Earlier this week, I posted my favorite singles from 2012. And now, it’s time for the albums.

Unlike last year, 2012 was not a very strong year for mainstream pop acts–at all. Most of the releases from pop’s biggest players, including P!nk, Nicki Minaj, One Direction, Christina Aguilera, Ke$ha and Adam Lambert–were largely ‘okay’ at best, playing like rehashes of previous successes and hopping on radio trends du jour. The result was a yearlong onslaught of dubstep breakdowns and guitar-led YOLO dance-pop (“Live While We’re Young,” “Die Young,” “Starships,” et al.) Even the Queen of Reinvention herself–as much as I wouldn’t normally dare to admit this–bowed to some occasionally cringeworthy youth pandering on her 12th studio album, MDNA. (And could she ever really recover from Cher‘s merciless shade?)

But whereas conventional pop faltered, dozens of up-and-coming players from around the world shined bright (like a diamond), resulting in music that actually was–and still is–largely ahead of the curve: A Swedish trance-pop songstress, a Canadian R&B crooner, a British neo-soul darling and of course, a certain American-born throwback chanteuse that set the nation on fire in a red, white and blue blaze of glory.

Here are my Top 20 albums of 2012. As with the singles, there’s a Spotify link at the very end to hear all Top 20 albums in a row. Enjoy, and I’ll see you in 2013!

Read more »

GULP.

Oh, this? It’s just Sky Ferreira, Charli XCX and Grimes–wearing Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci and serving high fashion goth-pop sorceress realness–on the cover of the upcoming Youthquake Issue of V Magazine this month.

This is the greatest thing I’ve ever seen, basically. I’m completely overwhelmed.