The best albums of 2025

By Callie Ahlgrim

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New Zealand native BENEE has been at the forefront of indie-pop since her song "Supalonely" went viral in 2019. Her knack for combining colloquial language with eccentric melodies is on full display throughout her sophomore album, "Ur an Angel I'm Just Particles."

BENEE recently told me the title was inspired by the album's abstract narrative sequence: obsession, breakdown, ascension.

She also said that she spent three years tinkering with the tracklist (as opposed to the quick turnaround between her 2019 pair of EPs and 2020 debut), and worked closely with a creative director for the first time, which helped her clarify dominant moods and themes (existential dread, emerging adulthood, childlike wonder) to keep the album focused.

"It made me think of it more as a whole story as opposed to a cluster of songs," BENEE said. "Listening to albums that I love, it feels so cohesive. I always found that kind of scary, because I'm all over the place as an artist, and eclectic. But I'm proud to say that this one is a lot more put together… I've grown a lot."

Best songs: "Demons," "Cinnamon," "Vegas"

As the title suggests, "13 Months of Sunshine" is a summer soundtrack that overdelivers.

Portland's Aminé is particularly adept at surfing tropical beats and riding house grooves, as evidenced by "Kaytraminé," his 2023 collaborative album with Kaytranada. He's also a capably introspective rapper, as evidenced by his last solo release, 2020's "Limbo."

"13 Months of Sunshine" makes space for both gifts, as well as a new one: the album features several novel detours into alt-pop, facilitated by new collaborators like Jim-E Stack, Waxahatchee, and Toro y Moi.

Best songs: "Cool About It (feat. Lido)," "Raspberry Kisses," "13MOS"

Billie Marten's fifth album, "Dog Eared," is a marvel of good old-fashioned musicianship. It was recorded live at Sugar Mountain studio in New York, with Marten and her team of musicians "huddled up in a circle," producer Phil Weinrobe said in a press release. "No headphones, no walls, no playback, nothing separating each person from the next, and nothing separating the performers from their performances."

Nimble and concise at just 37 minutes, the album is marked by organic instrumentation, Marten's seasoned vocals, and the unmistakable milieu of intimacy. While best enjoyed as a complete set, any of the album's 10 tracks would stand tall alongside Laurel Canyon legends like Neil Young or Carole King, as well as celebrated contemporaries like Clairo, Faye Webster, or Adrianne Lenker.

Best songs: "Feeling," "Crown," "Planets"

Four years after their acclaimed 2021 album, "Blue Weekend," Wolf Alice returned with a vengeance and a little razzle-dazzle. "The Clearing" is a massive swing for the British band, one that more often evokes '70s hits by ABBA and Queen than the grungier indie rock of their early work.

It suits them. As their crowds have swelled to fill arenas, their arrangements have ballooned to match. Lead vocalist Ellie Rowsell sounds more ecstatic and confident than ever, even while she's wondering if her appetite for melodrama makes her a narcissist or a masochist. "God knows that I can't resist," she belts out in the opening track, "to make a song and dance about it."

Best songs: "Thorns," "Passenger Seat," "White Horses"

Playboi Carti's "Music" is the year's most audacious hip-hop album. The Atlanta rapper is joined on his 30-track odyssey by many of the genre's biggest hitmakers, including Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott, Future, Young Thug, and Lil Uzi Vert, some of whom return for more than one joint. The Weeknd also lends his famous croon to the album's fan-favorite hit, "Never Lie."

Carti stakes his rightful place in that star-studded lineup, guiding the listener through creative detours, tonal shifts, and contradictions, but never a dull moment.

Best songs: "Rather Lie (with The Weeknd)," "Backd00r (feat. Kendrick Lamar and Jhené Aiko)," "Like Weezy"

Jennie, one-fourth of the K-pop sensation BLACKPINK, easily commands the spotlight on her solo debut, "Ruby." Though she's routinely joined by high-profile collaborators, including Dua Lipa, Doechii, and Childish Gambino, there's never any doubt about who's the star of the show — a sentiment captured by the album's second and best track, "Like Jennie." Very few artists could pull off a bilingual pop banger with a hook built around their own name, but Jennie does it with ease.

Best songs: "Like Jennie," "Love Hangover (feat. Dominic Fike)," "Seoul City"

"Saya," the official debut from Japanese-Canadian musician Saya Gray, navigates the intersection between the natural world and the inherently artificial realm of pop music. Acoustic plucks, harps, and pedal steel guitars sit comfortably alongside synth bloops and autotuned vocals. Gray told Paper magazine that she was partially inspired by a road trip across California, taking in the state's motley topography: mountains, deserts, forests.

Although genre-bending is all the rage these days, Gray has created something that doesn't resemble anything else. She wrote all of the album's 10 songs alone, self-produced three, and co-produced the rest with her brother, Lucian Gray. "Saya" traverses an array of moods, textures, landscapes, and seasons in just 10 tracks, conjuring an in-between world that's both warm and wintry, green and wise, vintage and futuristic.

Best songs: "..Thus Is Why (I Don't Spring 4 Love)," "Shell (Of a Man)," "How Long Can You Keep Up a Lie?"

Lucy Dacus' songwriting always grapples with matters of the heart, but "Forever Is a Feeling" is her most romantic work to date.

In the album's closer, when Dacus sings, "I notice everything about you, I can't help it," she's not overselling it. Her lyrics are devoted and thorough, taking note of the gap in her lover's teeth, the unpaid parking ticket on her dresser, and the bug bites on her thighs.

But it's not just her lover that Dacus observes with tender precision. In "Modigliani," a song about her boygenius bandmate, Phoebe Bridgers, Dacus says she realized her friend was dating a new guy because she'd picked up his mannerisms, "like rolling your eyes and laughing real dry." In "Limerence," a song about a doomed past relationship, Dacus can't even put her arm around an acquaintance's waist without psychoanalyzing her behavior: "Toeing the line of betraying your trust / Why do I feel alive when I'm behaving my worst?"

In that song's outro, Dacus sings that "stillness might eat me alive," but ironically, it's in stillness where she thrives as a songwriter. Dacus has a knack for finding divinity in the details, turning the smallest gestures into revelations and the quietest glances into grand serenades.

Best songs: "For Keeps," "Best Guess," "Lost Time"

Wet Leg's self-titled debut album was released in 2022 to critical acclaim and endorsements from iconic rockers such as Elton John, Dave Grohl, and Pearl Jam. The success sent the band from England's Isle of Wight on an extended, cross-continental tour for much of 2023.

Wet Leg's sophomore album, "Moisturizer," reveals that years of crafting live arrangements, connecting with audiences, and fostering synergy among bandmates have done wonders for their sound. The album's lyricism preserves the irreverent, raunchy humor favored by its founders, Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers, but the production is fuller and more lived-in than that of its predecessor.

Chambers said in a press release that the upgrade was partially thanks to music becoming a full-time job, as opposed to a passion the bandmates previously squeezed in between other responsibilities.

"We focused more on: Is this going to be fun to play live?" Teasdale added. "We enjoyed blocking the outside world out and being a bit self-indulgent."

Best songs: "Davina McCall," "Mangetout," "Pokemon"

Dev Hynes is frequently described by reviewers as a "multi-hyphenate," "musical polymath," or some other version of a Renaissance man, because his talent defies simple narratives. His name is often listed in album credits as vocalist, writer, producer, mixer, engineer, and instrumentalist (piano, drums, cello, bass, you name it). His work tends to be expertly crafted, inventive, and multilayered, both architecturally and emotionally.

The latter is especially true of "Essex Honey," Hynes' fifth album as Blood Orange. The sudden loss of his mother in 2023 caused Hynes to reflect on his childhood in Essex, England, and to infuse his songs with the warmth and serenity he craved. The result is the most autobiographical and affecting album of Hynes' career.

"Grief is extremely complex and within it, there's a million shades of emotions. It's not just depression," Hynes told GQ. "There's some joy when thinking about someone's life and your time with them, but then moments where you dip. Your emotions will fluctuate like crazy. And that's kind of what the album was."

Best songs: "Somewhere In Between," "The Field (feat. The Durutti Column, Tariq Al-Sabir, Caroline Polachek, and Daniel Caesar)," "Mind Loaded (feat. Caroline Polachek, Lorde, and Mustafa)"

PinkPantheress opens "Fancy That" with a spoken-word intro that's surely been memorized by anyone who considers themselves "very online." ("My name is Pink, and I'm really glad to meet you / You're recommended to me by some people / Hey, ooh, is this illegal? / Hey, ooh, it feels illegal.")

These days, spawning a viral TikTok trend could either be a boon for promo or a cringey kiss of death. But therein lies the charm and brilliance of PinkPantheress: Her alt-pop stylings are immune to cringe because they transport you to a time when the internet wasn't so cynical, when sharing selfies on MySpace was the peak of cool, and picking the perfect ringtone for your flip phone was a labor of love. (At one point, mine was "Starz In Their Eyes" by Just Jack, which PinkPantheress samples on track four, "Stars." She was 5 years old when that song was released, so let no one say she doesn't do her research.)

Best songs: "Illegal," "Tonight," "Stateside"

Jade, formerly of UK girl group Little Mix, announced her new chapter as a solo artist last year with "Angel Of My Dreams," a thrillingly unconventional single that combines a contorted sample of Sandie Shaw's "Puppet On A String" with operatic vocals and a throbbing, clubby beat.

The song reintroduced Jade as both a student of pop's history and a glimpse of pop's future, an identity fully realized on her much-anticipated debut album. "That's Showbiz Baby!" frequently evokes precedent divas like Kylie Minogue ("Fantasy"), Donna Summer ("Unconditional"), and The Supremes ("Before You Break My Heart") without losing touch with Jade's distinctive flair.

Best songs: "Angel Of My Dreams," "Midnight Cowboy," "Unconditional"

"Choke Enough" is the kind of album you queue at the function to show off your stylish, superior music taste. I guarantee you'll spark at least one curious comment or surreptitious Shazam attempt — unless, of course, you live in certain pockets of Brooklyn where too many people DJ as a side gig. They already know who Oklou is.

Shortly after the release of Oklou's full-length debut, "Choke Enough," which features a song with noted Charli XCX collaborator Bladee, the French artist was announced as an opener for Lorde's "Virgin" tour. Later, she teamed up with FKA twigs for "Viscus," a single from the album's deluxe edition.

These cosigns signal Oklou's arrival in the preeminent electro-pop scene, whose denizens excel at transmuting the plinky, synthetic sounds of our digital world into music that sparkles and swoons.

Best songs: "Take Me By the Hand," "Harvest Sky," "Blade Bird"

Hardly anyone thought Addison Rae could successfully rebrand from TikTok dancer to respected artist, much less within a single album cycle. But that only makes her success all the more delicious.

"Addison" is a near-bulletproof collection of 12 pop songs, all cowritten by Rae with her producers, Elvira Anderfjärd and Luka Kloser. (Tove Burman is also credited as a cowriter on "Lost & Found" and "High Fashion.") Their tight-knit, all-female team made the bold choice to avoid obvious radio bids or club bangers. Instead, the album is mid-tempo, melodic, and unusually hypnotic.

"Addison" peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200, and lead single "Diet Pepsi" scored its highest Billboard Hot 100 position at No. 54 — a modest showing, perhaps lower than expected, but one that's ultimately good for the album's legacy: "Addison" already glows with the charisma of a cult classic.

Rae has moved on from the woes and demands of superficial virality. Now's the time for her to enjoy, as she put it on the "Popcast" podcast, the luxury of good taste.

Best songs: "New York," "Diet Pepsi," "Summer Forever," "Fame Is a Gun," "Headphones On"

Hayley Williams' third solo album, "Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party," is also her first as an independent artist. After Paramore's contract with Atlantic Records was fulfilled by their 2023 album "This Is Why," Williams launched her own label venture, not-so-subtly dubbed Post Atlantic.

Williams wasted no time putting her own personal spin on the album-creation process. She released the 17 original songs from "Ego Death" for free on her website, presented as a jumble of MP3 files in no specific order. Fans were inspired to create their own tracklists, and Williams took their input into account as she finalized the album's structure.

"Ego Death" deliberately exists outside the major-label machinery, beyond the industry's expectations of profit and etiquette. In the fan-selected album opener, "Ice In My OJ," Williams sarcastically calls herself a "cold, hard bitch" for daring to forge her own path, even after decades of making bigwigs rich. (Paramore signed a "360" deal with Atlantic when Williams was still a teenager, meaning the label took a hefty percentage of all the band's revenue streams, from publishing and touring to merchandise and brand deals. That gives the lyric "I'm in the business of misery" an entirely new meaning, doesn't it?)

Williams' anger is especially effective because she has the skill and experience to expose its roots. Her songwriting is sharp as ever on "Ego Death," digging into themes of exploitation, performativity, false prophets, and faux morality. Stories that could come across as preachy or pretentious in lesser hands are grounded by lifelike imagery and personal disclosure. This is an album with real teeth, but it only bites when provoked.

Best songs: "Glum," "Hard," "True Believer," "Dream Girl In Shibuya," "Parachute"

Dijon Duenas had a busy year. The mononymous artist was a key collaborator on two of the year's most highly reviewed albums, Bon Iver's "Sable, Fable" and Justin Bieber's "Swag," cowriting and co-producing four songs for the latter. Dijon also made his acting debut alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in Paul Thomas Anderson's "One Battle After Another," which earned nine nominations for the 2026 Golden Globes, more than any other film.

Dijon's fingerprints are strewn, somewhat haphazardly, across this year's creative landscape. He doesn't have a calling card or a signature style. Rather, he's a shapeshifter who follows his fleeting instincts, whether it's a stroke of inspiration or, in his words, a "fit of frustration."

"I woke up one day and was like, 'I should probably do an album now,'" Dijon told Pitchfork. Over the next six weeks, his sophomore album, "Baby," was cobbled together from unfinished demos, old vocal takes, and lyrics he'd previously scrapped — not what many music industry pros would consider an auspicious starting point. In a final act of contrarianism, he ran the entire track list through a $10 DJ program.

"Baby" is a surreal data dump of an album, full of pivots, anecdotes, and interruptions. Dijon said he made a point to honor all ideas with the same gravity, whether stale or fresh, fragmented or finished. Somehow, the effect is more riveting than jarring, like when your mind jumps between unrelated scenes in a dream. The connective fibers exist, even if your subconscious doesn't immediately grasp them.

Best songs: "Baby!," "Higher!," "Yamaha," "Rewind," "Automatic"

Lily Allen's "West End Girl" is a breakup album for the ages. The 45-minute tracklist unspools like a novel that's part memoir, part narrative fiction, and part psychological horror. Its lyrics are punctuated by details that hit like jump scares: an incriminating text from a woman named Madeline, glimpsed by mistake on her husband's phone; a Duane Reade bag full of secret sex toys, discovered in his seedy West Village apartment. Allen assumes the role of a woman lured by domestic fantasies and false promises, only to find her marriage is more like an emotional trap.

Allen has confirmed that she recently split from her real-life husband, David Harbour, but as with so many memorable first-person stories, "West End Girl" is helmed by an unreliable narrator. The listener is trapped in her internal spiral, with little sense of what constitutes betrayal and what constitutes projection: "Wanna believe you, but is it a ruse?" "Say that it's over, do you mean a hiatus?" "Why are we here talking about vasectomies? Did you get someone pregnant?" "Why won't you beg for me?"

This kind of album — devastating, delirious, hyper-specific — should have zero replay value. And yet, against all odds, Allen makes it fun to live inside her alter-ego's frantic mind. I can't count the number of times I've reached the final line, "You're stuck inside your fruityloop," and instinctively restarted the album from the top. How fitting.

Best songs: "Ruminating," "Tennis," "Madeline," "Pussy Palace," "Fruityloop"

"Mayhem" is not the faithful successor to "The Fame Monster" that Lady Gaga's fans expected. It's better.

Gaga's sixth solo album marries both of her musical specialties: the dark, industrial pop hooks from her chart-topping days and the bright, nostalgic melodies that suit her Oscar-winning vocal range. "Mayhem" is the handiwork of a woman who plowed through darkness and emerged with every reflex sharpened.

"I was willingly and openly running through all the nightmares of my past and my present and just finding poetry in all of it," Gaga told Rolling Stone of the album. "And that was a sign of my health as a musician. One of the things I'm most grateful for is gaining all my artistic faculties back to make this record."

Best songs: "Abracadabra," "Garden of Eden," "Perfect Celebrity," "Killah (feat. Gesaffelstein)," "How Bad Do U Want Me"

Since 2018, the year his debut studio album dropped, Bad Bunny's upward trajectory has appeared unstoppable. He's released hits with Cardi B, J Balvin, Drake, Dua Lipa, Travis Scott, and The Weeknd. In 2022, "Un Verano Sin Ti" became the first all-Spanish album to be nominated for album of the year at the Grammys, and his tours grossed $435 million, breaking a single-year record. Last year, he was named Billboard's Top Latin Artist for the sixth time.

So what does an artist like Bad Bunny do when he's got the world in the palm of his hand? Well, he releases an album heavily inspired by traditional Puerto Rican music and launches a 10-week residency in San Juan where locals get first dibs on tickets. Naturally.

Where other superstars may have played it safe and pandered to the global market, "Debí Tirar Más Fotos" is unlike anything else in Bad Bunny's discography, ignoring pop trends in favor of salsa, plena, jibaro, and other distinctly Puerto Rican flavors. Its thematic focus on cultural preservation has been hailed by Latino music critics as unprecedented and revolutionary.

Bad Bunny himself has said this is his "most Puerto Rican album ever" — a deliberate homecoming for an artist who's made a lot of money by reaching non-Spanish-speaking audiences. There's a streak of defiance that runs through the tracklist, deftly balanced by dapples of joy, pride, and intergenerational camaraderie.

"What is the purpose of me being here, in this position? What's next? You die and that's it. There's no, like, 'Oh you were the most streamed artist' — so what?" Bad Bunny told The New York Times when the album was released. "I was thinking on that and said, 'I should do something where I can plant a seed.'"

Of course, it helps if you're able to do both. The album's seed has already yielded many fruits, including a headlining slot at the Super Bowl halftime show in February, another Grammy nomination for album of the year, and record-breaking sales for Bad Bunny's 2026 stadium tour. Imagine the fruits that will continue to ripen over time.

Best songs: "Nuevayol," "Baile Inolvidable," "Bokete," "Turista," "DTMF"

Back in 2019, Rosalía told The New York Times Magazine, "I don't force things. I can have a wish, and then I let God lead me on the path, bringing me what I need — and always trying to be alert to receive it."

That methodology has worked wonders for Rosalía, who's forged an unlikely career as a pop star from her background as a classically trained flamenco singer, known in Spanish as a cantaora.

Her 2022 album, "Motomami," cemented Rosalía as a visionary hitmaker, but "Lux" feels like the heaven-sent album she prophesied years ago — passionate, grandiose, and improbably listenable, blending technical skill with commercial taste in a way that few artists would dare attempt, let alone achieve.

Rosalía, like a lightning rod for divine gifts and insights, sings in 13 different languages throughout the tracklist. She also worked closely with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Daníel Bjarnason, to bind the songs with a common sensory thread. You don't need to understand Rosalía's lyrics to get lost in her symphony. In fact, in a time when we can find any information and achieve instant gratification at the click of a button, it's a relief to surrender to 50 minutes of mystique and awe instead.

Best songs: "Reliquia," "Mio Cristo Piange Diamanti," "Berghain," "La Perla," "Dios Es Un Stalker"