This year could have been big for the pop star about-turn. Instead the one-percenters stumbled with albums that were rep-obsessed, pratfallingly woke, or atoning for their past with beige acoustic music. But this doesn’t mean great pop didn’t prevail. While shrinking playlists and homogenization made radio tough grounds for many (particularly women and especially black female artists), there was no shortage of vibrant music happening in the corners, outside the traditional boundaries of pop and R&B, and in the fertile zone between them. Top 40 newcomers wrote bluntness and complication onto their blank slates. Long-in-the-making R&B debuts delivered with forward-thinking arrangements, incisive introspection, and vibrant personality. And there was at least one good pop star about-turn—it just happened to come from one of rock’s best guitarists, St. Vincent.

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