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. 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. 2
   Tennis - Face Down in the Garden

   The husband-and-wife duo's lush, retro-tinged 2025 pop farewell record.
   877pts
3. 3
   Oneohtrix Point Never - Tranquilizer

   Daniel Lopatin's 2025 electronic opus of warped, dreamlike synth collage.
   877pts
4. 4
   Earl Sweatshirt - Live Laugh Love

   The introspective rapper's terse, sample-rich 2025 album.
   692pts
5. 5
   McKinley Dixon - Magic, Alive!

   The Richmond rapper's jazz-inflected, literary 2025 album.
   692pts
6. 6
   Big Thief - Double Infinity

   The indie-folk quartet's expansive, warm 2025 record.
   692pts
7. 7
   Cameron Winter - Heavy Metal

   The Geese frontman's stark, piano-driven 2025 solo debut.
   692pts
8. 8
   billy woods - GOLLIWOG

   The abstract hip-hop veteran's dense, unsettling 2025 concept record.
   692pts
9. 9
   Nourished by Time - The Passionate Ones

   Marcus Brown's lo-fi, synth-soul 2025 album.
   692pts
10. 10
    Little Simz - Lotus

    The British rapper's ambitious, orchestral 2025 album blending grime, soul and spoken word.
    600pts
11. 11
    The Last Dinner Party - From the Pyre

    The baroque-pop breakout act's theatrical 2025 sophomore album.
    600pts
12. 12
    Panda Bear - Sinister Grift

    The Animal Collective member's sun-bleached, melodic 2025 solo album.
    491pts
13. 13
    Swans - Birthing

    Michael Gira's monolithic, cathartic 2025 experimental-rock album.
    491pts
14. 14
    Dijon - Baby

    The genre-blurring singer's intimate, textured 2025 record.
    491pts
15. 15
    Suede - Antidepressants

    The veteran Britpop band's urgent, guitar-forward 2025 record.
    491pts
16. 16
    Ichiko Aoba - Luminescent Creatures

    The Japanese folk artist's delicate, oceanic 2025 album.
    360pts
17. 17
    TOPS - Bury the Key

    The Montreal group's shimmering, soft-focus 2025 pop album.
    360pts
18. 18
    Wednesday - Bleeds

    The Asheville band's raw, twangy 2025 indie-rock record led by Karly Hartzman.
    0pts
19. 19
    Pulp - More

    The Britpop legends' acclaimed 2025 reunion album, their first in over two decades.
    0pts
20. 20
    Cass McCombs - Interior Live Oak

    The wandering singer-songwriter's understated 2025 folk-rock album.
    0pts

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