vol. 1: Femenine
11. Japanese Breakfast
    Jubilee
12. Helado Negro
    Far In
13. Tyler, The Creator
    Call Me If You Get Lost
14. Adele
    30
15. Tems
    If Orange Was a Place
16. Baby Keem
    The Melodic Blue
17. Willow
    Lately I Feel Everything
18. Mach-Hommy
    Pray For Haiti
19. illuminati hotties
    Let Me Do One More
20. Injury Reserve
    By the Time I Get to Phoenix
21. Low
    Hey What
22. PinkPantheress
    To Hell with It
23. Mickey Guyton
    Remember Her Name
24. Turnstile
    Glow On
25. Eris Drew
    Quivering In Time
26. Cleo Sol
    Mother
27. Toumani Diabaté and London Symphony Orchestra
    Kôrôlén
28. Summer Walker
    Still Over It
29. Lukah
    When The Black Hand Touches You
30. Lil Nas X
    Montero
31. Doja Cat
    Planet Her
32. Hiatus Kaiyote
    Mood Valiant
33. James Brandon Lewis / Red Lily Quintet
    Jesup Wagon
34. Emily D'Angelo
    enargeia
35. Moor Mother
    Black Encyclopedia of the Air
36. Spellling
    The Turning Wheel
37. Amythyst Kiah
    Wary + Strange
38. Mon Laferte
    Seis
39. MIKE
    Disco!
40. Yasmin Williams
    Urban Driftwood
41. Susana Baca
    Palabras Urgentes
42. Kenny Garrett
    Sounds from the Ancestors
43. Yebba
    Dawn
44. Adia Victoria
    A Southern Gothic
45. Rodrigo Amarante
    Drama
46. Gewandhausorchester, Andris Nelsons, Vadim Repin
    Sofia Gubaidulina
47. Artifacts
    ...and then there's this
48. Pink Siifu
    GUMBO'!
49. Circuit Des Yeux
    -io
50. Silk Sonic
    An Evening with Silk Sonic

This list summarizes other lists, including these:

• Top 10 Albums of 2021 Ann Powers · NPR · NPR Music
• Top 10 Albums of 2021 Bob Boilen · NPR · NPR Music
• Top 10 Albums of 2021 Marissa Lorusso · NPR · NPR Music