The Top Ten Albums of 2025

We've finally reached the end of our listening on the 5s saga. It's time to count down what really shined bright in 2025. Overall, I'd say 2025 was a mixed bag of a year, with many of the world's biggest stars either delivering some of the biggest flops of their careers or not dropping at all, which left room for a series of incredibly unexpected comebacks for legacy artists, surprise drops from new favorites and a few records that crowned new legends as the old idols have begun to falter. More specifically, this was the best year for female artists in a while, for the first time on these lists the female artists outnumber the men two to one (not to say the guys didn't deliver, specifically in the hip-hop area). It's hard to call 2025 the year of anything yet, I don't have hindsight to help me out, but what I can say is that these ten albums helped me get through a tumultuous year and I found so much joy in these songs. Now without further adieu, it's time to count down My Top Ten Albums of 2025!

#10 Don't Tap the Glass - Tyler, the Creator (28 minutes, Hip-Hop / House)

Rappers making dance albums has become a sort of trend in the past few years.  The most high profile of these was Drake’s attempt at a house record, Honestly Nevermind which was at best a mixed bag and at worst a complete miscalculation of his talents.  I would have been hard pressed before this year to name one of these kinds of albums that I really enjoyed, but Tyler’s surprise drop is certainly the best project of this kind.  No one was expecting to get new Tyler songs this year, especially after he gave us the brilliant Chromakopia last year, a nuanced neo-soul meets hip-hop record about his struggles with not knowing his father among other things.  This project is nowhere near as ambitious as Chromakopia, instead it just sees Tyler having fun on the mic and behind the boards, producing some hard-nosed dance tracks and a trio of soulful contemporary R&B joints to close things out.  The album title has been dissected to death, but basically this album is about putting down your phone and just shaking ass on the dance floor, living in the moment and experiencing the music.  That’s exactly what this album is good at, getting you out of your head and into your body, because the grooves are perfect for getting down and bobbing your head to every beat.  Tyler’s raps aren’t spectacular here, his flows are mainly just about accentuating the drums and bass, but every song benefits from his infectious high energy delivery.  He doesn’t usually go for superficial brag rap like this, but he’s quite good at it.  Not every song here is a hit, I think the duo of “Mommanem” and “Stop Playing with Me” kill the funky momentum built on the first half, and the ballads while pretty aren’t up to his best when it comes to slower songs, but when this album hits it hits hard.  One of the year’s most fun projects for sure.

Choice Cuts: "Ring Ring Ring" "Sugar on My Tongue" "Sucka Free"

#9 Man's Best Friend - Sabrina Carpenter (38 minutes, Pop / Soft Rock)

I feel like my year-end takes are rarely all that hot, sometimes I miss out on a highly acclaimed project, but usually I feel like I fall in line with popular opinion, but this year I’m gonna make a bold statement.  I think Man’s Best Friend is not only worthy of a spot on this list, but it is in my opinion Sabrina Carpenter’s best album yet.  Many folks seem to think last year’s Short ‘n’ Sweet was a stronger project and this feels like the leftovers, but honestly Short ‘n’ Sweet while sporting some truly great singles doesn’t have the consistency of this album, which has no skips this time around.  I think my appreciation for this record comes from the fact that I think Sabrina’s strongest quality is her sense of humor that emanates from her best lyrics, and this is easily Sabrina’s funniest project.  Her lyrics are witty and delightfully petty when it concerns the less than spectacular men she seems to be dating.  Every wry put down gets a smile out of me, because of how creative her punchlines are, rarely does she go for the easy, cliched pickings which puts her a cut above other pop stars. The way she is able to cut them down to size with flirtatious yet brutal lines is her greatest strength, especially when her delivery of them is so damn charismatic, using her blend of old Hollywood glam and natural born southern charm.  Melodically, Sabrina and her co-conspirators lean harder into the throwback sounds she flirted with on her last album, really embracing the urban cowboy country twang on her slower songs and the smash hit “Manchild”, while the album’s other major hit “Tears” sees her go full on disco revival along with the album’s sleeper hit and should-be single, “House Tour”, the album's silliest moment.  I’d argue the best moments though are where she goes full on yacht rock with silky smooth keys and guitar lines.  I’ve been waiting for a yacht rock revival for years, and if Sabrina’s leading the charge I couldn’t be happier.  I still feel that Sabrina’s upbeat poppy numbers are generally stronger than her ballads, but even then the album closer “Goodbye” with its ABBA-esque piano twinkles make me think she’s only gonna strengthen her artistry.  Sabrina Carpenter continues to prove that she’s not just a one trick pony, sure she writes about boys, but nobody has more fun writing about them than she does.  The best new pop star on the block not named Chappell Roan.

Choice Cuts: "House Tour" "Tears" "Goodbye" "When Did You Get Hot?"

#8 Virgin - Lorde (34 minutes, Synth-Pop)

I was hesitant when it came to my anticipation for the fourth album from New Zealand’s premier songstress, Lorde, namely because of how severe the drop-off was from her magnificent sophomore album Melodrama and her lukewarm third project, Solar Power.  While I don’t think this record reaches the dizzying heights of her first two albums, it certainly is light years ahead of her third as Lorde seems to have finally realized her strength lies in the intimacy of her lyrics, and on this album she gets more intimate than ever with songs that cut deep on an emotional level.  Since we last heard from Lorde, many things have changed, primarily her relationship to gender which is no longer binary and is very fluid, a concept which they explore to great effect on this record. Her uncertainity is reflected in the harsher sonic elements of the record, playing with industrial textures and heavy percussion that is far from her starker singer-songwriter beginnings.  Sonically, this is a very adventurous record, sounding nothing like any mainstream pop from the past few years, instead drawing from sounds of late 90s alternative like Garbage and NIN.  Lyrically, Lorde lays it all on the table, this is her most nakedly emotional set of songs yet, losing her typical detached sense of humor and being deeply human in the way she shows off her hurt, and it’s refreshingly straightforward.  The album’s opening stretch is its strongest point, playing with the sonic textures in the most interesting ways while retaining her keen melodic sensibilities, while the back half is a bit slower and ballad heavy.  I get why this didn’t hit as big as her earlier work, but at the same time, I think Lorde is tired of being a pop star, she’s ready to get weird, and this is certainly a step in the right direction.  A new evolution for a songwriter in transition.

Choice Cuts: "Hammer" "David" "Man of the Year" "What Was That"

#7 Returning to Myself - Brandi Carlile (43 minutes, Singer-Songwriter / Americana)

If there’s one artist that I can always count on to deliver a solid, enjoyable record it’s Brandi Carlile, and this year she continued her streak of unimpeachable records with this, her eighth solo album and her first in four years.  This wasn’t Brandi’s only outing this year, she also released a collaborative album with rock legend Elton John, but that project saw her mostly playing a supporting role to Elton’s leading man, but here she finds her spotlight and is able to deliver one of her most earnest and personal albums yet, revealing new aspects to her songwriting even twenty years into her career.  This record sees Carlile maintain her rootsy Americana style, but the album’s production is a lot cleaner and less rugged than her previous outings, and while you’d think that might neuter her music’s earthy charm, it allows us to hear more of her gorgeous voice than ever before.  By stripping back the arrangements, Brandi’s voice is always front and center along with her acoustic guitar, and that really benefits these songs, many of which feel profoundly intimate and more personal than ever.  Unlike her past projects, there aren’t really any traditional storytelling songs here, they all seem to be about herself, her desire to reconnect with her own self amidst a very busy career, her relationships with both her partner and her family and friends (with one song being an incredibly moving tribute to her friend and inspiration Joni Mitchell), and best of all about her relationship to time, aging and mortality.  There are some stark themes that Carlile confronts here, but she does it with a grace and maturity that makes these songs not only heartfelt, but really quite smart.  Brandi also delivers some more experimental moments here, playing with genre in a way she hasn’t before.  With “Human” she explores a more modern synth-heavy rock sound, whereas on “A Woman Oversees” she plays with a softer almost R&B inspired sound, but best of all is the hard-rocking, post-punk inflected “Church & State”, a fiery protest song about the sorry state of the US government.  The song sounds as if Brandi is fronting a classic War era U2 track and it is a revelation and it makes me need Brandi to deliver a full-on alternative rock record her next time out.  I wouldn’t say this is as consistently brilliant as her breakout project, By the Way I Forgive You, but it’s easily her best work since then and makes me deeply excited to see how Brandi keeps growing and evolving this deep into her career.  Another strong showing for America's reigning musical folk hero.

Choice Cuts: "Church & State" "A Woman Oversees" "No One Knows Us" "Returning to Myself"

#6 Everybody Scream - Florence + The Machine (49 minutes, Art Pop / Singer Songwriter)

The beauty of Florence and the Machine’s artistry is in its scope, there’s something gripping about the largess of Florence Welsh’s musical expressions, and on this, the band’s sixth record, they capture lightning in a bottle with a set of songs that balances their widescreen, cinematic breadth with some of Welsh’s most intimate and emotive songwriting yet.  While most folks think of Florence and the Machine as the band behind the ethereal power ballads like their signature song “Dog Days Are Over”, this record sees the group take their signature mysticism and Florence’s keening, tornado of a voice and really embracing a grittier rock texture more than ever before, while not sacrificing what makes them sound unique.  While the swirling strings and plush keyboard riffs are still there adding an angelic quality to each number, there is a greater emphasis on guitar riffage than ever before, these are some heavy, powerful songs and they hit like a truck when delivered by Florence’s hurricane vocals, which have rarely sounded more nuanced and powerful.  As she has aged, Florence has become a stronger and stronger singer, as she no longer uses her full power to steamroll every moment of a song, she pulls back when necessary and only unleashes her raw acrobatics when the song truly earns it, making each climactic moment feel all the more powerful.  This album was a surprise drop on Halloween, and you’d think that would make this a spooky record, from a group who always embraced a very witchy tone, and some of the best moments are the mystical horror-adjacent songs with Florence keening over haunted instrumentals with her witchiest, most Kate Bush inspired songs, but the most powerful moments tend to be the most deeply human ones. While the group were always fantastic at epic choral-inflected indie rockers it took the group a while to master the quieter moments, but here they soar with Florence's soft, subtle delivery of her beautifully genuine lyrics. The album's strongest moments are where Florence is deeply honest, whether it be her self-defeating confessions of falling in love too quickly on "Buckle", her struggles to make relationships last on "Music by Men" and wrestling with her place in a music industry dominated by male mediocrity on the righteous "One of the Greats".  This may not be as immediately striking as the group’s first two classic albums, but with each listen I find this rises in my estimation to be one of Welsh and company’s strongest works.  Fifteen years into their career, Florence and the Machine show no signs of slowing down, in fact they’re making the best work of their careers.  Happy Halloween to all the witches of the world.

Choice Cuts: "Sympathy Magic" "One of the Greats" "Music by Men" "Everybody Scream"

#5 Cabin in the Sky - De La Soul (1 hour and 10 minutes, Conscious Rap / Neo-Soul)

Of all the comebacks that we got this year, De La Soul delivering an album was not even a possibility I considered, but when they not only gifted us twenty new tracks, but an album that could seriously rival any of their 80s and 90s classics, I was absolutely overjoyed.  This project comes on the heels of the untimely passing of De La’s own Plug Two, Dave (aka Trugoy the Dove), and it functions as a beautiful tribute to Dave, with many songs showing the remaining members of the trio, Posdunos and Maseo, eulogizing his contributions to the group and hip-hop as a whole in myriad beautiful ways.  You’d think that would make this a somber affair, but when it comes to De La, it’s always gonna be a joyous occasion, and this album is loaded to the brim with an infectious, optimistic energy.  Clearly this is not a funeral, it is a musical celebration of life, with some of De La’s most life-affirming, upbeat and spiritually uplifting music ever.  The variety on display here is remarkable, over twenty songs Pos, Maseo and a horde of talented collaborators deliver songs in so many styles, we have party jams, smooth grooves for the ladies, politically charged moments, classic braggadocio, some beautiful spiritually minded songs and a heavy dose of nostalgia.  This album was released as a part of Nas’s “Legend Has It” collection, where seven golden age hip-hop acts dropped new projects on his label, and while many of those other projects felt like retreads of their glory days and a bit too heavily embroiled in nostalgia, this has a real modern sheen but still feels like classic De La.  It’s exactly what I would want a 2025 De La project to sound lik.  Every collaborator brings their own flavor to the table with some incredible verses from Nas, Black Thought, Slick Rick, Common, Killer Mike and others and production from legends like DJ Premier and Pete Rock, but the stars of the record are definitely always Pos and Maseo.  Maseo in particular really shines, as he was mostly a DJ in their early years, but here he spits a few really excellent verses, and Pos is absolutely on fire, delivering great lines and meaningful verses.  The best moments are the most heartfelt tributes to Dave (who posthumously gets a few verses as well, which are outstanding, as well as a couple production credits), and overall this feels like a love letter from De La to De La, and as a lifelong fan of theirs, it made me cry on multiple occasions.  These guys changed hip-hop and if this is their final outing, they will have left on the best possible note.

Choice Cuts: "Run It Back!!" "Cabin in the Sky" "En Eff" "YuhDontStop" "The Package" "Sunny Storms"

#4 West End Girl - Lily Allen (44 minutes, Alt-Pop / Singer-Songwriter)

One of the hallmarks of the social media age we live in is that we all know way too much about each other.  Privacy seems to be a forgotten concept and oversharing has become the norm, so much so that it seems harder than ever to be truly shocking, but with her fifth album, Lily Allen delivers a record that is more than just shocking, it’s a modern day tabloid in all its sordid glory.  For her entire career, Lily Allen has been a controversial figure, but on this album she takes control of her own narrative, writing an intimate, tell-all song cycle about the dissolution of her marriage to David Harbour, best known for Stranger Things.  The level of detail with which Allen writes is genuinely startling, I’ve never found another album that reads like a tell-all book with every single detail seeming more sleazy than the last, all set to the best music of her career.  If you don’t know already, Allen’s marriage fell apart when she took on a role in a West End play (hence the album title), and her husband asked to open up their marriage, and over the course of the record we see the extent of Harbour’s depravity and endless bending of their established rules and Allen’s own struggles to be open herself before she leaves him.  That already sounds like tawdry fair, but the excruciating detail of each song makes it hit so much harder, you really feel for Allen every step of the way.  This album is brutal in every sense, you really hate Harbour after listening to how he emotionally manipulated her at every turn, but Allen always is able to turn her lyrical knife inwards when necessary.  Musically, this record is her best work yet, embracing the melancholic alt-pop textures of her last record while also playing with a baroque, sophisti-pop influence with some elegant string arrangements and bossa nova grooves, which make even the grossest moments feel elevated.  In addition, she feels modern and current with some heavy Charli XCX and hyper-pop influences on the more frenetic tracks.  This album’s greatest strength is in its storytelling, Lily Allen has always been a really strong lyricist, but on her early records she was an observational songwriter, but with this she takes her knack for detailed examinations of the world around her and decides to tell a full-length story, and she’s never written better.  Vocally, she has settled into a nice niche where she sits comfortably, cooing like a late 60s pop star like Francoise Hardy with her mockney accent but it’s always more about the words themselves than her despairing delivery.  This is an addictive album, because each time you listen you get engrossed in the story all over again.  It’s hard to tell if this was just a random burst of inspiration (the album was recorded in less than two weeks), or a true revitalization of Lily’s muse, but I can say definitively that this is her best album ever in a catalog full of whipsmart pop.  You might feel like a voyeur while you’re listening, but aren’t we all just jonesing for that next bit of gossip?

Choice Cuts: "Pussy Palace" "Tennis" "Madeline" "Dallas Major" "Fruityloop"

#3 Mayhem - Lady Gaga (53 minutes, Synth-Pop)

Lady Gaga has been a part of my life since the second grade, when I became deeply obsessed with “Bad Romance”, one of my first ever favorite songs.  In a way, I’ve been able to grow up with Gaga’s artistry, and for that reason I couldn’t have been more excited for this album, her first in five years, and the Little Monster in me was ready for another gem.  To my delight, this album is Gaga’s best in years, at least since her misunderstood opus, ARTPOP from 2013, if not her culture dominating Born This Way from 2011.  Some critics might stick their noses up at this album saying Gaga isn’t evolving anymore, this is pure nostalgia bait, revivalism of the kind of pop she was best known for on her first three pop culture shifting projects, and to that I say, who cares when the music is this damn good!  Gaga has never struggled when it comes to writing catchy pop songs with an inimitable mystique, but these songs feel special, in their ability to lodge their hooks in your brain on first listen.  After a few listens, I could have probably sang you the entire record, that’s the mark of a classic pop album in my book.  This feels like the final evolution of Gaga, the pop auteur, as it fuses so many of the aspects of her lauded early albums.  There’s the pure electro-pop dance floor bangers like the MJ-inspired “Shadow of a Man” (ala The Fame), the witchy macabre dance-pop of a song like “Abracadabra” (ala The Fame Monster)  and anthemic, strident pop rock choruses like the soaring, beautiful “Vanish Into You” (ala Born This Way).  Not to mention the edgy, alternative art-pop tracks like “Killah” which feel like modern, harsher updates of the glossy synth wonderland of ARTPOP, but even better this time around.  By no means does this mean Gaga doesn’t do anything new, the lead single “Disease” is an aggressive, noisy slice of industrial rock shaped into a perfect pop-rock song, it’s as if Trent Reznor met Bonnie Tyler and it’s one of the best singles of the year by far.  The edgier, more hard-nosed electronic production is the album’s strongest suit, other than Gaga’s way with hooks, and makes it stand out from her earlier, glitzier projects, fully embracing the darkness that’s always been there throughout her career.  The album closes with three beautiful ballads including the Bruno Mars assisted worldwide smash “Die with a Smile”, which shows that she has finally perfected the country-tinged pop ballads she was toying with on Joanne too.  While I do concede the album’s first half is stronger than the back half, the run from “Disease” through the deliriously silly disco pop jam “Zombieboy” is my favorite seven track run this year, by anyone (not to mention the trio of outstanding bonus tracks).  Sometimes, when you’re the world’s most beloved pop star, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel, you just have to deliver the goods, and with this album Gaga kept me, and the rest of the Little Monsters, more than fed.  Mother Monster delivers another modern classic.

Choice Cuts: "Abracadabra" "Disease" "Zombieboy" "Vanish Into You" "Garden of Eden"

#2 Let God Sort 'Em Out - Clipse (40 minutes, Gangsta Rap)

When legends make a comeback, expectations are always high, and usually, regardless of how good the project might be, people are usually let down because it’s not as good as they wanted it to be, but when that comeback is not only great, but exceeds expectations, then that is something to truly celebrate.  That is the case for this record, the first from coke rap connoisseurs Clipse in over fifteen years, since 2009’s maligned Till the Casket Drops, where it feels like the duo never left, because they haven’t lost a single step, in fact both MCs are in rare form on the mic, having arguably leveled up as rappers since their 2000s heyday.  Neither of the brothers Thornton, Pusha T and Malice, spit a wack line on any of these songs, it’s pure, peak performance from both of them with razor sharp lyrics that drip with braggadocio, witty word play and some genuinely powerful, emotionally resonant bars.  Pusha T, who has been rocking the hip-hop community as a solo artist since Clipse’s dissolution, kills it as per usual with his untouchable bravado and lethal flows, but for the first time ever, it seems like Malice, who was up until very recently retired from the game, outraps him for the most part, with a legendary pen and brilliant delivery.  Not only do the boys bring it lyrically, their production hasn’t lost a step either, as this is also a reunion of the Clipse boys with their legendary producer, Pharrell, who along with his fellow Neptune Chad Hugo produced the first two Clipse albums.  While these beats may lack the sheer off the wall experimentation of the best moments on their magnum opus Hell Hath No Fury, Pharrell laces these beats with incredible drums and wildly creative samples from both classic R&B and world music records.  Pharrell also contributes his trademark vocals to a few hooks, which makes it feel like 2006 again.  In terms of subject matter, it’s Clipse so they’re gonna rap about their pre-rap career as drug dealers, and even after so many years using the same subject matter, it never gets old, because they never write the same verse, they make it sound vital every single time.  It’s not always just coke though, with their newfound maturity they deliver some really thoughtful moments, like the album opener, which is a tribute to the recent passing of both of the Thorntons’ parents, as well as Malice’s verses about his return to the game after becoming a born again Christian.  Pusha and Malice get some killer guest verses from some of hip-hop’s great luminaries, with Kendrick and Tyler both delivering knockout performances as well as a fabulous spot from Nas on the title track.  Pharrell’s producer tag on this album is the phrase “this is culturally inappropriate”, and I’d agree.  This is a subversive album, in more ways than one.  It reminds the current hip-hop fans that it’s not just about flossing and flaunting your riches, it’s about the come up, and that isn’t always pretty, and it subverts the hip-hop pecking order and shows these veterans staking their claim at the top of the mountain, and based on this album I’d say Clipse is running the game right now.  The legends are back at the top, where they belong.

Choice Cuts: "Chains & Whips" "So Be It" "The Birds Don't Sing" "Let God Sort 'Em Out/Chandeliers" "P.O.V."

#1 Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party - Hayley Williams (1 hour and 6 minutes, Alternative / Indie Pop)

Hayley Williams : It can be a toss-up when it comes to artists who are best known as members of a great band delivering a worthwhile solo album, sometimes you get a Paul McCartney and other times you get a Ringo Starr.  With her third solo record, Hayley Williams, best known as the lead singer of Paramore, delivers a solo album that not only sits easily next to any classic Paramore album, but one that feels necessary, vital and extremely powerful in this day and age.  Paramore began their career as a pop-punk outfit, one of the best on the market, but after their major line-up change in 2010, they have drifted further and further away from their pop-punk roots and more into the world of pop and alt-rock as a whole, with their previous two albums being explorations of glossy new wave pop and danceable post-punk revival respectively.  This means that Hayley herself is no stranger to being a genre chameleon, but on this album she takes it a step further with an album that doesn’t feel rooted in a single genre and instead shifts and changes with each song, like a classic double LP in the grand tradition of records like Prince’s Sign ‘o’ the Times or The Clash’s London Calling.  These songs were almost entirely released as singles, and then compiled into an album, which is why it’s so surprising that it holds together as a unit as well as it does, all draped in a sleepy, warm but melancholic vibe.  While the songs themselves are sonic explorations of new territory, with a blend of down-tempo R&B, glassy indie pop, vocoder-drenched electro-rock, hazy Garbage inspired trip-hop and bouncy pop-rock, lyrically Hayley ties it all together with her most personal and intimate lyrics yet, exploring the history of her relationship with bandmate Taylor York, who she worked with for years before developing a romantic relationship, and based on this record may have broken up with.  The record is melancholic, but the ways in which she contrasts her heartbreak with the memories of their best moments, however large or small, makes it hit all the harder during the saddest moments.  Lyrically, Hayley has never been better, writing very accessible songs about challenging topics.  It’s rare to find a better song about dependence on mental health drugs than the raucous rocker “Mirtazipine” or a song with as much nuance as “True Believer” when it comes to Hayley’s difficult relationship with her roots in the small town South.  These songs feel like novellas in their explicit detail rendered as poetically as possible, you can get lost in her lyricism easily which matches the dreamy musical aesthetic wonderfully.  Hayley Williams has been credited as one of the greatest vocalists of her generation, and this record shows off a completely different side of her voice, instead of the howling, brassy yet soulful belting that she uses for Paramore tracks, here she sings in whispers and coos showing a rare nuance that Paramore never allows for.  Her performances lend itself to the intimacy of the material.  There’s no skip on this album, and the best songs can easily stake a claim as some of her strongest material solo or otherwise.  I’m cautiously optimistic that even among the personal turmoil that Paramore will stick it out, they’ve weathered storms before, but even if they don’t, if this album is anything to judge, Hayley is nowhere near done making great music.  The year’s best listen, and each time you go back, you’ll find something new to love. 

Choice Cuts: "Parachute" "Mirtazipine" "True Believer" "Good Ol' Days" "Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party" "Glum"

If you made it this far, thanks so much for taking this journey with me, not only through 2025 but all the 5s. These articles are always a joy to write, as it gets me to reconnect with music I might not have listened to in a while, and if I introduced you to just one record or song you hadn't heard before, and you ended up enjoying then I did my job. Thanks for reading and I'll be back soon with some new blog posts.

Happy listening and Happy New Year's!