Halfway through 2026, the critics have started counting, and a pattern shows. We read three of the biggest midyear lists: Billboard, which picked 50 albums and ran its list on June 23; Rolling Stone, which published its picks June 15; and Complex, which ranked 25 on June 11. These are the records that kept turning up, plus two risers from Complex’s list. Each pick appears on at least two of the three lists, except the last three, which are Complex’s alone and flagged as such. The descriptions below are the critics’ takes, credited to them, not ours.
Drake, Iceman
Complex tops its list with it, calling the album the “best album of the year so far,” and Billboard says it “blitzed the charts.” It was the lead record of the three-album drop on May 15, and Rolling Stone’s own pick from that run is Maid of Honour, “the crown jewel” of the barrage. Related: why Drake sat out the 2027 Grammys.
IcemanDrakeListen on Apple Music
BTS, Arirang
The one title all three lists share. Billboard puts the septet’s first new album in over half a decade at three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, including a 641,000-unit first week. Rolling Stone points to producers including Diplo, Flume, Ryan Tedder and Kevin Parker, and to a title borrowed from a Korean folk song. Complex finds lead single “Swim” “a bit underwhelming for a comeback this size,” but says the album has its strengths.
ARIRANGBTSListen on Apple Music
Don Toliver, OCTANE
Complex puts it in its top tier, alongside Iceman and The Fall-Off, and says that, “Outside of Drake, Don Toliver is clearly the rapper of 2026.” Billboard agrees: despite releases from J. Cole, Ye and A$AP Rocky, it’s OCTANE that “remains perched atop rap’s hierarchy.” Both single out “E85” and the syrupy, bass-heavy beats around it.
OCTANEDon ToliverListen on Apple Music
J. Cole, The Fall-Off
Complex also puts it in the top tier, calling it “a love letter to his younger self” if it really is his final album. Rolling Stone says the two-disc opus moves like a novel, with Disc 29 recording his return to Fayetteville at 29 and Disc 39 revisiting it as a married father of two. Both outlets stress how human it is, wit and flaws included.
The Fall-OffJ. ColeListen on Apple Music
Baby Keem, Ca$ino
Both Rolling Stone and Complex treat it as a coming-of-age record. RS says it centers on Keem’s troubled childhood in Las Vegas, and that he “thinks like a producer.” Complex points to the title track, built on an off-kilter, adrenaline-filled beat, and to the groovy “Birds & the Bees.” The standout with his cousin Kendrick Lamar, “Good Flirts,” is on our best songs list.
Ca$inoBaby KeemListen on Apple Music
A$AP Rocky, Don’t Be Dumb
Rolling Stone loves the sprawl: Tim Burton-designed artwork, cameos from Damon Albarn and Danny Elfman, and a Bonnie-and-Clyde turn with Doechii on “Robbery.” Complex is more measured, noting jazz on “Robbery,” punk on “Punk Rocky” and aggressive cuts like “STFU.” Its verdict: “Some of it works. Some of it doesn’t.”
Don’t Be DumbA$AP RockyListen on Apple Music
Olivia Rodrigo, You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love
Billboard says she took her time on this third album and tells the story of one relationship “from start to finish,” and says “some of the songs feel like open wounds.” Rolling Stone calls it her “most complete, musically adventurous album yet” and hears New Wave gods and a lonely-hearted Robert Smith in its fuzz. Smith turned up for the album’s big duet.
You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in LoveOlivia RodrigoListen on Apple Music
Harry Styles, Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally.
Berlin’s techno clubs shaped it, per Billboard and Rolling Stone, and both write up a Styles caught between escapism and self-examination. RS calls the No. 1 smash “Aperture” a celebration of communal release, and calls “Coming Up Roses” “one of his most gorgeously intimate ballads.” Billboard singles out “Season 2 Weight Loss” as one of his most affecting songs.
Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally.Harry StylesListen on Apple Music
Ella Langley, Dandelion
Billboard says the second full-length from the Alabama native debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, bolstered by the career-defining “Choosin’ Texas” and with Miranda Lambert as executive producer. Rolling Stone calls it a “slump-less sophomore LP” and says it has the song craft to back up the hit. More on Ella Langley is on her profile.
DandelionElla LangleyListen on Apple Music
Kehlani, Kehlani
Billboard says the self-titled fifth album is her first Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart-topper, and that its 17 tracks revisit the ’90s and 2000s R&B of her childhood, with Brandy on “I Need You,” Missy Elliott on “Back and Forth” and Usher on “Shoulda Never.” Complex agrees that she is peaking by embracing the music that raised her, and says it feels like a homecoming.
KehlaniKehlaniListen on Apple Music
Hilary Duff, Luck… Or Something
Rolling Stone puts it in one sentence: “a former child star releasing a great comeback album is exceedingly rare.” Her first album in over a decade, made with husband Matthew Koma, is sparkly synth-pop about motherhood, marriage and a glass of orange wine. Billboard says it lands “capital-P Pop,” with songs like “Future Tripping” and “Adult Size Medium.”
luck... or somethingHilary DuffListen on Apple Music
Noah Kahan, The Great Divide
Rolling Stone calls it a 17-track odyssey that asks where you go after Stick Season. Billboard says that, with producers Aaron Dessner and Gabe Simon, Kahan has sharply honed his craft and “brought rock back to the top of the charts.” It adds that the Netflix documentary Out of Body shows how scared he was to follow up.
The Great DivideNoah KahanListen on Apple Music
Vince Staples, Cry Baby
Complex’s list alone includes Staples’ punk pivot, calling it his most experimental album since Big Fish Theory and his first as an independent artist, and writing that “he has never sounded so free.” Here is where he’s taking it on tour.
Cry BabyVince StaplesListen on Apple Music
Slayr, Half Blood
A Complex-only riser. The outlet says Slayr was “birthed from the noisy, chaotic” underground, but his pop sensibilities are strong, with heartfelt melodies on “Brain-Fog” and “Love Blur.” He also racks up production credits as BloodLuxe, layering them over booming trap drums and Game Boy-colored synths.
Half BloodslayrListen on Apple Music
Elmiene, sounds for someone
Also Complex’s alone. It says the 24-year-old, who has “never been in love,” has made the loverboy album of the year: a cozy, gospel-tinged R&B record with delicate songs like “Special” and the tragic ballad “Cry Against The Wind.”
sounds for someoneElmieneListen on Apple Music
Also on the lists
Charli xcx’s Wuthering Heights made Billboard’s staff picks, and Rolling Stone’s list has Robyn’s Sexistential, Jill Scott’s To Whom This May Concern and Slayyyter’s party record. Kacey Musgraves, Luke Combs and Foo Fighters also show up, and Complex’s list adds MIKE and Earl Sweatshirt’s POMPEII // UTILITY, Isaiah Rashad’s IT’S BEEN AWFUL and Brent Faiyaz’s Icon.
Sources
Added to the High Grailed archive on October 12, 2026.
