The xx

The 50 best albums of 2022

In an unprecedented year of change in music, albums of all genres confounded expectations – from vulnerable rap to pop with gravitas. Listen your way to our No 1 album of the year

Safi Bugel, Shaad D'Souza and Laura Snapes

23, Dec, 2022 @9:59 AM

Oliver Sim: Hideous Bastard review – raw frankness on xx singer’s solo debut

Though he struggles to match the devastating lead single, Sim reveals new emotional range

Damien Morris

04, Sep, 2022 @2:00 PM

Oliver Sim: ‘The way I dealt with shame in the past hasn’t worked at all’

Prior to his first solo album, the xx’s musician opens up about queerness, his love for horror baddies, and why he is finally a believer in sharing – in real life and in music

Interview by Shaad D'Souza

24, Aug, 2022 @11:00 AM

The xx's Romy: 'I can now write about loving a woman and not feel afraid'

Her forthcoming solo album is a love letter to formative years of queer clubbing and 00s Euro-dance, as the singer swaps black clothes and bleak moods for Technicolor euphoria

Aimee Cliff

27, Nov, 2020 @6:00 AM

The 100 best albums of the 21st century

We polled 45 music writers to rank the definitive LPs of the 21st century so far. Read our countdown of passionate pop, electrifying rock and anthemic rap – and see if you agree

Ben Beaumont-Thomas (1-50); Laura Snapes and April Curtin (51-100)

13, Sep, 2019 @8:00 AM

Every Mercury prize-winning album – ranked!

Following the announcement of this year’s nominees, we run the rule over the 26 albums that have earned the crown, from Klaxons and James Blake to M People and Talvin Singh

Dave Simpson

26, Jul, 2018 @10:45 AM

Tainted love: how Drake started pop’s erotic comedown

In music, the joy of sex has been supplanted by nihilism and melancholy. Has the digital age made pop lose its loving feeling?

Paul Flynn

15, Jul, 2018 @7:00 AM

Parklife festival review – Manchester turns night to day with punishing party energy

Liam Gallagher is incongruous, but prompts massive singalongs, while the xx and Confidence Man are other big successes

Daniel Dylan Wray

11, Jun, 2018 @12:44 PM

All Points East review – Björk brings life to corporate festival newcomer

Big-hitting headliners such as LCD Soundsystem and Lorde made the first All Points East a success, but thin afternoon bills and a fuzzy identity didn’t help

Rachel Aroesti

28, May, 2018 @10:10 AM

Bon Iver, Frank Ocean and … Shania Twain? Here are the most influential artists in music today

To mark Bon Iver’s reissue of his super-influential debut, Guardian music writers make the case for the musicians they think have had the biggest sway on music right now

Yomi Adegoke, Rachel Aroesti, Ben Beaumont-Thomas, Harriet Gibsone, Michael Hann, Kate Hutchinson, Alex Macpherson, Alexis Petridis, Dave Simpson, Luke Turner

01, Mar, 2018 @6:17 PM