2021 Power Rankings

Albums

Ranked albums of 2021 as rated by the committee of one.

RANK	ARTIST	ALBUM	GENRE	POWER INDEX	RATING
1	Remi Wolf	Juno	Indie Poptimism	85. 2
2	Silk Sonic	An Evening With Silk Sonic	Pop	83. 3
T3	Andrew Belle	Nightshade	Neo Mellow	81. 7
T3	Colouring	Wake	Neo Mellow	81. 7
5	Charli Adams	Bullseye	Bedroom Pop	81. 4
6	Arlo Parks	Collapsed In Sunbeams	Neo-Soul	79. 5
7	Billie Eilish	Happier Than Ever	Dark Pop	79. 0
8	Lightning Bug	A Color Of The Sky	Indie Rock	78. 1
9	Cory Hanson	Pale Horse Rider	Indie Folk	77. 9
10	The Paper Kites	Roses	Folk Singer	77. 8
11	Little Simz	Sometimes I Might Be Introvert	Alternative Rap	77. 1
12	Glades	Planetarium	Indie Poptimism	76. 6
T13	Saint Raymond	We Forgot We Were Dreaming	Indie Pop/Rock	75. 0
T13	Claud	Super Monster	Bedroom Pop	75. 0
T13	ISLAND	Yesterday Park	Indie Rock	75. 0
16	Typhoon	Sympathetic Magic	Indie Rock	74. 8
17	José González	Local Valley	Folk Singer	74. 7
18	Royal Canoe	Sidelining	Indie Pop	74. 5
T19	Alice Phoebe Lou	Glow	Chamber Pop	74. 2
T19	Flock Of Dimes	Head Of Roses	Metropop	74. 2
T19	Yellow Ostrich	Soft	Alternative	74. 2
22	Olivia Rodrigo	SOUR	Pop	73. 7
23	Chloe Foy	Where Shall We Begin	Chamber Folk	73. 1
24	Joy Crookes	Skin	Pop	73. 0
25	Pink Sweat$	PINK PLANET	Pop	72. 5
26	Moon Taxi	Silver Dream	Indie Rock	72. 2
T27	COIN	Rainbow Mixtape	Indie Poptimism	72. 0
T27	Jane Weaver	Flock	Metropop	72. 0
29	Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine	A Beginner's Mind	Art Pop	71. 4
T30	LANY	gg bb xx	Indie Poptimism	71. 3
T30	Half Waif	Mythopoetics	Metropop	71. 3
32	Tinashe	333	Urban	71. 0
33	Tune-Yards	sketchy.	Progressive Indie	70. 8
T34	CHVRCHES	Screen Violence	Poptron	70. 6
T34	The Antlers	Green To Gold	Dream Pop	70. 6
T34	The Weather Station	Ignorance	Indie Pop	70. 6
T34	Jungle	Loving In Stereo	Synth Funk	70. 6
T34	Elbow	Flying Dream 1	Britpop	70. 6
T34	Emmit Fenn	Far From Here	Neo Mellow	70. 6
T34	Hazy Mountains	Pull Of The Moon	Electronic	70. 6
41	Roosevelt	Polydans	Electropop	70. 5
T42	Self Esteem	Prioritise Pleasure	Art Pop	70. 3
T42	chloe moriondo	Blood Bunny	Bedroom Pop	70. 3
44	Patrick Droney	State Of The Heart	Pop	69. 9
T45	Cleo Sol	Mother	Neo-Soul	69. 8
T45	James Blake	Friends That Break Your Heart	Electro-R&B	69. 8
T45	Rhye	Home	Indie R&B	69. 8
T45	Runnner	Always Repeating	Alternative	69. 8
49	Celeste	Not Your Muse	Neo-Soul	69. 5
50	Nils Frahm	Old Friends New Friends	Classical	69. 4
51	Still Corners	The Last Exit	Alternative	69. 2
T52	Curtis Harding	If Words Were Flowers	Soul	68. 8
T52	Aquilo	A Safe Place To Be	Ambient Folk	68. 8
54	Matt Berry	The Blue Elephant	Neo-Psychedelia	68. 7
55	Pale Waves	Who Am I?	Indie Pop/Rock	68. 6
56	Django Django	Glowing In The Dark	Indie Pop	68. 4
T57	A Winged Victory For The Sullen	Invisible Cities	Classical	68. 0
T57	Baby Keem	The Melodic Blue	Alternative Rap	68. 0
T57	Sir Sly	The Rise & Fall Of Loverboy	Dark Pop	68. 0
T57	Kanye West	Donda	Alternative Rap	68. 0
T61	Kota The Friend & Statik Selektah	To Kill A Sunrise	Rap	67. 8
T61	Caveman	Smash	Indie Rock	67. 8
T61	The Rare Occasions	Big Whoop	Garage Rock Revival	67. 8
T61	Billie Marten	Flora Fauna	Alternative	67. 8
T61	Foxing	Draw Down The Moon	Post-Rock	67. 8
T61	serpentwithfeet	DEACON	Alternative R&B	67. 8
T61	Strand Of Oaks	In Heaven	Folk-Rock	67. 8
T68	Helado Negro	Far In	Neo-Psychedelia	67. 7
T68	Isaiah Rashad	The House Is Burning	Alternative Rap	67. 7
70	Indigo De Souza	Any Shape You Take	Alternative	67. 6
71	Courtney Barnett	Things Take Time, Take Time	Indie Rock	67. 5
T72	Mighty Oaks	Mexico	Folk-Pop	67. 4
T72	Hand Habits	Fun House	Indie Rock	67. 4
T72	Houses	Drugstore Heaven	Alternative	67. 4
T72	Emma-Jean Thackray	Yellow	Jazz Fusion	67. 4
T72	Dave	We're All Alone In This Together	Alternative Rap	67. 4
77	Zara Larsson	Poster Girl	Pop	67. 1
T78	Julien Baker	Little Oblivions	Indie Rock	66. 9
T78	London Grammar	Californian Soil	Indie Poptimism	66. 9
80	OneRepublic	Human	Pop	66. 8
T81	W. H. Lung	Vanities	Alternative Dance	66. 7
T81	Wolf Alice	Blue Weekend	Alt-Rock	66. 7
T81	SG Lewis	times	Electronic	66. 7
84	Tep No	Chasing Highs	Tropical House	66. 5
T85	J. Cole	The Off-Season	Rap	66. 3
T85	Lucy Dacus	Home Video	Indie Rock	66. 3
T85	EMBRZ	Moments	Progressive House	66. 3
88	Kacey Musgraves	star-crossed	Country	66. 2
89	glbl wrmng & Pell	Glbl Wrmng, Vol. 1	Rap	66. 1
90	Majid Jordan	Wildest Dreams	Alternative R&B	65. 9
91	Justin Bieber	Justice	Pop	65. 7
92	The Staves	Good Woman	Folk-Rock	65. 4
93	Jazmine Sullivan	Heaux Tales	Contemporary R&B	65. 1
94	The Electric Sons	Arrival	Indie Pop/Rock	65. 0
95	Ben Howard	Collections From The Whiteout	Indie Rock	64. 8
96	Smallpools	LIFE IN A SIMULATION	Indie Anthem Power Pop	64. 5
97	Cautious Clay	Deadpan Love	Neo-R&B	64. 1
T98	Shire T	Tomorrow’s People	Electronic	64. 0
T98	HAERTS	Dream Nation	Indie Rock	64. 0
T98	Nick Jonas	Spaceman	Pop	64. 0
101	Nils Frahm	Graz	Classical	63. 6
102	Noah Gundersen	A Pillar Of Salt	Mellow Alternative	63. 2
T103	Coldplay	Music Of The Spheres	Neo Mellow	63. 0
T103	slowthai	TYRON	Alternative Rap	63. 0
T103	Geographer	Down And Out In The Garden Of Earthly Delights	Alternative	63. 0
106	HONNE	LET’S JUST SAY THE WORLD ENDED A WEEK FROM NOW, WHAT WOULD YOU DO?	Pop	62. 9
107	Surfaces	Pacifico	Pop	62. 4
T108	D Smoke	War & Wonders	Rap	62. 3
T108	Clairo	Sling	Alternative	62. 3
110	Black Country, New Road	For The First Time	Post-Rock	62. 2
T111	Elijah Blake	THE NEON EON	Urban	62. 0
T111	The War On Drugs	I Don’t Live Here Anymore	Indie Rock	62. 0
113	Lia Ices	Family Album	Indie Folk	61. 9
114	Art School Girlfriend	Is It Light Where You Are	Metropop	61. 5
T115	Joy Oladokun	in defense of my own happiness (complete)	Pop	61. 3
T115	Turnstile	GLOW ON	Post-Hardcore	61. 3
T115	POSTDATA	Twin Flames	Indie Rock	61. 3
T118	Genesis Owusu	Smiling With No Teeth	Psychedelic Soul	60. 7
T118	My Morning Jacket	My Morning Jacket	Neo-Psychedelic	60. 7
T118	Squirrel Flower	Planet (I)	Indie Rock	60. 7
T121	Logic	Bobby Tarantino III	Rap	60. 2
T121	Pell	Floating While Dreaming II	Rap	60. 2
T121	Sam Fender	Seventeen Going Under	Alternative Indie Rock	60. 2
124	Lord Huron	Long Lost	Chamber Folk	59. 9
125	LUMP	Animal	Experimental	59. 5
126	Aloa Input	Devil's Diamond Memory Collection	Neo-Psychedelia	59. 4
127	The Band CAMINO	The Band CAMINO	Indie Pop/Rock	59. 1
128	Alice Phoebe Lou	Child's Play	Chamber Pop	58. 9
129	Mogwai	As The Love Continues	Atmospheric Rock	58. 3
130	H.E.R.	Back Of My Mind	Alternative R&B	57. 6
131	WALK THE MOON	HEIGHTS	Indie Anthem Power Pop	57. 4
T132	DARKSIDE	Spiral	Art Rock	57. 2
T132	For Those I Love	For Those I Love	Experimental	57. 2
T132	Grouper	Shade	Ambient	57. 2
135	Tom Misch	Quarantine Sessions	Alternative	57. 1
136	ZHU	DREAMLAND	Deep House	57. 0
137	Lana Del Rey	Chemtrails Over The Country Club	Alternative	56. 4
T138	John Mayer	Sob Rock	Pop	56. 1
T138	Japanese Breakfast	Jubilee	Progressive Indie	56. 1
T140	Nas	King's Disease II	Rap	55. 9
T140	Greentea Peng	MAN MADE	Psychedelic Soul	55. 9
142	Tony Allen	There Is No End	Alternative Hip-Hop	55. 7
143	loscil	Clara	Ambient	55. 6
144	Art d'Ecco	In Standard Definition	Glam Rock	55. 1
145	DJ Khaled	KHALED KHALED	Rap	54. 9
146	Hayden Thorpe	Moondust For My Diamond	Art Pop	54. 4
147	Drake	Certified Lover Boy	Rap	54. 2
148	Ed Sheeran	=	Pop	53. 9
T149	Low	Hey What	Experimental	53. 6
T149	Baby Boys	Threesome	Alternative	53. 6
T151	Tai Verdes	TV	Pop	51. 5
T151	Tyler, The Creator	CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST	Experimental Hip-Hop	51. 5
153	Luke James & Nu Deco Ensemble	A Live Sensation	Alternative R&B	51. 4
154	Lake Street Dive	Obviously	Pop	51. 0
155	Lana Del Rey	Blue Banisters	Alternative	50. 7
156	Son Lux	Tomorrows III	Art Pop	50. 4
157	St. Vincent	Daddy's Home	Progressive Indie	49. 7
158	The Lighthouse And The Whaler	Talk	Indie Rock	49. 1
T159	BROCKHAMPTON	ROADRUNNER: NEW LIGHT, NEW MACHINE	Alternative Rap	48. 5
T159	NAO	And Then Life Was Beautiful	R&B	48. 5
161	Snail Mail	Valentine	Alternative	47. 4
162	Waterparks	Greatest Hits	Emo-Pop	46. 7
163	Sons Of Kemet	Black To The Future	Avant-Garde Jazz	46. 4
164	Hiatus Kaiyote	Mood Valiant	Alternative	46. 2
165	Jon Foreman	Departures	Alternative Pop/Rock	43. 6
166	Sean McConnell	A Horrible Beautiful Dream	Folk Singer	42. 9
167	Chet Faker	Hotel Surrender	Alternative	42. 7
168	SAULT	Nine	Psychedelic Soul	42. 5
T169	Bleachers	Take The Sadness Out Of Saturday Night	Indie Pop	42. 0
T169	Lorde	Solar Power	Alternative	42. 0
171	Dame D.O.L.L.A.	Different On Levels The Lord Allowed	Rap	38. 9
172	Third Eye Blind	Our Bande Apart	Alternative Pop/Rock	38. 1
173	Poolside	High Season	Alternative Dance	37. 4
174	Keaton Henson	Fragments	Dream Pop	36. 8
T175	Nick Cave & Warren Ellis	CARNAGE	Experimental	36. 3
T175	Noga Erez	KIDS	Alternative	36. 3
177	The Bug	Fire	Experimental Hip-Hop	31. 2
178	Squid	Bright Green Field	Post-Punk	30. 0
179	Son Lux	Tomorrows Reworks	Art Pop	28. 5

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Spotify

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 2021 as rated by the committee of one.

RANK	ARTIST	EP	GENRE	POWER INDEX	RATING
1	EMBRZ	Together Till It Ends	Progressive House	93. 6
2	Ólafur Arnalds	The Invisible EP	Classical	82. 6
3	Nothing But Thieves	Moral Panic II	Post-Rock	79. 9
4	Niia	If I Should Die	Pop	72. 1
5	Mustafa	When Smoke Rises	Neo-Soul	72. 0
6	Brothertiger	Fundamentals, Vol. III	Chillwave	71. 4
7	Lucky Daye	Table For Two	Alternative R&B	70. 8
T8	Mysie	Undertones	Neo-R&B	70. 2
T8	Shallou	The Long Way Home	Chillbeat	70. 2
T8	Slum Sociable	The Street Of Dire Needs	Indie Electronic	70. 2
11	Samia	Scout	Bedroom Pop	69. 6
12	TWO LANES	Reflections	Chillbeat	67. 9
T13	Andy Shauf	Wilds	Chamber Pop	66. 7
T13	Yoste	Nothing's everything	Shimmer Pop	66. 7
15	Emotional Oranges	The Juicebox	Urban	65. 5
16	Kevin Garrett	Keep Sleeping	Pop	65. 3
T17	Katy Kirby	Cool Dry Place	Indie Pop/Rock	65. 0
T17	PinkPantheress	to hell with it	Indie Electronic	65. 0
19	Jorja Smith	Be Right Back	Pop	64. 0
T20	Ásgeir	The Sky Is Painted Gray Today	Ambient Folk	63. 4
T20	beabadoobee	Our Extended Play	Bedroom Pop	63. 4
T20	The Antlers	Losing Light	Dream Pop	63. 4
T23	Another Sky	Music For Winter, Vol. I	Art Rock	62. 2
T23	Austin Millz	Midas	Pop	62. 2
T23	Tornado Club	Reset	Shimmer Pop	62. 2
T23	Zeph	Scared Of Everything	Bedroom Pop	62. 2
T23	Big Sean & Hit-Boy	What You Expect	Rap	62. 2
28	Gallant	Neptune	Urban	61. 9
29	Daði Freyr	Welcome	Alternative Dance	57. 4
30	Damien Jurado	The Monster Who Hated Pennsylvania	Chamber Folk	57. 2
T31	The Chain Gang Of 1974	Besides	Poptron	56. 6
T31	Cordae	Just Until....	Alternative Rap	56. 6
33	Yot Club	Santolina	Lo-Fi Indie	55. 8
34	Kota The Friend	Lyrics To GO, Vol. 2	Alternative Rap	55. 6
T35	Du Blonde	Homecoming	Garage Rock Revival	54. 1
T35	Khalid	Scenic Drive (The Tape)	Pop	54. 1
37	Hippo Campus	Good Dog, Bad Dream	Indie Pop	54. 0
38	Tep No	Daytrippin'	Tropical House	53. 6
39	Cassandra Jenkins	An Overview On Phenomenal Nature	Indie Rock	51. 4
T40	Drake	Scary Hours 2	Rap	51. 3
T40	Durante	Meld	Progressive House	51. 3
42	Vince Staples	Vince Staples	Alternative Rap	49. 7
43	Widowspeak	Honeychurch	Dream Pop	49. 2
44	Creeper	American Noir	Post-Emo	47. 9
T45	Brothertiger	New Life	Chillwave	47. 6
T45	Supercrush	Melody Maker	Alternative Indie Rock	47. 6
T47	Jon Bryant	Back To Love	Ambient Folk	47. 0
T47	VIC MENSA	I TAPE	Rap	47. 0
49	L’Rain	Fatigue	Experimental	41. 8
50	Local Natives	Music From The Pen Gala 1983	Indie Rock	41. 2
51	Kishi Bashi	Emigrant	Chamber Pop	41. 1
52	The Dear Hunter	The Indigo Child	Post-Rock	33. 9
53	dvsn	Amusing Her Feelings	Alternative R&B	31. 6

SCROLL →

Spotify

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.