{"id":11086,"date":"2025-12-24T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/?p=11086"},"modified":"2025-12-23T22:05:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T03:05:15","slug":"top-25-albums-of-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2025\/12\/24\/top-25-albums-of-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 25 albums of 2025."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When I started doing best-of rankings at the end of 2013 for music, I had the not all that clever idea to do a number of albums equal to the last two digits of the year and keep that going until I reached 2025. I broke that a few times, going under twice and over once, but we are now in 2025 and I think I\u2019ll stop expanding the list after this. Finding 26 or more albums in an era when the music industry deprecates the format \u2013 even if artists still value it \u2013 is just more work than I want to put into these rankings, which remain a labor of love. So here are my top 25 albums of 2025, with I assume an unsurprising record at the top spot but I hope a few records that are new even to regular readers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Honorable mentions: The Hives – The Hives Forever Forever The Hives<\/em>, C\u0153ur de pirate \u2013 Cavale<\/em>, Black Honey \u2013 Soak<\/em>, Bleary Eyed \u2013 Easy<\/em>, nabeel \u2013 ghayoom<\/em>, Total Wife \u2013 come back down<\/em>, Nathan Salsburg \u2013 Ipsa Corpora<\/em>, SAULT \u2013 10<\/em>. And since someone will ask, I didn\u2019t care for the Beths\u2019 album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can see my previous year-end album rankings here: 2024<\/a>, 2023<\/a>, 2022<\/a>, 2021<\/a>, 2020<\/a>, 2019<\/a>, 2018<\/a>, 2017<\/a>, 2016<\/a>, 2015<\/a>, 2014<\/a>, 2013<\/a>, and my top albums of the 2010s<\/a>. My top 100 songs of 2025 will go up some time in the next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unranked. Nell Smith \u2013 Anxious.<\/strong> This is a hard one to rank for me, because it feels like a work in progress that will never be completed. Smith died in a car crash in September of 2024 at age 17, after recording this debut album of original material and an album of Nick Cave covers she did with The Flaming Lips. There\u2019s so much promise on this album, and a few standouts among these sparse psychedelic-pop numbers, like \u201cSplit the Sky\u201d and \u201cBillions of People,\u201d but it\u2019s very much like a prospect\u2019s rookie season where you see flashes of their ultimate potential but they haven\u2019t put it all together yet. I\u2019m putting it in the last spot on the list, ahead of some albums I would be much more likely to listen to again, so more people might see and listen to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

25. Thrice \u2013 Horizons\/West.<\/strong> The follow-up to 2021\u2019s Horizons\/East<\/em> is the superior of the two records to me, and feels more deliberate in lyrics and music, perhaps because the previous one was recorded during\/right after the pandemic. Full disclosure \u2013 drummer Riley Breckenridge is a friend and we\u2019ve hung out a few times, but I wouldn\u2019t put the record on here if I didn\u2019t like it. These songs sounded incredible live, too. Standout tracks include \u201cAlbatross,\u201d \u201cGnash,\u201d and \u201cCrooked Shadows.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

24. The Tubs \u2013 Cotton Crown.<\/strong> This Welsh band, formed by members of Joanna Gruesome, churns out catchy jangle-pop singles that end before they wear out their welcome, with the whole nine-song album coming in just five seconds short of a half an hour. Standout tracks include \u201cFreak Mode,\u201d \u201cThe Thing Is,\u201d and \u201cChain Reaction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

23. Wolf Alice \u2013 The Clearing.<\/strong> I really prefer Wolf Alice when they rock out, because they\u2019re so damn good at it, and Ellie Rowsell\u2019s voice soars over big, crunchy guitar riffs, but as on pretty much every album since their debut, they\u2019ve chosen to mix it up, with ballads (\u201cThe Sofa,\u201d the snoozy closer) and country-tinged songs (\u201cLeaning Against the Wall\u201d) amidst some real bangers. I admire the ambition, even if I always want them to pick up the pace. Standout tracks include \u201cWhite Horses\u201d (with verses sung by drummer Joel Amey), \u201cBloom Baby Bloom,\u201d and the very 1970s \u201cBread Butter Tea Sugar.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

22. Rocket \u2013 R is for Rocket<\/em>.<\/strong> I\u2019ve seen Momma\u2019s album on a number of year-end lists, but I found it disappointingly derivative, to the point that several songs sound like covers (notably \u201cI Want You (Fever),\u201d which is so much like a Veruca Salt song it\u2019s embarrassing). So why does Rocket, who are heavily inspired by Smashing Pumpkins and even take their name from a Pumpkins song, get zero respect, when they\u2019re at least bringing more original melodies to a familiar sound? Standout tracks include \u201cCrazy,\u201d \u201cWide Awake,\u201d and \u201cAnother Second Chance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

21. Creeper \u2013 Sanguivore II: Mistress of Death.<\/em><\/strong> I prefer their last album, Sanguivore<\/em>, as this one is a little kitschier across the board, lyrically and musically, but I\u2019m generally so in tune with their overall sound that I liked the album even with some of its excesses. It\u2019s 1980s hard rock with an overly dramatic, Brett Anderson-like lead singer, and I can\u2019t not enjoy it. Standout tracks include \u201cHeadstones,\u201d \u201cPrey for the Night,\u201d and \u201cMistress of Death.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

20. Anxious \u2013 Bambi<\/em>.<\/strong> I guess they\u2019re emo, or screamo, although I just hear a punk-rock band here with some screamed vocals scattered over the course of the album, which is full of melodies \u2013 just as their debut album Little Green House <\/em>was. I love that their profile picture on Spotify has one member wearing a T-shirt that reads \u201cTurning Point,\u201d referring not to the white nationalist movement but to the straight-edge band from the early 1990s. Standout tracks include \u201cCounting Sheep,\u201d \u201cHead & Spine,\u201d and \u201cAudrey Go Again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

19. Portugal. the Man \u2013 Shish.<\/strong> Portugal. the Man is now primarily a John Gourley solo project, and this album, the band\u2019s tenth, is a whirlwind tribute to the vastness of Alaska, calling back to the band\u2019s earlier experimental days (pre-Evil Friends<\/em>, at least) and recalling the urgent despair of Foxing\u2019s recent work. There\u2019s no \u201cFeel It Still\u201d here, sorry. Standout tracks include \u201cDenali,\u201d \u201cTanana,\u201d and \u201cAngoon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

18. Just Mustard \u2013 We Were Just Here.<\/strong> This is real shoegaze, maybe the most authentic shoegaze by any band that wasn\u2019t part of the original wave in the early 1990s. If you liked early Lush, or like the sound of My Bloody Valentine with a female vocalist you can hear, you\u2019ll probably like this Irish band, who lean into the genre\u2019s more dissonant aspects in a way that the majority of shoegaze revival acts don\u2019t. Standout tracks include \u201cEndless Deathless,\u201d \u201cPollyanna,\u201d and the title track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

17. SPRINTS \u2013 All That Is Over.<\/strong> This Irish punk quartet released its first LP in January of 2024, then returned with their second this September, showing significant growth and expansion in their sound from their punk and garage roots. Standout tracks include \u201cDescartes,\u201d \u201cNeed,\u201d and \u201cBeg.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

16. Courting \u2013 Lust for Life, Or: ‘How to Thread the Needle and Come Out the Other Side to Tell the Story\u2019<\/em>. <\/strong>This Liverpudlian band had one of my favorite albums of 2024 in New Last Name<\/em>, then returned fourteen months later with this mouthful of an album title. It clocks in at just 25:40, with only nine tracks, and it feels more EPish to me, but still has some infectious alt-rock tracks on it like \u201cPause At You\u201d (which came out in 2024), \u201cNamcy,\u201d and \u201cAfter You.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

15. Pelican \u2013 Flickering Resonance<\/em>.<\/strong> I\u2019m late to this party, but Pelican rocks. This is the seventh album from the Chicago instrumental metal band, which has some progressive and post-hardcore elements, and it\u2019s the first to include founding guitarist Laurent Schroeder-Lebec in over a decade. Wikipedia calls them \u201cpost-metal\u201d and I have to admit I don\u2019t really know what that means and can\u2019t think of how it applies. This is a metal band, and a good one. Standout tracks include \u201cCascading Crescent,\u201d \u201cGulch,\u201d and \u201cIndelible.\u201d If you like these guys, check out Town Portal, whose latest album Grindwork<\/em> was the #2 album of the year for Thrice drummer Riley Breckenridge<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

14. Hotline TNT \u2013 Raspberry Moon<\/em>. <\/strong>This album is the third under the Hotline TNT name, but the first recorded by a full band, rather than as a Will Anderson solo project. The result is by far their best album to date, a far more cohesive and melodic work that doesn\u2019t hide any of its limitations behind distortion. And no, this still isn\u2019t shoegaze, by any definition. Standout tracks include \u201cJulia\u2019s War,\u201d \u201cThe Scene,\u201d and the jangle-pop \u201cCandle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

13. Sunflower Bean \u2013 Mortal Primetime<\/em>. <\/strong>This NYC-based trio returned with their first new album in three years, and first since \u201cMoment in the Sun\u201d became a hit thanks to the TV series Heartstopper<\/em>, this time adopting a harder rock sound that draws far more from 1970s glam-rock bands like T. Rex than any of their previous material. Standout tracks include \u201cNothing Romantic,\u201d \u201cChampagne Taste,\u201d \u201cThere\u2019s a Part I Can\u2019t Get Back,\u201d and \u201cCrashing Highs\u201d from the deluxe edition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

12. Coroner \u2013 Dissonance Theory<\/em>.<\/strong> Coroner were more influential than commercially successful during their brief run from 1987-1993, when they released five albums, including the technical thrash metal masterpieces Mental Vortex<\/em> and Grin<\/em>, the latter of which was ahead of its time but boded poorly for its popularity. The trio broke up after that and didn\u2019t release any further music for thirty-two years, with the guitarist and bassist from those albums still on board for this new album, which sounds like almost no time has passed at all since their last record. Highlights include \u201cConsequence,\u201d \u201dSymmetry,\u201d and \u201cCrisium Bound.\u201d Some other metal albums of note that I didn\u2019t mention on this list: Castle Rat\u2019s The Bestiary<\/em>, Messa\u2019s Spin<\/em>, Testament\u2019s Para Bellum<\/em>, and Paradox\u2019s Mysterium<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

11. Automatic \u2013 Is It Now?<\/em><\/strong> The third album from this LA-based trio, whose drummer is the daughter of the drummer of goth-rock icons Bauhaus, is a dark electro-rock affair that\u2019s heavy on the synth and bass lines. You can certainly hear that Bauhaus influence here, but these women also clearly have their own sound, and it deserves a far, far wider audience than it\u2019s received so far. Standout tracks include the title song, \u201cTerminal,\u201d \u201cBlack Box,\u201d and \u201cmq9.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10. Obongjayar \u2013 Paradise Now<\/em>. <\/strong>The latest album from this genre-defying Nigerian singer is a sprawling epic of styles and rhythms, often but not exclusively drawn from Afrobeat, with plenty of western rock influences evident across the album. Oddly enough, my least favorite track here is the one with his frequent collaborator Little Simz, \u201cTalk Olympics.\u201d Standouts include \u201cNot In Surrender,\u201d \u201cSweet Danger,\u201d and \u201cHoly Mountain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. The Horrors \u2013 Night Life<\/em>.<\/strong> Faris Badwan & company released their first full-length album in eight years, and for some reason, it didn\u2019t make much of a dent in the music press at all, which is bizarre given how much praise the previous album, just titled V<\/em>, received. This record is a darker, more electronic affair, but nearly as compelling as its predecessor, and maybe a little more accessible too. Standout tracks include \u201cAriel,\u201d \u201cMore Than Life,\u201d \u201cThe Silence that Remains,\u201d and \u201cTrial by Fire.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. keiyaA \u2013 Hooke\u2019s Law<\/em>.<\/strong> There were two albums this year that made me go \u201cWTF\u201d in a good way; this is the first of the two on this list. I\u2019d never even heard of keiyaA before she appeared on (I think) an NPR weekly new music list, and I was already intrigued by the album\u2019s title, which refers to a law of physics that says that the force required to compress a spring scales linear with respect to the distance covered by the deformation. She starts from a modern soul\/R&B foundation, but experiments all around it, drawing on electronic music, alternative rock, rap, noise, and more. Her lyrics aren\u2019t always easy to make out in the cacophony beneath them, but they\u2019re sharp and often very funny, too. Standouts include \u201ck.i.s.s.,\u201d \u201ci h8 u,\u201d and \u201cthis time\u201d featuring the wonderfully named rapper Rahrah Gabor. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Suede \u2013 Antidepressants<\/em>.<\/strong> Suede promised this would be their post-punk album, and they delivered. This might be their best full-length in 20 years, and it\u2019s probably their most polished and cohesive work yet. Standouts include \u201cDisintegrate,\u201d \u201cTrance State,\u201d and \u201cDancing with the Europeans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. YHWH Nailgun \u2013 45 Pounds<\/em>. <\/strong>The absolute most WTF album of 2025, and even going back to it six months later I still find it perplexing and jarring. The entire album runs just 21:04, with ten tracks, none longer than 3:07, and it\u2019s driven by drummer Sam Pickard\u2019s use of a type of shell-less drum called a rototom, along with some complex meters and drum patterns. It\u2019s like nothing I\u2019ve heard before. I also don\u2019t think they can just roll this sound out again on another album; this works once, otherwise you\u2019re just black midi all over again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Emma-Jean Thackray \u2013 Weirdo<\/em>. <\/strong>Thackray\u2019s second full-length album, written mostly by her (with assists on two songs), recorded and produced entirely by her, all in the wake of the sudden death of her partner of 12 years, is a sprawling nineteen-song record, a document of grief and anger at the world, showing no fear in the lyrics or the music. It\u2019s modern jazz, with a strong funk influence and some pop notes, although she\u2019s almost unable to finish a chord sequence in a typical pop pattern. Standout tracks include the title song, \u201cWanna Die,\u201d and \u201cSave Me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Heartworms \u2013 Glutton for Punishment<\/em>. <\/strong>Jojo Orme\u2019s debut album was a huge critical success, a real tour de force that blended electronic, post-punk, goth, and even classical elements across nine songs that pulse and throb and just scream their urgency. It sounds like the culmination of years of work, while also sounding like the product of a far more experienced artist. It calls upon some of the best music of my own youth \u2013 and I\u2019m twice Orme\u2019s age \u2013 without sounding at all derivative of any of it, or even too reliant on any particular genre. Standouts include \u201cJust To Ask A Dance,\u201d \u201cWarplane,\u201d and \u201cJacked.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Little Simz \u2013 Lotus<\/em>. <\/strong>This was the diss record of 2025, although I don\u2019t think it was immediately obvious who or what it was about. Simz loaned her friend Inflo of SAULT over a million pounds to stage a concert, and he stiffed her, causing her to miss a huge tax payment to the British government and ending both their professional partnership and friendship. The first track, one of the many highlights of the record, is called \u201cThief,\u201d with the couplet \u201cYou talk about God when you have a God complex\/I think you’re the one that needs saving,\u201d and it just goes from there. Other than \u201cYoung,\u201d there isn\u2019t a miss on the record; other standouts include \u201cLion,\u201d \u201cFlood\u201d (both featuring Obongjayar), the title track, and closer \u201cBlue,\u201d featuring Sampha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Sudan Archives \u2013 The BPM<\/em>.<\/strong> Brittney Parks\u2019 last album ended up at #2 on my year-end list in 2022 as well; she\u2019s just wildly inventive, ignoring any restrictions of genre, and has an incredible ear for hooks. This is probably the closest I got to a no-skips album this year; \u201cMS. PAC-MAN\u201d is unlistenable, and a jarring departure from the rest of the record. Actual highlights include the title track, \u201cDead,\u201d \u201cA Bug\u2019s Life,\u201d and \u201cMy Type.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Geese \u2013 Getting Killed<\/em>.<\/strong> Obviously. Barely into their 20s, the boys in Geese have expanded beyond their very Gang of Four-ish roots from their debut album Projector<\/em>, while continuing to eschew typical rock or alt-rock patterns and rhythms and even song structures. It\u2019s post-something, and definitely experimental, but nowhere near as impenetrable as YHWH Nailgun or Yowie or Deerhoof, veering between screamed choruses with car-crash drums and 1970s-inflected vocal melodies that might trace their origins back to 10cc or Slik. Standouts include \u201cCobra,\u201d \u201c100 Horses,\u201d \u201cTrinidad,\u201d the whole album, really. FWIW, I didn\u2019t find Cameron Winter\u2019s solo album nearly as compelling. (Also, his mother is Molly Roden Winter, author of More: A Memoir of Open Marriage<\/em>, so that\u2019s a thing.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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