Memorable Album Covers of 2022
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Check out this overview of the most memorable album cover art of 2022. The first three slides contain speaker notes. Album covers played an important role creating a foundation for major music events in 2022, such as the launch of Taylor Swift's "Midnights." My overview shares some of those notable creative moments.
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Memorable Album Covers of 2022
- 1. Memorable Album Covers of 2022 David J. Deal https://davidjdeal.medium.com December 2022
- 5. Florence + the Machine, Dance Fever
- 6. Kojey Radical, Reason to Smile
- 7. Weyes Blood, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow
- 8. Let’s Eat Grandma, Two Ribbons
- 9. King Princess, Hold on Baby
- 10. Noah Cyrus, The Hardest Part
- 12. Harry Styles, Harry’s House
- 14. The Callous Daoboys, Celebrity Therapist
- 15. Amber Mark, Three Dimensions Deep
- 16. Demi Lovato, Holy Fvck
- 17. Rino Sawayama, Hold the Girl
- 18. Avril Lavigne, Luv Sux
- 19. The Mountain Goats, Bleed Out
- 20. Rico Nasty, Las Ruinas
- 21. SZA, SOS
- 24. Lainey Wilson, Bell Bottom Country
- 25. Years & Years, Night Call
- 26. Angel Olsen, Big Time
- 27. Ezra Furman, All of Us Flames
- 28. Willie Nelson, A Beautiful Time
- 29. Fontaines D.C., Skinty Fia
Editor's Notes
- 2022 reminded us of the power of record albums to create events. Harry Style’s Harry’s House united Gen Z listeners around a shared passion like the Beatles did for Baby Boomers back in the day. Beyoncé’s Renaissance dominated social media. Taylor Swift’s Midnights surpassed everyone by becoming a powerful cultural touchstone. Artists everywhere – and their fans -- created bite-sized content on social platforms such as TikTok, which generated incredible reach and visibility for artists and engagement for fans. But record albums, in all their long-form glory, provided the powerful foundations for the content swirl. The albums created career defining statements. And fans responded.
- Beyoncé, Harry Styles, and Taylor Swift all enjoyed their biggest one-week record album sales – and Taylor Swift set a record for the most sales in a week. By the mid-year point, vinyl sales across the board were soaring. It’s impossible to discuss the rise of vinyl without also acknowledging the role that record album covers play. Album-sleeve design plays an essential role in expressing a musician’s vision and sparking curiosity through visual storytelling. In the digital age, album cover art is even more valuable. The cover art is like a totem that appears in both the physical (the album itself, merchandise, clothing, billboards, etc.) and digital world.
- Memorable album covers of 2022 told compelling visual stories and created visually arresting images that made the artists sometimes larger than life (witness Beyoncé’s Lady Godiva stunning homage on Renaissance) and sometimes more intimate and personal, as Taylor Swift demonstrated with Midnights. But they all unleashed the power of the artist. I hope you enjoy my roundup of memorable album cover art.
- The vinyl resurgence continued at a furious pace in 2021. By midyear, vinyl sales were up 94 percent from the year before. The week ending December 2 (which included Black Friday) marked second-largest week of vinyl sales since MRC Data began tracking sales in 1991. The popularity of vinyl also underlined the importance album cover art, with online sites such as Our Culture and Exclaim devoting articles to the best and worst album covers of the year. Album sleeve design plays an essential role in expressing a musician’s vision and sparking curiosity through visual storytelling. In the digital age, album cover art is even more valuable. The cover art is like a totem that appears in both the physical world (the album itself, merchandise, clothing, billboards, etc.) and digital (an artist’s website, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, Tumblr, Twitter, etc.) Album cover art can also inspire a musician’s followers to create their own fan art based on the original sleeve. The cover becomes a digital totem.
- As I have done for the past few years, I’ve created my entirely subjective round-up of the most memorable album covers of 2021. These are neither the worst nor the best. The simply made a powerful impression and stuck with me like a musical earworm. The memorable covers of 2021 reflected a pervasive sober realism. The covers reflected many artists who emerged from the oppressive isolation and tumult of 2020 by facing the world head-on, such as Cautious Clay’s portrait on the cover of Deadpan Love or Lily Konigsberg’s Lily We Need to Talk Now. Billie Eilish’s Happier Than Ever, focusing on Eilish’s tear-stained face, expressed Gen Z angst perfectly. Happier Than Ever also inspired a cottage industry of fan art. But there was plenty of room for whimsy and humor, such as Baby Queen’s The Yearbook and Lil Nas X’s Montero. Lorde’s Solar Power expressed a carefree spirit that spoke to the album’s theme. St. Vincent’s Daddy’s Home was a provocative retro throwback. But on the whole, the albums that stayed with me felt simple, direct, and sometimes humble, like Joy Orbison’s Still Slipping Volume 1, which looked like a scene from a Charles Bukowski short story. They all spoke to me. I hope they speak to you, too.
- What are your favorite album covers of the year, and why? Drop me a line at davidjdeal@gmail.com. I’d love to hear from you.