Instead of numerical order, I'll organize them by categories outlining where things will likely stand come late December.
Second Ten/Honorable Mention Candidates
Noah Kahan: The Great Divide. Noah Kahan seems like a very cool dude, based on his recent profile in Rolling Stone. I greatly respect the work he has done to bring mental health issues into the forefront. I just wish I liked his album more than I do. The template for a Noah Kahan song is that it tells a story, more often than not one with moral overtones, and it clocks in somewhere between the 4:30 - 6:00 minute range. Some of those songs click on first listen, but many of them require numerous listens that don't always result in a huge payoff. One that does click on first listen is the title track, which is a magnificent song and one of (if not the best) of the year. But a 77-minute, 17 song album requires a level of patience and dedication for the listener, and after a few listens I don't know how many more times I'll make the effort. Choice cut: "The Great Divide."
Gnarls Barkley: Atlanta. About halfway through the album I was convinced it was one of the year's best, but it peters out a bit after that. Still, great to hear them again. Choice cuts: "I Amnesia," "Line Dance," "Turn Your Heart Back On."
Gorillaz: The Mountain. Sounds great throughout. Choice cut: "The Happy Dictator."
U2: Days of Ash/Easter Lily EPs. It should be a bigger story (unless I just missed it) that these two EPs - the first released on Ash Wednesday, the second on Good Friday) contain the best music that U2 has released in years. The only reason I don't have them as a Top Ten candidate is that they're reportedly releasing an album sometime in the next few weeks. Choice cuts: "The Tears of Things," "Song for Hal."
Zach Bryan: With Heaven On Top. My comments about Noah Kahan apply to Bryan as well. His album is 25 songs that clock in at 78 minutes, i.e. what would have been called a double album back in the day. And to fully click, double albums have to be really good. Choice cuts: "Bad News," "Slicked Back."
Snail Mail: Ricochet. A solid, consistent album that lacks the one cut that would make it jump out of the speakers. Choice Cut: "Dead End."
More Choice Cuts:
Al Green - "Perfect Day," "Everybody Hurts."
Bruce Springsteen - "Streets of Minneapolis."
Courtney Marie Andrews - "Pendulum Swing."
Charli XCX feat. John Cale - "House."
Mitski - "That White Cat."
Tony Womack - "Ten Feet Tall."
Underscores - "Bodyfeeling."
Grace Ives - "Drink Up."
Mary Chapin Carpenter & The Mountain Goats - "Put the Message in the Box."
Brit Taylor - "Warning You Whiskey."
Ashley Monroe - "What Are We?"
Ella Langley - "Choosin' Texas."
Top Ten Candidates
The Delines: The Set Up. A December 2025 article in Glide described the (then) forthcoming Delines album as:
"A cinematic, unvarnished, and deeply human collection of songs that peers into the lives of bruised and wandering souls on the American fringe."
That's not inaccurate, but a more complete description would be that The Set Up is the soundtrack to a dark, Seventies movie that was never filmed. If you listen enough you pick up on the story, and you just know it isn't going to end well. Choice cuts: "Can You Get Me Out of Phoenix," "Dilaudid Diane," "The Meter Keeps Ticking."
The Paranoid Style: Known Associates. Let's take a quick look at Elizabeth Nelson's resume, shall we? Writes record reviews for Pitchfork. Writes about golf for The Ringer. Just published a terrific, incendiary essay about Alan Greenspan upon his death at the age of 100. And the leader of The Paranoid Style, an indie band named for the title of a 1964 essay by Richard J. Hofstadter, the DeWitt Clinton Professor of American History at Columbia University until his death in 1970. That combination might not appeal to everyone, but let's just say that it syncs up with my interests and obsessions quite nicely. This isn't their best record, but it's never less than very good. And as always, it's worth listening closely enough for the lyrics to sink in. Choice cuts: "White Wine Whatever," "Shark Eyes," "
Johnny Blue Skies and the Dark Clouds: Mutiny After Midnight. This is the second album Sturgill Simpson has recorded under the Johnny Blue Skies moniker, and if there's one thing to know about Sturgill Simpson it's that you should just expect the unexpected with each new record. This isn't anything like the first Johnny Blue Skies album, or anything he's recorded under his own name - Pitchfork described it as "outrageous and funky," "a whole album about f*cking as a means to turn the tide and change the world." It's a fun listen, but I may be in the minority when I say that sometimes I wish he would settle on one genre instead of making like the country Father John Misty. Choice cuts: "Don't Let Go," Viridescent," "Ain't That a Bitch."
India Ramey: Villain Era. In the last few years, Ramey has become one of the most singular voices in all of country music. Hopefully, she'll eventually achieve a level of fame that's commensurate with her talent. Choice cuts: "We Ride at Dawn," "Six Feet Under," "Red Red Roses."
Ashley McBryde: Wild. Sometimes it feels like she can't decide whether she wants to be a rocker or a country star, but she can write and belt out great songs in either style so in the end it probably doesn't matter how you categorize her. Choice cuts: "Cresote," "Bottle Told Me So," "Wild."
The New Pornographers: The Former Site Of. We're long past the time where I just have to concede that if this band was going to hit the big time, it would have happened long before now. Given their name, I suppose it was an uphill battle from the beginning. This one isn't quite a "hooky" as the past couple of records, but is another solid entry in their catalogue. Choice cuts: "Wish You Could See I'm Killing It," "Votive," "Bonus Mai Tais."
Top Five Candidates
Ratboys: Singin' to an Empty Chair. "Just Want You to Know the Truth" is the crux of the album, and definitely a Song of the Year candidate for me. Ivy Nelson's review in Pitchfork includes what to me is a perfect description of the record:
To this interrogation of the self and others and of feelings bottled up for so long that they’ve started to go bad, Ratboys bring their best, most compositionally advanced songs, moving from tightly wound indie pop to the serene hammock sway of country rock to territories far dreamier and uncertain.
As I said to a couple of music-loving friends about a week after the album was released, in 2026 it will be hard to top the triple threat (three songs in a row, near the album's end) of the above track, "What's Right," and "Burn It Down." Additional Choice cut: "Light Night Mountains All That."
Courtney Barnett: Creature of Habit. I've listened to this enough to be able to say that I think it's her best album, topping even 2015's breakthrough Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit. Her singing and guitar playing have a crispness that I haven't quite heard before, and the tunes are consistently great. Choice cuts: "Wonder," "One Thing At a Time," "Mantis."
Kacey Musgraves: Middle of Nowhere. This continues the return to form that began with Deeper Well in 2024. If that album was her Jimmy Webb record, then I guess this could be called her Willie Nelson record? In any event, the songs are strong, the accompaniment restrained, and in more than one instance the lyrics are close to laugh out loud funny. Choice cuts: "Dry Spell," "Abilene," "Horses and Divorces," "Uncertain, TX."
PONY: Clearly Cursed. OK, I'll admit it - I'm a sucker for a band that can make a 30-minute power pop record that is non-stop hooks from beginning to end. That's what this is, and it's great. Choice cuts: "Superglue," "Middle of Summer," "Brilliant Blue."
Subjects for Further Research
These are albums I've listened to one or two times; they sounded good but didn't have time to fully sink in. They very well might end up in one of the above categories.
Paul McCartney - The Boys of Dungeon Lane
Kurt Vile - Philadelphia's been very good to me
Willie Nelson - Dream Chaser
Bella White - A Sign in the Weather
Charlie Marie - Signs
The Lemon Twigs - Look For Your Mind!
Fruit Bats - The Landfill
Rodney Crowell - Then Again
And without further ado:
The Best Album of 2026
Olivia Rodrigo: you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love. This is Olivia Rodrigo's Born to Run. And before you make fun of me for saying that, allow me to explain.
While they were and are beloved by many (and included great songs and great moments), Bruce Springsteen's first two albums promised more than they delivered. Then came Born to Run, which represented a quantum leap in quality that just blew the roof off of his potential and set the stage for him to become the generational artist that he did in fact become.
I see you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love in the same way. Both of Rodrigo's first two albums included great moments and great songs, but even with the massive success she enjoyed after each (certainly commercial, and quite a bit critical), for me they were more about the promise of what she could, but might not, become. With the new album, the question is settled. This is as close to a perfect record as any artist can achieve. The fast ones, the slow ones, the ones in between - it's all great. I mean, the Robert Smith duet may be the weakest cut on the album. That's how good this is. Choice cuts: Nearly all of them, but I'll single out "drop dead," "honeybee," "maggots for brains," "the cure," "less," "expectations," and "cigarette smoke."
See you again in December! Okay, maybe January...
