The 10 Best Albums of 2025

2025 was a great year for music, but what were the albums I kept coming back to most?

2025 was a remarkably strong year for music, and this was the toughest top 10 list I’ve ever had to compile. From the start of the year to now, I have listened to 145 albums in total, with dozens more that I did not get to check out. Reducing 145 albums down to 10 was a challenging task in and of itself. I think I may have lost my mind if I had to narrow down the list from the 200+ it could have been. Before we get into the actual list, here are some honorable mentions, seven albums that I deliberated over including and will almost certainly regret not including a month from now.

Honorable Mentions:

Erika De Casier - Lifetime

Lady Gaga - Mayhem

Saba & No ID - From the Private Collection of Saba & No ID

Little Simz - Lotus

Sudan Archives - The BPM

Geese - Getting Killed

The Weeknd - Hurry Up Tomorrow

Now, for the list.

10. Addison Rae - Addison

Addison Rae’s first attempt at jumping into the music industry did not really work. Back in 2021, the former TikToker dropped “Obsessed,” which was a standard enough pop track, albeit one that sounded straight out of 2015. It had an incredibly flat vocal performance, but I do not think that it was nearly as bad as some made it out to be. The original version of her album leaked the following year, and she took the lukewarm reaction to her early musical endeavors to return to the drawing board.

The result of that second try was Addison, a complete 180 from the direction she initially went in. She teamed up with young Swedish producers Elvira Anderfjard and Luka Kloser, both of whom are disciples of legendary pop producer Max Martin, to craft an album that looks back to past ideas (most notably Madonna’s 1998 opus Ray of Light) and brings them into 2025.

Trip hop and shockingly gloomy pop backdrops are in full force here, with tracks like “High Fashion” and “Headphones On” feeling like they could have come out at any point in the last three decades and generated buzz. The standout, “Fame Is A Gun,” is, without any shred of irony, dangerously close to being the best pop song of the year. And depending on the day, I may just call it the best. Addison could have easily made a lucrative career out of singing low-effort pop songs, but it’s clear that she wanted more. And, believe it or not, she pulled it off.

9. PinkPantheress - Fancy That

This may have been the most infectious release of the year. PinkPantheress, the wildly talented producer-singer with a string of viral hits over the last five years, put out Fancy That, a project she dubbed a “mixtape” that could have easily stood as her second album had she gone with that distinction. Pink gets deep into the UK garage and liquid drum and bass sounds that shaped her musical approach, singing about romance, clubbing, and sex over some of the most creative production to come from the electronic music scene this year.

It’s not a project that reinvents the wheel, as fans of those genres have heard these sounds (and many of the original samples) many times over by now, but it does not have to be a genre-shifting release to still be effective. Pink revitalizes familiar sounds for a modern audience in a way that hasn’t been done in years. Clocking in at barely over 20 minutes, this is comfortably the shortest project on the list, but it’s one that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about since I first heard it.

8. De La Soul - Cabin In The Sky

Just a few weeks before De La Soul’s legendary discography was set to land on streaming services, David Jolicoeur, best known as Trugoy The Dove, tragically passed away. Shortly after, Posdnous and DJ Maseo confirmed that a new De La album had been in the works, but timing was everything. And the right time finally showed itself this year, as Nas and his Mass Appeal record label put out seven albums from hip-hop icons as part of their “Legend Has It” series. The second-to-last release of the run was Cabin In The Sky, the first new De La Soul album in nearly a decade.

Considering the circumstances, it’s miraculous that this album exists at all, but it is especially miraculous that it is legitimately great. Narrated by Giancarlo Esposito, the album, largely helmed by Pos, takes listeners on a journey through their past and present. The social commentary is poignant, and their wit is still intact. The features (of which there are several) all add their own flavor to the proceedings, with Killer Mike delivering a touching tribute to his mother on “A Quick 16 For Mama,” Nas continuing to show his pen is as sharp as ever on the killer “Run It Back!!”

Still, Cabin In The Sky’s narrative comes together with its last two tracks, with Posdnous ruminating over the fragility of life and recalling Dave’s passing on the title track. “Don’t Push Me” is a Dave solo track, and it feels as if the group is closing the book on a nearly 40-year-long chapter by giving him the space to end the album. We don’t know if “Don’t Push Me” features the last two Trugoy The Dove verses we’ll ever hear, nor do we know what De La Soul’s music will sound like going forward. But Cabin In The Sky is a lovely piece of work by one of hip-hop’s most thoughtful trios. Long live Dave.

7. Rochelle Jordan - Through The Wall

2021’s Play With the Changes felt like a coming-out party for Toronto’s Rochelle Jordan. After seven years away, she returned with an album that was among the strongest of that year, and well worth the wait. Thankfully, Through the Wall did not take as long to release. Arriving in late September after nearly four and a half years, Jordan’s latest offering is her strongest to date and the best electronic album I heard this year.

The project can get a bit moody, with a soundscape that occasionally falls in line with what fans have learned to love about Toronto’s R&B scene over the past 15 years, but it is not a “brooding” album by any means. RoJo sings about love and desire, and gets very flirty on some of the more upbeat cuts. It’s a sensual album that doesn’t get into explicit territory, almost Aaliyah-like in that regard. Tracks like the KAYTRANADA-produced “The Boy” and “Bite The Bait” feature Jordan at her very best, with the latter coming with a vocal performance that sounds remarkably similar to the aforementioned late singer, though it’s all still uniquely hers. Through The Wall will probably fly under the radar of many music fans, but it’s an excellent release from one of music’s most forward-thinking women.

6. Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist - Alfredo 2

Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist set a high bar for future collaborations after 2020’s stellar Alfredo, which went down as one of the earliest contenders for the best hip-hop album of the decade. Five years later, the pair reunited for the sequel, and it is nearly just as high-quality as their first go. Gibbs has long been one of hip-hop’s greatest voices, and his bars are as precise as fans have grown to expect. Alc’s minimalist soul chops are the best they’ve been in some time. “1995” and the Anderson.Paak-assisted “Ensalada” stands out as two of his strongest moments as a producer so far this decade. The latter in particular is among the best hip-hop songs of the year, and quickly developed into a fan favorite (which I got to experience in person when I saw him perform both Alfredo albums at the Brooklyn Paramount earlier this fall). Alfredo 2 stands as a worthy addition to Freddie Gibbs’ extensive catalogue of excellent albums, and its consistency and high level of replayability made it a sure bet to end up here.

5. Olivia Dean - The Art of Loving

I messed up.

I first became aware of Olivia Dean in 2023, around the time she released her debut album, Messy. I saved it to my Apple Music library and everything, thinking that I would eventually get to it before the year ended. I did not. If I did, she probably would have landed in my top 10 that year as well. This time around, I did not miss the boat.

The Art of Loving is Dean’s second album, and has quietly turned her into one of music’s most fun breakout stories of the year. Her brand of neo-soul/sophisti-pop, which puts her somewhere between contemporaries Jorja Smith and Cleo Sol, with occasional moments that feel almost Amy Winehouse-esque, has made her a breath of fresh air in the incredibly saturated American pop music landscape. Of course, her biggest success this year was the single “Man I Need,” which pushed its way into the top five of the Billboard Hot 100 over the course of months, with its vibrant production that feels like it’s straight from the 1970s without sounding “old” and a loose vocal performance that does an excellent job of conveying Dean’s desire to be loved the way she deserves to be.

Across The Art of Loving, Dean does not try to sell listeners a dream, instead opting for authenticity and candidness about the highs and lows of love without ever veering into melodrama to push the project forward. It’s the type of music that’s easy to fall in love with, and I certainly loved listening to everything she had to say this year.

4. The Last Dinner Party - From The Pyre

I would not have heard From The Pyre at all had “This Is The Killer Speaking” not found its way into a playlist I was listening to a few months ago. Missing this would have been incredibly unfortunate, as this album is incredible. It’s personal and raw while still maintaining some more maximalist tendencies that have contributed to comparisons to acts like Fleetwood Mac, Florence + The Machine, and Kate Bush.

The comparisons are apt, but they do not sound contrived or unoriginal. The aforementioned single feels like a modernized version of something from the late 1980s, while “Rifle” has more of a grunge sheen to it. The album’s centerpiece, “The Scythe,” is one of the best songs of the year, with its lyrical focus being a meditation on death and understanding that life is finite. The baroque pop sound and a soaring vocal performance from Abigail Morris result in it being the track where the Bush comparisons fit most comfortably. This album blew me away on my first listen, and it only sounds better with each subsequent play. To say that I’m excited to hear what The Last Dinner Party puts out next would be an understatement. From The Pyre is a fantastic release from a young band with a blindingly bright future.

3. Gigi Perez - At The Beach, In Every Life

Fun fact: this was my most listened-to album of 2025.

I became interested in Gigi Perez’s music from the moment I first heard “Sailor Song” in full, the viral track at the heart of many million-like TikTok videos over the last year and a half. The 2010s indie rock aesthetic greatly appealed to me, and while not particularly relatable, its lyrical content was evocative and incredibly well-performed. From there, Perez followed with “Fable,” a beautiful tribute to her younger sister Celene, who tragically passed away in 2020. Those two tracks were enough to get me invested in any full-length release she’d come up with, and in April, she put out her debut album, At The Beach, In Every Life.

It would be a stunning release for an artist at any stage in their career, let alone one who, to that point, only had one EP to her name. Tracks like “Normalcy,” “Sleeping,” “Chemistry,” and the aforementioned “Fable” are among the strongest of the year, exploring grief, sexuality (and the religious guilt that stems from it, as Perez is a lesbian), as well as personal growth. The title track is in contention for my favorite of the year, an emotional acoustic ballad about an intense, whirlwind relationship. Despite it all, the track (and the album) ends on a hopeful note. Two years ago, I had no idea who Gigi Perez was. Now, I find myself eagerly anticipating whatever she does next.

2. Clipse - Let God Sort Em Out

I don’t think hip-hop produced a greater story this year than the reunion of Clipse. Pusha T and Malice, the legendary brothers out of Virginia Beach, came back out for their first full-length album since 2009’s Til The Casket Drops. Every step that led to the release Let God Sort Em Out (as well as every step that followed) was masterful. In a world of album rollouts that are either truncated or non-existent, Clipse opted for a full cycle. They stopped by almost every major hip-hop outlet fans could think of for wide-ranging interviews about the choice to come back now and the creative process, dropped singles and music videos, and performed at events around the country. It felt very classical in its execution, and it successfully built hype.

When the album finally dropped, it exceeded every expectation that even the most optimistic Clipse fan could have had. Push and Malice sound every bit as energized as they did on their mid-2000s cuts, with Malice in particular making a very compelling case for being the best rapper of 2025 just from the strength of his performances across this album alone.

There’s the cerebral “Chains & Whips,” with a killer Kendrick Lamar verse that led to the duo’s Def Jam departure just for its existence. “P.O.V.” comes with a slick performance from Tyler, The Creator, who got to check off a bucket list item by rapping alongside one of his favorite hip-hop acts of all time. Pharrell, who produced this album alone after falling out with former Neptunes other half Chad Hugo, delivers some of his most chilling beats to date, seemingly taking any criticisms of his recent output to heart.

Elsewhere, tracks like “So Be It” and “Ace Trumpets” are a razor-sharp one-two punch, with the former standing out as one of the coldest performances on a hip-hop song this year. And of course, I would be remiss if I neglected to mention the emotional opening track, “The Birds Don’t Sing,” where the Thornton brothers pay tribute to their late parents with soul-baring and touching verses, including a moment where Malice reveals that he asked for their blessing before coming back to rap. Overall, Let God Sort Em Out is nothing short of a triumphant return and the culmination of decades of dedication to the art of rapping from two of the game’s greatest MCs. We should all be grateful that this album even exists at all, all things considered. At this point, anything else they drop from here on out feels like a bonus.

1. Hayley Williams - Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party

On July 28, Hayley Williams surprised fans by uploading 17 standalone singles to her website. Because the singles were released without any order, it led to fans piecing together their own tracklists, which Williams then used to help finalize the order of what has since become her third solo album (and first independent release since finally fulfilling her obligations to Atlantic Records in 2023), Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party. The result was both her most complete solo outing to date.

Ego Death covers topics including grief, heartbreak, self-loathing, religion, and in some respects, self-acceptance. It would be easy to write it off as a “sad” album. Some may do that, but for someone like Williams, who’s grown up in the public eye as Paramore’s leading woman since she was just 14 years old and has used music to convey her emotions in ways that simply going to therapy may not be able to do, it feels as if we’re listening to her go through the healing process, coming to terms with the messiness that life has thrown out her. Does that mean she’s healed? Not quite, but it feels like she’s on that path.

Tracks like “Glum” and “Kill Me” are emotional lows, despite the more upbeat production choices on both of those tracks. On the former, she sings about loneliness, while the latter details generational trauma and repeating the mistakes her mother made. “Love Me Different” and “I Won’t Quit On You” see Williams yearning for a partner who can reciprocate the love she’ll show to them.

Then, there’s “True Believer,” in which Hayley Williams delivers a scathing critique of racist southern Christians and the very idea of “megachurches,” as well as the acts of gentrification that have stripped her hometown (Nashville) of its vibrancy. When Williams appeared on The Late Show with Jimmy Fallon, “True Believer” was the track she performed, which was quite the statement.

And of course, we have “Parachute,” one of the rawest tracks Williams has ever made, where she appears to directly reference the end of her romantic relationship with Paramore bandmate Taylor York. It’s a brutal listen for anyone familiar with the band’s history, and one where she essentially confirms that she would not have gone through with her marriage to ex-husband Chad Gilbert had York confessed his feelings for her.

Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party is not an album anyone expected this year, but one the world needed to hear. It is my pick for the best album of 2025. As we head into 2026, all I can hope for is that we have another year half as good as this one.