We are always listening to what’s next, but we’re only human, and these are the records that are stuck on repeat. We’re highlighting some of 2026’s most outstanding albums to date by rounding up the ones that have earned high scores and Best New Music designations with a quick list of RIYLs (that’s Recommended If You Like) and links to our coverage.
Unlike our year-end lists, this one is organized in reverse chronological order. To help you keep track of the year’s best music, we’ll be updating it periodically throughout the remainder of 2026.
April
RIYL: Early Day Miners; Low; Bedhead; patience; panpsychism, dejection; bummer jams
Listen/Buy: Amazon | Apple Music | Bandcamp | Spotify | Tidal
RIYL: Folk; prog; folk-prog; fantasy novels; slipping quotes from pop songs into daily conversation; the Windmill scene
Listen/Buy: Amazon | Apple Music | Bandcamp | Rough Trade | Spotify | Tidal
RIYL: Andean psych-folk compilations; Aymaran lore; Bandcamp; tape culture; octave harmonies; you’re going to think I’m crazy but a distorted lo-fi version of “Age of Consent” by New Order
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
RIYL: Cattails; fireflies; lucid dreaming; Judee Sill’s string arrangements; Massachusetts Route 2; secure attachment; polyrhythms; jazz so free it becomes country
Listen/Buy: Amazon | Apple Music | Bandcamp | Rough Trade | Spotify | Tidal
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RIYL: Noise lords; talking about music using frequencies; long grey hair; earplugs; Carhartt; transcending dimensions; result yields determined by volume
Listen/Buy: Amazon | Apple Music | Bandcamp | Rough Trade | Spotify | Tidal
RIYL: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard; Wire; commedia dell’arte; Discogs; counting out time signatures; KEXP sessions going viral; a passing interest in Québécois psychology
Listen/Buy: Amazon | Apple Music | Bandcamp | Rough Trade | Spotify | Tidal
March
RIYL: Ed Banger Records; Headbangers Ball; Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!; The Anna Nicole Show; getting nicotine poisoning from a comically large Geek Bar; mistaking a half-burnt-down McDonald’s for the St. Louis Arch; straight up crankin’ it
Listen/Buy: Amazon | Apple Music | Rough Trade | Spotify
RIYL: Biblical plagues; the epic closing track on metal albums; going to shows that leave your ears ringing the next morning; supergroups that live up to their potential
Listen/Buy: Amazon | Apple Music | Bandcamp | Rough Trade | Spotify | Tidal
RIYL: Oklou; Jane Remover; Imgoen Heap; getting the most upvotes on r/popheads; wubstep; heartfelt bangers; ’00s pop; ’10s pop; ’30s pop; making heart sign with two hands sarcastically
Listen/Buy: Amazon | Apple Music | Bandcamp | Rough Trade | Spotify | Tidal
RIYL: Playing Dido at the afters; a rusty 808; Imogen Heap’s vocoder; a road trip with your new best friends; remembering when Caroline Polachek was in Chairlift
