50 Best Albums of 2023

The claiming of the coveted Hot Press Album Of The Year gong by Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, aka CMAT, maintains the Irish singer’s unstoppable upward trajectory. The unique melodic and lyrical flair displayed on her Crazymad For Me has earned her a wildly devoted audience that continues to grow both at home and internationally, with sellout headline shows and acclaimed festival performances now routine for the singer.

If CMAT maintains her current momentum – and there’s no reason to suggest she won’t – she is on-course to join the ranks of bona fide Irish musical superstars. The same can be said for Dublin rockers Inhaler, whose hit offering Cuts & Bruises also makes our top ten, while there are also strong showings for many other homegrown talents, with the eclectic group including Hozier, Kojaque, The Murder Capital, Grian Chatten, Lankum, Bell X1 and M(h)aol, amongst many others.

On the international front, the pop thrills kept coming courtesy of stellar efforts from Lana Del Rey, Olivia Rodrigo and Christine And The Queens, while there were also memorable efforts from hip-hop stars such as Travis Scott, Earl Sweatshirt and the Alchemist, and Drake. Elsewhere, perhaps rumours of rock’s demise have been greatly exaggerated, with appearances from Boygenius, The National, Blur, Queens Of The Stage Age, Foo Fighters, The Rolling Stones, Ash, The Kills, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds and more.

As ever, it was a rip-roaring 12 months of musical action – and we look forward to another mouthwatering year in 2024.

1. CMAT
Crazymad for Me

2. Boygenius
The Record

3. Lana Del Rey
Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd

4. Hozier
Unreal Unearth

5. Mitski
The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We

6. Inhaler
Cuts & Bruises

7. Kojaque
Phantom of the Afters

8. The Murder Capital
Gigi’s Recovery

9. Grian Chatten
Chaos for the Fly

10. The National
First Two Pages of Frankenstein

11. Blur - The Ballad of Darren
12. Lankum - False Lankum
13. Bell X1 - Merciful Hour
14. M(h)aol - Attachment Styles
15. The Scratch - Mind Yourself

16. Holly Humberstone - Paint My Bedroom Black
17. Glen Hansard - All That Was East Is West Of Me Now
18. Olivia Rodrigo - Guts
19. Shame - Food For Worms
20.Fred Again and Brian Eno - Secret Life

The Scratch. Copyright Miguel Ruiz.

21. Sufjan Stevens - Javelin
22. Geese - 3D Country
23. Angie McMahon - Light, Dark, Light Again
24. Soda Blonde - Dream Big
25. Mik Pyro - Exit Pyro

26. Ailbhe Reddy - Endless Affair
27. Gracie Abrams - Good Riddance
28. Gorillaz - Cracker Island
29. Lisa O’Neill - All Of This Is Chance
30. The Rolling Stones - Hackney Diamonds

Soda Blonde. Copyright Miguel Ruiz.

31. Queens of the Stone Age - In Times New Roman
32. Ash - Race The Night
33. King Krule - Space Heavy
34. Josh Ritter - Spectral Lines
35. The Kills - God Games 

36. Romy – Mid Air
37. John Francis Flynn - Look Over The Wall, See The Sky
38. Slowdive - Everything Is Alive
39. Christine and the Queens - Paranoia, Angels, and True Love
40. The Mary Wallopers - Irish Rock N’ Roll

John Francis Flynn. Copyright Miguel Ruiz.

41. Algiers - Shook
42. Ryuichi Sakamoto - 12
43. Travis Scott - Utopia
44. Øxn - CYRM
45. Reneé Rapp - Snow Angel 

46. The Academic – Sitting Pretty
47. Martin Hayes & The Common Ground Ensemble - Peggy’s Dream
48. The Streets - The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light
49. Ezra Williams - Supernumeraries
50. Earl Sweatshirt and the Alchemist - Voir Dire 

Martin Hayes. Copyright Miguel Ruiz.

Also Highly Recommended:

Anonhi and The Johnsons - My Back Was a Bridge For You to Cross
Arborist - An Endless Sequence Of Dead Zeros
Blink-182 - One More Time
Bob Dylan - Shadow King
Burna Boy - I Told Them...
Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want To Turn Into You
Cat Power - Cat Power Sings Dylan: The 1996 Royal Albert Hall Concert
Chappell Roan– The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess
Corrine Bailey Rae - Black Rainbows
Creeper - Sabguivore
David Kitt – Idiot Check
Depeche Mode - Momento Mori
Dominic Fike - Sunburn
Drake -For All The Dogs
Durand Jones - Wait Till I Get Over
ferna - understudy
Fever Ray - Radical Romantics
FIZZ – The Secret To Life
Foo Fighters - But Here We Are
Jack Harlow - Jackman
Jaimie Branch - Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war))
Jessie Ware - That! Feels Good!
Jungle - Volcano 40
Kali Uchis- Red Moon In Venus
Kylie Minogue – Tension
Lucinda Williams - Stories Froma Rock N’ Roll Heart
Ludwig Göransson - Oppenheimer (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Melina Malone – Aphrodite
Meltybrains?- You
Mick Flannery - Good Time Charlie
Miles Kane – One Man Band
Noah Kahan - Stick Season
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds - Council Skies
Noname - Sundial
Paramore - This Is Why
Peter Fox - Love Songs
Pink Pantheress - Heaven Knows
PJ Harvey – I Inside The Old Year Dying
Poppy - Zig
Rachael Lavelle – Big Dreams
Roisin Murphy - Hit Parade
Royal Blood - Back to the Water Below
Sexxy Redd - Hood Hottest Princess
Sigur Rós- Átta
Somebody’s Child– Somebody’s Child
The Pretenders - Relentless
Therapy? - Hard Cold Fire
Tinariwen – Amatssou
Wilco - Cousin
Willie Nelson - Bluegrass
Young Fathers - Heavy Heavy
Zach Bryan - Zach Bryan
Kiera Dignam - Nepo Baby
John Gallen - Rizla Smokes, Music & Wine