It probably sounds something like the inside of your head this year, after you roll out of bed in the morning to find yourself instantly on the clock again. Following a pounding instrumental lurch that Imagine Dragons probably could’ve used for their next album, Pop Evil frontman Leigh Kakaty spends the chorus lamenting “ALL I DO, ALL I DO IS WORK!,” triggering a cacophany of grinding beats and hooks in the process. ANDREW UNTERBERGERĪn accidental quarantine anthem for those of us who’ve (permanently?) lost any sense of home life and office life balance.

Fine Line kickoff “Golden” has spent 12 months in our lives as an impossibly joyous guitar-led rave-up, and upon its release as a single (with its escapist-even-by-Harry-standards music video) in October, it officially became the fist-pumpingest radio hit of any genre that your older brother might still feign embarrassment at loving. The world’s biggest rock star still doesn’t get a ton of airplay or respect in the rock world - but from the sound of it, he’s not exactly letting it get him down. Here are our 25 favorite songs from the rock world in 2020 - with a playlist of all 25 at the bottom - and here’s to even wilder times in the genre to come.

The 25 Best Rock Albums of 2020: Staff Picks

Best soft rock