40 of the most anticipated album releases of 2018

The 1975’s Matthew Healy dropped some big names when discussing the Britpop band’s upcoming third album, "Music for Cars," with NME in March – specifically, Radiohead’s "OK Computer" and the Smiths’ "The Queen Is Dead" – so expect a grand gesture from the already ambitious young group.

The post-Lane Staley version of Seattle grunge/hard rock die-hards Alice in Chains soldiers on into 2018—this summer, the band started recording the follow-up to 2013’s well-received "The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here." Don’t pre-order the new album just yet, though—guitarist/songwriter Jerry Cantrell says he and the rest of the band are taking their time. “When we’re ready, we’ll let you know,” he said in an October interview. 

It’s been a year since the darlings of the British music press officially announced that the hiatus they’d been on since 2014 was over. Now the Monkeys are set to finally follow up the critical and commercial success of "AM," which they started recording in September. A new single is expected in early 2018.

The release date for Australian rapper Iggy Azalea’s second album, "Digital Distortion," came and went this summer, to the dismay of fans waiting for the follow-up to her 2014 debut. Now Azalea has announced that she’s left Def Jam, "Digital Distortion" won’t be released, and she’s working on a new set of songs, for a new label, aiming for a 2018 release. 

L.A. alt-rock/synth-pop wizards Awolnation have been teasing their new album for nearly a year. The first single, “Passion,” a bouncy dance-rock jam with echoes of Blur, Queen, and Robert Palmer, was finally released in October; the new album, "Here Come the Runts," is due out on Feb. 2. 

The Georgia metal/rock/prog band Baroness has covered nearly the full spectrum with its album titles so far – "Red Album," "Blue Record," "Yellow and Green," and, most recently, "Purple," in 2015. That really only leaves orange for the next one. The band started writing new material while wrapping up the tour supporting "Purple" and could release a new album – the first with new guitarist Gina Gleason – next year. 

A series of three EPs released in 1997 set up Belle and Sebastian’s 1998 breakthrough album, "The Boy With the Arab Strap." The Scottish indie band’s hoping for similar results 20 years later, with three new Eps, collectively titled "How to Solve Our Human Problems," scheduled for release in December, January, and February, and a compilation release to follow. In a throughly Belle and Sebastian move, the first single from the new records, “I’ll Be Your Pilot,” was inspired by the classic kids’ novel "The Little Prince." 

Never alt-rock’s most prolific band, the Breeders have released only four albums in 27 years– not surprising, given the other commitments that Kim Deal and her rotating cast of bandmates have maintained. Now that Deal has once again departed the Pixies, the Breeders are again her main project, and she’s got most of the original line-up back, too. And there’s new music– the ’90s throwback single “Wait in the Car” – and a new album on the way in 2018. 

The Bronx rapper looks to follow up the runaway success of summer jam “Bodak Yellow” (and a couple of Grammy nominations) with her first full album, set for release in January, according to the Source. 

The Strokes appear to be dormant, at least for the near future. So Julian Casablancas’s weirder, more experimental project looks to be the frontman’s main outlet these days – which means the Voidz’ new album of “futuristic prison-jazz,” scheduled for 2018, is more than just a diversion for Casablancas.

The first single from British pop auteur Charli XCX’s third album was released way back in October 2016. By the time the second single, “Boys,” dropped in July, Charli had already announced that the album, expected this spring, had been pushed back to 2018 – which, considering Charli XCX’s checkered history with her label, could be read as “indefinitely.” The best news for fans is that she’s hinting at a new mixtape, which could drop at any moment. 

Kyle Craft’s debut album,  "Dolls of Highland," sounded like it was released in 1974 instead of 2015, with its glammed-up folk-rock echoing David Bowie, Queen, the Band, Bob Dylan, and the Rolling Stones' "Exile on Main St." “The Ranger” and “Heartbreak Junky,” the two singles released so far from his second album, "Full Circle Nightmare" (due in February) suggest that Craft hasn’t changed his approach, but has refined his songwriting. 

The godfather of modern East Coast hip-hop has announced his pending retirement—but he’s apparently in no hurry to release his final album before riding off into the sunset. "No Way Out 2" – a sequel to Diddy’s 1997 debut, "No Way Out" – was announced in 2015 but has yet to materialize. A new single linked to the record, “Whatcha Gon' Do?,” featuring Rick Ross and a Notorious B.I.G. performance from the vault, surfaced this summer.

En Vogue’s elaborate harmonies, independent-minded anthems, and crossover ballads defined R&B and pop radio in the 1990s. The vocal quartet stands as one of the most successful groups of all-time, but they’ve sputtered through the 21st century with rotating membership and on-and-off reunions. After several false starts, En Vogue will release "Electric Café," their seventh full-length album, in March.

The world-conquering pop-rock band has spent most of 2017 previewing its seventh album, "M A N I A," with four singles released between April and November. This summer, the original September release date was pushed back to January. For once, the delay seemed to serve a valid purpose – the singles suggest Fall Out Boy has honed its arena-sized electronic rock sound to razor sharpness.

Expect more of the same, but better, from the Swedish folk duo First Aid Kit in 2018—"The Lion’s Roar" (2012) and "Stay Gold" (2014) established sisters Klara and Johanna Söderberg as expert mimics of ’70s-inspired indie folk rock. “It’s a Shame,” “Postcard” and “Fireworks,” from the upcoming "Ruins" (Jan. 18), demonstrate a sharper perspective and a wider range of influence, from country to classic ’50s and ’60s pop. 

Not only were the November rumors about her death not true, Aretha Franklin’s been busy making new music. The Queen of Soul has said she hopes to release a new album – featuring collaborations with Stevie Wonder, Elton John, and Lionel Richie – in January. 

Of all the early-aughts bands said to sound like Gang of Four, Wire and Joy Division, Scotland’s Franz Ferdinand have remained most firmly rooted in a late ’70s/early ’80s post-punk aesthetic. “Always Ascending,” from the upcoming album of the same name, sticks to the blueprint but adds some dance-floor pop charms borrowed from Talking Heads, Sparks, and Roxy Music. 

The New York post-punk/alt-rock band Interpol has just completed a tour commemorating the 15th anniversary of its critically acclaimed 2002 debut album, "Turn on the Bright Lights." Now they’ll be looking to the future – the band’s sixth album, and first since 2014, is scheduled for release sometime in 2018. 

Kimbra’s 2014 album, "The Golden Echo," didn’t cash in on the success the New Zealand pop singer-songwriter had enjoyed in 2011 with Gotye on the smash hit “Somebody I Used to Know.” The credits on "Primal Heart," out in January, indicate that Kimbra’s aiming for an eclectic mix of styles – she’s working with Skrillex, indie-rock producer John Congleton, hip-hop producer Salva, and adult-contemporary journeyman Tony Berg.

MGMT’s 2007 major-label debut, "Oracular Spectacular," was a breakthrough for 21st-century synth-rock; after a lengthy period of psychedelic exploration, the band’s fourth album, "Little Dark Age," due out next year, should mark a return to the band’s ’80s electro-pop origins.

Diplo’s electronic world music-inspired production/DJ collective Major Lazer previewed its fourth album with the 2016 single “Cold Water,” featuring vocals by Justin Bieber and a co-writing credit to Ed Sheeran. A few other tracks have followed, hinting at "Music Is the Weapon's" eclectic sound with appearances by Nicki Minaj, Travis Scott, Showtek, and Toots and the Maytals.

For someone as omnipresent as Nicki Minaj, her actual solo discography is pretty slim. But she’s already released three singles in anticipation of her fourth album, the follow-up to 2014’s "The Pinkprint."

The venerable American industrial band has turned to crowd-funding to pay for its provocatively titled new album, "AmeriKKKant," due in March – for $250, you can get an MP3 of Al Jourgensen playing “Happy Birthday” for you. Expect the politically charged title to be matched by the reliably abrasive music. The band’s been playing a topical new song from the album called “Antifa” this year. 

The best-selling country duo act Montgomery Gentry took a terrible blow in September, when Troy Gentry died in an airplane crash. Eddie Montgomery has announced he’s continuing under the name Montgomery Gentry, in tribute to his long-time partner; the last album the two released together, "Here’s to You," is scheduled for a February release.

It was the comeback of comebacks – My Bloody Valentine mastermind Mark Shields had been talking about the band’s third album for more than 20 years when m b v finally appeared, in 2013. Most observers suspected that MBV would never follow up the shoegaze landmark "Loveless," and yet here they come with another album, just five years after the last one.

The punk duo No Age emerged from L.A.’s underground art scene in 2006, promising to upend years of retro rock nostalgia with a hybrid of fuzzy psychedelia, thrashy hardcore, and power-pop hooks. The band is switching from its long-time label Sub Pop Drag City for "Snares Like a Haircut," their first album in almost five years.  

The godfather of heavy metal says he’s returning to his solo career now that the reformed Black Sabbath has once again called it quits. Ozzy says he’s making progress on a new record, but he’s not terribly confident in the business side of music these days – he told Rolling Stone in September that making a record is “wasting money.” 

Maynard James Keenan, of Tool and A Perfect Circle, doesn't work in a hurry. So the release of the goth-industrial single “The Doomed” this fall was a big deal, not just because it’s the first new music by one of Keenan’s main projects in more than a decade but because it heralds a new album from A Perfect Circle some time in the spring. 

>The New Jersey alternative rock band Screaming Females has been on the verge of breakout success for years. The Females’ 2015 album "Rose Mountain"—a beguiling mishmash of Sleater-Kinney, the Breeders, and Fugazi—made numerous best-of lists that year; the follow-up, "All at Once," out in February, could be the one that finally gets one of the best bands you’ve never heard of the exposure it deserves.

It’s almost a law of nature that the prolific garage-rock guitar hero Ty Segall will release new music in any given year. For 2018, he’s starting with "Freedom’s Goblin," a double album out on Jan. 26. “I think I just wanted to make the freest record I could, in the sense of there's no rules for what's going on,” he told the Current. 

Jason Pierce, the psychedelic explorer who’s led the English space-rock band Spiritualized since 1990 (and the legendary Spaceman 3 before that), says the band’s next album – initially due in 2017, now expected some time next year – is probably his last. 

Bruce Springsteen’s next solo album, reportedly inspired by Southern California ’70s pop singers and songwriters like Glen Campbell, Jimmy Webb, and Burt Bacharach, has been in the works since 2012. The Boss has been busy since then, of course – two massive tours with the E Street Band, a memoir, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and his new hit one-man Broadway show. "Springsteen on Broadway" has just been extended into June, though, so the as-yet-untitled new album may have returned to the back burner. 

Maybe 2018 will be the year that RCA finally unveils "Joyride," R&B singer Tinashe’s second album. Joyride has reportedly been ready to go for more than two years – Tinashe’s debut, "2 On," earned much-deserved critical accolades, but the singer has yet to land a bona fide pop hit, leaving her in label limbo. 

Merrill Garbus can find endless variations on the basic theme she exploits as tUnE-yArDs, spinning electronic funk, handmade percussion, intricate overlapping vocals, and squiggly synth melodies into three fascinating albums (so far) of state-of-the-art indie art-pop. "i can feel you creep into my private life," her fourth – and first since 2014 – is due out in January.

Vampire Weekend, rock’s reigning representatives of the Ivy League class, will return for their first album since the Grammy-winning "Modern Vampires of the City" in 2013. "Mitsubishi Macchiato" will also be the band’s first album without former guitarist/keyboardist/singer Rostam Batmanglij – and the first since wunderkind Ezra Koenig turned 30.

Party-hearty positive thinker Andrew WK has been so busy with his extracurricular activities the last several years – a Vice column, the national lecture circuit – that he hasn’t released any music in years, and no proper party-hard jams since 2006’s "Close Calls With Brick Walls." That’s changing in March, with "You’re Not Alone," which the hirsute hard-rock guru promises will lead listeners on a journey of “self-actualization.”

"The Black Album" – intended as a companion piece to 2016’s "White Album" – was expected to be the next Weezer record. But then along came "Pacific Daydream," the veteran alternative band’s surprise October release, which almost no one was expecting. Rivers Cuomo says "The Black Album" is still on the way – it’s due in May. 

No one ever released an album the way Kanye West unveiled "The Life of Pablo" in 2016 – and the chaotic, unpredictable unveiling matched the music on West’s weird, inspired, indecipherable album. More music was promised in the wake of "Pablo" – whether 2018 will be the year it finally emerges, or whether West has some other unpredictable project ahead, is something only the enigmatic rapper knows for sure. 

Over the last decade, Jack White has become the pope of retro rock, advocating for analog recording technology and vinyl in the era of software and streaming. He’s such an available and opinionated commentator that it’s easy to forget he still makes music. We’ll all be reminded in 2018, when White releases his third solo album – “It’s a bizarre one,” Billboard has reported him saying.