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.

13 of 16 photo by XL Recordings

86A Light for Attracting Attention by The Smile

(#3) Is it a new Radiohead album, or a debut from a new artist? Technically, it's the latter, though The Smile does feature Radiohead's frontman (Thom Yorke) and guitarist (Jonny Greenwood), joined by jazz drummer Tom Skinner (of Sons of Kemet) and longtime Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich. Their debut album—written in part during the COVID lockdown—may be the best release by a Radiohead side project to date. The fact that it pretty much sounds like a Radiohead album probably doesn't hurt.

“A delicately-crafted work fusing experimentalism and sheer sonic beauty, A Light For Attracting Attention stands proudly on its own merits as a top-tier piece of art rock, connections to a certain critically and publicly acclaimed band aside.” —Sputnikmusic

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