50 albums · 2020–2021

KEXP 2021: the 50 albums the Seattle station played most

· 2 min read · by 1001 Albums

KEXP is the listener-supported radio station of Seattle, on 90.3 FM and online. Its DJs choose what they play, and the station keeps a public playlist of every song, with the album it comes from. In 2021 that playlist had 143,694 songs by more than 29,000 artists. This list counts them by album: the albums KEXP played most, counting only albums from which at least two different songs were played, so that a single hit does not make an album.

Little Simz's Sometimes I Might Be Introvert and Jungle's Loving in Stereo were played most, 330 times each, ahead of Arlo Parks' Collapsed in Sunbeams and Japanese Breakfast's Jubilee. Seattle's Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio, the True Loves and Deep Sea Diver are on the list too. The year's rock from Dry Cleaning, Wolf Alice, St. Vincent, Parquet Courts, the War on Drugs and shame sits beside the soul of Durand Jones & the Indications, Aaron Frazer, Curtis Harding and Cleo Sol, the jazz of Sons of Kemet, Makaya McCraven and BADBADNOTGOOD, Tony Allen's last album, Bomba Estéreo from Colombia, CHAI from Japan and Altın Gün from Amsterdam. Three albums came out in the autumn of 2020 and were still played through 2021: SAULT's Untitled (Rise), Deep Sea Diver's Impossible Weight and the Avalanches' We Will Always Love You.

The list has 50 albums in the order of their plays, from 330 down to 79. Albums with as many plays are ordered by the number of their songs played, which leaves L'Rain's Fatigue and Snail Mail's Valentine, also played 79 times, just outside. It leaves out SAULT's NINE, played 174 times, which the band took off the streaming services after 99 days, as they had said they would; two EPs, Ambar Lucid's Get Lost in the Music and Yves Tumor's The Asymptotical World; and Bonobo's Fragments and Beach House's Once Twice Melody, played from the songs that came before them, as they came out in 2022. About 39 hours of music, 5 days of a few albums each.

By genre

Rock 28%Soul & R&B 23%Electronic 11%Other 38%
  • Rock 28%
  • Soul & R&B 23%
  • Electronic 11%
  • Other 38%

The genres named most: indie rock, rock, jazz, electronic, soul, pop.

The colours of the covers

A stripe for each cover, in the colour Tidal picks from it, sorted by hue; the greys at the end.

Where the music comes from

Music from 10 countries: United States 28, United Kingdom 11, Australia 3, Canada 2, Colombia 1 and 5 more. The deeper the colour, the more albums: one, two to four, five to nine, ten and more.

No. 1–10

No. 11–20

No. 21–30

No. 31–40

No. 41–50

More lists

Lists of Stations first, then others; all of them on the blog. The blog.

68 albums · 1959–2025

The Grammy Album of the Year winners, 1959–2026

· 1 min read

Since 1959 the Recording Academy has given one album a year its highest award, from Henry Mancini's music for Peter Gunn to Bad Bunny's Debí Tirar Más Fotos, by way of Sgt.

Rock 31%Pop 20%Jazz 13%Other 36%
  • Rock 31%
  • Pop 20%
  • Jazz 13%
  • Other 36%

Read and see the list