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

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.

1. Charli XCX
2. Beyonce

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

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.