
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 albums of 2025 challenged orthodoxies, created new genres, and spanned a vast range of musical styles and traditions, while looking forward.

Brazilian pop thrived because artists recombined local textures with pop to paint a picture of how the country is rewriting its relationship to identity.

The best hip-hop albums celebrate classic styles with new approaches, blend rap with electronic, jazz, and soul, and push the boundaries of genre.

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.

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 best global music albums represent ten especially powerful examples of musical communion from the past year that defy the frictional fictions of borders.

This year has been particularly exciting for experimental music, ranging from free-form guitar freak-outs to lush, ambient, always pushing boundaries.

A certain group of animated demon slayers supercharged interest in what has already been a banner year for the genre. These are the best k-pop songs of 2025.

This year has delivered an embarrassment of riches, from traditional masterworks to forward-thinking madness. These are the best metal albums of 2025.

The best punk ranges from pop-leaning emo to potent noise, shoegaze, and hardcore to Revolution Summer-inspired politically minded blasts of righteous anger.

The 70 best albums of 2025 offer sublime music as major artists return with new work and brilliant new sounds bubble up from the underground and worldwide.