The New Sincerest Listens to Apple Music's 100 Best Albums
Each week, The New Sincerest creator Connor Ferguson and contributor Elizabeth Wenger will listen to and re-evaluate one of Apple Music's 100 best albums. Are these albums worthy?
Introduction
On May 13th 2024, streaming service Apple Music took the audacious challenge of declaring the top 100 best albums of all time. Defined by a philosophy that was genre and era agnostic, Apple Music’s list was curated by an internal team alongside a limited array of artists (reportedly including the likes of Charli XCX, Pharrell Williams, Maggie Rogers, among others) in an editorial style, favoring opinion and artistic merit rather than hard statistical data. While countdown lists are as old as the art criticism world itself, and Apple Music’s venture on paper makes sense, the list was met with ire from the industry and everyday music listeners alike: in my personal circles, I heard passing remarks about the list's lack of genre representation (country and indie/alternative are sorely missing from the list’s upper ranks), contemporary favoritism (the newest album, SZA’s SOS, released a little over a year before the list’s publication), and demographic diversity (was this list primarily highlighting English language albums, or music that broke through to the English language market?). From Reddit to Youtube to the public forum, Apple Music was under scrutiny for its declarations.
And now, a year on, here we are at The New Sincerest continuing to question Apple Music’s 100 Best Albums list. Music criticism is inherently recursive, albums and artists and genre zeitgeists constantly requiring reassessment as public favor, sonic trends, and rising stars reframe the court of public opinion. Of course, The New Sincerest is a publication just like Apple Music’s blog (although with far less reach), so subjectivity is still the name of the game, but a year on from the list’s initial publication, we think its time to ask: are these albums worthy for a top-100-of-all-time placement?
What are we doing?
Each week, The New Sincerest creator Connor Ferguson and contributor Elizabeth Wenger will listen to and assess one of Apple Music's 100 best albums. The articles will include the following:
Album/Artist/Release Date/Genre
Star rating from each writer
Key track selections
Review of the album from each writer including reactions, opinions, critical analysis, cultural context, and additional material such as music videos and accolades received
“Is it worthy?” assessment
When?
This article series will be posted every Friday at 8am CST. Make sure you are subscribed to receive alerts for these articles as they go live!
Who?
Connor Ferguson is a multi-genre writer from Iowa. He earned his MFA in Creative Writing and Environment at Iowa State University, and earned his MA and BA in English and Creative Writing from the University of Maine Orono. He’s been nominated for a Pushcart Prize for poetry, and has been published by Fifth Wheel Press, +dot Magazine, and Antler Velvet Literary Magazine. Connor hosts The New Sincerest radio show at KHOI 89.1fm, Ames, Iowa’s local community radio station every Monday from 10am-12pm CST. Connor’s favorite genres are dream pop, R&B, indie pock, dance/electronica, and synthpop. Lately, he’s been listening to Erika de Casier’s album 2025 Lifetime, Pet Shop Boy’s Behavior, and Balearic Beat. He is currently at work researching the intersection of Gothic literature and young adult literature, and is writing a collection of short stories about queer dating in the rural communities of the Midwest and New England.
Elizabeth J. Wenger is a multi-genre writer from Tulsa, Oklahoma. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing and Environment at Iowa State University. She’s been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and a Best of the Net Award. In addition to her creative writing, Wenger has written music reviews for ASLUTZINE and Make Oklahoma Weirder, and art and book reviews for Art Focus Magazine and City Book Review. Wenger’s favorite genres are indie folk, indie rock, indie pop, and dad rock. Lately, she’s been listening to Haim's 2025 album I Quit, Vampire Weekend’s Only God Was Above Us, and the discography of Tears for Fears. You can find more of her work at wengerwrites.com. She is at work on a similar but much slower project by reading reviewing The Modern Library’s Top 100 English Books.
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