For NPR Music's hip-hop and R&B editor, no list could capture an accurate picture of the year, yet there's still value in calling out the albums that felt unignorable.

You can't always know that it's a great year for new music while it's happening, but there was a sense from the very start of 2024 that we were in for a ride.

Get ready for albums by Iron & Wine, Kamasi Washington, Tyla, Vampire Weekend and many, many more.

The best jazz albums of the year feel supercharged with the spirit of discovery, but also offer revelations — both comforting and challenging — the deeper you dig.

Ndegeocello doesn't conform to anybody else's idea of the celestial plane. When she sings of supernovas, she sounds like a witness.

Lilith Fair brought an eclectic array of women's music to millions of fans and was the top grossing music festival of the 1990s.