What Are The Top Music Albums In 2023?

This year was quite the eventful year with many artistic releases and previously hibernated artists making an appearance.

In times of hardship and tension, people often utilize music as an escape, a therapy of sorts.
 

This year, there were many albums that came out worth mentioning, with artists across all genres having composed albums for their fans. 

Drake gifted fans with not one, but two albums this year. With his last album, Certified Lover Boy, dating back to 2021, Drake put out his eighth studio album, For All the Dogs in October. The 23 tracks, with a 41 minute runtime, averages 250K listeners and including features from big artists in the industry such as Frank Ocean and SZA. A few weeks later, Drake quietly released a second edition, For All the Dogs Scary Hours Edition, consisting of the original 23 tracks and an additional six songs. 

With the release of the new ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider Verse' film, METRO BOOMIN composed a 13 track album inspired by the movie. The artist, whose prior album came out in 2022, was the primary artist on the album, though he featured other musicians such as Travis Scott and A$AP ROCKY, as well as rap artist 21 Savage and Lil Uzi Vert. Released June 2 along with the movie, the playlist has a run time of 1 hour 31 minutes, with a deluxe version having an additional six tracks, released three days after the original. 

Brent Faiyez, the prominent R&B artist, released his third studio album, Larger Than Life, earlier this year. Comprised of 14 tracks, averaging 15k listeners, the album was released with a two day warning, coming as a surprise to many fans. Faiyez is known for his slow and emotional music style, singing about love and heartbreak, connecting to his listeners. 

The Australian singer, The Kid LAROI, recently put out his second studio album, The First Time, composed of twenty tracks, and a 52 minute run time. The artist rose to fame in 2020 with the release of the song Stay, which included Justin Bieber, and he since then released an Extended Playlist in 2018, with his first album following two years later. The Kid LAROI is recognized by his rap and and hip-hop style, often singing about his hardships in life and about love. 

Possibly one of the most popular and anticipated albums of the year was UTOPIA, by Travis Scott. His fourth studio album, the 19 track playlist was widely praised by fans globally, garnering over a million listeners. The album featured known artists such as Beyoncé, Drake, and The Weeknd. Scott, a famous rapper in the industry, has had a major influence in the music realm, working with many other prominent artists. UTOPIA, released over the summer, was considered the song of the season.