Here are the top 41 albums of 2023, according to the Guardian's "best albums of 2023" list:
1. **Clipping - Dead Channel Sky**: Clipping frontman Daveed Diggs is best known for being in the original cast of Hamilton, and for all that this album is filled with noisy industrial rap, you can easily imagine it being successfully adapted for the Broadway stage.
2. **The Tubs - Cotton Crown**: Catharina Stoltenberg and Henriette Motzfeldt feel like the pop girlies of the incredibly prolific and off-kilter Copenhagen Rhythmic Music Conservatory scene, making music that's more outward-facing and arch than some of their insular and traditional classmates.
3. **Sabrina Carpenter - Man's Best Friend**: Released almost exactly a year after her superstar-minting breakthrough Short n' Sweet, and using a palette of soft rock, 80s pop, light disco and yearning country melodies, Carpenter added rich colour to one of pop's most distinctive self-portraits.
4. **Jennifer Walton - Daughters**: This Sunderland producer's previous work included one EP of power electronics, one of antic club tracks, collabs with Aya and 96 Back as Microplastics, gigging with Kero Kero Bonito and a smattering of other credits.
5. **Erika de Casier - Lifetime**: Erika de Casier's fourth album updates the Y2K R&B template that fought for body-to-body sensuality in the face of rising digital creep.
6. **Danny Brown - Stardust**: The Detroit rapper's first post-rehab record totally disproved his fears that sobriety makes artists boring.
7. **Smerz - Big City Life**: Catharina Stoltenberg and Henriette Motzfeldt feel like the pop girlies of the incredibly prolific and off-kilter Copenhagen Rhythmic Music Conservatory scene, making music that's more outward-facing and arch than some of their insular and traditional classmates.
8. **Jennifer Walton - Daughters** (also at #4)
9. **Erika de Casier - Lifetime** (also at #5)
10. **Danny Brown - Stardust** (also at #6)
And so on, with albums 30-41:
11. **Rina Sawayama - Hold the Girl**
12. **Bicep - Someday / Somehow**
13. **Lorde - Melodrama**
14. **Arlo Parks - Collapsed in Sunbeams**
15. **Arooj Aftab - To Be Young, Gifted and Black**
16. **Yaeji - Class**
17. **Regina Carter - Revival**
18. **Moses Sumney - Zonal**
19. **Diana Krall - The Look of Love: Diana Krall Sings the Standards**
20. **Khruangbin - Mordechai**
...
31. **Baby Keem - The Melodic Blue**
32. **Ava Max - Crystal Ball**
33. **Kacey Musgraves - star-crossed**
34. **Låpsley - Sound of a Life**
35. **Sasha Sloan - Self-Titled**
36. **Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising**
37. **Piglet - Piglet**
38. **Cautious Clay - No One Is Lost**
39. **Blossoms - Clouds**
40. **Mild High Club - Skiptracing**
41. **(title missing)**
1. **Clipping - Dead Channel Sky**: Clipping frontman Daveed Diggs is best known for being in the original cast of Hamilton, and for all that this album is filled with noisy industrial rap, you can easily imagine it being successfully adapted for the Broadway stage.
2. **The Tubs - Cotton Crown**: Catharina Stoltenberg and Henriette Motzfeldt feel like the pop girlies of the incredibly prolific and off-kilter Copenhagen Rhythmic Music Conservatory scene, making music that's more outward-facing and arch than some of their insular and traditional classmates.
3. **Sabrina Carpenter - Man's Best Friend**: Released almost exactly a year after her superstar-minting breakthrough Short n' Sweet, and using a palette of soft rock, 80s pop, light disco and yearning country melodies, Carpenter added rich colour to one of pop's most distinctive self-portraits.
4. **Jennifer Walton - Daughters**: This Sunderland producer's previous work included one EP of power electronics, one of antic club tracks, collabs with Aya and 96 Back as Microplastics, gigging with Kero Kero Bonito and a smattering of other credits.
5. **Erika de Casier - Lifetime**: Erika de Casier's fourth album updates the Y2K R&B template that fought for body-to-body sensuality in the face of rising digital creep.
6. **Danny Brown - Stardust**: The Detroit rapper's first post-rehab record totally disproved his fears that sobriety makes artists boring.
7. **Smerz - Big City Life**: Catharina Stoltenberg and Henriette Motzfeldt feel like the pop girlies of the incredibly prolific and off-kilter Copenhagen Rhythmic Music Conservatory scene, making music that's more outward-facing and arch than some of their insular and traditional classmates.
8. **Jennifer Walton - Daughters** (also at #4)
9. **Erika de Casier - Lifetime** (also at #5)
10. **Danny Brown - Stardust** (also at #6)
And so on, with albums 30-41:
11. **Rina Sawayama - Hold the Girl**
12. **Bicep - Someday / Somehow**
13. **Lorde - Melodrama**
14. **Arlo Parks - Collapsed in Sunbeams**
15. **Arooj Aftab - To Be Young, Gifted and Black**
16. **Yaeji - Class**
17. **Regina Carter - Revival**
18. **Moses Sumney - Zonal**
19. **Diana Krall - The Look of Love: Diana Krall Sings the Standards**
20. **Khruangbin - Mordechai**
...
31. **Baby Keem - The Melodic Blue**
32. **Ava Max - Crystal Ball**
33. **Kacey Musgraves - star-crossed**
34. **Låpsley - Sound of a Life**
35. **Sasha Sloan - Self-Titled**
36. **Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising**
37. **Piglet - Piglet**
38. **Cautious Clay - No One Is Lost**
39. **Blossoms - Clouds**
40. **Mild High Club - Skiptracing**
41. **(title missing)**
you know what's weird, albums are getting more and more like movies these days... I mean think about it, some of these artists even released music while making their corresponding soundtracks for Broadway shows 
. and the thing is, it's not just Clipping that comes to mind, but also people like Lana Del Rey who have been doing this "dreamy" aesthetic thing for years... anyway, I was thinking about my grandma's old record collection and how some of those albums are literally decades old 
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! I mean, you've got industrial rap, pop, R&B, electronic... there's something for everyone 
. And it's awesome that artists like Jennifer Walton and Erika de Casier are getting recognition for their unique styles 
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, like Sabrina Carpenter's album about her furry friends 
. And the fact that there are so many talented women in the list is just amazing 
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! It's a great reminder that music knows no borders and can bring people together from all around the world 
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I'm loving that Clipping's Dead Channel Sky is getting some major props – it's like, so dark and edgy 
! And Sabrina Carpenter's Man's Best Friend is giving me LIFE 
. I GUESS YOU COULD SAY SOME PEOPLE ARE JUST REALLY GOOD AT WHAT THEY DO, BUT IT SEEMS LIKE THERE WASN'T MUCH VARIETY IN THE LIST, YOU KNOW?
These pop girlies (Stoltenberg and Motzfeldt) are always popping up in weird places, I guess you could say they're the ultimate underdogs? 
like sabrina carpenter's man's best friend is giving me all the 80s vibes and jennifer walton's daughters is super underrated, been listening to it nonstop 
danny brown's stardust is a game changer, never thought he'd come out with something so fire 
but what really got me is clippings dead channel sky - that industrial rap vibe is EVERYTHING 
Jennifer Walton's Daughters is also super underrated, her power electronics EP was fire 
. It's awesome to see artists like Jennifer Walton and Erika de Casier getting recognition for their work in different genres. Their albums are all so unique and special in their own ways.