The 2025 End of Year music lists thread

So it has started:

Rough Trade - Albums of the Year 2025
https://blog.roughtrade.com/gb/albums-of-the-year-2025/

Also

The Uncut and Mojo Albums of the Year Lists have been published. Both magazines have selected Pulp - More - as the their album of the year

Rough Trade -

Browse the top 100

https://www.roughtrade.com/collection/albums-of-the-year-2025

Uncut’s Top 80 Albums of 2025
https://www.brooklynvegan.com/uncuts-top-80-albums-of-2025/

only the Top 20 listed

UNCUT MAGAZINE – TOP 20 ALBUMS OF 2025
20) Foxes in the Snow – Jason Isbell
19) Allbarone – Baxter Dury
18) Strawberries – Robert Forster
17) Double Infinity – Big Thief
16) Alan Sparhawk with Trampled by Turtles – Alan Sparhawk and Trampled by Turtles
15) The Heat Warps – Modern Nature
14) Caroline 2 – caroline
13) Time Indefinite – William Tyler
12) Planting by the Signs – S.G. Goodman
11) Lotus – Little Simz
10) Saving Grace – Robert Plant with Suzi Dian
9) Sable, Fable – Bon Iver
8) Twilight Override – Jeff Tweedy
7) Interior Live Oak – Cass McCombs
6) New Threats from the Soul – Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band
5) End of the Middle – Richard Dawson
4) Bleeds – Wednesday
3) Antidepressants – Suede
2) Instant Holograms on Metal Film – Stereolab
1) More – Pulp

DJ Mag Best of British awards 2025: voting is now open
https://djmag.com/news/dj-mag-best-of-british-awards-2025-voting-now-open

Best DJ
Interplanetary Criminal
LTJ Bukem
Mandidextrous
Neffa-T
Shanti Celeste

Breakthrough DJ
ALISHA
Amaliah
Paige Tomlinson
Silva Bumpa
sim0ne

Best Producer
Champion
Flava D
Hannah Holland
Prospa
Sammy Virji

Breakthrough Producer
Anish Kumar
La La
MPH
SHERELLE
The Trip

Best MC/Vocalist
George Riley
James Massiah
Micofcourse
Sox
Window Kid

Breakthrough MC/Vocalist
JayaHadADream
Kasst 8
Kibo
Nicole Blakk
Pozzy

Best Label
Pineapple Records
Semi Delicious
Tempa
Timedance
White Peach Records

Breakthrough Label
Basics Records
Dimeshift
Method 808
MINDHELMET
ROSSI.HOME//GRXWN.

Best Album
aya ‘hexed!’ [Hyperdub]
Blawan ‘SickElixir’ [XL Recordings]
Djrum ‘Under Tangled Silence’ [Houndstooth]
Goldie Presents Rufige Kru ‘Alpha Omega’ [London Records]
Maribou State ‘Hallucinating Love’ [Ninja Tune]

Best Compilation
Moxie ‘The Sound of Love International #007’ [Love International Recordings]
V/A ‘Annotations’ [footnotes]
V/A ‘Ping Volume One’ [Different Circles]
V/A ‘Synergy Vol. 3’ [Black Artist Database]
V/A ‘Tectonic Sound’ [Tectonic Recordings]

Best Track
CHRYSTAL ‘The Days (NOTION Remix)’ [Chaos]
Max Dean, Locky & Luke Dean ‘Can't Decide’ [NeXup Recz / Warner]
PinkPantheress ‘Illegal’ [Warner]
Sir Spyro & Killa P ‘Start & Stop’ [Neighbourhood Recordings]
Sub Focus & bbyclose ‘On & On’ [Positiva]

Best Rap Album/Mixtape
Asco ‘Perfect Timing’ [Mulli Music Group]
EsDeeKid ‘Rebel’ [XV Records / Lizzy Records]
Jim Legxacy ‘black british music’ [XL Recordings]
John Glacier ‘Like A Ribbon’ [Young]
Kamakaze & WIZE ‘It’s About Time’ [AHEAR Records]

Best Rap Track
Chaos & Scorcher ‘Champion’s League’ [Self-released]
Crafty 893 ‘Step 1’ [Tru Thoughts]
Joy Orbison & Joe James ‘bastard’ [XL Recordings]
namesbliss x BexBlu ‘premium wear’ [Self-released]
Wohdee ‘My Shayla’ [Self-released]

Best Club
Amber’s, Manchester
District, Cardiff
The Berkeley Suite, Glasgow
The Cause, London
The Loft, Manchester

Best Club Event
Cartulis
Dankie Sounds
FUSE
SHINE
Teletech

Best Festival
Body Movements Festival
Doof In The Park
Hide & Seek Festival
Hospitality Weekender
Watching Trees

MOJO's Top 75 Albums of 2025
https://www.brooklynvegan.com/mojos-top-75-albums-of-2025/

the top 25:

25. Van Morrison – Remembering Now
24. Mogwai – The Bad Fire
23. Midlake – A Bridge to Far
22. Eddie Chacon – Lay Low
21. Baxter Dury – Albarone
20. Cass McCombs -Interior Live Oak
18. Mark Pritchard / Thom Yorke – Tall Tales
17. Jeff Tweedy – Twilight Override
16. Robert Plant w/ Suzi Dian – Saving Grace
15. Mavis Staples – Sad and Beautiful World
14. Richard Dawson – End of the Middle
13. Little Simz – Lotus
12. Alan Sparhawk w/ Trampled by Turtles – S/T
11. Paul Weller – Find El Dorado
10. Wet Leg – Moisturizer
9. Adrian Sherwood – The Collapse of Everything
8. The Tubs – Cotton Crown
7. Robert Forster – Strawberries
6. Stereolab – Instant Holograms on Metal Film
5. Annie & the Caldwells – Can’t Lose My (Soul)
4. Big Thief – Double Infinity
3. CMAT – Euro – Country
2. Suede – Antidepressants
1. Pulp – More

Decibel's Top 40 Albums of 2025
https://www.brooklynvegan.com/decibels-top-40-albums-of-2025/

Decibel‘s Top 40 Albums of 2025
40. Sodom – The Arsonist
39. Ossuary – Abhorrent Worship
38. Nyredolk – Barndommens Hjem
37. Dead Heat – Process of Elimination
36. Biohazard – Divided We Fall
35. Sanguisugabogg – Hideous Aftermath
34. In The Company Of Serpents – A Crack In Everything
33. Morbikon – Lost Within Astral Crypts
32. Agriculture – The Spiritual Sound
31. Wode – Uncrossing The Keys
30. Havukruunu – Tavastland
29. Shearling – Motherfucker, I Am Both: Amen and Hallelujah
28. Testament – Para Bellum
27. Hooded Menace – Lachrymose Monuments Of Obscuration
26. Nite – Cult Of The Serpent Sun
25. Blut Aus Nord – Ethereal Horizons
24. Terror Corpse – Ash Eclipses Flesh
23. Coroner – Dissonance Theory
22. (16) – Guides For The Misguided
21. Species – Changelings
20. Blackbraid – Blackbraid III
19. Castle Rat – The Bestiary
18. Haggus – Destination Extinction
17. Volahn – Popol Vuh
16. Decrepisy – Deific Mourning
15. Eternal Darkness – Eternal Darkness
14. Teitanblood – From the Visceral Abyss
13. Imperial Triumphant – Goldstar
12. One Of Nine – Dawn Of The Iron Shadow
11. Tribunal – In Penitence And Ruin
10. Lamp Of Murmuur – The Dreaming Prince In Ecstasy
09. Deafheaven – Lonely People With Power
08. Tower – Let There Be Dark
07. Cryptopsy – An Insatiable Violence
06. Evoken – Mendacium
05. Rwake – The Return Of Magik
04. Ancient Death – Ego Dissolution
03. Paradise Lost – Ascension
02. Messa – The Spin
01. Deadguy – Near-Death Travel Services

Ancient Death! Messa! Ossuary! Coroner! Species!

That's a good list.

Has anything been in the rough trade top ten in the last 5 years where they don't have an exclusive variant to sell...

Nothing says 2025 like a new Pulp album! I imagine that it won't necessarily have been many people's number one, but won out due to appearing on plenty of ballots. Ok, it's Mojo and Uncut so go figure, but it is quite depressing that with so much interesting stuff out there, a substantial number of writers chose an "it's fine I suppose" comeback album from a 90s indie band.

it's a lot better than "it's fine I suppose"

Each to their own, but everything I've heard from it went in one ear, out the other. Just a bland retread of past glories. It offers nothing new, which should surely be a consideration in AOTY polls.

Uncut Magazine: 80 Best Albums of 2025
https://www.yearendlists.com/2025/uncut-80-best-albums-of-2025

Full list provided.

xp disagree, Slow Jam is absolutely something new

Maybe for Pulp, but not for music.

Jarvis singing about threesomes over slap bass is giving me the boak.

Note: with Acclaimed Music you may need to sign up to view content, (probably to keep those AI search engine scrapers out)

EOY 2025 - MOJO (UK)
http://www.acclaimedmusic.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=214376&sid=b482b0ae151b819748cd921efbceb716#p214376

75. James Brandon & Lewis Quartet - Abstraction is Deliverance
74. MF Tomlinson - Die to Wake Up from a Dream
73. Sharp Pins - Radio DDR
72. Billy Woods - Golliwog
71. Brad Mehldau - Ride Into the Sun
70. Heartworms - Glutton for Punishment
69. Suzanne Vega - Flying with Angels
68. John Fogerty - Legacy
67. Lael Neale Altogether Stranger
66. William Tyler - Time Indefinite
65. Gruff Rhys - Dim Probs
64. Cymande - Renascence
63. Annahstasia - Tether
62. Brian D'Addario - Till the Morning
61. Black Country, New Road - Forever Howlong
60. Tortoise - Touch
59. Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts - Talkin To The Trees
58. Hannah Cohen - Earthstar Mountain
57. Holden & Zimpel - The Universe Will Take Care of You
56. Haim - I Quit
55. Tav Falco - Desire on Ice
54. The Weather Station - Humanhood
53. Ty Segall - Possession
52. Brian Eno & Beatie Wolfe - Luminal
51. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Phantom Island
50. Margo Price - Hard Headed Woman
49. Salif Keita - So Kono
48. The Lemonheads - Love Chant
47. Greentea Peng - Tell Dem It's Sunny
46. Cameron Winter - Heavy Metal
45. Billy Nomates - Metalhorse
44. Sven Wunder - Daybreak
43. BC Camplight - A Sober Conversation
42. Steven Wilson - The Overview
41. Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory - Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory
40. Panda Bear - Sinister Grift
39. Jonathan Richman - Only Frozen Sky Anyway
38. Loaded Honey - Love Made Trees
37. Natural Information Society & Bitchin Bajas - Totality
36. Emma Pollock - Begging The Night To Take Hold
35. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - The Purple Bird
34. Bon Iver - SABLE, fABLE
33. Jason Isbell - Foxes in the Snow
32. Geese - Getting Killed
31. Manic Street Preachers - Critical Thinking
30. Jacob Alon - In Limerence
29. Saint Etienne - International
28. Cate Le Bon - Michelangelo Dying
27. David Byrne & Ghost Train Orchestra - Who Is The Sky?
26. Horsegirl - Phonetics On and On
25. Van Morrison - Remembering Now
24. Mogwai - The Bad Fire
23. Midlake - A Bridge to Far
22. Eddie Chacon - Lay Low
21. Baxter Dury - Allbarone
20. Cass McCombs - Interior Live Oak
19. Mark Pritchard & Thom Yorke - Tall Tales
18. Emma-Jean Thackray - Weirdo
17. Jeff Tweedy - Twilight Override
16. Robert Plant - Saving Grace
15. Mavis Staples - Sad and Beautiful World
14. Richard Dawson - End of the Middle
13. Little Simz - Lotus
12. Alan Sparhawk & Trampled By Turtles - Alan Sparhawk with Trampled by Turtles
11. Paul Weller - Find El Dorado
10. Wet Leg - moisturizer
09. Adrian Sherwood - The Collapse of Everything
08. The Tubs - Cotton Crown
07. Robert Forster - Strawberries
06. Stereolab - Instant Holograms On Metal Film
05. Annie & the Caldwells - Can't Lose My (Soul)
04. Big Thief - Double Infinity
03. CMAT- EURO-COUNTRY
02. Suede - Antidepressants
01. Pulp - More

The amount of publications that focus on guitar and bands that are condemned to live off festivals blows my mind. I guess that's where the real market is.

how else is baxter dury going to pay his rent?

I don't think any of the albums are bad, but if your three favourite new albums of a year is Pulp, Suede and Stereolab, wouldn't it be depressing? Like, why even do that, just stay with old music, nothing wrong with that.

not sure we should be looking to dying print media for cutting-edge music takes. they know who their market is.

these Euro mags that haven't put The Tubs at #1 should be shuttered

Love the Tubs. But I prefer his other band, the now broken-up Ex-Void. Either way, Owen Williams is writing more great rock songs than anyone on the planet right now.

Multixp been a long term Baxter Dury sceptic but new album is great.

40 Best New Artists of 2025
https://stereogum.com/2476155/the-40-best-new-artists-of-2025/lists/best-new-artists

Summary provided by Perplexity:
https://www.perplexity.ai/search/https-stereogum-com-2476155-th-lv.DF9odR1CSmN.geJWuUA#0

Ami Taf Ra
Asher White
Audrey Hobert
BabyChiefDoIt
Bedridden
bloodsports
Brògeal
Cootie Catcher
Cardinals
crushed
Die Spitz
Dove Ellis
fakemink
Febuary
Fib
Fine
Glixen
Golomb
Hemlocke Springs
High.
Humour
Intermission
james k
Jawnino
JJ & The A’s
Junior Varsity
Legss
Los Thuthanaka
Macie Stewart
Nick León
ninajirachi
Prewn
Prostitute
Racing Mount Pleasant
Ribbon Skirt
TTSSFU
Um, Jennifer?
Upchuck
Vacuous
Westside Cowboy

I thought I was pretty good at keeping up with new stuff, but looking at that list, nah.

I didn’t write any of the blurbs for that list, but Ami Taf Ra and Macie Stewart were my suggestions.

Had never heard of Dove Ellis, but saw them open for someone last night. They sounded like an indie-folky all male Big Thief meets the National with a bit of Radiohead's Thom Yorke on vocals. Some people were impressed, but they weren't exactly my thing.

Huh, I have not knowingly heard one note of any of these hot new artists

Oh no wait I have heard (and really dig Upchuck)

Cootie Catcher and JJ and the A's are great. That's ... all I got.

I recognize James K and Macie Stewart. Both did great records in 2025. Drawing blank stares with the other names

february is an excellent post-hardcore band from las vegas

los thuthanaka are not technically new (elysia crampton/e+e/chuquimamani-condori project)

I will probably vote for the ninajirachi album in the ilx poll. the nick león album is good too although "bikini" kinda towers over the rest of it for me

You've all heard Fine. She's a Danish singer in the bliss/RMC mold, but she co-wrote several NewJeans songs with Erika de Casier, and she was sampled by Two Shell on Home.

weird that Upchuck are on there given they've been around 5 years and just released third album; but whatever its cool to include them.
Vacuous are an excellent grimy UK death metal band with same superb drummer as Hellripper.

when i saw grimy i mean filthy, not Grime-y

Fine are not 2025 though, they released a great 2024 album that was featured on several eoy lists iirc.

yeah that is mentioned in the article but not in the ai-generated (??) list

Asher White is pretty great, have seen them a couple times. Don't want to embed a video, but check out Why I Bought the House

(playing a free show at Rough Trade on the 18th for anyone in NY)

had the privilege of seeing Prostitute twice this year - incredible band, incredible live band

if you have the opportunity to see them, go

the ai-generated (??) list

The list wasn't AI-generated; it was proposed and compiled by people (like me!) who write for the website. DJmartian's summary of it was AI-generated.

are fans of Prostitute known as Johns?

xp
yes sorry that is what I meant. imho people should visit websites whose EOY lists they think are worth commenting on

BBC Radio 6 Music reveals its Albums of the Year 2025
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2025/bbc-radio-6-music-albums-of-the-year-2025

Today, BBC Radio 6 Music, the UK’s biggest digital-only radio station with 2.7 million listeners (RAJAR, Q3 2025), revealed its Albums of the Year 2025.

The albums will all be celebrated over the coming five weeks, within Albums of the Year special editions of Matt Everitt’s weekly New Album Fix show (which drops on BBC Sounds every Friday morning). Each of the albums will be explored across the five episodes, which will feature words from 6 Music presenters about why they’ve chosen their particular album.

Cam Pia, 6 Music’s Music Editor says: “I love hearing what our presenters have picked for 6 Music's annual Albums of the Year celebration - and 2025's list yet again showcases the incredible depth and breadth of music we play across the network as well as championing some truly outstanding bodies of work from some of our favourite artists. Over the next five weeks, we'll be digging into these picks via special programming as well as adding tracks from each album to our weekly new music playlist."

New Music Fix: Albums of the Year – Episode 1
On BBC Sounds from Friday 21 November

• EURO-COUNTRY by CMAT (selected by Chris Hawkins)

• Glory by Perfume Genius (selected by Huw Stephens)

• Lifetime by Erika de Casier (selected by SHERELLE)

• LSD by Cardiacs (selected by Marc Riley)

• Warsaw 480km by pôt-pot (selected by Deb Grant)

New Music Fix: Albums of the Year – Episode 2
On BBC Sounds from Friday 28 November

• Canticle Hardposte by Proc Fiskal (selected by AFRODEUTSCHE)

• Devotion & The Black Divine by anaiis (selected by Zakia)

• In Limerence by Jacob Alon (selected by Guy Garvey)

• Private Music by Deftones (selected by Huey Morgan)

• viagr aboys by Viagra Boys (selected by Nathan Shepherd)

New Music Fix: Albums of the Year – Episode 3
On BBC Sounds from Friday 5 December

• Last Night I Heard The Dog Star Bark by Gwenifer Raymond (selected by Gideon Coe)

• Joseph, What Have You Done? by Rainy Miller (selected by Mary Anne Hobbs)

• People Watching by Sam Fender (selected by Stuart Maconie)

• Teeth of Time by Joshua Burnside (selected by Emily Pilbeam)

• The Bad Fire by Mogwai (selected by Iggy Pop)

New Music Fix: Albums of the Year – Episode 4
On BBC Sounds from Friday 12 December:

• Crooked Wing by These New Puritans (selected by Mark Radcliffe)

• LUX by Rosalía (selected by Nick Grimshaw)

• Map of a Blue City by Marc Ribot (selected by Cerys Matthews)

• Tether by Annahstasia (selected by Jamz Supernova)

• we’re having a barn dance by lavender (selected by Don Letts)

New Music Fix: Albums of the Year – Episode 5
On BBC Sounds from Friday 19 December

• A Complicated Woman by Self Esteem (selected by Steve Lamacq)

• A.O.E.I.U. by Florence Adooni (selected by Gilles Peterson)

• Getting Killed by Geese (selected by Lauren Laverne)

• Sad and Beautiful World by Mavis Staples (selected by Beth Ditto)

• Teal Dreams by Yazmin Lacey (selected by Craig Charles)

• Who Let the Dogs Out by Lambrini Girls (selected by Amy Lamé)

One track from each of these albums will be added to the 6 Music playlist for one week between Monday 17 November – Sunday 21 December.

high five gilles peterson

Canticle Hardposte by Proc Fiskal (selected by AFRODEUTSCHE)

This one is v cool.

i definitely need to hear that, have loved various things by them in the past

Resident (Brighton Based Music Retailer) - The Resident Annual 2025 Booklet

has been published, can be viewed online: (with reviews)
https://www.resident-music.com/mid-year-picks-booklet

1: CMAT - Euro-Country

the pulping of the lists

I gave a cursory listen to CMAT and it sounds very efficient but also gives me strong Chappel Roan vibes and I'm not sure I need a whole generation of this kind of country pop

Jazzwise (UK jazz magazine) has put out their Reissues & Archive list, and a record I put out made it!

1. Pharoah Sanders, Love Is Here: The Complete Paris 1975 ORTF Recordings
2. Freddie Hubbard, On Fire: Live At The Blue Morocco
3. John Taylor, Tramonto
4. Anthony Braxton, Quartet (England) 1985
5. Larry Stabins/Keith Tippett/Louis Moholo-Moholo, Live In Foggia
6. John Surman, Flashpoints And Undercurrents/Mike Taylor Quartet, Pendulum (tie)
8. Thelonious Monk, Thelonious Himself
9. Miles Davis, Walkin'/Charles Tolliver Music Inc., Live At Slugs Vols. 1 & 2 (tie)
11. Stanley Cowell, Musa: Ancestral Streams/Sun Ra & His Inter-Galactic Research Orchestra, Nuits de la Fondation Maeght (tie)
13. Charles Rouse, Two Is One/Polar Bear, Dim Lit (tie)
15. Mike Osborne/Stan Tracey, Original/Charles Mingus, In Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts/Various Artists, A New Awakening: Adventures In British Jazz 1966-1971/Joe Henderson & Woody Shaw, Jazz Patterns (4-way tie)
19. Bill Evans, Haunted Heart: The Legendary Riverside Studio Recordings/Horace Silver, Silver In Seattle: Live At The Penthouse (tie)

congrats!

The 30 Best Metal Albums of 2025
https://www.treblezine.com/the-30-best-metal-albums-of-2025/

1. Messa - The Spin

AOTY Format
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/2486-trebles-30-best-metal-albums-of-2025/

TimeOut - The 25 best albums of 2025
https://www.timeout.com/music/the-25-best-albums-of-2025

1. ‘Choke Enough’ – Oklou

popmatters The 20 Best Metal Albums of 2025
https://www.popmatters.com/best-metal-albums-of-2025

1. Yellow Eyes – Confusion Gate (Gilead Media)

More importantly, from that PopMatters list:

17. Ava Mendoza / Gabby Fluke-Mogul / Carolina Pérez – Mama Killa (Burning Ambulance)*

*released on my label

don't forget about us little people now

Exclaim!'s 50 Best Albums of 2025
https://exclaim.ca/music/article/exclaim-s-50-best-albums-of-2025

1. Ribbon Skirt
Bite Down

The 10 best Canadian albums of 2025
https://www.cbc.ca/music/justin-bieber-saya-gray-pup-lou-adriane-cassidy-albums-2025-9.6990767

1. Saya, Saya Gray

Exclaim!'s 50 Best Albums of 2025 - AOTY Format

https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/2491-exclaims-50-best-albums-of-2025/

DRIFT - Records of the Year 2025
https://driftrecords.com/blogs/drift/records-of-the-year-2025

Independent record shop in Totnes, Devon, England.

Records of the Year 2025 in full;

A
Marshall Allen – New Dawn
Ichiko Aoba – Luminescent Creatures
Ata Kak – Batakari

B
The Belair Lip Bombs – Again
Big Thief – Double Infinity
Black Country, New Road – Forever Howlong
Black Eyes – Hostile Design
Lavinia Blackwall – The Making
Blue Lake – The Animal
Brown Spirits – Cosmic Seeds

C
BC Camplight – A Sober Conversation
Car Seat Headrest – The Scholars
caroline – caroline 2
Chat Pile and Hayden Pedigo – In the Earth Again
The Circling Sun – Orbits
Circuit des Yeux – Halo On The Inside
clipping. – Dead Channel Sky
Confucius MC & Bastien Keb – Songs For Lost Travellers
Kara-Lis Coverdale – Changes in Air

D
Darkside – Nothing
Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band – New Threats From the Soul
Richard Dawson – End Of The Middle
Delivery – Force Majeure
Alabaster DePlume – A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole
Dirty Projectors, David Longstreth & s t a r g a z e – Song Of The Earth
McKinley Dixon – Magic, Alive!
Baxter Dury – Allbarone

F
FKA twigs – EUSEXUA
Fly Anakin – (The) Forever Dream
Folk Bitch Trio – Now Would Be A Good Time
France – Destino Scifosi

G
Ganavya – Nilam
John Glacier – Like A Ribbon
Geese – Getting Killed
Getdown Services – Your Medal's In The Post / Primordial Slot Machine
Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist – Alfredo 2
Glyders – Forever
Golomb – The Beat Goes On
Steve Gunn – Daylight Daylight
Gwenno – Utopia

H
Kieran Hebden and William Tyler – 41 Longfield Street Late ‘80s
Holden & Zimpel – The Universe Will Take Care Of You
Hotline TNT – Raspberry Moon

J
Japanese Breakfast – For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women)
Durand Jones & The Indications – Flowers
Kathryn Joseph – WE WERE MADE PREY.
Just Mustard – WE WERE JUST HERE

K
KEG – Fun’s Over

L
Cate Le Bon – Michelangelo Dying
Leroi Conroy – A Tiger's Tale
Lifeguard – Ripped and Torn
lilo – Blood Ties
Little Barrie & Malcolm Catto – Electric War
Little Simz – Lotus
Los Pirañas – Una Oportunidad más de triunfar en la vida
Lorelle Meets The Obsolete – Corporal

M
M(h)aol – Something Soft
Kali Malone & Drew McDowall – Magnetism
Clara Mann – Rift
Walt McClements – On a Painted Ocean
Melin Melyn – Mill On The Hill
Miso Extra – Earcandy
The New Eves – The New Eve Is Rising

N
Natural Information Society & Bitchin Bajas – Totality
NYX – NYX

O
Daniel O’Sullivan – Eros
Okonski – Entrance Music
Oneohtrix Point Never – Tranquilizer
OSEES – Abomination Revealed At Last
Kassa Overall – CREAM

P
Panda Bear – Sinister Grift
Hayden Pedigo – I’ll Be Waving As You Drive Away
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – Death Hilarious
Poor Creature – All Smiles Tonight
Pulp – More

Q
Quinie – Forefowk, Mind Me

R
Gwenifer Raymond – Last Night I Heard The Dog Star Bark
RESAVOIR & MATT GOLD – HORIZON
Gruff Rhys – Dim Probs
Rose City Band – Sol Y Sombra

S
SANAM – Sametou Sawtan
Say She She – Cut & Rewind
Search Results – Go Mutant
Ty Segall – Possession
Sharp Pins – Radio DDR
Shrunken Elvis – Shrunken Elvis
The Sick Man Of Europe – The Sick Man Of Europe
SML – How You Been
Alan Sparhawk – With Trampled by Turtles
Sorry – COSPLAY
Stereolab – Instant Holograms On Metal Film
Studio Electrophonique – Studio Electrophonique
Sven Wunder – Daybreak

T
Laurie Torres – Après Coup
The Tubs – Cotton Crown
William Tyler – Time Indefinite

U
UNIVERSITY – McCartney, It’ll Be OK

V
Viagra Boys – viagr aboys

W
Water From Your Eyes – It’s A Beautiful Place
Wednesday – Bleeds
Whatever The Weather – Whatever The Weather II
Billy Woods – GOLLIWOG

Les Inrocks' Best Albums of 2025 (Top 25)
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/2492-les-inrocks-best-albums-of-2025/

1. Blood Orange - Essex Honey

GORILLA vs. BEAR's ALBUMS OF 2025
https://www.gorillavsbear.net/gorilla-vs-bears-albums-of-2025/

37 BURIAL | Comafields / Imaginary Festival
36 DANIA | Listless
35 ACOPIA | Blush Response
34 MIKE | Showbiz!
33 HORSEGIRL | Phonetics On and On
32 bambinodj | Silent Dispatch
31 KHADIJA AL HANAFI | !OK!
30 DIJON | Baby
29 MALIBU | Vanities
28 NIGHT TAPES | portals//polarities
27 RAISA K | Affectionately
26 DEER PARK | Terra Infirma
25 EARL SWEATSHIRT | Live Laugh Love
24 GEORGIE & JOE | What I made with Joe
23 NO JOY | Bugland
22 RAT HEART | Dancin' in the Streets
21 MEN I TRUST | Equus Caballus / Equus Asinus
20 LAURA GROVES | Yes
19 ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER | Tranquilizer
18 YAWNING PORTAL | Anywhere
17 JIM LEGXACY | black british music
16 SWORD II | Electric Hour
15 JOHN GLACIER | Like a Ribbon
14 billy woods | GOLLIWOG
13 SNUGGLE | Goodbyehouse
12 TOPS | Bury the Key
11 DEAN BLUNT | Lucre

10) SOPHIA STEL | How to Win at Solitaire

09) ARMAND HAMMER + THE ALCHEMIST | Mercy

08) MARIA SOMERVILLE | Luster

07) PANDA BEAR | Sinister Grift

06) ERIKA DE CASIER | Lifetime

05) JOANNE ROBERTSON | Blurrr

04) JAMES K | Friend

03) NOURISHED BY TIME | The Passionate Ones

02) SMERZ | Big city life

01) OKLOU | Choke Enough

That Smerz record, ugh. All this minimalist alt-pop stuff P4K is so half-arsed and solipsistic. The Oklou record at least brings something a bit more interesting to it, what with the vaguely medieval/renaissance vibes, but I can't get on with this non-committal, washed-out aesthetic at all. Middle-class hipster bullshit. If you're going to do pop, do it properly (says a grumpy old man of 45).

sorry that should read: "All this minimalist alt-pop stuff P4K hypes up..."

Here's The Quietus list.

https://thequietus.com/tq-charts/albums-of-the-year/the-quietus-albums-of-the-year-2025-in-association-with-norman-records/

Inevitably there's some stuff I'm non-plussed by in there, but it's great to see Jules Reidy in there. It came out at the very start of the year so it's maybe been overlooked a bit in the EOY lists so far.

NME’s 50 best songs

https://www.nme.com/lists/end-of-year/best-songs-2025-3912937

And Pitchfork’s

https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/best-songs-2025/

The Line of Best Fit - The Line of Best Fit's Albums of the Year 2025
https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/features/articles/2025-best-albums-ranked

1. Anna von Hausswolff - ICONOCLASTS

AOTY Format
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/2496-the-line-of-best-fits-albums-of-the-year-2025/

The Glide 20 - Glide’s 20 Best Albums of 2025
https://glidemagazine.com/320446/the-glide-20-glides-20-best-albums-of-2025-the-tubs-florry-moe-panda-bear-hannah-cohen-geese-more/

unranked

AOTY format
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/2494-glides-20-best-albums-of-2025/

Loud And Quiet Albums of the Year 2025
https://loudandquiet.substack.com/p/loud-and-quiet-albums-of-the-year

1. Water From Your Eyes - It's A Beautiful Place

AOTY format
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/2497-loud-and-quiet-albums-of-the-year-2025/

Paste The 50 best albums of 2025
https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/best-albums/the-50-best-albums-of-2025

1. Nourished by Time: The Passionate Ones

AOTY format
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/2498-pastes-50-best-albums-of-2025/

Consequence's 50 Best Albums of 2025
https://consequence.net/list/best-albums-of-2025-annual-report/

1: Rosalía — LUX

AOTY format
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/2499-consequences-50-best-albums-of-2025/

that smerz record fucking rules

there is no proper way to do anything

Surprised that, Ethel Cain - Fuck Me Eyes - didn't feature in NME's top 50 tracks.

Ha, that's true, so let me put it another way - it's half-arsed hipster playlist fodder. I love plenty of bad singers, but Smerz are not out of tune in an interesting way.

that Pfork list is strange, I feel like they secretly took their #81-90 and made it their top 10. #1, #2 and #5 made absolutely zero impact on me, they picked like the fourth best Wednesday song, and I don't what the hell #8 is.

is that babyfxce e and monaleo's "pfp"? great song

Treble - The 100 Best Songs of 2025
https://www.treblezine.com/the-100-best-songs-of-2025/

includes Spotify playlist

Nice to see the Tortoise track turn up on the P4K tracks list, and to see the related EP referenced.

Norman Records - Best Album Contenders 2025
https://www.normanrecords.com/promos/1361

Norman Records is a Leeds based online Music Retailer

Expect 2025 Spotify Wrapped to drop tomorrow? or Wednesday?

Coming Soon...

Who do you think is on your Wrapped? pic.twitter.com/5J8QXG0Y5P

— Spotify (@Spotify) December 1, 2025

meanwhile...

Deezer rolls out ‘My Deezer Year 2025,’ its Spotify Wrapped clone
https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/01/deezer-rolls-out-my-deezer-year-2025-its-spotify-wrapped-clone/

Lol that song at #1 in the p4k list is NOT the best song of 2025

For starters it’s a 2024 song

Who do you think is on your Wrapped?

god, who GIVES a shit

p4k list is equal parts confusing/compelling which i guess is typical for them these days

That Smerz record, ugh. All this minimalist alt-pop stuff P4K hypes up is so half-arsed and solipsistic (...) Middle-class hipster bullshit

I enjoyed the Smerz record a lot but this is hilariously otm to me

It might seem harsh, but it has to be said. There’s a wishy washiness to a lot of current alt music, whether it’s ambient, shoegaze, synthpop etc. taking a lot of superficial elements from those genres and doing it with a certain numbness or vulnerability.I know there’s theorising about post-Covid music, people seeking gauzy and blissed out sounds in response to the horrors of the world, but a lot of it just seems like good old middle-class art school dilettantism, as if it’s uncool to make any effort (or at least you work hard at making it seem like you’re not making an effort). Having lived in Glasgow for years, I’ve seen several waves of that, so I don’t have much tolerance for it these days.

RA The Best Releases of 2025
https://ra.co/features/4350

RA staff pick their favourite tracks, records and mixes of the past 12 months, broken down into six musical themes.

2025 was no average year. Read our 89 (and counting) reviews and certain themes emerge repeatedly—techno pessimism, grief and trauma, crumbling systems—that speak to a world in which cracks can turn into gaping crevices overnight. So to try and capture this ominous landscape, we're approaching our year-end coverage a little differently.

We've pored over dozens of reviews, ten months of Best Music features and our new, biannual staff picks list to bring you this collection of 66 releases—albums, EPs, tracks and mixes—that moved us in 2025. We tapped the entire editorial team, plus a few trusted peers, for their input, asking one simple question: what have you returned to, again and again, since January 1st?

The selections have been pillared into the six musical themes most prevalent across our curation, your living rooms and, of course, the dance floor. This trends-focused list not only centres the music we loved, but also explores what it was about this year that drew us to these particular sounds.

If, after browsing the music below, you're still craving more for your end-of-year playlists, don't fret: there's more to come. The editorial team is currently hunkered down working on one of our largest projects since Resident Advisor began in 2001. Next week, we're taking stock of the century so far, unveiling the best electronic music of our lifetime, lovingly (and painstakingly) curated by over 100 voters and contributors from across the industry, and us, for you. But for now, thanks for reading our criticism, and enjoy our picks.

- Kiana Mickles, Reviews Editor

1. Saya, Saya Gray
― djmartian, jeudi 27 novembre 2025 16:35 (five days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Listening to this now and surprised it hasn't been discussed on ILX. There's some undeniable songwriting here, a real attempt at carving her own style even if the ideas can sound derivative, and it's well produced even if I'm not sure I like her vocals being withdrawn. It's fusing a lot of things with taste. Dreamy, glitchy, folky, pink floydian, japanese breakfastian pop.

Stereogum - The 50 Best Albums Of 2025
https://stereogum.com/2480469/the-50-best-albums-of-2025/lists/year-in-review/2025-in-review

1: Geese - Getting Killed (Partisan/Play It Again Sam)

i think the smerz record is like pretty brittle and slanted and inventive and doesn’t really fit into these very flat narratives you’re imposing on it

it’s also really fun! doesn’t feel gauzy or detached to me at all

Amazon Music's year-end recap arrives today
https://www.engadget.com/apps/amazon-musics-year-end-recap-arrives-today-130029446.html?src=rss
Amazon Music 2025 Delivered

Apple Music’s Replay 2025 is here
https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/02/apple-musics-replay-2025-is-here/

ivy otm re: smerz (altho there’s songs on that album i like more than “you got time…”)

Pitchfork - The 50 Best Albums of 2025
https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/best-albums-2025/

1.
Los Thuthanaka: Los Thuthanaka
https://losthuthanaka.bandcamp.com/album/los-thuthanaka-2

ivy otm re: smerz (altho there’s songs on that album i like more than “you got time…”)

― donna rouge, Tuesday, December 2, 2025 9:44 AM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

"fancy" is full of verve and life and also sounds really fucking weird and subspacey

the album doesn't evince a "lack of effort" to me, and in fact you never actually know how much effort is behind anything so it's like a false rubric on which to judge any art imo

"feisty"*

and "you got time and i got money" is so cute a charming but almost at odds with the rest of it (but since it's an album of odds, it works). i listened to it (and thought of my ex while it played) a lot this year

Lol that song at #1 in the p4k list is NOT the best song of 2025

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Monday, December 1, 2025 5:47 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

For starters it’s a 2024 song

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Monday, December 1, 2025 5:56 PM

i guess they did this because they put out the 2024 list before it was released in December last year, still a weird choice though

I admittedly have not been keeping up with what’s in the zeitgeist of outlets like Pitchfork or Stereogum, but I’m surprised the Big Thief album did not crack the top 50 of either site. It’s my favorite album of the year! I thought it got a lot of positive reviews—did I miss the backlash?

Agreed, that's weird to me. It's a really good album! (It is on several other lists I've seen.)

It may just be that Adrianne Lenker has overloaded the system, critics can't keep up. She needs to take a year or two off and then put out like a 6-album set of all the songs she writes in the interim. (Or maybe triple-albums both solo and with the band.)

Pitchfork’s 2025 BNMs with their positions in the ALBUMS list

Los Thuthanaka - 9.3 (1)
FKA Twigs - 9.1 (42)
Aya - 9.0 (22)
Dijon - 9.0 (2)
Joanne Robertson - 9.0 (8)
Geese - 9.0 (7)
DJ Koze - 8.8 (did not chart)
Bad Bunny - 8.8 (5)
Amaarae - 8.8 (10)
Billy Woods - 8.7 (21)
Djrum - 8.7 (27)
Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band - 8.7 (31)
Wednesday - 8.7 (6)
Smerz - 8.6 (11)
Barker - 8.6 (14)
Rosalia - 8.6 (16)
Oneohtrix Point Never - 8.6 (30)
Maria Somerville - 8.5 (did not chart)
YHWH Nailgun - 8.5 (29)
Panda Bear - 8.5 (43)
Open Mike Eagle - 8.5 (did not chart)
Alex G - 8.5 (23)
Earl Sweatshirt - 8.5 (15)
Lucrecia Dalt - 8.5 (34)
Caroline - 8.4 (28)
Annahstasia - 8.4 (44)
Ichiko Aoba - 8.4 (33)
Kathryn Mohr - 8.4 (did not chart)
Nourished by Time - 8.4 (9)
Algernon Cadwallader - 8.4 (did not chart)
Sudan Archives - 8.4 (13)
Carrier - 8.4 (did not chart)
WNC WhopBezzy/70th Street Carlos - 8.4 (32)
Nick Leon - 8.3 (20)
Hayden Pedigo - 8.3 (38)
Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - 8.3 (did not chart)
Sharp Pins - 8.3 (50)
MIKE - 8.3 (45)
Che - 8.3 (39)
No Joy - 8.3 (did not chart)
Water From Your Eyes - 8.3 (17)
Terre Thaemlitz/DJ Sprinkles - 8.3 (did not chart)
Rochelle Jordan - 8.3 (25)
feeo - 8.3 (did not chart)
Greg Freeman - 8.3 (did not chart)
Ø - 8.3 (did not chart)
Cameron Winter - 8.3* (3)
Saba/No ID - 8.2 (did not chart)
OsamaSon - 8.2 (did not chart)

popmatters - The 20 Best Experimental Albums of 2025

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

By
Chris Ingalls, J. Simpson
https://www.popmatters.com/best-experimental-albums-2025

1. Swans – Birthing (Young God)

It might seem harsh, but it has to be said. There’s a wishy washiness to a lot of current alt music, whether it’s ambient, shoegaze, synthpop etc. taking a lot of superficial elements from those genres and doing it with a certain numbness or vulnerability.I know there’s theorising about post-Covid music, people seeking gauzy and blissed out sounds in response to the horrors of the world, but a lot of it just seems like good old middle-class art school dilettantism, as if it’s uncool to make any effort (or at least you work hard at making it seem like you’re not making an effort). Having lived in Glasgow for years, I’ve seen several waves of that, so I don’t have much tolerance for it these days.

― Composition 40b (Stew), Tuesday, December 2, 2025 5:53 AM (four hours ago)

I'm listening to Smerz right now and agree this doesn't really apply to what I'm hearing; I tried three songs and they were all pretty stylistically distinct.

But I do think Stew is picking up on something here, especially if you excise any "and that's why current alt music sucks now" judgments and just recognize the overall trend. I spent 30 minutes in a new coffeshop last week and the extremely cool 20yo staff were playing stuff that sounded so much like 90s coffeeshop trip-hop, I was kind of astounded. I did find it pretty bland but then again it was serving its function as background music.

… but it was when I heard the music that was playing over the loudspeaker at the supermarket that I realised that contemporary music is creatively bankrupt. I could have sworn that some kid had crafted a tonally perfect, note for note recreation of Mariah’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You”.

yeah unfortunately people have been having this realization in coffee shops and department stores since the 2000s

Yeah, I probably should have been a bit more precise while making broad brushstrokes. Smerz don't really have the gauzy reverb thing going on, but I can hear certain similarities with other things that lean more to shoegaze or ambient... it's the lightness, the understated vocal melodies and wobbly singing... Obviously not all alt music sucks; it's just one trend among many. There's a lot of 90s to the millennium referencing/rehabilitating going on, which is a natural enough cycle, but feels weird having lived through it as a teenager. I'm not particularly nostalgic for that period. Nu-metal was bad enough first time round, and I have grim memories of smoking cheap hash while my pals played Korn, so it's curious to hear people like Aya referencing it.

x-post re effort, I take your point, but it does become obvious when people are using the same pedals, plug ins, Ableton settings etc - or are phoning it in performance or composition wise.

I remember when Grimes’ Visions was released and everyone was complaining about her having opted to use lots of very basic and obvious GarageBand preloaded samples, and being vaguely relieved that no enterprising snake has ever persuaded me to take a step that would prevent me from continuing my life as an oblivious person-in-nature who knows nothing and enjoys everything, indefinitely

there is a lackadaisacal quality to the smerz album that is not without its charms, but i think that's what makes the hype a little confusing for me. it reminds me of, like, solex.

Treble - The 50 Best Albums of 2025
https://www.treblezine.com/the-50-best-albums-of-2025/

The lists have been tallied, the year’s almost come to a close, and after some debate and discussion, lobbying for our favorites and giving an extra endorsement to some underrated gems, our list of the best albums of the year has been finalized. As it does every year, it covers all genres: rock, rap, electronic, country, metal, folk, jazz, punk, and various shades of gray in between. And we wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s full of longtime favorite artists and new discoveries, MVPs and underdogs, and though it’s ranked, I think we all know that’s fairly arbitrary, other than to emphasize that the albums at the top are those that nearly everyone agreed on. So let’s get to it. Enjoy our list of the 50 Best Albums of 2025.

1. billy woods – GOLLIWOG

Said the Gramophone - Best Songs of 2025
https://www.saidthegramophone.com/archives/best_songs_of_2025.php

Songs I love more than demon-hunters, damselflies and the numbers six or seven.

1. Anna von Hausswolff - "Stardust"
2. Saya Gray - "LIE DOWN.."
3. Geese - "Taxes"
4. Friendship - "Tree Of Heaven"
5. Blood Orange ft. The Durutti Column, Caroline Polachek, Daniel Caesar & Sabir - "The Field"
6. Westside Cowboy - "Shells""
7. Sabrina Carpenter - "Manchild"
8. Horsegirl - "Switch Over"
9. Herbert and Momoko - "Babygirl"
10. Lola Young - "D£aler"
11. Oklou & FKA Twigs - "viscus"
12. Bad Bunny - "DtMF"
13. World News - "Don't Want to Know"
14. Adrianne Lenker - "no limit (live)"
15. Yasmine Hamdan - "Shmaali شمالي Tarweeda (Nicolas Jaar Remix)"
16. Joshua Burnside - "Climb the Tower"
17. Jim Legxacy - "Stick"
18. Vanessa Amara - "Don't Let This Feeling"
19. Esther Rose - "New Bad"
20. Smerz - "You got time and I got money"
(and 80 more)

I really dislike the way RA organizes its lists. I know it’s trying to be anti hierarchical and inclusive but it ends up feeling arbitrary, obsequious to external discourses, and ultimately not as functional as it could be. I wish they’d just give me a borderline anthropological list of Berlin club bangers or something

I really dislike the way RA organizes its lists. I know it’s trying to be anti hierarchical and inclusive but it ends up feeling arbitrary, obsequious to external discourses, and ultimately not as functional as it could be. I wish they’d just give me a borderline anthropological list of Berlin club bangers or something

But I do think Stew is picking up on something here, especially if you excise any "and that's why current alt music sucks now" judgments and just recognize the overall trend. I spent 30 minutes in a new coffeshop last week and the extremely cool 20yo staff were playing stuff that sounded so much like 90s coffeeshop trip-hop, I was kind of astounded. I did find it pretty bland but then again it was serving its function as background music.

― rob, Tuesday, December 2, 2025 10:56 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

… but it was when I heard the music that was playing over the loudspeaker at the supermarket that I realised that contemporary music is creatively bankrupt. I could have sworn that some kid had crafted a tonally perfect, note for note recreation of Mariah’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You”.

― Tim F, Tuesday, December 2, 2025 11:22 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah unfortunately people have been having this realization in coffee shops and department stores since the 2000s

― ivy., Tuesday, December 2, 2025 11:27 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

I guess I could/should have given more details about why in the specific context of Montreal I found this surprising, but w/e these responses are understandable. As mentioned on a different thread I am finding it difficult to calibrate between being wary of encroaching middle-aged grumpness and recognizing genuinely notable examples of recursivity. If y'all aren't experiencing that *at all*, I am truly envious.

The Wire Rewind 2025:

1) aya - hexed! (Hyperdub)
2) billy woods - Golliwog (Backwoodz Studioz)
3) Los Thuthanaka - S/T (self-released on Bandcamp)
4) The Necks - Disquiet (Northern Spy)
5) DJ Haram - Beside Myself (Hyperdub)
6) Eiko Ishibashi - Antigone (Drag City)
7) Oklou - choke enough (True Panther Sounds)
8) Vanessa Rossetto - Pictures Of The Warm South (Erstwhile)
9) Stereolab - Instant Holograms On Metal Film (Duophonic UHF Disks)
10) Tortoise - Touch (International Anthem)
11) caroline - caroline 2 (Rough Trade)
12) Smerz - Big City Life (Escho)
13) Richard Dawson - End Of The Middle (Weird World)
14) Oren Ambarchi/Johan Berthling/Andreas Werliin - Ghosted III (Drag City)
15) feeo - Goodness (AD 93)
16) Abhorrent Expanse - Enter The Misanthropocene (Amalgam)
17) Rafael Toral - Traveling Light (Drag City)
18) Melvin Gibbs - Amasia: Anamibia Sessions 2 (Hausu Mountain)
19) Ellen Fullman & The Living Earth Show - Elemental View (Room40)
20) Masma Dream World - Please Come To Me (Valley Of Search)
21) Cerys Hafana - Angel (tak:til)
22) Damon Locks - List Of Demands (International Anthem)
23) Natural Information Society - Perserverance Flow (Eremite)
24) Backxwash - Only Dust Remains (Ugly Hag)
25) Blawan - SickElixir (XL Recordings)
26) Everything Is Psychedelic - The Beautiful Malaise (Everything Is Perfect/Live At The Clinic)
27) Ambrose Akinmusire - Honey From A Winter Stone (Nonesuch)
28) Black Eyes - Hostile Design (Dischord)
29) Slikback- Attrition (Planet Mu)
30) Alpha Maid - Is this a queue (AD 93)
31) Cosey Fanni Tutti - 2t2 (Conspiracy International)
32) Lucy Railton - Blue Veil (Ideologic Organ)
33) Valentia Magaletti & YPY - Kansai Bruises (AD 93)
34) Crystabel Efemena Riley - Live At Ormside (Infant Tree)
35) Ahmed - Sama'a (Audition) (Otoroku)
36) Cosmic Ear - TRACES (We Jazz)
37) Joanne Robertson - Blurrr (AD 93)
38) Kali Malone & Drew McDowall - Magnetism (Ideologic Organ)
39) Lea Bertucci - The Oracle (Cibachrome Editions)
40) Mary Halvorson - About Ghosts (Nonesuch)
41) Sylvie Courvoisier & Wadada Leo Smith - Angel Falls (Intakt)
42) Panda Bear - Sinister Grift (Domino)
43) Mark Ernestus' Ndagga Rhythm Force with Mbenne Diatta Seck - Khadim (Ndagga)
44) Ben LaMar Gay - Yowzers (International Anthem)
45) Hedvig Mollestad Trio - Bees In The Bonnet (Rune Grammofon)
46) Nadah El Shazly - Laini Tani (One Little Independent)
47) HAYWARDxDALEK - S/T (Relapse)
48) Anna Hogberg Attack - Ensemseglaren (Fonstret)
49) Michael Hurley - Broken Homes And Gardens (No Quarter)
50) Nina Garcia - Bye Bye Bird (Ideologic Organ)

This is the front cover of the new The Wire magazine:

The Wire 503-4 is out now!

Featuring the Top 50 new and archive releases, critical analysis and reflections, plus Hilary Woods, Makaya McCraven, Anna Högberg, Tristan Perich, Derek Bailey’s Company, Ikonika’s Jukebox, and much more.

Pick up your copy here:… pic.twitter.com/HxQkauREB1

— The Wire Magazine (@thewiremagazine) December 2, 2025

those are some wires all right

which one is *the* wire

Xxxpost:

Amazing list Sean. As usual one of the lists I look forward to the most each year.

Likewise. Will soundtrack my next few days of dog-walks.

The Los Thuthanaka album by Chuquimamani-Condori (previously known as Elysia Crampton) and their brother, Joshua Chuquimia Crampton, is very loud, hectic, and headache-inducing but it is also pretty great

i wish dj e had gotten as much attention as los thuthanaka, it's so much better

Piccadilly Records End Of Year Review: Top 100 Albums of the Year.
https://www.piccadillyrecords.com/counter/feature.php?feature=1608

Piccadilly Records, Manchester

1 - Antony Szmierek
Service Station At The End Of The Universe
Mushroom Music

Shatter the Standards - The 50 Best Jazz Albums of 2025
https://www.shatterthestandards.com/p/the-50-best-jazz-albums-of-2025

unranked

A multigenerational conversation in sound. You’ll hear legends and newcomers weaving fresh narratives; jazz in 2025 will not be pinned down. Expect anything but the expected.

As the calendar turns to 2025, jazz finds itself in exceptional form—restless, inclusive, and delightfully unpredictable. From tape-saturated church studios to high-concept chamber performances, artists are reimagining what a jazz record can feel like. This year’s highlights go beyond genre borders without leaving the music’s core spirit behind, inviting you to lean in and discover something unexpected at every turn. Below, we’ve gathered the most compelling albums that define jazz’s expansive present and promising future.

The Guardian - The 20 best songs of 2025
https://www.theguardian.com/music/ng-interactive/2025/dec/03/the-20-best-songs-of-2025

This year’s outstanding tracks – from post-punk rap to indie-disco and operatic pop – as voted for by 30 Guardian music writers

1

Rosalía – Berghain

Tidal Rewind 2025 dropped yesterday:

You asked. We heard. Rewind is here. Happy holidays  🎧🎄 ✩ pic.twitter.com/3qdnDn2BCk

— Tidal (@TIDAL) December 2, 2025

Meanwhile, Spotify Wrapped 2025 is expected today.

Ourculture - The 100 Best Albums of 2025
https://ourculturemag.com/2025/12/02/the-100-best-albums-of-2025/

Critics listen to a lot of new music every day, which means they get to spend every December – or November, since that’s when several year-end lists have started popping up – harping on about how some of their favorite albums couldn’t make the cut. For the first time in my five years as music editor of this publication, we’re expanding the annual best albums list to highlight 100 rather than 50 albums – and there are still many records I’ll be coming back to that just aren’t included. The always slightly arbitrary nature of ranking means that albums that are relatively low on this list, including by previous AOTY holders, might have been higher during a less eventful year. What’s certain is that no two albums here are quite alike, and you’ll find at least one thing that might have slipped under your radar. Here are the 100 best albums of 2025.

Summary: Your End Lists:
https://www.yearendlists.com/2025/our-culture-the-100-best-albums-of-2025

1. feeo, Goodness

in the UK, Spotify wrapped has arrived...but you need to scan the QR code on your smartphone

https://www.spotify.com/uk/wrapped/

Piccadilly Records, Manchester

1 - Antony Szmierek
Service Station At The End Of The Universe
Mushroom Music

― djmartian, Wednesday, 3 December 2025 09:46 (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Thought I was the only person who likes this. Good companion piece to the Real Lies album.

Stereogum - The 50 Best Songs Of 2025
https://stereogum.com/2480811/the-50-best-songs-of-2025/lists/year-in-review/2025-in-review

1: Wednesday - "Townies" (Dead Oceans)

popmatters - The 20 Best Jazz Albums of 2025
https://www.popmatters.com/best-jazz-albums-of-2025

20. Los Cinco Cardones – El Quinto Cardón (Some Other Planet)
19. Lingyuan Yang – Cursed Month (Chaospace)
18. Webber/Morris Big Band – Unseparate (Out of Your Head)
17. Nels Cline – Consentrik Quartet (Blue Note)
16. James Brandon Lewis – Abstraction Is Deliverance (Intakt)
15. Lex Korten – Canopy(Sounderscore)
14. Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra – Mundoagua: Celebrating Carla Bley(Zoho)
13. Brad Mehldau – Ride Into the Sun (Nonesuch)
12. John Scofield and Dave Holland – Memories of Home (ECM)
11. Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner – The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi)
10. Jacob Garchik – Ye Olde II— At the End of Time (Yestereve)
9. Mary Halvorson – About Ghosts (Nonesuch)
8. Matt Mitchell – Sacrosancticity (Obliquity)
7. Peter Evans / Being & Becoming – Ars Ludicra (More Is More)
6. Amir ElSaffar – New Quartet Live at Pierre Boulez Saal (Maqām)
5. Linda May Han Oh – Strange Heavens(Biophilia)
4. Jon Irabagon – Server Farm (Irabbagast)
3. Mourning [A] BLKstar – Flowers for the Living (Don Giovanni)
2. Patricia Brennan – Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic)
1. Fieldwork – Thereupon (Pi)

Rolling Stone - The 100 Best Albums of 2025
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-2025-1235466292/

1. Bad Bunny - DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS

100-51
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/2510-rolling-stones-100-best-albums-of-2025/

50-1
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/2510-rolling-stones-100-best-albums-of-2025/2

Slate's 10 Best Jazz Albums of 2025
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/2512-slates-10-best-jazz-albums-of-2025/

1. Mary Halvorson - About Ghosts

The Forty-Five - The 45 best albums of 2025
https://thefortyfive.com/opinion/best-albums-2025/

1. Lily Allen - West End Girl

As ever, we’ve polled our formidable cohort of music writers to crown the albums that defined 2025. Taste will forever be subjective and gender remains a beautifully unstable idea, and yet – here we are – assembling a deliberately opinionated list of the non-male artists who shaped the year’s sound.

In the wake of ‘Brat‘ (and because we all desperately needed a dance), 2025 saw artists return to the rave. Punk grew more formidable, tossing out more than a few well-placed middle fingers. But amid the chaos, it was the strength of old-school songwriting that cut through the algorithmic fog. We found ourselves drawn to the same qualities as ever in our albums of the year: artists embracing honesty above all else, and exploring the strange, difficult notion of being alive. We hope you find something you like.

AOTY format
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/2508-the-forty-fives-45-best-albums-of-2025/

KQED - The 20 Best Bay Area Albums of 2025
https://www.kqed.org/arts/13984148/the-best-bay-area-albums-of-2025

San Francisco Bay Area

Whether making hip-hop, punk, salsa or spiritual jazz, Bay Area artists didn’t disappoint this year. The KQED Arts & Culture team and contributors combed through 2025’s releases to bring you our favorite local music of the year. Turn up the volume and hit play. — Nastia Voynovskaya

Bandcamp - The Best Albums of 2025: Day 1, A–L
https://daily.bandcamp.com/best-of-2025/the-best-albums-of-2025-day-1-a-l

We have reached that time of year when the lists start coming down in buckets, and we are here to contribute to the downpour. We do lists a little differently at Bandcamp. Today and tomorrow, we’ll highlight a bunch of albums we think you should check out, in alphabetical order. Then, on Friday, we unveil the best of the best, our Essential Albums of 2025.

December 3: The Best Albums of 2025: A–L
December 4: The Best Albums of 2025: M–Z
December 5: 2025’s Essential Releases

The Quietus - Columnus Metallicus: The Best Heavy Metal of 2025
https://thequietus.com/tq-charts/columns-of-the-year/best-heavy-metal-albums-2025-messa-primitive-man-coltsblood/

Kez Whelan picks out the 20 best records from 2025 in metal, year of heartening cross-pollination and pushed limits, as well as some heartbreaking departures

1.
Messa
The Spin
https://messa.bandcamp.com/album/the-spin

los thuthanaka sounding quite terrible to me. are the pitchfork writers ok?

someone called them dumb on here at one point

Loraine James - Top Albums 2025

pic.twitter.com/zPqdBm6gCR

— Loraine James // Whatever The Weather (@LoJamMusic) December 3, 2025

There really isn't much crossover between the jazz lists posted. Mary Halvorson and Patricia Brennan seem to be the only consensus picks. I'm grateful for them though - year end lists are where I tend to find any jazz and I think I'm going to forever be a year behind.

Anna Hogberg Attack- Ensamseglaren

^^^

this is a good jazz one that should be on all the lists (and probably wont be)

I didn't see it.

it's an excellent doom-jazz big band recording that somehow sounds more like the work of a quartet (not meant as a criticism because most modern-jazz, big bands bore the arse off me).

listening to a jazz LP from this year right now - doo-ha by leeds act the lewis express + chip wickham, good soul jazz which sounds like it's from the 70s.

The Anna Hogberg is great. Really like the way it goes from near silence to crushing doom. It's a 12 piece so not too unwieldy. The Webber-Morris Big Band album is great too, uses the large ensemble really intelligently, plenty of excellent solo action and ingenious hybrid tuning systems - Webber's integration of Just Intonation into Equal Temperament produces so many different colours and effects.

Should add that one of the most affecting soloists on the Webber-Morris album is trombonist Zekkereya el-magharbel, who was also a key voice on Wendy Eisenberg's wonderful Viewfinder. Their solo trombone recordings are really great too. Microtonal stuff can sometimes be quite angular and jarring, but they bring real beauty and lyricism.

djmartian,
thanks for your effort with this thread.
I love checking out new stuff.

popmatters - The 10 Best Global Music Albums of 2025
https://www.popmatters.com/best-global-music-albums-2025

By
Adriane Pontecorvo

Summary:

10. Kayatibu – Ni Hui: Voz da Floresta (Da Lata Music/Mi Mawai)
9. Salin – Rammana (Independent)
8. Guedra Guedra – MUTANT (Smugglers Way)
7. Raúl Monsalve y los Forajidos – SOL (Olindo)
6. Elana Sasson – In Between(PKMusik)
5. Marlon Williams – Te Whare Tīwekaweka (Independent)
4. Brighde Chaimbeul – Sunwise(tak:til)
3. Ghazi and Boom.Diwan x Arturo O’Farrill – Live in the Khaleej! (Independent)
2. Florence Adooni – A.O.E.I.U. (An Ordinary Exercise in Unity) (Philophon)
1. Mulatu Astatke – Mulatu Plays Mulatu (Strut)

Pitchfork - The 30 Best Pop Albums of 2025
https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/best-pop-albums-2025/

1.
Smerz: Big city life

Mary Halvorson and Patricia Brennan seem to be the only consensus picks.

My Stereogum list (coming soon, I swear! I already turned it in) features Halvorson, and while I didn't include Brennan's album, I named her the artist of the year in the intro:

If anyone could be considered the defining artist of 2025, my vote would go to vibraphonist Patricia Brennan. She released one album of her own, Of The Near And Far, and was a key element on six others: Mary Halvorson’s About Ghosts, Tomas Fujiwara’s Dream Up, Adam O’Farrill’s For These Streets, Dave Douglas’s Alloy, Dan Weiss’s Unclassified Affections, and Arturo O’Farrill’s Mundoagua (Celebrating Carla Bley). There are a bunch of interesting vibe and mallet-instrument players around lately, including Joel Ross, Sasha Berliner, and Chien Chien Lu, as well as veterans like Stefon Harris and Warren Wolf. But Brennan, through her use of pedals and effects and her adventurous approach to composition, is taking the instrument into the future in ways nobody else is. Every time I see her name in an album’s credits, I get excited, and you should too.

Bandcamp - The Best Albums of 2025: Day 2, M–Z
https://daily.bandcamp.com/best-of-2025/the-best-albums-of-2025-day-2-m-z?from=hp_feat_ed

LOUDER THAN WAR TOP 100 ALBUMS OF 2025
https://louderthanwar.com/louder-than-war-top-100-albums-of-2025/

As per usual Louder than War deliver their unique EOY list. A mixed bag including artists that featured in Sounds / NME / Melody Maker magazines in the 1980s and indeed some cases 70s (Spear of Destiny, Conflict, Armory Show (Richard Jobson), Swans, Band of Holy Joy, Public Enemy, The Chameleons, Sparks, Cardiacs, John McKay, Gina Birch, Rhoda Dakar, Suzanne Vega) mixed in with a few 1990s artists and artists from 00s, 10s and new artists from this decade)

The only EOY list that includes an obscure Swiss Black metal band, twee C86 revivalists causing a scene with wimps in cardigans everywhere, a 86 year old American woman, a Portsmouth born future popstar, a feminist Brighton Punk band, Belgian electronic hipsters, South Wales based 00s noise rock, a rock band fronted by steve austin but not the bionic man, US punk band from Atlanta, and a band featuring ex members of the Fall.

...and some artists you never knew even existed.

1. Dead Pioneers: Po$t American
(Hassle)

Rolling Stone - The 100 Best Songs of 2025
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-songs-of-2025-1235468614/

preamble

This was one wild year for music — as the late, great Ozzy would say, it was a crazy train. In 2025, you never knew where your next favorite song was coming from. Some of the year’s best songs were pop chart-toppers, instant classics that ruled the radio and the clubs. Others come out of the underground —angry noise, art-damaged experiments, street beats. Our list of the year’s best songs has soul divas, country rebels, shot callers, rap bangers, rock monsters, K-pop demon hunters. Legends like Kendrick and SZA and Taylor and Gaga dropped mega-hits that cast their spell for months at a time without losing their mystery. Sabrina blamed your mom. Rosalía prayed for divine intervention, with a little help from Björk.

We’ve got sad ballads about bad romance, whether it’s Chappell riding the subway or MJ Lenderman sitting in the dark listening to Steely Dan. We’ve got Shaolin legends and TikTok kids, party anthems and breakup curses, lust and rage and sound and fury. We’ve got Blood Orange singing about the Replacements singing about Alex Chilton. We’ve got Playboi Carti feeling like Weezy. We’ve got Sally and we’ve got Luther, not to mention Ophelia. So turn up the volume and hold on tight. Feel the beat under your feet. The floor’s on fire. You can listen to the whole list here.

Rolling Stone's Top 100 Songs of 2025
https://www.brooklynvegan.com/rolling-stones-top-100-songs-of-2025/

summary of

ROLLING STONE’S TOP 25 SONGS OF 2025
25. Justin Bieber, ‘Daisies’
24. Raye, ‘Where Is My Husband!’
23. Clipse, ‘So Be It’
22. Ca7riel and Paco Amoroso, ‘#Tetas’
21. Addison Rae, ‘High Fashion’
20. Blondshell, ‘T&A’
19. Role Model, ‘Sally, When the Wine Runs Out’
18. Playboi Carti, ‘Like Weezy’
17. Hayley Williams, ‘Mirtazapine’
16. Tyler Childers, ‘Eatin’ Big Time’
15. Olivia Dean, ‘Man I Need’
14. Rosalía feat. Björk and Yves Tumor, ‘Berghain’
13. Jensen McRae, ‘Praying for Your Downfall’
12. Mariah the Scientist, ‘Burning Blue’
11. Ryan Davis and the Roadhouse Band, ‘New Threats From the Soul’
10. Chappell Roan, ‘The Subway’
9. Kendrick Lamar and SZA, ‘Luther’
8. Taylor Swift, ‘The Fate of Ophelia’
7. YoungBoy Never Broke Again, ‘Shot Callin’
6. Sabrina Carpenter, ‘Manchild’
5. Kehlani, ‘Folded’
4. Bad Bunny, ‘Baile Inolvidable’
3. KPop Demon Hunters/Huntr/x, ‘Golden’
2. MJ Lenderman and This Is Lorelei, ‘Dancing in the Club’
1. Lady Gaga, ‘Abracadabra’

From Dublin: long time music blogger Nialler9

The 50 best albums of 2025 by Niall Byrne
https://nialler9.com/the-50-best-albums-of-2025/

1.
ROSALÍA
LUX

Time.com - The 10 Best Albums of 2025
https://time.com/7333797/best-albums-2025/

by
Jenn Pelly

1. Getting Killed, Geese

alert: I'm in a coffeeshop and Smerz is playing

Consequence - The 200 Best Songs of 2025
https://consequence.net/list/200-best-songs-of-2025-annual-report/

1:
Geese — "Au Pays du Cocaine"

Spotify playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7lVRhdR8zhabCpCd53bSnd

Stephen Thomas Erlewine from his substack (I only see his free version not his paid version that has more albums. Not even sure how I ended up getting even his free one )

Suede—Antidepressants

Tyler Childers—Snipe Hunter

Turnpike Troubadours—The Price of Admission

Pulp—More

Sabrina Carpenter—Man’s Best Friend

Charley Crockett—The Lonesome Drifter/Dollar a Day

Kesha—(Period)

Willie Nelson—Working Man’s Blues

Julien Baker & Torres—Send a Prayer My Way

Lifeguard—Ripped and Torn

Ty Segall—Possession

Wet Leg—Moisturizer

Blondshell—If You Asked For A Picture

Sharon Van Etten & the Attachment Theory—Sharon Van Etten & the Attachment Theory

Big Thief—Double Infinity

Stereolab—Instant Holograms on Metal Film

The Waterboys—Life, Death, and Dennis Hopper

Renee Rapp—BITE ME

Jonathan Richman—Only Frozen Sky Anyway

James Brandon Lewis—Apple Cores

Robert Plant—Saving Grace

Sloan—Based on a True Story

Joshua Hedley—All Hat

Hayley Williams—Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party

Nels Cline—Consentrik Quartet

Saint Etienne—International

Lilly Hiatt—Forever

Public Enemy—Black Sky Over the Projects

Greg Freeman—Burnover

Margo Price—Hard Headed Woman

Paul Weller—Finding El Dorado

Mavis Staples—Sad and Beautiful World

Wednesday—Bleeds

Marc Ribot—Map of a Blue City

Lady Gaga—Mayhem

Snocaps—Snocaps

Sunflower Bean—Mortal Primetown

The Minus 5—Oar On, Penelope!

Eric Church—Evangeline Vs. the Machine

The Hives—The Hives Forever Forever the Hives ...

NME's 50 BEST ALBUMS OF 2025
https://www.nme.com/lists/end-of-year/best-albums-2025-3915561

1. Geese – ‘Getting Killed’

AOTY - 2025 Music Year End List Aggregate
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/summary/2025/

after 32 lists

Complex - The 50 Best Albums of 2025
https://www.complex.com/music/a/dimassanfiorenzo/best-albums-of-2025

1. Bad Bunny - DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS

AOTY format:
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/2520-complexs-50-best-albums-of-2025/

Rolling Stone - The 50 Best New Zealand Albums of 2025
https://au.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/50-best-new-zealand-albums-2025-list-87758/

Shatter the Standards - The 50 Best R&B Albums of 2025
https://www.shatterthestandards.com/p/the-50-best-r-and-b-albums-of-2025

Bandcamp - The Best Albums of 2025: Essential Releases
https://daily.bandcamp.com/best-of-2025/the-best-albums-of-2025-essential-releases

I like that selection

Yeah, fantastic list.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/arts/music/best-albums-2025.html?unlocked_article_code=1.6U8.91d6.Dk3o3steoo4u&smid=nytcore-ios-share

Gift link for ny times critics Caramanica and Zoladz lists; link might also connect to Hank S ‘s jazz list

Caramanica’s top pick is an an ep by Korean hyperpop artist Effie , and he has Jim Legxacy Black British Music at 2

Did Pareles take a step back this year? I think this is the first year he hasn't had a list alongside JC and LZ?

Arctic Drones - The 20 Best Folk Albums of 2025
https://arcticdrones.net/2025/12/05/the-20-best-folk-albums-of-2025/

xp the nyt made the decision that he was gonna take a step back when they did a bunch of culture section restructuring earlier this year

That SANAM is so good

Thanks vc. Missed that.

paste - The 100 best songs of 2025
https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/best-songs/the-100-best-songs-of-2025

1. Los Thuthanaka: “Awila”

The Best Jazz Albums of 2025 by Nate Chinen
https://thegig.substack.com/p/the-best-jazz-albums-of-2025

For improvised music, an inspired and inspiring year.

Complex - The 35 Best Hip-Hop Albums of 2025
https://www.complex.com/music/a/dimassanfiorenzo/best-hip-hop-albums-of-2025

1.Playboi Carti, MUSIC

Kult-Zilla’s – Essential Dozen Metal Albums – 2025
https://kult-zilla.com/2025/12/03/kult-zillas-essential-dozen-metal-albums-2025/

1. // Lorna Shore – I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me (Century Media)

No Ripcord - The Best Albums of 2025
https://www.noripcord.com/the-best-albums-of-2025/

1. Foxwarren - 2
(Anti-)

popmatters - The 80 Best Albums of 2025
https://www.popmatters.com/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.

1. Rosalia – LUX (Columbia)

Pitchfork has named Dijon artist of the year:
https://pitchfork.com/features/cover-story/dijon-artist-of-the-year/

Dijon Had a Miraculous Year. He’s Not Finished Yet.

Amid starting a family, writing blockbuster pop albums, and making his acting debut in One Battle After Another, Dijon Duenas spliced together his second album, Baby, and became one of the most compelling voices in modern music. We catch up with our Artist of the Year in Los Angeles, who let us in to his rehearsal space and headspace, way left of the dial.

ALBUMISM SELECTS: The 50 Best Albums of 2025 | Counting Down the Top 20
https://albumism.com/lists/best-albums-of-2025-index

NEWYORKTIMES BEST SONGS 2025
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/07/arts/music/best-songs-2025.html

Not a good one.

Stereogum's Best Jazz of 2025 (by me)

10. Yazz Ahmed, A Paradise In The Hold
9. Jaleel Shaw, Painter Of The Invisible
8. Tomas Fujiwara, Dream Up
7. Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens
6. Nicole Glover, Memories, Dreams, Reflections
5. Jeremy Pelt, Woven
4. Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith, Defiant Life
3. Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts
2. Kamasi Washington, Lazarus Soundtrack
1. Isaiah Collier/William Hooker/William Parker, The Ancients

That Collier/Hooker/Parker lp is so awesome

Aquarium Drunkard has posted their fantastic, as usual, wrap-up list.

Surprised Caramanica likes Sleep Token that much.

Their podcast, popcast, did an episode this year where they rated all the songs in the hot 100 neither him nor the other host recognised. Sleep Token was one of them and it stood out as one of the only ones not kinda country hozier slop. It still didn't sound good to me but you could tell in context how much it stood out to the hosts. I guess caramanica took that ball and ran with it. Tbh im unsure why i still occasionally listen, as I generally dont gel with their tastes at all.

x-post

Aquarium Drunkard is $100 for a year's membership, right?

crack magazine
https://crackmagazine.net/article/list-article/best-albums-2025/

Kerrang - The 50 best albums of 2025
https://www.kerrang.com/the-50-best-albums-of-2025-turnstile-deftones-ghost-hayley-williams-malevolence-creeper-spiritbox-sleep-token-twenty-one-pilots-deafheaven

AOTY format
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/2530-kerrangs-50-best-albums-of-2025/

1
Turnstile – NEVER ENOUGH (Roadrunner)

The Fader - The 50 best albums of 2025
https://www.thefader.com/2025/12/08/the-50-best-albums-of-2025

AOTY format
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/2532-the-faders-50-best-albums-of-2025/

1. Addison Rae, Addison

bandcamp - The Best Punk Music of 2025
https://daily.bandcamp.com/best-of-2025/the-best-punk-music-of-2025

bandcamp - The Best Hip-Hop of 2025
https://daily.bandcamp.com/best-of-2025/the-best-hip-hop-of-2025

The Best Music of 2025, According to Pitchfork Readers
https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/2025-readers-poll-results/

The 100 Best Songs of 2025, According to Pitchfork Readers

100. Nourished by Time: “Max Potential”

99. Sabrina Carpenter: “Tears”

98. Lorde: “Current Affairs”

97. Wet Leg: “davina mccall”

96. Perfume Genius: “No Front Teeth” [ft. Aldous Harding]

95. Sabrina Carpenter: “House Tour”

94. Oklou: “take me by the hand” [ft. Bladee]

93. Lorde: “Man of the Year”

92. Lorde: “Hammer”

91. caroline: “Total euphoria“

90. Ethel Cain: “Dust Bowl”

89. Jane Remover: “Dancing With Your Eyes Closed”

88. Bon Iver: “From”

87. Jane Remover: “JRJRJR”

86. Nourished by Time: “9 2 5”

85. Wolf Alice: “The Sofa”

84. Smerz: “Feisty”

83. Deafheaven: “Magnolia”

82. Addison Rae: “High Fashion”

81. Clipse: “Ace Trumpets”

80. Rosalía: “Dios Es un Stalker”

79. Water From Your Eyes: “Playing Classics”

78. Geese: “Islands of Men”

77. Wet Leg: “mangetout”

76. Ninajirachi: “iPod Touch”

75. Hayley Williams: “True Believer”

74. Tyler, the Creator: “Sugar on My Tongue”

73. Black Country, New Road: “For the Cold Country”

72. Turnstile: “BIRDS”

71. Alex G: “June Guitar”

70. Deftones: “My Mind Is a Mountain”

69. Lana Del Rey: “Henry, come on”

68. Earl Sweatshirt: “TOURMALINE”

67. Ethel Cain: “Fuck Me Eyes”

66. Panda Bear: “Praise”

65. Bon Iver: “Day One”

64. Wednesday: “Wound Up Here (By Holdin On)”

63. Lady Gaga: “Perfect Celebrity”

62. Lady Gaga: “How Bad Do U Want Me”

61. Cameron Winter: “Nausicaä (Love Will Be Revealed)”

60. Geese: “Trinidad”

59. PinkPantheress: “Tonight”

58. Olivia Dean: “Man I Need”

57. Big Thief: “Los Angeles”

56. caroline: “Tell me I never knew that” [ft. Caroline Polachek]

55. Zara Larsson: “Midnight Sun”

54. Robyn: “Dopamine”

53. Model/Actriz: “Cinderella”

52. Geese: “100 Horses”

51. Big Thief: “Incomprehensible”

50. Lady Gaga: “Garden of Eden”

49. Blood Orange: “The Field”

48. FKA twigs: “Room of Fools”

47. Pulp: “Spike Island”

46. Wet Leg: “catch these fists”

45. Blood Orange: “Mind Loaded” [ft. Caroline Polachek, Lorde, and Mustafa]

44. Taylor Swift: “The Fate of Ophelia”

43. Bad Bunny: “NUEVAYoL”

42. Sabrina Carpenter: “Manchild”

41. Lily Allen: “Pussy Palace”

40. Lorde: “David”

39. Geese: “Long Island City Here I Come”

38. Hayley Williams: “Parachute”

37. Oklou: “harvest sky” [ft. underscores]

36. Geese: “Husbands”

35. This Is Lorelei / MJ Lenderman: “Dancing in the Club (MJ Lenderman Version)”

34. Perfume Genius: “It’s a Mirror”

33. FKA twigs: “Drums of Death”

32. PinkPantheress: “Illegal”

31. Lorde: “Shapeshifter”

30. Dijon: “Yamaha”

29. Haim: “Relationships”

28. PinkPantheress: “Stateside”

27. Addison Rae: “Fame Is a Gun”

26. Lorde: “What Was That”

25. Rosalía: “La Perla”

24. FKA twigs: “Girl Feels Good”

23. Wednesday: “Townies”

22. Oklou: “blade bird”

21. Turnstile: “NEVER ENOUGH”

20. Clipse: “So Be It”

19. Bad Bunny: “BAILE INoLVIDABLE”

18. Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band: “New Threats From the Soul”

17. Smerz: “You got time and I got money”

16. Ethel Cain: “Nettles”

15. Bon Iver: “Everything Is Peaceful Love”

14. Geese: “Cobra”

13. Bad Bunny: “DTMF”

12. Rosalía: “Mio Cristo Piange Diamanti”

11. Cameron Winter: “Love Takes Miles”

10. Chappell Roan: “The Subway”

9. FKA twigs: “Striptease”

8. Alex G: “Afterlife”

7. Addison Rae: “Headphones On”

6. Geese: “Au Pays du Cocaine”

5. Rosalía: “Reliquia”

4. Wednesday: “Elderberry Wine”

3. Lady Gaga: “Abracadabra”

2. Geese: “Taxes”

1. Rosalía: “Berghain” [ft. Björk and Yves Tumor]

The 100 Best Albums of 2025, According to Pitchfork Readers

100. The Beths: Straight Line Was a Lie

99. james K: Friend

98. Maria Somerville: Luster

97. Sharon Van Etten / The Attachment Theory: Sharon Van Etten & the Attachment Theory

96. aya: hexed!

95. Destroyer: Dan’s Boogie

94. Ichiko Aoba: Luminescent Creatures

93. The Weeknd: Hurry Up Tomorrow

92. DJ Koze: Music Can Hear Us

91. Viagra Boys: Viagra Boys

90. SZA: SOS Deluxe: Lana

89. YHWH Nailgun: 45 Pounds

88. Saya Gray: SAYA

87. Horsegirl: Phonetics On and On

86. Japanese Breakfast: For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women)

85. Djrum: Under Tangled Silence

84. Kali Uchis: Sincerely,

83. Anna von Hausswolff: Iconoclasts

82. Joanne Robertson: Blurrr

81. Tame Impala: Deadbeat

80. Annahstasia: Tether

79. Wolf Alice: The Clearing

78. Stereolab: Instant Holograms on Metal Film

77. Los Thuthanaka: Los Thuthanaka

76. Ethel Cain: Perverts

75. Olivia Dean: The Art of Loving

74. Model/Actriz: Pirouette

73. Jeff Tweedy: Twilight Override

72. Pulp: More

71. Haim: I quit

70. Florence and the Machine: Everybody Scream

69. Ninajirachi: I Love My Computer

68. Water From Your Eyes: It’s a Beautiful Place

67. Deftones: Private Music

66. Tyler, the Creator: DON’T TAP THE GLASS

65. Earl Sweatshirt: Live Laugh Love

64. CMAT: EURO-COUNTRY

63. Erika de Casier: Lifetime

62. Perfume Genius: Glory

61. Amaarae: Black Star

60. Jane Remover: Revengeseekerz

59. Deafheaven: Lonely People With Power

58. caroline: caroline 2

57. JADE: THAT’S SHOWBIZ BABY!

56. Rochelle Jordan: Through the Wall

55. billy woods: GOLLIWOG

54. Sabrina Carpenter: Man’s Best Friend

53. Black Country, New Road: Forever Howlong

52. Smerz: Big city life

51. Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band: New Threats From the Soul

50. Ethel Cain: Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You

49. FKA twigs: Eusexua Afterglow

48. Panda Bear: Sinister Grift

47. Lily Allen: West End Girl

46. Wet Leg: moisturizer

45. Blood Orange: Essex Honey

44. Nourished by Time: The Passionate Ones

43. Alex G: Headlights

42. Yola: My Way

41. Hayley Williams: Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party

40. Zoé Basha: Gamble

39. Ty Dolla $ign: Tycoon

38. All Time Low: Everyone’s Talking!

37. Kesha: .

36. Ed Sheeran: Play

35. Burna Boy: No Sign of Weakness

34. Reneé Rapp: Bite Me

33. Arch Enemy: Blood Dynasty

32. Rufus Wainwright: Dream Requiem

31. Cameron Winter: Heavy Metal

30. Summer Walker: Finally Over It

29. Khalid: After the Sun Goes Down

28. Lil Tecca: Dopamine

27. Folk Bitch Trio: Now Would Be a Good Time

26. Zara Larsson: Midnight Sun

25. Mereba: The Breeze Grew a Fire

24. Bruce Springsteen: Tracks II: The Lost Albums

23. Militarie Gun: God Save the Gun

22. Gucci Mane: Episodes

21. MIKE: Showbiz!

20. PinkPantheress: Fancy That

19. The Last Dinner Party: From the Pyre

18. Dijon: Baby

17. Taylor Swift: The Life of a Showgirl

16. Miley Cyrus: Something Beautiful

15. Bon Iver: SABLE, fABLE

14. Little Simz: Lotus

13. Lorde: Virgin

12. Bad Bunny: DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS

11. Sudan Archives: The BPM

10. Addison Rae: Addison

9. Big Thief: Double Infinity

8. Wednesday: Bleeds

7. Oklou: choke enough

6. Turnstile: NEVER ENOUGH

5. Clipse: Let God Sort Em Out

4. Lady Gaga: MAYHEM

3. FKA twigs: EUSEXUA

2. Geese: Getting Killed

1. Rosalía: LUX

nialler9 - The 50 best Irish albums of 2025
https://nialler9.com/the-50-best-irish-albums-of-2025/

Country pop music, punk-jazz, electronic trad, underground connectors, gothic shoegaze and tin whistles, freak folk, no wave rock and more.

1.
CMAT
Euro-Country

was hoping to see lullahush high up there
great record

The TND Writers' Top 20 Songs of 2025
https://theneedledrop.com/opinion/the-tnd-writers-top-20-songs-of-2025/

#20. Quadeca – "GODSTAINED"

#19. Perfume Genius – "It's a Mirror"

#18. Big Thief – "Grandmother"

#17. billy woods – "Waterproof Mascara"

#16. Nilüfer Yanya – "Cold Heart"

#15. Ichiko Aoba – "FLAG"

#14. Smerz – "You got time and I got money"

#13. Oklou – "Blade Bird"

#12. Ethel Cain – "Nettles"

#11. Dijon – "Baby!"

#10. Model/Actriz – "Cinderella"

#9. Clipse – "Ace Trumpets"

#8. PinkPantheress – "Stateside"

#7. Geese – "Au Pays Du Cocaine"

#6. Rosalía (feat. Björk & Yves Tumor) – "Berghain"

#5. Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist (feat. Anderson .Paak) – "Ensalada"

#4. Water From Your Eyes – "Playing Classics"

#3. Addison Rae – "Headphones On"

#2. Nourished By Time – "Baby Baby"

#1. RXKNephew – "John Fetterman"

Clunk - Our Best Of 2025 Playlist Is Now Live
https://clunkmag.com/best-music-2025-playlist/

Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6duvtDL9teXU16WdbSWfro?si=ercxsqj7QseLbQr79lju8Q

long time Music Blogger, Mapped By What Surrounded Them has started counting down his albums of the year...

Mapped By What Surrounded Them - 2025 Favorite Albums (50-41)
https://mappedbywhatsurroundedthem.blogspot.com/2025/12/2025-favorite-albums-50-41.html

50. Austra - Chin Up Buttercup

49. The Belair Lip Bombs - Again

48. Agriculture - The Spiritual Sound

47. Tame Impala - Deadbeat

46. Turnstile - Never Enough

45. Pinkpantheress - Fancy That

44. bar italia - Some Like It Hot

43. John Glacier - Like A Ribbon

42. Perfume Genius - Glory

41. NewDad - Altar

Mapped By What Surrounded Them - 2025 Favorite Albums (40 - 31)
https://mappedbywhatsurroundedthem.blogspot.com/2025/12/2025-favorite-albums-40-31.html

40. Blood Orange - Essex Honey

39. Nick León - A Tropical Entropy

38. Geese - Getting Killed

37. Rocket - R Is For Rocket

36. Die Spitz - Something To Consume

35. Blawan - SickElixer

34. Lifeguard - Ripped and Torn

33. Double Virgo - Shakedown

32. Oneohtrix Point Never - Tranquilizer

31. Ghost Mountain - October Country

Invisible Oranges - Tom Campagna's Top Albums of 2025
https://www.invisibleoranges.com/tom-campagnas-top-albums-of-2025/

1: Messa – The Spin

AllMusic's Best of 2025
https://www.allmusic.com/blog/post/allmusics-best-of-2025

AllMusic - 100 Favorite Albums of 2025
https://www.allmusic.com/year-in-review/2025/allmusic-best-of-2025

A-Z order

Dazed - The 10 best music videos of 2025, ranked
https://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/69245/1/best-music-videos-of-2025-charli-xcx-doechii-jim-legxacy-addison-rae

10. JIANBO, “FOR THE HONOUR FEAT. NIX NORTHWEST”

9. ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER, “MEASURING RUINS”

8. CHARLI XCX, “PARTY 4 U”

7. LORDE, “MAN OF THE YEAR”

6. SABRINA CARPENTER, “TEARS”

5. DAVE, “CHAPTER 16 FEAT. KANO”

4. DOJA CAT, “GORGEOUS”

3. JIM LEGXACY, “‘06 WAYNE ROONEY”

2. DOECHII, “DENIAL IS A RIVER”

1. ADDISON RAE, “HEADPHONES ON”

The Guardian have started their The 50 best albums of 2025 countdown:

The Guardian - The 50 best albums of 2025: 50-41
https://www.theguardian.com/music/ng-interactive/2025/dec/08/the-best-albums-of-2025-50-41

50

Nourished by Time – The Passionate Ones

49

Rochelle Jordan – Through the Wall

48

Jerskin Fendrix – Once Upon a Time … in Shropshire

47

Clipping – Dead Channel Sky

46

The Tubs – Cotton Crown

45

Smerz – Big City Life

44

Sabrina Carpenter – Man’s Best Friend

43

Jennifer Walton – Daughters

42

Erika de Casier – Lifetime

41

Danny Brown – Stardust

Jerskin Fendrix

News: The Best of 2025 – The Get Ready to ROCK! Reviewer Selections
https://getreadytorock.me.uk/blog/2025/12/news-the-best-of-2025-the-get-ready-to-rock-reviewer-selections-december-2025/

looking at some of these artists, you got could be forgiven that you have slipped into some time vortex and parallel universe

Classic Rock / Trad Rock / Hard Rock / Heavy Rock / Guitars / Prog Rock / Trad Metal etc.

Get Ready to HIT THE BACK BUTTON!

arcticdrones - The 20 Best Ambient Albums of 2025
https://arcticdrones.net/2025/12/08/the-20-best-ambient-albums-of-2025/

unranked

Rolling Stone - The 50 Best Latin and Spanish-Language Albums of 2025
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-latin-albums-2025-1235470004/blue-rojo-cdmxxxxxxx-1235470193/

1: Bad Bunny, ‘DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS’

Swim Into The Sound's Staff Favorites of 2025
https://swimintothesound.com/blog/2025/12/8/swim-into-the-sounds-staff-favorites-of-2025

What follows are 20 recommendations from 20 different writers, all going to bat for their favorite record of 2025—a diverse spread of music straight from the heart, not the algorithm.

Never seen this Music Website before: Stagedhaze

Stagedhaze - 50 Best Albums of 2025
https://stagedhaze.com/2025/12/08/staged-haze-presents-the-50-best-albums-of-2025/

1: Audrey Hobert - Who’s The Clown?

The Best Albums of 2025 on Echoes
https://echoes.org/2025/12/08/the-best-albums-of-2025/

Best of Echoes 2025
1 Immersion/Suss Nanocluster Vol.3 (review) (interview) Swim Immersion & Suss - Nanocluster V3
2 Marconi Union The Fear of Never Landing (review) (interview) Just Music
3 Azam Ali Synesthesia (review) (interview) COP International
4 Carl Weingarten Song for a Perigee Moon Multiphase
5 Ian Boddy & Erik Wøllo Transmissions DiN Boddy & Wollo - Transmissions Cover
6 Marissa Nadler New Radiations (review) (interview) Sacred Bones
7 Fractal Sextet Sky Full of Hope Rarenoise
8 Steve Roach Portals and Spirals (interview) OtherSide Steve Roach - Portals and Spirals
9 Bluetech Spacehop Chronicles 2 (review) (interview) Over the Moon Illustrated blue dog
10 David Helpling & Eric “the” Taylor The Precious Dark (review) (interview) Spotted Peccary The Precious Dark
11 aeseaes Opia (review) (interview) (self-released) Aeseaes - Opia Cover
12 All India Radio The Unified Field (review) Spectra
13 Mark Dwane Aeons Trondant
14 Mogwai The Bad Fire Temporary Residence Limited Mogwai - The Bad Fire
15 Anoushka Shankar Chapter III: We Return to Light (interview) Leiter Anoushka Shankar-Chapter 3 - We Return To Light
16 Explosions in the Sky American Primeval Netflix Music American Primeval - Explosions In The Sky
17 Koan Nine Worlds Blue Tunes Chillout Koan - Nine Worlds
18 Ian Boddy & Harold Grosskopf Doppelganger (interview) DiN
19 Aetopus Iota Spotted Peccary AeTopus - Iota
20 Ludovico Einaudi The Summer Portraits (review) Decca
21 Deborah Martin & Jill Haley Rendering Time Spotted Peccary Deborah Martin and Jill Haley - Rendering Time
22 Deepspace Water Planets (Interview) Projekt Deepspace - Water Planets
23 Geoglyph Otherworldly Over the Moon Music Geoglyph - Otherworldly
24 Rival Consoles Landscapes from Memory Erased Tapes
25 Michelle Qureshi Be in this World Wayfarer
26 Hollie Kenniff For Forever Nettwerk Hollie Kenniff - For Forever
27 Royal Arctic Institute Royal Arctic Institute Rhyme & Reason Records Royal Arctic Institute
28 Nicholas Gunn 30 (review) (interview) Blue Dot
29 Platform8 Platform8 (self-released)
30 Brannan Lane, John Gregorius & Sean O’Bryan Smith Lost Desert Highway Wayfarer

thePRP.com have now provided a summary of the Kerrang list:

Kerrang! Have Revealed 'The 50 Best Albums Of 2025'
https://www.theprp.com/2025/12/08/news/kerrang-have-revealed-the-50-best-albums-of-2025/

50. As December Falls – “Everything’s On Fire But I’m Fine”
49. Orbit Culture – “Death Above Life“
48. Coheed And Cambria – “Vaxis – Act III: The Father Of Make Believe“
47. Good Charlotte – “Motel Du Cap“
46. Pinkshift – “Earthkeeper“
45. False Reality – “FADED INTENTIONS“
44. Thornhill – “BODIES“
43. Sprints – “All That Is Over“
42. Bury Tomorrow – “Will You Haunt Me, With That Same Patience“
41. RØRY – “RESTORATION“
40. The Callous Daoboys – “I Don’t Want To See You In Heaven“
39. Hot Mulligan – “The Sound A Body Makes When It’s Still“
38. Bleed From Within – “Zenith“
37. Militarie Gun – “God Save The Gun“
36. Pupil Slicer – “Fleshwork“
35. Castle Rat – “The Beastiary“
34. I Prevail – “Violent Nature“
33. Dying Wish – “Flesh Stays Together“
32. Split Chain – “Motionblur“
31. Halestorm – “Everest“
30. Maruja – Pain To Power“
29. LANDMVRKS – “The Darkest Place I’ve Ever Been“
28. DRAIN – “…Is Your Friend“
27. Employed To Serve – “Fallen Star“
26. Stray From The Path – “Clockworked“
25. Witch Fever – “FEVEREATEN“
24. YUNGBLUD – “Idols“
23. BABYMETAL – “METAL FORTH“
22. Conjurer – “Unself“
21. Lorna Shore – “I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me“
20. Nova Twins – “Parasites & Butterflies“
19. Hot Milk – “Corporation P.O.P.“
18. Sleep Theory – “Afterglow“
17. A Day To Remember – “Big Ole Album Vol.1“
16. Architects – “The Sky, The Earth & All Between“
15. Biffy Clyro – “Futique“
14. Dayseeker – “Creature In The Black Night“
13. Scowl – “Are We All Angels“
12. Lambrini Girls – “Who Let The Dogs Out“
11. Pertubator – “Age Of Aquarius“
10. Deafheaven – “Lonely People With Power“
09. twenty one pilots – “Breach“
08. Sleep Token – “Even In Arcadia“
07. Spiritbox – “Tsunami Sea“
06. Creeper – “Sanguivoire II: Mistress Of Death“
05. Malevolence – “Where Only The Truth Is Spoken“
04. Hayley Williams – “Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party“
03. Ghost – “Skeletá“
02. Deftones – “Private Music“
01. Turnstile – “NEVER ENOUGH“

Fine purveyor's of DIY underground, World of Echo, have posted their Hindsight 2025 here. Great descriptions and no ranked albums.

(no idea why I inserted an apostrophe in "purveyors")

https://thissidejapan.substack.com/p/2025-in-japanese-shoegaze

a short summary of 2025 Japanese shoegaze

KCRW Music Best of 2025
https://www.kcrw.com/stories/kcrw-music-best-of-2025

(KCRW is a public radio station based at Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California)

Artist of the Year

Little Simz

Breakthrough Artist of the Year

Gelli Haha

Best Albums of 2025

1: Automatic - Is It Now?

Little Simz - Lotus

Tame Impala - Deadbeat

Rosalía - LUX

Nation of Language - Dance Called Memory

Wet Leg - Moisturizer

Gelli Haha - Switcheroo

Madison Mcferrin - Scorpio

Soulwax - All Systems Are Lying

Saya Gray - SAYA

Panda Bear - Sinister Grift

Geese - Getting Killed

Polo & Pan - 22:22

Stereolab - Instant Holograms on Metal Film

Hannah Cohen - Earthstar Mountain

Silvana Estrada - Vendrán Suaves Lluvias

Say She She - Cut & Rewind

Cut Copy - Moments

Obongjayar - Paradise Now

Yukimi - For You

Bardo - Transformation Time

Cuco - Ridin’

Darkside - Nothing

Pachyman - Another Place

Brandee Younger - Gadabout Season

Horsegirl - Phonetics On and On

Adrian Quesada - Boleros Psicodélicos II

El Michels Affair - 24 Hr Sports

Beatie Wolfe and Brian Eno - Luminal

30: King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Phantom Island

Best Songs of 2025

1: Little Simz - Free

Weval - FREE

Soulwax - Run Free

Rosalía, Björk & Yves Tumor - Berghain

UFOs - UFO

Tame Impala - End of Summer

Automatic - Black Box

Durand Jones & The Indications - Paradise

Nation of Language - Inept Apollo

CMAT - Running / Planning

Twin Shadow - Dominoes

Gelli Haha - Bounce House

St. Panther - Strange World

Wet Leg - Pokemon

Pulp - Spike Island

Cut Copy - Still See Love

Florence & The Machine - One of the Greats

Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek - Cool Hand

NxWorries - Everybody Gets Down

Kaytranada - Space Invader

Badbadnotgood feat. V.C.R. - Found A Light (Beale Street)

Turnstile - Never Enough

Lady Wray - You’re Gonna Win

Juana Molina - Siestas Ahí

TEED - Desire

ISTA - Waves

Tyler the Creator feat. Madison McFerrin - Don’t You Worry

The South Hill Experiment - Open Ocean

Yttling Jazz, Joshua Idehen - Illegal Hit

30: Big Thief - Los Angeles

NME's 20 BEST DEBUT ALBUMS OF 2025
https://www.nme.com/lists/end-of-year/best-debut-albums-2025-3916778

A-Z order

The Independent - The 20 best albums of 2025, from Rosalía’s Lux to Lily Allen’s West End Girl
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/2025-best-albums-rosalia-lily-allen-addison-rae-b2877177.html

1. Rosalía – Lux

NPR - Best Songs of 2025
https://www.npr.org/2025/12/09/nx-s1-5619849/best-songs-of-2025

Stream NPR Music's Best Songs Of 2025
https://www.npr.org/2025/12/09/nx-s1-5637647/stream-npr-musics-best-songs-of-2025

Nice to see a shout out for Juana Molina. Her album deserves attention, it's her first in eight years and it's very strong.

popmatters - The 15 Best Ambient Albums of 2025
https://www.popmatters.com/the-15-best-ambient-albums-of-2025

1. Sheldon Agwu — Kintsugi (Sanctum)
https://sheldonagwumusic.bandcamp.com/album/kintsugi

Kintsugi will appeal to fans of Jon Hassell, Thelonious Monk, Jeff Parker, Massive Attack, and Flying Lotus.

15. Markus Guentner — Black Dahlia (A Strangely Isolated Place)
14. Saapato — In Alaska (AKP)
13. j.o.y.s. — j.o.y.s. (Whited Sepulchre)
12. miffle — Goodbye, World! (Independent)
11. Nico Georis — Music Belongs to the Universe (Leaving)
10. Gareth Quinn Redmond — Múscailte (Sound As Language)
9. Natasha Pirard — Fernande, Cecile (Deewee)
8. Matt McBane — Buoy (Gradient)
7. John Also Bennett — Στoν Eλaιώνa / Ston Elaióna (Shelter Press)
6. Vega Trails — Sierra Tracks (Gondwana)
5. Rindert Lammers — Thank You Kirin Kiki (Western Vinyl)
4. Rival Consoles — Landscape from Memory (Erased Tapes)
3. Barker — Stochastic Drift (Smalltown Supersound)
2. The Choir — Translucent (Galaxy21)
1. Sheldon Agwu — Kintsugi (Sanctum)

Pitchfork - The 30 Best Electronic Albums of 2025
https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/best-electronic-albums-2025/

Featuring Shinichi Atobe, Blawan, DJ Elmoe, Nick León, gyrofield, aya, and more
By Philip Sherburne

DJ Elmoe knocked our socks off with footwork that still sounds as fresh as the first day we heard the style. Lindstrøm returned with the umpteenth coming of space disco and got us starry-eyed for the umpteenth time. Purelink dusted off ambient dub, Anthony Naples dabbled in tech-house, OPN reacquainted himself with a beloved sample pack—there were plenty of reasons to feel just fine about feeling nostalgic this year. But there were just as many opportunities to scrape your jaw up off the floor: the mangled drum science of Blawan’s SickElixir, the polyrhythmic abandon of Djrum’s Under Tangled Science, the non-Euclidean geometries of Barker’s Stochastic Drift. Those were just a few of our favorite electronic releases this year; here are all 30.

1.
Los Thuthanaka: Los Thuthanaka

The Guardian - Best Albums of 2025 - 40-31
https://www.theguardian.com/music/ng-interactive/2025/dec/08/the-best-albums-of-2025-50-41#40-31

40

YHWH Nailgun – 45 Pounds

39

Sudan Archives – The BPM

38

Ethel Cain – Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You

37

Olivia Dean – The Art of Loving

36

Anna von Hausswolff – Iconoclasts

35

Bon Iver – Sable, Fable

34

Snocaps – Snocaps

33

Amaarae – Black Star

32

Perfume Genius – Glory

31

Horsegirl – Phonetics On and On

i'm glad sherburne mentioned that lindstrøm album, i dug that one a lot

FWIW, I just started counting down my own Top 50 tracks of the year. Lots of club and global dance music, but other curveballs in there too:

Part 1 - 50-46: https://www.instagram.com/p/DR4kmUTjF60/
Part 2 - 45-41: https://www.instagram.com/p/DSARmquDG6t/

Mapped By What Surrounded Them - 2025 Favorite Albums (30 - 21)
https://mappedbywhatsurroundedthem.blogspot.com/2025/12/2025-favorite-albums-30-21.html

continued..

30. AFI - Silver Bleeds The Black Sun

29. Zanias - Cataclysm

28. Maria Somerville - Luster

27. Saint Etienne - International

26. james K - Friend

25. Suede - Antidepressants

24. Rose Gray - Louder, Please

23. Rochelle Jordan - Through The Wall

22. Lola Young - I'm Only F**king Myself

21. Deafheaven - Lonely People With Power

Stereogum - 10 Best Metal Albums of 2025 by Brad Sanders
https://stereogum.com/2481824/the-10-best-metal-albums-of-2025/lists/year-in-review/2025-in-review

10
Trauma Bond - Summer Ends. Some Are Long Gone. (Self-Released)

9
Testament - Para Bellum (Nuclear Blast)

8
Hedonist - Scapulimancy (Southern Lord)

7
Christian Mistress - Children Of The Earth (Cruz del Sur)

6
Ancient Death - Ego Dissolution (Profound Lore)

5
Rwake - The Return Of Magik (Relapse)

4
Lamp Of Murmuur - The Dreaming Prince In Ecstasy (Wolves Of Hades)

3
Yellow Eyes - Confusion Gate (Gilead)

2
Deafheaven - Lonely People With Power (Roadrunner)

1
Messa - The Spin (Metal Blade)

The Fader - The 51 best songs of 2025
https://www.thefader.com/2025/12/09/best-songs-2025

1. Oklou, "blade bird"

The TND Writers' Top 40 Albums of 2025
https://theneedledrop.com/opinion/tnd-writers-top-40-albums-of-2025/

#1. Geese – Getting Killed [Partisan / Play it Again Sam]

The Razor’s Edge – Album of the Year 2025
https://therazorsedge.rocks/2025-12-album-of-the-year/

Rock and Metal

surprised that 'blade bird' seems to be the go-to song on the oklou album, 'obvious' is more interesting to me

Bandcamp - The Best Electronic Music of 2025
https://daily.bandcamp.com/best-of-2025/the-best-electronic-music-of-2025

by Joe Muggs

It’s wild that you still see cultural theorists and trend-spotters out there talking about the globalized world leading to either cultural stasis or homogenization in club music. To be clear: There is indeed a mainstream where bottle-service EDM is played to oligarchs, influencers, and their hangers-on as they film one another on the dancefloor. But it only takes the slightest bit of scratching the surface to find thriving creative scenes, packed with both passion for deep tradition as well as wild new variants created by unique personalities. From UK hardcore to Uruguayan future-ancient complexity, from Texan dancehall poetry to utopian Uzbek electro, French ambient house bliss to politicized Colombian arena-techno punk, 2025 has been pulsing with glorious, endlessly refreshing proofs of life. Here are the best of the best.

Sherelle
With a Vengeance

Charles Webster & The South African Connection
From The Hill

Herbert & Momoko
Clay

Bell Curve
Magick

The Bug vs Ghost Dubs
Implosion

Tim Reaper
sfs

Josef Tumari
JANNAT YURTIM

Sam Binga
Sam Binga Presents Club Orthodontics

Lila Tirando a Violeta
Dream of Snakes

rRoxymore
Juggling Dualities

Black Sites
R4

Ela Minus
DÍA

Bandcamp - The Best Experimental Music of 2025
https://daily.bandcamp.com/best-of-2025/the-best-experimental-music-of-2025

By Marc Masters

Welcome to the year-end edition of Best Experimental Music on Bandcamp, in which we’ve picked 12 of our favorites from 2025. Once again, all kinds of amazing experimental music appeared on Bandcamp this year, and it was our immense pleasure to listen to as much of it as we could, and pass our favorites along to you. There were hundreds of releases that could’ve made this list, but we trust that whatever the style, whomever the artist, and whatever the story behind their music is, you’ll find something to love. Presented in alphabetical order by artist, our selections include avant-rock, longform drone, vocal explorations, and cello narratives.

Battle Elf
10

Shelley Burgon
The In Between

Kevin Drumm
Sheer Hellish Miasma II

Violeta García and Hora Lunga
I’ll Wait For You In The Car Park

Lori Goldston
Open Space

Annette Vande Gorne
Tutti Frutti

HxH
STARK PHENOMENA

Wednesday Knudsen
Atrium

Charmaine Lee
Tulpa

Modern Folk Electric Ensemble
Modern Folk Electronic Ensemble

Raica
The Absence of Being

Theresa Wong
Journey to the Cave of Guanyin

paste - The 27 best debut albums of 2025
https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/best-albums/the-27-best-debut-albums-of-2025

1. Los Thuthanaka: Los Thuthanaka

Mixmag - The Top 25 DJs Who Defined The Year 2025
https://mixmag.net/feature/top-25-djs-defined-of-the-year-2025-dance-music

As we hit the close of the first major chapter of the 21st century, these are the DJs who defined the year in dance music

We’re a quarter of the way through the 21st century now and dance music has arguably never been more popular. You can regularly see huge arenas - even stadiums - packed full of people losing their minds to breakneck BPMs, 4/4 kick drums topping the charts, and DJ sets travelling well beyond the confines of a club, beamed to millions across viral streams. That being said, not every inch of the industry is thriving, and the people putting in the work to cultivate new sounds, support the grassroots, and represent the foundational values of the culture through their work deserve as much recognition as those receiving the adoration of many a sold-out crowd. In a time where these extremes exist in tandem, the DJs who defined the year come from both sides: the sensations, the sonic pioneers, the trendsetters, the underground heroes, the upstarts, the originators. Artists fitting all of these descriptors are standing out among the tumultuous ecosystem of contemporary dance music, doing impressive things.

In the list below, we spotlight our 25 DJs who defined the year (in alphabetical order).

loving that p-fork electronic albums list. i had no idea loraine james had a new album out? so out of it. and dave huismans! loved 2562 and a made up sound.

Flood Magazine - Best Albums of 2025
https://floodmagazine.com/213711/the-best-albums-of-2025/

1. Rosalía, Lux

My top album is Internal Drone Infinity - Living Hour and my fav song from that is Texting.

Cheers!

xp to map: are you familiar at all with P4K Electronic columnist Philip Sherburne's Substack?
Highly rec'd for solid electronic album/EP tips throughout the year: https://futurismrestated.substack.com/

It’s gonna be time for our poll soon (and it seems like we just did it)

i've always liked sherburne yeah, buuuut i can't afford subs right now lol

thanks for the tip though. and for posting the wire list :)

Drowned in Sound's Albums of the Year 2025

part 1 - 25-11
https://www.drownedinsound.org/drowned-in-sounds-25-favourite-albums-of-2025-25-11/

part 2 - Top 10
https://www.drownedinsound.org/drowned-in-sounds-25-favourite-albums-of-2025-10-1/

1: Hayley Williams - Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party
FKA Twigs - EUSEXUA
The Callous Daoboys - I Don’t Want To See You In Heaven
Heartworms - Glutton for Punishment
Lambrini Girls - Who Let The Dogs Out
Model/Actriz - Pirouette
Djrum - Under Tangled Silence
Kathryn Joseph - WE WERE MADE PREY.
Rosalía - Lux
Ethel Cain - Perverts
Darkside - Nothing
Lily Allen - West End Girl
Nova Twins - Parasites & Butterflies
Little Simz - Lotus
Idlewild - Idlewild
Postcards - Ripe
Deafheaven - Lonely People with Power
Anna Von Hausswolff - Iconoclasts
Horsegirl - Phonetics On And On
Scowl - Are We All Angels
Stealing Sheep - GLO (Girl Life Online)
Sudan Archives - The BPM
Addison Rae - Addison
Alan Sparhawk - With Trampled by Turtles
25: Deftones - private music

The Quietus - Rockfort! The Best French Music of 2025
https://thequietus.com/tq-charts/columns-of-the-year/rockfort-the-best-french-music-of-2025/

After a year in which the wider musical ecosystem is taking more and more notice of the French underground, David McKenna presents 20 of his favourite records that emerged in 2025

Double J radio station (Australia)

Double J - 50 Best Albums of 2025
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-10/double-j-50-best-albums-of-2025/106096938

Every December, the Double J team looks back at the year in music and picks the 50 albums that mattered most — records that resonated with us, our audience, and music lovers everywhere.

1: Little Simz - Lotus

The Guardian - The 50 best albums of 2025: 50 to 21
https://www.theguardian.com/music/ng-interactive/2025/dec/08/the-best-albums-of-2025-50-41#30-21

30-21 continued...

30

Oklou – Choke Enough

29

Jacob Alon – In Limerence

28

KeiyaA – Hooke’s Law

27

Wet Leg – Moisturizer

26

Wolf Alice – The Clearing

25

Wednesday – Bleeds

24

Titanic – Hagen

23

Cate Le Bon – Michelangelo Dying

22

Little Simz – Lotus

21

John Glacier – Like a Ribbon

Stereogum - 10 Best Metal Albums of 2025 by Brad Sanders

8 Hedonist - Scapulimancy (Southern Lord)
6 Ancient Death - Ego Dissolution (Profound Lore)
1 Messa - The Spin (Metal Blade)

This is a nice list. Three of my favourites.

I feel like ILM in general might really like Messa.

https://lumiere-a.akamaihd.net/v1/images/databank_jarjarbinks_01_169_c70767ab.jpeg

I feel like ILM in general might really like Messa.

Dazed - The 20 best albums of 2025, ranked
https://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/69266/1/the-20-best-albums-of-2025-rosalia-oklou-dave-geese-addison-rae

1 ROSALÍA, LUX

My top album is Internal Drone Infinity - Living Hour and my fav song from that is Texting.

Cheers!

― koya787, Tuesday, 9 December 2025 21:26 (yesterday)

nice! it's up there for me, Living Hour are the best

continued:

Mapped By What Surrounded Them - 2025 Favorite Albums (20-11)
https://mappedbywhatsurroundedthem.blogspot.com/2025/12/2025-favorite-albums-20-11.html

20. Eterna - Debunker

19. Gelli Haha - Switcheroo

18. Amaarae - Black Star

17. Daniel Avery - Tremor

16. FKA twigs - EUSEXUA/EUSEXUA Afterglow

15. Barker - Stochastic Drift

14. bdrmm - Microtonic

13. Real Lies - We Will Annihilate Our Enemies

12. YHWH Nailgun - 45 Pounds

11. Model/Actriz - Pirouette

Billboard - The 50 Best Albums of 2025: Staff Picks
https://www.billboard.com/lists/best-albums-2025/zach-top-aint-in-it-for-my-health/

1. Bad Bunny - DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS

AOTY format:
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/2551-billboards-50-best-albums-of-2025/

Bandcamp - The Best Ambient Albums of 2025 by Ted Davis
https://daily.bandcamp.com/best-of-2025/the-best-ambient-albums-of-2025

Ambient wandered to melancholy places in 2025. Many of the best albums this year eschewed Fourth World pleasantries for reflections on a tragic era. Delays, glitches, and DIY methods of production largely define these records, which beckon for rejuvenation. From Conna Haraway’s frigid grooves to Ulla Straus’s dismantled folk, here is what lingered in my headphones over the last 12 months.

Jefre Cantu-Ledesma
Gift Songs

Holden & Zimpel
The Universe Will Take Care Of You

elijah jamal asani
,,, as long as i memorise your sky ,,,

Ida Urd & Ingri Høyland
Duvet

MK Velsorf & Aase Nielsen
Opening Night

Spool
Spool

Sebastiano Carghini
Ramble

Pavel Milyakov & Lucas Dupuy
HEAL

Malibu
Vanities

DJ Immaterial
Post-Op

Conna Haraway
Shifted

U.e.
Hometown Girl

From TikTok to Global Charts: The top 25 songs that dominated 2025
https://www.melodicmag.com/editorial/from-tiktok-to-global-charts-the-top-25-songs-that-dominated-2025/

a Mainstream slanted list.

Billboard - The 50 Best Albums of 2025: Staff Picks

I've never understood why Billboard publishes "best" lists. Their whole raison d'etre is to tell you what the most popular music is; whether it's actually any good or not is beside the point.

Pitchfork - The 40 Best Rap Songs of 2025
https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/best-rap-songs-2025/

Featuring Playboi Carti, Fly Anakin, Pluto, fakemink, MexikoDro, JT, Tezzus, and more

Every year, we’re told that hip-hop is in crisis. But if you ask us, it feels like there’s too much heat to keep up with. What’s lost on the chart-watchers lamenting rap’s mainstream lull is that the coolest part about being a hip-hop fan has always been crate-digging. Now more than ever, with how splintered the genre has become, you gotta take the time and scavenge for what aligns with your taste.

Every internet in-group and regional hub has its own X-factor: you have DMV acts like Dragnutz (yes, Dragnutz) meshing deadpan stoicism with chest-caving EDM; Philly oddballs like tovi turning drill nightmares inside-out; mavericks across the Atlantic like Klein and Rooster tugging heartstrings with coarse textures; and of course the new-gen hitmakers like YoungBoy and Monaleo kicking in the doors. Here are Pitchfork’s 40 best rap songs of 2025.

1.
Nino Paid: “Tomorrow Will Be Better”

Rolling Stone - The 25 Best Hip-Hop Albums of 2025
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-hip-hop-albums-of-2025-1235479623/let-god-sort-em-out-1235479625/

From comeback albums by established legends to more experimental offerings from the younger generation, 2025 was a marquee year for rap, streaming numbers be damned

We’re at the end of yet another year where commentators and fans speculated on the health of the rap world. In October, it was reported that, for the first time in 35 years, there were no rap songs in the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100. This spurred a familiar discourse around the current “lack” of rap superstars. J.I.D, whose excellent album God Does Like Ugly was among the year’s best, noted that the genre had simply gone back underground, and there would appear to be some evidence of that. Where 2025 might not have had the kind of mainstream commercial rap hit we’ve grown accustomed to — especially from a certain rapper from Toronto — the year was as dynamic as we’ve seen in recent history.

For one, we saw the return of many of the genre’s legends. Clipse released their first album in 16 years, and Slick Rick returned to the mic with his signature vivid storytelling. New-generation stars like OsamaSon and Che expanded the range of the “rage-rap” universe, introducing melodic textures that prove the sound is more than a fleeting trend. Earl Sweatshirt delivered one of the most lyrically compelling projects of the past several years, and MIKE provided more evidence that he’s among the leaders of today’s indie-rap scene. All of which is to say that if you were looking for chart-topping hits this year, you might’ve been disappointed, but if you were looking for good hip-hop music, 2025 was one of the best years to be a rap fan. Here are our picks for the best hip-hop albums of the year. —J.I.

1:
Clipse, ‘Let God Sort Em Out’

Stereogum - The 10 Best Rap Albums Of 2025
https://stereogum.com/2481985/best-rap-albums-of-2025-see-our-columnists-list/lists/year-in-review/2025-in-review

10: Zukenee - Slaytanic (Slaylife)

9: G Herbo - Lil Herb (Machine/Uptown/Republic)

8:De La Soul - Cabin In The Sky (Mass Appeal)

7: Tyler, The Creator - Don't Tap The Glass (Columbia)

6: El Cousteau - Dirty Harry 2 (Super Cousteau)

5: Jim Legxacy - black british music (2025) (XL)

4: Armand Hammer & The Alchemist - Mercy (Backwoodz Studioz)

3: billy woods - GOLLIWOG (Backwoodz Studioz)

2: Playboi Carti - MUSIC (AWGE/Interscope)

1: Earl Sweatshirt - Live Laugh Love (Tan Cressida/Warner)

Mixmag - The Top 25 Breakthrough DJs Of The Year 2025
https://mixmag.net/feature/the-top-25-breakthrough-djs-of-the-year-2025-dance-music

Dance music thrives on newness and evolution. The sonic lineages that can be traced from the early days of electronic music equipment being invented to creation in canonical dance music cities and innovation in even the most remote corners of the globe is staggering. Endless adaptations have seen singular music styles spiral into innumerable subgenres and influence the birth of new styles entirely. Each year, it's a thrill to envisage what we may be about to discover next. All of that relies on new talent coming through, and every year without fail, we're witness to meteoric rises and influential upstarts carving out their place in the wider club culture consciousness. Whether they've doing something new or tapping into an established scene and proving their worth, this year has been no different, with plenty of new stars of dance music born.

In the list below, we spotlight our top 25 breakthrough DJs of the year (in alphabetical order).

Slate - The Best Music of 2025 by By Carl Wilson
https://slate.com/culture/2025/12/best-music-2025-songs-albums-protest-music-top.html

The top albums, songs, and protest anthems.

including:

Top 20 Songs
Amaarae ft. PinkPantheress, “Kiss Me Through the Phone Pt. 2”
Kelsea Ballerini, “I Sit in Parks”
Justin Bieber, “Daisies”
Blood Orange ft. the Durutti Column, Tariq Al-Sabir, Caroline Polachek, and Daniel
Caesar, “The Field”
Sabrina Carpenter, “House Tour”
Charli XCX ft. John Cale, “House”
Miley Cyrus, “End of the World”
Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band, “New Threats From the Soul”
Saya Grey, “Lie Down”
Lady Gaga, “Abracadabra”
Haim, “Take Me Back”
Ella Langley, “Choosin’ Texas”
Little Simz, “Flood”
Moliy ft. Silent Addy, Skillibeng, and Shenseea, “Shake It to the Max (Remix)”
Chappell Roan, “The Subway”
Robyn, “Dopamine”
Joseph Shabason and Dawn Richard, “Broken Hearted Sade”
Taylor Swift, “Father Figure”
Water From Your Eyes, “Playing Classics”
Hailey Whitters, “Casseroles”

JazzTimes is putting up multiple year-end lists, each by a different writer. Here's Andrey Henkin's, which includes one of my releases:

https://jazztimes.com/reviews/albums/top-ten-releases-of-2025-henkin-edition

6. Ava Mendoza/Gabby Fluke-Mogul/Carolina Pérez, Mama Killa (Burning Ambulance Music)

Author & critic Will Hermes from his substack-

Rosalía – Lux

Wednesday – Bleeds

Geese - Getting Killed

Annahstasia – Tether

Horsegirl - Phonetics On and On

Juana Molina - DOGA

Dijon - Baby

Alex G – Headlights

Snocaps – Snocaps

Steve Gunn – Daylight Daylight

SML – How You Been

Obongjayar - Paradise Now

Yasmine Hamdan - I Remember I Forget

Greg Freeman - Burnover

Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band - New Threats From The Soul

Madi Diaz - Fatal Optimist

Bad Bunny - Debí Tirar Más Fotos

Ali Hop Titi Bakorta - Mapambazuko

Tunde Adebimpe - Thee Black Boltz

Mei Semones - Animaru

Bells Larsen - Blurring Time

Ken Pomeroy - Cruel Joke

Black Country New Road - Forever Howlong

Alan Sparhawk - With Trampled By Turtles

Little Simz - Lotus

Florry - Sounds Like…

James Elkington - Pastel De Nada

Bon Iver - SABLE fABLE

Junior Brother – The End

Cécile McLorin Salvant - Oh Snap

Hailey Whitters - Corn Queen

Blondshell - If You Asked For A Picture

DjRum - Under Tangled Silence

Jensen McCrae - I Don’t Know How But They Found Me!

FKA Twigs - EUSEXUA / EUSEXUA Afterglow

Panda Bear - Sinister Grift

Barry Can’t Swim - All My Friends

Jeff Tweedy - Twilight Override

Neko Case - Neon Grey Midnight Green

Car Seat Headrest - The Scholars

Hotline TNT - Raspberry Moon

Wet Leg - Moisturizer

Hayes Carll - We’re Only Human

iLe - Como Las Canto Yo

various artists - The Gold Rush: The Songs of Neil Young [Uncut magazine promo CD]

https://open.substack.com/pub/newmusicoldmusic/p/the-year-in-music?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

Mixmag - The Top 25 Producers Who Defined The Year 2025
https://mixmag.net/feature/the-top-25-producers-who-defined-the-year-2025-dance-music

An existential threat has reared its head over the culture industries this year. While digital age doom-mongering and tech disruption have been issues to navigate for a while, nothing's felt so acute as the power and potential misuse of AI. And 2025 was the year it went mainstream. It now feels like no one is safe. Previously we assumed that Hollywood will always need actors, books will need authors, songs can only exist with musicians. Now there’s deepfakes, large language models, prompts. The tech-led erosion of music’s ecosystem has progressed past the closure of your local record shop to potentially even threaten the livelihoods of superstars.

That’s the cynical view of course, and - crucially - it will only happen if we let it. More optimistically, there’s positive potential in regulated AI, and there’s still plenty of incredibly talented people creating affecting music and art. This year has once again thrown up exhilarating sounds and innovation that’s been the lifeblood of electronic music from its origins, as well as more classic sounding bangers that respect the legacy of where this all began. There’s never been a better time to support musicians, so block that AI popstar and buy that new album by the people making the culture tick.

Here are our 25 producers who defined the year (in alphabetical order).

aya

Blawan

DJ Haram

Fortunato

Fred again..

Introspekt

james K

Jim Legxacy

Leod

Marie Davidson

Mechatok

Mikado

Nick León

Ninajirachi

object blue

PinkPantheress

Ploy

Rainy Miller

Rossi.

SHERELLE

Skrillex

State OFFF

Traxman

Wraith9

Silva Bumpa

NOTION’S 100 BEST TRACKS OF 2025
https://notion.online/notions-100-best-tracks-of-2025/

includes a link to a Spotify playlist

The new issue of Metal Hammer is the biggest of the year, and it’s on sale now!
https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/metal-hammer-issue-408-2025

Plus! We count down the 50 best albums of 2025, as chosen by our team of esteemed critics. But who’s number one?

by following this link:

https://www.pressreader.com/uk/metal-hammer-uk/20251211/page/70

I found that Ghost - Skeletá was the Number 1 album.

Metal Hammer front cover:

Iron Maiden, Ghost, Babymetal and more star in Metal Hammer’s blockbuster End Of Year issue, which comes with an exclusive Iron Maiden pin badge, Halestorm sticker and a 2026 heavy metal calendar. On sale now!https://t.co/0lCqwA7nd5 pic.twitter.com/onY6JRH2B2

— Metal Hammer (@MetalHammer) December 11, 2025

popmatters - The 25 Best Pop Albums of 2025
https://www.popmatters.com/best-pop-albums-of-2025

The 25 best pop albums of 2025 radiate with unstoppable playlist power, much-needed sweet escapism, self-reflection, self-criticism, and killer melodies.

1. Rosalia – LUX (Columbia)

CLUNK’s Best Albums Of 2025
https://clunkmag.com/best-albums-of-2025/

unranked

includes
Stella Donnelly – Love And Fortune

The Guardian - Best Albums of 2025
https://www.theguardian.com/music/ng-interactive/2025/dec/08/the-best-albums-of-2025-50-41#20-11

continued...

20-11

20

Aya – Hexed!

19

Clipse – Let God Sort Em Out

18

Big Thief – Double Infinity

17

Alex G – Headlights

16

Pulp – More

15

Turnstile – Never Enough

14

Deftones – Private Music

13

Suede – Antidepressants

12

Jim Legxacy – Black British Music (2025)

11

Jade – That’s Showbiz Baby!

"This is definitely the best we've ever been." Ghost's Skeletá has been named the album of the year by Metal Hammer - read Tobias Forge's reaction and see our top 50 albums of 2025
https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/ghost-skeleta-album-of-the-year-2025

Metal Hammer top 50 albums of 2025

1. Ghost – Skeletá (Loma Vista Recordings)

2. Deftones - Private Music (Reprise)

3. Castle Rat - The Bestiary (Blues Funeral Recordings)

4. Spiritbox - Tsunami Sea (Pale Chord / Rise)

5. Messa – The Spin (Metal Blade)

6. Deafheaven - Lonely People With Power (Roadrunner)

7. Creeper - Sanguivore II: Mistress Of Death (Spinefarm)

8. Turnstile - Never Enough (Roadrunner)

9. Lorna Shore - I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me (Century Media)

10 - Wardruna - Birna (Music For Nations)

11. Conjurer - Unself (Nuclear Blast)

12. Paradise Lost - Ascension (Nuclear Blast)

13. Imperial Triumphant - Goldstar (Century Media)

14. Employed To Serve - Fallen Star (Spinefarm)

15. The Callous Daoboys - I Don’t Want To See You In Heaven (MNRK Heavy)

16. AFI - Silver Bleeds The Black Sun (Run For Cover)

17. Architects - The Sky, The Earth & All Between (Epitaph)

18. Bleed From Within Zenith (Nuclear Blast)

19. Coroner - Dissonance Theory (Century Media)

20. Blackbraid - Blackbraid III (Self-Released)

21. Havukruunu – Tavastland (Svart)

22. Bloodywood - Nu Delhi (Fearless)

23. Rivers Of Nihil - Rivers Of Nihil (Metal Blade)

24. Rwake - The Return Of Magik (Relapse)

25. Halestorm – Everest (Atlantic)

26. Blood Vulture - Die Close (Pure Noise)

27. Agriculture - The Spiritual Sound (The Flenser)

28. Backxwash - Only Dust Remains (Ugly Hag)

29. Sleep Token - Even In Arcadia (RCA)

30. Cwfen – Sorrows (New Heavy Sounds)

31. Malevolence - Where Only The Truth Is Spoken (Nuclear Blast)

32. Propagandhi - At Peace (Epitaph)

33. Gaahls Wyrd - Braiding The Stories (Season Of Mist)

34. Calva Louise - Edge Of The Abyss (Mascot)

35. Deadguy - Near-Death Travel Services (Relapse)

36. Orbit Culture - Death Above Life (Century Media)

37. Jonathan Hultén - Eyes Of The Living Night (Kscope)

38. Hexvessel – Nocturne (Prophecy Productions)

39. Margarita Witch Cult - Strung Out In Hell (Heavy Psych Sounds)

40. Der Weg Einer Freiheit -Innern (Season Of Mist)

41. Machine Head – Unatoned (Nuclear Blast)

42. Spiritworld – Helldorado (Century Media)

43. Vukovi - My God Has Got A Gun (Sharptone)

44. Wytch Hazel -V: Lamentations (Bad Omen)

45. Paleface Swiss – Cursed (Self-Released)

46. Beyond Extinction - Where They Gather (Self-Released)

47. Testament - Para Bellum (Nuclear Blast)

48. Katatonia - Nightmares As Extensions Of The Waking State (Napalm)

49. Lacuna Coil - Sleepless Empire (Century Media)

50. Slomatics – Atomicult (Majestic Mountain)

Slant Magazine - The 50 Best Albums of 2025
https://www.slantmagazine.com/music/the-50-best-albums-of-2025/

AOTY format:
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/2558-slant-magazines-50-best-albums-of-2025/

1. FKA twigs, Eusexua

Pitchfork - The 32 Best Rap Albums of 2025
https://pitchfork.com/features/list-and-guides/best-rap-albums-2025/

Featuring projects from Earl Sweatshirt, Che, BunnaB, Monaleo, and, uh, HappyDranker

AOTY format:
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/2557-pitchforks-32-best-rap-albums-of-2025/

1.
KP Skywalka: I Tried To Tell You

NPR Music's Best Albums of 2025
https://www.npr.org/2025/12/11/g-s1-99935/the-best-albums-of-2025

If there's one question that professional music lovers hear most often, it's some variation on: "Heard any good albums lately?" We always have, of course, but when it came time to highlight the cream of 2025's crop, the members of the NPR Music team could not agree — with one glaring exception. There was something off-balance about the music of 2025. Some genres felt like they were flaming out, others being awkwardly reborn; whatever conveyer belt it was that delivered new pop stars all year in 2024 seemed in need of maintenance; the threat of streaming services and social media delivering a spoonful of A.I. slop cast a shadow on the whole project of "discovery."

Our solution was to get personal: Each of a dozen people on our team — critics, podcast hosts, editors and Tiny Desk producers … sometimes all of the above — made a list of their top 10 albums of 2025 and then singled out one album we'd recommend to anyone who came calling. Call it whatever you want: elite, no-skips, AOTY, No. 1, best-of-the-best. This is the 12-pack of albums that get our most enthusiastic recommendations. We might not agree on much, but the principle of sharing what we love is easy common ground.

Next to each of our picks below, you'll find a link to that writer's personal top 10.

And if you want to know the one album we agreed on in 2025 it was ROSALÍA - LUX

AOTY format:
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/2554-npr-musics-best-albums-of-2025/

Andy Synn at No Cleaning Singing (one of the best Extreme Metal music websites) if you miss Terrorizer magazine then these lists are essential reading.

presents

2025 – A YEAR IN REVIEW(S): THE GOOD
https://www.nocleansinging.com/2025/12/09/2025-a-year-in-reviews-the-good/

2025 – A YEAR IN REVIEW(S): THE GREAT
https://www.nocleansinging.com/2025/12/10/2025-a-year-in-reviews-the-great/

2025 – A YEAR IN REVIEW(S): THE CRITICAL TOP TEN
https://www.nocleansinging.com/2025/12/11/2025-a-year-in-reviews-the-critical-top-ten/

that should be No Clean Singing

Bandcamp - The Best Metal Albums of 2025 - by Brad Sanders
https://daily.bandcamp.com/best-of-2025/the-best-metal-albums-of-2025

Bandcamp - The Best Field Recordings of 2025 by By Matthew Blackwell
https://daily.bandcamp.com/best-of-2025/the-best-field-recordings-of-2025

Treble - The 10 Best Electronic Albums of 2025
https://www.treblezine.com/the-10-best-electronic-albums-of-2025/

Barker – Stochastic Drift

Circuit des Yeux – Halo on the Inside

DJ Haram – Beside Myself

Djrum – Under Tangled Silence

FKA twigs – EUSEXUA/EUSEXUA Afterglow

Rochelle Jordan – Through the Wall

Oneohtrix Point Never – Tranquilizer

Slikback – Attrition

Soulwax – All Systems are Lying

Sudan Archives – The BPM

Stereogum - The 10 Best Hardcore Albums Of 2025 by
By Tom Breihan
https://stereogum.com/2482312/the-10-best-hardcore-albums-of-2025/lists/year-in-review/2025-in-review

1: Scarab - Burn After Listening (Rebirth)

The 25 Best Ambient Albums of 2025 by Stephan Kunze
https://www.zensounds.de/p/the-25-best-ambient-records-of-2025

including:

Ambient Album Of The Year
Jefre Cantu-Ledesma – Gift Songs (Mexican Summer)

Too bad Gigi Masin's new album only just came out

Mapped By What Surrounded Them - 2025 Favorite Albums (10 - 1)
https://mappedbywhatsurroundedthem.blogspot.com/2025/12/2025-favorite-albums-10-1.html

...and finally the Top 10

10. FACS - Wish Defense

9. Just Mustard - We Were Just Here

8. DJ Kose - Music Can Hear Us

7. Addison Rae - Addison

6. Smerz - Big City Life

5. Erika de Casier - Lifetime

4. Deftones - private music

3. Purity Ring - Purity Ring

2. Rosalía - Lux

1. aya - hexed!

Metal Injection's Top 25 Albums Of 2025
https://metalinjection.net/lists/metal-injections-top-25-albums-of-2025

No. 1: Deafheaven – Lonely People with Power

Yardbarker - The 25 best albums of 2025 by By Evan Sawdey
https://www.yardbarker.com/entertainment/articles/the_25_best_albums_of_2025/s1__43178863#slide_1

with reviews, a diverse selection of artists.

#25: Jade — 'THAT'S SHOWBIZ BABY!'
#24: Earl Sweatshirt — 'Live Laugh Love'
#23: Maruja — 'Pain to Power'
#22: Ninajirachi — 'I Love My Computer'
#21: Eli Winter — 'A Trick of the Light'
#20: Clipse — 'Let God Sort Em Out'
#19: LAKE — 'Bucolic Gone'
#18: Little Simz — 'Lotus'
#17: Cautious Clay — 'The Hours: Morning'
#16: Babe Rainbow — 'Slipper Imp and Shakaerator'
#15: Rochelle Jordan — 'Through the Wall'
#14: Deafheaven — 'Lonely People with Power
#13: Lily Allen — 'West End Girl'
#12: KILN — 'Lemon Borealis'
#11: Dijon — 'Baby'
#10: Sheldon Agwu — 'Kintsugi'
#9: Bad Bunny — 'DeBi TiRAR MaS FOToS'
#8: Geese — 'Getting Killed'
#7: CHUU — 'Only Cry in the Rain'
#6: Passengerprincess — 'Passengerprincess'
#5: Yves Jarvis — 'All Cylinders'
#4: Sudan Archives — 'The BPM'
#3: Momma — 'Welcome to My Blue Sky'
#2: PinkPantheress — 'Fancy That'
#1: Rosalia — 'Lux'

Flood Magazine - The Best Songs of 2025
https://floodmagazine.com/213865/the-best-songs-of-2025/

10. Sudan Archives, “Dead”
9. Robyn, “Dopamine”
8. Gorillaz feat. Sparks, “The Happy Dictator”
7. Geese, “Long Island City Here I Come”
6. Clipse feat. Kendrick Lamar, “Chains & Whips”
5. Wet Leg, “Catch These Fists”
4. Alex G, “Afterlife”
3. Tyler, the Creator, “Sugar on My Tongue”
2. PinkPantheress, “Illegal”
1. Wednesday, “Elderberry Wine”

Variety writers pick their top 10s

https://variety.com/lists/best-albums-2025/3-dijon-baby/

and now a list for those that value art and design aesthetics...

The 50 Best Album Covers of 2025 by
Konstantinos Pappis @ Ourculture
https://ourculturemag.com/2025/12/11/the-50-best-album-covers-of-2025/

In 2025, the Recording Academy finally introduced a new Grammy category for Best Album Cover. It’s complementary to, but distinct from, Best Recording Package, and it made sense for it to be announced the year that award went to BRAT – thanks to the impact, of course, of its front cover. It’s important to consider album artworks not just in the context of the record package but the visual world surrounding the music, which can extend to videos, merch, and even press photos. But sometimes, it’s all about that one image. The front cover can communicate more about an album than an artist does throughout an entire marketing campaign. In putting together our list of the best album covers of the year, we gather quotes from the artists behind them – in many cases, the same people who made the music – to better understand how different art forms feed into each other. Once again, this is an unranked list aiming for a kind of aesthetic flow, but we’ve singled out our top 10.

a rather strange choice for Number 1:
1. Maruja, Pain to Power

GORILLA VS. BEAR'S SONGS OF 2025
https://www.gorillavsbear.net/gorilla-vs-bears-songs-of-2025/

33 NINA | Idol Time
32 CLARA KIMERA + notinbed | Angel Candles
31 DJ SUZY | Caught by a wind (Belmont Girl remix)
30 SKEPTA + PLAQUEBOYMAX | Less is More
29 KEN POMEROY | Wolf in Sheep's Clothes
28 DEER PARK | Pharmacy w/ Ivy Knight
27 KHADIJA AL HANAFI | Yeah I like aH
26 billy woods | waterproof mascara
25 FINE| Run
24 MACKEEPER | Oh Canada
23 SNUGGLE | Woman Lake
22 JESSY LANZA | Slapped by My Life
21 DANIA | On a Grassy Knoll
20 SWORD II | Sugarcane
19 ROBYN | Dopamine
18 RAT HEART | L I H T
17 PANDA BEAR | Elegy for Noah Lou
16 BURIAL | Imaginary Festival
15 ARMAND HAMMER | Dogeared
14 TURNSTILE | Light Design
13 ERIKA DE CASIER | Miss
12 HELENA DELAND | Bigger Pieces
11 TOPS | Chlorine
10 EARL SWEATSHIRT | Tourmaline
09 JIM LEGXACY | '06 Wayne Rooney
08 JOANNE ROBERTSON | Ghost
07 MARIA SOMERVILLE | Garden
06 DEAN BLUNT | 4 (feat. Elias Rønnenfelt + Vegyn)
05 OKLOU | Obvious
04 SOPHIA STEL | Everyone Falls Asleep in Their Own Time
03 JAMES K | Play
02 SMERZ | You got time and I got money
01 NOURISHED BY TIME | Max Potential

Dazed - The 20 best tracks of 2025, ranked
https://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/69273/1/20-best-tracks-of-2025-ranked-ethel-cain-smerz-esdeekid-fakemink

1. ESDEEKID, FAKEMINK, RICO ACE, “LV SANDALS”

These are the winners of DJ Mag’s Best of British awards 2025
https://djmag.com/news/these-are-winners-of-dj-mags-best-of-british-awards-2025

The winners in this year’s DJ Mag Best of British awards have been announced. The event took place at London’s The Steel Yard tonight (11th December) and was hosted by Emerald.

In the 19th edition of our annual celebration of UK electronic talent, Manchester’s Interplanetary Criminal picked up the prestigious Best DJ award, with Silva Bumpa taking home the title of Breakthrough DJ following a standout year.

UK garage phenomenon Sammy Virji took home Best Producer, while next-gen junglist SHERELLE was named Breakthrough Producer, having expanded her craft beyond DJing in recent years.

In the rap/vocalist categories, Nottingham favourite Window Kid won Best MC/Vocalist, while Cambridge-born rapper and storyteller JayaHadADream took home Breakthrough MC/Vocalist. Joy Orbison and Joe James won Best Rap Track for ‘bastard’, while Jim Legxacy scooped Best Rap Album/Mixtape for ‘black british music’ on XL Recordings.

Sam Binga’s Bristol-based imprint Pineapple Records took home the Best Label award, while Rossi.’s ROSSI.HOME//GRXWN. took home Breakthrough Label after a prolific 12 months.

Elsewhere, there were wins for Maribou State in the Best Album category, with their joyous third record ‘Hallucinating Love’, and London’s Moxie in Best Compilation with ‘The Sound of Love International #007’.

After dominating festival tents, clubs and airwaves all summer long, Max Dean, Locky & Luke Dean’s ‘Can’t Decide’ took home the Best Track award for 2025.

UK garage pioneer DJ EZ was presented with the Outstanding Contribution award, chosen by DJ Mag’s editorial team to honour the artist’s contribution to the scene.

In the club and event categories, Manchester’s The Loft won Best Club, while the Best Club Event gong went to FUSE, and Best Festival to Cheshire’s Hide&Seek Festival.

Save Our Scene UK, a campaign fighting to protect and support the nation’s live music venues, clubs and independent music ecosystem, took home this year’s Underground Hero award, which recognises the champions of grassroots UK music communities.

The sold-out Best of British awards party returned to London’s The Steel Yard, with sets from Interplanetary Criminal, DJ EZ, Amaliah, Moxie and La La.

talking of Moxie, I highly recommend her best of 2025 show that was broadcast on Wednesday, now on listen again.

on NTS you can listen to Moxie - Best Of 2025
https://www.nts.live/shows/moxie/episodes/moxie-10th-december-2025

deep house / house / tech house

The Crack list https://crackmagazine.net/article/list-article/best-albums-2025/

Oh it HAS been posted, my browser wasn't showing it

talking of Crack Magazine they sent out a new email at 2pm today, and included this:

Crack - The Top 25 Tracks of 2025
https://crackmagazine.net/article/list-article/best-tracks-2025/

1: Rosalía
Berghain

Both Dazed and GvB have Sophia Stel and I love those tracks by her. I don’t think I had seen her mentioned before yet.

Also happy to see “Oklou + FKA Twigs - Viscus” so high on the Dazed list. Not many lists so far have mentioned it and it is a top 10 song of the year for me.

I'm spending a lot of time with these Resident Advisor quarter century lists - the mixes one from today takes on a slightly different format https://ra.co/features/4483

Oh haven’t seen those RA lists they look very interesting. Also what a good job on the layout and design of them. Flawless navigation.

Raven Sings the Blues list is out (unranked):

https://www.ravensingstheblues.com/2025-favorite-albums/

Stereogum - The 10 Best Electronic Albums Of 2025 by Ted Davis
https://stereogum.com/2482546/the-10-best-electronic-albums-of-2025/lists/year-in-review/2025-in-review

10

Carré - Body Shell (Tempa)

9

Jackson Ryland - Hydraplaning (Future Times)

8

Various Artists - Tectonic Sound (Tectonic)

7

Paul St. Hilaire - w/ The Producers (Kynant)

6

ex_libris / In Transit - ex_libris 001, ex_libris 002, In Transit (FELT)

5

Facta - GULP (Wisdom Teeth)

4

Polygonia - Dream Horizons (Dekmantel)

3

Nick León - A Tropical Entropy (TraTraTrax)

2

DjRUM - Under Tangled Silence (Houndstooth)

1

Barker - Stochastic Drift (Smalltown Supersound)

Vic Galloway, DJ on BBC Scotland

Vic Galloway: A Festive Fifty – My Favourite Albums of 2025
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3TdGfP9fs9jy3nf2YT7Sbbl/vic-galloway-a-festive-fifty-my-favourite-albums-of-2025

The Guardian - The 50 best albums of 2025
https://www.theguardian.com/music/ng-interactive/2025/dec/08/the-best-albums-of-2025-50-41?utm_term=693c3c0d85bb9306533d09b3d4a863b8&utm_campaign=SleeveNotes&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=sleevenotes_email#10-6

continued...

10

Billy Woods – Golliwog

9

Geese – Getting Killed

8

Bad Bunny – Debí Tirar Más Fotos

7

Lily Allen – West End Girl

6

PinkPantheress – Fancy That

Top 5 tomorrow.

for our own EOY poll I can start nominations tomorrow; I do need a volunteer to do the rollout/images though....

Hi! Seandalai I can help with images again I think but the process of doing the rollout and organizing everything around it is a bit time-consuming and I have way too much work atm to do it this time.

But who will be the brave soul that can be the ringleader for this poll?

Or I can also do the rollout but not the images… doing both will take too much time and I don’t want the poll to get dragged until late Jan because of me.

I love our timeline in these rollouts, nominations not closing until the year is actually over is the correct format. Everything else just falls into place.

Fester’s Lucky 13: 2025 Year-End Summary
https://fastnbulbous.com/lucky-25/

Favorite Albums of 2025
1: Messa – The Spin (Metal Blade) | Italy | Bandcamp
Chameleons – Arctic Moon (Metropolis) | UK | Bandcamp
Lathe of Heaven – Aurora (Sacred Bones) | USA | Bandcamp
Bambara – Birthmarks (Wharf Cat) | USA | Bandcamp
Motorpsycho – Motorpsycho (NFGS) | Norway | Bandcamp
Stereolab – Instant Holograms on Metal Film (Duophonic) | UK | Bandcamp
Civic – Chrome Dipped (ATO) | Australia | Bandcamp
The Belair Lip Bombs – Again (Third Man) | Australia | Bandcamp
Bask – The Turning (Season of Mist) | USA | Bandcamp
Custard Flux – Enter Xenon (Custard Flux) | USA | Bandcamp
The Tubs – Cotton Crown (Trouble In Mind) | UK | Bandcamp
Spidergawd – From Eight to Infinity (Crispin Glover) | Norway | Bandcamp
Faetooth – Labyrinthine (The Flenser) | USA | Bandcamp
Scimitar – Scimitarium I (Crypt of the Wizard) | Denmark | Bandcamp
Anna von Hausswolff – Iconoclasts (Year001) | Denmark | Bandcamp
Gaytheist – The Mustache Stays (Hex) | USA | Bandcamp
Horsegirl – Phonetics On and On (Matador) | USA | Bandcamp
Dune Sea – New Wave of Cosmic Heavy Metal (All Good Clean) | Norway | Buy
Remina – The Silver Sea (Avantgarde) | New Zealand | Bandcamp
Hotline TNT – Raspberry Moon (Third Man) | USA | Bandcamp
SOM – Let the Light In (Pelagic) | USA | Bandcamp
The Miffs – The Miffs (Miffs) | Australia | Bandcamp
Suncraft – Welcome to the Coven (All Good Clean) | Norway | Buy
Wet Leg – Moisturizer (Domino) | UK | Bandcamp
The New Eves – The New Eve is Rising (Transgressive) | UK | Bandcamp
Black Honey Cult – Black Honey Cult (Heavy Psych) | USA | Bandcamp
Fuzzy Lights – Fen Creatures (Fuzzy Lights) | UK | Bandcamp
Phantom Spell – Heather & Hearth (Wizard Tower) | Spain | Bandcamp
Amplifier – Gargantuan (Rockosmos) | UK | Bandcamp
Cloakroom – Last Leg of the Human Table (Closed Casket Activities) | USA | Bandcamp
baan – Neumann (Your Adorable Dog) | South Korea | Bandcamp
Caroline – Caroline 2 (Rough Trade) | UK | Bandcamp
Greet Death – Die in Love (Deathwish Inc.) | USA | Bandcamp
Die Spitz – Something to Consume (Third Man) | USA | Bandcamp
GHOSTWOMAN® – Welcome to the Civilized World (Full Time Hobby) | USA | Bandcamp
Triptides – Shapeshifter (Label 51) | USA | Bandcamp
Magic Fig – Valerian Tea (Exploding in Sound) | USA | Bandcamp
Mean Mistreater – Do or Die (Dying Victims) | USA | Bandcamp
TOWER – Let There Be Dark (Cruz del Sur) | USA | Bandcamp
Sprints – All That Is Over (City Slang) | UK | Bandcamp
Cold in Berlin – Wounds (New Heavy Sounds) | UK | Bandcamp
Dumb Things – Self Help (Coolin’ By Sound) | Australia | Bandcamp
Castle Rat – The Bestiary (King Volume) | USA | Bandcamp
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets – Carpe Diem, Moonman (What Reality?) | Australia | Bandcamp
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets – Pogo Rodeo (What Reality?) | Australia | Bandcamp
Kuunatic – Wheels of Öon (Glitterbeat) | Japan | Bandcamp
Papir – Papir IX (Stickman) | Denmark | Bandcamp
Causa Sui – In Flux (El Paraiso) | Denmark | Buy
IE – Reverse Earth (Quindi) | USA | Bandcamp
Heartworms – Glutton for Punishment (Speedy Wunderground) | UK | Buy
Tortoise – Touch (International Anthem) | USA | Bandcamp
Neko Case – Neon Grey Midnight Green (Anti-) | USA | Bandcamp
Blaze – Out Through the Door (No Remorse) | Japan | Buy
Wytch Hazel – V: Lamentations (Bad Omen) | UK | Bandcamp
Deafheaven – Lonely People With Power (Roadrunner Records) | USA | Bandcamp
Soft Sun – Eternal Sunrise (Heavy Psych) | USA | Bandcamp
Maruja – Pain to Power (Music for Nations) | UK | Bandcamp
Temple Fang – Lifted From the Wind (Stickman) | Netherlands | Bandcamp
Go Kurosawa – Soft Shakes (Guruguru Brain) | Japan | Bandcamp
The Telephone Numbers – Scarecrow II (Slumberland) | USA | Bandcamp
Frankie and the Witch Fingers – Trash Classic (Reverberation) | USA | Bandcamp
of Gods and Men – The Stare (Ogam) | UK | Bandcamp
The Residents – Doctor Dark (Cryptic) | USA | Buy
The Necks – Disquiet (Northern Spy) | Australia | Bandcamp
Swans – Birthing (Young God) | USA | Bandcamp
Cardiacs – LSD (The Alphabet Business) | UK | Bandcamp
Circuit Des Yeux – Halo on the Inside (Matador) | USA | Bandcamp
It’s Karma It’s Cool – One Million Suburban Sunsets (Martyn Bewick) | UK | Bandcamp
Brown Spirits – Cosmic Seeds (Soul Jazz) | Australia | Buy
Little Barrie & Malcom Catto – Electric War (Easy Eye Sound) | UK | Bandcamp
Sharp Pins – Balloon Balloon Balloon (K) | USA | Bandcamp
Blackwater Holylight – If You Only Knew EP (Suicide Squeeze) | USA | Bandcamp
SKLOSS – The Pattern Speaks (Fuzz Club) | USA | Bandcamp
Christian Mistress – Children of the Earth (Cruz del Sur) | USA | Bandcamp
Dryhouse Ruins – Dryhouse Ruins (Dryhouse Ruins) | USA | Bandcamp
Hangman’s Chair – Saddiction (Nuclear Blast) | France | Bandcamp
pôt-pot – Warsaw 480km (Felte) | Ireland | Bandcamp
Coroner – Dissonance Theory (Century Media) | Switzerland | Bandcamp
The Lord Weird Slough Feg – Traveller Supplement 1: The Ephemeral Glades EP (Cruz del Sur) | USA | Bandcamp
Kombynat Robotron – AANK (Fuzz Club) | Germany | Bandcamp
Witchcraft – Idag (Heavy Psych) | Sweden | Bandcamp
Creatures – Creatures II (High Roller) | Brazil | Bandcamp
Wucan – Axioms (Long Branch) | Germany | Bandcamp
Geese – Getting Killed (Partisan) | USA | Bandcamp
Kadavar – Kids Abandoning Destiny Among Vanity And Ruin (Clouds Hill) | Germany | Bandcamp
Sex Scenes – Everything Makes Me Sick (Big Neck) | USA | Bandcamp
Witch Fever – Fevereaten (Music for Nations) | UK
Lambrini Girls – Who Let the Dogs Out (City Slang) | UK | Bandcamp
Brimstone Coven – The Light Shines Not for Thee (Brimstone Coven) | USA | Bandcamp
Moundrag – Deux (Spinda) | France | Bandcamp
Turtle Skull – Being Here (Art as Catharsis) | Australia | Bandcamp
Preston Pfanz & the Seaton Sands – Return to Burnt Island (Spinout Nuggets) | UK | Bandcamp
The Hare and the Hoofe – Compasse (Hare Hoofe) | UK | Bandcamp
Joe Harvey-Whyte & Bobby Lee – Last Ride (Curation) | USA | Bandcamp
Futuropaco – Fortezza di Vetro Vol. 2 (El Paraiso) | USA | Buy
Edena Gardens – Dispossessed (El Paraiso) | Denmark | Bandcamp
Mourning [A] BLKstar – Flowers for the Living (Don Giovanni) | USA | Bandcamp
Ribbon Skirt – Bite Down (Mint) | Canada | Bandcamp
Kills Birds – Crave EP (Lucky Number) | USA | Bandcamp
100: Drink the Sea – Drink the Sea I & II (Sunyata) | USA

plus loads of more genre lists:

2025 Breakdown: Genre Lists
As always, you can deep dive any of these these genres with the list search. While previously I had limited an album to one genre list, it didn’t accurately reflect the multi-genre nature of many of these albums. So this year an album will show up in multiple lists. I have a widget that automatically pulls from the database, so as albums are added and moved around in the future, this will reflect it.

Psych | Psych Pop & Prog Pop | Kosmische & Space Rock | Jam | Noir | Psych Prog | Prog | Goth | Punk | Garage Rock | Hard Rock | Stoner/Desert/Fuzz | Heavy Metal | Doom | Metal | Power/Adventure/Epic/Symphonic Dark Romance Metal | Experimental, Modern Classical & Drone | Industrial & Noise | Ambient, New Age & Post-Rock | Instrumental | Art Pop & Dream Pop | Shoegaze & Noise Pop | Synthpop & New Wave | Indie Rock, Pop & Jangle Pop | Power Pop | Jazz & Fusion | Global | Electronic | R&B, Soul & Funk | Hip Hop & Rap | Folk & Americana | Country | Blues Rock | Singer-Songwriters | Dance-Pop | Live Albums | Trip Jam | The Golden Circle | Non-Metal For Metalheads | AOR | Reissues | Late Entries | New Old Discoveries | Records | Texas Albums | Labels |

popmatters - The 25 Best Electronic Albums of 2025
https://www.popmatters.com/best-electronic-albums-2025-2

By
Paul Carr,
J. Simpson /

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.

25. TOKiMONSTA – Eternal Reverie (Young Art)
24. Ninajirachi – I Love My Computer (NLV)
23. DJ Koze – Music Can Hear Us (Pampa)
22. Bicep – Chroma 000 (Chroma)
21. Clark – Steep Stims (Throttle)
20. Headache – Thank You For Almost Everything(PLZ Make It Ruins)
19. Mark Pritchard – Tall Tales (Warp)
18. Modeselektor – DJ-Kicks: Modeselektor (!K7)
17. Death in Vegas – Death Mask (Drone)
16. Harvey Sutherland – Debt (Clarity Recordings)
15. Nourished by Time – The Passionate Ones (XL)
14. Marie Davidson – City of Clowns (DEEWEE)
13. Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith – GUSH (Nettwerk)
12. Weval – Chorophobia (Technicolour)
11. Oklou – Choke Enough (True Panther)
10. Maribou State – Hallucinating Love (Ninja Tune)
9. Paul St. Hilaire – w/ the Producers (Independent)
8. Daniel Avery – Tremor (Domino)
7. Blawan – SickElixir (XL)
6. Sudan Archives – The BPM (Stones Throw)
5. Guedra Guedra – Mutant (Domino)
4. Djurm – Untangled Under Silence (Houndstooth)
3. Yeule – Evangelic Girl Is a Gun (Ninja Tune)
2. FKA Twigs – Eusexua (Young and Atlantic)
1. Barry Can’t Swim – Loner (Ninja Tune)

KLOF Mag’s Albums of the Year 2025 (Editor’s Year in Review)
https://klofmag.com/2025/12/klof-mags-albums-of-the-year-2025/

From intimate folk and boundary-pushing jazz to the dense topography of ambient and experimental works, these are the albums that made 2025 so unforgettable for us.

KLOF Mag - Thomas Blake’s Top Ten Albums of 2025
https://klofmag.com/2025/12/thomas-blakes-top-ten-albums-of-2025/

KLOF Mag - Glenn Kimpton’s Top Ten Albums of 2025
https://klofmag.com/2025/12/glenn-kimptons-top-ten-albums-of-2025/

I could probably help with the rollout for at least one of the tracks/albums polls, maybe both, slightly depending on dates. I do like being an audience member and getting the surprise of it all but if somebody needs to step up I could give it a go and hopefully not ruin it all.

Bandcamp - The Best Latin Music of 2025 By Maria Barrios
https://daily.bandcamp.com/best-of-2025/the-best-latin-music-of-2025

Bandcamp - The Best Jazz Albums of 2025 By Dave Sumner
https://daily.bandcamp.com/best-of-2025/the-best-jazz-albums-of-2025

Amina Claudine Myers
Solace of the Mind

Patricia Brennan
Of the Near and Far

Ambrose Akinmusire
honey from a winter stone

Rachel Eckroth & John Hadfield
Speaking In Tongues

Yazz Ahmed
A Paradise In the Hold

Damon Locks
List of Demands

Mary Halvorson
About Ghosts

Theon Cross
Affirmations (Live At Blue Note New York)

Raul Monsalve y Los Forajidos
SOL

Vilhelm Bromander Unfolding Orchestra
Jorden vi ärvde

Tarun Balani
ڪڏهن ملنداسين Kadahin Milandaasin

Fieldwork
Thereupon

Webber/Morris Big Band
Unseparate

Ingebrigt Haker Flaten (Exit) Knarr
Drops

James Davis’ Beveled
Arc and Edge

Also includes

Other Noteworthy Albums

Shatter the Standards - The 80 Best Rap Albums of 2025
https://www.shatterthestandards.com/p/the-80-best-rap-albums-of-2025

ACL 2025 ~ Top Ten Electronic
https://acloserlisten.com/2025/12/14/acl-2025-top-ten-electronic/

Aho Ssan & Resina ~ Ego Death (Subtext)

Disiniblud (Rachika Nayar and Nina Keith) ~ Disiniblud (Smugglers Way)

Exzald S ~ Iridesc (Subtext)

Jilk ~ Fix Your Hearts

Katarina Gryvul ~ SPOMYN (Subtext)

Kelly Moran ~ Don’t Trust Mirrors (Warp)

Max Cooper & Rob Clouth ~ 8 Billion Realities (Mesh)

µ-Ziq ~ 1979 (Balmat)

tedzi ~ تدزي‘s Mn Dehab (mnjm)

Whatever the Weather ~ II (Ghostly International)

Classic Rock Magazine - The 50 Best Rock Albums of 2025
https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/classic-rock-50-best-albums-2025

There is a lot of rubbish on this list.

However these are the highlights:

42
Pulp - More (Rough Trade)

39
Die Spitz - Something To Consume (Third Man)

Earlier this year Classic Rock’s Paul Brannigan called Die Spitz “the best new band in the world”,

37
Suede - Antidepressants (BMG)

34
Sparks - Mad! (Transgressive)

29
Cardiacs - LSD (Alphabet Business Concern)

28
Castle Rat - The Bestiary (King Volume)

1 - THE BEST ALBUM OF 2025
Steven Wilson - The Overview (Fiction)

"I'm genuinely amazed and blown away": Steven Wilson's The Overview voted Best Album of 2025 by Classic Rock magazine
https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/steven-wilson-the-overview-best-album-of-2025

Metal Hammer - Vote for the best metal song of 2025
https://www.loudersound.com/music/tracks-singles/vote-for-the-best-metal-song-of-2025

As with previous years, you have 10 votes to allocate, so feel free to browse through the list, find your favourites and maybe even discover a few new tunes along the way.

long list of tracks

pop music blogger, Lee Bennett @ Teases & Dares has started his EOY lists:

Teases & Dares Top 100 Remixes of 2025
https://teasesanddares.wordpress.com/2025/12/13/teases-dares-top-100-remixes-of-2025/

1: Kim Wilde, Love Is Love (Dance Of Your Life Remix)

Anane, Let Me Be Your Fantasy (Dimitri From Paris Short Edit)
Donna Summer, Forgive Me (Steve Anderson Remix)
Aimie Atkinson, Dare For Love (7th Heaven Radio Edit)
Justice/The Flints, Mannequin Love (Braxe + Falcon Remix)
Kim Wilde, Trail Of Destruction (Pensacola Mist Remix)
Louie Vega featuring Anane and Tony Touch, Last Night A DJ Saved My Life (LV Remix)
Millie Jackson, We Got To Hit This Off (Dimitri From Paris Liberated Women Mix)
Zerb & Channel Tres, 24h In A Disco (remix)
Porcelain Moon, Wishbone (Known Stranger Remix)
Sue Wright, I Believe In You (JKriv Rework)
Hurts, Wonderful Life (Purple Disco Machine ’25 Remix)
Kim Wilde, Midnight Train (Chrisarama Remix)
Baxter Dury, Schadenfreude (Marie Davidson Remix)
Mia Moretti featuring Irma Thomas, Safe With Me (David Morales Remix)
Galliano, Pleasure, Joy & Happiness (musclecars Remix)
Karen Cheryl, Les nouveaux romantiques (Fred Falke Remix)
Kim Wilde, Trail Of Destruction (Project K Remix)
Venus II, Oh Boy (Justin Strauss Remix)
Gavin Turek, Outta My Mind (Rimarkable Remix)
The WildViolets, Maybe (Rayko’s 80s Club Remix)
Bryce Xavier, I Love You Boy (Fred Falke Remix)
Dee Diggs, Love Cruise (Yuksek Remix)
Kim Carnes, Bette Davis Eyes (Cormac & Chinaski Remix)
Elli, Nostalgia (Gerd Janson Remix)
LISA featuring Doja Cat & RAYE, Born Again (Purple Disco Machine Remix)
Emily Jeanne Brown, Past Life (French Horn Rebellion Remix)
The Trammps, Disco Inferno (Ben Liebrand Oldskool Radio Edit)
Miami Horror, Still Glowin’ (MH Disco Mix)
Bunny X, Never Give You Up (Earmake Remix)
Cecilia Castleman, Waiting On You (Synth Version)
Taylor Swift, The Fate Of Ophelia (Loud Luxury Remix)
Annie Hamilton, Without You (Barely Passable Redesign)
Name The Pet, Love Me Now (Funky Loffe Remix)
Alison Goldfrapp, Find Xanadu (Royksopp Remix)
Justice/The Flints, Mannequin Love (The Dare Remix)
RAYE, Where Is My Husband (David Guetta Remix)
Brand New Heavies, Midnight At The Oasis (Roger’s Brand New Radio Anthem)
Change/Tanya Michelle Smith, Sunrise Forever (Michael Gray Remix)
Lou Hayter, Frequency (Joe Goddard & Al Doyle Remix)
Goldfrapp, Beautiful (Richard X Rework)
NINA & Johan Agebjorn, Hush Hush Baby (Oscillian Remix)
Empire Of The Sun, Walking On A Dream (TEED Remix)
Honey Dijon/Chloe, The Nightlife (Club Mix)
Tom Rasmussen, Faithless (Horse Meat Disco Club Mix)
Zkeletonz, Improve Your Groove (Alive By Night remix)
Tiga, You Gonna Want Me (MEDUZA Remix)
Elli, One Last Time (Prins Thomas & Isoebel Double Trouble Remix)
Alexandra John, Taking Off (Dave Aude Remix)
Black Science Orchestra/Lou Hayter, Wish You Were Mine (Black Science Orchestra Vocal)
The Strike, Just Like Paradise (St Lucia Remix)
Daphnie, Cupid (Barley Passable Redesign)
Micah McLaurin, Satisfied (Until Dawn Remix)
Sam i/Kiinjo/Petite Meller, Love Got High (The Magician Remix)
MGR MIKE/Fanacy, Summertime (Birdee’s Endless Summer Radio Mix)
TEED, The Echo (Dusky Remix)
Annie & The Caldwells, I Made It (musclecars production)
Sally Shapiro, The Other Days (Lifelike Remix)
Kim Wilde, Midnight Train (Rayne Reznor Remix)
Alix Brown, Tormento (Pearz Notte Italiana Remix)
Sgt Slick/Marcia Hines, I’ve Got The Music In Me (Slick’s Discotizer ReCut)
Donna Summer, Supernatural Love (Shyboy Remix)
JENNIE, Like JENNIE (Peggy Gou Remix)
Miami Horror, Don’t Leave Me In The Sunshine (French Braids Remix)
Jazzanova/Clara Hill, No Use (Satin Jackets Remix)
Louie Vega/Robyn, All My Love (Honey Dijon Remix)
Eagles & Butterflies/Annie, Next 2 U (Club Mix)
Toricos/Magnus, More Than This (BORINGER 04 Remix)
Kel/Collioure, Static (Old Miami Remix)
Cannons, All I Need (The Magician Remix)
Disko Cowboy, Give Ur Luv 2 Em (Robert PM Edit)
July Zeburg, Alone In The Night (Morgan Willis Remix)
Gavin Turek, Disco Boots (Robosonic Remix)
The Joneses, Love Contest (Dave Lee’s Mini Disco Mix)
PREP/Eddie Chacon, Call It (Turbotito Remix)
Cerrone/Purple Disco Machine, Supernature MMXXV (Purple Disco Machine Remix)
Goldfrapp, Let It Take You (Goldfrapp Remix)
Lenny Kravitz, Let It Ride (John “J-C” Carr & Bill Coleman 808 BEACH Closer Mix)
Annie & The Caldwells, Wrong (Kornel Kovacs Production)
CC:Disco, Yes Papi (Jen Cardini Remix)
Michael Cignarale, She Thinks She’s Fierce (Nita Aviance Remix)
Blusher, Last Man Standing (Lauren’s Version)
Peter Matson/The Phenomenal Handclap Band, Never Know (Ben Gomori’s Italo Night At Patrick Miller Remix)
Pauline Henry, Release Me (Booker T Radio Mix)
GusGus/Vok, Higher (METODI Remix)
salute, Perfect (UNIIQU3 Remix)
Anniee, Captured (SLACKMACHINE Remix)
DRAMA, Savannah (80s Edit)
Cormac, Gone (Ewan Pearson’s Shep Style Dub)
Adam Olenius, Malin Ibland (Kimchii Remix)
Claptone/Crystal Fighters, Turn Up The Love (Club Mix)
The Whitest Boy Alive, Golden Cage (Fred Falke Remix)
Miami Horror, Together (Swoosh Remix)
Parcels, Yougotmefeeling (PNAU Remix)
Plixid, Lifestyle (Maria Minerva Remix)
Eden xo, Bad Apple 1,2,3 (SUPERGOOD REMIX)
Kapote, Mystery (Close Counters Remix)
Real Pleasure, In Your Arms (Adam After Hours Remix)
ESA/Massenhysterie/Konstantina Buhalis, Golden House (Golden Club Edit)
100: YVR, I Don’t Know What To Feel (The Bad Dreamers Remix)

Spotify playlist:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1pf6xolxE57g67ziXnp31q?si=SF5bigqAS2KxBZhfWytalQ

Lee Bennett also @ X: https://x.com/backstreetjoe?s=20

ACL 2025 ~ Top Ten Drone
https://acloserlisten.com/2025/12/13/acl-2025-top-ten-drone/

Concepción Huerta ~ El Sol de los Muertos (Umor Rex)

Debit ~ Desaceleradas (Modern Love)

emptyset ~ Dissever (Thrill Jockey)

Grand River ~ Tuning the Wind (Umor Rex)

Hekla ~ Turnar (Phantom Limb)

Imperial Valley ~ American Memory (Folded Time)

Kali Malone & Drew McDowell ~ Magnetism (Ideologic Organ)

Natalie Beridze ~ Street Life

Paul Jebanasam ~ mātr (Subtext)

Sara Persico ~ Sphaîra (Subtext)

I'm not going to try to aggregate these, but the people at AlbumOfTheYear.org are collecting some of them, and I've set up a data-explorer for that data, at least: https://everynoise.com/aoty/aoty2025.html

No Clean Signing - 2025 – A YEAR IN REVIEW(S): THE PERSONAL TOP TEN by Andy Synn
https://www.nocleansinging.com/2025/12/12/2025-a-year-in-reviews-the-personal-top-ten/

10. LÁSTIMA – A PAIN BLOOMED FROM MY LUNGS

09. VICTIM OF FIRE – THE OLD LIE

08. AZELL – ASTRALIS

07. KNIVES – GLITTER

06. UULLIATA DIGIR – UULLIATA DIGIR

05. SUBTERRANEAN LAVA DRAGON – THE GREAT ARCHITECT

04. HVRT – CANCERBLOOM

03. TIBERIUS – SINGING FOR COMPANY

02. HOPE DEFERRED – DARKNESS REMAINS

01. ERYN NON DAE. – DISUNITED STATES OF ANIMA

Cardiff based Music Website

God is the TV
https://www.godisinthetvzine.co.uk/about/

God is in the TV is an independent online music and culture fanzine founded in Cardiff by the editor Bill Cummings in 2003. GIITTV Bill has developed the site with the aid of a team of sub-editors and writers from across Britain, covering a wide range of music from unsigned and independent artists to major releases.

have started their collective Albums of the Year Countdown:

Albums of the year 2025: 50-26
https://www.godisinthetvzine.co.uk/2025/12/12/albums-of-the-year-2025-50-26/

50. Panic Shack – Panic Shack

49. Red Rum Club – Buck

48. Pulp – More

47. McKinley Dixon – Magic Alive!

46. Real Lies – We Will Annihilate Our Enemies

45. Lucy Gooch – Desert Window

44. Backxwash – Only Ashes Remain

43. Great Grandpa – Patience, Moonbeam

42. Deftones – private music

41. Jens Lekman – Songs From Other People’s Weddings

40. Night Tapes – portals // polarities

39. Sprints – All That Is Over

38. The Delines – Mr. Luck and Ms. Doom

37. Sparks – Mad!

36. KEYS – Acid Communism

35. Gelli Haha – Switcheroo

34. Bob Mould – Here We Go Crazy

33. Tyler Childers – Snipe Hunter

32. Jehnny Beth – You Heartbreaker You

31. MF Tomlinson – Die To Wake Up From A Dream

30. Maruja – Pain To Power

29. Rosalia – LUX

28. Moonlandingz – No Rocket Required

27. Will Stratton – Points Of Origin

26. BC Camplight – A Sober Conversation

EARMILK's Top 50 Albums of 2025
https://earmilk.com/2025/12/12/earmilks-top-50-albums-of-2025/

AOTY format:
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/2573-earmilks-top-50-albums-of-2025/

1. 'LUX' – Rosalía

The Sunday Times' 25 Best Albums of 2025
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/2577-the-sunday-times-25-best-albums-of-2025/

1. Pulp - More

brooklynvegan - 50 Best Punk Albums of 2025
https://www.brooklynvegan.com/50-best-punk-albums-of-2025/

1. Turnstile – Never Enough (Roadrunner)

Last Rites, Metal Music Website

Best Of 2025 – Last Rites Combined Staff Top 25
https://yourlastrites.com/2025/12/12/best-of-2025-last-rites-combined-staff-top-25/

25. TRAUMA BOND –
SUMMER ENDS, SOME ARE LONG GONE

24. SCIMITAR – SCIMITARIUM I

23. FLOATING – HESITATING LIGHTS

22. ZEICRYDEUS – LA GRANDE HERESIE

21. HYPOMANIC DAYDREAM – THE YEARNING

20. TYPE: ARMOR UNIT –
REVOLUTIONS IN SAECULA

19. EFFLUENCE – PIANISTIC DISMEMBERMENT

18. BARREN PATH – GRIEVING

17. OROMET – THE SINKING ISLE

16. GRAYCEON – THEN THE DARKNESS

15. DELIQUESCE – SAVIOUR / ENSLAVER

14. ARAPHEL – THE ENDCHANTER

13. CORONER – DISSONANCE THEORY

12. SULFURIC CAUTERY – KILLING SPREE

11. MESSA – THE SPIN

10. 夢遊病者 (SLEEPWALKER) – РЛБ30011922

9. VULTURES VENGEANCE – DUST AGE

8. PARADISE LOST – ASCENSION

7. UMULAMAHRI – LEARNING THE SECRETS OF ACID

6. DISSONA – RECEPTOR

5. KAKOTHANASY – METAGONISM

4. SPECIES – CHANGELINGS

3. WEEPING SORES –
THE CONVALESCENCE AGONIES

2. PHANTOM SPELL – HEATHER & HEARTH

1. UNBIRTH – ASOMATOUS BESMIRCHMENT

DORK - Dork's Albums of the Year 2025 (100 Albums)
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/2572-dorks-albums-of-the-year-2025/

1. Hayley Williams - Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party

Dork:
https://readdork.com/features/dorks-albums-of-the-year-2025-1-hayley-williams-ego-death-at-a-bachelorette-party/

(The UX / Navigation of the Dork website is rather cumbersome and frustrating)

Alternative Press

Alternative Press - 50 best albums of 2025
https://www.altpress.com/best-albums-2025/

AOTY format:
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/2570-alternative-presss-50-best-albums-of-2025/

A_Z order

Wonderbox Metal (one of the leading metal review websites)

Wonderbox Metal End of Year List – Best Metal of 2025
https://wonderboxmetal.com/2025/12/14/wonderbox-metal-end-of-year-list-best-metal-of-2025/

Summary:

35
Pestilential Shadows – Wretch

34
Barshasketh – Antinomian Asceticism

33
Old Night – Mediterranean Melancholy

32
Hæresis – Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum

31
Terzij de Horde – Our Breath Is Not Ours Alone

30
Conjurer – Unself

29
Martröð – Draumsýnir Eldsins

28
Ba’al – The Fine Line Between Heaven and Here

27
Turian – Blood Quantum Blues

26
Psychonaut – World Maker

25
Tómarúm – Beyond Obsidian Euphoria

24
Eyes – Spinner

23
Vin de Mia Trix – This Landscape Is Alive

22
Rivers of Nihil – Rivers of Nihil

21
King Witch – III

20
In Mourning – The Immortal

19
Blessings – Blodsträngen

18
Depravity – Bestial Possession

17
Starer – Ancient Monuments and Modern Sadness

16
Heir – Terra Triumphans Jubila

15
Grayceon – Then the Darkness

14
This Gift Is a Curse – Heir

13
Der Weg Einer Freiheit – Innern

12
Retromorphosis – Psalmus Mortis

11
Zatokrev – …Bring Mirrors to the Surface

10
Phosphorus – Frail Grasp of Broken Hands

9
Messa – The Spin

8
Dimscûa – Dust Eater

7
We Lost the Sea – A Single Flower

6
Dawnwalker – The Between

5
Caustic Wound – Grinding Mechanism of Torment

4
Execrari – Desolation Manifest

3
Goya – In the Dawn of November

2
Lightless – A Foreseen Loss

1
Blood Abscission – I I

Who knew there is a website called "Nu Metal Agenda" in 2025?

Nu Metal Agenda - The Best Nu Metal Albums Of 2025
https://numetalagenda.com/feature/the-best-nu-metal-albums-of-2025/
(10 Albums)

1. Bleed
Bleed
[20 Buck Spin]

Arctic Drones - The 20 Best Jazz Fusion & Nu Jazz Albums of 2025
https://arcticdrones.net/2025/12/13/the-20-best-jazz-fusion-nu-jazz-albums-of-2025/

Summary

[1–10, in no particular order]

DONNY MCCASLIN – LULLABY FOR THE LOST

WE USED TO CUT THE GRASS – WE USED TO CUT THE GRASS #2

NENE HEROINE – 4

AMERO – SIMPLY REJECT ENTROPY

EBI SODA – FRANK DEAN AND ANDREW

KONRAD CIESIELSKI – KONIEC

YAZZ AHMED – A PARADISE IN THE HOLD

BANDLER CHING – MERCURIAL

MOON HOOCH, TONIO SAGAN – TOMORROW

CASIOPEA – TRUE BLUE

[11–20, in no particular order]

ILL CONSIDERED – BALM

DAOUD – OK

PYRY PELTONEN – 43440

NIECHĘĆ – RECKLESS THINGS

ETCETERAL – KIMATIKA

L’OUMIGMAG – CE QUI TOURNE DANS L’AIR

MAD VANTAGE – MINUTIAE.

SML – HOW YOU BEEN

JIZUE – MER

LITTLEFINGERS – SNAKES & LADDERS

Didn’t expect to see Kim Wilde in any EOY lists, never mind a number one.

It's not surprising, Lee Bennett who runs Teases & Dares blog is a mega Kim Wilde fan, knows her personally and named his blog after Kim Wilde's 1984 album Teases & Dares.

we are live: ILM's 2025 End of Year Tracks & Albums Poll / NOMINATIONS THREAD

The Quietus Tracks of the Year 2025
https://thequietus.com/tq-charts/tracks-of-the-year/the-quietus-tracks-of-the-year-2025/

1: Rosalía – ‘Berghain feat. Björk & Yves Tumor’

aya – ‘off to the ESSO’
Charli xcx – ‘House featuring John Cale’
Agriculture – ‘Bodhidharma’
Elijah Minelli – ‘Canaan Land feat. Dennis Bovell’
PinkPantheress – ‘Illegal’
Blawan – ‘NOS’
Doja Cat – ‘Jealous Type’
Anna Von Hausswolff – ‘The Iconoclast’
caroline – ‘Total euphoria’
Carmel Smickersgill – ‘Build The Habit’
Burial – ‘Comafields’
Lana Del Rey – ‘Henry, Come On’
Nourished By Time – ‘9 2 5’
Factory Floor – ‘Tell Me’
No Joy – ‘Garbage Dream House’
Amaarae – ‘S.M.O.’
The Hidden Cameras – ‘Undertow (Vince Clarke Remix)’
Jim Legxacy – ‘‘06 wayne rooney’
Hamish Hawk – ‘So Hard’
Matmos – ‘The Rust Belt’
Perfume Genius – ‘It’s A Mirror’
SZA – ‘BMF’
Nadeem Din-Gabisi – ‘Enter Claim’
DJ K – ‘MEGA SUICIDIO AUDITIVO (feat DJ KADU)’
Pulp – ‘Spike Island’
Richard Dawson – ‘Gondola’
Black Country, New Road – ‘For The Cold Country’
billy woods – ‘Misery’
Water From Your Eyes – ‘Nights In Armor’
Lyra Pramuk – ‘Vega’
Perc – ‘Soft Launch’
Oh Mr James – ‘I’m Not Here’
Bad Bunny – ‘DtMF’
Sunn O))) – ‘Eternity’s Pillars’
Fat Concubine – ‘For Whom The Fools Toll’
Japanese Breakfast – ‘Orlando In Love’
Cóclea – ‘Zugzwang’
Clipse, Kendrick Lamar – ‘Chains & Whips’
fromis_9 – ‘Like You Better’
Che – ’DIOR LEOPARD’
Jerskin Fendrix – ‘Jerskin Fendrix Freestyle’
Home Front – ‘Light Sleeper’
Thursday – ‘Taking Inventory Of A Frozen Lake’
Minor Science – ‘Mortals’
Backxwash – ‘9th Heaven’
feeble little horse – ‘This Is Real’
Marie Davidson – ‘Demolition’
Playboi Carti – ‘OLYMPIAN’

50: British Murder Boys – ‘Get In Line’

djmartian doing *work* in this thread (thank u), but overlooked (or maybe passed over) three of Bandcamp Daily's genre lists. here they are:

The Best Contemporary Classical Music of 2025, By Peter Margasak
https://daily.bandcamp.com/best-of-2025/the-best-contemporary-classical-music-of-2025

The Best Video Game Soundtracks of 2025, By Casey Jarman
https://daily.bandcamp.com/best-of-2025/the-best-video-game-soundtracks-of-2025

The Best Country Music of 2025, By Ben Salmon
https://daily.bandcamp.com/best-of-2025/the-best-country-music-of-2025

Far Out - The 50 best albums of 2025
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-50-best-albums-of-2025/

AOTY format:
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/2583-far-out-magazines-50-best-albums-of-2025/

1. Geese - Getting Killed

some of my faves are included:

2. Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek - Yar​ı​n Yoksa

5. Noura Mint Seymali - Yenbett

12. The New Eves - The New Eve Is Rising

Paste - The 25 best rap albums of 2025
https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/best-albums/the-25-best-rap-albums-of-2025

As the year comes to an end, we are wading deep into list season. Now that we’ve talked about the best albums, songs, debuts, and EPs of 2025, it’s time to get even more granular and pay tribute to a few genres before the holiday. Today, we’ve assembled a comprehensive list of our favorite rap albums released in the last 12 months. That includes another banner year for Backwoodz Studioz, a career-best effort from Earl Sweatshirt, two instant rage classics, and releases from always dependable names, like Aesop Rock, Little Simz, clipping., and more. This year also saw the return of two all-time great groups: De La Soul and Clipse. Being a hip-hop fan is pretty fun right now. Here is Paste‘s official ranking of the best rap albums of 2025.

1. billy woods: GOLLIWOG

Bleep - Singles, Ep's and Mini Albums of 2025
https://bleep.com/singles-eps--mini-albums-of-the-year-2025

Stereoboard's 50 Best Albums of 2025
https://www.stereoboard.com/content/view/249888/9

unranked

Culture Fix’s Best Albums of 2025
https://www.culturefix.co.uk/culture-fixs-best-albums-of-2025/

unranked

the only list that I have seen that includes:

Claudia Brücken – Night Mirror

Vanessa Paradis – Le retour des beaux jours

Rush on Rock - THE BEST TRAD METAL ALBUMS OF 2025
https://rushonrock.com/2025/12/14/best-trad-metal-albums-2025/

10. Nite – Cult Of The Serpent Sun (Season of Mist)

9. Heavy Pettin’ – Rock Generation (Silver Lining Music)

8. Tower – Let There Be Dark (Cruz Del Sur Music)

7. Burning Witches – Inquisition (Napalm Records)

6. Castle Rat – The Bestiary (Blues Funeral Recordings/King Volume Records)

5. Dirkschneider And The Old Gang – Babylon (Reigning Phoenix Music)

4. Phantom Spell – Heather & Hearth (Cruz Del Sur Music / Wizard Tower Records)

3. Helloween – Giants & Monsters (Reigning Phoenix Music)

2. Wytch Hazel – V: Lamentations (Bad Omen Records)

1. Seven Sisters – Shadow Of A Fallen Star Pt.2 (Dissonance)

Rolling Stone's 55 Best Indie Rock Albums of 2025
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-indie-rock-albums-of-2025-1235478806/pup-who-will-look-after-the-dogs-2-1235480929/

AOTY format:
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/2580-rolling-stones-55-best-indie-rock-albums-of-2025/

and predictably it's:

1. Geese - Getting Killed

I have given them another award:

The most annoyingly overpromoted band on 6 Music (last year Winners were Idles)

Albumism have completed their countdown:

ALBUMISM SELECTS: The 50 Best Albums of 2025
https://albumism.com/lists/best-albums-of-2025-index

AOTY format:
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/2579-albumisms-50-best-albums-of-2025/

#1 | De La Soul | Cabin In The Sky

Clash - Albums Of The Year 2025 (Top 60)
https://www.clashmusic.com/features/albums-of-the-year-2025/

1. Geese – Getting Killed

Had completely forgot that Rolling Stone UK exists.

Rolling Stone UK’s 25 best albums of 2025
https://www.rollingstone.co.uk/music/rolling-stone-uks-25-best-albums-of-2025-fka-twigs-lily-allen-56915/

AOTY format:
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/2578-rolling-stone-uks-25-best-albums-of-2025/

Treble - The 10 Best Goth Albums of 2025 - by Wil Cifer
https://www.treblezine.com/the-10-best-goth-albums-of-2025/

1. Heartworms – Glutton For Punishment

Surprised that this album wasn't included:

Lathe of Heaven - Aurora
https://latheofheaven.bandcamp.com/album/aurora

Cian Ó Cíobháin’s top songs of 2025
https://nialler9.com/cian-o-ciobhains-top-songs-of-2025/

Galway-based DJ and broadcaster Cian Ó Cíobháin hosts An Taobh Tuathail week-nights on RTÉ RnaG. When not on the airwaves, Cian has been throwing Disco Dána parties in intimate venues around the country and DJing at alternative weddings for music-loving sweethearts. This year’s top ten are all bangers, mostly road-tested during the last hour of the week on his radio show this year.

1.
Wata Igarashi – Supernova

2.
Jackin Trax – Give Me A Clap

3.
Break 3000 – Komputerok

4.
Computer Madness – We Orbit

5.
Sebaas – No Plastic

6.
Planetary Assault Systems – Rip The Keys (Luke Slater Reassembly)

7.
Nik Colk Void – A Tough Design (Demo)

8.
Nightwave – Bang The Rocks

9.
Odd Occasion – Salt

10.
Nicolas Bougaïeff – Sunday Morning at Panorama Bar When Things Go Sideways

Teases & Dares’ Top 100 Tracks (non-LP) of 2025
https://teasesanddares.wordpress.com/2025/12/15/teases-dares-top-100-tracks-non-lp-of-2025/

track I am most surprised that wasn't selected:

I. JORDAN, Ashwarya - 'Without You' (Official Audio)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht_S01aIdmQ

Teases & Dares’ Top 100 (non-LP) tracks of 2025

1: Dee Diggs, Love Cruise

Lynks, I Didn’t Come Here For Art
Holiday Sidewinder, Boys Will Be Toys
Blusher, Racer
Honey Dijon/Chloe, The Nightlife
The High Points, See Me Lovin’ You
David Blazer, While You’re In California
Georgia Lines, Julia
Bunny X, Never Give You Up
NINA/Johan Agebjorn, Hush Hush Baby
Mystery Friends, On The Floor!
Phenomenal Handclap Band, Free Time
Confidence Man/JADE, Gossip
Tiga, Ecstasy Surrounds Me
Robyn, Dopamine
Debbii Dawson, Gut Feelings
Kita Alexander, Press Pause
UFOS/Braxe+Falcon/Phoenix, UFO
Your Mate’s Ex, Get Wet
Haute & Freddy, Shy Girl
Sam Quealy, Londontown
Saturday AM, Heart First
Sugababes, Shook
Empress Of, Blasting Through The Speakers
Just For Fun, Paris
Agnes, Balenciaga Covered Eyes
Elder Island, Ordinary Love
Sebastien tellier/Slayyyter/Nile Rodgers, Thrill Of The Night
Kiki Kyte, Nightfall
Chloe Qisha, Modern Romance
Erika Vikman, Ich Komme
K-Estate, Nice
XIII Nights/I Am Boleyn, Back In Time
Annie Hamilton, Rosemary
Vera Blue, In The Corner
James Juke/Cakes da Killa, Need A Beat
Venus, Club Kiss
EMEREE, It Might Be Love (It’s Not)
BITTERS, Strangers
RAGEFLOWER, Sign Of Life
Jordan Rakei/Jalen Ngonda, What It Gave Me
Tensnake/mOat, Heat
Eagles & Butterflies/Annie, Next 2 U
Emily Vaughn, Call It What It Isn’t
PAWWS, Orlando
ATHANASIA, You’re A Hit
TEARS & GEARZ, Delusional
Keli Holiday, Dancing2
Kiesza/Peaches, So Erotic
Beks, Melodrama
Banofee, Muscles
Essy, Moonlight
Alexandra John, Taking Off
The Itch, Space In The Cab
Colour Castle/Zhuli, Papercut
Lou Hayter/Black Science Orchestra, Wish You Were Mine
Bentley Robles, New Song
Madison Beer, Yes Baby
Mareya, Lady Of Love
Michael Medrano, Primadonna
Skinny Dipp/Laura Stitt, What Are You Waiting For
Oliver Sim, Obsession
Mantaraybryn, Something Like Your Lover
Natalie Duncan, Breakaway
Toni Pearen, More Than Enough
Flight Facilities, Run
Dizzy Days, It’s Me It’s Not You
Joshua Idehen, Don’t Let It Get You Down
Natalie Nova/MonsieurWilly, I Believe In Miracles
Chanel Loren/Forest Claudette, Fantasy Camera
Jess Reiss, Touch
PUNCHBAG, Fuck It
Maja Ivarsson, Kamikaze Life
Rework, Disco Love
Daddy Squad/Corine, Love On The Rocks
Snow Wife, Sweat
Cairo, In The Water
Caroline Kingsbury, Shock Treatment
Collioure/Kinnie Lane, Done With You
Aleksiah, Punch Drunk Love
Adi Oasis, Stuck In My Head
Mikayla Boonstra, Good Thing
Vinyl Palace, On A Rock
Metteson, Hunger
Eden xo, L.A Rain
Clio, Love Connection
Palco, Halfway baby
Justine Skye, Bitch In Ibiza
May, I Feel Like Myself (When I’m With You)
Lara Villani, I Love It
Alice Ruby, Cellophane
Drifting Clouds, Bawuypawuy
Jem Cassar-Daley, Are We Too Bored To Be Sorry?
Vanity Fairy, Queen Of Queens
James Alexandr/Zoe Badwi, Sexual
Jemma Siles, Shouldn’t
flowerovlove, I’ve Seen Ur Ex
Swank Miami, Baddiez
Isabella Storm, Satan’s Valentine

100 Luc de la Croixx/Auto Boy, The Sun

Spotify playlist:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6QvfvThQW1zFXEqLkxAyn2?si=0Lc_8MmATti5I7pFJqhICg

SILENT RADIO’S TOP FIFTY ALBUMS OF THE YEAR – 2025
https://www.silentradio.co.uk/12/15/silent-radios-top-fifty-albums-of-the-year-2025/

1) BC Camplight – A Sober Conversation

ACL 2025 ~ Top Ten Experimental
https://acloserlisten.com/2025/12/15/acl-2025-top-ten-experimental/

Lyra Pramuk ~ Hymnal (7K!)

Machine Listening ~ Environments 12: new concepts in acoustic enrichment (Futura Resistenza)

Masimba Hwati & Paul Nataraj ~ Soil Leaf Root (Collapsing Drums)

Nobukazu Takemura ~ knot of meanings (Thrill Jockey)

Penelope Trappes ~ A Requiem (One Little Independent)

Polje ~ Incomplete (Liky Pid Nohamy)

Various Artists ~ Blackout Tape (20ft Records)

Various Artists ~ Only Sounds That Tremble Through Us | فقط أصوات ترتعش في أجسادنا (Bilna’es)

Various Artists ~ SHUM:QIRIM (Shum.Rave)

Yara Asmar ~ everyone I love is sleeping and I love them so so much (Hive Mind/Time Released Sound)

CVLT Nation have started the 2025 genre lists:

CVLT Nation’s Top 10 DREAM POP & TRIP HOP Releases of 2025
https://cvltnation.com/cvlt-nations-top-10-dream-pop-trip-hop-releases-of-2025/

#10 SOFTIE SOMERSAULT

#9 ALISON’S HALO Skywide

#8 SUNDER Love, Always

#7 PUBLIC MEMORY Public Sword

#6 LOVE SPELLS The Love I Showed You Was Yours To Keep

#5 WELCOME STRAWBERRY desperate flower

#4 NUCLEAR DAISIES First Taste of Heaven

#3 FOREVER ☆ Second Gen Dream

#2 ACOPIA Blush Response

#1 CRUSHED no scope

CVLT Nation’s Top 10 ALT ROCK & GRUNGE Releases of 2025
https://cvltnation.com/cvlt-nations-top-10-alt-rock-grunge-releases-of-2025/

#10 FIRST DAY BACK Forward

#9 SCOWL Are We All Angels

#8 GRAHAM HUNT Timeless World Forever

#7 DAZY Bad Penny

#6 SOULBLIND Red Sky Mourning

#5 DEFTONES Private Music

#4 WORLDS WORST American Muscle

#3 VULTURE FEATHER It Will Be Like Now

#2 TURNSTILE Never Enough

#1 MILITARIE GUN God Save The Gun

CVLT Nation’s Top 10 AVANT GARDE Releases of 2025
https://cvltnation.com/cvlt-nations-top-10-avant-garde-releases-of-2025/

#10 AMILES Aight So Boom

#9 SIJYA Leather & Brass

#8 SUMAC & MOOR MOTHER The Film

#7 TATI AU MIEL TATI AU MIEL

#6 ANDREW NOLAN Monochrome Vol. 1: House Of Flying Daggers

#5 CRIPPLING ALCOHOLISM Camgirl

#4 CITIES AVIV Raised For A Better View

#3 PINK SIIFU BLACK’!ANTIQUE

#2 RAINY MILLER Joseph, What Have You Done?

#1 HO99O9 Album Title

CVLT Nation’s Top 10 SHOEGAZE Releases of 2025
https://cvltnation.com/cvlt-nations-top-10-shoegaze-releases-of-2025/

#10 DREARY Wilt

#9 GLAZYHAZE SONIC

#8 SLOW QUIT Fusion in Rupture

#7 CLOAKROOM Last Leg of the Human Table

#6 HIGH. Come Back Down

#5 WISP If Not Winter

#4 GLIXEN Quiet Pleasures

#3 VIRTUA DX Guitarpop Forever

#2 GLARE Sunset Funeral

#1 They are gutting a body of water LOTTO

Friends of I Die: You Die Year End Favourites 2025
https://www.idieyoudie.com/2025/12/15/friends-of-i-die-you-die-year-end-favourites-2025/

industrial / darkwave / goth etc

As is our custom, we’re starting off our Year End coverage with recommendations from friends from within and around This Thing Of Ours from the past year. All things I Die: You Die, including our Year End list, invariably ends up reflecting the very subjective tastes of just two people, and so we relish chances like this to check in with others we trust, catch up on some stuff we might have missed, and offer our readers perspectives other than our own. The first ten entries on our Top 25 will be out tomorrow!

Albumism’s Writers Select Their 10 Favorite Albums of 2025
https://albumism.com/lists/albumism-writers-select-their-ten-favorite-albums-of-2025

writer Brad Luen on Bluesky re his fave African albums of 2025-ish

1. Champeta with curator Edna Martinez : Diblo Dibala Special (late 2024 soundcloud mix w/ Congolese guitarist Dibala)

2. Dieuf-Dieul de Thies (Senegal 2024)

3. Ibex Band: Stereo Instrumental Music (reissue of Ethiopian band 1976 album)

4. Dlala Thuzkin: 031 Studio Camp 2.0 ( South African guy 2025 second full length release from him this year)

5. Tsapiky! Modern Music from Southwest Madagascar (Sublime Frequencies 2025 comp)

6. Jazzwrld & Thukuthela: The Most Wanted (2025 South African who have had hits there)

7. The Kasambwe Brothers (2025 Malawi band release)

8. Mahotella Queens : Buya Buya ( one surviving member with 2 new members of South African singing group on 2025 comeback)

https://bsky.app/profile/bradluen.bsky.social/post/3m7qrfeugq22c

https://www.southernsoulrnb.com/corner2025.cfm

blogger Daddy B. Nice's top 25 southern soul songs

Here's a few of 'em-

1. "Boots On The Ground"---- 803Fresh

2. "Keep On Steppin'"---- Mike Clark Jr.

3. "Gas Station Love"---- E.J. Jones

4. "Cowgirl Trailride"---- Tonio Armani & S. Dott

5. "Intro"---- F.P.J.

DJ Mag’s top tracks of 2025
https://djmag.com/features/dj-mags-top-tracks-of-2025

(Summary Artist - Title provided by Perplexity AI, go to the original link for reviews)

Baalti – Tere Bina

Badsista – Psycodelia

Bambii – Blue Sky (Lyzza & Sadboi)

Chaos & Scorcher – Champion’s League

Charlotte de Witte & Amelie Lens – One Mind

Chloé Caillet & Luke Alessi – The One

Ciza – Isaka (6am)

Crafty 893 – Step 1

Crewcutz – Peekaboo

Demi Riquísimo & The Trip – Don't Go Away

DJ Habibibeats & Nadia – Miami Mijwiz (Nadia Remix)

DJ PGZ & Yikes – Ouss Ouss

DJ Travella – Trust

Flava D & Stush – Energy

Fonzo & Roaming Data – CTX

Fred again.. & Skepta – Victory Lap

Gyrofield – Vegetation Grows Thick

I. JORDAN – Without You

JIALING – CUNTY

Josi Devil – No More

Joy Orbison & Joe James – bastard

Juaan – Apego

Kasst 8 – They're Called 110s

Kettama – It Gets Better (Forever Mix)

KI/KI – Whats A Girl To Do ’25

Mantra – Total Danger

Maoupa Mazzocchetti feat. Clara! – Mantequilla (Pariah Remix)

Mau P – Like I Like It

Max Dean, Locky & Luke Dean – Can’t Decide

MPH – Raw

mu540, Kyan & DJ MZL Ori – USD, é USD

namesbliss x BexBlu – premium wear

Pancratio – Are You Listening

PinkPantheress – Illegal

Sam Alfred – Feel The Friction

Sammy Virji – Match My Mood

SHERELLE feat. George Riley – Freaky

Shimza, AR/CO & Kasango – Fire Fire

Sir Spyro & Killa P – Start & Stop

Sister Zo & Sam Binga – Ooh Sorbet

Sobolik – Heavy Eyes

Sofia Kourtesis – Sisters

Spriitzz – Where R U (Ibiza Mix)

Sudan Archives – My Type

Sugar Free – Remedy

Sully – Model Collapse

Vanco feat. AYA – Ma Tnsani (Yalla Habibi)

Verraco – Basic Maneuvers

Vigro Deep, Zee Nxumalo & Ch’cco – Bhampa

Wata Igarashi – Kaleidoscopic

DJ Mag’s top albums of 2025
https://djmag.com/features/dj-mags-top-albums-of-2025

aya – hexed!
Barker – Stochastic Drift
BexBlu, Paul Stephan & Awaiting Kvng – Still Reminiscing
Billy Woods – GOLLIWOG
Blawan – SickElixir
Calibre – Little Foot
Car Culture – Rest Here
Dave – The Boy Who Played The Harp
Debit – Desaceleradas
DJ Haram – Beside Myself
DJ K – Rádio Libertadora !
DJ Lag – Southside Mixtape
Djrum – Under Tangled Silence
Ela Minus – DÍA
EsDeeKid – Rebel
Facta – GULP
feeo – Goodness
FKA twigs – Eusexua Afterglow
Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist – Alfredo 2
Goldie Presents Rufige Kru – Alpha Omega
HAAi – HUMANISE
Introspekt – Moving The Center
james K – Friend
Jim Legxacy – black british music
John Glacier – Like A Ribbon
Kamakaze & WIZE – It’s About Time
keiyaA – hooke's law
Kloke – Lucidity
Los Thuthanaka – Los Thuthanaka
Lucrecia Dalt – A Danger to Ourselves
Lyra Pramuk – Hymnal
Malibu – Vanities
Maribou State – Hallucinating Love
Nadah El Shazly – Laini Tani
Nazar – Demilitarize
Nick León – A Tropical Entropy
Ninajirachi – I Love My Computer
Niño Árbol – Psiconomimesis
Nourished By Time – The Passionate Ones
NZO – Come Alive
Oklou – Choke Enough
Paul St. Hilaire – W/ The Producers
Polygonia – Dream Horizons
rRoxymore – Juggling Dualities
Slikback – Attrition
Steffi & Virginia – Patterns Of Vibration
Venna – MALIK
Wata Igarashi – My Supernova
Yetsuby – 4EVA

The Face - Listen to 100 great songs from 2025
https://theface.com/music/best-songs-2025-playlist

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5BmFSpGgKfk8dbTDZGecYZ?si=m_Ddm3KEQCWR4EiGVb5gRQ

I used the free Chosic Playlist Analyzer:
https://www.chosic.com/spotify-playlist-analyzer/
Information and statistics about any Spotify playlist

Exported to CSV, downloaded the file, then opened in Notepad, pasted to Claude AI to create a plain text summary.

Robyn - Dopamine
Addison Rae - Fame is a Gun
fakemink, Ecco2k, Mechatok - MAKKA
FKA twigs - Cheap Hotel
Bassvictim - 27a Pitfield St
Smerz, NEW YORK - Imagine this - NEW YORK EDIT
PinkPantheress - Girl Like Me
Fcukers - Play Me
EsDeeKid - Century
SINN6R, TeeboFG - Me & You
Ledbyher - REMEMBER, REMEMBER
Lily Allen - Pussy Palace
ROSALÍA, Björk, Yves Tumor - Berghain
Dave - My 27th Birthday
bar italia - rooster
Olan Monk - 10 Days
james K - On God
jackzebra, James Ferraro, Glasear - Human
Destroy Lonely - screwed up
fakemink - Braces
Nettspend - her friends
xaviersobased, OsamaSon - uncomfy (feat. OsamaSon)
Lorde - What Was That
Earl Sweatshirt - TOURMALINE
Dijon - Yamaha
Justin Bieber - DAISIES
EYDN, Rainy Miller - Gold (feat. Rainy Miller)
Sex Week - Moneyman
Tyler, The Creator - Stop Playing With Me
Jim Legxacy, Dave - 3x
Ethel Cain - Fuck Me Eyes
Alex G - June Guitar
dexter in the newsagent - Special
John Glacier - Fly With Me
mark william lewis - Tomorrow is Perfect
Smerz - Feisty
Cheetah, Nia Archives - Get Loose
SHERELLE, George Riley - FREAKY (JUST MY TYPE)
fakemink - Music and Me
Jawnino - Sweden Freestyle
Bb trickz - Not a Pretty Girl
YT, Fimiguerrero - Diamonds
JT - Ran Out
Mechatok, Isabella Lovestory - She's A Director
The Hellp - Here I Am
Geese - Au Pays du Cocaine
Fine - I could
M. T. Hadley - Can I Dance?
snuggle - Marigold
Worldpeace DMT, Rowan Please - Love Yourself
HAIM - Relationships
Playboi Carti - OPM BABI
Turnstile - BIRDS
Tracey, Riko Dan - Sex Life
Lady Gaga - Abracadabra
Erika de Casier - Delusional
Clipse, Pusha T, Malice - So Be It
Nourished by Time - 9 2 5
Bad Bunny - BAILE INoLVIDABLE
Blood Orange, Caroline Polachek, Lorde, Mustafa - Mind Loaded (feat. Caroline Polachek, Lorde & Mustafa)
Audrey Hobert - Sue me
The Hellp - Here I Am
DJ Python, Isabella Lovestory - Besos Robados
Facta - Skyline 4
FKA twigs, Koreless - Drums of Death
Dean Blunt, Elias Rønnenfelt - 2
Oklou, Bladee - take me by the hand
Feng - XY
Wolf Alice - Bloom Baby Bloom
Sophia Stel - I'll Take It
Bladee, Yung Lean - Inferno
Lauren Duffus - N.U.M.T.E.
Erika de Casier - Delusional
The Crying Nudes - joyride
Sabrina Carpenter - Manchild
kwes e, deathtoricky - addicted to divas
2hollis - flash
Jane Remover - Dancing with your eyes closed
Che, OsamaSon - HELLRAISER
EsDeeKid, fakemink, Rico Ace - LV Sandals
Ms* Gloom - Got It In Tha Mix
RenzNiro, Dunamis, GRIM, Wudini - Real Striker
Klein - rich dad poor dad
Little Simz, Obongjayar, Moonchild Sanelly - Flood
Chappell Roan - The Subway
Geese - Bow Down
Baba Stiltz, Okay Kaya - Tough Luck
triage - lisaless
Wednesday - Elderberry Wine
Worldpeace DMT, Rowan Please - Love Yourself
NEW YORK - you
Zukovstheworld - Fright Night
PinkPantheress - Illegal
Tate McRae - Revolving door
Amaarae - S.M.O.
Tyla - MR. MEDIA
Shallipopi - Laho
Kehlani - Folded
Smerz - You got time and I got money
Addison Rae - Headphones On

Stereogum - The Top 40 Pop Songs Of 2025
https://stereogum.com/2482594/the-top-40-pop-songs-of-2025/lists/year-in-review/2025-in-review
By k4th3rin3 st. 4s4ph (previously an ILM user)

40. JADE – FUFN (Fuck You For Now)
39. Rema – Baby (Is It A Crime)
38. Isabella Lovestory – Vanity
37. Kendrick Lamar & SZA – luther
36. Taylor Swift – Ruin The Friendship
35. fakemink – Easter Pink
34. Lil Tecca – Dark Thoughts
33. Amaia – Aralar
32. Dijon – Yamaha
31. Adéla – SexOnTheBeat
30. Charli XCX & John Cale – House featuring John Cale
29. Twenty One Pilots – The Contract
28. RAYE – WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!
27. JENNIE – like JENNIE
26. Leon Thomas – Mutt
25. Chappell Roan – The Giver
24. KATSEYE – Gnarly
23. Bad Bunny – DtMF
22. INJI – Teen Angst
21. Sabrina Carpenter – When Did You Get Hot?
20. Reneé Rapp – Shy
19. aya – off to the ESSO
18. sombr – 12 To 12
17. Rochelle Jordan – The Boy
16. Danny L Harle feat. Caroline Polachek – Azimuth
15. Artemas feat. Mareux – Baby Give Me More
14. Tate McRae – Sports Car
13. Parris Goebel feat. Sadboi – DUMMY
12. Addison Rae – Fame Is A Gun
11. Cafuné feat. Riovaz – Temporary Lover
10. HUNTR/X (EJAE, AUDREY NUNA & REI AMI) – Golden
9. JEON SOMI – Closer
8. Fred again.., Skepta & PlaqueBoyMax – Victory Lap
7. Lady Gaga – Abracadabra
6. Sigrid – Fort Knox
5. Grant Knoche – Talk
4. MARIS – SUPER F★CKING MEGA ST★R
3. FKA twigs – Girl Feels Good
2. PinkPantheress – Illegal
1. Amaarae – S.M.O.