Best Album Covers of 2009 (So Far)

As this is being written, 2009 is now halfway over, so it's time to look back at some of the best album covers of the year so far. Although other music genres have been known to rely on abstract images and photographs as cover art, R&B and Soul music have always been known for their warm, intimate portraits of artists as covers. And so far in 2009, there were over half a dozen covers that stood out as being above the rest. So this gallery - which has a brief comment on each page about the respective cover - is dedicated to them.

• Best R&B/Soul Album Covers of 2009
• Best Covers of 2008
• Best Covers of 2007
• Best Covers of 2006