The most exciting thing about putting together this year’s list is that I had 30 albums that I genuinely wanted to include; 30 albums from one year that truly piqued my interest and made me want to listen more. What a gift! And while returning to important and formative albums of the past will always bring me joy, so does discovering new music and new innovations in musical creativity and sound. All of the artists on my list reflect an interest in pushing boundaries and exploring the connections between different sounds and ideas across all genres and parts of the world.
These are the artists I wanted to include on this list but couldn’t: Silvan Strauss, John Glacier, Facta, Blockhead, Echolalia, Matthew Tavares, Σtella, Surgeon, Tagua Tagua, Barney Keen, Obongjayar, Annahstasia, Herbert & Momoko, Open Mike Eagle, Brad Mehldau, Cochemea, Sven Wunder, Hannah Frances, Cubzoa, Da Lata.
| Artist | Album | Label | |
| 1 | Farhot | RAQS | Kabul Fire |
| 2 | Resavoir & Matt Gold | Horizon | International Anthem |
| 3 | Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek | Yarın Yoksa | Big Crown |
| 4 | Immy Owusu & Sensible J | Spiritual War | Hopestreet |
| 5 | DJ Koze | Music Can Hear Us | Pampa |
| 6 | Tunng | Love You All Over Again | Full Time Hobby |
| 7 | Anna B Savage | You & i are Earth | City Slang |
| 8 | quickly, quickly | I Heard That Noise | Ghostly International |
| 9 | Sydney Minsky Sargeant | Lunga | Domino |
| 10 | СОЮЗ / SOYUZ | KROK | MR BONGO |
