Rolling Stone's 50 Best Albums of 2018

Another of the biggest, most anticipated year-end lists is here: Rolling Stone‘s 50 Best Albums of 2018. Because it’s Rolling Stone, there’s the weirdly high placement of the just-okay Paul McCartney album (#11), but other than that, it’s got most of the same albums we’ve been seeing on the publications that are perceived to be less “mainstream.” The #1 pick is mainstream but deserving (Cardi B), and the list also has usual suspects like Kacey Musgraves, Ariana Grande, Pusha T, Kurt Vile, Janelle Monae, Mitski, Soccer Mommy, Lucy Dacus, Vince Staples, Hop Along, The Beths, Beach House, U.S. Girls, Snail Mail, Noname, Rosalía, Courtney Barnett, Tierra Whack, Parquet Courts, Robyn, Sleep, CupcakKe, and more. Check out the full list below and see RS‘ commentary here.

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Rolling Stone’s 50 Best Albums of 2018
50. Cupcakke, ‘Ephorize’
49. Esperanza Spalding, ’12 Little Spells’
48. The Carters, ‘Everything Is Love’
47. Father John Misty, ‘God’s Favorite Customer’
46. Sleep, ‘The Sciences’
45. Robyn, ‘Honey’
44. Jeff Tweedy, ‘Warm’
43. Lil Wayne, ‘Tha Carter V’
42. Ashley McBryde, ‘Girl Going Nowhere’
41. Amanda Shires, ‘To the Sunset’
40. Parquet Courts, ‘Wide Awake’
39. Nine Inch Nails, ‘Bad Witch’
38. Eric Church, ‘Desperate Man’
37. Tierra Whack, ‘Whack World’
36. Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, ‘Sparkle Hard’
35. Elvis Costello, ‘Look Now’
34. Courtney Barnett, ‘Tell Me How You Really Feel’
33. Neko Case, ‘Hell-On’
32. David Byrne, ‘American Utopia’
31. Rosalía, ‘El Mar Querer’
30. Free Cake for Every Creature, ‘The Bluest Star’
29. Superchunk, ‘What a Time to Be Alive’
28. Florence and the Machine, ‘High as Hope’
27. Noname, ‘Room 25’
26. Snail Mail, ‘Lush’
25. Rae Sremmurd, ‘SR3MM’
24. Kali Uchis, ‘Isolation’
23. U.S. Girls, ‘In a Poem Unlimited’
22. John Prine, ‘The Tree of Forgiveness’
21. Beach House, ‘7’
20. The Beths, ‘Future Me Hates Me’
19. Hop Along, ‘Bark Your Head Off Dog’
18. Vince Staples, ‘FM!’
17. Lucy Dacus, ‘Historian’
16. Soccer Mommy, ‘Clean’
15. J Balvin, ‘Vibras’
14. Mitski, ‘Be the Cowboy’
13. Janelle Monae, ‘Dirty Computer’
12. Brandi Carlile, ‘By The Way, I Forgive You’
11. Paul McCartney, ‘Egypt Station’
10. Drake, ‘Scorpion’
9. Kurt Vile, ‘Bottle It In’
8. Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, ‘A Star Is Born Soundtrack’
7. Pusha T, ‘Daytona’
6. Travis Scott, ‘Astroworld’
5. Ariana Grande, ‘Sweetener’
4. Pistol Annies, ‘Interstate Gospel’
3. Camila Cabello, ‘Camila’
2. Kacey Musgraves, ‘Golden Hour’
1. Cardi B, ‘Invasion of Privacy’