A Debut is a first album by an individual as leader or primary contributor. Groups should not be considered, although we might accept a first group album if no member of the group has a previous album as leader, primary contributor, or member of some other group. That said, we allow some degree of discretion to critics to ignore especially obscure disqualifying albums. A good rule of thumb is that any artist who has received any votes in an earlier poll is no longer eligible to be considered under Debut. Votes for clearly ineligible artists are routinely rejected. On the other hand, if an artist is eligible, and releases more than one record in the year, we don't insist that only the first release is eligible.
Critics were asked to designate any albums from their New Albums list that should be counted here. They were also asked to list up to 3 additional albums to count here. The lists are in the order provided, but there is no point system.
The listings are sorted by votes (at the end of the line). There is also a Notes section at the bottom of the page.
Total albums receiving votes: 0
Albums that also received votes in 2023. These are sorted by total votes for the two years.