The Definitive Noah Kahan Album Ranking
Photo Credit: Country Central
Noah Kahan "Live From Fenway Park."
By: Cooper Williams
Among the top 250 most-streamed artists in the world on Spotify, Noah Kahan, with over 25 million monthly listeners, is an artist who is very well known for creating folk-pop music. Throughout his artistic career, Kahan has released, in total, 6 pieces of music–3 studio albums, 2 EP’s, and one live album. Kahan, having just finished an album in November of 2025, is planning on releasing his newest album soon. I believe that I have a good sense of Kahan’s best work, as I’ve listened to over 300,000 minutes of music in the last three years, with Kahan adding up to over 10,000 minutes. In this article, I will look into five of these pieces (excluding his live piece) and rank them based on personal enjoyment, lyrics, and overall album cohesion.
5. Hurt Somebody - January 2018
Photo Credit: Spotify
Hurt Somebody album cover photo.
Starting with his oldest EP, Hurt Somebody, lands in the last spot for me. Although this was the breakthrough in the musical career of a lifetime, I wish the EP had more tracks. With 422 million streams on Spotify alone, this cemented Kahan’s starting spot in the music scene.
This EP has five songs: Hurt Somebody (feat. Julia Michaels), Catastrophize, Passenger, Please, and the original Hurt Somebody. Although it’s a shorter EP, he uses his self-doubt, anxiety, vulnerability, and inner conflict to create raw, emotional songs about relationships and personal struggle.
Lyrics like ‘I’m just a passenger in my own life,’ and ‘But I can’t pretend this isn’t hurting me too,’ although seemingly basic on the surface, show Kahan's ability to provide personal feelings in his songs. In my personal opinion, although there are great pieces in the EP and personable lyrics throughout, because of the limited tracks and repetitive themes throughout them, it takes the last spot in the list.
4. Busyhead - June 2019
Photo Credit: Spotify
Busyhead album cover photo
This album, being the first from Kahan, netting over 1.35 billion streams on Spotify alone, was a marker of the career he was about to have. This album has a total of 10 tracks: False Confidence, Mess, Hurt Somebody, Young Blood, and the title track, Busyhead, alongside Cynic, Save Me, Sink, Tidal, and Carlo's Song. This album talks about mental health as well, utilizing wordplay in order to relate to listeners even more deeply. The lyric ‘My busy head is just a weight I can’t outrun,’ may seem more gloomy or depressing on the surface, but I believe that this piece is more than that—that it will give you the feeling of a winding drive in the mountains. With all that being said, I do believe it lacks the amount of talent shown in the further albums, which is why it lands in the fourth spot.
3. I Was / I Am - September 2021
Photo Credit: Spotify
I Was / I Am album cover photo.
Breaking the top three, this is a studio album from Kahan released 4 years ago and is still timeless. I believe this piece is a creative showing of his artistic talent. This album has over 413 million streams from Spotify alone. Including ten tracks throughout the album, it has stayed with people long after the release, myself included.
The ten tracks are: "Part of Me, Animal, Caves, Bad Luck, Godlight, Someone Like You, Fear of Water, Hollow, Bury Me, and Howling." I truly believe all these songs hold their own weight in this album, and all have their own distinctive feeling. Having the same number of tracks as Busyhead, the ability of this album to keep the theme of it together while producing different feelings is immaculate. This takes the bronze medal and solidifies itself as a top piece in Kahan's musical career.
2. Stick Season (Forever) - February 2024
Photo Credit: Spotify
Stick Season (Forever) album cover photo.
Unsurprisingly, Stick Season (Forever) had to be on the podium. Including the original Stick Season album released in 2022, this piece of art has the original 14 songs, with 16 new tracks added in the two years after the original. This phenomenon of a piece has over 5.7 billion streams on Spotify alone, with his most popular song, “Stick Season,” having 1.7 billion streams alone.
This album consists of the songs Northern Attitude, Stick Season, All My Love, She Calls Me Back, Come Over, New Perspective, Everywhere, Everything, Orange Juice, Strawberry Wine, Growing Sideways, Halloween, Homesick, Still, The View Between Villages, Your Needs, My Needs, Dial Drunk, Paul Revere, No Complaints, Call Your Mom, You’re Gonna Go Far, The View Between Villages (Extended), Forever, Dial Drunk (Remix) Feat. Post Malone, Call Your Mom (Remix) Feat. Lizzy McAlpine, She Calls Me Back (Remix) Feat. Kacey Musgraves, Northern Attitude (Remix) Feat. Hozier, Everywhere, Everything (Remix) Feat. Gracie Abrams, Homesick (Remix) Feat. Sam Fender, You’re Gonna Go Far (Remix) Feat. Brandi Carlile and Paul Revere (Remix) Feat. Gregory Alan Isakov.”
It’s very high in quantity, and the quality does not lack throughout. Between the featured artists, extended versions, and original tracks, this is a masterpiece of lyrical talent, album cohesion, and most importantly, enjoyment.
1. Cape Elizabeth - May 2020
Photo Credit: Spotify
Cape Elizabeth album cover photo.
The best piece by Kahan is Cape Elizabeth. This is an EP by Kahan in the midst of Covid-19 consisting of five tracks. The five tracks included are: “A Troubled Mind, Close Behind, Glue Myself Shut, Anyway, and Maine.” A short list of songs, but all very memorable. This EP has 200 million streams, respectively, with the most popular tracks being “Maine” and “Glue Myself Shut.” Now, this may seem contradictory to the fact that I have been taking into account the number of tracks, but if you listen to these five tracks, you will not be disappointed. Kahan describes the emotions and thoughts about Cape Elizabeth, Maine, in a way that allows the listener to travel there.
He says, 'You don't hate the summers. You're just afraid of the space, Askin' strangers for answers to forget what they say' in his song “Maine.” Filled with specific inside jokes, memories, and feelings, it not only allows you to relate to Kahan but reflect on it in your own life. Despite being one of his shorter pieces, this is why it takes the gold medal, being the best piece of music produced by Kahan.
In the midst of waiting for his new album, finished in November of this year, it's only a matter of time before the release. If there's anything you can take from this review, it's that his new piece is bound to be a hit as well. Personally, my favorite song from Kahan overall is “Maine,” from his masterpiece “Cape Elizabeth.” Although I believe this is his best piece, Kahan has shown throughout his career his ability to produce high-quality music. Kahan has cemented his place in the musical space for a long time to come.
