The 100 Best Australian Albums of the 2020s So Far

What a year Kita Alexander had in 2024: her first-ever ARIAs nominations, a nod for Best Single at the Rolling Stone Australia Awards, and a support slot for pop superstar Dua Lipa on her Australian arena tour.

Yet somehow her debut album, Young in Love, didn’t make the top 40 on the ARIA Albums Chart.

That definitely won’t happen when her second album arrives, because Young in Love showed that Alexander — like her former touring mate Lipa — knows how to produce polished pop gems galore. There’s a reason we included her in our Future of Music 2025 series. —Conor Lochrie

An emotional album for listener and creator, Jen Cloher’s fifth album was her first to feature songs sung in both English and te reo Māori.

I Am the River, the River Is Me, inspired by the wāhine Māori in Cloher’s life and lineage, is a beautiful celebration of community.

Australian critics agreed, with Cloher’s album garnering nominations at the Music Victoria Awards, ARIA Awards, and Australian Music Prize. —Conor Lochrie

More of Australia needs to know about Lower Plenty, melancholic players of outsider folk.

On their fifth studio album, No Poets, they balanced intertwining acoustic guitars with sincere songwriting, just as they’d done before on underrated albums like Life/Thrills and their masterpiece, Hard Rubbish.

No Poets invited listeners to lean in and embrace the earnestness — if you were open to doing so, the rewards were endless. A beautiful, carefully crafted DIY record. —Conor Lochrie

Second album blues? Not for Mornington Peninsula’s finest.

Teenage Dads continued their growth on Majordomo, thanks to plenty youthful enthusiasm.

“Majordomo finds the Dads light on their feet, joyful, busy. Jordan Finlay and co. have created a musical time capsule with a direct route to XTC and Talking Heads without playing copycat,” we wrote in a positive review. —Conor Lochrie

Ngaiire’s third album, 3, is a bright, personal record mixing electronic soul with her Papua New Guinean roots.

From gentle songs like “Closer” to tender tracks for her son like “Him”, it balances joy and reflection. Owning her identity, Ngaiire delivered a rich, emotional album that was her most powerful and fully realised to date. —Sarah Downs

Alex the Astronaut didn’t disappoint on her long-awaited debut album, which proved the hype surrounding the singer-songwriter was very real.

“Releasing my first album feels like I’m graduating from junior musician to proper musician,” Alex explained at the time. “I wanted the songs to mean something to me, to sit in my values, and I also wanted them to be a group of songs that told stories that meant something to the people that heard them.” —Conor Lochrie

It says so much about Courtney Barnett’s high —ridiculously high — standards that her most recent album felt a little disappointing.

But Things Take Time, Take Time was still packed with the sort of sharp songwriting and thoughtful reflections we’ve come to expect from the Melbourne singer-songwriter.

Barnett’s third album was lauded by critics as usual, too, earning her a handful of nominations a the ARIA Awards, including for Best Solo Artist. —Conor Lochrie

A new AC/DC album can get pulses racing, fists pumping, feet stomping, and charts firing. All of that happened when Power Up was released on a Friday the 13th, during those darkest days of the pandemic.

Power Up was a tonic for crappy times, arriving without bells and whistles. After 2014’s Rock Or Bust, AC/DC appeared to be done. Frontman Brian Johnson stepped away on doctor’s orders due to hearing loss issues, while drummer Phil Rudd entered into rehab for substance abuse. Founding rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young passed away.

Rock wins, though. The album went straight to No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart in November 2020, Akka Dakka’s sixth leader, and blew up on the US and UK charts. With the pandemic in the rearview, Angus Young and his team of Rock Hall-inducted giants will finally support Power Up with a triumphant homecoming tour in late 2025. —Lars Brandle

Slowly, slowly catch a chart crown. That could be the mantra for Ball Park Music, the indie outfit from Brisbane who finally landed an ARIA No. 1 with Like Love, their eighth studio album.

Like so many bands before them, Ball Park Music came together at university, their members teaming up on a band assignment for their music course at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), and they’ve since taken that music course into the real world.

With the hazy, folkie numbers on Like Love, led by standout track “Please Don’t Move to Melbourne”, Ball Park Music were offered the deal of a lifetime: frontman Sam Cromack and his gang will open for Oasis on the Britpop legends’ long-overdue stadium tour of Australia in late 2025. —Lars Brandle

How can a band be this consistent so deep into their career?

Refusing to rest on their esteemed reputation, Crowded House explored new sounds on Gravity Stairs, with our former cover stars’ record still powered by Neil Finn’s immaculate pop instincts.

“It’s an impressive new chapter for Crowded House that hints toward there still being plenty of interesting corners of the pop universe left for them to explore,” our review read. —Conor Lochrie

Hell does freeze over, from time to time. The Gallagher brothers reunited Oasis for a globetrotting Tour. Need more proof? Look no further than Midnight Oil.

The legendary Australian rock band was long gone when Peter Garrett entered frontline politics following Labor’s victory in the 2007 election. The imposing frontman was appointed Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, and later took new ministerial duties under PM Julia Gillard. There was simply no way back to rock for Garrett. The questions were regularly asked, and batted away like Steve Waugh in his pomp.

Then, a cold front moved through Hades, the Oils reunited and long-suffering fans were rewarded with The Makarrata Project, the band’s first studio album in two decades.

A fiery protest album with guest spots from Jessica Mauboy, Adam Goodes, Gurrumul Yunupingu, and others, the album blasted to No. 1 on the ARIA Chart. It was a bittersweet moment: just hours before the charts were published, Bones Hillman, the Oils’ bass player, passed away following a battle with cancer. —Lars Brandle

“I didn’t really comprehend that, for lack of a better term — and I hate this term — my ‘fanbase’ was still there, that they’re still hanging around… I think that’s the beauty of being in the game for almost 30 years; I think I’ve proven that I don’t deliver shit.”

That’s what Daniel Johns told us in his Rolling Stone AU/NZ cover story, and his second solo album lived up to those words.

Critics agreed, with FutureNever earning the Silverchair legend a nomination for Best Solo Artist at the ARIA Awards. —Conor Lochrie

Keith Urban returned on a high with this stirring country-rock album.

Upbeat tracks such as his Lainey Wilson duet “Go Home W U” sit alongside more personal, serious songs like the closer, “Break the Chain” —Sarah Downs

Prince is no longer giving out compliments, but Hiatus Kaiyote were rare recipients. The late Purple One publicly endorsed the neo-soul group, encouraged his fans to explore their music and invited the Melbourne act to jam with him at Paisley Park.

The four-piece have been shortlisted for three Grammy Awards, most recently a Best Progressive R&B Album nod for Mood Valiant. Their third album and first in six years, Mood Valiant was crafted following a painful period of raw self-reflection, as singer Nai Palm was diagnosed with breast cancer, an illness that took the life of her mother.

She beat the cancer, but only after a mastectomy, while the 2019 death of her ring-neck parrot named Charlie Parker was a bitter blow. Nai Palm returned, recharged for Mood Valiant, a record that captures the sound of jubilation. —Lars Brandle

Mieesha’s debut album featured track after track of stunning R&B and neo-soul, with the stylish rhythms accompanied by deep, thoughtful lyrics.

Nyaaringu was nominated for Album of the Year at the NIMAs, as well as Best Soul/R&B Release at the ARIAs.

“Miiesha’s debut release is one every Australian should hear,” triple j declared in 2020 — it wasn’t a hyperbolic statement. —Conor Lochrie

Our Two Skins was lauded across the board, earning a nomination for Australian Album of the Year at the J Awards, Best Record at the Rolling Stone Australia Awards, and Best Adult Contemporary Album at the ARIA Awards.

Gordi, who somehow balances being an acclaimed singer-songwriter with being a hard-working doctor, courageously mined deep emotional truths on her sparse second album, something she’s not stopped doing on subsequent records. —Conor Lochrie

How Australian music misses Violent Soho.

One of the best alternative rock bands of their generation, Violent Soho released their fifth and final album in early 2020, with Everything Is A-OK going on to earn three nominations at the ARIA Awards (Best Rock Album, Engineer of the Year, and Best Cover Art).

“It doesn’t claim to be anything it’s not: it’s apolitical, slacker, cynical, and trying to connect with people over a shared experience in pointing out society’s failures and the personal shit that follows,” the band said. It’s fitting that Violent Soho bowed out with a chart-topping album. —Conor Lochrie

Australia’s rap-meets-pop superstar delivered a strong debut album with The First Time.

The highly anticipated record, which successfully built on the promise of The Kid LAROI‘s 2020 mixtape, F*ck Love, featured cool collaborations with big names like BTS’ Jung Kook and Central Cee.

The First Time was nominated for Album of the Year at the NIMAs, and two nominations also came his way at the ARIA Awards in the same year (Best Hip Hop/Rap Release and Best Solo Artist). —Conor Lochrie

Alice Ivy wasn’t getting any shuteye when she recorded Don’t Sleep. Ivy (real name Annika Schmarsel) produced the collection “squeezed between tours” around the world, including stops in Sydney, London, Toronto, Detroit, Los Angeles, and her hometown Melbourne, she told this reporter. “I’m the type of person who, whenever I do go on tour or go on writing trips, I try and do everything I can. I don’t go home from the party. I need to live everything. I don’t want to miss anything.”

Ivy was born to German parents and emigrated to Australia in her youth. Travel is in her bones. She’s a serial collaborator, too. Don’t Sleep includes guest spots from Thelma Plum, Ecca Vandal, Montaigne, Ngaiire, Benjamin Joseph of Safia, Odette, Bertie Blackman, and Imbi and Canadian rapper Cadence Weapon, who lends his vocals to the cracker “Sunrise”. —Lars Brandle

Gretta Ray is Australia’s answer to Taylor Swift. The difference being, Ray is still on the way up.

A precocious talent, Ray was just 18 when she won the Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition in 2016 with “Drive”. Fast forward to 2023 and Ray dug a pop music diamond mine with Positive Spin, her second studio effort. The album nabbed nominations for the 2023 Australian Music Prize and Australian Album of the Year at the J Awards, and saw Ray play her biggest-ever shows in the UK, Europe, and beyond, including an arena trek in support of Maisie Peters.

A deluxe version dropped in 2024, and included a reimagined version of “Upgraded”, a highlight of her set which packs the iconic lyric “your ex-lover, honey-blonde Australian.”

Her seemingly inexorable rise was put on hold in 2024, when she was hospitalised in the UK with a “severe” cardiac disease — infective endocarditis, a rare ailment that can cause damage to the heart. She made a welcome return to the stage six months later at the ARIA Awards. —Lars Brandle

Northlane’s sixth studio album gave the Sydney-formed band their second No. 1 record, and also picked up nominations at the ARIA Awards (for Best Hard Rock or Heavy Metal Album) and the J Awards (for Australian Album of the Year).

Obsidian won the gong for Best Independent Heavy Album or EP at the 2023 AIR Awards, where it was also nominated for Independent Album of the Year. —Neil Griffiths

Ocean Alley are live circuit favourites, but Low Altitude Living showed that their songs sound just as pleasing on record.

The psychedelic rock band’s fourth album is their highest-charting release to date (although the forthcoming Love Balloon is likely to change that fact), and Low Altitude Living also earned the band a nomination for Best Independent Rock Album or EP at the AIR Awards. —Conor Lochrie

Tones and I’s debut album Welcome to the Madhouse hit No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart, powered by singles “Fly Away” and “Cloudy Day”.

It also contained the record-breaking “Dance Monkey”, which topping charts worldwide and was inescapable on radio stations for the longest time.

The former busker delivered a bold, quirky, and confident first LP that started her on the journey to becoming one of Australia’s most successful pop artists. —Sarah Downs

Mallrat should’ve called the cops, because when the ARIA Charts were published in late February, she was robbed. Light hit my face like a straight right dropped in at No. 35, a sign, perhaps, that the planets weren’t aligned.

Doesn’t matter. Light hit my face like a straight right, the latest from Brisbane singer-songwriter Grace Shaw, is world-building at an album scale. Mallrat’s vision here is a substantial one, truly original, an experience from end-to-end. “Hideaway” is a belter, while “Horses” is one of the prettier songs of the year.

Mallrat supported the project with a 10-date Australian arena tour opening for Kylie Minogue, and her own Australian East Coast headline stretch. —Lars Brandle

A fan favourite album and the final to feature founding member Ahren Stringer, The Amity Affliction’s Not Without My Ghosts debuted at No. 2 on the ARIA Albums Chart.

The album also picked up a string of award nominations, including Best Record at the Rolling Stone Australia Awards and Best Hard Rock or Heavy Metal Album at the ARIA Awards. —Neil Griffiths

Almost two decades into their career as a duo, Angus & Julia Stone returned to their roots for their sixth album.

Cape Forestier offered fans exactly what they’ve came to love from the siblings: poetic lyrics, soul-stirring singing, and enchanting indie-folk melodies. —Conor Lochrie

One of the most exciting bands to come out of Melbourne in years, Delivery make the kind of primal garage-punk designed to peel the paint off the walls of small, sweat-soaked clubs.

Formed in peak-pandemic 2020 — an unfortunate obstacle in terms of band rehearsals — Delivery are the brainchild of couple Rebecca Allan and James Lynch, who trade vocals that alternate between snarling and sardonic, best exemplified on cracking singles such as “Digging the Hole” and “Deadlines”.

Released in January, taut and terrific second LP Force Majeure was a satisfying step-up from 2022 debut Forever Giving Handshakes, the band’s move to the revered UK label Heavenly Recordings well deserved.

Royal Headache were the last Aussie garage-punk band to achieve decent international recognition; given their current trajectory, expect Delivery – rounded out by drummer Liam Kenny and guitarists/backing vocalists Jordan Oakley and Scarlett Maloney – to ascend to the same heights before too long. —James Jennings

The headline for our highly positive review of Emily Wurramara’s latest album sums it up, calling it an “exhilarating mix of blues, indie, country and folk.”

“NARA does what she has always set out to do, no matter how difficult the storytelling: bring her people along for the journey,” our review concluded.

NARA earned Wurramara well-deserved recognition at both the ARIA Awards and the National Indigenous Music Awards. —Sarah Downs

Rousing anger meets radical community. After their previous album, Far Enough, was somewhat waylaid by the onset of the pandemic, Cable Ties definitively made up for that with the release of their third album.

All Her Plans was a bruising listen for much of its run time, the Melbourne trio battering their way through songs about the woes of Australia’s healthcare system, the complexity of family relationships, the importance of mental health, and much more, but it all culminated in a moment of radiating hope: “Deep Breath Out” was the best closing song on an album in 2023, Jenny McKechnie unloading a deeply autobiographical tale of love overcoming adversity, of humanity rising above everything else. Cable Ties are a punk rock band to be cherished in turbulent times. —Conor Lochrie

That voice. That bloody voice. You’ll always remember the first time you heard Grace Cummings’ stop-you-in-your-tracks, sonorous vocals.

Already hailed as an Artist You Need to Know by Rolling Stone, Ramona was the album Cummings had been building towards for a while. Her voice was utterly commanding over 11 tracks, whether she was belting out a rocky number or slipping into a downward ballad. —Conor Lochrie

Having already worked with the likes of Flume and A$AP Rocky, KUČKA’s status as one of Australia’s leading electronic music stars is secure by now.

The Perth-raised, LA-based artist swept up at the West Australian Music Industry Awards between 2013 and 2015, eventually scoring an AIR Award nomination for her 2021 debut record, Wrestling.

Her second album, 2024’s Can You Hear Me Dreaming?, was even more impressive, picking up a four-star rating from Rolling Stone AU/NZ.

“She effortlessly merges irresistible pop hooks with gleaming electronic production, her opaque songs vibrating with glitchy twists and turns,” our review noted.

“This album should be a coronation for KUČKA as Australia’s next truly great electronic export.” —Conor Lochrie

2018’s Lost Friends hinted at much to come from Middle Kids, but their second album confirmed that Australia had a special new alternative rock band within its music scene.

“It’s a record that eloquently, and sometimes painfully, weaves tales of emotional complexity that crush and uplift in equal measure. It’s Middle Kids at their most subdued, a sonic shift that highlight’s Hannah Joy’s gift as a truly remarkable songwriter,” we wrote in a 2021 review. —Conor Lochrie

An album so elementally Australian in structure and sound that it feels futile to attempt to describe it with words. Spice World may be the scrappy underdog in this list of bigger names, but they deserve to be here.

Previously featured in Rolling Stone AU/NZ‘s Up Next series, the Fremantle band possess a style that’s so profoundly and peculiarly Australian that they couldn’t possibly hail from anywhere else. Steeped in this country’s grand tradition of dusty jangle pop, they recall the humble DIY of the wonderful Bedroom Suck Records roster.

There’s No ‘I’ in Spice World is homespun and rustic, wilfully unvarnished, and quietly melancholic. The songs are odes to the power of friendship in an increasingly isolated time, and often it sounds like the four-piece made the music to just be played for themselves, a hang-out record for the end of the world. But Spice World’s songs are too sweet and real to be kept secret. —Conor Lochrie

One of the most pleasing developments in Australian music this year, so far, has been the return of Stella Donnelly.

Her last album came in 2022 when Flood made it into the top 30 on the ARIA Albums Chart. Flood, which made several year-end lists, earned a four-star review from Rolling Stone AU/NZ.

“It’s been three years since the stunning debut from Stella Donnelly, Beware of the Dogs, but the absence has only sharpened her sound and introspective songwriting,” we wrote. 

The jangling indie-pop gems we’ve come to expect remain, but there are intriguing new layers elsewhere… With its thoughtful mixture of sonic experimentation and classic touches, Flood achieves exactly what a sophomore album should.” —Conor Lochrie

The journey to 5 Seconds of Summer frontman Luke Hemmings‘ debut album started during the COVID lockdowns and was inspired by some of his favourite artists such as Neil Young, The War on Drugs, and Pink Floyd.

As he told Rolling Stone AU/NZ, the album was about his attempt to “understand” himself. “It’s really trying to in a very uncertain time figure out who I am, how I got here, and filling in a lot of gaps in myself in a way,” he said.

“All the lyrics on the album are just trying to understand everything and trying to find my truth and the way I want to live my life from here on in, because I had such a unique time to look back and reflect on what happened.” —Neil Griffiths