In 2024, the most memorable country albums were the projects that fell on one end or the other of a stylistic extreme.

Some of the biggest splashes came from young-gun traditionalists, who released stone-cold, fiddle-and-steel-soaked classic country albums. Zach Top and Ella Langley were two artists who reminded country listeners of the golden days of the genre this year, putting out projects that celebrate the genre’s history and proving that there’s always room for more classic country music, even in an ever-changing format.

But for every great old-school country album from a fresh artist, there was another project that underscores just how much country music has grown.

2024 brought two watershed country albums from two megastars outside the genre: Post Malone and Beyoncé.

Both these artists had fans anticipating their country albums for months — if not years — before finally releasing them. And both artists put out collections that were worth the wait. In two completely different ways, these out-of-genre superstars delivered remarkable reinterpretations of the format, challenging listeners’ perceptions of what a country song can be.

Those challenges of what country music is — and what it can do — also came from inside the genre. With artists like Jelly Roll shifting the canon of what it means to deliver three chords and the truth, the genre’s new crop was more forward-thinking than ever before in 2024.

One important footnote: 2024 was a banner year for special projects, tribute albums, compilations and soundtracks in country music. This list is focused on more straight-ahead studio albums. However, honorable mentions go to the soundtrack for the Twisters movie — featuring incredible contributions from Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert, Kane Brown and more — and Petty Country, an expansive Tom Petty tribute album that offers 20 country artists from across the genre delivering their country-rooted take on Petty’s essential American songbook.

Read through the list below for Taste of Country’s countdown of the 10 best country albums of 2024.

These albums were selected by staff writers with a diverse palate of tastes, but almost every contributing writer mentioned the album that’s listed in the No. 1 spot. Flip through to the end to see if our No. 1 matches your No. 1!