From Stone Roses recapturing their intimate heyday, to big-budget Grimes, to Darren Hayman entrancing a Nottinghamshire village hall – these were the shows our writers loved in 2016

It was off-kilter, lacking a big chorus and even weaved in a dubious 80s ballad. Work also clicked perfectly, capturing two of the era’s defining artists and a song all the more infectious for its rule-defying restraint

Beyoncé’s vivid discourse on infidelity and race – with equally brilliant film accompaniment – was lacerating, astute and emphatically disruptive, turning her from mere pop superstar into an avenging angel

The R&B trailblazer’s second record attempted nothing less than living up to the pan-racial, genre-straddling reality of 21st-century youth culture. No wonder we had to resize our imaginations to match

Whether or not David Bowie was reading his own runes, his final album was an incandescent flare of creativity that stands with his very best

By turns brilliant and shambolic, breezy and anguished, Pablo was a perfect reflection of its maverick creator’s mindset

The younger Knowles sister needed to get something off her chest. What came out was an album billowing with hope and sadness for blackness in the US

The musician formerly Antony Hegarty returned with staggeringly beautiful protest songs that are escapist as well as subversive

In the year of Bowie’s death, Héloïse Letissier’s triumphant crossover record was a salutary reminder that pop can be inspirational and comforting

It won the Mercury prize and sold grime to a new generation – most of all, the rapper’s debut album made British music cool again

Was Radiohead’s ninth album the sound of them opening up? An accidental soundtrack to the era of Trump? Whatever the answer, it was one of their best

Mavericks were lost, Dylan bagged a Nobel (and then went quiet), the Knowles sisters sparkled, and grime moved centre stage

The Guardian music critics’ favourite albums of the year