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June 2026 Roundups: The Best Albums of the Month
June 2026 buried the rest of the year in two weeks. Seventy-some records deep, and the drop-off doesn’t start anywhere near the bottom.
Jun 30
•
Shatter the Standards
3
1
Nobody’s Rushing to Say I Love You
Daye stretches a come-on, Muni can’t get the words out, and Dixon would rather lose than cry. Plus, Harnett learns love like a second language, and…
Jun 28
•
Soulpolitan
6
1
The Handguide to R&B Concept Albums (‘70s Edition)
By the decade’s end, the “concept album” had become a proving ground where Black artists negotiated technology, politics, and commerce on their own…
Jun 24
•
Shatter the Standards
,
Brandon O'Sullivan
, and
Phil
12
1
6
Masego Needs a Minute and Kelela Needs Nine Years
Masego grieves on a studio deadline, Dawn Richard goes giddy with Durand Bernarr, and Kelela frees a song she’d kept in a drawer since 2016.
Jun 21
•
Soulpolitan
6
New Rap from Rapsody, Nipsey Hussle, and Maxo Kream
Rapsody crowns the afro, YG opens a men’s group, and Maxo Kream skips the therapist.
Jun 16
•
Words Past da Margin
5
Nobody’s Coming to Save Us, So Dance Anyway
A four-time Grammy nominee gets political, a Hackney busker stalls at the edge of love, and three women sing themselves out of bad situationships.
Jun 14
•
Soulpolitan
4
2
The R&B of 2016, Ten Years On
A special look back at the year R&B got strange. Mýa funded her own Grammy nominee, Sean and Jhené played a couple falling apart in real time, a…
Jun 10
•
Soulpolitan
9
3
What Happens When R&B Stops Pretending to Be Chill
Steve Lacy narrates his own heartbreak, Fana Hues isn’t sure she’d know love if it hit her, Ama runs the seduction, FLO threatens a boyfriend, and BOY…
Jun 7
•
Soulpolitan
5
2
Our Favorite R&B Songs of 2026 So Far
The hits are not the story this year. The sleepers are, and 2026 buried more gems in deluxe editions, and stray singles than most full albums hold.
Jun 4
•
Shatter the Standards
and
Asa McKenzie
8
6
The 75 Best Albums of 2026 So Far
No filler, no genre silos, no other list in its weight class. Seventy-five records make 2026 impossible to call a slow year. Match this range if you…
Jun 4
•
Shatter the Standards
6
2
The 50 Best Rap Albums of 2026 So Far
Rap had its best year in recent memory, and the discourse spent it relitigating one major-label letdown nobody plays for fun. It could have run a…
Jun 2
•
Shatter the Standards
17
3
1
The 50 Best R&B Albums of 2026 So Far
Anyone still typing that R&B is dead skipped the part where fifty of its best albums showed up before the year hit its midpoint. Veterans came back…
Jun 2
•
Shatter the Standards
9
1
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