It seems like Sabrina Carpenter came out of nowhere. Of course, she didn’t. She was on a few Disney Gee there were some neat LPs this year, and most of the artists responsible aren't dead.

COUNTDOWN: Bidding farewell to 2024, The Independent’s music critics Mark Beaumont and Helen Brown count down the best albums of the year

After spending his youth playing punk and indie rock, Rui Gabriel realized he had some growing up to do. His solo debut Compassion gracefully straddles juvenilia and maturity: The music is dreamy, inventive,

JELLY ROLL For the past 20 years, this genre-jumping, heavily tattooed, Nashville-based musician has steadily built a following. In 2024, as he blasted Stand back, these people are blowing up.

SABRINA CARPENTER The former Disney Channel star’s irreverent sense of humor and flirty persona have been at the forefront of her music since her 2015 debut LP, but never have they clicked in such a compelling way than on Short n’ Sweet,

SHANNON AND THE CLAMS “Real or Magic” Shortly after her fiancé Joe Haener’s untimely death, Shannon and the Clams’ Shannon Shaw received a visitation from him. “I think it was him saying goodbye to me,