2022 is upon us, and a new day has dawned on the music landscape, with artists lining up to make 2022 another great year sonically. The first full week of the new year saw The Weeknd’s Dawn FM release, a follow up to his critically and commercially successful project, After Hours. This time, a cast consisting of Jim Carrey, Quincy Jones, Lil Wayne, Tyler, The Creator, Oneohtrix Point Never, Calvin Harris, Swedish House Mafia, Josh Sadfie, and Max Martin join the Canadian singer to create yet another synthesizer-driven nod to the 80s.

Looking forward to what’s next this year in music, a multitude of genres are represented in the anticipated releases of 2022, especially in hip-hop. From Kendrick Lamar’s to-be-determined album, to Earl Sweatshirt’s Sick! (already released at the time of publishing), to Danny Brown’s Quaranta, 2022 is chock-full of both rumored and confirmed projects for rap fans.

Fans of pop are looking forward to Charli XCX’s next release, Crash, which is expected to come out in March. Continuing from 2020’s How I’m Feeling Now, the maximalist pop sound from her previous projects should continue to receive acclaim.

Black Country, New Road is planning on releasing Ants From Up There, which is a heavily anticipated rock album. The relatively new band has already received high praise, having only been formed in 2018.

Additional big names planning on releasing new projects include SZA, Lizzo, Mitski, Normani, Saba, and Cardi B. Taylor Swift could possibly make two new albums, one being a Taylor’s Version, but this is admittedly less likely than the other artists.

It will be hard to top 2021’s list of great albums, no matter the star power lined up for 2022, as projects such as Injury Reserve’s By The Time I Get To Phoenix and Sometimes I Might Be Introvert by Little Simz received high praise. Huge names like the aforementioned Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Kanye West, Drake, and Ed Sheeran were also featured on the year-end charts. Whether you were looking for big name appeal or critical acclaim, 2021 had a variety of great projects, but 2022 is looking equally promising (if not more so).