WASHINGTON — Keeping up with new music takes a lot of work and a certain amount of obsession. It’s so easy to put that one decades-old album on repeat that helped you get through a breakup or replay your favorite rapper’s debut mixtape from 2010.

But you also miss out on tons of compelling, daring, necessary new music that could be your next most-played album.

With that in mind, WTOP’s Noah Frank and Teta Alim have put together a list of this year’s best albums, from the overlooked to the critically acclaimed, spanning many music genres. Their tastes don’t often overlap, so you’ll be sure to get a wide range of new music from this year’s finest.

Editor’s note: Some of the songs have explicit lyrics. 

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