10 Best Rock Album Closers Of The 2020s (So Far)
The decade may have only just started, but these ten albums all ended with a flourish.
Ah, the 2020s, what a decade it's been already.
Donald Trump left office, despite his and his supporters' best efforts, the UK has changed monarchs once and Prime Minister about 30 times, Barbie and Oppenheimer reminded film fans that cinemas still exist, and Elon Musk somehow made Twitter even worse than it already was.
And things aren't even halfway over!
At this point, nobody would be surprised if the 2020s ended with an alien invasion, a giant meteor strike, and a nuclear war all at once. Whilst that finale is impossible to predict, at least the world of music has given people some much better, less catastrophic endings to enjoy.
Rock music in the 2020s has outdone itself, with amazing albums coming out seemingly all the time. All those albums have a final song (naturally), and some have certainly been better than others. These ten, for example, all did a wonderful job in bringing their records to a fitting close.
As per usual, "closer" means the last track on an album, which includes bonus songs and hidden pieces. If it was the last thing a listener heard, then it is eligible. It really is as simple as that.
10. The Loneliest - Måneskin (Rush!)
After finishing runners-up on the Italian version of The X Factor, glam rock revival act Måneskin used another TV format to elevate their stock even higher.
The band won the 2021 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, becoming the first rock group to do so since the heady days of Lordi and Hard Rock Hallelujah. And they won without any monster costumes, which is seriously impressive.
They put out their first album since the victory in early 2023, giving it the English title of Rush!, in contrast to their previous Italian-named output.
Because once you're globally famous, you gotta speak English apparently.
Rush! performed well across Europe and in the United States, thanks to some sharp songwriting and a guest appearance from Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello. It closes with The Loneliest, a sweeping love ballad that could have come right out of the 1980s.
Like everything about this band, The Loneliest is a great throwback, evoking the sound of Guns N' Roses at their sappiest. It serves as a great emotional climax to the album and an indicator that there is still more to come from these rising stars.