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.

15 of 16 photo by Rough Trade

89I Love You Jennifer B by Jockstrap

Metacritic's Official #1 Debut Album of 2022

(#1) One year ago, Black Country, New Road's For the First Time landed on our list of best debut albums of 2021. This year, that band's violinist (and co-vocalist) Georgia Ellery has managed to qualify for our list once again with the debut release of her London-based side project Jockstrap, an electronic pop duo that also includes producer Taylor Skye. Did we say qualify? She's done more than that: Both dancier and more experimental than the work of Ellery's other band, I Love You Jennifer B is the best-reviewed debut LP of 2022.

“This is an astonishing debut album, one to immerse yourself in and live with for weeks, if not months – an intoxicating statement which announces one of Britain’s most exciting new bands.” —musicOMH

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