Interscope
Kendrick Lamar's "DAMN."
We're halfway through the year in music, and 2017 has already produced a number of innovative albums from acclaimed artists.Critical heavyweights like Kendrick Lamar and The XX started the year off strongly with "DAMN." and "I See You," their respective, critically lauded LPs.
Last week, New Zealand singer Lorde entered the fray with "Melodrama," her second studio album, and critics are already regarding it as one of the year's best works.
To get a full picture of 2017's critical consensus in music, we turned to review aggregator Metacritic for a comprehensive list of the most acclaimed albums of the year so far.
Note: Metacritic's album ranking excludes free albums, mixtapes, and reissues.
Here are the 20 best albums of the year so far, according to critics: