It is a new year and a new decade and with all the celebration of what has come before it is time to look forward to what is to come. With the decade coming to a conclusion there has been a lot of looking backward to see what were the highlights of the last ten years but the anticipation of what our favourite artists are crafting is high and as we look ahead to 2020 it is absolutely striking about how many new albums there is to look forward to. Some of the best artists of the last year and decade are all gearing up to release new work this year and here are some of our most anticipated. It seems that 2020 is already on track to best this last stellar year of music. Besides the great artists mentioned above there are also upcoming and teased releases from Frank Ocean, following up on the massive success of Blonde, Angel Olsen has promised a follow up to her captivating 2019 release All Mirrors plus new albums from such luminaries as Spoon, Destroyer, St. Vincent, Japanese Breakfast and The War On Drugs. Buckle up music fans, 2020 is gonna be a good one!

Lana Del Rey – White Hot Forever

Land Del Rey put out one of the best records of 2019 with the amazing Norman Fucking Rockwell and with the news that she already has another new collection in the can is very exciting. She said that the release will most likely be a surprise drop so we will be keenly watching with baited breath for this one.

Haim – TBD

The wonderfully talented Haim sisters have already released three new singles in 2019 and these great new songs have made the anticipation of a new release very high. Daniele Haim said that this album is shaping up to be “Raw as fuck, some of it is for the dance floor and some of it is just is getting weird” and after their stellar two previous releases this all sounds perfect.

Phoebe Bridgers – TBD

The prolific singer/songwriter has had an amazingly busy last few years. She released her beautiful debut album, Strangers In The Alps, and then proceeded to wow us all with her collaboration with Lucy Dacus and Julian Baker under the name boy genius as well as one of the highlights of 2019, her collaboration with Conor Oberst, Better Oblivion Community Centre. Bridgers has said that these side projects have gotten in the way of recording her follow up solo album but she recently announced that the sophomore record is complete. Bridgers hasn’t revealed much about the record but has said that it’ll be “a little more fun” but that it still focuses on “her favoured themes of death and relationships as well as sour friendships and family shit.”

Kendrick Lamar – TBD

Kendrick Lamar has been exceedingly busy since the 2017 release of the sublime DAMN, appearing on tracks from such artists as Beyonce, J Cole and SiR among others but with some live show announcements trickling in for 2020, anticipation of a new album from the Compton based rapper has been high. He has surprised us all in the past with the secret release Untitled Unmastered so expect possibly the same release plan this time out.

Tame Impala – The Slow Rush

Kevin Parker has said in the past that he needs to feel “kind of worthless” before he can start to write and record an album and although that doesn’t seem like something to wish upon anyone, after his amazing 2015 release, Currents, we all have been looking forward to what Parker will cook up next. The new records first single “Borderline” dropped early last year and the full album has finally been announced to come out on Valentine’s Day 2020.

Grimes – Miss Anthropocene

It has been some time since the Canadian producer and songwriter released her great last album Art Angels so the anticipation for some new music from Grimes has been high. Dropping on February 21st via 4AD, the new album is said to be a darker affair comparatively to the bright and colourful Art Angels but this may just be the recipe to carry us through the last couple quiet winter months before Spring. Said to be a a concept album about an “anthropomorphic goddess of climate change” in which “each song will be a different embodiment of human extinction” sounds perfectly in step with Grimes and we couldn’t be more here for it.

The Strokes – TBD

Last night at their headline show at The Barclay Centre in New York, Julian Casablancas announced that The Strokes will release a new album in 2020. The band even treated the sold out crowd to a new song. It has been seven years since the band released a record and four since they put out any new music at all. Casablancas said “We took the 2010’s – whatever the fuck they’re called – we took ’em off but now we’ve been unfrozen and we’re back.”

Best Coast – Always Tomorrow

It’s been five long years since we felt the summery touch of the wonderful Best Coast but with the release of the single “For The First Time” we are starting to feel that warmth all over again. Bethany Cosentino and Bob Bruno have been crafting some of the sweetest sounding pop gems of the last decade and with the release of this new collection it will mark the ten year anniversary of their debut, Crazy For You. The band has already lined up a massive touring schedule for the new year so expect to see and hear a ton from them soon.

Frances Quinlan – Likewise

The lead singer of the amazing Hop Along, and one of the best voices in contemporary music right now, is set to release her first solo album on January 31st via Saddle Creek records. Quinlan has stated that she really tried to experiment more with this collection of songs and that experimentation has allowed her to open up her instrumental palate to more than just guitar based music. The lead single “Rare Thing” showcased this new direction and the follow up “Now That I’m Back” continued to highlight it. Based on the released output so far, Likewise promises to be the first big album of 2020.

Run The Jewels – RTJ 4

EL P and Killer Mike have been teasing the release of RTJ 4 for what seems to be an eternity now. With the initial announcement that the album was slated to drop in the summer of 2019, then immediately rescinded, fans have been on the edge of their seats. The duo have released their previous albums as they see fit, most ofter without any fanfare or announcement at all, so we will all be watching social media like hawks to see when this new collection will drop.