By Konner Kern
2026 has officially started which means the decade is halfway over. It proposes the question, what is the best music from the 2020s era so far? Well, there is no definitive answer but there are a lot of great albums released in this decade.
Pop has been alive for a very long time so it’s a no brainer to start with this one. A lot of artists had been birthed during the 2020s era and are some of the most popular now. Dua Lipa’s, ‘Future Nostalgia,’ is one of the most commercially successful of the 2020s. The main reason it’s one of the most played is because of TikTok. This album has multiple TikTok dances with millions of views. On March 14th, 2021, Dua Lipa won a total of five awards including best pop vocal album, record of the year, song of the year, best solo pop performance, and album of the year. Future Nostalgia is a 37-minute, 11 song album with ‘Don’t Start Now’ having over three billion streams amongst other songs. How is the actual album? It of course has its catchy moments, but it sometimes becomes dull with its repetitiveness. Dua Lipa herself said that this was supposed to be a happy album for the covid era. Realistically, did it deserve its Grammys that year? Other big-name artists dropped that year including Mac Miller and The Weeknd. Two of the most critically acclaimed albums, those being ‘Circles’ and ‘After Hours,’ were dropped in the same year. Both passionate projects that the people loved to replay to this day.
The next major genre in the 2020s is hip-hop. It has been evolving since the late 80s with the major release being Straight Outta Compton by N.W.A. The highest selling album for rap in the 2020s was Drake’s, ‘Certified Lover Boy.’ This still has the highest selling debut week on any album in the 2020s with 613,000 sales. Drake is the type of artist that drops 90 minute long which can make a record way too bloated. CLB is considered one of the most hyped records and one of the best selling from the 2020s. He also had a good Grammys performance by winning Best Rap Album and Best Rap performance for Way 2 Sexy. The actual song is fine at best because of it’s instrumental. The beat isn’t bad but the bars on this track are not very good. Most of the songs on this album weren’t received well but people who barely listen to music liked it. Maybe the average music listener liked it because it’s so simplistic. It also could be that there is so many tracks that they will like at least one. Critics and the average music die hard don’t really prefer this album over Drake’s other records. Certified Lover Boy has a 56-critic score and a 43-user rating on Album of The Year. It has 1.78 stars out of five on Rate Your Music. It might be the highest selling but isn’t comparing to other 2021 releases like Little Simz, Sometimes I Might Be Introverted. Simz has a more complex approach with messages of racism, sexism, and many more interesting topics. Unlike Drake who talks about girls for an hour and a half.
2020s has continued to impress and disappoint at the same time. It has moments of bliss like ROSALIA’s, LUX. It also has moments of disgusting slop like Dave Blunts, You Can’t Say That. As an era, it has gone through it’s up and downs. However, it will have big projects and big releases in the upcoming years.
Graphic by Philip Berkwit
