Best music of 2017...so far

It's hard to believe 2017 is halfway over already.

In many ways, the first six months of the year have flown by, but in others, it feels like ages have passed since Jan. 1. So far 2017 has been an unsettling and unsettled year, and that has led to strange new reality, where terrorists target pop music audiences, and leaders snipe at each other over social media instead of working together.

Although most of the albums released in the first half of the year were written before the 2016 election and its successive uproar, the best music of the year manages to reflect the anxiety and search for hope so many are experiencing.

And there's been a lot of great music released in the past six months. So much that you'd be forgiven for missing some of the year's best just trying to keep up with it all. But I'm here to help with my list of 10 best albums you might've missed in the first half of the year. 

Best albums of the year so far (arranged alphabetically)

1. Prisoner – Ryan Adams 

2. Number 1 Angel – Charli XCX 

3. City of No Reply – Amber Coffman 

4. Tourist in This Town – Allison Crutchfield

5. More Life – Drake 

6. Pure Comedy – Father John Misty 

7. We All Want the Same Things – Craig Finn 

8. Crack-Up – Fleet Foxes 

9. The Far Field – Future Islands 

10. The Nashville Sound – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit 

11. Near to the Wild Heart of Life – Japandroids 

12. DAMN. – Kendrick Lamar 

13. Melodrama – Lorde 

14. The Search for Everything – John Mayer 

15. After the Party – The Menzingers 

16. City Music – Kevin Morby

17. Goths – The Mountain Goats 

18. One Foot Out – Nines

19. No Shape – Perfume Genius 

20. Process – Sampha 

21. Big Fish Theory – Vince Staples 

22. From A Room: Volume 1 – Chris Stapleton 

23. Ctrl - SZA

24. Drunk - Thundercat

25. The World's Best America Band – White Reaper