Ranking art is stupid, but ranking things is fun, so I ranked every album and EP I tried that was released in 2025. I went a little longer on my top 10 here, but here are takes on the rest of the list (bite-sized at 300 characters or less, as I originally posted these on Bluesky).
It’s worth saying that, as I buy 99% of my music, I do aim to pick up things I think there’s at least a decent chance of me enjoying, and that was broadly true – so being lower on the list doesn’t necessarily mean I thought an album was outright bad (not you, though, Taylor). You might find something you enjoy down there too!
63. The Life of a Showgirl – Taylor Swift
I like a lot of Swift’s work, but Jesus Christ.
Listen on: Tidal
62. A Complicated Woman – Self Esteem
Leagues ahead of Showgirl – with a couple of great songs, particularly the Moonchild Sanelly collab In Plain Sight – but this was ultimately a frustrating experience, stuck for too much time in perpetual climax with the same One Day Like This impression.
Listen on: Tidal
61. Essex Honey – Blood Orange
I’d bounced off Blood Orange before and was planning to give this a miss but The Field made me buy it. That song is beautiful, but I couldn’t find handholds on the rest of the record’s soft, soupy R&B, despite its clearly personal subject matter.
Listen on: Tidal
60. Shy Bairns Get Nowt EP – Bartees Strange
I appreciate Strange wanting to get back to basics after the muted reception to his full album earlier in the year, and this is perfectly fine acoustic-led fare. It just doesn’t really have a killer moment to stand out.
59. Caroline 2 – Caroline
I tried so many times to force myself to click with this one. Tell Me I Never Knew That is a fantastic, layered single that buys a lot of goodwill but it feels like the only track where their vague mix of post-rock and emo styles coheres into an actual SONG.
58. Gold Star Baby – The Aces
Some fun but inessential disco/indie-pop with a couple of clunkers that make it just a little bit uneven. But if you’re in the market for confident, sexy, sapphic pop then you’ll probably find something to like here.
Listen on: Tidal
57. I Got Too Sad for My Friends – Shura
OK, but what if you want your queer pop sadder and more anxious? No major missteps here in a solid entry into that canon but not many of its tracks stuck with me through the year – though woozy Cassandra Jenkins collaboration Richardson very much did.
56. Send a Prayer My Way – Julien Baker & Torres
Oh boy. The good songs here made me want to put it 10-15 places higher; the lowlights beg for lower. Country doesn’t sound like a natural fit for these two, except when it does. Are we clear? No? Good. Do I recommend trying this album? No idea.
55. Dream Ride – G Flip
I’ve heard so much 80s-aping pop in recent years that the impact here is lessened for me, but I do like this Aussie’s chutzpah, which helps elevate their writing above the middle of the road. There’s good fun to be had in these shoutalong choruses and hair-metal ballads.
Listen on: Tidal
54. Sweet Bitter Sweet – Holy Holy
Less an album, more an ‘everything must go’ sale as these Aussie indie-rockers go on hiatus with a goodbye record. The acoustic/orchestral reworkings of old tracks are nice, but it’s new songs like So Be It that underline how much they’ll be missed.
Listen on: Tidal
53. Night Light – White Lies
Big fan of the band trying new things – never thought I’d hear a saxophone on a White Lies album – and there are some really cool sections. But dialing down the bombast only allows more room for the lyrics (always their weakness); the result is good songs, not great ones.
Listen on: Tidal
52. That’s Showbiz Baby! – Jade
I think I’d seen a bit too much hype for this. I was expecting revolutionary pop; I got good pop. It really is good, though, with some interesting, introspective lyrics about growing up in the industry machine and some sharp, raunchy stuff too.
Listen on: Tidal
51. No Hard Feelings – The Beaches
Really solid guitar pop, confident and occasionally bolshy while also having its moments of messiness and anxiety. If I hadn’t come to it late in the year it might have had time to earworm its way further up the list.
Listen on: Tidal
50. Virgin – Lorde
I like almost every individual song here but they’re somewhat flattened by a refusal to mix things up instrumentally. Better for shuffling into playlists than listening front to back. But that “ah-ah-ah” on Favourite Daughter is one of the best two seconds of music this year.
Listen on: Tidal
49. Spring Grove – The Ophelias
Really, really solid indie-rock. Maybe short a crowning moment or two but lots of interesting lyrics that embrace complexity and unresolved emotions, with lovely elements of grunge and shoegaze mixed in as well as some pretty strings.
48. The Machine Starts to Sing EP – Porridge Radio
This band’s breakup is a major bummer, but this companion piece to last year’s excellent LP is a good coda to their work. The title track is sinister, murky and absolutely superb, while what follows speaks to acceptance and resolution.
47. For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women) – Japanese Breakfast
Very pretty throughout, especially the perspective-shifting Little Girl and Leda double-header. Also the comfortable winner of the 2025 Most Surprising (and Surprisingly Effective) Jeff Bridges Feature award.
46. West End Girl – Lily Allen
I can’t help but feel like some of this record works better as tell-all gossip (even given some poetic licence) than actual album, especially when it gets repetitive, but the earworms are super-earwormy and Allen’s distinctive presence and charisma keep things fun.
Listen on: Tidal
45. A Study of Losses – Beirut
‘Circus OST’ might sound like a nightmare concept, but this is far from wacky. Zach Condon continues the more melancholic direction of 2023’s Hadsel with this serene and stately chamber-pop record. It’s a little long but a couple of synthy curveballs help mix it up.
Listen on: Tidal
44. Dear Life – David Gray
While not ranking among his best work, this is proof that one of the UK’s best songwriters still has the juice. As is his wont, it’s deeply introspective, reflecting on the magic of quotidian intimacy and asking what satisfaction means when you get older.
Listen on: Tidal
43. The Cosmic Selector Vol. 1 – Lord Huron
Moody folk-rock that’s at times quite bewitching. Winner of the 2025 Most Surprising (and Surprisingly Effective) Kristen Stewart Feature award for Who Laughs Last, which feels like it’s from a completely different album but is comfortably the highlight.
Listen on: Tidal
42. Neighbourhood Gods Unlimited – Open Mike Eagle
A dense and rewarding rap record that maybe gets a bit too low-key too often but is satisfyingly grounded and human, with a warm and wry sense of humour throughout. Absorbing takes on technology, conspiracy brainrot and art itself.
41. Gem – Meg Washington
One of my favourite artists gets back to nature with a breezy, unencumbered record running on island-time vibes. The boppy title track is one of my favourite songs of the year, while Washington’s gorgeous voice shines on Honeysuckle Island and Fine.
Listen on: Tidal
40. Shish – Portugal. The Man
PTM’s affection for their home state of Alaska is felt throughout this spiky, rough-and-ready record. Blistering opener Denali ends up being a bit too good and overshadows the rest but if you’ve only heard Feel It Still then it’s a good intro to what you’ve been missing.
39. My Light, My Massage Parlour – Cassandra Jenkins
This shouldn’t work. One of my favourite albums of 2024, reimagined as… ambient piano music for a massage parlour? It should be either ridiculous or tedious. It’s neither. It’s just mad fuckin’ peaceful and beautiful. Incredible chillout music.
38. I Quit – Haim
Kind of an odd duck of an album that’s not afraid to look a little silly while it works out what it wants to be right in front of you. Bumpy in places but full of summery jams that find freedom and empowerment in letting go.
Listen on: Tidal
37. Dancing Shoes EP – Nilüfer Yanya
I think I might even like the average song on this EP more than than I did on last year’s My Method Actor, a very good album. Yanya is mesmerising here, with production that flits between spartan acoustics and post-punk distortion.
36. Horror – Bartees Strange
This took me a lot of plays to really figure out, not helped by its marketing leaning way too heavily into the titular theme for its actual material. No one track to rival Strange’s best, but everything here is at least interesting, ranging from kooky to vulnerable.
35. Neon Grey Midnight Green – Neko Case
Case explicitly pushes back against simple interpretations of her work mid-song as she tackles complex topics like self, death and human connection with trademark vivid imagery. Her voice is as authoritative and absorbing as ever.
34. People Watching – Sam Fender
Though occasionally over-egged in its devotion to being Bruce Springsteen But Northern, People Watching still feels authentic and driven. It’s by turns soaring and intimate, though TV Dinner’s snarling bite back at the toxicity of fame is my highlight.
Listen on: Tidal
33. Forward – The Swell Season
It’s such a delight to hear this magical folk duo reunite for a first album in 16 years. That gap is very much on their minds here, as they explore the pressures of time on a complicated but profound friendship with trademark earthy beauty.
32. Constellations for the Lonely – Doves
A dark and brooding album that reflects tough times, for both the world at large and recovering singer/bassist Jimi Goodwin, but nevertheless finds moments of widescreen wonder amid its wounded disconnection. Great for headphones with eyes closed.
Listen on: Tidal
31. Bleeds – Wednesday
With some terrifically frank and visceral lyrics, Karly Hartzman creates a real sense of place on this often darkly funny record. Elements of grunge and shoegaze give a little bit of grit and punch to the alt-country sound. Elderberry Wine is an easy standout.
30. Uh Oh – Patrick Watson
Written after Watson lost his voice for months and feared it might never return, this is a gently spellbinding piece of work. Multilingual collaborations with a host of guest singers complement Watson’s own vocals, which drip with gratitude for simply existing.
29. Portals//Polarities – Night Tapes
This UK/Estonian dream-pop outfit’s debut LP is superb chillout material. It’s full of yearning for escape, especially from our omnipresent digital habits, a topic for which Iiris Vesik’s ethereal wisp is well suited.
28. How You Been – SML
I can’t claim any kind of experience with jazz but I’m so glad I took a chance on this LA quintet. As you’d hope from improvisational music, it’s got depth and surprises in every direction, with an energy of controlled chaos shining on tracks like Taking Out the Trash.
27. Totem – Lamomali
The second album from this French-Malian collective features some of the most joyful pop bangers I heard all year (the title track and Il Neige à Bamako in particular) but has lovely quieter moments too, given delicate beauty by its koras.
Listen on: Tidal
26. Forever Is a Feeling – Lucy Dacus
I’m still not in love with the blander production (which I think makes this Dacus’s least interesting album) but she’s still a gifted writer – the likes of Lost Time, Come Out and Hozier collaboration Bullseye kept growing on me all year.
25. Perimenopop – Sophie Ellis-Bextor
The queen of 2000s disco-pop confidently retakes her throne after a few years away exploring other sounds. Her regal vocals haven’t lost a step – they’re warm and inviting over some luscious production that sweeps you away on the summer breeze.
Listen on: Tidal
24. Getting Killed – Geese
I don’t think it lives up to the ‘saving rock’n’roll’ hype but I understand why people are going mad for this even while I think it’s merely very good. It’s the sound of a young person making first contact with the adult world, realising it’s fucked up, and freaking out.
23. Year of the Slug – Caroline Rose
How do you follow up one of the most visceral breakup albums of recent years? By making a DIY record on your phone’s GarageBand app. Rose feels free to be messy and imperfect here, and it only serves to make the album feel like a comfortable, threadbare hoodie.
Listen on: Bandcamp
22. The Clearing – Wolf Alice
Part of me can’t believe this is so high up. It’s wildly uneven, its throwbacks to 70s glam and soft rock often landing in tedium. But it’s also home to some of the very best songs in an already stacked catalogue, like White Horses, The Sofa and Bloom Baby Bloom.
Listen on: Tidal
21. Bitcrush EP – Telenova
This bite-sized preview of next Feb’s follow-up to my favourite album of 2024 sees the Aussie trio lean harder into their trip-hop influences to very promising results. Only three tracks, but I’ve been hitting all of them hard and not grown tired yet.
Listen on: Tidal
20. Lux – Rosalía
Easily one of the most impressive albums of the year. I don’t think I’ve ever heard pop get so classical, plus the million languages and Rosalía’s jaw-dropping vocal performance. I am impressed with it more than I am outright in love with it, though, just on a song-to-song level.
Listen on: Tidal
19. Get Sunk – Matt Berninger
The National frontman’s second solo album is mostly a quiet exploration of the depression and writer’s block that afflicted him in the early 2020s. While its meat and potatoes is exquisite, sighing moping, though, its standout is the barnstorming Bonnet of Pins.
18. Snocaps – Snocaps
A crisp half-hour of top-shelf indie rock. Twins Katie and Allison Crutchfield reunite, plus MJ Lenderman and Brad Cook, for a project that feels effortless. There’s no clear highlight, nor any skips; just a bunch of catchy guitar songs that barely ever exceed three minutes.
17. Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party – Hayley Williams
Packed full of really good songs – maybe too full; you can tell it was designed as less an album than a playlist. Williams sounds free and emboldened despite the heartbreak and anguish, and the production is immaculate.
Listen on: Tidal
16. Thee Black Boltz – Tunde Adebimpe
A grab bag of weird and wonderful stylistic choices from the TV on the Radio frontman, from agitated dance-punk to synth-pop via acoustic ballads. He yearns, grieves and rages with a voice that remains unique and thrilling.
15. Natural Causes – Adult Mom
Not always an easy listen, as Stevie Knipe wrestles with abusive relationships, queer identity and their treatment for breast cancer, but opener Door Is Your Hand makes clear that there’s plenty of irresistible pop to this indie-rock group’s best album yet.
14. From the Pyre – The Last Dinner Party
Following up one of 2024’s most exciting debuts is no easy task. These 10 songs are no great departure from Prelude to Ecstasy but they sit worthily alongside it – and triumphant singalong death anthem The Scythe is, for my money, their best song yet.
Listen on: Tidal
13. Humanhood – The Weather Station
Tamara Lindeman continues the sonic exploration begun on 2021’s peerless Ignorance as she wrestles with disassociation, at times getting downright ambient amid her jazz-tinged folk-rock. Restless lead single Neon Signs is one of my absolute favourites of 2025.
12. I Heard It’s a Mess There Too – Aesop Rock
The verbose rapper’s surprise second release of the year is a brilliant, holistic take on coping mechanisms in stressful times, with sparse and mysterious production that evokes the liminal spaces into which he tries to effect an escape.
11. Love and Fortune – Stella Donnelly
Having only recently discovered – and greatly enjoyed – this Aussie’s debut album, I thought this was a step up on all levels. Gorgeous guitars and harmonies threaten to belie the shock and pain of the acrimonious collapse of a cherished friendship.
I went a bit longer on my top 10 here.