The 80 Best Albums of 2025
The best albums of 2025 challenged orthodoxies, created new genres, and spanned a vast range of musical styles and traditions, while looking forward.
The Best Music of 2025
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The 10 Best Brazilian Pop Albums of 2025
Brazilian pop thrived because artists recombined local textures with pop to paint a picture of how the country is rewriting its relationship to identity.
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The 10 Best Soul/R&B Albums of 2025
In these challenging times, the best soul and R&B albums walked tall and carried a big stick, while also being a much-needed balm and source of warmth.
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The 10 Best Hip-Hop Albums of 2025
The best hip-hop albums celebrate classic styles with new approaches, blend rap with electronic, jazz, and soul, and push the boundaries of genre.
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The 25 Best Folk Albums of 2025
The year’s best folk albums transcend genre boundaries, yet each entry remains firmly grounded in the folk ethos of connection and storytelling.
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The 25 Best Electronic Albums of 2025
This year’s best electronic albums span the widest range of styles of any genre, ranging from melodic electro and warm house to the experimental outer reaches.
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The 25 Best Pop Albums of 2025
The 25 best pop albums of 2025 radiate with unstoppable playlist power, much-needed sweet escapism, self-reflection, self-criticism, and killer melodies.
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The 25 Best Americana Albums of 2025
The Best Americana has never been better with the quality of music, diversity of styles, and the artists’ demographics in terms of race and gender.
The 15 Best Ambient Albums of 2025
In a year of daring experimentation in the best ambient music, sometimes the most classic-minded records are the ones that gave people what they wanted.
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The 30 Best Rock Albums of 2025
This was another noteworthy year for the best rock music. Some artists followed a debut with a stunning second LP and mainstays showed a return to form or evolved.
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The 10 Best Global Music Albums of 2025
The best global music albums represent ten especially powerful examples of musical communion from the past year that defy the frictional fictions of borders.
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The 20 Best Jazz Albums of 2025
The future of the genre lies in places where it’s less insular and more artistically adventurous. The 20 best jazz albums are outstanding examples of that impulse.