Our 60 Favorite Albums of 2025 (30-1)
Continuing our look at our favorite albums of 2025 with the final 30.
Despite the departure of founding member and bassist Max Oleartchik in 2024, the sixth record from the Brooklyn indie-folk band shows no dip in quality from their previous releases.
Listen to: Incomprehensible, All Day All Night, Los Angeles
The fourth LP for the Brooklyn-based indie quartet has its heart in the 90s and is packed with grunge, fuzzy alt-rock anthems.
Top Tracks: I Want You (Fever), Bottle Blond, Rodeo
Their most confident and accomplished record to date, the Yorkshire band reached #4 in the UK album charts with an album full of anthemic indie-pop.
Top Tracks: Death of Me, Bones, 28
The Canadian quartet’s third studio album is a pop masterclass with witty queer lyrics about messy love and catchy, danceable hooks.
Top Tracks: Did I Say Too Much, Lesbian Of The Year, Can I Call You in the Morning?
The second album from the Austin, TX band is a wonderful shoegaze/dream-pop record featuring Jordan Terry’s ethereal vocals and Aidan Babinski‘s hazy guitar riffs.
Listen to: Wanderlust, Versions, No Coming Down
After the acclaim surrounding debut POSTiINDUSTRIAL HOMETOWN BLUES had barely died down, the West Midlands duo surprise-released the follow-up in July. A funkier record than its predecessor, the lyrics still bite as they look at how their circumstances have changed.
Top Tracks: GOD SAVE THE PONY, THIN HORSES, PIGS PUDDIN
A beautiful, delicate, intricate album from Glasgow siblings Rachel and Paul Swinton that expands their “feather-light” sound.
Top Tracks: Polaroid, Golden, Pink Silence
Winner of the 2025 Mercury Prize, the third album from Geordie Sam Fender features lyrics about societal struggles and aging backed by a Springsteen-esque sound.
Top Tracks: People Watching, Wild Long Lie, Arm’s Length
Sabrina Teitelbaum’s second record as Blondshell builds on her self-titled 2023 debut with a strong collection of 90’s alt-rock inspired tracks.
Top Tracks: T&A, 23’s A Baby, What’s Fair
While less immediate than her previous outings, Michelle Zauner’s fourth album as Japanese Breakfast is a beautiful, atmospheric record to immerse yourself into.
Top Tracks: Orlando in Love, Picture Window, Honey Water
Idlewild is the sound of a rejuvenated band with songs that remind the listener of their Remote Part heyday.
Listen to: Like I Had Before, Stay Out Of Place, I Wish I Wrote It Down
The London indie quartet’s sophomore album definitely lives up to its name with a fabulous blend of lo-fi, new-wave and shoegaze across ten catchy tracks.
Listen to: Post-Punk / New Wave, The Supermarket, Microwave Rhapsody
The latest record from Meg Duffy is their best to date as Hand Habits and explores themes of love, identity (especially as a trans person), and finding beauty amidst chaos.
Listen to: Wheel of Change, More Today, Way It Goes
On het seventh studio album, and first with The Attachments Theory, Sharon Van Etten takes her work in a new direction from her previous solo work. With echoes of Kate Bush and Joy Division, she channels an 80s-inspired sound that captivates your attention.
Listen to: Afterlife, Idiot Box, Trouble
How do you follow one of the most critically acclaimed debuts of recent times? Wet Leg pull it off with ease by playing to their strengths and writing another batch of catchy songs that maintain the playfulness of 2022’s self-titled release.
Listen to: CPR, catch these fists, Davina mccall
For Wet Leg, also See The Last Dinner Party. Last Year’s Prelude to Ecstasy was a joy with its theatrical sound and the follow-up is equally good. They don’t try to fix what isn’t broken with rich storytelling in the songs that were influenced by Mary Shelley.
Listen to: Agnus Dei, This Is The Killer Speaking, The Scythe
On their 10th studio album, which also gave them a fourth UK #1, the Scottish trio sound refreshed and ready to conquer the world again with a batch of anthemic rock songs about love, loss and legacy.
Listen to: A Little Love, Goodbye, Hunting Season
Mike Hadreas has consistently produced beautiful, challenging records and Glory is no exception. With its lush production and instrumentation, he seems more content than on previous albums although still aware of the fragility of it all.
Listen to: It’s a Mirror, In A Row, Clean Heart
The Brooklyn synth-pop band’s fourth LP is their strongest to date, exploring themes of memory, loss (especially due to ALS), and the human experience in an AI age.
Listen to: I’m Not Ready for the Change, Inept Apollo, Now That You’re Gone
The Los Angeles band’s debut record is a fabulous blend of noisy, scuzzy, grungey anthems about all kinds of relationships.
Listen to: Act Like Your Title, One Million, Another Second Chance
The National frontman’s excellent second solo album was written before and after a period of depression and writer’s block and features “Bonnet of Pins”, our Top Song of 2025.
Top Tracks: Bonnet Of Pins, Inland Ocean, Times of Difficulty
The SoCal native’s third full-length record “is about being queer within a heteronormative relationship structure and within a heteronormative society” and is her most consistent, rewarding album to date.
Top Tracks: Erotica, Alaska, Hate Me
On the band’s first self-produced album, they blend elements of alt-rock, folk, and pop across ten tracks to give us their best record so far.
Listen to: Nothing Romantic, Take Out Your Insides, There’s a Part I Can’t Get Back
Though only twenty minutes long, the third LP from the Arizona singer-songwriter is a brilliant coming-of-age soundtrack for the chronically anxious and melodically inclined with every track leaving its mark.
Listen to: Fair Field, Flat Circle, As Scared As Can Be
Three years after their wonderful debut Forever Sometimes, LA quartet Dear Boy return with another collection of exquisitely crafted indie-pop.
Top Tracks: Kelly Green, After All, Balcony
On her best record since 2010’s Ceremonials, Florence Welsh gives us a raw, autobiographical and cathartic record that is a compelling listen.
Top Tracks: Everybody Scream, One of the Greats, Sympathy Magic
The Chicago band’s third full length release, and first with a new lineup, is filled with big choruses and even bigger riffs as their 80s/90s-inspired rock is taken to new heights.
Listen to; Syd Sweeney, Dead Air, Touch & Go
Continuing their incredible run of releases since their return in 2013, Antidepressants is the post-punk sibling to 2022’s punky Autofiction and the second of their black & white trilogy.
Top Tracks: Disintegrate, Dancing With The Europeans, Broken Music For Broken People
Originally dropped on her website as 17 individual tracks that encouraged fans to decide on their own listing, Hayley Williams’s third solo album is a sprawling epic that crosses multiple genres. Her first release as an independent artist, EDAABP manages to better anything she has created before.
Top Tracks: Mitrazapine, Whim, Parachute
When Pulp split after 2001’s We Love Life, it felt like a very unsatisfactory end to their story. After reuniting for some live shows in 2011 and 2022, and the untimely death of bassist Steve Mackey in 2023, this year saw the release of More, their first LP in 24 years. And its a triumphant return that sounds quintessentially Pulpesque and deserves its place in the band’s catalogue. If this is the last time we get new music from them, they’ve gone out with everyone wanting More.
Top Tracks: Spike Island, Tina, Got to Have Love
So that’s it for 2025. What was your favorite album of 2025 and what did we miss that should have been included?
