2024 was a momentous year for music. All genres – even those that have been reshaped or melded together – saw a stacked slate of releases ranging from studio debuts, long-awaited returns and even some surprise releases.
At the top of the year, Mk.gee made himself a household name with his debut studio album Two Star & The Dream Police followed up by ScHoolboy Q’s first album in five years BLUE LIPS. BROCKHAMPTON’s Matt Champion introduced himself as a solo artist with his first solo project Mika’s Laundry, with RM welcoming the warm weather with his Right Place, Wrong Person.
Brat dominated the summer, with longtime Charli XCX fans and newbies both leaning heavily into the dance album’s self-titled accompanying aesthetic. This summer also saw the release of Billie Eilish‘s HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, while Doechii wrapped up August with her acclaimed studio debut Alligator Bites Never Heal.
Closing out the fourth quarter came GloRilla’s impressive long-form debut, and unexpected releases from both Tyler the Creator and Kendrick Lamar, with their respective CHROMAKOPIA and GNX releases becoming some of the most memorable (and most-played) LPs of the whole year.
While standout projects were aplenty, we narrowed it down to the top 10 best albums of 2024.
CHROMAKOPIA – Tyler, the Creator
Columbia Records
Tyler, the Creator gave fans the best surprise with CHROMAKOPIA after asserting that he wasn’t going to release new music in 2024. The follow-up to CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST boasts guest appearances from GloRilla, Doechii, Thundercat, Teezo Touchdown, Donald Glover, Lil Wayne, ScHoolboy Q and more. The album is speculated to draw inspiration from Chroma the Great, the conductor from Norton Juster’s The Phantom Tollbooth, who orchestrates colors with his symphony — an influence that may explain the artist’s use of monochromatic visuals throughout this album cycle. T is still attached to his rap roots on the album, but is evidently now on a more expansive plane of music with the use of more obscure and hidden samples scattered throughout the tracks. CHROMAKOPIA is evidence of the artist’s meticulous attention to detail, resulting in a body of work that takes listeners on a sonic adventure.
Listen: Spotify | Apple Music
Alligator Bites Never Heal – Doechii
Top Dawg Entertainment/Capitol Records
When Doechii sat down with Hypebeast earlier this year, she told us 2024 was “the year of the unexpected.” Surely, The Swamp Princess delivered on that sentiment, stamping her imprint on the year and cultural zeitgeist with one of the most memorable and masterfully written projects of the year: Alligator Bites Never Heal. An ode to her South Florida roots, the Top Dawg Entertainment talent envisions her Everglades upbringing and the impartible impact it has on her artistry and distinct creative vision. Carried by her sharp wordplay and doused in sleek, swampy sonics and production, the mixtape transpired on the heels of the rapper’s “Swamp Session” songwriting series, effortlessly penning double entendres and making triple entendres look elementary. Though the immersive 47-minute project tells a clear and cohesive story, each of the 19 tracks brings something entirely different to the table. Almost fully a solo endeavor, the LP’s highest of high points include the bouncy “BULLFROG,” the humorous “DENIAL IS A RIVER” and fan-favorite “NISSAN ALTIMA.”
Listen: Spotify | Apple Music
Two Star & The Dream Police – Mk.gee
Interscope Records
Before 2024, Mk.gee was merely a mispronounced name in the credits, overlooked amongst the big-name artists he’d lend his production hand to. This year that all changed when he released his debut studio album, Two Star & The Dream Police, one of this year’s most universally blasted albums. Beloved by hip-hop heads, indie aficionados and classic rock fans alike, Two Star & The Dream Police not only cemented Mk.gee’s name in the mainstream but catapulted him to the crux of the cultural conscious, landing the rather lowkey New Jersey musician on late-night shows, magazine covers, and headlining world tours. An abstract, atmospheric ethos strings each of the album’s 12 songs together, with striking, textured production and themes of love, loss and limerance lamented upon throughout.
Listen: Spotify | Apple Music
GLORIOUS – GloRilla
Interscope Records/Cmg
Whether you see GloRious as a “comeback project” or your entry into her catalog, there’s no denying that 2024 ended up becoming GloRilla’s year. Her debut album, which peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 and No. 2 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts, is a beautiful fusion of her Memphis roots’ influential musical landscape and her own personal spiritual beliefs and morals. She neatly packages this bond with some of rap’s catchiest hooks — her opening verse on the Sexyy Red-assisted “WHATCHU KNO ABOUT ME,” the “EUGH EUGH” ad-lib being used by the Memphis Grizzlies DJ every time the NBA team scores and Rihanna addressing beau A$AP Rocky while rapping along to “TGIF.” Joy, introspection and confidence build the bulk of GloRious, and the selection of production work cap it off as a body of work that will likely remain on repeat.
Listen: Spotify | Apple Music
GNX – Kendrick Lamar
Interscope Records/Pglang
GNX is undeniably the crowning jewel of an unforgettable year for Kendrick Lamar fans. The surprise album arrived several months after he and Drake traded diss tracks (with the feud now escalating to a legal petition filed by the latter) and marks Dot’s followup to 2022’s Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers. While its predecessor tackled the pgLang founder’s own issues such as infidelity and trauma, this release serves as more of a victory lap for the rapper after being embroiled in rap beef. Lamar is known to deliver projects that force us to dig deeper into our own subconscious, but this time around, he’s picking up and holding the flowers that have been laying at his feet for years. Just like what he repeats on “man at the garden,” almost as a mantra: “I deserve it all.”
Listen: Spotify | Apple Music
Mika’s Laundry – Matt Champion
Rca Records
Matt Champion made his solo debut this year with Mika’s Laundry – a green-hued audiovisual world in which almost anything, both sonically and visually, goes. Defined by its diverse sonic profile and brain-scratching distorted production, Mika’s Laundry is an impressive studio debut from the BROCKHAMPTON musician. A canvas for him to find his ethos as a solo act separate from the band, Mika’s Laundry sees Champion – literally – championing his individuality, exploring the range of all of its bounds. With features coming from Dijon, Dora Jar and JENNIE, the 13-track experimental album is a refreshing escape from our daily lives, riddled with dreamily distorted production. “I just wanted to bring out the details of a vast, always moving world, and get a look at what a day being there could be like,” Champion told Hypebeast earlier this year. Most of the album’s songs come complemented with a visualizer, allowing Champion to drive his point home and fully invite us into the world – or day in the life – he’s curated.
Listen: Spotify | Apple Music
Brat – Charli XCX
Atlantic Records
Few albums have commandeered the cultural zeitgeist (and trending color palette) like Brat. The blueprint for Brat – a.k.a Charli XCX herself – stepped into her fully realized Party Girl potential this year with one of the most captivating, chokehold-having electronic albums of not only 2024 but the 21st century. Influencing brands to go green – not in a sustainable sense, but rather in a bright lime-green shade – and listeners to fully lean into the album’s aesthetic, the dynamic 15-track delivery inspired longtime listeners and rookies alike to don their finest white tank top with a pair of black sunglasses and last night’s hairstyle. Dominated by its dance-driven beats and buzzing production, Charli is not only confident but also more vulnerable than ever on Brat, reflecting on topics like having children, navigating female friendships, and dealing with loss. And it didn’t end with brat summer, with Charli taking the album to the road on one of the most memorable tours of the year (SWEAT with collaborator Troye Sivan) and a fully fledged remix album. After all, it’s winter and we’re still bumpin’ that…
Listen: Spotify | Apple Music
HIT ME HARD AND SOFT – Billie Eilish
Darkroom/Interscope Records
Sonic exploration is at the forefront of Billie Eilish’s third studio album, HIT ME HARD AND SOFT. Her first full-length release in three years is once again produced in its entirety by her brother FINNEAS, proving that their musical chemistry remains to be a fruitful one. Now in her early 20s, Eilish moves past her turbulent journey through teenage fame and pens even more intimate lyricism focusing on the likes of her sexuality and gender identity, and body dysmorphia. She addresses these issues over a wide range of FINNEAS’ production work that encompasses pop, techno, house, soft rock, synth-pop, bossa nova and trip-hop, providing her with the space to deliver tracks of a reflective nature that also nurture her own artistry. Eilish established herself as a figure that will go down in pop history before she even entered her 20s, and it sounds like she’s ready to go beyond what people want her to be.
Listen: Spotify | Apple Music
Right Place, Wrong Person – RM
Bighit Music
If you ever only saw RM through the lens of BTS, his sophomore solo record Right Place, Wrong Person could easily change that. The 11-track album is a stunning introduction to Kim Nam-joon, who spends the project’s 35 minutes entering and exploring sonic spaces that range from psychedelic to alternative, progressive jazz, soul/R&B, rock-rap, pop, indie pop and, of course, old school hip-hop. Don’t be fooled by the rather extensive list though — the album remains cohesive across its runtime, serving as evidence of RM’s conscientious nature. On Right Place, Wrong Person, there are no limits on who Kim Nam-joon can be.
Listen: Spotify | Apple Music
BLUE LIPS – ScHoolboy Q
Interscope Records/Top Dawg Entertainment
ScHoolboy Q’s sixth studio album proved to be one of his most poignant projects to date. BLUE LIPS, which marked Q’s first album since 2019’s CrasH Talk, is the rapper’s sonic stamp of influence. Bolstered by assists from fellow Top Dawg Entertainment musicians Ab-Soul and Devin Malik as well as Rico Nasty, Freddie Gibbs, Childish Major, AzChike, Lance Skiiiwalker and Jozzy, BLUE LIPS is a masterclass in maturity, with Q handling the heaviest cuts solo, and carefully enlisting his close collaborators to contribute where it makes sense. Clocking in at 18 songs, BLUE LIPS – which gets its name from the term definition of “speechless, especially as the temporary result of shock or some strong emotion” – never feels too long (or too short), and leaves listeners feeling exactly what its definition suggests.
Listen: Spotify | Apple Music
