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Ken Tucker Picks His Favorite Albums Of 2018

From Courtney Barnett's brooding on Tell Me How You Really Feel to Cardi B's hip-hop styling on Invasion of Privacy, the range of female artists was remarkable in 2018.

Tracey Thorn's Record, in which she sings about the various roles women assume, tops my list of the year's best albums. Here's a list, in order, of all my favorites:

1. Tracey Thorn, Record

2. Kacey Musgraves, Golden Hour

3. Kendrick Lamar, Black Panther: The Album

4. Amy Rigby, The Old Guys

5. Cardi B, Invasion of Privacy

6. Pistol Annies, Interstate Gospel

7. Janelle Monáe, Dirty Computer

8. John Prine, The Tree of Forgiveness

9. Courtney Barnett, Tell Me How You Really Feel

10. Robert Christgau, Is It Still Good to Ya? (book)

Copyright 2021 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air.

Ken Tucker reviews rock, country, hip-hop and pop music for Fresh Air. He is a cultural critic who has been the editor-at-large at Entertainment Weekly, and a film critic for New York Magazine. His work has won two National Magazine Awards and two ASCAP-Deems Taylor Awards. He has written book reviews for The New York Times Book Review and other publications.