The top albums of 2024 lists are being rolled out on the regular, so we plucked one from the web for the show to break down.
We love going through lists like these. And since it’s the end of the year, there are plenty to choose from. In fact, if you missed it recently, I quizzed Fred, Hardy and Wallach on the best songs of the 2000s, as we’re now a quarter of the way through the century.
Bringing the focus back to the current year (or the year that just ended, if you’re reading this in 2025), we have Rolling Stone’s latest list: The 100 Best Albums of 2024. They’re not the only outlet with a year-end best-of list, but they’re one of the biggest.
Top Albums of 2024: The Setup
With a list like this, you need to pick where you’re going to dive in. And with a show like ours, if you dive in at the end of the list, you’re going to have a trio of hosts that are confused and pissed off, trying to name a bunch of albums they’ve never heard of.
To avoid such a scenario, I took the Top 20 of Rolling Stone’s Top 100. Then I took the seven albums from that top fifth that I thought Fred, Hardy and Jon would have the best shot at naming if I played them a clip from one of the album’s bigger hit singles.
Top Albums of 2024: The Breakdown
Surprisingly, as you’ll hear above, the boys did better than I expected. And not so surprisingly, Jon Wallach led the pack. Whenever I bring a list like this to the table, Jon comes pretty close to running the table, which is quite impressive.
Scroll down for a sampling of some songs.
