Clockwise from top left: Angel Olsen, Foals, Sharon Van Etten, Billie Eilish, Freddie Gibbs and Madlib, Oh Sees, The Highwomen, Bring Me The Horizon, Gary Clark Jr., and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. Well, we’ve made it. The following 10 albums are the best we heard this year.…

Few rap groups have more follow-up pressure than Madgibbs. With the decade drawing to a close, the first collaborative LP between Freddie Gibbs and Madlib remains one of its best hip-hop albums. Piñata proved to be as unexpected as it was successful, charging true-to-life gangsta rap with cinematic production.…