2020 Power Rankings

Albums

Ranked albums of 2020 as rated by the committee of one.

RANK	ARTIST	ALBUM	GENRE	POWER INDEX
1	HAIM	Women In Music, Pt. 3	Indie Poptimism	88. 8
2	Dua Lipa	Future Nostalgia	Pop	87. 7
3	Ultraísta	Sister	Art Rock	86. 7
4	Lanterns On The Lake	Spook The Herd	Dream Pop	85. 9
5	Jarryd James	P.M.	Electro-R&B	82. 7
6	Matt Berninger	Serpentine Prison	Indie Rock	82. 2
7	Delta Spirit	What Is There	Indie Rock	81. 6
T8	Jessie Ware	What's Your Pleasure?	Pop	78. 1
T8	Tame Impala	The Slow Rush	Neo-Psychedelia	78. 1
10	Laura Marling	Song For Our Daughter	Chamber Folk	78. 0
11	Mighty Oaks	All Things Go	Folk-Pop	77. 9
T12	Purity Ring	WOMB	Poptron	77. 8
T12	Novo Amor	Cannot Be, Whatsoever	Ambient Folk	77. 8
T12	THEY.	The Amanda Tape	Urban	77. 8
15	Max Richter	Voices	Classical	76. 8
16	Selena Gomez	Rare	Pop	75. 7
17	Another Sky	I Slept On The Floor	Art Rock	75. 5
18	Sasha Sloan	Only Child	Pop	74. 8
19	Katie Pruitt	Expectations	Pop	74. 7
T20	Bombay Bicycle Club	Everything Else Has Gone Wrong	Indie Pop/Rock	74. 5
T20	Phoebe Bridgers	Punisher	Indie Rock	74. 5
T20	Nothing But Thieves	Moral Panic	Post-Rock	74. 5
23	COIN	Dreamland	Indie Pop/Rock	74. 2
T24	H.C. McEntire	Eno Axis	Alt-Country	73. 8
T24	Dirty Projectors	5EPs	Progressive Indie	73. 8
T26	Luke James	to feel love/d	Alternative R&B	73. 6
T26	Howling	Colure	IDM	73. 6
28	Nils Frahm	Empty	Classical	73. 4
T29	Ariana Grande	Positions	Pop	73. 3
T29	Moses Sumney	græ, Pt. 1	Psychedelic Soul	73. 3
T31	Ray LaMontagne	Monovision	Folk Singer	73. 1
T31	BRONSON	BRONSON	Progressive House	73. 1
T31	Kid Cudi	Man On The Moon III: The Chosen	Melodic Rap	73. 1
34	Lauv	~how i'm feeling~	Pop	72. 9
35	Perfume Genius	Set My Heart On Fire Immediately	Art Pop	72. 7
36	Cubicolor	Hardly A Day, Hardly A Night	Art Rock	72. 3
37	Glass Animals	Dreamland	Dark Pop	72. 1
38	Foreign Fields	The Beauty Of Survival	Ambient Folk	72. 0
T39	Logic	No Pressure	Rap	71. 8
T39	Fleet Foxes	Shore	Chamber Folk	71. 8
41	Ásgeir	Bury The Moon	Ambient Folk	71. 6
42	Justin Bieber	Changes	Pop	71. 5
T43	Shallou	Magical Thinking	Chillbeat	71. 3
T43	Lianne La Havas	Lianne La Havas	Neo-Soul	71. 3
T43	Adrianne Lenker	songs	Indie Folk	71. 3
T43	Creeper	Sex, Death, & The Infinite Void	Post-Emo	71. 3
T43	Cleo Sol	Rose In The Dark	Neo-Soul	71. 3
48	Phantogram	Ceremony	Indietronica	71. 1
T49	HONNE	no song without you	Pop	70. 6
T49	Taylor Swift	folklore	Pop	70. 6
T49	Other Lives	For Their Love	Art Rock	70. 6
T49	The Beths	Jump Rope Gazers	Indie Rock	70. 6
T49	SAULT	UNTITLED (Rise)	Psychedelic Soul	70. 6
54	Ruston Kelly	Shape & Destroy	Folk Singer	70. 5
55	Phoria	Caught A Black Rabbit	Classical	70. 1
56	Taylor Swift	evermore	Pop	69. 6
57	SAULT	UNTITLED (Black Is)	Psychedelic Soul	69. 4
58	Andy Shauf	The Neon Skyline	Chamber Pop	69. 2
T59	Utah	Long Play	Chillbeat	68. 9
T59	Jessie Reyez	BEFORE LOVE CAME TO KILL US	Alternative R&B	68. 9
T61	Tycho	Simulcast	Chillwave	68. 8
T61	Waxahatchee	Saint Cloud	Alt-Country	68. 8
T61	Empress Of	I'm Your Empress Of	Indie Poptimism	68. 8
T61	The Kite String Tangle	C()D3X	Progressive House	68. 8
T61	beabadoobee	Fake It Flowers	Alt-Rock	68. 8
T61	Julianna Barwick	Healing Is A Miracle	Ambient	68. 8
T61	Xavier Omär	if You Feel	Urban	68. 8
68	Samia	The Baby	Lo-Fi Indie	68. 6
69	Brothertiger	Paradise Lost	Chillwave	68. 2
70	Lane 8	Brightest Lights	Progressive House	68. 0
T71	Agnes Obel	Myopia	Ambient	67. 8
T71	Transviolet	Born To Rule	Pop	67. 8
T71	Joy Oladokun	in defense of my own happiness, Vol. 1	Pop	67. 8
74	Chelsea Cutler	How To Be Human	Pop	67. 7
75	Kelly Lee Owens	Inner Song	Art Pop	67. 6
T76	POLIÇA	When We Stay Alive	Art Pop	67. 5
T76	Khruangbin	Mordechai	Neo-Psychedelia	67. 5
T76	Supercrush	SODO Pop	Indie Rock	67. 5
79	The Naked And Famous	Recover	Poptron	66. 7
80	Widowspeak	Plum	Dream Pop	66. 4
T81	Half Waif	The Caretaker	Metropop	66. 3
T81	Keaton Henson	Monument	Dream Pop	66. 3
83	The Chain Gang Of 1974	Honey Moon Drips	Indie Poptimism	65. 8
T84	D Smoke	Black Habits	Rap	65. 7
T84	Tom Misch & Yussef Dayes	What Kinda Music	Neo-R&B	65. 7
86	Colours In The Street	All The Colours	Indie Pop/Rock	65. 6
T87	Lennon Stella	Three. Two. One.	Pop	65. 4
T87	Loma	Don't Shy Away	Neo-Psychedelia	65. 4
T89	Soccer Mommy	color theory	Indie Rock	65. 0
T89	Active Child	In Another Life	Indie R&B	65. 0
T89	Kota The Friend	Everything	Alternative Rap	65. 0
T89	Mura Masa	R.Y.C	Indie Electronic	65. 0
T89	Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist	Alfredo	Rap	65. 0
T89	The Avalanches	We Will Always Love You	Neo-Psychedelia	65. 0
95	Nathaniel Rateliff	And It’s Still Alright	Folk Singer	64. 6
T96	Georgia	Seeking Thrills	New Rave	64. 3
T96	Fiona Apple	Fetch The Bolt Cutters	Progressive Indie	64. 3
T96	My Morning Jacket	The Waterfall II	Indie Rock	64. 3
T96	All We Are	Providence	Electropop	64. 3
T100	Astrid S	Leave It Beautiful	Pop	64. 2
T100	Big Sean	Detroit 2	Rap	64. 2
102	Childish Gambino	3.15.20	Psychedelic Soul	64. 1
T103	Elliot Moss	A Change In Diet	Electro-R&B	64. 0
T103	Caribou	Suddenly	Metropop	64. 0
T103	Algiers	There Is No Year	Post-Hardcore	64. 0
106	Amtrac	Oddyssey	Progressive House	63. 8
T107	Sea Wolf	Through A Dark Wood	Folk-Rock	63. 6
T107	The Strokes	The New Abnormal	Garage Rock Revival	63. 6
T107	Chloe x Halle	Ungodly Hour	Urban	63. 6
T107	Angel Olsen	Whole New Mess	Experimental	63. 6
111	PVRIS	Use Me	Post-Rock	63. 2
112	LANY	mama's boy	Indie Poptimism	63. 0
113	Aluna	Renaissance	Neo-R&B	62. 8
114	Empty Country	Empty Country	Progressive Indie	62. 5
115	Benny The Butcher	Burden Of Proof	East Coast Rap	62. 3
T116	Grimes	Miss Anthropocene	Experimental	62. 0
T116	David Ramirez	My Love Is A Hurricane	Folk-Rock	62. 0
T116	Ólafur Arnalds	some kind of peace	Ambient	62. 0
T116	Slow Magic	it's the end of the world, but it's ok	Chillbeat	62. 0
120	Alberta Cross	What Are We Frightened Of?	Indie Rock	61. 9
121	Jhené Aiko	Chilombo	Alternative R&B	61. 8
T122	Nadia Reid	Out Of My Province	Indie Folk	61. 5
T122	I Break Horses	Warnings	Poptron	61. 5
124	Helena Deland	Someone New	Experimental	61. 3
T125	Poolside	Low Season	Alternative Dance	61. 2
T125	Thomas Azier	Love, Disorderly	Art Pop	61. 2
127	Megan Thee Stallion	Good News	Pop-Rap	61. 0
T128	Joywave	Possession	Indietronica	60. 7
T128	STRFKR	Future Past Life	Neo-Psychedelia	60. 7
T128	Fontaines D.C.	A Hero's Death	Post-Hardcore	60. 7
T128	Sufjan Stevens	The Ascension	Art Pop	60. 7
132	Yves Tumor	Heaven To A Tortured Mind	Experimental	60. 4
133	Sufjan Stevens & Lowell Brams	Aporia	Experimental	60. 3
T134	Thundercat	It Is What It Is	Psychedelic Soul	60. 2
T134	Marcus King	El Dorado	Pop	60. 2
T134	Marika Hackman	Covers	Art Pop	60. 2
137	Sara Bareilles	More Love: Songs From Little Voice Season One	Pop	60. 0
138	SAINt JHN	While The World Was Burning	Melodic Rap	59. 8
T139	Bearcubs	Early Hours	Electro-R&B	59. 5
T139	Jadu Heart	Hyper Romance	Neo-Psychedelia	59. 5
T141	Oh Wonder	No One Else Can Wear Your Crown	Shimmer Pop	59. 4
T141	Bonny Light Horseman	Bonny Light Horseman	Chamber Folk	59. 4
T143	Theo Katzman	Modern Johnny Sings: Songs In The Age Of Vibe	Pop	59. 2
T143	Carly Rae Jepsen	Dedicated Side B	Pop	59. 2
T145	Best Coast	Always Tomorrow	Lo-Fi Indie	58. 9
T145	Klangstof	The Noise You Make Is Silent	Art Rock	58. 9
147	Son Lux	Tomorrows I	Art Pop	58. 8
148	Treasureseason	Life In Reverse	Dream Pop	58. 6
149	Bear's Den & Paul Frith	Fragments	Folk-Rock	58. 4
150	Nine Inch Nails	Ghosts V: Together	Electronic	58. 1
151	The 1975	Notes On A Conditional Form	Indie Pop	58. 0
152	clipping.	Visions Of Bodies Being Burned	Experimental Hip-Hop	57. 8
153	Son Lux	Tomorrows II	Art Pop	56. 9
T154	Kehlani	It Was Good Until It Wasn't	Urban	56. 8
T154	The Weeknd	After Hours	Pop	56. 8
156	The Magic Gang	Death Of The Party	Indie Rock	56. 6
157	Spillage Village & Mereba	Spilligion	Alternative Rap	56. 3
158	Moses Sumney	græ, Pt. 2	Psychedelic Soul	55. 5
159	Echosmith	Lonely Generation	Pop	54. 4
160	Halsey	Manic	Dark Pop	53. 7
161	Khushi	Strange Seasons	Electro-R&B	53. 3
162	Jay Electronica	A Written Testimony	Rap	53. 0
T163	Run The Jewels	RTJ4	Alternative Rap	52. 0
T163	Don Toliver	Heaven Or Hell	Trap Rap	52. 0
165	Hayley Williams	Petals For Armor	Indie Poptimism	51. 5
166	Son Little	Aloha	Pop	51. 4
T167	dvsn	A Muse In Her Feelings	Alternative R&B	50. 4
T167	The Dear Hunter	The Fox And The Hunt	Original Score	50. 4
T169	Duke Dumont	Duality	Progressive House	50. 3
T169	Kidbug	Kidbug	Alt-Rock	50. 3
T171	Porridge Radio	Every Bad	Indie Rock	49. 7
T171	Drake	Dark Lane Demo Tapes	Rap	49. 7
T173	Dan Croll	Grand Plan	Indie Pop	48. 9
T173	Jack Garratt	Love, Death & Dancing	Art Rock	48. 9
175	Charli XCX	how i'm feeling now	Dark Pop	46. 4
176	Jonathan Wilson	Dixie Blur	Indie Folk	46. 0
177	Jónsi	Shiver	Metropop	45. 7
178	Sorry	925	Experimental	45. 4
179	Róisín Murphy	Róisín Machine	Pop	42. 7
180	Washed Out	Purple Noon	Chillwave	39. 7
181	Josef Salvat	modern anxiety	Pop	38. 6
182	Rina Sawayama	SAWAYAMA	Pop	28. 3
183	Rich Aucoin	United States	Electropop	21. 8

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Spotify Apple Music

The Fine Print

The aFIREintheattic Power Index formula is top secret… but here’s a frivolous hint since we like you: It’s sort of like a logarithmic function on the weighted mean of the committee’s song ratings, which is then standardized-ish and scaled from 0 to 100. Talk nerdy to me.
All songs on an album or EP are rated and contribute to its Power Index. As a result, releases that are cohesive and consistently good, with fewer filler tracks, will invariably score higher than those with only a handful of great songs and a bunch of throwaways. Here, a release cannot be greater than the sum of its parts. For rankings that take that phenomenon into account, look to the aFIREintheattic Awards at the end of each year.
Note that EPs can tend toward higher scores than albums because sometimes an EP is a precursor to a full album and that album will contain the songs from the EP but with the addition of filler tracks that drag the Power Index score down.
Albums with a Power Index of 80 or higher and EPs with a Power Index of 70 or higher are a solid bet for a top 10 finish. The two highest scoring albums of all-time are Radiohead’s Kid A at 100.0 and OK Computer at 99.9 and the highest scoring EPs are Vancouver Sleep Clinic’s Winter at 96.7 and James Bay’s The Dark Of The Morning at 94.7. And we’ll be forthright: they probably always will be.
If a release is in the power rankings but is not in the playlist above, it’s not available on Spotify. The playlist is made up of the most popular song from each album in order based on its current power ranking.

EPs

Ranked EPs of 2020 as rated by the committee of one.

RANK	ARTIST	EP	GENRE	POWER INDEX
1	Jon Bryant	Half Bad	Indie Poptimism	93. 6
2	Victoria Monét	JAGUAR	Urban	83. 4
3	The Japanese House	Chewing Cotton Wool	Indie Poptimism	81. 6
4	Julia Church	To Have, Not Just To Hold	Pop	81. 3
5	Dustin Tebbutt	Last Line	Ambient Folk	79. 9
6	Sylvan Esso	Free Love	Indie Electronic	77. 8
7	Colouring	Flux	Neo Mellow	72. 4
8	Julia Church	Cups And Balloons	Pop	71. 7
9	Highasakite	The Bare Romantic, Pt. 2	Indie Poptimism	71. 2
T10	6LACK	6pc Hot	Alternative R&B	70. 8
T10	AUGUST 08	EMOTIONAL CUH	Alternative R&B	70. 8
T12	Kevin Garrett	Made Up Lost Time	Pop	70. 2
T12	Ebenezer	Bad Romantic II	Melodic Rap	70. 2
14	Wye Oak	No Horizon	Metropop	69. 6
T15	Wye Oak	Walk Soft	Art Rock	69. 0
T15	Palace	Someday, Somewhere	Indie Rock	69. 0
17	Gia Margaret	Mia Gargaret	Ambient	68. 8
T18	Lights	How To Sleep When You're On Fire	Chillwave	67. 8
T18	Brothertiger	Fundamentals, Vol. I	Chillwave	67. 8
T18	Destiny Rogers	Great Escape	Pop	67. 8
21	Loote	heart eyes	Pop	65. 3
22	Christine And The Queens	La Vita Nuova	Indie Poptimism	65. 2
23	Vic Mensa	V TAPE	Rap	64. 0
T24	Day Wave	Crush	Lo-Fi Indie	63. 4
T24	i_o & Lights	AM 444	Electro House	63. 4
T24	Aquilo	Sober	Ambient Folk	63. 4
T24	Ebenezer	Bad Romantic 2.5	Melodic Rap	63. 4
T24	Local Natives	Sour Lemon	Indie Rock	63. 4
T24	BAYNK	A Study In Movement	Shimmer Pop	63. 4
T24	EMBRZ	Spirit Reset	Progressive House	63. 4
T31	Yoste	A Few Brief Moments	Shimmer Pop	62. 2
T31	Patrick Droney	State Of The Heart	Pop	62. 2
T31	Bay Ledges	New Daze	Indie Pop/Rock	62. 2
T34	Lane 8 & OTR	Cross Pollination	Progressive House	59. 9
T34	Brothertiger	Fundamentals, Vol. II	Chillwave	59. 9
T36	Wild Nothing	Laughing Gas	Metropop	59. 8
T36	Flock Of Dimes	Like So Much Desire	Metropop	59. 8
T36	Tiny Deaths	If I'm Dreaming	Poptron	59. 8
T36	Lanterns On The Lake	The Realist	Dream Pop	59. 8
T36	XYLØ	Outsiders Club	Dark Pop	59. 8
41	Damien Jurado	What's New, Tomboy?	Chamber Folk	59. 4
42	Passenger	Patchwork	Folk Singer	58. 1
43	The Lighthouse And The Whaler	Brothers (B-Sides)	Indie Pop/Rock	56. 6
44	Bree Runway	2000AND4EVA	Pop-Rap	56. 0
45	Sabrina Claudio	Christmas Blues	Contemporary R&B	55. 2
T46	flor	reimagined	Indie Pop/Rock	54. 3
T46	Lauv	Without You	Pop	54. 3
48	Henry Jamison	Tourism	Folk Singer	54. 0
49	Petit Biscuit	Parachute	Future Bass	53. 6
50	CHIKA	INDUSTRY GAMES	Alternative Rap	52. 2
T51	Field Report	Brake Light Red Tide	Folk-Rock	51. 4
T51	Valley	sucks to see you doing better	Indie Poptimism	51. 4
53	Cayucas	Blue Summer	Indie Pop	50. 4
T54	Father John Misty	Anthem +3	Chamber Pop	49. 2
T54	James Blake	Before	Electro-R&B	49. 2
56	COIN	Indigo Violet	Indie Pop/Rock	49. 0
T57	Aero Flynn	Madeline	Art Rock	47. 0
T57	BIA	FOR CERTAIN	Trap Rap	47. 0
59	HONNE	nswy: dream edits	Pop	46. 7
60	San Holo	Stay Vibrant	Future Bass	46. 4
61	The Mowgli's	Dizzyonatightrope	Indie Pop	44. 7
62	Little Simz	Drop 6	Alternative Rap	43. 3
63	Denzel Curry & Kenny Beats	UNLOCKED	Hardcore Rap	42. 5
64	XYLØ	The Ganglands Of My Heart	Dark Pop	41. 6
T65	Hayley Kiyoko	I'm Too Sensitive For This Shit	Pop	40. 9
T65	Joseph	Trio Sessions: Vol.1	Folk-Pop	40. 9
67	Phoebe Bridgers	If We Make It Through December	Indie Rock	40. 8
T68	Dotan	Numb	Folk-Pop	40. 7
T68	Sure Sure	Receive	Indie Pop	40. 7
T70	Bear's Den	Christmas, Hopefully	Folk-Rock	40. 5
T70	Hayden Thorpe	Aerial Songs	Art Pop	40. 5
T70	Nilüfer Yanya	Feeling Lucky?	Art Pop	40. 5
73	Switchfoot	Covers	Alternative Pop/Rock	35. 2
74	Incubus	Trust Fall (Side B)	Alt-Rock	34. 5
75	PUP	This Place Sucks Ass	Post-Emo	33. 9
76	Lights & MYTH	Dead End	Electro House	33. 1
77	Kota The Friend	Lyrics To Go, Vol. 1	Rap	26. 6

SCROLL →

Spotify Apple Music

The Fine Print

The aFIREintheattic Power Index formula is top secret… but here’s a frivolous hint since we like you: It’s sort of like a logarithmic function on the weighted mean of the committee’s song ratings, which is then standardized-ish and scaled from 0 to 100. Talk nerdy to me.
All songs on an album or EP are rated and contribute to its Power Index. As a result, releases that are cohesive and consistently good, with fewer filler tracks, will invariably score higher than those with only a handful of great songs and a bunch of throwaways. Here, a release cannot be greater than the sum of its parts. For rankings that take that phenomenon into account, look to the aFIREintheattic Awards at the end of each year.
Note that EPs can tend toward higher scores than albums because sometimes an EP is a precursor to a full album and that album will contain the songs from the EP but with the addition of filler tracks that drag the Power Index score down.
Albums with a Power Index of 80 or higher and EPs with a Power Index of 70 or higher are a solid bet for a top 10 finish. The two highest scoring albums of all-time are Radiohead’s Kid A at 100.0 and OK Computer at 99.9 and the highest scoring EPs are Vancouver Sleep Clinic’s Winter at 96.7 and James Bay’s The Dark Of The Morning at 94.7. And we’ll be forthright: they probably always will be.
If a release is in the power rankings but is not in the playlist above, it’s not available on Spotify. The playlist is made up of the most popular song from each album in order based on its current power ranking.