Bell Witch – Mirror Reaper

Structurally, is this doom metal, the label always affixed to this Seattle duo, or is it an experimental classical work? Less an album than an 83-minute song that bounces between wall-of-sound reverb and complete minimalism – one note can be held for what feels like an eternity – and just featuring bass, drums, organ and chanted vocals, Mirror Reaper is one of the year’s most formally complex works.

Jennifer Keishin Armstrong

Kelly Clarkson – The Meaning of Life

If you’re like me and 2017 made you want to listen only to women making great, empowering pop music, then the original American Idol winner is your woman, especially in the joyous Whole Lotta Woman and the determined Go High. The record marks Clarkson’s first on a new label after completing the contract she won on Idol, and her liberation shows: She’s left the rock-pop kiss-off genre she perfected with Since U Been Gone and turned in a soulful, fun, rangey set of tunes that revives old-school Aretha’s spirit with just the right modern touch.

Kesha – Rainbow

A sense of bittersweet release floods this rocking third record from Kesha, who was freed from working with producer Dr Luke after she publicly accused him of sexual and emotional abuse. (He has denied the allegations and has sued her for defamation.) Here, she turns her personal struggles into artful triumph, dropping her former persona – the party girl who brushes her teeth with a bottle of Jack – and shining with authentic catharsis. In the standout tearjerker Praying, she walks a satisfying line between hoping for the best for her unnamed tormentor but not letting him off the hook. The rest of the songs go deeper than her previous work without losing her sense of fun and irresistible melody.

Lorde – Melodrama, and Taylor Swift – Reputation

The sometime friends have so clearly influenced each other in recent years that their 2017 albums can be played back-to-back for one long, skillful, insightful, catchy-as-heck glimpse at the highs and lows of being in your 20s. They also share rising producer Jack Antonoff, whose penchant for echoing, spare melodies is likely the biggest influence on this year’s pop thanks to these two women. Lorde’s work is weirder and more intimate than Swift’s, exploring themes of loneliness against a party backdrop; the rock piano and poetic lyrics recall 1990s Tori Amos. On the other hand, Swift chronicles her public feuds and exes, but she also details falling in lust and mature love, exquisitely rendered on standout tracks like Dress and New Year’s Day.

Jay-Z – 4:44

I made an exception to my all-female rule for this revelatory return of Mr Knowles-Carter since this record was so clearly inspired and influenced by his wife, Beyoncé, that she should get an official credit. After his previous few albums had him playing the tough guy he’d once been, here he embraces the successful, but still flawed and struggling, businessman, husband and father he’s long since become. He sounds pained as he cops to infidelity and pensive as he worries about the legacy he’s leaving his children; he turns his wit and entertaining delivery on systemic inequality in Moonlight and The Story of OJ. Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. might be technically better—and Lamar’s ascendance certainly spurred Jay-Z’s evolution – but 4:44 represents a much-needed transition for one of rap’s greats. This is a grown-man record.