Billboard, AP, Rolling Stone, Variety, EW, & People Crown Charli XCX’s ‘Brat’ & Beyonce’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ the Best Albums of 2024

Published: Sunday 22nd Dec 2024 by Rashad

The end of every year brings with it the highly anticipated “best of” lists from entertainment’s biggest publications – a tally that often activates stan groups to dizzying heights of delight or disappointment depending on where their faves rank.

This year, the #Angels and #Beyhive (the respective fan groups of Charli XCX and Beyonce) found themselves stacking up bragging rights like no others as the 2024 releases from their divas of choice – ‘BRAT‘ and ‘Cowboy Carter‘ – landed atop the critical year-end lists of some of the industry’s most respected tastemakers.

Look below to see where ‘BRAT’ and ‘Carter’ ranked on the “best albums of 2024” lists of Billboard, EW (Entertainment Weekly), AP (Associated Press), BBC, Rolling Stone, People magazine, and more.

BBC

  1. Charli XCX
  2. Beyonce

“Released in June, Brat became the soundtrack to the summer,” wrote the BBC.

Billboard

  1. Charli XCX
  2. Beyonce

“‘Cowboy Carter’ is not a result of Beyoncé “proving” herself to the gatekeepers of the country genre who previously pushed her away; it’s a repudiation, reclamation and rebuilding of all manner of Americana in the name of Black excellence,” said Billboard’s staff.

The Hollywood Reporter (THR) 

  1. Beyonce
  2. Charli XCX (unmentioned)

“At 27 tracks, ‘Cowboy Carter’ is more than an album. It’s supreme art that also serves as a history lesson,” THR relayed.

Variety

  1. Charli XCX – multiple rankings
  2. Beyonce – multiple rankings

“‘Brat’ is a multimedia phenomenon but it’s all based around this music, which finds Charli not only evolving her sound but also overhauling her lyrical approach with deeply personal commentary as well as character studies,” shared one editor at Variety while another said, “‘Cowboy Carter’ is the type of album to be explored, studied, marveled at — it reveals itself as a finely layered opus with every spin.”

Associated Press (AP)

  1. Beyonce
  2. Charli XCX

“Beyoncé’s ‘Act ll: Cowboy Carter,’ a 78-minute, 27-track masterclass in inherited and uncelebrated histories, pulling from the Black and brown performers at the core of country’s canon, and providing visibility to oft-overlooked progenitor,” posited AP.

Entertainment Weekly (EW)

  1. Charli XCX
  2. Beyonce

“It’s impossible to deny the cultural impact Brat had on 2024. Cheeky, hedonistic, and refreshingly vulnerable, Charli XCX’s slick dirty-pop juggernaut became the lime-green inspiration for countless [memes and more],” said EW.

People

  1. Beyonce
  2. Charli XCX

“Moving from ballroom to honky-tonk, Queen Bey made a country album her way: an ambitious, genre-defying opus,” said People magazine.

Rolling Stone

  1. Charli XCX
  2. Beyonce

“‘Brat’ is not only a hyperpop roller coaster of post-Saturn return, early-thirties anxieties, and It-girl bravado, but it’s also a still growing, evolving project that XCX has continued to build upon with bonus tracks and full remix album that flips the original versions of the songs on their head,” said Rolling Stone.

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  1. Diabetes UNBOTHERED December 22, 2024

    Charli XCX’s ‘Brat’ is 1 overrated ass album

    • Petty Betty December 22, 2024

      Where the was all this love for CC when it came out. Why is it coming from nowhere out of the blue all of a sudden. Something seems off because if all this love was there at the beginning, it would still be on the charts.

  2. Diabetes UNBOTHERED December 22, 2024

    I bet @Love Lies loves BRAT tho, Sonce It is nothing but NOISE. 🗑

    • Love Lies December 22, 2024

      Brat by Charlie XCX is fun and bop album. Cowboy Carter is too serious for me. It’s for more matured audience aka aunties and granny’s. Nothing wrong with that.

      • Diabetes UNBOTHERED December 22, 2024

        Almost ALL albums would be great bodies of works if VIBEZ alone was the criteria. SOS by sza is TRASH, as is Brat.

  3. Diabetes UNBOTHERED December 22, 2024

    1. Lemonade, 4, Dangerously in love, Beyonce (visual album), Renaissance, & Cowboy Carter (6 way Tie for BEST ALBUM)

    2. B’day

    3. I am Sasha fierce

    8 great albums, 0 misses. 🌟

    • Love Lies December 22, 2024

      1. Destiny Fulfilled / I am Sasha Fierce
      2. BEYONCÉ
      3. B’day (Deluxe Edition) / Renaissance
      4. Cowboy Carter
      5. Dangerously in Love

      4 is bionic 2.0 beyoncified version. The only difference is that Ito charted higher and sold more.

      • Diabetes UNBOTHERED December 22, 2024

        B itch i bet yo bootyhole smells like sh💩t h o E, just like yur TASTE in music… or lack thereof. 🎶

    • Love Lies December 22, 2024

      The only songs that I can tolerate in album 4 are:
      1. Party (cute and fun but something is missing)
      2. Schoolin Life (makes sense but meh)
      3. Love on Top (cute single but didn’t like the screaming parts in the end)
      4. End of time (lyrically good but easily forgettable)
      5. Best Thing I Never Had (good video)

      Overall the album is 5/10

  4. Love Lies December 22, 2024

    Brat reminds me of Riri’s Loud. Both commercially successful and fun to hear.

    • Diabetes UNBOTHERED December 22, 2024

      Both 🗑 mid at best.

      • Love Lies December 22, 2024

        Loud or Bionic?

      • Diabetes UNBOTHERED December 22, 2024

        Good question but loud takes the win, its shorter this easier to get through. Doesn’t hurt that I hate xtina’s voice either.

      • Diabetes UNBOTHERED December 22, 2024

        its shorter THUS easier to get through.

      • Love Lies December 22, 2024

        I’m glad you chose Loud lol 😂 Bionic is 4’s twin. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

  5. Fenty world December 22, 2024

    Both flops

  6. Petty Betty December 22, 2024

    Where the was all this love for CC when it came out. Why is it coming from nowhere out of the blue all of a sudden. Something seems off because if all this love was there at the beginning, it would still be on the charts.

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