Home Music Music Lists

The 100 Best Australian Albums of the 2020s So Far

Our countdown of the best Australian albums of the decade so far reflects the vastness of modern Aussie music, from major pop stars to indie rockers

Best Australian Albums of the Decade So Far list image

The first half of the 2020s has not been an easy time for Australian music.

The COVID-19 pandemic threatened to completely overturn our music industry, with festivals being postponed in uncomfortable numbers, even cancelled outright. The cost of living crisis made it even harder for up-and-coming musicians to find their footing in what was already a notoriously difficult artistic field in which to compete.

The one constant through these difficult past few years, however, has been the incredible output of Australian artists, persevering through money battles and turbulent political times and lockdown after lockdown to produce career-best albums.

Below is our countdown of the 100 best Australian albums of the 2020s so far, chosen from the period January 1st, 2020-July 1st, 2025.

These records, we think, reflect the vastness of modern Australian music, from major pop stars to underrated independent musicians.

Many albums previously featured in our year-end lists and there are plenty of new inclusions too. Our list has metalcore titans and tender singer-songwriters, trailblazing hip-hop stars and underrated DIY bands.

We hope you find your new favourite local album below, or remember how much you love another one. —Conor Lochrie

Love Music?

Get your daily dose of everything happening in Australian/New Zealand music and globally.

5

The Avalanches, ‘We Will Always Love You’ (2020)

When we put together our list of Australia’s greatest electronic acts of all time, there really could only be one winner. From the very beginning of their career, everyone’s known that The Avalanches are a generational group.

“When Since I Left You arrived in 2000, there was nothing else like it. A quarter century later, there’s still nothing else like it,” we wrote when crowning The Avalanches in our list. “The debut album from the Melbourne collective is both art and science.”

Since I Left You was a miraculous record, but — whisper it — their most recent album, We Will Always Love You, may just be its equal.

A hauntingly melancholic collection of electronica, The Avalanches’ third studio album earned glowing reviews from critics around the world. Nominations for Album of the Year, Best Group, and more came the group’s way at the ARIA Awards, as did a win at the 2020 Australian Music Prize. A truly transcendent record. —Conor Lochrie

4

Amyl and the Sniffers, ‘Cartoon Darkness’ (2024)

A thrilling album from Australia’s best rock ‘n roll band.

Led by the charismatic and animated Amy Taylor, Amyl and the Sniffers made the oft-tricky third album look like child’s play, tackling weighty subjects including the climate crisis and the rise of AI with passion and verve.

“It’s not hyperbolic to say that Cartoon Darkness is the album that should cement Amyl’s standing as the pre-eminent Australian rock band of their generation,” we declared in naming Cartoon Darkness the best Australian album of last year.

Where to begin with the acclaim? Fresh from a rare nod at the BRIT Awards, Amyl doubled up with Rolling Stone Australia Awards recognition for Best Live Act and Best LP/EP.

Our former cover stars’ album also peaked at No. 2 on the ARIA Albums Chart, No. 9 on the Official UK Albums Chart, and even tickled the Billboard 200. —Conor Lochrie

3

Julia Jacklin, ‘Pre Pleasure’ (2022)

Julia Jacklin’s third album, Pre Pleasure, wasn’t just one of the best Australian releases of 2022; it was one of the finest songwriting collections to come out of Australian music in many years.

A confessional lyricist with few equals, Pre Pleasure found Jacklin vulnerably wrestling with her religious upbringing, her relationship with her body, and her battles with anxiety. Both empathetic and wry, the tracks felt like short stories in the making, the words of an artist really developing her command of storytelling.

Pre Pleasure became Jacklin’s highest-charting album to date, making it to No. 2 in Australia and No. 4 on the UK Independent Albums Chart.

The Melbourne artist’s third studio album earned three nominations at the 2022 ARIA Awards — for Best Solo Artist, Best Independent Release, and Best Adult Contemporary Album — and also scored nods at the J Awards, the Australian Music prize, and AIR Awards.

Critics adored the album, too, with The Guardian praising the “wry, canny Australian” for her “ability to stop you in your tracks.”

“It’s a record about the impossibility of communication, and never quite solving your problems,” the publication wrote, noting that Jacklin’s work sat somewhere “between confessional and observational on her arresting third album.”

Traditionally leaving around three years between album releases, here’s hoping Jacklin’s fourth album arrives sooner rather than later. No rush, though: as Pre Pleasure showed, moving slowly, considering life at your own pace, is something to be treasured. —Conor Lochrie

2

RÜFÜS DU SOL, ‘Inhale / Exhale’ (2024)

Ahead of making their fifth studio album, RÜFÜS DU SOL were still riding high from their last effort, 2021’s Surrender, which included their first ever Grammy Award for Best Dancing Record “Alive”.

Somehow, the Sydney trio managed to back that up with Inhale / Exhale.

Released in October last year, the album stormed to the top of the charts in Australia, debuting at No. 3, and the top five of both the US and UK dance charts.

It also scored nominations for Best LP/EP at this year’s Rolling Stone Australia Awards and Australian Album of the Year at the 2024 J Awards.

With Inhale / Exhale, RÜFÜS DU SOL also made their very first concept album.  “That was fresh for us,” James Hunt told us prior to the album’s release. “It feels like there’s two arcs musically with this album, as opposed to one big journey which we’ve done on the previous records.”

RÜFÜS DU SOL are now in the midst of their biggest-ever world tour in support of the album, having sold over 700,000 tickets globally, which has included a headlining slot at Lollapalooza and LA’s Rose Bowl Stadium.

They are now just the second Australian act to headline the famous venue next to AC/DC. The group are scheduled to bring the tour back home in November for their biggest Australian shows to date. —Neil Griffiths

1

Genesis Owusu, ‘Smiling with No Teeth’ (2021)

Now this is how you do a debut album — loud, confident, and wonderfully chaotic.

Genesis Owusu’s first album didn’t make much much of a dent on the ARIA Albums Chart, scraping into the top 30 at No. 27, but its impact was felt in a major way elsewhere.

Owusu and Smiling with No Teeth were the clear winners at the 2021 ARIA Awards, scooping gongs for Album of the Year, Best Hip Hop Release, and Best Independent Release, and Producer of the Year (Andrew Klippel and Dave Hammer). At our Rolling Stone Australia Awards the following year, Owusu’s debut won Best Record in a  tough category featuring heavyweights like Amy Shark, Crowded House, and Tash Sultana.

Purportedly a hip-hop album, Smiling with No Teeth found Owusu journeying dizzyingly through jazz, rap, and soul, whatever genre he fancied exploring.

Critics lapped up Owusu’s album’s diversity, with it appearing on multiple year-end lists in 2021. Our review hailed it as a “politically and culturally driven, funky, proud, and multi-layered” record, adding that Kofi Owusu-Ansah, the young talent behind the music, had “curated a fluid lineup of players and songs to overturn boundaries.” Our review’s headline really said it all: “Genesis Owusu’s Smiling with No Teeth is the making of a music giant.”

NME also loved the album. “The Canberran artist defies the conventions of Australian hip-hop, personalising jazz-funk, punk and folk on his debut,” the publication wrote, going further to praise it as a  “transcendent conceptual opus” in a four-star review.

It’s a rare feat to achieve cultural and cool capital alongside commercial success, but, from the very opening moments of Smiling with No Teeth, Owusu never sounded like any ordinary artist. —Conor Lochrie