2021 in Review: Berklee Artists Who Made Best-of-the-Year Lists From indie to progressive pop, minimalist jazz to retro rock, listen to songs by Berklee artists that media outlets from around the world cited as the years best.
By
Bryan Parys
December 21, 2021
Well, 2021 didn't wind up being the full comeback the world had hoped for, but around here, students were able to return to campus, and they brought live music back, cautiously, to many stages. Berklee took an opportunity to take stock of our past, and we moved forward into new educational territory. We were immortalized on the big screen and made Emmy nomination history.
Meanwhile, Berklee artists continue to create music that brings comfort and pushes boundaries. While a complete list would be beyond the scope of one page on the internet, many artists in the Berklee community were namechecked as the best of 2021-some of them numerous times-on lists from major media outlets around the globe. In the following playlist, you can listen to a portion of these musicians. Read on below the playlist to find more information on the artists and the lists on which they appeared.
Credits Arooj Aftab B.M. 10
Pitchfork: Best Albums, no. 12, Vulture Prince
Pitchfork: Best Songs, no. 9, Mohabbat
Pitchfork: Best Jazz and Experimental Music, Vulture Prince
NPR: Best Albums, no. 7, Vulture Prince
The Guardian: Best Albums, no. 20, Vulture Prince
Adrianne Lenker B.M. 12, Buck Meek B.M. 10, James Krivchenia B.M. 14 (Big Thief)
Pitchfork: Best Songs, no. 15, Best Songs, Little Things
Sarah Tudzin B.M. 14 (Illuminati Hotties)
Consequence of Sound: Best Albums, no. 10, Let Me Do One More
Pitchfork: Best Albums, no. 35, Best Albums, Let Me Do One More
Pitchfork: Best Songs, no. 40, MMMOOOAAAAAYAYA
NPR: Best Albums, no. 19, Let Me Do One More
Rolling Stone: Best Albums, no. 42, Best Albums, Let Me Do One More
The New York Times: Best Albums (Lindsay Zoladz's list), no. 5, Let Me Do One More
Jess Wolfe B.M. 07, Holly Laessig B.M. 07 (Lucius)
Pitchfork: Best Songs, no. 50, I Don't Live Here Anymore, (The War on Drugs featuring Lucius)
Annie Clark 04 (St. Vincent)
USA Today: Best Albums, no. 2, Daddy's Home
Rolling Stone: Best Albums, no. 50, Daddy's Home
The Guardian: Best Albums, no. 27, Daddy's Home
Spin: Best Albums, no. 21, Daddy's Home
Consequence of Sound: Best Albums, no. 50, Daddy's Home
Xenia Rubinos B.M. 06
Pitchfork: Best Albums, no. 33, Una Rosa
Stereogum: Best Albums, no. 33, Una Rosa
NPR: Best Songs, no. 55, Sacude
Spin: Best Albums, no. 28, Una Rosa
Jilian Medford B.M. 15 (IAN SWEET)
Consequence of Sound: Highest-Rated Albums, no. 27, Show Me How You Disappear
Jeff Parker 90
The Quietus: Best Albums, no. 69, Forfolks
Linda May Han Oh, Bass Department
Pitchfork: Best Albums, no. 42, Best Albums, Uneasy (with Vijay Iyer and Tyshawn Sorey)
Pitchfork: Best Jazz and Experimental Music, Uneasy (with Vijay Iyer and Tyshawn Sorey)
Shubh Saran B.M. 14
Pitchfork: Best Jazz and Experimental Music, inglish
Julian Lage 09
Slate: Best Jazz Albums, no. 6, Squint
Esperanza Spalding B.M. 05
NPR: Best Songs, no. 36, Formwela 10
The New York Times: Best Jazz Albums, no. 10, Songwrights Apothecary Lab
The New York Times: Best Albums (John Pareles's list), no. 9, Songwrights Apothecary Lab
Jihye Lee '14 (Jihye Lee Orchestra)
The Guardian: Best Jazz Albums, no. 6, Best Jazz Albums, Daring Mind
JazzTimes: Best Albums, no. 35, Daring Mind
Miguel Zen n B.M. 98
Slate: Best Jazz Albums, no. 7, El Arte del Bolero (with Luis Perdomo)
Joe Lovano '72 '98H (Joe Lovano and Dave Douglas Soundprints)
Slate: Best Jazz Albums, no. 10, Other Worlds
JazzTimes: Best Albums, no. 39, Other Worlds
Related Categories
Playlists
Most Popular
2021 in Review: Berklee Artists Who Made Best-of-the-Year Lists From indie to progressive pop, minimalist jazz to retro rock, listen to songs by Berklee artists that media outlets from around the world cited as the years best.
Latest
Image by Getty Images
Berklee Celebrates Taylor Swift in Signature Series Concert Great American Songbook: Fearless-The Music of Taylor Swift will showcase the diverse talents of Berklee performers in an immersive journey through the career of a living legend.
Applications Open for Berklee in Puerto Rico 2022 Registration for the program launches on February 24 and runs through April 15.
Berklee Online and BreakFree Education Collaborate to Offer Music Courses to Incarcerated Youth The partnership began with an initiative called the Unsung Songwriting Contest.
Read All
Subscribe The latest sounds, stories, and ideas, sent to your inbox weekly.
Most recent headlines
18/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
18/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
18/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
18/12/2025
Long-term agreement includes the SES SCORE platform and hybrid distribution worldwide to deliver more than 5,000 hours of golf tournaments annually featuring th...
18/12/2025
At 7.45pm on 1st January 1926, the precursor to RT , then 2RN, delivered the fledgling new Irish state's first public radio transmission. From those first c...
18/12/2025
Step out of the vault and into the future of gaming with Fallout: New Vegas streaming on GeForce NOW, just in time to celebrate the newest season of the hit Ama...
18/12/2025
December 18 2025, 05:30 (PST) The Movie Experience SLO Becomes First U.S. Exhib...
17/12/2025
Investigative journalists across the Western Balkans and T rkiye continue to con...
17/12/2025
Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame Inducts 10 Industry Icons During Unforgettable ...
17/12/2025
ESPN to Debut MNF Playbook with Next Gen Stats, a New AI-Driven NFL Data-AltCastThe series, powered by Adrenaline TruPlay AI, launches Dec. 22 and runs through ...
17/12/2025
Inaugural Optum Golf Channel Games Debut Under the Lights' in Primetime on ...
17/12/2025
The right playlist is essential on New Year's Eve, building the energy as you get ready and keeping it high as you count down to midnight. This year, Spotif...
17/12/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
17/12/2025
Audiences Watched Over 103 Billion Minutes of TV on Thanksgiving Day
NFL Games ...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
KPop Demon Hunters Stars Visit Berklee for Weeklong Celebration Andrew Choi and EJAE, who voiced the film's main characters and contributed to its soundtr...
17/12/2025
December 17 2025, 17:00 (PST) Dolby and LG Unveil a New Era of Home Audio With ...
17/12/2025
Wednesday 17 December 2025
Heated Rivalry will be coming to Sky and streaming service NOW on 10 JanuaryTurn on cookies to view this content. Go to Privacy opti...
17/12/2025
Back to All News
Inside The Unseen World Of Indian Customs: Netflix Reveals The...
17/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix announces PAPARAZZI KING: the docu series coming to Ne...
17/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils First Look at Jo Nesbo's Detective Hole Pr...
17/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Welcomes Warner Bros. Discovery Board Recommendation
Business
17 December 2025
Global
Link copied to clipboard
After Careful Revi...
17/12/2025
RT has announced that Kathy Fox has been appointed Commissioning Editor with re...
17/12/2025
The Hao AI Lab research team at the University of California San Diego - at the forefront of pioneering AI model innovation - recently received an NVIDIA DGX B...
17/12/2025
Editor's note: This post is part of Into the Omniverse, a series focused on ...
17/12/2025
With the new season of Dancing with the Stars shimmering in the not-too-distant future this New Year, the celebrity and dancer pairings of the twelve couples ha...
16/12/2025
Hawkins has landed on Spotify, just in time for Stranger Things Season 5, Volume...
16/12/2025
Wherever you are, your favorite music and audio content should go seamlessly with you. That's why Spotify has partnered with NAVER Corp, Korea's leading...
16/12/2025
2025 Wrapped arrived bigger and bolder than ever. This year's experience is designed to be ultra personal and shareable, with new features like Wrapped Part...
16/12/2025
Three 12-kilowatt Advanced Electric Propulsion System thrusters, supplied by L3Harris Technologies, form the core of Gateway's propulsion system. Pictured i...
16/12/2025
The challenge facing America's defense industrial base is not just about speed - its about rebuilding the foundation that makes speed possible. Our nations ...
16/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
16/12/2025
SEVILLE, Spain Canal Sur, the public broadcasting service for Andalusia, Spain, has completed a total technology refresh based on Pebble's resilient, softwa...
16/12/2025
NEW YORK Teleprompting hardware provider Telescript International has acquired all software code and intellectual property previously owned by Telescript West. ...
16/12/2025
As cable operators face increased competition from 5G fixed wireless access providers, a new report from Ookla Research finds that T-Mobile is the FWA speed lea...
16/12/2025
Apple has announced a major upgrade to the Apple TV app for device owners outside the Apple ecosystem with news that the Apple TV app for Android now supports G...
16/12/2025
Space42 grows Direct-to-Device partner ecosystem through a Memorandum of Underst...
16/12/2025
16 Dec 2025
VEON Announces Release Date for Full Year and Fourth Quarter 2025 R...
16/12/2025
16 Dec 2025
VEON's Kyivstar Invests in Renewable Energy in Ukraine with Acq...
2021 in Review: Berklee Artists Who Made Best-of-the-Year Lists From indie to progressive pop, minimalist jazz to retro rock, listen to songs by Berklee artists that media outlets from around the world cited as the years best.
