The 30 Best Rock Albums of 2025

This was another noteworthy year for the best rock music. We saw a number of artists follow a promising debut with a stunning second LP to the point where we have to question whether the “sophomore slump” is really a thing. Other mainstays either demonstrated a return to form or went in a different direction that proved equally compelling. Most notable was how a few flourishing acts finally came into their own. They received widespread acclaim throughout the year and are featured prominently here. 

As with any other year, there were a number of honorable mentions that had to be left off the list (Tunde Adebimpe, Flock of Dimes, Hotline TNT, Bartees Strange, and Wet Leg, to name a few). Some brilliant indie adjacent albums are also omitted, most notably Hayley Williams’ phenomenal Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party, which we considered more pop-rock than indie rock. In addition, the alternative country band Fust made some lifelong fans with their breakthrough Big Ugly, but the record fits better elsewhere. 

We hope you take some time to revisit (and enjoy) these rock gems from the past year, as we certainly did. – Patrick Gill

30. Bob Mould – Here We Go Crazy (Granary Music / BMG)

It can become easy to take artists like Bob Mould for granted. He returns every few years with another stellar set of songs that are, in the best possible way, just what was expected. But that would be a mistake, especially on Here We Go Crazy. With many of us trying hard to find our bearings and the energy to take up another four-year fight, Mould delivers a clear-eyed, but not despairing, song cycle that might help you get through the next four years. He can’t help but be a true believer, even when everything seems so wrong. – Brian Stout

29. Street Eaters – Opaque (Dirt Cult)

The punk movement that swept across the United States and the United Kingdom was a revolution based on nerve, power chords, and swagger. Under that paradigm, the 2025 record Opaque by Street Eaters strives to create a compelling throwback: a tactic that works for the majority of the album. Themes like alienation, frustration, youthful abandon, and lust are merged with newer, more adult content. The guitar-heavy “Tempers” speaks to the female audience, recalling a difficult birth through sparky guitar hooks and shimmering drums. – Eoghan Lyng

28. Ty Segall – Possession (Drag City)

For Possession, Ty Segall again teams up with friend and filmmaker Matt Yoka, who helped with brainstorming and setting the overall vibe. The music is jangly and freewheeling, but Segall incorporates orchestral arrangements and horns into the mix. Listeners cannot escape a range of influences from the broader universe of 1960s and 1970s rock, but Segall is still able to achieve a mostly unified sound. Considering his larger body of work, the record is surprisingly palatable. Even if the LP is a relatively straightforward rock statement, the music mostly slays. – Patrick Gill

27. Raveonettes – Pe’ahi II (Beat Dies)

Few bands can kick my synesthesia into high gear like the Raveonettes. Their sound is coated in glorious contradictions: Shoegaze static spilling forth from the guitars, keyboards twinkling like bright, blinding stars, booming bass and drums, rapturous harmonies that allude to the Everly Brothers and girl groups, and evoke nostalgia for a time you may never have inhabited, but suddenly feel immersed in. The luscious layers flood the senses.

Whereas the first Pe’ahi reveled in a cleaner palette (employing harps and xylophones in addition to the usual rock instruments), Pe’ahi II exults a bit more in the cacophony-meets-euphony ethos that makes the Raveonettes so mind-blowing. The incongruous clashing of sounds yields both visceral and blissful thrills. – Alison Ross

26. Sports Team – Boys These Days (Bright Antenna)

Make no mistake, Sports Team are a 21st-century British alternative rock band, just as Wikipedia says they are. However, the music on their new album, Boys These Days, makes it clear that the six members of Sports Team must collectively own an impressive CD collection of the best and brightest Britpop bands from 1985 through 1995, along with a healthy selection of bands from earlier eras. That’s not a bad thing: Sports Team are a smart group that incorporate bits and pieces of past music they love into their modern sound and dryly funny lyrical point of view. – Rich Wilhelm

25. Sam Fender – People Watching (Polydor)

This time around for People Watching, Sam Fender made some deliberate decisions that make the album feel bigger than his previous works and more dialed in. Part of that has to do with production choices that allow him to deliver songs that would seem appropriate for pop radio and yet not draw the ire of indie rock purists. Appropriately, the record comprises two studio sessions, one with Markus Dravs (Coldplay, Arcade Fire) and the other with War on Drugs’ Adam Granduciel. With his previous efforts, Sam Fender was an exciting up-and-coming artist; on People Watching, Fender has now established himself as a generational talent requiring your attention. – Patrick Gill

24. The Beths – Straight Line Was a Lie (Anti-)

The Beths’ latest album, Straight Line Was a Lie, is a record full of catchy hooks, big guitar riffs, and often introspective lyrics. The New Zealand quartet are at the top of their game. The melodies will grab the listener first, but Elizabeth Stokes’ inventive, thoughtful lyrics will stick around after multiple spins of the record. This record is an absolute pleasure to listen to. Each song has its own distinct feel. However, the band’s commitment to letting Stokes’ singing be out front and to buttress her with harmonies and backing vocals throughout provides the continuity that might not be there instrumentally. – Chris Conaton

23. Viagra Boys – Viagr Aboys (Shrimptech Enterprises)

Viagra Boys crack open their new self-titled album with a howl and a stomp, hurling us right back into the gaping maw of their signature cartoon hellscape—a world as grotesque as it is musically precise, as absurd as it is emotionally intelligent. “Man Made of Meat” sets the tone: part Hieronymus Bosch, part Ren & Stimpy “gross-up” close-up, and, crucially, all in good fun. It’s a gleefully unhinged feat of epic silliness, just as willfully brutal as carefully constructed, and lucky for us, it’s just the beginning.

For all their grotesque spectacle—and whether they mean for us to see it or not—Viagra Boys are far too emotionally attuned to settle for cheap bitterness. Instead, on Viagr Aboys, beneath the grime, the gags, and the chaos, they’re not giving up on meaning. They’re daring us to find it where we least expect it. – Emily Votaw

22. The Waterboys – Life, Death & Dennis Hopper (Sun)

Although the Waterboys’ past efforts, This Is the Sea and Fisherman’s Blues, were underpinned by emotional undercurrents, Life, Death & Dennis Hopper goes one step further, concocting a conceptual album that details the highs, lows, and smirks enjoyed by the eponymous actor. One of the tracks, “Memories of Monterey”, is more of a sound collage than pop, as bandleader Mike Scott utilizes a collection of vocal effects to paint a picture of the end of the 1960s.

The record boasts 24 songs, but mercifully none push the boundaries of their listeners; only a handful surpass the three-minute mark. Scott’s ambition has resulted in a musical vehicle that’s blindingly good at times, and Life, Dennis & Death Hopper is a singular addition to the Waterboys’ impressive canon. – Eoghan Lyng

21. U.S. Girls – Scratch It (4AD)

With the release of Scratch It, U.S. Girls—the experimental pop project of musical artist Meg Remy—follows the existential ruminations set to a shimmering dance track of 2023’s Bless This Mess with a retro twist. The new album picks up the caramel smoothness of sequin-clad lounge singers of the 1960s and analog warmth in place of the former album’s cyborg materiality and machine melding. Along the way, Remy’s project artfully offers performative utterances in the opening track’s bridge that embody the ongoing U.S. Girls project:  Stretch. Move. Pose. Groove.

Scratch It speaks to our urges, to the surface that hides and reveals the depths of things, and to the way that looking back provides little clarity into the past, but helps us to attend to the future breaking into the present. It’s another remarkable development in the U.S. Girls’ artistic portfolio. It invites and rewards deep, repetitive listens. In the midst, we too stretch, move, pose, and groove. – Rick Quinn