Are you ready for this year to end? No matter how you’re approaching the dying days of 2024, there’s an album in this list to match your mood. Wrapping up warm for a bitter winter? Consider the gothic – by The Cure, NewDad – or the intimate – by Adrianne Lenker, Mustafa, Arooj Aftab. Determined to throw a hell of a party? Get stuck into the likes of Kneecap, Rema and (of course) Charli XCX. And if you won’t let the year go without a fight, rage to records by Sprints and Knocked Loose.
Whatever you choose from this list, you can be sure that it’ll be incredible. These are NME’s 50 best albums of 2024.
Karen Gwee, Managing Editor (Music)
Words by: Alex Flood, Alex Rigotti, Andrew Trendell, Ben Jolley, Crystal Bell, Damian Jones, Fred Garratt-Stanley, Gladys Yeo, Hannah Mylrea, Jenessa Williams, Jordan Bassett, Karen Gwee, Kristen S. He, Kyann-Sian Williams, Laura Molloy, Liberty Dunworth, Nick Levine, Rhian Daly, Rishi Shah, Surej Singh, Tom Morgan and Ziwei Puah