I stumbled upon a treasure trove of incredible albums this year, spanning various genres and artists. Some were suggested to me, while others were featured on CBS Mornings or CBS Saturday Mornings, such as Fridayy, Ayanna, Stan Walker, and boygenius. 

However, what truly amazed me was how I came across the Rap/Hip-Hop collective, MacArthur Maze. It all started when I was researching the MacArthur Maze interchange in the Bay Area. Among the search results, I discovered a YouTube video called Other Side Cypher that had graphics reminiscent of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Intrigued, I delved deeper into their music by exploring more videos.

But what made this discovery even more remarkable was when I unexpectedly crossed paths with Champ Green, one of the members of MacArthur Maze, while running errands at a grocery store only a week or so after discovering their music. During our conversation, I learned that their debut album was set to release about two weeks to a month later. The serendipity of encountering Mr. Green in a store I rarely visit was astounding. I seized the opportunity and asked for an interview, which MacArthur Maze kindly granted. I am deeply grateful for that chance encounter.

I discovered the Hip-Hoptress, Noname, by misspelling something. Throughout the year, I had many other instances where I stumbled upon a plethora of music simply by searching for something else or browsing the new releases on platforms like iTunes or Spotify.

 With such an exquisite selection of music, it was no easy feat to rank the best albums of the year. 

We value your input, so please feel free to share your thoughts with us at contact@devimedia.org if any of these albums resonated with you or if your personal list would have differed.

So, without further ado, here's Devi Media's Top 22 albums for 2023.