Ah, the #1 album. An elusive thing – there’s, by definition, only one at a time1, and perhaps it says something about us if we look at what it is.
1 I mean, there’s one per chart at a time, and while they usually match up, sometimes they don’t. I’ll be using Billboard here, because I miss it, and it’s nice to go back to it occasionally.
I mean, maybe. Maybe what it says is “boy, people sure do like Adele”. That’s not going to stop me, however, from doing it anyway. So join me here as I examine every album that hit #1 in the previous calendar year, and see if it tells us anything.
Taylor Swift – Evermore
WHAT IT IS: The biggest-selling holdover from 2020, a year in which Taylor made two of her best records.
WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT US: It says that the momentum of Taylor Swift’s pandemic year was such that it carried her over the threshold to the next Taylor Swift release (there would also be two releases in 2021, about which see below), despite the only sensible reaction to 2020 being to smash yourself in the head until you’ve given yourself selective amnesia right in the 2020 lobe.
Playboi Carti – Whole Lotta Red
WHAT IT IS: One of the earlier pop-rap albums to get hyped to the moon last year. True fact about the person writing this: I am unusually bad at gauging how famous something actually is. I kind of live in a weird bubble where I often just have…no idea. Mainstream rap is one of the biggest blind spots in this regard: I had no idea Playboi Carti’s record sold this well. I’m kind of an idiot.
WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT US: Well, having established that what it says about me is that I’m kind of an idiot, I suppose that what it says about “us” is that sometimes I like the same rap music as other people, but not very often.
Morgan Wallen – Dangerous
WHAT IT IS: Well, it started its existence a perfectly unremarkable, well-sung-and-produced pop country album. Then it became a flashpoint.
WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT US: It says that the wars over cancel culture have officially extended to people buying/streaming/playing records specifically because a dipshit called his friend a racial slur. See, because that’s why it’s here: a bunch of people (awards shows, the radio, that sort of thing) decided they didn’t want to willingly associate themselves with the sort of person who thought that sort of behavior was appropriate, which is apparently untenable to the sort of person that believes “cancel culture” exists. Meanwhile, quick reminder: literally no one has ever been canceled2. Idiots are literally just buying this record because they’re in favor of dipshit white boys being able to call each other the n-word. What a time to be alive.
2 with the possible exception of Janet Jackson
Justin Bieber – Justice
WHAT IT IS: It’s the album about which Justin Bieber was upset to have nominated for awards as a “pop” album rather than as an “R&B” album. Beyond that, it’s yet another Justin Bieber album.
WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT US: It says that Justin Bieber is, somehow, eternal. Even when he’s grousing about people thinking he’s a pop star. Even then.
Rod Wave – Soulfly
WHAT IT IS: It’s almost certainly the second-best album called Soulfly. Like the other one, it really just makes me wish Max hadn’t ever left Sepultura. Ah, well.
WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT US: It says that while Playboi Carti taught us that sometimes the rap-listening public and I have the same taste in things, it’s more often the case that, you know, we don’t. Anyway, there’s a real thing happening around very young rappers, and I’d like to be more excited by it, but this is pretty bad.
Taylor Swift – Fearless (Taylor’s Version)
WHAT IT IS: The first of the re-recorded Taylor Swift albums, done in retaliation of the sale of her catalog. This is the one with “Love Story” on it. It was #1 two different times.
WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT US: A thing that’s been interesting3 about Taylor Swift re-recording her old records is that, while she’s far from the first to do so to settle catalogue disputes, she is almost certainly the first to have it work to this extent. It will be interesting to see how that affects other people doing this going forward. Anyway, I guess it says that Taylor Swift is the first person big enough – or with a fanbase loyal enough – to pull this off in any meaningful way.
3 and, if I’m being honest, that I occasionally kick around writing about here and never quite get to
Young Thug & Various Artists – Slime Language 2
WHAT IT IS: You know, I still think Young Thug is a genius. This is his less-great album of last year4, but it’s nice to see it here anyway.
4 I preferred Punk, which was the official ONAT 102nd best album of the year, and might rise over time if I’m being honest.
WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT US: A lot of mainstream rap has moved to a really intriguing, non-traditional place – rapping across the beat rather than with it, burying hooks and all sorts of oddities, or even not having traditional hooks at all, and Young Thug was way at the front of that, so it says that we, culturally, have developed an appreciation for this sort of thing, to the tune of buying and streaming his records.
Moneybagg Yo – A Gangsta’s Pain
WHAT IT IS: It’s a pop-rap album. It’s fine. It has, like, five record labels behind it. That’s a thing I didn’t know before I looked it up on Wikipedia to see if I had anything at all to say about it. Turns out I pretty much don’t!
WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT US: For all that I just said, there’s also still clearly a place for straight-up rappity rap, and this is, you know, that.
DJ Khaled – Khaled Khaled
WHAT IT IS: They told him not to. But here it is. Another one.
WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT US: That we shouldn’t play ourselves. We go hard. The key is making it.
J. Cole – The Off-Season
WHAT IT IS: It’s another J. Cole album. Remember when old-timers were super-annoying but bludgeoning people with the fact that J. Cole went platinum without any features? Yeah, that sucked. What an annoying part of the discourse.
WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT US: J. Cole is sort of the current face of “conscious” pop-rap, and so his albums are always going to sell to people that are looking for that sort of thing. Every generation gets the Common they deserve.
Olivia Rodrigo – Sour
WHAT IT IS: Well, it was the most surprising pop album of the year. It might have also been the most talked-about. It’s also, if I’m being honest, kind of overrated: the singles are all good (three of them are even great), but it has some soggy bits in the back half. Still and all, can’t take anything away from the parts of it that work.
WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT US: It says that the bridge to “Drivers License” is like some sort of spell cast upon us all, tapping into some primeval pop-music-reflex-testing-hammer or something.
Lil Baby & Lil Durk – The Voice of the Heroes
WHAT IT IS: Remember when there were a bunch more Lils? Man ,there were so many Lils like, five years ago. Now there’s not nearly as many5. Time marches on. Anyway, this is a collaborative album that, while not precisely surprising, doesn’t seem to be especially asked for. Nevertheless, I must be wrong, because here it is, one of the albums that hit #1.
5 obviously some of this is due to tragedy, that’s not the part I’m making fun of. I’m making fun of the part where they’re all called “Lil”
WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT US: We were optimistic in June, about working together and being around people and whatnot, so this upbeat collaborative album seemed like a much better idea.
Polo G – Hall of Fame
WHAT IT IS: A surprisingly likable “Something for everyone” sort of hip-hop album, not so much stylistically as in its ability to pull producers and features from all sorts of different pockets of hip-hop. There’s several records a year that try this sort of thing, and Carti’s record was more successful than most at it.
WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT US: That it’s possible, in rap music at least, currently, to have a #1 by basically appealing to an extremely wide cross-section of listeners.
Tyler, the Creator – Call Me if You Get Lost
WHAT IT IS: The next installment in what has proven to be a really interesting artistic evolution. It’s an interesting throwback-ish6 record, rapping-er than any of Tyler’s more recent records, and surprisingly good.
6 made even more interesting by the fact that it’s throwing back to the time right before Tyler started his own rap career, more-or-less
WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT US: You know, I don’t know. Maybe it’s just a desire for the rap world of 2011, maybe it’s just sort of good faith toward Tyler the Creator. I know what I like about this record, but I’m not entirely sure what makes it sell. It was late summer, there weren’t any high-profile veteran rappers on the release schedule, who knows?
Pop Smoke – Faith
WHAT IT IS: The second posthumous Pop Smoke album.
WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT US: Boy, it’s real hard not to be cynical about this one, isn’t it? Gosh. Ah, well.
The Kid Laroi – Fuck Love
WHAT IT IS: The title is supposed to be in all caps, with an asterisk in place of the “u” in the word “Fuck”. Normally I’m happy to respect such stylistic conventions in album titling, but The Kid Laroi annoys me, so I’m not going to.
WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT US: That a whole lot of people have a lot more patience than I do for…whatever it is that he’s doing. I mean, I know, I know, there’s words for it. But really, this is truly terrible. Stop this.
Billie Eilish – Happier Than Ever
WHAT IT IS: Billie Eilish’s second album. This time she’s blonde. Also, still whispering.
WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT US: I mean, we are in a real sad-girl period. I mean, people said so and everything at the end of last summer, when this came out, and Billie Eilish is the saddest (and mumbliest) of the sad girls.
Kanye West – Donda
WHAT IT IS: Kanye’s post-divorce album that he named after his mother. I’m sure it’s a mess. I’m equally sure I’ll never intentionally listen to it7.
WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT US: That Ye can, pretty much officially, never do anything so ridiculous slash dumb slash self indulgent slash annoying that people won’t listen to his records in droves.
7 By which I mean, there is some slim chance that I’m wrong here, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
Drake – Certified Lover Boy
WHAT IT IS: It’s a Drake album. It went #1 three times. These are chronological by first appearance, so the least-interesting (and heaviest-hitting) albums are all to come. It’s not that there isn’t anything to say about Drake and his popularity, it’s just that I feel like I’ve said the totality of my part of it.
WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT US: That we love Drake, eternally and unconditionally
YoungBoy Never Broke Again – Sincerely, Kentrell
WHAT IT IS: The album that inherited the deranged wittering about the lack of features – I don’t know that YoungBoy NBA has gone platinum, but if he does, it will have been without features. Just ask people. I have no idea what that matters, but it clearly does.
WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT US: I will never understand people. Anyway, this is a real swell album. Glad to see it here.
Young Thug – Punk
WHAT IT IS: The better of the two Young Thug albums to top the charts this year. What a good year for Young Thug. Who’d’ve thought back at the I Came From Nothing years that 1) this would be the way he sounded now and 2) that it would be this outright popular?
WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT US: Well, it makes me optimistic about the state of pop-rap. Moreso than, you know, the Kid Laroi or whatever.
Ed Sheeran – =
WHAT IT IS: C’mon. We can skip the charade this time. You know what this is, I know what this is. We all have the same jokes or whatever, and they never matter. This just keeps going, despite all of that.
WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT US: On a recent podcast appearance, John Flansbergh of They Might Giants recounted a conversation he had with a record executive, who proclaimed that “if you can sell records to people that don’t like music, you’ve got it made.” Now, I’m not saying anything about the tastes of the Ed Sheeran audience as such, but what I am saying is: this seems like an example of that.
Summer Walker – Still Over It
WHAT IT IS: At this point (mid-November), sad girl summer had officially spilled over into Sad Girl Late Fall. And, like, Sad Everyone Everything All the Time Forever.
WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT US: There are a lot of reasons to be very sad.
Taylor Swift – Red (Taylor’s Version)
WHAT IT IS: The same stuff that it meant back at Fearless, only this time 1) later in the year, 2) with a bigger-selling record and 3) with a more-dated record. This also confirmed the existence of the eleven-minute juggernaut version of “All Too Well”, which was set to be the sort of capstone on the sad-girl pop year. Until the next thing.
WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT US: I mean, it really was the culmination of the last couple fo years of high-Taylor content. It would have, as mentioned above, been a culmination of the whole sort of general sad-girl-pop-music thing, but, well, again: see below.
Adele – 30
WHAT IT IS: It’s the new Adele album which, having arrived on a pop music landscape that had been largely dominated by rappers and Taylor Swift, immediately mobilized the absolutely mind-boggling boat-load of people that buy Adele albums and made this number one for the entire end of the year.
WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT US: That, even in times of trouble and constant flexion, Adele is a constant. Some of it really probably is in the nature of it being relatively unmoored from current events, some of it is because when Adele makes a record, you know what you’re going to get, and that she’s wildly consistent. Basically, this album is a big fuzzy pillow for the end of a deeply depressing year, and people paid money for it.
That part, at least, could be much worse.
Ohio Needs a Train 