af 2019 in review: our favorite albums and singles of the year

Lizzo press photo by Luke Gilford, courtesy of Atlantic Records. Every year I keep a running list of new album releases. The idea is that I'll have new stuff on my radar, along with a go-to playlist if I'm feeling adventurous (or bored) and want to hear something new. This year that list grew to nearly 9,000 songs, and I'm still adding stuff I missed from this year to it. When it came time to make my year-end list, I had some ideas about what would be on it, but I decided to do something more immersive than I'd done years prior (basically narrowing my list down to ten albums). This year, I decided to rank every record I listened to that came out in 2019, resulting in a list of more than 200 albums. That's a lot, certainly. It's my job, of course, to listen to music. But what was more mind-boggling was that, when I made a separate list of albums I hadn't had a chance to listen to or simply didn't stick in my mind, it was more than double that number. Y'all, a lot of music came out in 2019. And a lot of it was really, really good. I think our list at Audiofemme is unique in that it gives each of our regular writers (and some of our contributors) complete ownership over their favorites, and that makes our list unusually eclectic. That's especially true this year; last year's lists featured a lot of love for Mitski and Janelle Monae, while this year's lists were so disparate there's very little crossover from list to list. So while it's hard to choose one overarching narrative around who slayed hardest this year - Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen releasing the best albums of their careers, Big Thief releasing two amazing records, Jamila Woods and FKA Twigs going big on concept albums - I think we all know that person was Lizzo.

EDITOR LISTS

• Marianne White (Executive Director)

  Top 5 Albums: 1) Jamila Woods - LEGACY! LEGACY! 2) Big Thief - Two Hands 3) Boy Harsher - Careful 4) FKA Twigs - Magdalene 5) Cate le Bon - Reward

• Lindsey Rhoades (Editor-in-Chief)

  Top 10 Albums: 1) SASAMI - SASAMI 2) Hand Habits - placeholder 3) Crumb - Jinx 4) Pottery - No. 1 5) Orville Peck - Pony 6) Cate le Bon - Reward 7) Kim Gordon - No Home Record 8) Sharon Van Etten - Remind Me Tomorrow 9) Black Belt Eagle Scout - At the Party With My Brown Friends 10) Big Thief - Two Hands Top 10 Singles: 1) Sharon Van Etten - "Jupiter 4" 2) SOAK - “Valentine Shmalentine” 3) Jonny Kosmo - “Strawberry Vision” 4) Mineral - "Your Body Is the World" 5) Drahla - "Stimulus for Living" 6) Mattiel - "Keep the Change" 7) Girlpool - "Minute in Your Mind" 8) Charlotte Adigéry - “Paténipat” 9) Weyes Blood - "Andromeda" 10) Palehound - "Killer"

• Mandy Brownholtz (Marketing Director)

  Top 5 Albums (in no particular order): Summer Walker - Over It Jamila Woods - LEGACY! LEGACY! Angel Olsen - All Mirrors Mannequin Pussy - Patience Raveena - Lucid Top 3 Singles: Summer Walker - "Anna Mae" Solange - "Binz" Jamila Woods - "ZORA"

STAFF LISTS

• Alexa Peters (Playing Seattle)

  Top 5 Albums: 1) Guayaba - Fantasmagoria 2) Ings - Lullaby Rock 3) The Black Tones - Cobain & Cornbread 4) Lemolo - Swansea 5) Stephanie Anne Johnson - Take This Love Top 5 Singles: 1) Lizzo - “Juice” 2) Karma Rivera - “Do More Say Less” 2) Heather Thomas Band - “When I Was Young” 3) Stephanie Anne Johnson - "Never No More” 4) Sarah Potenza - “I Work For Me” 5) Ariana Grande - "Thank U, Next"

• Sophia Vaccaro (Playing the Bay)

  Top 5 Albums: 1) Charly Bliss - Young Enough 2) PUP - Morbid Stuff 3) Kim Petras - TURN OFF THE LIGHT 4) Microwave - Death is a Warm Blanket 5) Caroline Polachek - Pang Top 3 Singles: 1) Jess Day - "Rabbit Hole" 2) Ashnikko - "Hi, It's Me" 3) Saweetie - "My Type"

• Cillea Houghton (Playing Nashville)

  Top 5 Albums: 1) Yola - Walk Through Fire 2) Louis York - American Griots 3) The Highwomen - The Highwomen 4) Sara Potenza - Road to Rome 5) Rising Appalachia - Leylines Top 3 Singles: 1) Kacey Musgraves - "Rainbow" 2) Louis York - "Don't You Forget" 3) The Highwomen - "Crowded Table"

• Luci Turner (Playing Atlanta)

  Top 5 Albums: 1) The Raconteurs - Help Us Stranger 2) Harry Styles - Fine Line 3) Brittany Howard - Jaime 4) MARINA - Love + Fear 5) Death Mama - High Strangeness Top 3 Singles: 1) Sam Burchfield - “Blue Ridge June” 2) Pip the Pansy - “Siren Song” 3) 5 Seconds of Summer - “Teeth”

• Victoria Moorwood (Playing Cincy)

  Top 5 Albums: 1) YBN Cordae - The Lost Boy 2) Wale - Wow... That's Crazy 3) Roddy Ricch - Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial 4) DaBaby - KIRK 5) NF - The Search Top 3 Singles: 1) DaBaby - “Intro" 2) Polo G - “Pop Out” 3) Lil Baby - “Yes Indeed” (feat. Drake)

• Amanda Silberling (Playing Philly)

  Top 5 Albums: 1) Palehound - Black Friday 2) Great Grandpa - Four of Arrows 3) Charly Bliss - Young Enough 4) T-Rextasy - Prehysteria 5) Leggy - Let Me Know Your Moon Top 3 Singles: 1) Mannequin Pussy – "Drunk II" 2) Charly Bliss – "Chatroom" 3) (Sandy) Alex G – "Southern Sky"

• Tarra Thiessen (Check the Spreadsheet)

  Top 5 Albums: 1) Karen O & Danger Mouse - Lux Prima 2) FEELS - Post Earth 3) Francie Moon - All the Same 4) Lizzo - Cuz I Love You 5) Crumb - Jinx Top 3 Singles: 1) Dehd - "Lucky" 2) Bodega - "Shiny New Model" 3) Y La Bamba - "Entre Los Dos"

• Natalie Kirch (Pet Politics)

  Top 5 Albums (in Chronological Order): 1) JANITOR — She Hates The Hits 2) Haybaby — They Get There 3) Holy Tunics — Hit Parade Lemonade Supersonic Spree 4) Bethlehem Steel — Bethlehem Steel 5) Francie Moon – All The Same 6) SUO - Dancing Spots and Dungeons Top 5 Singles (in Chronological Order): 1) Big Bliss - “Contact” 2) Gesserit - “Silence” 3) Vanessa Silberman - “I Got A Reason” 4) New Myths - “Living Doll” 5) Miss Eaves - “Swipe Left Up”

CONTRIBUTOR LISTS

• Liz Ohanesian

  Top 5 Albums: 1) Hot Chip - A Bath Full of Ecstasy 2) (tie) Chelsea Wolfe - Birth of Violence // K Á R Y Y N - The Quanta Series 3) !!! - Wallop 4) Yacht - Chain Tripping 5) Chromatics - Closer to Grey Top 3 Singles: 1) Billie Eilish - "Bad Guy" 2) Roisin Murphy - "Narcissus" 3) Boy Harsher - "Come Closer"

• Lydia Sviatoslavsky

  Top 5 Albums: 1)  Xiu Xiu - Girl With a Basket of Fruit 2) slowthai - Nothing Great About Britain 3) Boy Harsher - Careful 4) Thee Oh Sees - Face Stabber 5) Sylvia Black - Twilight Animals Top 3 Singles: 1) Squarepusher - “Vortrack - Fracture Remix” 2) Coyu & Moby - “I May Be Dead, But One Day The World Will Be Beautiful Again” 3) Cocorosie - “Smash My Head”

• Tamara Mesko

  Top 5 Albums: 1) Bad Books — III 2) Pedro The Lion — Phoenix 3) Laura Stevenson — The Big Freeze 4) An Horse — Modern Air 5) Black Belt Eagle Scout — At the Party With My Brown Friends Top 3 Singles: 1) Kevin Devine – “Only Yourself” 2) Rain Phoenix feat. Michael Stipe – “Time is the Killer” 3) Sigrid – “Strangers”

• Erin Rose O'Brien

  Top 5 Albums: 1) Stef Chura — Midnight 2) Angel Olsen — All Mirrors 3) Lisa Prank — Perfect Love Song 4) Carly Rae Jepsen — Dedicated 5) Cheekface — Therapy Island Top 3 Singles: 1) Caroline Polachek — "So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings" 2) Priests — "Jesus’ Son" 3) Lana Del Ray — "The Greatest"

• Katie Wojciechowski

  Top 5 Albums: 1) The Highwomen — The Highwomen 2) Better Oblivion Community Center — Better Oblivion Community Center 3) Various Artists — Tiny Changes: A Celebration of Frightened Rabbit's 'The Midnight Organ Fight' 4) Vampire Weekend — Father of the Bride 5) J.S. Ondara — Tales of America Top 3 Singles: 1) MUNA — "Good News (Ya-Ya Song)" 2) Lizzie No — "Narcissus" 3) Noah Gundersen — "Lose You"

• Micco Caporale

  Top 5 Albums: 1) Orville Peck — Pony 2) Boy Harsher — Careful 3) Lingua Ignota — Caligula 4) Heterofobia — Queremos Ver El Mundo Arder 5) Knife Wife — Family Party Top 3 Singles: 1) Dorian Electra - "Flamboyant" 2) Orville Peck - "Dead of Night" 3) Solange — "Binz"

• Jason Scott

  Top 5 Albums: 1) Allison Moorer — Blood 2) Gabriella Rose — Lost in Translation EP 3) Emily Scott Robinson — Traveling Mercies 4) Girl Wilde — Probably Crying EP 5) BHuman — BMovie Top 3 Singles: 1) Dua Lipa - "Don't Start Now" 2) The Highwomen - "Redesigning Women" 3) Katy Perry — "Never Really Over"

• Ysabella Monton

  Top 5 Albums: 1) King Princess - Cheap Queen 2) Carly Rae Jepsen - Dedicated 3) Tyler, the Creator - IGOR 4) Kim Petras - Clarity 5) Charli XCX - Charli Top 3 Singles: 1) King Princess - "Hit the Back" 2) FKA Twigs - "holy terrain" 3) Charli XCX - "Gone" feat. Christine and the Queens

• Holly Henschen

  Top 5 Albums: 1) Marielle Allschwang & the Visitations - Precession of a Day: The World of Mary Nohl 2) Angel Olsen - All Mirrors 3) Sudan Archives - Athena 4) Karen O & Danger Mouse - Lux Prima 5) Sigur Rós - Sigur Rós Presents Liminal Sleep Top 3 Singles: 1) King Princess - "Hit the Back" 2) Sleater-Kinney - "Hurry on Home" 3) Lizzo - "Tempo"

• Erin Lyndal Martin

  Top 5 Albums: 1) Jenny Hval - The Practice of Love 2) Mariee Sioux - Grief in Exile 3) Carolina Eyck - Elegies for Theremin & Voice 4) Julia Kent - Temporal 5) Rhiannon Giddens - There is No Other (with Francesco Turrisi)

• Rebecca Kunin

  Top 5 Albums (in no particular order): Mal Blum - Pity Boy Jamila Woods - LEGACY! LEGACY! Durand Jones and the Indications - American Love Call Tony Molina - Songs from San Mateo County Carly Rae Jepsen - Dedicated Top 3 Singles: Brittany Howard - "Stay High" Angel Olsen - "New Love Cassette" Jacky Boy - "Get Along"