The 25 best albums of 2025

For a long time, French musician Oklou was gatekept by the nerdier side of the chronically online; her 2020 debut mixtape Galore was beloved in various internet communities for its futuristic mish-mash of ambient pop textures and dreamy, airy synths. Choke Enough feels like a softening, an intentional evolution of her classically-inflected, post-internet world-building that has led to Oklou’s stature growing immensely. There’s a distance to her sound throughout this record – it’s like walking in a haze, not quite seeing where you’re going but feeling your way anyway – and the result is something beautiful, confident and entirely Oklou’s own.

Standout track: On ‘Blade Bird’ Oklou’s computerised veil slips away, the lyrics raw and vulnerable, her vocals almost naked.

After a blistering year of TikTok hits and audacious festival outfits (complimentary), CMAT is officially a household name. But there’s more to Ciara (Mary-Alice) Thompson than online stardom: new album EURO-COUNTRY is a complicated, catchy triumph. Grief is muddled by resentment, pop tunes fade away to swinging fiddles, and funny one liners ultimately become intimate confessions. Ireland is CMAT’s strongest muse, with everything from its language to its pop-culture becoming the subject of intense scrutiny. EURO-COUNTRY’s might more than matches CMAT’s newfound star power.

Standout track: ‘EURO-COUNTRY’ – the titular song paints a bleak picture of a post-recession nation plagued by sentimentality for a place that never really existed.

Some bands you get into on the ground floor; some you climb in through the window above the garage and pretend you’ve been at the party since the beginning. That’s been my approach with Geese, a New York alt-rock band nearly a decade old that I – and, judging from their sell-out tour dates, rather a few others – discovered via their third record Getting Killed. But what a record. From the anarchic rattle of opener ‘Trinidad’, the sound of Radiohead in a steroidal rage, to the incessant rhythms of ‘Husbands’ and vocalist Cameron Winter’s howls on ‘Taxes’, it’s at once fiercely experimental and tight as a drum. They’re here to stay. Come join the party! 

Standout track: ‘Au Pays du Cocaine’ – whacked-out romanticism flows through this album highlight. Perfect for slow dancing after too many wines.

Conjuring up images of glistening bodies and disorienting strobes, EUSEXUA is an ode to the dancefloor in all of its sweaty, euphoric glory. Inspired by twigs’s time in Prague’s club scene, her third album feels like a re-energising for the artist via an injection of pop into her signature electronic weirdness. Leaning deep into the leftfield, ‘Drums of Death’ uses syncopated, jagged percussion and delayed vocals to create a textural soundscape like a scratched CD that refuses to stop skipping. ‘Childlike Things’ featuring North West is a wildly different, goofy nod to J-pop, while title track ‘Eusexua’ is all euphoric builds and soothing vocals powered by Eurotrancey synths and a fuzzy, distant thumping, as though you’re hearing bass through the floor of the club toilets. The whole thing is, of course, anchored with twigs’s masterful voice: delicate, consuming and angelic. 

Standout track: ‘Girl Feels Good’, with its acid house squelches, swaggering cosmic synths and one of twigs’ most ear-worming hooks.

It’s been a while since I’ve been as addicted to an album as I am to Bad Bunny’s DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS (which translates to I Should Have Taken More Photos). The rapper blends everything from trap to traditional salsa and bolero influences, and it culminates in a sprawling, thoughtful love letter to his home of Puerto Rico. The energy peaks in passionate, noisy tracks like ‘EoO’ and ‘WELTiTA’ but eases in ‘TURiSTA’ and ‘DtMF’, with strumming guitars, sombre vocals and nostalgic declarations about ex partners and his home island’s struggles with tourism and the political climate.

Standout track: The sense of longing and reminiscence that swells out of ‘DtMF’, with its soul-stirring chorus of backup singers, will move you even if you don’t speak a word of Spanish.

Oh, Addison. Who else could make the transition from bedroom Tik Tok-er to cool-girl pop star look so effortless? After a string of releases which had fans craving more – lust-fuelled singalong banger ‘Diet Pepsi’, the wispy, dream-like haze ‘Aquamarine’ and sweet trip-hop nonchalance of ‘Headphones On’ – she finally dropped the album, and it was worth the wait. Rae doesn’t just have pop chops: she’s got range. Addison flows from superspeed club-ready anthem (‘New York’) to camp confessional synthpop (‘Fame Is A Gun’), blending influences from PC Music to early Kylie Minogue. 

Standout track: ‘Headphones On’, the irresistible, whispery, world-building track that cemented the TikTok-influencer-turned-pop-star as Gen Z’s ultimate It girl.

Junior Brother’s The End is the definitive folk document of 2025, a work that uses centuries-old tradition to potently communicate the anguish of our times. Ronan Kealy has Irish folk’s luscious palette at his disposal (accordion, whistle, tambourine, mandolin etc) yet while The End’s rudiments may initially sound warm, familiar and even mystical, its content touches on the rise of the far-right, climate catastrophe and one’s purpose in the relentless grind of modern life. It’s made even more extraordinary by winding, epic compositions and Kealy’s charismatic County Kerry wail. The End is weighty stuff, but there’s light at its heart: its titular finality refers to a more hopeful dawn. On to 2026. 

Standout track: On ‘Today My Uncle Told Me’ Kealy is tormented by nasty politics invading his street, pub and family – poignant in content, sure, but also in the track’s mournful swells of sound and outrageously pretty melody.

‘Dreamy’ would be the one word to sum up Friend, the third studio album from New York-based producer James K (real name Jamie Krasner). At once nostalgic and futuristic, melancholic and ecstatic, the record’s 13-tracks flawlessly glide between glitchy ambient, downtempo, trip hop, shoegaze and electropop, all spliced together with Krasner’s ethereal soprano vocals. Those styles combine with K’s introspective lyrics about past loves and anxiety to concoct a distinct sonic atmosphere – the sort that is best listened to alone in your bedroom, surrounded by pink fairy lights. 

Standout track: ‘Play’ – Friend’s most conventionally poppy track and biggest earworm is a bitter goodbye to a non-committal lover with angelic vocals, rattling drum’n’bass beats and chunky guitar riffs.

In a world full of anxiety over AI, The BPM turns tech into a romantic, almost celestial force. Sudan Archive’s third studio album is an exhilarating cyber-futuristic dance haven centred on her tech-augmented, machine obsessed alter ego Gadget Girl. Brittney Parks’s signature strings (she is, if you weren’t aware, a self-taught violinist) deliciously bounce, ripple and float through the record, melding jigs and West African-inspired riffs with forceful house, trap and techno beats. Plug in to be seduced by her computerised world. 

Standout track: ‘She’s Got Pain’, with its violin-led climax – layered with glitching vocals and thumping percussion – is an intoxicating demonstration of Parks’ stringed chops.

Taking onboard a cavalcade of country inspiration – yet still sounding every bit as familiar and homespun as his previous folksy offerings – Will Oldham AKA Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy’s 13th album is sweetly tender and elegantly dark. ‘London May’ has a ponderous gothic energy (unsurprising, as it was first written for horror film Night Of The Bastard and is named after the drummer/bassist in Glenn Danzig’s post-Misfits band Samhain), while the jaunty ‘Tonight with the Dogs I'm Sleeping’ was co-written the legendary John Prine’s son Tommy. If you wanted lowkey confirmation that Oldham is one of modern Americana’s greatest songwriters, The Purple Bird is it.

Standout track: ‘Boise, Idaho’ might be one of the loveliest things Oldham has ever penned – and with a career spanning over 30 years, that’s something of a triumph.

There’s something chaotically intoxicating about break-up albums, and after seven years out of the music limelight, Lily Allen managed to make the collective jaw of the internet drop with West End Girl: her fifth studio album and an unflinching, gnarly, no-holds-barred dissection of the breakdown of her marriage to actor David Harbour. Allen is well-known for laying personal details of her life bare (see memoir My Thoughts Exactly), and West End Girl reveals the brutal unraveling of her relationship and the messy, excruciating reality of a toxic open marriage gone wrong. You can’t help but be dumbfounded and moved by Allen’s experience – but beyond the salacious details, West End Girl is a musical triumph too. It’s packed full of catchy hooks that buzz through your head long after listening, from ‘Sleepwalking’, which oozes along like a distorted lullaby, to ‘Nonmonogamummy’, mashing up dancehall and spiky pop. 

Standout track: ‘Ruminating’ sets up Allen’s spiralling sense of despair with a glorious whirl of prickling synths and autotune.

Every MIKE release reveals new dimensions to the US rapper; 2023’s Burning Desire (one of Time Out’s best albums of that year) was flat-out jubilant, last year’s Pinball shimmered with glamour, and Showbiz! revels in spirituality more than any previous MIKE record. Beats built of silky soul, warm jazz and electronic psychedelia combine with sampled passages of reflection and MIKE rapping about existence, wisdom, family, friendship, introspective complexities and so much more. Showbiz! might be MIKE’s most demanding release, but it rewards those willing to really listen.

Standout track: MIKE endearingly reflects on his resilient rise on ‘man in the mirror’, with its sumptuous funking beat fashioned out of a sample of UK ’80s jazzers Shakatak.

Lux has been much discussed for its religiosity: lyrically and musically, the tracks reach up to the heavens, with lush instrumentation accompanying Rosalía’s crystalline soprano on tracks like ‘Mio Cristo Piange Diamanti’ and ‘Sauvignon Blanc’. But there are sinners among the saints, and sex, revenge and betrayal seep through the album. From Yves Tumor’s unsettling refrain “I’ll fuck you ‘til you love me’ on ‘Berghain’ to the jaunty yet sneering ‘La Perla’, an almost folkloric anthem for scorned women, Lux blurs the lines between the sacred and the profane in a constantly surprising way. 

Standout track: ‘Relíquia’ – in Rosalía’s hands, the image of saintly relics scattered across the globe becomes a vehicle for introspection, a relatable portrait of a woman who’s given her heart away so often that it feels like it never belonged to her in the first place.

A first listen of Amor de encava may leave you scratching your head a little. What are all these blaring sounds, arranged in such eclectic cacophony? Why is there a weird, booming wrestling announcer, and who/what exactly is Weed420? The last question is the easiest to answer – Weed420 is a collective of Venezuelan producers/artists – the others not so much. The liner notes can be vaguely translated to ‘an album about a van, a nostalgic encavero [a type of bus] and Venezuelan loneliness’, and it’s feasibly meant to sound like a bus ride. Several tracks in and the specifics start not to matter. Amor de encava is a spectacular achievement in plunderphonics, but it also makes you want to dance, to be sentimental and pensive, to feel all manner of things. 

Standout track: ‘Maluca’ sees Amor de encava’s commotion (comparatively) subside, paring back to an undulating rhythm and a gleaming, extraordarily gorgeous melody.

As though reaching out from another dimension, John Glacier confidently delivers a debut album inspired by the hum of city living. It’s a narrative we’re all familiar with: the craving for tranquility away from wailing sirens and stuffy polluted air. That underlying theme on Like a Ribbon connects listeners to Glacier, who delivers deadpan vocals over otherworldly songwriting that manipulates alien glitches. The hustle never stops, but when Glacier raps ‘You best believe it, I’m the hottest in the game’ over the sparkling rave-ready beat of ‘Emotions’, you’re immediately transported to nights spent dancing on your mates’ kitchens at house parties, where everything is carefree – even if just for a moment.

Standout track: ‘Money Shows’, grounded by a crunching post-punk-tinged guitar loop, sees Glacier wearily reflect on the stresses of being a working musician.

Exquisite bludgeonment from four fellas who really mean it. In a world of over-processed hyper-clean extreme music, Sanguisugabogg are repulsive flag bearers for an earlier, better age. Melody is eschewed in favour of a bass heavy G-tuned ocean of broiling, swirling guitar. The lyrics (which are extreme) are indecipherable, occasionally delivered in a bullfrog-esque sub-sonic growl that even Cannibal Corpse fans might balk at. This is basic, brutal stuff, but with a hardcore sensibility that has helped the band cross over a bit, and attract an audience larger (and, sadly, trendier) than those typically associated with the genre. But don’t hold that against them. In Hideous Aftermath Sanguisugabogg have delivered the year’s best extreme metal album.

Standout track: The last 60 seconds of ‘Abhorrent Contraception’ might be the heaviest minute of rock music ever.

That’s Showbiz Baby defiantly announces JADE’s ascendance to solo stardom in a haze of crashing synthpop, hyperemotional ballads and Eurovision-streaked club bangers. It’s clear the Little Mix star worships at the altar of pop, proudly paying homage to her influences while shooting for something fresh. The experimentation pays off. From the grandiose chaos of ‘Angel of My Dream’ to the intimacy of ‘Silent Disco’, via the Supremes sampling ‘Before You Break My Heart’, JADE doesn’t play it safe. No made-for-TikTok hooks here; just pure musical joy from our newest pop girly.

Standout track: ‘Angel Of My Dreams’ – a bombastic album opener full of left turns that careens from choral laments of a cold-hearted music industry to a dancefloor-ready beat and back again.

After the beachy digression that was her 2021 album Solar Power, the haunting and wonderfully bizarre Lorde that we’ve known and loved since back in 2013 was reborn on Virgin. An elated run-through of the entire album at Glastonbury Festival marked its release, and has definitely been part of the reason why I haven’t stopped thinking about it. With ghostly vocals which diaristically chronicle her relationship with morphing identity, gender, an eating disorder and the angst of relentlessly rolling towards the end of your twenties, Virgin is fervent and original pop.

Standout track: Yes it’s the lead single, but ‘What Was That’, with its cathartic lyrics and gradual simmer into a rapturous second chorus, is a scorching marker of this new Lorde era.

After six excellent records under her own name, US alt rock queen Sharon van Etten decided to include her band in the songwriting process for number seven, and it’s genuinely a compliment that you can’t actually tell this from the Attachment Theory’s self-titled record. Not that it doesn’t have its own feel, just that despite every track having at least four songwriters it’s a cohesive set of songs, with Van Etten still the focal point. The vibe this time is very much sleek, chic, mortality heavy new wave, shading into goth. It would have sounded perfectly of the time in 1981, the year Van Etten was born – and it still sounds terrific now.

Standout track: I’m pretty sure ‘Idiot Box’ is about how it’s bad to look at our phones too much – which is fairly banal, but it has a sublime synth line and Van Etten sings it with astounding intensity.

One is a Marlborough College-educated southwest Londoner with ties to the British peerage and family friend Brian Eno for a mentor, the other a second-generation Nigerian immigrant who grew up on a council estate in Tottenham and cut his teeth on pirate radio. But you probably couldn’t pick two artists who have done more to shape London’s music scene over the last decade as Fred Again and Skepta. Different worlds collide with brilliant effect on this club-ready EP, a zippy 16 minutes of thunderous, 140bpm dancefloor fillers that seamlessly blend the grime journeyman’s deft lyricism with the ascendant super-producer’s emotionally-charged, sample-heavy production.

Standout track: ‘Back 2 Back’ sees Skepta going bar for bar with his younger self via Fred’s skilful sampling of a Radio 1Xtra freestyle from the archives, as well as some clever little interpolations of hits from Wiley and Central Cee.

Dev Hynes has always been a master of the in-between, where psychedelic rock meets forlorn R&B and deep-cut gospel samples blend into spoken word. But 'Essex Honey' marks a quieter and inescapably rawer turn. Written in the wake of his mother's death, grief and nostalgia indelibly hums beneath it all, never weighty but moving with a drift-of-memory sense. Even with star-studded vocal runs from Lorde, Daniel Caesar, Brendan Yates, Mustafa and Zadie Smith, Hynes remains at the centre of Essex Honey, curating with calm, deliberate precision.

Standout track: ‘Mind Loaded’ captures it best: a haunting tangle of cello, distinctive hushed vocals and a beat that feels both weary and full of light. This is Hynes at his most human: fragile, inventive, and utterly magnetic.

Across a career touching three decades, Lady Gaga has dabbled in music styles from jazz to rock, via Academy Award-winning soundtrack fare. But it’s her fiancé Michael Polansky who has been credited with encouraging Mother Monster to solely focus on her fiery pop roots on Mayhem. Twisted anthem ‘Disease’ and pop behemoth ‘Abracadabra’ see her burst back into the zeitgeist, Prince’s purple hues are an obvious influence on ‘Killah’, while on ‘Zombieboy’ Gaga powers up her freak-pop sensibilities – a nod to the late model/artist Zombie Boy who featured in her 2011 music video for ‘Born This Way’. Much like the fiancé who inspired Gaga to create an album fuelled by her love for pop, this one’s a keeper.

Standout track: ‘Vanish Into You’ – Gaga’s vocals soar over a bed of Bowie-esque brilliance, but ultimately feels very rooted in what she does best: theatrical pop with heart.

Ethel Cain has a total command of mood. On her third album (and second of 2025, after January’s Perverts), sludgy drones and thickly distorted instrumentals once again envelop the listener, with slow-burn tracks frequently clocking in at over six minutes long. Devastating lyrics cut through the murk on songs like ‘Waco, Texas’ (an emotionally wrenching reflection on the American Dream), while fans of breakout hit ‘American Teenager’ (from Cain’s first album Preacher’s Daughter), will be drawn to ‘Fuck Me Eyes’, another vivid portrait of adolescence in a stifling small town.

Standout track: ‘Nettles’, Cain’s chance to ‘slough off the macabre’ and balance out Willloughby Tucker’s darker tracks with lighter vocals and folksy instrumentation.

Both as solo artists and as Peterparker69 (yes, I know the name is silly), Japanese duo Jeter and Y ohtrixpointnever have released some of the most technically accomplished pop-electronica of recent years. In their 2025 joint debut yo, they’ve fully realised their talents in album form. No other record this year rewards casual and intense listening quite so thoroughly. Briefly scan yo, and it’s shimmery, endearingly pacey pop. Meticulously study it however, and you’ll unearth sounds beneath sounds, ideas flitted between at awesome pace. Proof, if it was needed, that accessible music doesn’t have to be dumbed down; yo, is technical and hyperactive, sure, but it’s hyper-engaging, too. 

Standout track: ‘Magic Powers’, a collab with UK electropop provocateurs Two Shell concocted of gleaming beams of synth, pumping club beats and mesmerising Doppler vocals.

Few will have had an animated K-pop group who moonlight as demon slayers pegged as 2025’s biggest pop phenomenon. Yet here we are. The soundtrack to the most-watched Netflix original film ever has smashed a fair few records of its own. Standout single ‘Golden’ by fictional girl group Huntr/x has ruled the streaming charts with its shimmering hooks, while their rivals, the Saja Boys, had everyone’s shoulders shuffling to the irresistibly fizzy ‘Soda Pop’. Saja Boys cemented their place on Halloween playlists for years to come with the darkly stylish ‘Your Idol’, while soaring finale ‘What It Sounds Like’ landed the emotional punch with a powerhouse anthem of self-acceptance and defiance. 

Standout track: ‘Golden’ – an empowering, perfectly constructed anthem. There’s a reason everyone from your young cousin to your middle-aged dad has been singing ‘up, up, up’ for months on end.