Brat is the music critics album of the year for 2024

21 December 2024, 11:21 | Written by The Line of Best Fit

(News)

(Charli XCX) (Fontaines DC) (The Cure)

With more than 100 publications, blogs and magazines’ end-of-year lists now in, brat has taken the top slot as the critics' choice in the aggregated top 50.

From 101 sources aggregated by albumoftheyear.org, the sixth studio album by the 32-year-old British songwriter, producer and performer placed at number 1 in 22 lists, and was ranked in the top 10 on a further 36.

The albumoftheyear.org chart awards points based on position in end-of-year lists. 10 points are awarded for a number 1 placement in a ranked list, 8 for a number 2, an 6 for a number 3. Ranking within a top ten is worth 5 points, within a top 25 gets 3 points, and any other placement results in a single point. Unranked lists also win 5, 3, or 1 points depending on their length.

With 512 points as of 21 December, brat has a clear lead on Fontaines D.C.’s Romance which tops just 7 end of year lists and scores 245 points. Two records in the top 10 – by Tyler, The Creator and Billie Eilish – did not hit top number 1 on any end-of-year list.

The full list currently looks like this:

brat by Charlie xcx (512 points, number 1 in 22 lists)
Romance by Fontaines D.C. (245 points, number 1 in 7 lists)
Songs of a Lost World by The Cure (228 points, number 1 in 3 lists)
Manning Fireworks by MJ Lenderman (210 points, number 1 in 3 lists)
Cowboy Carter by Beyoncé (205 points, number 1 in 3 lists)
Tigers Blood by Waxahatchee (181 points, number 1 in 1 list)
Diamond Jubilee by Cindy Lee (175 points, number 1 in 5 lists)
HIT ME HARD AND SOFT by Billie Eilish (167 points, no number 1 list placements)
GNX by Kendrick Lamar (158 points, number 1 in 1 list)
CHROMAKOPIA by Tyler, The Creator (149 points, no number 1 list placements)

Some of the year’s best selling records fared the worst in the list, including six-times platinum The Tortured Poets Department by Taylor Swift, which scraped in at number 48 but and only placed in 14 publications' lists.

The aggregated list is compiled from more than 100 sources including Billboard, People, The Guardian, Bandcamp Daily, The FADER and Coup De Main as well as Best Fit. You can read the full ranked list of 50 albums over on albumoftheyear.org.

Elsewhere online, Metacritic – who aggregate critic's scores from individual reviews on selected publications across the year – also have brat at the top of their-end-of-year list with The Cure coming in at number 2 and Fontaines D.C. at number 18.