20. DAVE, THE BOY WHO PLAYED THE HARP

Expectations were high for Dave’s fourth studio LP: he is widely regarded as one of the most talented rappers the UK has ever produced, and it had been four years since anyone had last heard from him. But he didn’t play it safe. Centred around an extended allegory of the Old Testament Book of Samuel, with its ten chorus-sparse tracks regularly running beyond five minutes’ runtime, The Boy Who Played the Harp is certainly dense. It features an all-star cast including Kano, Tems, James Blake and Jim Legxacy, but Dave’s storytelling is the real star of the show here – seeing the Streatham-born rapper grapple with the weight of his success in punchy one-liners like “How am I trying to pray for Congo with these diamonds on my neck?”, and “I cried about slavery then went Dubai with my girl”. Thank God Dave played to his strengths and didn’t actually play the harp as the album’s cover art suggested. (SPM)

19. JANE REMOVER, REVENGESEEKERZ

Bone-crushing basses and apocalyptic maximalism – Revengerseekerz is Jane Remover’s third project, fired straight into the ether. Conceived while touring with JPEGMAFIA, the 12-track release drags the listener through a hellfire circuit of detonation: digicore, EDM, experimental hip-hop and more, collapsing into an abrasive amalgam that is unexpectedly cathartic. (TM)

18. JACKZEBRA, HUNCHED JACK MIXTAPE

Can’t understand what he’s saying? Don’t worry, most Mandarin speakers can’t either. With lyrics submerged in experimental rage-plugg production, and further obscured behind layered vocal effects, Jackzebra’s vocals are virtually part of the instrumental itself. With Jack recently becoming NYC record label Surf Gang’s first non-English speaking signee, it’s a sound that has seen Jack crowned both the unlikely figurehead of the new generation of Chinese rap, as well as a surprisingly coherent mouthpiece for Chinese Gen Z’s today – with his drowned-out vocals reflecting Chinese youth’s growing disillusionment with the country’s tireless work culture. Hunched Jack Mixtape is Jackzebra’s first release since receiving both of these titles and, with guest contributions from Surf Gang’s Harto Falión and Drain Gang associate Woesum, it’s a powerful statement. (SPM)

17. JAMES K, FRIEND

James K is a prodigious talent (when I saw her live at Union Chapel earlier this year, her vocals were genuinely jaw-dropping) and Friend is one of the most beautiful albums released this year. More accessible than her earlier work, the New York-based producer’s third full-length release is still an innovative blend of different genres: there are elements of shoegazey indie rock, trip-hop, drum-and-bass, a fairly straightforward pop anthem in “Play”, and moments of blissed-out, ambient electronica that wouldn’t sound out of place in a Balearic island in the early 2000s. With these disparate influences, she has created something distinct, an album that is mesmerising and at moments truly transcendent. (JG)

16. TURNSTILE, NEVER ENOUGH

Over the years, Baltimore’s Turnstile have attracted some negative attention for straying away from the canon of hardcore music (trumpets in a hardcore tune? gasp!), but, on their fourth album, Never Enough, they manage to cover all bases without compromise. It’s a maximalist world in which 80s synths merge into amped-up power chords, and the lineage of Bad Brains and Maryland legend Justice Tripp collide with contributions from AG Cook and Hayley Williams. It’s a space that satisfies easy listening and mosh pits alike, and the haters have been real quiet since this one was released. (SPM)

15. JUSTIN BIEBER, SWAG

Props to Justin Bieber for the biggest turnaround of 2025. At the start of the year, following several chaotic viral videos, we were all concerned for the star’s well-being. Little did we know, he’d been busy in the studio cooking up a surprise album alongside Dijon and Mk.gee (whose debut album, Two Star & the Dream Police, topped our best albums of 2024 list). Swag dropped out of nowhere in mid-July – not only surprising us with its lack of warning, but also for Bieber’s new direction. In his early teens, during one of his first ever interviews, the singer explained that his ambition was to become an R&B artist, and finally, 17 years later, with Swag he achieved it. He may be in his 30s now, but to most of the world, Justin Bieber is frozen in time as the glossy-haired child making catchy pop music. This album was his escape from that image, enlisting a dream team of 2025’s most successful producers to assist with his makeover. Bieber promised us he was “standing on business”, and he wasn’t lying. (IVD)

14. ETHEL CAIN, PERVERTS

I first listened to Ethel Cain’s Perverts a few days after it released, on the recommendation of a coworker. Well, their exact words were: “I had to stop listening to the album because I was worried I was conjuring a demon.” I decided to listen to it on a plane and, after we were stalled on a runway shrouded in dense fog, proceeded to have one of the weirdest overnight flights of my life. And, as it turned out, that coworker wasn’t far off: Dante’s Inferno is just one of the macabre, many-layered inspirations for the record. Maybe this experience coloured my review of the album, but I don’t think so. Regardless of where you listen – in the thrumming hull of a stranded Airbus, or in the comfort of your own home – Perverts is a remarkable feat, especially when you consider that it’s sandwiched between Cain’s more accessible (still brilliant and experimental) Southern Gothic albums, Preacher’s Daughter and Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You. While exploring similar dark, religious themes as those ‘poppier’ albums, Perverts pushes the experimentation much further, slowing things down to a crawl, building tension via rumbling noise and ominous mantras, and letting it all out in transcendent moments of release. That moment where the guitars kick in on “Punish”? It feels like stepping off a busy street into a vast, silent cathedral. As was written in Dazed earlier this year: it’s been a good year for art that challenges its audience, and there’s a strong case to be made that Perverts is the most challenging, and rewarding, of the lot. (TW)

13. GEESE, GETTING KILLED

It’s been a long time since a breakout record from a guitar band has felt this fresh. There is a lot going on in Getting Killed, Geese’s fourth album and their first since Cameron Winter’s solo venture ‘Heavy Metal’ became an unexpected hit. Originating in a series of jam sessions, it feels both expansive and tightly controlled; the sound of a band enjoying themselves but not getting carried away. There are brass instruments, unusual percussion, elements drawn from gospel, funk and jazz, and even a sample of a Ukrainian choir, but it never strays into noodling self-indulgence – songs like ‘Taxes’ and ‘100 Horses’ offer some of the most propulsive, euphoric rock music released in years. Winters’ vocals, alternately crooning, warbling and yelping, add to the distinct flavour, at moments bringing absurd theatricality and at others real pathos (“Half Real” is a genuinely affecting love song). Indie rock is back… and this time it’s interesting! (JG)

12. FKA TWIGS, EUSEXUA

One of the most exquisite emotional experiences it’s possible to have is that blend of melancholy and euphoria which sometimes hits you on the dance floor. With several songs from Eusexua and its reissue (the title track, for example, or the transcendent “Perfectly”), Twigs captures this state better than anyone. But there’s a lot more going on than just wistful-in-the-club bangers. There are traces of Ray of Light-era Madonna (“Girl Feels Good”), Björk at her most propulsive (“Room of Fools”), and some of her most accessible music (“Perfect Stranger” may be the most radio-friendly thing she’s ever done) as well as her most experimental. But rather than an exercise in nostalgic pastiche, Eusexua feels like a dispatch from the cutting-edge of contemporary club culture and the product of a singular vision. (JG)

11. ADDISON RAE, ADDISON

I will be the first person to admit that I have some unconscious (or maybe conscious...) reservations when we see the influencer-to-musician pipeline. But when Addison Rae dropped her debut album earlier this year, there was no denying that she set a new standard for internet girls. Self-titled with no features, Addison was entirely produced by the duo Elvira Anderfjärd and Luka Kloser. The opening track, my personal favourite, “New York”, is a buzzy song that belongs at the opening sequence of an HBO sitcom of young, rich adults in the city. Across 11 songs that follow, Addison grapples with desire, escapism and self-analysis. What I think the album does well is that she is not trying to be someone she is not. Whether she wants to roll a joint with Lana Del Rey (“Money Is Everything”) or compare herself to “the new it-girl” (“Headphones On”), the world she builds is both innovative and natural for her. The earnest moments feel authentic, but it remains fun, alluring and at times borderline hypnotic. While the album was actually quite well-received critically, there has been a pattern of people disregarding its artistry due to how playful it is. And to those with that line of thought, all I have to say is hating girly pop music does not make you cool or interesting x (HD)

10. LORDE, VIRGIN

On April 9 of this year, Lorde posted her first-ever TikTok. Running through Washington Square Park in a white shirt to a mysterious snippet of “What Was That”, the 15-second video was the first taste of her new era. Two months later, she dropped her fourth studio album, Virgin. For die-hard Lorde stans, it's not unusual to see her drop off the map entirely and then reemerge with a whole new energy and sound. Back in 2021, it was the sandy beaches of her home in New Zealand that carried the enlivened Solar Power, but this time around, it was the streets of London and New York that inspired most of Virgin. With 11 songs, the album unpacks femininity, sex, relationships and more, while anchored in visceral synth sounds (produced by Jim-E Stack. On songs like “Broken Mirror” and “David”, the vulnerability we know and love from Lorde shines through. While other tracks, such as “Current Affairs” and “GRWM”, bring an older, sexier touch, which, for those of us who have followed her journey since she was a 16-year-old teen prodigy, feels exactly like what makes sense for her 13 years later. (HD)

9. NOURISHED BY TIME, THE PASSIONATE ONES

Nourished by Time has been releasing excellent music for years, but his talent as a songwriter reached new heights on The Passionate Ones, his second full-length release. In a pop landscape dominated by trends, it has a timeless quality; his influences are apparent – R&B, of course, along with soul, disco and 1980s New Wave - but he really only sounds like himself. There are so many highlights: the majestic piano ballad “When the War is Over”; the wistful synth lines which close out “Idiot in the Park”; the way ‘Max Potential’ starts out ominously, builds to an explosive chorus and dissipates into exquisite melancholy. 

The Passionate Ones is a fun album – there are plenty of songs you can dance to – but there is also a recurrent sense of unease. ‘Baby Baby’, for example, features one of the only references to Gaza I’ve heard in music this year:  “the evidence was haunting, the world kept on turning. If you can bomb Palestine, you can bomb Mondawmin’  (a predominantly Black neighbourhood in his native Baltimore)” This is a solid point – seemingly referring to the idea that colonial violence always returns home – but it doesn’t feel didactic in the way that political music often does. The song isn’t about Gaza, but it’s there in the background as something too terrible to be ignored, one part of a larger disquiet – I think this is an effective way to write about it. Frenetic, anxious and mournful, ‘Baby Baby’  captures the feeling of being alive in 2025 like nothing else I’ve heard this year. (JG)

8. AMAARAE, BLACK STAR

There have been lots of great pop albums released this year, but Black Star – the Ghanaian-American artist's third full-length release – is the most interesting and original. There is a truly dizzying combination of genres and influences at work: from samples of “Believe” by Cher and the “Thong Song” to elements drawn from dembow, techno, house, baile funk, Ghanaian highlife, 1980s R&B and various forms of afropop, to name just a few. This is genuinely innovative music, but it’s also just so fun. ‘S.M.O’  is, in my opinion, the song of the year, and the pitch-shifted, four-to-the-floor breakdown towards the end of “Fineshyt” might be the most exhilarating ten seconds. Black Star is sexy, glamorous, and occasionally ridiculous (take the “ketamine coke and molly!” refrain from ‘Starkiller’; or the swaggering bravado of the Naomi Campbell-featuring ‘ms60’), but it has its quieter and more introspective moments too. Amaarae deserves to be a Beyoncé-level superstar, and we are blessed to have her. (JG) 

7. BLOOD ORANGE, ESSEX HONEY 

It’s hard to think of an album more stacked with big names at the top of their game, in 2025, than Essex Honey. Caroline Polachek! Lorde! Mustafa! Daniel Caesar! The Durutti Column, circa 1998! These are far from random features designed to catch our eye on streaming services, though. In the seven years since his last album as Blood Orange, Dev Hynes has assembled a consistent and meaningful project, even as it oscillates between songs of sweeping melancholy and bops designed for the dancefloor. And that’s just the first two tracks – not to mention the biggest hitters like “Mind Loaded” and “The Field”, where each of his collaborators assemble to make music that’s even more than the sum of its parts. (TW)

6. DIJON, BABY

In the four years since releasing his acclaimed solo debut Absolutely, Dijon became a father. It’s follow-up, appropriately titled Baby, trades on the same introspective lyrics and crackling riffs that made his first album so popular, but delivered through the lens of new fatherhood. Because of this, tracks brim with vigour and delight, like “Another Baby!”, an exuberant reminder to his partner that they’ve “got all they need to expand this collection”, or lead single “Yamaha”, whose twinkly keys and unrestrained emotion remind you that there’s still a lot of love in the world. As Justin Bieber knows, Dijon is the only man who can deliver a new Dijon record, and Baby’s only crime is that we had to wait four years until it was born. (EH)

5. BAD BUNNY, DEBÍ TIRAR MÁS FOTOS

It’s been a big 2025 for Bad Bunny. Actually, it’s been a big decade for Bad Bunny, with the Puerto Rican rapper topping Spotify’s Global Artist list not once, not twice, not thrice, but four times as of last week. His sixth studio album, Debí Tirar Más Fotos (I Should Have Taken More Photos), combines an infectious blend of reggaeton, house and traditional Puerto Rican genres: plena, jíbaro, salsa and bomba. You can’t help but move to it, and yet, on top of it being sonically addictive, it carries an important message. Throughout the album, Bad Bunny addresses Puerto Rico’s current political status, exploring themes of gentrification, immigration and identity. It landed just three months after Tony Hinchcliffe described Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage” during a Trump rally, and sadly, only became more relevant throughout 2025, with ruthless ICE raids across the US. According to a report published by UCLA in October, Latin Americans accounted for nine out of ten ICE arrests during the first six months of the year. Thankfully, 2026 will be yet another big year for Bad Bunny, with the rapper confirmed as next year’s Super Bowl halftime show performer. Given the current political climate – plus American football’s heavy MAGA-audience – this Latin American superstar’s entirely Spanish Super Bowl performance couldn’t be better timed. See you next year, Benito. (IVD)

4. ESDEEKID, REBEL

This album singlehandedly led to Americans discovering the city of Liverpool. Masked rapper EsDeeKid’s Wraith 9-produced debut, Rebel, was initially a slow-burn, but in the last three months, it has catapulted him from one to ten (correction: eleven) million monthly listeners, put his name next to Timothee Chalamet’s, and had fans all over the world mimicking his distinctive Scouse accent. Despite the focus on his voice, however, the project actually inhabits a unique musical intersection – slightly cleaner than rage rap, slightly angrier than Drain Gang’s cloud rap, and with lyricism that’s heavily indebted to the lineage of UK rap. It’s a combination that has united outcasts globally and stands as one of the most impactful musical debuts in recent memory. Although EsDeeKid’s face is yet to be revealed, one thing’s for certain: Mr Chalamet could never. (SPM)

3. JIM LEGXACY, BLACK BRITISH MUSIC

My partner first sent me a link to Jim Legxacy’s Black British Music in the summer. Due to the season’s busyness, I – to my own detriment – ignored their message. It wasn’t until September when one of my best friends made me listen to “father” and “d.b.a.b” in our kitchen, where we danced and danced and danced, that I realised I was missing out on something huge. Black British Music is Legxacy’s second mixtape after Homeless N*gga Pop Music, which seamlessly explores several different genres from rap, afrobeats, emo, R&B and more. Legxacy is not afraid to discuss the struggles he’s experienced in his life through his music, and in Black British Music, he discusses the earthshattering death of his sister Atinkue Olaloye and the effect it has had on him and his family. In my opinion, Black British Music is a particularly special album because it does something very human, while discussing this soul-crushing tragedy, Legxacy is still able to make music that is joyful and fun. It provides a profound reminder of how joy and light coexist amidst so much darkness. (HJ)

2. OKLOU, CHOKE ENOUGH

Oklou’s Choke Enough arrived on an icy February morning in the final throes of winter – the hangover of hyper-stimulating Brat summer. At the time, the French artist – real name Marylou Mayniel – described the album as a “quest for meaning, of the need to be touched”, whether that’s “a grandiose epiphany or a passing quotidien moment.” What are the situations we put ourselves in, she asked, just to feel alive? How do you cultivate romance and passion in a life increasingly flattened by screens?

The 13-track record, Mayniel’s first official album, embarks on this “quest for meaning” quietly. There are flashes of four-on-the-floor pressure and trance-like euphoria, but mostly this is a floaty, reflective journey. There are recurring themes: the heady trap of the doomscroll (“Thank you for recording”), the urge to behave recklessly (“choke enough”), and the overwhelming desire to “open the windows” and touch grass (“ict”, “plague dogs”, “harvest sky”). 

Mayniel is an artist drawn to nostalgia, and Choke Enough carries a faintly hauntological glow, which is apt for a year which has felt so disjointed and uncanny. It is also a sparkling showcase of her classical training, woven with uncanny textures, field recordings and baroque, polyphonic arrangements. Even months later, it’s still on repeat. (DS)

1. ROSALÍA, LUX 

There’s an origin myth found in the Book of Genesis that tells the story of the Tower of Babel. The gist of it is that before the tower was built, all humans spoke only one language. United by the power of a universal tongue, the Babylonians set out to build a city with a tower so tall that it could reach heaven. To punish humankind for its pride and disobedience, God scattered them and confused their speech, resulting in the many languages and cultures that exist today. When Rosalía released her fourth studio album, Lux, last month – on which she sings in 13 different languages – some critics drew comparisons to the Tower of Babel. Unlike the parable, however, the purpose of Rosalía’s masterpiece is to unite humanity, rather than divide it. It’s an album that demands focus and inspires the listener to seek education. Unless you speak all 13 languages, to understand Lux in its entirety, Rosalía forces you to discover something new about a culture different from your own. Even after you’ve translated it, the lyrics themselves tell stories – history lessons from the past thousand years of brave women, now immortalised as saints. But beyond the meaning of the lyrics, the emotion that accompanies them is enough to thaw the coldest of hearts. With help from the London Symphony Orchestra, Lux’s orchestral arrangement only amplifies our biblical journey, and though it does the opposite of the Tower of Babel, Lux still unfolds like a staircase to heaven – ending with “Magnolias”, which poignantly begs of the listener: “what I didn’t do in life you do in my death”. It’s a body of work that transcends time, genre and language, and yet, miraculously, has been streamed around the world almost half a billion times. It’s proof that the kids are alright. That we’re alright. And that no matter how mind-numbing the endless content machine becomes, the desire to learn and connect persists. (IVD)