In the future, 2025 may well represent a watershed year. Our ongoing digitally-driven fractal lives are increasingly separated, with the intrusion of AI now making it hard to discern fact from fiction. In music, we’ve already seen ‘clone’ songs speed across our feeds, leaving the human innovators in their algorithmically-processed wake. It’s an era when information is easy to access, yet strangely it’s never been so hard to actually absorb.
In this sense, gatekeepers have become incredibly important. The art of curation is desperately needed, and if Christmas represents a chance to step away, and re-charge, it also allows an opportunity to tap in with the voices we respect, and absorb some of the tastes we’ve been lacking.
With 2025 drawing to a close, the CLASH team – from staff to writers, photographers, and beyond – have come together to focus on the best album length projects released this year. It’s been a surfeit of riches; the resulting list is speckled with potential greats, with a huge degree of consistent quality from first to last.
Indeed, if there’s been any one challenge it’s finding consensus. In lives increasingly distinct and remote, cultural conversations have become endlessly fragmented, obliterated into atomic shades by the social media environment.
That being said, one victor emerged via a clear tally of votes from both writers and staff. Join us as we survey 2025’s finest long form releases – and pick one worthy winner.
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60. Loyle Carner – hopefully !
A deeply personal and reflective project, Loyle Carner’s ‘hopefully !’ explores themes of family legacy and the quiet hopes we carry through life. Released in June ahead of his headline performance on The Other Stage at Glastonbury, it’s an easy standout in the field of emotionally resonant albums. Less caustic and confrontational than its predecessor ‘hugo’, ‘hopefully!’ is still an excavation for Carner who opened up on challenges of modern fatherhood, as well as the joy of raising a child through wistful, easy-listening gems. Harvey Marwood
59. JADE – THAT’S SHOWBIZ BABY! THE ENCORE
The typical artist’s encore graces us with three more songs before their stage time is up. But JADE, always one to go above and beyond, delivered eight more to us a few weeks back as an extension of her debut solo album ‘THAT’S SHOWBIZ, BABY!’. The project’s second disc is much more cohesive than its first, showcasing JADE’s growing mastery of her own nu-pop identity. Lead single ‘Church’ sounds as if it’s lifted straight off MTV, with its fresh blend of sultry, stripped-back moments and explosive beats. Much of the ensuing collection follows in this vein, leaning into nostalgia by repurposing older pop tropes. It allows the project a newfound longevity, as JADE steers away from microtrends and soundbites in favour of displaying the full scope of her artistry. Zahra Hanif
58. The Armed – The Future Is Here And Everything Needs To Be Destroyed
The Detroit band’s sixth album is stylised in capital letters for several reasons. ‘THE FUTURE IS HERE AND EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE DESTROYED’ is a beautifully intense and ferocious album, so it feels apt to set out its title in such a brash, loud manner. The album takes the band’s newfound lucidity to its most extreme end point. The music is as heavy as The Armed have ever been, as well as rife with almost shockingly accessible diversions. The lyrics are similarly pointed, taking aim at a world that often seems like it’s spiraling out of control, rife with individualists fighting one another to the delight of a tiny gang of elites. Their music goes straight for the jugular, whilst dazzling with its inventive and deeply humanist belief that we can do so, so much better than all this mayhem. Tom Morgan
57. Audrey Hobert – Who’s The Clown
It’s always exciting when new voices start to gain traction in the music industry. Up until the start of this year, the 26-year-old singer-songwriter was mostly known as Gracie Abrams’ best friend and core collaborator. On her debut full-length, Hobart puts her own spin on diaristic storytelling: some of the standout songs, like ‘Thirst Trap’ and ‘Sex And The City’, paint a vivid picture of the lengths young, impressionable girls can (and usually) go to catch someone’s attention; to romanticise their every action, and find meaning in the almost unnoticeable. Eduarda Goulart
56. JENNIE – Ruby
JENNIE’s debut album reflected a new era of experimentation for the Korean musician, one teeming with ideas inspired by a grand sweep of genres; trap, space disco, dimly-lit RnB, folktronic ballads. Where marquee crossover releases from other K-pop stars suffer from tonal whiplash, ‘Ruby’ succeeds because of its subtle tessellation between softness and abrasiveness. The intro ‘JANE’ saw the singer enlist downtempo maestro FKJ for a sci-fi-tinged instrumental with ASMR-inspired vocals fluttering in and out the mix; the noirish throwback RnB cut ‘Damn Right’, with Kali Uchis and Childish Gambino, is a lovemaking profusion unlike anything Jennie has released to date. But it’s ‘Love Hangover’ that emerges as the zenith of this album; the kind of smooth, effusive, deceptively catchy number tailor made for adult contemporary radio. Shahzaib Hussain
55. DjRUM – Under Tangled Silence
Oxford-based DjRUM has long been a CLASH favourite, thanks primarily due to his eclectic, continually inventive DJ sets. Born Felix Manuel, the musicality in its work reaches its true potential on ‘Under Tangled Silence’, a sublime achievement that moves from club-informed beats through to lush, modern classical aspects. Opening with rivulets of piano, it weaves from the fringes of techno to blissed, head-bobbing junglism, held together by the producer’s painterly tones, and his world-building prowess. An atlas-like guide to inner landscapes, ‘Under Tangled Silence’ is a gripping, often moving document. Robin Murray
54. Deafheaven – Lonely People with Power
‘Lonely People With Power’ is a gargantuan album. A loud, maximalist, bombastic tour de force that brings together everything that this band does so well. Propulsive beats, resounding guitars, exquisite effects, and screamies that make you wonder how George Clarke has any kind of voice left at all. It’s a multifaceted, multilayered gem of an album that restores the band to their rightful position as one of the best that modern heavy music has to offer. Michael Watkins
53. DJ Haram – Beside Myself
Like the hardest, heaviest warehouse rave you ever stumbled into, Zubeyda Muzeyyen’s ‘Beside Yourself’ is an unruly yet sublime experience. It’s a wild explosion of ideas, to the point where it could be argued that, when taken as a whole album, it lacks a bit of shape or finesse. Regardless, the fascinating production work by its skilled creator and a frankly ridiculous selection of guest features makes ‘Beside Myself’ a singular descent into vantablack-coloured dystopian club-tronica. Tom Morgan
52. Indigo De Souza – Precipice
We meet Indigo de Souza on the edge. ‘Precipice’ feels like a moment suspended in time. We’re no longer looking ahead with apprehension, as we do for much of her 2018 debut ‘I Love My Mom’, nor are we looking back with bittersweet introspection the way we do on its follow up ‘Any Shape You Take’. ‘Precipice’ feels ready to stop trying to make sense of stuff, and just be. It’s the juxtaposition of the highest highs and the lowest lows that gives ‘Precipice’ its feeling of being suspended on the edge – these things coexist, sometimes in the same breath as de Souza slips from a bubbly water metaphor into the most stomach jolting kitchen-sink realism you’ve ever heard. Ims Taylor
51. clipping. – Dead Channel Sky
An album of twisted genius: an unsettling voyage alongside an unsettled brain, navigating the chaos and strange euphoria of hyper-modern life. For an intense hour we cross blurred boundaries between vocal and robot sound, melding actual and virtual realities, and organic and electronic versions of life. clipping. squeeze in references to Munchhausen’s Syndrome and Gitmo, painting vivid pictures of ordered chaos. Daveed Diggs’ delivery remains chillingly laid-back whether speaking words infused with tongue-in-cheek humour or dropping crushing, brutal bars. Phil Taylor
50. Wednesday – Bleeds
Wednesday’s ‘Bleeds’ is a mishmash medley of Southern indie-rock. It presents songs of confession, reflection, wit, heartache and true crime in new and distinctive ways. Karly Hartzman (guitar, vocals), Zandy Chelmis (lap steel, pedal steel), Alan Miller (drums), Ethan Baechtold (bass, piano) and Jake “M.J.” Lenderman (guitar) are a road-tested troupe melding witty lyrics depicting eccentric narratives, soulful steel and melodic guitar on a charged record that despite its novelistic reach always feels true-to-life. Amelie Grice
49. Armand Hammer, The Alchemist – Mercy
Armand Hammer — the group comprising rappers ELUCID and billy woods — and producer The Alchemist build entire worlds on ‘Mercy’. Equal parts lush and foreboding, ‘Mercy’ is uncompromising and soul-crushing, the lyrics unspooling historic threads of socio-political unrest and the phantom effects of empire. But it’s not all doom and gloom: there’s the glint of hope and promise in the synergy between the rap duo, perpetually lived-in and in lockstep, and the producer anchoring it all in twisted, but always beguiling moodscapes. Shahzaib Hussain
48. Ethel Cain – Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You
‘Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You’ was never supposed to be where Cain went next, certainly not in the form that it now exists. There was a promise of a prequel EP that would explore how the characters from ‘Preacher’s Daughter’ came to be, but what emerged was an album as long as Sufjan’s ‘Illinois’, itself a sprawling dissection of flawed American ideals and the people who so readily fail to live up to them. On ‘Willoughby Tucker…’, we find a record that moves like an opus, bringing together everything that Cain has done so far and besting it in the process. Instrumental tracks, Americana gems, synth-layered meditations on traumatic childhoods, and a dower spirit that suffocates everything that it overwhelms – they’re all on here, and they’re all bigger, bolder, and better than before. Michael Watkins
47. Olivia Dean – The Art of Loving
The concept and title for Olivia Dean’s second album came from an exhibition she attended in Los Angeles, All About Love by Mickalene Thomas, whose vibrant portraiture endeavoured to reshape notions of beauty, sexuality and femininity. Thomas’ exhibition paid homage to the feminist writer bell hooks, whose book of the same name deepened the concept of love beyond romantic relationships to incorporate family, friendship, and community. On ‘The Art Of Loving’, Dean traces her own non-linear journey through romantic encounters and relationships, with self-love as the bedrock.
‘The Art Of Loving’ more vividly, and compellingly, reconciles Dean’s love of classic sounds with modern notes on desire, intimacy, romantic disillusion and discontent. The London singer-songwriter soars on torch songs that contrast feelings of self-regard with self-doubt. And her vocal ability is undiminished throughout, edging closer to the hallmarks of neo-soul and bossa, while leaning into the jazz-tinged moodscapes that her velvety voice naturally reaches for. Shahzaib Hussain
46. Model/Actriz – Pirouette
‘Pirouette’ is an album of contrasts, and to an equal measure Brooklyn’s Model/Actriz are a band of juxtapositions. The four-piece expertly place seemingly clashing sounds side by side, but with their lyrical aptitude and technical prowess, they’re able to make it work effortlessly. Similarly, they consistently bring club-pop energy while employing conventional rock instrumentation, all the while having a level of lyrical clarity others rarely achieve. Two albums deep, the group remain as nimble and precise as ever. Yu An Su
45. Dave – The Boy Who Played the Harp
This is a staggeringly powerful record by UK rap’s most potent, and mystifying, storyteller. Continually evading easy descriptors, Dave pushes his art to higher levels. At one point he dismisses the need for cultural commentators, preferring to keep those to sport. It’s easy to push back on it – isn’t Dave, a vocal fan of the art, also a critic himself? ‘The Boy Who Played The Harp’ has been almost purposefully designed to exclude easy hot takes, and narrow definitions. It’s a record that truly speaks for itself, and in truth there is no higher praise we could give it. Robin Murray
44. Tyler, The Creator – Don’t Tap The Glass
Where the warped psychodrama of ‘Chromakopia’ excavated Tyler’s past musical alter-egos, exploring the illusion of youth and celebrity as intoxicants through a mask-clad protagonist in a state of flux, ‘DON’T TAP THE GLASS’ is Tyler stripping back the artifice and luxuriating in a state of sustained ecstasy. The 10-track album revels in the spark and frisson of the current moment, foregoing the usual worn sprawl in favour of playfulness and pageantry. As palate cleansers go, ‘DON’T TAP THE GLASS’ does its job: a mash-up of shrewd, slinky dancefloor capers that dials back the conceptual overload, hits the reset button and revels in fun. Shahzaib Hussain
43. Sudan Archives – The BPM
‘The BPM’, Brittney Parks’ third album, is no symphony but a full blown dance record, meant to rattle speakers and move hips. It’s filled with heavy 808s, unabashed raunchiness, full blown rap and, yes, strings – deployed in the form of pulsing synths and thumping, kinetic drums. Contrary to the techno-pessimism of 2025, the album – from its cover onwards – is also an unabashed celebration of technology, one which seems to be at odds with Parks’ love for traditional music making, until it doesn’t. Liam Inscoe-Jones
42. Haim – i quit
After the gargantuan success of ‘Women In Music Pt III’, expectations were naturally sky high for Haim’s follow-up, ‘I quit’. It’s a more straightforward album, examining the trials and tribulations of relationships and breakups. But it’s also the most out-and-rock record the sisters have put out since their debut, packed with verve, energy and grit. It shows they’re not content to stay still so they delivered another stellar record that justified the wait. Christopher Connor
41. PinkPantheress – Fancy That
Electro-pop princess PinkPantheress returned this year with her second mixtape, ‘Fancy That’. Though compact at just twenty minutes, the project bursts with charm (“I’m really glad to meet you!”), energy, and Pantheress’ signature blend of samples and musical influences, ranging from UK garage to emo. The project sees the 24-year-old singer-producer triumphantly rework the noughties into the mainstream, layering nostalgic touches throughout, from bassline to Just Jack. Zahra Hanif
40. Addison Rae – Addison
Following a successful run of singles, pop prodigy Addison Rae seized 2025 as the year to drop her hotly-anticipated debut album. Largely sharing a fanbase, as well as artistic common ground with the likes of Charli xcx and Lana Del Rey, places Addison Rae in a unique position. Her genre isn’t solely pop but it’s not quite alternative either. After going through one of the most notable rebrands in modern music – from part-time musician and full-time influencer to becoming one of the most exciting newcomers in the music industry – ‘Addison’ is a breath of fresh air in a saturated environment. Lauren Hague
39. Bad Bunny – Debí Tirar Más Fotos
On ‘DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS’, Bad Bunny “recommits” to Puerto Rico. Translated as ‘I should have taken more photos’, the results are a brave and bold audio pictograph not only of Puerto Rico, but of the diaspora itself, with all its pan-generational variants and complexities. Hemming in his crossover impulses, it stays true to his foundational aspects; ‘PIToRRO DE COCO’ is a real whirlwind ride, while the crunching bass tones that permeate ‘EoO’ offer sheer reggaeton bedlam. Boasting 17-tracks and a full hour of music, ‘DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS’ is a love letter to his heritage that boasts some of Bad Bunny’s most definitive moments. A generational voice within the diaspora, this project finds the star bringing it all back home. Robin Murray
38. The Alchemist, Freddie Gibbs – Alfredo 2
A rapper who continually switches it up, last year’s ‘You Only Die 1nce’ was a major league moment, a display of Freddie’s gravitas. ‘Alfredo 2’ takes Freddie Gibbs back to his roots, a sequel to his Alchemist-propelled 2020 ‘Alfredo’. One of the loftiest moments in either artist’s catalogue, there’s simply a sense of magic to this partnership – and this sequel doesn’t disappoint. A record that feels intrinsically strong from start to finale, little is left to waste here. 14 songs and 48 minutes, it’s a taut, finessed project; ‘Shangri La’ is gripping, ‘Lavish Habits’ employs some of Freddie’s finest word play to date, and ‘Jean Claude’ detonates with a palpable sense of Alchemist’s avant-funk. Robin Murray
37. Oklou – choke enough
‘choke enough’, the debut album from Oklou, creates a universe entirely its own. With Casey MQ, A.G. Cook, and Danny L Harle on production, it already feels like a cult classic. Tracks like ‘harvest sky’ are anthems for the internet-age, keeping Oklou at the centre of future-facing electronic pop. Childlike wonder runs through every track, showing her fearless, experimental vision. This one’s for the daydreamers. Amelia Garrett
36. Viagra Boys – Viagr aboys
“I’m a man that’s made of meat / You’re on the internet looking at feet.” That line, from the opening track ‘Man Made of Meat’, might as well be a mission statement. It perfectly sets the tone for the Swedish outfit’s fourth album, ‘Viagr aboys’. Absurd, visceral, and uncomfortably honest, the record lurches between the grotesque and the hilarious, painting a portrait of a crumbling, commodified culture with the tone of a Twitch stream beamed in from Hell’s waiting room. If earlier releases flirted with surrealism, this one dives headfirst into a more twisted critique of consumerism, masculinity, and decay — both moral and physical. There’s the same dark humour and love for warped Americana, but now it’s distilled into a more targeted attack on our fractured, hyper-capitalist world. Josh Crowe
35. billy woods – Golliwog
‘GOLLIWOG’ is an abrasive and demanding album. billy woods’ afro-pessimist vision of a world fundamentally hostile to every facet of Black existence (family, history, spirituality) is a hell of a lot to chew on. However, it’s also a beautifully singular vision, one that’s delivered with thrilling intelligence and visceral force. By the time you reach closing track ‘Dislocated’ (which features woods’ frequent collaborator ELUCID), its creator’s final verse will have you close to tears. Once again echoing Invisible Man, woods imagines himself as the album’s titular character; “in the forest, face painted, fingertips black with charcoal”. Accompanied by just his partner, he’s resigned to “sleeping in the basement”, where he “can’t be located”. Hug your loved ones tight, ‘GOLLIWOG’s’ hostile world is one of nothing but “shadows” and “mosses”. Tom Morgan
34. Little Simz – Lotus
June saw the release of Little Simz’s sixth studio album, ‘Lotus’. A star-studded lineup, including Michael Kinwanuka and Wretch 32, assists Simz in delivering a poetic yet precise confessional, as the wordsmith channels the pain of her public fallout with her former producer into heavy-hitting bars. Jazz and funk influences weave throughout the album, compelling a sophisticated sound that solidifies Simz’s sonic maturity and ‘Lotus’ as another masterpiece from a rap visionary. Zahra Hanif
33. Deftones – Private Music
Having long-since shirked the trappings of nu metal – a label that never really sat comfortably with them in the first place – Deftones’ tenth LP marked an end to the longest gap between albums since the group’s inception, continuing to signal a tireless pursuit of new sonic possibilities within the brash soundscapes that they so frequently inhabit. Perhaps the most miraculous thing about ‘Private Music’ is how quickly these tracks embed themselves in the band’s canon alongside beloved favourites. For a group who stopped needing to prove themselves a long time ago, it arrives as an assured statement from an outfit that continues to find compelling reasons to do so. Deftly striking a balance between brutal and graceful, it’s a welcome reminder that Deftones are still more than capable of delivering the goods while showing us something new and vital. Paul Weedon
32. Lady Gaga – MAYHEM
On her sixth album, Lady Gaga is at her hungriest – a pop carnivore demolishing a feast of blood-strewn ideas. Not that her recent history is without those – there’s a tendency online to say Lady Gaga has simply been treading water for a decade, which is absurd. The glittering acting CV? The pursuance of jazz, one of her first loves? The frequently astonishing ‘Chromatica’ era? Nothing in her glittering career should be discounted casually. ‘MAYHEM’ does, however, re-connect Lady Gaga with a sound – and approach – she deserves to own. With the world growing darker by the minute, one of the planet’s biggest stars is ready to unroot pop’s foundations once more, and we’re totally here for it. Robin Murray
31. Nourished By Time – The Passionate Ones
Recorded between his Baltimore home, New York, and London, the 12-track record by Marcus Elliot Brown spotlights his world-building capabilities; a blueprint for building your own altar in the ruins of the American Dream. ‘9 2 5’ feels open-ended, the work of an artist asking difficult questions of himself; boundary-shattering electronics with a profoundly physical feel, it’s a riveting, genre-agnostic construction emblazoned with searing colour. Elsewhere, ‘BABY BABY’ explores themes of digital overload and hyperreality over spritely, stop-start production. A triumph on all counts. Shahzaib Hussain
30. Maria Somerville – Luster
Maria Somerville’s ‘Luster’ is a remarkable album – a beautiful, thrilling, fascinating experience, one that matches the tranquil and the bucolic to emotional complexity. Sensually stunning, it feels unified but also hard to pin down. A record that muses on the uncanny, fuelled by sights experienced from the corner of your eye, there’s an apt halo of magic to what Maria Somerville has achieved here. Robin Murray
29. Leikeli47 – Lei Keli ft. 47 / For Promotional Use Only
Spanning 11 songs in total and a runtime of just 30 minutes, ‘Lei Keli ft. 47 / For Promotional Use Only’ is Leikeli47’s first album since wrapping up her “beauty trilogy” with 2022’s ‘Shape Up’. The album was executive-produced by Leikeli47 and Harold Lilly, and is her richest and most revealing work to date. Brimming with juiced-up affirmation anthems and tender ska-laced chronicles on survival and the ephemeral nature of the music industry, the New York artist demystifies her once inscrutable persona. The album affirms Leikeli47 as underground rap’s most dynamic poet and performer. Shahzaib Hussain
28. aya – hexed!
Electronic producer aya’s raised the bar on ‘hexed!’. Overarching themes of addiction, mental grief, and survival permeate the record, with the production unafraid to depict ugliness in high intensity. Informed in part by aya’s ongoing live show – she’s performed at the likes of Barbican, No Bounds, Unsound, Berlin Atonal, Mutek, and many more – there’s a thrilling muscularity to the record. And a sense of humour, too – a darkly bleak, gallows-style humour, but this irreverence lights up some of the more difficult passages. Robin Murray
27. Earl Sweatshirt – Live Laugh Love
‘Live Laugh Love’ is Earl’s first full length statement in three years, and follows the 2022 album ‘Sick!’. If the title feels ironic, don’t be fooled – this is a record that deals with fatherhood and family life, in a frank, always revealing way. A trim 11 songs – and 24 minutes of music – the palette lingers on woozy 70s soul samples, distorted through a maze of studio effects. The dense sonics recall Bristol trip-hop at times – particularly on the torpid machine funk outing ‘TOURMALINE’ – making it a parallel to FATHER’s recent (excellent) ‘Patricide’ LP. Robin Murray
26. Lily Allen – West End Girl
Ultimately, ‘West End Girl’ by Lily Allen is a record that works on multiple levels. As a personal treatise, it doesn’t hold back, the agonised ‘Let You W/In’ discussed the deep pain of a collapsing relationship in a way that easily ranks Adele’s ‘30’, for example. There’s also a sense of an artist both reclaiming and out-pacing her past – the slowed down Lumidee sample on ‘Beg For Me’ toys with the ghosts of 00s pop, and the title of ‘Fruityloop’ riffs on the software beloved of grime producers.
This is a record prompted by real-life pain, but Lily Allen ensures there’s more than enough sugar to help the medicine go down. A hard-hitting pop exposition, it frequently feels daring, while also providing an endless supply of hooks. ‘West End Girl’ finds Lily Allen at the centre of a romantic implosion, making imposing shapes out of the rubble. Robin Murray
25. Joanne Robertson – Blurrr
Joanne Robertson’s catalogue relishes the understated and embraces the subdued. The Glasgow-based musician is also a painter, and there’s a potent, highly visual aspect to her work – the sketch-like daubs of sound frequently recall charcoal drawings, such is their spartan veracity. ‘Blurrr’ – how’s that for a visual reference point? – is her second album for AD 93, her sixth album overall, and dare we say it, her most impactful to date. Improvisatory incantations, ‘Blurrr’ excels on the tension between free-thinking creativity and more formal songwriting. Ideas chafe at the edges of their surroundings, threatening to burst out into clouds of sound. Eschewing the ostentatious, ‘Blurrr’ practically demands you listen intently, aware that each moment counts. A muted gem, Joanne Robertson’s restraint sees ‘Blurrr’ reach fresh heights. Robin Murray
24. keiyaA – hooke’s law
Conceptualised over five years, ‘hooke’s law’ is keiyaA’s document of survival through intense self-interrogation. The album deconstructs and rebuilds keiyaA’s ego on her own terms, offering a safe space to process the conflicting roles she’s inhabited growing up as a queer Black woman. The labyrinthine record is caustic and disruptive, but also lively, carnal and club-centric. Cerebral music to rock and rage to. Shahzaib Hussain
23. Big Thief – Double Infinity
‘Double Infinity’, Big Thief’s sixth LP, offers an open-hearted, sprawling exploration of past, present and future. Fallen from consecutive time order, a span of intertwining moments and memories, people and places, dictate the pull and push of Adrianne Lenker, Buck Meek and James Krivchenia across the album’s nine tracks. It may be stripped back from the band’s expansive, 20-song ‘Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You’, but is no less thorough in its observations; particularly of time, place, love and loss. Amelia Kelly
22. Sabrina Carpenter – Man’s Best Friend
If ‘Short n’ Sweet’ was Sabrina Carpenter’s global breakout, then ‘Man’s Best Friend’ is a huge moment, perhaps the most integral to her career to date. The run-up to this diminutive blockbuster was dogged by speculation. Is it a break-up album? A tell-all cycle of pop revenge? Is it her country moment? In the end, it’s all those things and more. Shrugging off expectations, Carpenter delivered impeccably observed lyrics that linger on the universal. ‘Never Getting Laid’ and ‘Don’t Worry I’ll Make You Worry’ may bristle with spite, but it’s cartoonish, pop-as-entertainment, at the end of the day. Robin Murray
21. Amaarae – Black Star
On her third studio album ‘BLACK STAR’, Amaarae more zealously leaned into Pan-African fusion – honouring the sub-genres birthed and popularised by disenchanted youth – and the cross-continental nighttime scenes she experienced in Miami, Los Angeles and Brazil when crafting the album. For an artist who has tapped into diaspora-hopping club styles since 2020’s ‘The Angel You Don’t Know’, ‘BLACK STAR’ is easily Amaarae’s most pointed exercise in high-octane dance music. Liquified momentum courses through a thirteen-track sustained mix of house, techno, baile funk, woven in with homegrown genres from her native Ghana: azonto, hiplife, asorkpor, and highlife. Shahzaib Hussain
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20. Dijon – Baby
Dijon’s highly-anticipated second album ‘Baby’ pushed the bounds of genre by fusing splintered soul music into explosive new expressions. Reflecting on the seismic shifts that come with fatherhood, ‘Baby’ bursts open at the seams reflecting the world shifting around Dijon. Weaving sounds of the world into his intricate sonic tapestry, ‘Baby’ feels intentional, sparse and full – all at once. On ‘Baby’, Dijon’s ruminations on desire and joy feel like a fever dream you never want to wake from. Rachel Min-Leong
19. Sam Fender – People Watching
‘People Watching’ doesn’t see Sam Fender neglect his natural aptitude for social commentary, explored on previous albums ‘Hypersonic Missiles’ and ‘Seventeen Going Under’. Instead Fender adapts a state of sentimentality when retrospectively drawing from his upbringing in North Shields. As the title implies, Fender lyrically distances himself from his first-hand experiences on ‘People Watching’, adding a new dimension to his already accomplished repertoire. This is a quintessential Sam Fender experience – a heartfelt, homegrown immersion of the mundane and extraordinary people and places this dweller was lucky enough to know. Lauren Hague
18. caroline – caroline 2
If London eight-piece caroline warned of their potential on 2022’s riveting, under-the-radar self-titled debut, then logically titled follow-up ‘caroline 2’ took this to a whole other level. Magnificent, maximalist songwriting that revels in detail, it represents a torrent of information, a flood tide of data. Aptly titled opener ‘Total euphoria’ is like a car revving into gear; the glacial ‘When I get home’ is a stunning exercise in minimalism; ‘Coldplay’ transforms post-post-post-post irony into something achingly heart-on-sleeve. There’s even a bonus vocal from Caroline Polachek, who is utterly gripping on ‘Tell me I never knew that’. Easily their best to date, caroline seem to conjure entire sonic worlds. Robin Murray
17. John Glacier – Like a Ribbon
East London rapper John Glacier’s debut album ‘Like A Ribbon’ is a balm for a world on fire. A layered saga, it unflinchingly portrays John’s origin story growing up in Hackney; her rise, the struggles that coincide with it, and the existential growth that supersedes it. Split into three parts that represent the movement of a ribbon as it falls, flails and revives itself, the album is unquestionably Glacier’s most honest, and revelatory, work to date. Ben Broyd
16. Wet Leg – Moisturizer
This second effort by the Isle of Wight five-piece is driven by a newfound willingness to explore emotional vulnerability, particularly in the form of love songs, territory co-founder Rhian Teasdale once regarded with scepticism. Here, Wet Leg skew that well-trodden terrain through their now-trademark sardonic outlook. Under the ongoing stewardship of producer Dan Carey, Wet Leg reacted to any pressure with reassuring insolence. It wasn’t broke so they haven’t fixed it, keeping things concise without losing their innate sense of fun. Punchier, prettier, and more playfully perverse, ‘Moisturizer’ proved Wet Leg are here to stay. Richard Bowes
15. Nazar – Demilitarize
The Amsterdam-based, Angolan artist’s second album ‘Demilitarize’ sounds like shards of prismatic light piercing the murky ether; violence is wrought from the inside, the live organism, the consciousness. Conceived and recorded in the aftermath of a crippling sickness that left Nazar incapacitated just as his relationship with his now fiancé bloomed in isolation, ‘Demilitarize’ chronicles insular fears, the unspoken truths and trauma of a family living in the throes of factional war, and long suppressed feelings surrounding sexual identity. Shahzaib Hussain
14. Pulp – More
Pulp knew we wanted ‘More’ before they even asked the question, but quite aside from having a handy title for publicity, the Sheffield legends’ eighth album surpassed all expectations. The majestic ‘Spike Island’ lit the glittery fuse before the euphoric ‘Got to Have Love’ paved the way for an eclectic album fusing Jarvis Cocker’s unique lyrical observations, refined by the passing of time (“I am not ageing – no, I am just ripening”) with a more experienced (and therefore better) band in Doyle, Webber, Banks et al. ‘Slow Jam’ aped ‘Young Americans’ Bowie, ‘Grown Ups’ was as catchy as hell and ‘Partial Eclipse’ stirred every melancholic heart. Steve Mackey would be proud. Richard Bowes
13. Rochelle Jordan – Through The Wall
On ‘Through The Wall’, Toronto’s Rochelle Jordan is protecting something historically sacred yet dormant in the industry, using big hair and even bigger vocals to electrify the world’s sacral chakra. A dance record that takes it as far as it can go, ‘Through The Wall’ is colour coming to life and sound taking shape as movement. It’s the manifestation of released inhibition, exposing all the ways in which you’ve trapped yourself within yourself. A project that successfully reclaims electronic music for Black women, ‘Through The Wall’ solidifies Rochelle Jordan as a magnetic force the industry has been in desperate need of, a diva who knew who she was before anyone else got the chance to dilute her. Jazmin Kylene
12. Perfume Genius – Glory
American singer-songwriter Michael Alden Hadreas has set a very high bar under his guise as Perfume Genius over the years. However, even by his own lofty standards, 2025’s ‘Glory’ ranks amongst his finest work to date. Bold and captivating yet tight and intimate, Hadreas explores anxiety, loss and social disconnect through the eclectic funnels of stripped-back chamber folk, alt-pop and rustic country rock. He’s helped along the way too, forming a band for this experience that includes his longtime partner and collaborator Alan Wyfells, and talented producer/multi-instrumentalist Blake Mills. This cadre of talented co-creators, the genre-fluid sonic textures and Hadreas’ own singular vision, melds together for one of the most enthralling listening experiences in 2025. Karl Blakesley
11. Blawan – SickElixir
Positioned as a homecoming for the Doncaster producer, ‘SickElixir’ faces its demons head-on. Over fourteen tracks, this is a record that gets under one’s skin and turns its focus inwards. Grief, trauma and life-shifts frame the album’s creation process, holding up a mirror to the artist’s decade-spanning catalog. It’s an uncomfortable work that asserts its strengths through challenging its listener, presenting a series of barbed, industrial productions that slip and contort through club sound systems. Blawan’s journey is one full of twists and turns – one that’s endured maggot farms, Berlin stints and rehabilitation centres – and ‘SickElixir projects that subversion with little-to-no compromise. Ana Lamond
10. Clipse – Let God Sort Em Out
‘Let God Sort Em Out’ feels like a time warp and a rebirth all at one. Sixteen years later, It’s Clipse sharpening their trademark grit with the hard-won perspective of years lived off-record, exploring faith, grief and identity through precision-tooled lyricism. The album moves with a haunted confidence: production cloaked in shadow and luxury, verses sharpened to a point, every bar heavy with memory and intent. ‘LGSEM’ is a rare return that transcends nostalgia by refining what made Pusha T and [No] Malice singular in the first place. In an era dominated by fleeting singles, Clipse move with veteran confidence, delivering a fully realised body of work that breathes, reflects, and demands attention. Irene Monokandilos
9. CMAT – EURO-COUNTRY
Between going viral on TikTok, earning her second Mercury Prize nomination in two years and arguably winning Glastonbury with her show-stealing performance on the Pyramid Stage, there is no denying that the Dunboyne Diana, Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, ruled over 2025. For all those accomplishments alone ‘EURO-COUNTRY’ deserves a spot on this list, but there is another reason it should be here: this is simply an excellent collection of songs. Whether it’s the string-tinged folk of ‘When A Good Man Cries’, the ultra-catchy, socially-conscious pop anthem ‘Take A Sexy Picture of Me’, or the gut-punching grief of ‘Lord, Let That Tesla Crash’, CMAT’s infectious personality, tongue-in-cheek humour and dialled-in songwriting elevates this album above mass-produced radio fodder. Karl Blakesley
8. Erika de Casier – Lifetime
Since the harpsichord-inflected RnB of 2019’s ‘Essentials’, Erika de Casier has exalted the syncopated grooves of Y2K monomania in her work. Her latest full-length, ‘Lifetime’, emerged like a relic from that era. Its lost tape reveals harks back to the youth-driven movements of ‘90s MTV and post-millennia TRL; when music was tangible and televisual, consumed slowly and deliberately – foldouts and fanzines strewn across the floor, lyrics pored over and deciphered. On ‘Lifetime’, Erika de Casier leans fully into her own instincts as a producer. Like a slow burn romance, ‘Lifetime’ is a collection that spans years and that means the pay-off isn’t immediate. Erika de Casier has never been one to paint in transformative brushstrokes, but on ‘Lifetime’ she masterfully connects her eras, looping back, editing and upgrading the sound of rapture she’s cultivated through time. On ‘Lifetime’, she’s finally arrived at the sound of sweet surrender. Shahzaib Hussain
7. FKA twigs – EUSEXUA/AFTERGLOW
In an interview with Rolling Stone, FKA twigs mused on the burst of inspiration and creativity that follows an album release. It’s a surge, a pulse; an epiphany that a work isn’t finite but fathomless. That flow state underscored twigs’ atomized club music masterstroke ‘EUSEXUA’ and informed companion album ‘EUSEXUA Afterglow‘. Where its predecessor explored the full spectrum of dancefloor desolation and euphoria, ‘Afterglow’ zeroed in on the hours after the rave, when you’ve left a place of communion and a disembodied sensation remains. It’s to FKA twigs’ credit that ‘Afterglow’ feels like a continuation, a parallel exercise and an addendum to ‘EUSEXUA’s’ prolonged take on rave. There’s a surfeit of transcendent dance music across this multiverse, deftly undercut with a sensual, inventive, hi-definition approach that always gestures towards the future. Shahzaib Hussain
6. Turnstile – NEVER ENOUGH
Baltimore’s hardcore icons this year shared their most complete work to date in ‘NEVER ENOUGH’, a project showcasing group synergy in full bloom, and their cogent versatility. Turnstile’s fourth album incorporates new synth-driven sonics exhibited on ‘LIGHT DESIGN’, brass-blasted melodies on ‘DREAMING’, and ambient euphoria in ‘SEEIN’ STARS’, all whilst enhancing their emphatic, combative sound throughout. The album strengthens Turnstile’s technicolour approach to production, allowing the band to push their art in new, thrilling directions, whilst simultaneously honouring the band’s ever-growing community. ‘NEVER ENOUGH’ is a captivating album for the ages. Ben Broyd
5. Jim Legxacy – black british music (2025)
Adjacent to the booming UK underground scene, Jim Legxacy has shown enough nous – both as artist and producer – to be considered the frontrunner of this generation. The Southeast London artist’s use of sampling ranges from Skepta to Jon Bellion, coming to the fore on standout track ‘father’ with its clever manipulation of a George Smallwood sample making up the hook. Jim’s production plays on nostalgia with ‘‘06 wayne rooney’ feeling like a throwback to ’00s indie, while his interpolations on ‘sun’, ‘3x’, and ‘d.b.a.b’, are demonstrative of the eras of Black British music that shaped him. After showing promise on early mixtapes ‘CITADEL’ and ‘HNPM’, ‘black british music’ is easily the most complete representation of Legxacy’s artistry to date. Joe Simpson
4. Hayley Williams – Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party
Encompassing both an expertly-curated release strategy that leant heavily on public radio and fan engagement, and a career defining label shift – making this her first independent release – Hayley Williams’ ‘Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party’ is the Paramore vocalist at her very best, wrestling with spiritual hypocrisy (‘True Believer’), generational trauma (‘Kill Me’), and the complexities of relationships (‘Parachute’). Never one to shy away from authenticity – Williams’ legacy painted with the boldest of colour palettes – ‘EDAABP’ is the witnessing of an intergenerational artist and performer achieving yet another milestone in what is already a defining career. Emma Way
3. Blood Orange – Essex Honey
On ‘Essex Honey’ – Dev Hynes’ fifth studio album as Blood Orange – the English musician returns to the bucolic land that made him. A rootsy homage to his mother who passed in 2023, and the urban sprawl and pastoral panoramas of his isolated adolescent years, the collection underscores Hynes ability to draw out the best in the artists that orbit him; whether they deliver lines of affirmation front and centre, or enhance songs by way of scenic immersion in the background. The guitar lines, vocal and string arrangements are inspired, as are the many citations, interpolations and tempo shifts Hynes imbues in a living, breathing entity.
In a time when nationalistic fervour grows ever more violent and vociferous, ‘Essex Honey’ is the restorative tale of home, haunts and the people that make them. Something that can’t so easily be defaced or sullied. Shahzaib Hussain
2. Rosalía – LUX
Rosalía’s 2022 album ‘Motomami’ was a cultural shift, a massive feat many were unsure she’d be able to surpass. Yet the magnitude of the operatic ‘LUX’ has eclipsed all expectations. The 33-year-old bled completely into all four movements of the project, a grandiose effort that centered God, unbecoming, and self-salvation. From notes of traditional Spanish flamenco to avant, orchestral pop, ‘LUX’ is a sonically unbound record that sounds nothing like what anyone else has dared to do. With an elite vocal agility sung in 13 languages, each corresponding to a different female saint, ‘LUX’ is in full devotion to the entire spectrum of femininity: from a woman in her most complete expression, to a woman withered down to bare bones. Rosalía had to survive the darkness in order to be reborn through ‘LUX’, and it’s one of the most impressive albums this last decade has seen. Jazmin Kylene
1. Geese – Getting Killed
2025 has been a year in which consensus has been hard to find. That said, one record seemed to act as a lightning rod, uniting people from multiple tastes and backgrounds. ‘Getting Killed’ by Geese is a magnificent achievement: floral, theatrical songwriting that holds you firmly in its grasp, it represents a quantum leap forward from a vastly talented group, one that is rapidly out-stripping their peers. At times lush and refulgent, at others hushed and opaque, ‘Getting Killed’ truly went there, risking it all in the process. A year in which the Brooklyn band dominated the cultural conversation, 2025 closed with frontman Cameron Winter’s stunning, revelatory solo shows, spotlighting his equally-majestic LP ‘Heavy Metal’. Where they go next is up to them – the world belongs to Geese. Robin Murray
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