The 10 Best Albums of 2025

Despite a fantastic year for music beyond what’s popular, choosing the top 10 albums of 2025 was incredibly challenging. You wouldn’t know it from the mainstream charts, which are dominated by bland, easily-consumed music. While technology makes it easy to find low-quality AI-generated content or influencers posing as artists, true creativity isn’t going anywhere without a fight. The albums I loved most thoughtfully addressed the anxieties of our time, offering moments of hope and beauty even amidst the pressure.

10. Iris Silver Mist, Jenny Hval

Jenny Hval, a Norwegian musician and novelist, creates music that’s both boldly experimental and strikingly insightful. Her songs are full of references to other works, thought-provoking ideas, and unusual vocal styles, but they always remain melodic and enjoyable. Her newest album is perhaps her most traditionally beautiful yet, sparked by a newfound interest in how closely scent and memory are linked during the pandemic. The album’s title comes from a perfume she describes as ethereal and mysterious. Hval’s music blends dreamy melodies and poetic lyrics – often reminiscent of Proust – with themes of memory, performance, and how we experience life through technology. The sound is rich and layered, combining glowing synthesizers, realistic field recordings, delicate guitar work, and compelling rhythms, all anchored by Hval’s clear and captivating voice.

9. Big Ugly, Fust

Aaron Dowdy, a Ph.D. candidate in literature, brings a literary sensibility to his country music, as evidenced by his Shakespearean quote in the song “Mountain Language.” His band, Big Ugly, expertly blends traditional country elements – twang, pedal steel, and heartfelt storytelling – with a more complex approach. The album Big Ugly, named after a West Virginia creek, features lively, fiddle-driven songs that are both energetic and thoughtful. These songs are rooted in the realities of working-class life, touching on themes of highways, hardship, and the landscapes of the Shenandoah Valley. The song “Spangled” is a particularly powerful example, capturing a feeling of reckless abandon while also making a clear political statement. Like other North Carolina artists such as Wednesday and MJ Lenderman – who follow in the footsteps of musicians like Lucinda Williams and Drive-By Truckers – Dowdy takes the sounds of his upbringing and crafts something fresh and insightful. The album concludes with a poignant reflection on belonging, as he sings, “Oh, I love this town, It shows me my lonesome’s written in the stars.”

8. Live Laugh Love, Earl Sweatshirt

A decade ago, rapper Earl Sweatshirt released I Don’t Like Sh-t, I Don’t Go Outside, an album that captured feelings of angst and depression similar to those expressed by Nirvana. His new album, Live Laugh Love, playfully contrasts with that earlier work, offering a more optimistic but still intricate sound. This change reflects Earl’s experiences with marriage and becoming a father. In the song “TOURMALINE,” he raps about finding stability with his partner and for his child, and that sense of balance runs throughout the entire 24-minute album. Live Laugh Love feels like Earl giving both the world and himself a thoughtful, stream-of-consciousness pep talk.

7. It’s a Beautiful Place, Water From Your Eyes

The most compelling rock albums of 2025 are full of surprises. The new release from New York duo Water From Your Eyes – featuring Rachel Brown on vocals and Nate Amos playing multiple instruments – is a uniquely captivating listen, perfect for navigating city streets while pondering the state of the world and appreciating its beauty. Their music blends progressive rock, alternative sounds, and a touch of experimentation, reflecting a sense of quirky, existential humor. With Amos’ energetic guitar work and Brown’s poetic, almost spoken-word vocals – especially on the standout track “Life Signs” – Water From Your Eyes is creating a sound that feels effortlessly cool and original.

6. Blurr, Joanne Roberston

This quietly beautiful folk album from a well-known UK artist relies on simple arrangements – mostly just her clear vocals and delicate acoustic guitar – to create a surprisingly powerful emotional impact. It’s music for the night that somehow feels bright and intense. As both an artist and a mother, Robertson’s work is deeply evocative and reassuring, like sunlight filtering through leaves or a uniquely modern lullaby. The album, titled Blurr, features particularly striking collaborations with cellist Oliver Coates, another Glasgow-based musician, and delivers honest emotion through a remarkably gentle sound.

5. Debí Tirar Más Fotos, Bad Bunny

2025 belonged to Bad Bunny in the world of pop music. Already a hugely influential artist of the last ten years, he’s changed pop culture by bringing Spanish-language music to the forefront – Yale University even started a course studying his impact. For his latest album, he set out to create his most Puerto Rican work yet. This vibrant album is a celebration of Puerto Rican music, blending modern genres like reggaeton and Latin trap with traditional sounds like salsa, plena, bolero, and perreo. Bad Bunny brought the energetic live instrumentation and catchy melodies of songs like “DtMF” and “Nuevayol” to a global audience, and he’s set to take the biggest stage in pop culture – the Super Bowl LX halftime show.

4. New Threats From the Soul, Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band

Before his current work, songwriter Ryan Davis played in the band State Champion. Even then, indie-rock icon David Berman of Silver Jews—a favorite artist for those who appreciate thoughtful and poetic lyrics—declared Davis “the best lyricist who isn’t a rapper.” That early praise is now fully realized in Davis’s second solo album. New Threats From the Soul features clever and captivating songwriting, reminiscent of the wordplay often found in hip-hop, but delivered with a roots-rock sound. Davis’s deep voice and the band’s relaxed style create songs that are both substantial and surprisingly engaging.

3. Essex Honey, Blood Orange

Dev Hynes, known for capturing the sound of New York City in his music, actually grew up near London. He returned to England in 2023 to be with his mother before she passed away, and his album Essex Honey is a beautiful reflection on that difficult time. The album blends memories of his youth with dreamy pop, R&B, and experimental sounds, creating a vivid and emotionally charged experience. It’s a surprising and elegant mix of styles and collaborators—including artists like Caroline Polachek and novelist Zadie Smith—all woven together by Hynes’ heartfelt melodies. Essex Honey is a profound tribute to loss, memory, and the unexpected beauty found within them.

2. Lux, Rosalía

Rosalía’s latest album is a bold and ambitious project where she sings in ten languages and works with the London Symphony Orchestra, drawing inspiration from the spiritual teachings of nuns and female saints. The album, titled LUX, blends cutting-edge sounds with her powerful vocals, reminiscent of artists like Bjork and Kate Bush. It’s filled with references to mythology, philosophy, and spirituality—even including a sample from Patti Smith—and feels less like a religious album and more like an artistic exploration of faith. Tracks like “La Perla” are sharp and assertive, while “La Yugular” creates a dreamy, mystical atmosphere inspired by Sufi traditions. Throughout LUX, Rosalía seems to be declaring her purpose: to transform and elevate through art.

1. Getting Killed, Geese

After three albums, this band of 23-year-old Brooklyn art-rockers finally broke through, finding themselves at the center of a lot of attention. Their latest album, Getting Killed, suggests they’ll handle the pressure just fine. It’s been decades since high-energy, chaotic music has felt this good. Lead singer Cameron Winter delivers slightly unsettling vocals with clever, relatable lyrics about life, faith, and difficult topics – like the lines, “I’m getting killed by a pretty good life,” and “God has many friends, but he’ll likely forget you.” The opening track, “Trinidad,” immediately grabs your attention with the shouted line, “THERE’S A BOMB IN MY CAR,” which feels both absurd and like a warning sign. The band’s energetic and rhythmic music is on the verge of falling apart, and it carries on the legacy of New York’s history of experimental sound.

2025-12-04 20:07