“So go on be my dealer, babe.” – Justin Timberlake, Pusher Love Girl

The song I listened to most this year was the one quoted above. It’s off of The 20/20 Experience (part 1. Part 2 should probably die in a fire), the album I had listened to the most this year until this past week when Beyoncé’s BEYONCÉ sucked all the air out of the room leaving only room for her.

I don’t even know how to explain my listening habits this year. There was less hip hop and more pop. I had a soft spot good teeny bopper records. Hudson Mohawke. 

Anyway, here are the rest of the records I recommend from this year:

• Quadron – Avalanche
• Janelle Monaé – The Electric Lady
• Jessie Ware – Devotion
• Pusha T – My Name is My Name
• The Foreign Exchange – Love in Flying Colors
• Miley Cyrus – #BANGERZ
• Bonobo – Late Night Tales
• Zo! – ManMade
• James Blake – Overgrown
• Rhye – Woman
• Myron & E – Broadway
• Laura Mvula – Sing to the Moon
• Zendaya – Zendaya
• Disclosure – Settle
• Autre Ne Veut – Anxiety
• HAIM – Days Are Gone
• José James – No Beginning No End

Here are songs I listened to a lot that weren’t on any of these albums (not necessarily 2013 releases):

• Big Boi – In The A
• TNGHT – Higher Ground
• Jay Z – BBC
• Hudson Mohawke – Thunder Bay
• Baauuer – Dum Dum
• RJD2 – Ghostwriter
• Dawn Richard – Pretty Wicked Things
• Hudson Mohawke – Fuse
• M.I.A. – Bring the Noize
• Jamie Woon – Shoulda
• Kraak & Smaak – The Future is Yours
• Amel Larrieux – Afraid
• Jay Z – Tom Ford
• Basement Jaxx – What A Difference Your Love Makes

And here are artists that deserve mention since they have yet to be:

• Kanye West – the most interesting pop artist of the year even if #Yeezus is both creatively amazing and terribly inaccessible.
• Kendrick Lamar – rapper of the year.