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.

6 of 16 photo by Lex

84Frank by Fly Anakin

(#10) Fly Anakin is the stage name for Virginia rapper Frank Walton, who has been releasing solo and collaborative mixtapes rather prolifically since 2014. Frank, his first official studio album, was in the works since 2018 but only surfaced this spring following pandemic-related (and other) delays.

“There’s no obvious world-building or self-contained story to give Frank the pomp and circumstance you might expect from a major breakthrough rap record in 2022, but he doesn’t need one. The subtlety and detail of his songwriting does that on its own. The world is his for the taking.” —The Quietus

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