PopMatters picks the best pop culture for your enjoyment, including music, film, TV, books, games, comics, and more.
The best albums of 2025 challenged orthodoxies, created new genres, and spanned a vast range of musical styles and traditions, while looking forward.
Like life itself in these times the visceral, the absurd, and the morbid all take their rightful place in our eclectic compilation of Best Films 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.
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.
The best hip-hop albums celebrate classic styles with new approaches, blend rap with electronic, jazz, and soul, and push the boundaries of genre.
The year’s best folk albums transcend genre boundaries, yet each entry remains firmly grounded in the folk ethos of connection and storytelling.
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.
The 25 best pop albums of 2025 radiate with unstoppable playlist power, much-needed sweet escapism, self-reflection, self-criticism, and killer melodies.
This music is a testament to the pleasures of pop, where the Beatles’ peerless melodies shine through in every number, making for very entertaining listening.
Amadou & Mariam’s final album is a testament to their creative and personal chemistry. Their music has always been able to brighten a room.
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.
Listening to The Return of the Durutti Column is like being given the key to a world that, while not as secret as before, is well worth exploring.
