The 20 Best Albums of 2025

From art-pop breakouts to underground rap and long-awaited reunions, this slate gathers the year's most talked-about records — critical darlings and cult curveballs side by side. Which one defined 2025 for you?

1

Geese - Getting Killed

The Brooklyn band's genre-bending 2025 record that earned Pitchfork's Best New Music, fusing punk, funk and country.

1000pts

2

Tennis - Face Down in the Garden

The husband-and-wife duo's lush, retro-tinged 2025 pop farewell record.

923pts

3

Oneohtrix Point Never - Tranquilizer

Daniel Lopatin's 2025 electronic opus of warped, dreamlike synth collage.

923pts

4

Earl Sweatshirt - Live Laugh Love

The introspective rapper's terse, sample-rich 2025 album.

807pts

5

McKinley Dixon - Magic, Alive!

The Richmond rapper's jazz-inflected, literary 2025 album.

807pts

6

Big Thief - Double Infinity

The indie-folk quartet's expansive, warm 2025 record.

807pts

7

Cameron Winter - Heavy Metal

The Geese frontman's stark, piano-driven 2025 solo debut.

807pts

8

billy woods - GOLLIWOG

The abstract hip-hop veteran's dense, unsettling 2025 concept record.

807pts

9

Nourished by Time - The Passionate Ones

Marcus Brown's lo-fi, synth-soul 2025 album.

807pts

10

Little Simz - Lotus

The British rapper's ambitious, orchestral 2025 album blending grime, soul and spoken word.

749pts

11

The Last Dinner Party - From the Pyre

The baroque-pop breakout act's theatrical 2025 sophomore album.

749pts

12

Panda Bear - Sinister Grift

The Animal Collective member's sun-bleached, melodic 2025 solo album.

681pts

13

Swans - Birthing

Michael Gira's monolithic, cathartic 2025 experimental-rock album.

681pts

14

Dijon - Baby

The genre-blurring singer's intimate, textured 2025 record.

681pts

15

Suede - Antidepressants

The veteran Britpop band's urgent, guitar-forward 2025 record.

681pts

16

Ichiko Aoba - Luminescent Creatures

The Japanese folk artist's delicate, oceanic 2025 album.

599pts

17

TOPS - Bury the Key

The Montreal group's shimmering, soft-focus 2025 pop album.

599pts

18

Wednesday - Bleeds

The Asheville band's raw, twangy 2025 indie-rock record led by Karly Hartzman.

499pts

19

Pulp - More

The Britpop legends' acclaimed 2025 reunion album, their first in over two decades.

499pts

20

Cass McCombs - Interior Live Oak

The wandering singer-songwriter's understated 2025 folk-rock album.

499pts