Jason Tate’s Top Albums of 2024

Here we are again sharing yet another best of list. We’ve been here before. You know the drill.

You can subscribe to my newsletter if you’re interested in a weekly rundown of the music and other entertainment I consume, and the staff compiled best of 2024 list can be found here.

Favorite Albums of 2024

2024, for me, was a year of change. In September we moved, and I left the home I’d spent the last twelve years of my life in. In years past when I’ve had “life change” moments, I’ve often found myself with one or two albums that end up cementing themselves as clear favorites. Clear favorites that would forever define that period of my life. But as I look back at the year I don’t see albums that stand up above the others, instead I see a tapestry of music that weaved around my months. I see the changes of the year in more music than I can put in one thirty album list (as my honorable mention list will prove). For me it was a year where the collective whole of the albums released and my time with them ended up defining my year more so than any one “big” album

That said, Florrie’s The Lost Ones felt like an album I’d waited a decade for. Oh wait, we practically did. And it did not disappoint. It’s just about everything I could hope for. Heartfelt pop through and through. And to see her fight through all of the bullshit in the music industry to finally get this released, and for it to be this good, makes me incredibly happy. It was the album I came back to the most this year for just about any mood, and the one I most recommended to people looking for something new to check out.

Super American released the album of the summer. A pop-punk meets Third Eye Blind modern day masterpiece of gummy ear candy. Getting this and Origami Angel in the same year felt like we were spoiled rotten. Two bands that took a genre close to my heart and put their own spin on it to keep it feeling fresh and alive. Hippo Campus released the album of my fall. It dominated the weeks of packing, unpacking, and, along with Bleachers’ A Stranger Desired will forever be associated with the first few weeks in our new home.

Gracie Abrams, Taylor Acorn, Kelsea Ballerini, and Rosé all released different spins on pop. But all four used the veneer of the genre to showcase a vulnerability in their songwriting and stretch outside the genre clichés. Songs of heartbreak, empowering anthems, and introspective storytelling that reveal raw emotion and personal growth, pushing the boundaries of what pop can convey.

The Cure flat out blew me away. I did not think they had an album like this in them. And that goes double for Snow Patrol, a band that I had basically written off as not interested in any more. Hot Water Music released what’s probably the best album of their storied career. (Yes, I really think that.) Bleachers end up on my list twice and I think it’s well deserved. Two distinct albums, one a retelling of a classic, but both showcasing Jack Antonoff’s unparalleled ability to craft deeply emotional, anthemic, and layered pop-rock. And then there’s a bunch of classic favorites. Green Day had a big bounce back album, Alkaline Trio proved they still have so much more in the tank, and the Blink-182 b-side/deluxe songs show that this new era of the band is just getting started.

And then there were bands like Balance and Composure, One Step Closer, The Early November, and New Age Thief that kept alternative rock sprinkled in throughout my year. The last couple of months is when that Balance and Composure album clicked and it’s been a great late winter album for me.

And Sum 41 ended their career with a double album that puts a cap on the career of one of the best to ever do it. I’ll miss this band immensely and don’t have the words to thank them for the past 24 years and the immeasurable joys they have brought to my life.

2024 may have been a year of change, but through it all, music remained the constant. Albums, songs, and artists became companions to the (slightly controlled) chaos, soundtracking the moments that felt too big to carry alone and the quiet ones that begged for reflection. Moving boxes, long drives, late-night unpacking sessions, and even those moments where it all felt overwhelming–there was always something playing in the background, weaving itself into the fabric of my memories.

While this year may not have had a singular album defining my life it was the collection of sounds that met me at every corner. Change can be disorienting and unsettling, but music remains constant

The Stats: I listened to over 11,918 songs this year (22,302 scrobbles), 611 different artists, and 1,484 different albums. My most played artist this year ended up being MxPx. They’ve obviously always been a favorite of mine, but more than that they’re a super comfort band for me. A band that puts me in a good mood and has a positive message that keeps me in a good headspace. Through all the changes this year I kept returning to their awesome, and deep, catalog. And my most played album of the year ended up being Sum 41’s Heaven X Hell (a super solid double album ends up racking up a lot of plays).

Thank you to everyone that read this website this year, it’s because of you, and especially those of you that support the website, that we exist. Also, if you want to hear more from me throughout the year, specifically once a week as I write about music and entertainment I find interesting, sign up for my newsletter.

To make it easy to check out music from my list, I put together a playlist containing a song from each of these albums on Apple Music and Spotify. (And each of the albums above links to a page with links to all the streaming platforms.)

Honorable Mentions

Amy Shark – Sunday Sadness
Anberlin – Vega
Barely Civil – I’d Say I’m Not Fine
Bayside – There Are Worse Things Than Being Alive
Casey – How to Disappear
Charli XCX – Brat
Charlotte Sands – Can We Start Over?
Chaser – Small Victories
Coldplay – Moon Music
Dk The Drummer – Temporal
Drug Church – Prude
Dustin Kensrue – Desert Dreaming
Erra – Cure
Eve 6 – Dream Fist
Foxing – Foxing
Halsey – The Great Impersonator
Japandroids – Fate & Alcohol
Jason DeVore – ’Till the Voice Goes Out
Joy Oladokun – Observations from a Crowded Room
Kacey Musgraves – Deeper Well
Kendrick Lamar – GNX
Knocked Loose – You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To
Lauren Mayberry – Vicious Creature
Maggie Rogers – Don’t Forget Me
Marianas Trench – Haven
Mat Kerekes – To Dream of Something Wicked
Megan Moroney – Am I Okay?
Mitchell Tenpenny – The 3rd
Neon Trees – Sink Your Teeth
Only Twin – It Feels Nice to Burn
Owen – The Falls of Sioux
Poppy – Negative Spaces
Real Friends – Blue Hour
Sasha Alex Sloan – Me Again
SeeYouSpaceCowboy – Coup De Grace
Soccer Mommy – Evergreen
South Summit – The Bliss
St. Vincent – All Born Screaming
Stand Still – Steps Ascending
Strung Out – Dead Rebellion
The Odorants – Love Songs Never Die
The Offspring – Supercharged
The Smile – Wall of Eyes
The Speakeasy – The Speakeasy
Twenty One Pilots – Clancy
Webbed Wing – Vol. III
Zach Bryan – The Great American Bar Scene

I’m not sure why we originally started ranking just the top thirty of the year, but one of the main reasons is that you have to stop somewhere. My honorable mentions section is where I can give credit to the plethora of other albums that stuck with me throughout the year but just missed the cut onto the official list. There are albums on this list that I spent countless hours with throughout the year and they are all worth your time.

Favorite EPs of 2024

Chrissy Costanza – VII
Great Good Fine OK – Exist
Happydaze – A Brand New Day
Less Than Jake – Uncharted
Lost Stars – I Think I Love You Lately
Mutemath & Paul Meany – Distance
NVM – Lighter Touch
Ruston Kelly – Weakness, Etc.

If an EP, or something EP length, gets an extraordinary amount of listens from me in a year, I have no problems putting it in my main list, but often I find myself just not returning to singles and/or EPs as often as I do full-length albums. So, that’s why I also include a section for the EPs released this year that I liked the most.

Movies I Enjoyed in 2024

Alien: Romulus
American Fiction
Didi
Dune: Part Two
Flora and Son
Flow
Godzilla Minus One
Hit Man
Past Lives
Snack Shack
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story

I watched over 155 films in 2024, and this list contains the movies I saw for the first time in 2024 that I liked the most. I think I had the most fun with Alien: Romulus, but Past Lives or Flow probably stayed with me the longest. You can find more of my movie watching habits and ratings on Letterboxd, and an updated list of my all time favorites on my blog.

TV Shows in Enjoyed in 2024

Batman: The Caped Crusader
Dark Matter
Drops of God
English Teacher
Kite Man: Hell Yeah!
Lessons in Chemistry
Masters of the Air
Presumed Innocent
Reacher
Rings of Power
Shrinking
Sugar
The Bear
The Gentlemen
The Penguin
The Sex Lives of College Girls
Tokyo Vice
X-Men ’97

I watched over 723 episodes of TV in 2024 from 64 different TV shows. My most-watched show was The Simpsons (the show we pick to re-watch each night before bed always dominates this spot). My favorite was either The Penguin or Drops of God, but it was a pretty exceptional year for TV. Lots of fun stuff. You can find more of my TV watching habits and ratings on Trakt, and an updated list of my all time favorites on my blog.

Books I Enjoyed in 2024

I read 26 books (10,667 pages) in 2024. In last year’s end of the year list I vowed to read more, and I followed through! My favorite book I read this year was either IT or the FDR biography. Fourth Wing and Drowning were also extremely entertaining. I hope to keep up my reading habits in the new year as well.

Apps I Discovered and Enjoyed in 2024

It’s strange, but this is the first year in a long time where I really can’t think of a new app I discovered and fell in love with. I like the new iPhone Mirroring feature in macOS, and Libby is a fantastic library companion, but there wasn’t any killer new app that got added into my workflow or life. I think my Raycast wrapped just confirms that Raycast continues to be my favorite new app of the last few years and adding in LLMs as a tool to various workflows has been the biggest tech addition for me.

My Favorite Articles of 2024

I wrote 1,598 articles this year for a total of 180,627 words.

It was another great year for the Liner Notes newsletter, and I look forward to picking that back up as new music starts flowing again in the new year.

And, with that, we put a bow on 2024. As always, thank you for reading and spending yet another year with me.

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