The Freshman 15: 2022's Best Debut Albums

by Jason Dietz, Metacritic Features Editor – December 8, 2022

Next week, we'll release our final overall list of this year's best overall albums. But our ongoing best of 2022 coverage continues right now with a look at this year's top newcomers in music.

Above is our list of the 15 best-reviewed debut albums of 2022, ranked by Metascore. Note that albums must have at least 7 reviews—and be a full-length LP (or mixtape) rather than an EP—to be eligible for inclusion. Albums are ranked by Metascore prior to rounding based on scores as of December 6, 2022.

11 of 16 photo by Cmatbaby

85If My Wife New I'd Be Dead by CMAT

(#5) Dublin-born singer-songwriter Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson impressed reviewers and music fans in her home country and beyond with this self-released debut LP that debuted at #1 in Ireland. It's not often that an artist can be compared to both Kate Bush and Dolly Parton in the same sentence—but that's what NME did in its review of CMAT's poppy, humorous, alt-country album.

“A fully formed debut, replete with big choruses, imaginative song ideas, and enough charm to carry the album’s almost one-hour running time.” —PopMatters

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