In the race for our collective musical attention, rap is currently enjoying a victory lap. And with this dominance comes abundance or, more precisely, overabundance. There are so many different artists and so much music to choose from that the catchalls “hip-hop” and “rap” strain to contain all of the genre's permutations. We have surveyed this sprawling landscape for the most innovative, meaningful, and singular rap releases of 2018.

The following alphabetically arranged list of albums includes rap releases found on Pitchfork’s main year-end list as well as 20 additional albums that did not make that list but are just as worthwhile.

Listen to selections from this list on our Spotify playlist and Apple Music playlist.