Editor’s Note: The Albumism staff has selected what we believe to be the 110 Best Albums of the 2010s, representing a varied cross-section of artists, genres, and styles. Click “Next Album” below to explore each album in the list or for easier navigation, view the full introduction & album index here.

BRITNEY SPEARS | Glory
RCA (2016)
Selected by Mark J. Marraccini

BUY ON AMAZON

  
    [As an Amazon affiliate partner, Albumism earns commissions from qualifying purchases.]

Glory is, by far, Britney Spears’ most adventurous album. After several career missteps (including 2013’s lackluster Britney Jean), Glory opened a new chapter for Spears where she exerted more control over her sound and unlatched herself from solely trafficking in predictably high BPMs and syrupy ballads for possible hits. Instead, she delivered a wickedly diverse set of songs that stretched her vocal abilities and showed her finally having fun on an album as Burlesque Britney (“Private Show”), Ballsy Britney (“Liar”) and even Buenos Aires Britney (“No Seas Cortes”) characters. Glory challenged whom we thought Britney Spears, the singer and performer, should be and proved that, thankfully, she’s still artistically curious and determined not to let her best days fall behind her.

NEXT ALBUM >

LISTEN & WATCH:

Jamiroquai’s ‘Travelling Without Moving’ Turns 30 | Album Anniversary

Three decades on and despite loads of unwarranted criticism, Jamiroquai’s terrific third studio album still sounds as fresh and invigorating as ever.

Bob Dylan’s ‘Modern Times’ Turns 20 | Album Anniversary

‘Modern Times’ mourns a musical idiom by giving it another good try, because if it’s in your bones, that’s how you grieve stuff anyway.

The Roots’ ‘Game Theory’ Turns 20 | Album Anniversary

The Roots’ seventh studio affair is the disquieted soundtrack to learning you’re in a game engineered for you to lose—a first-person shooter with your weapons removed.