It would be a cliché to talk about how awful 2020 is. We all know and experienced what the year was. So there’s no need to recap the dreadful stories that we all will be burying as we welcome 2021.

Nevertheless, we can claim that 2020 is still a good year for us — thanks to our favorite musicians who released their powerful, culture-leading music that saved us from ennui. These 2020 albums that did make their way to our streaming platforms, to our digital collections, and to our cd collections, were proven cathartic, and thankfully an escapist to among us all.

And to give you a taste of my music preference, I personally picked my top 10 favorite albums from this year:

10. Map of the Soul: 7, BTS

Map of the Soul: 7 — which was released in February — played a huge role in the beginning of the K-pop phenomenon BTS' most historic year yet. The 20-track album blasted to the top of the Billboard 200 — without any major supports from the U.S. radio. For many American listeners, the album lead track "Boy with Luv" featuring Halsey was the song who exposed them into the colorful world of K-pop. It is indeed a fantastic year for the 7-member boy group as they continue to achieve and break many records during 2020.

9. Sawayama, Rina Sawayama

Rina Sawayama is a combination of 00s Britney Spears, Evanescence, and Metallica — hence making her music considered by many as fresh and innovative. Although it’s not what Pop genre die-hards are expecting in 2020, but it’s that kind of creative originality that makes Sawayama one of the best albums of this year. Fans are happy that the 30 year-old artist is beginning to receive recognitions her music deserves. If you want to start listening to her song, I would suggest for you to listen to “Tokyo Love Hotel.”

8. The Rarities, Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey has always been proven to be always in control over her career. The Rarities is a compilation of Carey’s old live performances during her younger days — which sets a reminder who invented vocal runs and whistle. Carey also proved the longevity of her career as she still hits number 1 this year with her Christmas classic song “All I Want For Christmas Is You”. The Rarities album includes some of her performances during her concert in Tokyo Dome in 90s including her song Forever, Without You, and Dreamlover. The album also includes her unreleased tracks back in the day.

7. Kid Krow, Conan Gray

Kid Krow is Conan Gray’s debut album. The 21 year-old musician channelled his inner Gen Z to the album, and bringing back the retro pop-ish feels in the 12 tracks. The album is a perfect heartbreak clapback, most specially his song “Maniac” in particular, and the creeping folk ballad “Heather” -- Kid Krow effectively highlighted all the angst, insecurity and struggle of coming of age in the year 2020 into a variety of songs, filled with strikingly relatable lyrics. Reaching number 5 spot on the Billboard 200 — Kid Krow earned the singer-songwriter one of the highest debuts of the year for a new artist on the Billboard 200, and Billboard claimed Gray as a musical phenomenon to watch in the decade to come.

6. Future Nostalgia, Dua Lipa

Dua Lipa's 2020 album Future Nostalgia — released in March — makes listeners mostly Millennials nostalgic for the sequined days and disco ball of the 80s and 90s — as she pioneered to have revived the disco sound into the 2020. Future Nostalgia — as the album title suggests, will utterly make you want to bring back the old dance moves and bouncing grooves in the dancefloor. Let’s wait until everything gets back to normal, so we all can dance to Future Nostalgia’s pulsing beats as we all be shoulder-to-shoulder at a club once more.

5. After Hours, The Weeknd

Considered as the biggest snub of 2020 Grammy Nominations, After Hours set the bar higher this year as the album becomes critically acclaimed by Metacritic. After Hours, is a mix of ‘80s-inspired disco which can be heard mostly in his smash hits “Blinding Lights” and “In Your Eyes”, But once the party’s over and you want to be alone, The Weeknd included “Snowchild” and “Faith” in the album. After Hours is the album all in one that you need in your playlist during that late night drive.  

4. Chromatica, Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga, the music genius herself, once again surprised her Little Monsters this year with her new pop album Chromatica, which contains tracks and beats that are very fresh and new to our ears. Live it to her fans who had been waiting for a couple of years for her to release another pop album, since her last one called “Artpop” released in 2013. Chromatica is indeed extravagant — as there are orchestral sets, much-awaited collaborations, and invitations to serve it “ancient-city style”. Gaga indeed created her own cinematic universe with Chromatica.

3. Evermore, Taylor Swift

Instead of making it extravagant, and new, just like her Reputation album, Taylor Swift’s Evermore album serves us Swift’s country-pop and ballad side. The singer-songwriter’s proved how good she is with telling romantic, bittersweet stories like Evermore as a teenage songwriter she was in the mid-2000s. Taylor is indeed a genius when it comes to playing with words and metaphors, with smooth sailing, straightforward country-pop. Just like what they said, life is too short to pretend you don’t listen to Taylor Swift.

2. Plastic Hearts, Miley Cyrus

Stepping confidently into her “rock era,” Miley Cyrus offers a genuinely pleasing, effortless transition of genre as she said good bye to her pop phase. Cyrus once again proved how a versatile artist she can be as she served us with her husky and deep voice which suited well to rock music. Even though she has been cancelled and hated by a lot of people, she revived more than pretty much any other star. Provocative, talented, and free-spirited — Plastic Hearts is one of the greatest albums produced in 2020 and everyone should have it on their playlist.

1. Folklore, Taylor Swift

On July 23, Taylor Swift came to save us from the mundaneness of the quarantine – as she surprised the world with the announcement of her eighth studio album that would drop the very next day — which caught everyone off guard. Swift was indeed doing good and on some new sh*t, and she was gonna make it count. Teaming up with The National's Aaron Dessner and longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff, Swift made a surprise record of the year-- and she did it in isolation — including producers, writers, mixers, duet partners and engineers scattered across the country. Pandemic or not, Folklore quickly proved that it shined the brightest this year, and will be remembered as one of Swift’s pivotal albums. The chilling voices, the soft piano, and the astounding production come together to create just over an hour of cathartic and calming listening.

Although the pandemic has drastically affected everyone’s lives, thanks to these albums, for making our days easier to deal with and being an escape from the reality.