As usual, my personal blog has a collection of 25 albums and 16 individual tracks that constitute all of my favorites in various categories. From country to rock to R&B, I found a fairly good crop of records that were pretty great. I'm not a music critic and again, the list represents my specific tastes. I've boiled down my overall list to this top ten. Hopefully, there is something here that anyone could also enjoy.
10. WHERE I'VE BEEN, ISN'T WHERE I'M GOING by Shaboozey - the 29-year-old from Virginia is the son of Nigerian parents. He's one of the few African American artists working within the country music genre. This album is his third studio production, but most people have only started to learn about him this past year. He picked up five nominations at the 67th Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist. One of those nominations is due to his work with Beyoncé. The other nominations are for his hit track, "A Bar Song (Tipsy)," which is up for Best Country Solo Performance, Best Country Song and Song of the Year.
9. STAMPEDE by Orville Peck - the 37-year-old from South Africa is also breaking ground. He's one of the few openly gay artists working within the country music genre. This album is also his third studio production. Each of the 15 tracks is a vocal duet, including Willie Nelson, Elton John and Kylie Minogue. The latter two artists are probably what helped this record reach number-one in the UK charts.
8. COMING HOME by Usher - the 46-year-old from Texas represents Atlanta, George. He still has boyish good looks and is probably still considered very much a sex symbol. This album is his ninth and it was released in the wake of his Super Bowl LVIII halftime show. All of this follows his residency in Las Vegas, one of only a few artists to have that distinction. Besides the titular track, two of the most outstanding songs is his collaboration with H.E.R. called "Risk It All," as well as his collaboration with K-pop star Jungkook from BTS called "Standing Next to You."
7. THE GLORIFICATION OF SADNESS by Paloma Faith - the 43-year-old from London, England is one of those blue-eyed soul singers who takes inspiration from Etta James and Billie Holiday. She's been compared to similar British songstresses like Duffy or Amy Winehouse. Her album is basically a breakup album, dealing with heartbreak and grief.
6. ALL BORN SCREAMING by St. Vincent- the 42-year-old, raised in Dallas, Texas, was part of a choral rock band. This is her seventh studio production. She's up for four nominations at the 67th Grammy Awards, including Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song for her track "Broken Man." She also has Best Alternative Music Performance for her track "Flea." Finally, she's up for Best Alternative Music Album, which she won in this category back at the 64th and at the 57th Grammys, which was her first showing at that award show.
5. THIS IS ME... NOW by Jennifer Lopez - the 55-year-old, Puerto Rican from the Bronx is one of the biggest pop stars in the world. It's one of the reasons why she performed at Super Bowl LIV in 2020 and performed at President Joe Biden's inauguration in 2021. Most people talk about how heartbreak and breakups inspired great music, such as the case with Taylor Swift and Beyoncé. However, this is one of the few albums to have been inspired by a reunion. Lopez dated Oscar-winner Ben Affleck in the early 2000's. They were known as "Bennifer." In fact, her relationship with Affleck inspired her album This is Me... Then (2002). They were even engaged to get married but split up not that long after. Nearly 20 years went by before they were reportedly dating again and this album was the result.
4. JPEG RAW by Gary Clark Jr. - the 40-year-old from Austin, Texas, is an African American rock guitarist. He's in fact of the few Black performers or Black men to win the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song. Some might expect something akin to Lenny Kravitz, but Gary very much incorporates blues and jazz into his work. He has Valerie June and Stevie Wonder as vocalists on two different tracks. He even incorporates what's known as funk into his sound or into specific songs. This is exemplified by the fact that George Clinton is a guest on this album.
3. HIT ME HARD AND SOFT by Billie Eilish - the 23-year-old won her second Academy Award this past calendar year. Her first Oscar made her the first person born in the 21st century to do so. Her second made her the youngest two-time Oscar winner in history. She's also the second artist in Grammy history to win in all four major categories in the same year, which she did in 2020 at the 62nd Grammy Awards. This record is only her third studio production. She's up for 7 nominations at the upcoming 67th Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, as well as Song of the Year and Record of the Year for "Birds of a Feather."
2. WHAT NOW by Brittany Howard - the 36-year-old from Alabama was the lead of the band Alabama Shakes. She released her first solo album in 2019 and it made my top ten that year. This album hasn't hit as well as her debut. It's still critically acclaimed but it didn't top the charts like her debut did. Howard was up for many awards as apart of the Alabama Shakes. This record is only up for Best Alternative Music Album at the 67th Grammy Awards. She should certainly up for more. She might be a little more difficult to classify. She was considered a rock star but this record has a lot of what's called psychedelic soul and funk too.
1. COWBOY CARTER by Beyoncé - the 43-year-old from Houston, Texas, is one of the best-selling artists of the all-time. She's also one of the most nominated artists in Grammy history. She has 99 nominations overall. In fact, she has the most nominations of any artist at the 67th Grammy Awards with 11 total. That's the most for any female artist in one year, including Album of the Year, as well as Song of the Year and Record of the Year for her song "Texas Hold 'Em." What's notable is that five of her nominations are in the country music categories, including Best Country Album. She isn't the first Black woman to do so, but "Texas Hold 'Em" is the first country song by a Black woman to top the charts.