My taste in music has evolved over my life, but has always been defined by my love for songwriting and exploration. I enjoy a variety of genres, but I tend to find myself coming back to folk and all the permutations of rock. Specifically rock from the 60s, 70s, and 90s. This wasn't a conscious decision; these decades simply tend to pique my interest more than others, so I listen to them the most.
Folk and rock
My favorite artists of these style are Neil Young, Bob Dylan, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, to name a few. Neil and Bob are probably my all time most listened to artists, though I've been listening to the Beatles and Beach Boys since high school so perhaps they are higher.
Even though they are by far my most listened to genres of music, I really don't have too much to say about them. For me, these genres just feel natural, like they've always been there and are the natural progression of music as it ebbs through history.
Of these artists, many of their albums are tattooed in my brain and are always humming in its silence: Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys; Rubber Soul and honestly every Beatles album after; Blood on the Tracks and all of Dylan's 60s output; all of Neil's albums up to and including Rust Never Sleeps; David Bowie's Berlin trilogy; much of Paul McCartney's solo career; some of Lennon's solo career; Todd Rundgren's two great albums Something/Anything and Wizard; the list goes on and on.
Brazilian music & MPB
Listening to lo-fi hip hop in high school planted an interesting seed in my music taste which first led to bossa nova and subsequently MPB, samba, etc.
Besides the U.S., the U.K., and perhaps Canada, I think Brazil has had some of the best music ever produced, especially in the 60s and 70s.
Lô Borges as well as Milton Nascimento both separately and together made some of the best rock/pop of those decades (with the creative peak being Clube da Esquina); Novos Baianos have an incredible album I find myself going back to all the time, i.e. Acabou Chorare; Jorge Ben Jor is always a fantastic listen, as is Gilberto Gil. I can't forget of course the great Antônio Carlos Jobim, and so many others. The amount of talent from the country is staggering.
One interesting note about this genre: I can't understand the lyrics at all. I am hispanic and can speak some Spanish, but I know absolutely zero Portugese. Sure, after studying a line for a bit and perhaps through context clues I can get a vague idea of the meaning (você for instance means "you"), but for the vast majority of songs I just take it in without understanding.
In that way, I find listening to Brazilian music to be pure experience: I am listening to it solely for the music and nothing more; no lyrics can taint the beautiful chords samba and bossa.