2024 was quite the year for music. The Grammy Awards aired on Sunday, Feb. 2 and had a lot of interesting results, both in my mind and in a large part of the music community. Negatives aside, Charli XCX won three awards for BRAT, satisfying the small part of me that likes electronic music and the large part of me that’s obsessed with her and Lorde. 

Anyway, my rankings aren’t anything like what the Grammys chose for their Album of the Year nominees. So many artists get overshadowed by bigger issues such as lack of popularity, but also far stupider ones, such as the genre in which they make music. So, without further ado, here are my top five albums of 2024. 

#5—Stick Season (Forever) by Noah Kahan

Noah Kahan has worked his way up in the world of music, climbing the Billboard charts and staying pretty close to the top of them ever since his 2022 release “Stick Season.” The Vermont native, now living in the nearby Watertown, MA, has collaborated with famed artists such as Hozier on “Northern Attitude,” Gracie Abrams on “Call Your Mom” and Kacey Musgraves on “She Calls Me Back.” Forever is the third version of Stick Season to be released; this one features the additional songs Kahan released on the second version, all the collaborations he did on both the new tracks and original ones and a love song titled “Forever” that he teased on social media before finally releasing it. 

One of the reasons for why I rank “Forever” at number five instead of higher is because it is not entirely new music. There is only one totally new song, but I love it and the others so much to the point that it still makes this list. Kahan is lyrically and musically a genius, and has a ridiculously impressive voice that is hard to rival. His lyrics resonate with people, whether he’s singing about suicide prevention, love, leaving your hometown or returning to it years later. Clocking in at two hours long, “Stick Season (Forever)” is the final chapter of Kahan’s rise to fame and an era stapling him as one of the greatest current indie/folk artists. 

#4—Middle Ground by Covey

I doubt any of you reading this have heard this album, which is all the more reason to listen to it. Tom Freeman, otherwise known as Covey, grew fame on TikTok for his strange figurines created for his 2021 release (and masterpiece) “Class of Cardinal Sin.” Unfortunately, he isn’t nearly as known as a musician as he deserves to be. Having just over 77,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, the chance that more than one person reading this knows Covey is small. 

My dream is that someday, Covey is selling out the same venues other artists on this list have played, and “Middle Ground” is an album I’d love to hear live. The music itself is well-made and pleasant to listen to, but Covey’s real beauty is in his songwriting. In tracks like “Serotonin,” “Body Language” and “Purgatory,” Freeman tackles issues of life while questioning his own humanity and morals. Covey reflects on his own life while making listeners reflect on theirs; he creates music people can relate to, but says messages no one wants to hear about themselves. The notion that “Middle Ground” isn’t his best album only speaks to how great “Class of Cardinal Sin” is, and Covey effectively creates music that is both deep and easy on the ear in an indie-folk manner. 

#3—BRAT by Charli XCX

BRAT is never an album that I thought would come anywhere close to my top 10 albums of the year, let alone my top three, but I am so glad that it did. Pop was never really my genre, but I’ve always liked the more electronic side of things compared to more generic pop. A friend suggested that I listen to BRAT, and I haven’t looked back. British star Charli XCX has been part of the pop scene for years; the first time I heard her was in her 2012 song “I Don’t Care” with Icona Pop. Her accent is phenomenal, voice is addicting and artistry is incredible. 

“Von dutch” and “Sympathy is a knife” are two songs from the first half of the album that initially grabbed my attention, but my favorite track will forever and always be “Girl, so confusing”. The storytelling Charli utilizes is incredible, noting her issues with an unnamed artist who is incredibly different from her, but at the same time, theoretically similar. Every track on “BRAT” uses the same lyrical genius of this song, but what brings the album down is, interestingly enough, the remixes. “Girl, so confusing featuring Lorde” is the response to its original material, and features the very artist that is the subject of the first song. The songs almost depend on each other, and while both are great, the storytelling is only complete when Lorde joins in. So, while “BRAT” is incredible, it would not be what it is without alternate versions of the tracks that Charli XCX released later. 

#2—Clancy by Twenty One Pilots

The sixth album released by Ohio alt-rock duo Twenty One Pilots, “Clancy” is an apparent final chapter to the story Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun have been building since their third album and global success “Blurryface.” This album is the first time we get to hear the main character of the story’s name, with it being the title of the album, and it goes back to the sound of their album “Trench” that fans dearly loved. After “Scaled and Icy’s” controversial reception, Twenty One Pilots returned to form and churned out 13 incredible tracks. 

“Clancy” is truly a masterpiece in mixing and production. Opening track and first single “Overcompensate” samples “Bandito,” a track from 2018 release “Trench,” and directly continues the narrative of Clancy and Torchbearer. “Next Semester” was the song I both needed and didn’t need to hear as I graduated high school and began my journey at Brandeis, and “Backslide” wasn’t a song I truly appreciated until I saw Twenty One Pilots on back-to-back nights at TD Garden. “Navigating” is “Clancy’s” peak, featuring incredible vocals from Joseph and some of my favorite recorded drumming from Dun, but is unfortunately followed by “Snap Back,” one of the reasons why this album is number two and not number one. Sonically dull, “Snap Back” is by no means a bad song; just one that’s boring compared to the tracks it’s surrounded by. Still, from opening to close, “Clancy” is an absolute masterpiece, and I am so excited to see what more Twenty One Pilots have in store, following the open-ended final seconds of the album. 

#1—POST HUMAN: NeX GEn by Bring Me The Horizon

British metalcore band Bring Me The Horizon have had quite a year. Following their 2023 tour with Fall Out Boy that I was lucky enough to attend, they released the sequel to their 2020 album “POST HUMAN: SURVIVAL HORROR” without warning on May 24, 2024. “NeX GEN” had been anticipated for years; lead single “DiE4U” was released all the way back in 2021 and was the perfect re-introduction to the world of Post Human. 

The second concept album in the Post Human-iverse is better than its predecessor, and that is quite the accomplishment. Featuring heavy hitters like AURORA and Lil Uzi Vert, BMTH plays in styles that range from slow, terrifyingly-beautiful symphonic metal to fast-paced metalcore mixed with rapping and the screams of frontman Oli Sykes. What sticks out to me the most on “NeX GEn” is not only the usage of multiple metal styles, but the incredible musicality and harmonies featured on tracks such as “AmEN!,” “YOUtopia” and “sTraNgeRs.” Something about the way the vocals are presented on all of the songs, especially these, represents complex themes of religion, control and heartbreak, all while being something I can only describe as musically stunning. My favorite track on “NeX GEn” changes every few months; I got hooked onto the album through “DiE4U,” my love grew for it in “Top 10 staTues tHat CriEd bloOd” and persists in my current favorite, “YOUtopia.” There is not a single skippable track on “POST HUMAN: NeX GEn,” and Bring Me The Horizon truly displayed their musical talent through this fantastic release.