Travis Scott - Utopia

Five years passed between Astroworld and Utopia, and they were not quiet ones. Scott spent much of that stretch out of public view following the fatal crowd crush at his 2021 Astroworld Festival, where ten people died. When Utopia finally landed in July 2023, it arrived carrying all of that weight and answered it with maximalism: nineteen tracks, dozens of collaborators, and production dense enough to reward a year of listening.

The reference point everyone reached for was Yeezus, and the comparison holds. "Modern Jam" rides an industrial pulse built with Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo of Daft Punk. "Fe!n" turns a two-note synth stab and a Playboi Carti hook into the most viral rap song of its year. "Meltdown" gives Drake a beat to actually rap over, and "My Eyes" splits itself in half without warning. James Blake, WondaGurl, Ye, Boi-1da, Wheezy, and Tay Keith all contribute, and the guest list keeps going: Beyoncé, The Weeknd, Kid Cudi, Bad Bunny, SZA, Future, 21 Savage, Young Thug, Westside Gunn, Yung Lean, and Dave Chappelle.

It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with 496,000 equivalent album units and held the top spot for four consecutive weeks. All nineteen songs charted on the Hot 100 the same week, with "Meltdown" at number three and "Fe!n" at number five. Notably for anyone reading this in a record store: its 55,000 first-week vinyl sales were the largest ever recorded for a rap album since tracking began in 1991.

This 2LP edition spreads all nineteen tracks across four sides via Cactus Jack and Epic. The biggest rap record of its year, and one that keeps unfolding.