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
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
22/07/2026
Among other tweaks to coverage, the broadcaster added announce positions in the ...
22/07/2026
The Australian Sports Technologies Network (ASTN) has reported a sharp acceleration in Australia's sportstech sector, with revenue growth rising from 10% in...
22/07/2026
From a retrofitted broadcast bus to packed Match Day Live! events, Bennett detai...
22/07/2026
TMRW Sports has named Brendan Donohue as President, Flag Football, where he will lead the company's professional flag football business in partnership with ...
22/07/2026
Stephen Arnold Music (SAM) designed and produced soundtracks for nine projection...
22/07/2026
Harmonic has announced a $25,000 donation to Global Empowerment Mission (GEM) fo...
22/07/2026
Telemundo has announced it has acquired from UC3 exclusive U.S. Spanish-language...
22/07/2026
The Rest Is Football, hosted by Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, and Micah Richards, ...
22/07/2026
Sports Studio has announced a partnership with TheSoul Group to distribute Free ...
22/07/2026
Daktronics has concluded its 2026 High School Video Summit, a two-day hybrid event combining virtual sessions with hands-on host school visits across the countr...
22/07/2026
FOR-A America will exhibit at the MMCA Show in Pensacola, Florida (July 21-24), marking the company's first appearance at the house of worship AV event. FOR...
22/07/2026
The New York Yankees have selected Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN) to connect Ya...
22/07/2026
Calrec will exhibit at IBC 2026 (Stand 8.C47) with demonstrations of its IP-native audio ecosystem built around the Argo console range, and will announce two ne...
22/07/2026
Solid State Logic has announced the appointment of Algam EKO as its distributor for SSL large format consoles in Italy, covering the Live, Broadcast, and Studio...
22/07/2026
FloSports has announced the launch of the FloSports Channel, a free ad-supported streaming channel premiering on Prime Video in the U.S. on July 21. The channel...
22/07/2026
Banana Ball TV (BTV), the broadcast operation of the Savannah Bananas, has insta...
22/07/2026
SiriusXM and Audacy have announced an agreement bringing 42 Audacy sports, news, and talk stations from 29 U.S. markets to SiriusXM. Twenty-three Audacy sports ...
22/07/2026
The collaboration produced more than 500 short-form videos across four cities th...
22/07/2026
At 2,600 sq. ft., the new home of digital content houses a main studio, podcast space, and an auxiliary control room
NFL franchises are accelerating their prod...
22/07/2026
Library now available in Engine Player
Another of Eduardo Tarilonte's popular sample libraries has just been moved over to Engine Audio's Engine Pla...
22/07/2026
All-in-one mic & DSP interface overhauled
Cloudvocal have just refreshed the design of their all-in-one mic, audio interface and DSP processor, introducing ...
22/07/2026
The final boss of the lost dual-op-amp circuit
Electro-Harmonix have just introduced the Deluxe Big Muff Pi 2, which they say offers their latest take on t...
22/07/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Proven managed IP solution helps broadcasters confidently navigate the future of broadcast distribution
LTN announces it has completed successful satellite-to-...
22/07/2026
Today, Chaos announced V-Ray 7, update 4, eliminating the need for asset conversions and tool switching, which slow down media and entertainment pipelines. Arti...
22/07/2026
An AI playground for the Project Indigo camera app
Marc Levoy July 22, 2026
0 Comments
At left is the user interface of our Playground, running on an ...
22/07/2026
Custom Consoles announces the completion of a large technical furniture project for Radio T l vision Suisse (RTS) at the networks recently inaugurated productio...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Culver City, CA, July 21, 2026 3D streaming infrastructure provider Miris today announced glTF intake, including the binary .glb form, to its spatial streamin...
22/07/2026
Documentary Lo Invisible Captured with Blackmagic PYXIS 6K
Brie Clayton July 21, 2026
0 Comments
Camera's versatile design allowed filmmakers to c...
22/07/2026
AAF Bridge converts AAF and XML Timelines to Ableton Live - and back
Jerome Gardier July 21, 2026
0 Comments
A two-way converter for macOS and Windows...
22/07/2026
From Class to Concert: Explore a Student-Led Production of David Bowies Work Thr...
22/07/2026
A poisoned spy, a secret war, and a small English city contaminated by a deadly chemical weapon. Available on Sky Documentaries from 4 AugustWednesday 22 July 2...
22/07/2026
Audio at Parity: Comscore Launches Transcript-Level Targeting and Measurement wi...
22/07/2026
Arvato Systems and Lobster Enter into a Partnership and Combine the Integration Platform and Managed Services
Flexible integration solutions for cloud, hybrid...
22/07/2026
RT REPORTS NET SURPLUS OF 22.5 MILLION IN 2025...
22/07/2026
In the Opinion of the Censor airs Monday 27 July at 9.35pm on RT One and RT Player
In the Opinion of the Censor looks at how films for theatrical release wer...
22/07/2026
Before a healthcare robot can be useful in the real world, it has to learn how the physical world pushes back. Anatomy varies. Instruments bend, press, slip and...
21/07/2026
New research involving a cross-section of Mongolias independent media landscape finds enthusiasm for AI as a tool to improve efficiency, sustainability and resi...
21/07/2026
With winners Spain having already paraded the World Cup trophy through Madrid in front of millions of fans and the dust now settling on an epic tournament of th...
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.
