2022 has been a great year for the music industry as legends such as Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd, Arctic Monkeys, Denzel Curry, and Harry Styles have all dropped new albums this year. It makes you wonder, which ones stack above the rest and which ones are better left unheard? One thing for sure was that Taylor Swift had the best album this year! When Taylor Swift called herself a mastermind, she wasn’t kidding! After her release of her album Midnights, ten of the twenty songs from the album placed in the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Also, we cannot forget that her album became a bestseller in 2022 according to Billboard. Swift acquired almost 185 million streams within one day of her album’s debut on Spotify which toppled Bad Bunny’s record of 183 million for his album Un Verano Sin Ti. Some personal favorites of 2022 were both Midnights by Taylor Swift and The Car by Arctic Monkeys. These albums have always been close to my heart, but now I cannot help but love them even more! The reason Midnight’s is so iconic is because of the relatability found in the album. The song “You’re On Your Own Kid” is by far
a favorite because it connects to our years in high school! In addition, The Car by Arctic Monkeys has an overall vibe found in the songs to be almost peaceful. The songs have a bit of a grungy feeling, something you could listen to while studying, or falling asleep on a rainy day!

In contrast, according to Album of the Year, the dishonorable mentions of 2022 are from Machine Gun Kelly, Jack Harlow, and the worst of all, DJ Khaled’s GOD DID. Some reasons as to why they were somewhat disappointing is that Machine Gun Kelly is getting older, Jack Harlow only has 15 good seconds of his songs which are primarily heard on TikTok, and DJ Khaled’s lyrics were not the best, making it difficult to get into. Despite your musical preferences, music has shaped pop culture and society in more ways than others. Whether an album is legendary or awful, they still have an impact on our lives in one way or another.