Ariana Grande - Thank U, Next [Clear]

Six months after Sweetener, Ariana Grande put out another album. Thank U, Next landed in February 2019, debuted at number one, and briefly gave her the entire top three of the Billboard Hot 100, a feat previously managed only by the Beatles. It was written and recorded fast, largely with Tommy Brown and Max Martin, and the speed is the sound.

The title track had already gone to number one before the album existed, turning a breakup postmortem into a list of thank-you notes. "7 Rings" flipped "My Favorite Things" into a flex over trap drums and became one of the biggest singles of the year. But the record's spine is the quieter material: "Needy" and "In My Head" are unusually honest about the mechanics of anxiety, and "Ghostin" is four minutes of grief so specific it is almost uncomfortable to overhear.

Made in the middle of the most scrutinized stretch of her life, it is an album that turns the scrutiny into the subject and refuses to apologize for any of it. Still the most influential pop record of its year.