I collected over 17 lists of Best Music of 2018 from the Internet, newspapers and magazines and compiled them into one meta-list. Here are the results: every recording on three or more of the original source lists, organized by rank (that is, with the albums on the most lists at the top).
Note 1: I have provided genre descriptions of the artist from Wikipedia as a guide.
Note 2: These are not my personal opinions. I have not listened to all this music.
Note 3: An asterisk means I own the CD.
On 17 lists
Janelle Monáe – Dirty Computer (funk/R&B/soul/hip hop)*
On 12 lists
Mitski – Be the Cowboy (indie rock)*
On 10 lists
Kacey Musgraves – Golden Hour (country/pop)*
Pusha T – DAYTONA (hip hop)
On 9 lists
Courtney Barnett – Tell Me How You Really Feel (indie rock/alt rock)*
Kamasi Washington – Heaven and Earth (jazz)*
On 8 lists
Cardi B – Invasion of Privacy (hip hop)
Robyn – Honey (electropop/synth-pop)
Kali Uchis – Isolation (R&B/neo-soul/pop)
Parquet Courts – Wide Awake (indie rock/post-punk/garage rock)*
On 7 lists
Soccer Mommy – Clean (pop rock/indie rock/low-fi)*
Noname – Room 25 (hip hop/jazz rap/neo-soul)
Ariana Grande – Sweetener (pop/R&B)
On 6 lists
Blood Orange – Negro Swan (R&B/electronic/indi rock/funk)*
Wayne Shorter – Emanon (jazz)
Low – Double Negative (indie rock/slowcore/dream pop)
Snail Mail – Lush (indie rock)
Father John Misty – God’s Favorite Customer (indie rock/indie folk/folk rock)
U.S. Girls – In a Poem Unlimited (experimental pop)
Beach House – 7 (dream pop/indie rock)
Rosalía – El Mal Querer (new flamenco/alt R&B/art pop)*
Elvis Costello – Look Now (power pop/new wave/pub rock)
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Sparkle Hard (indie rock)*
Christine and the Queens – Chris (synth-pop/art pop/electropop)
Sons of Kemet – Your Queen Is a Reptile (jazz/world)*
On 5 lists
The 1975 – A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships (indie pop/electropop/alt rock)*
IDLES – Joy as an Act of Resistance (punk rock/post-punk)
Lucy Dacus – Historian (indie rock)*
Young Fathers – Cocoa Sugar (hip hop)*
Arctic Monkeys – Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino (indie rock/garage rock/post-punk revival)
On 4 lists
Mary Gauthier – Rifles and Rosary Beads (folk/country/Americana)*
John Coltrane – Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album (jazz)
Julia Holter – Aviary (art pop/baroque pop/ambient)
SOPHIE – OIL OF EVERY PEARL’S UN-INSIDES (electronic/dance pop/avant-pop)
Yo La Tengo – There’s A Riot Going On (indie rock/noise pop/shoegaze)
Courtney Marie Andrews – May Your Kindness Remain (indie pop/folk/country/Americana)
John Prine – The Tree of Forgiveness (country folk/bluegrass/Americana)
Spiritualized – And Nothing Hurt (space rock/neo-psychedelia/shoegaze)
Vince Staples – FM! (hip hop)
Hop Along – Bark Your Head Off, Dog (folk rock/indie rock/emo/acoustic rock)
Pistol Annies – Interstate Gospel (country)
Neko Case – Hell-On (indie rock/alt country/Americana)
Travis Scott – Astroworld (hip hop/trap)
Sleep – The Sciences ( )
On 3 lists
Daughters – You Won’t Get What You Want (noise rock)
MGMT – Little Dark Age (indie rock/synth-pop/neo-psychedelia)
Colter Wall – Songs of the Plains (Americana/folk/outlaw country)
Cat Power – Wanderer (indie rock/electric blues/lo-fi/sadcore)
Cecile McLoren Salvant – The Window (jazz)
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – Hope Downs (indie pop/indie rock)
Iceage – Beyondless (post-punk/art punk/noise rock/post-hardcore)
Flasher – Constant Image (punk rock/indie rock)
Angelique Kidjo – Remain in Light (world/Afropop/Afrobeat)*
Khruangbin – Con Todo El Mundo (world/psychedelia/soul/funk)*
Christian Tetzlaff – Bartok: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 (classical)*
Ólafur Arnalds – re:member (classical/experimental/electronica/ambient)*
Phosphorescent – C’est La Vie (indie rock/indie folk/alt rock)
Hookworms – Microshift (neo-psychedelia/noise rock/drone rock)
The Breeders – All Nerve (alt rock)
Ty Segall – Freedom’s Goblin (garage rock/lo-fi/punk rock)
Ryley Walker – Deafman Glance (indie folk/psychedelic rock/blues)
Jon Hopkins – Singularity (electronica/IDM/ambient)
Shame – Songs of Praise (alt rock/post-punk)
Prince – Piano and a Microphone, 1983 (pop/rock/funk/R&B)
Let’s Eat Grandma – I’m All Ears (art pop/avant-pop/psychedelic pop)
Superchunk – What a Time to Be Alive (indie rock/alt rock/punk rock)
J Balvin – Vibras (reggaeton/Latin trap)
The Beths – Future Me Hates Me (indie rock/indie pop)*
Brandi Carlile – By The Way, I Forgive You (folk rock/Americana/alt country)
Tierra Whack – Whack World (hip hop/alt R&B)
Esperanza Spalding – 12 Little Spells (jazz/neo soul/R&B)
Ashley McBryde – Girl Going Nowhere (country)
Camila Cabello – Camila (pop/R&B)
Fatoumata Diawara – Fenfo (folk/Wassoulou/world)
Kurt Vile – Bottle It In (indie rock/indie folk/lo-fi)