40) Service Station At The End of the Universe – Antony Szmierek

Euphoric, catchy and bold, Antony Szmierek delivered one of the year’s most enjoyable debut albums by ignoring any expectations on him. I can be hit and miss on ‘spoken word’ to music albums, but this record ends up being so dance focused it feels like if Mike Skinner did a Boiler Room set. Shout out to the Stockport Pyramid on my AOTY list.

39) Richard Russell Is Temporary – Everything is Recorded

The Everything is Recorded project should never have worked, so many contrasting creative people working together on a project should be a mess. But Temporary recaptures the magic of that debut record, the unifying thing here is how looking inward can actually bring our sounds and experiences closer together. The likes of Sampha, Florence Welch, Sam Morton and Maddy Prior make this such an enthralling listen.

38) I’m Only Fucking Myself – Lola Young

Arriving just 15 months after the fantastic It Wasn’t About You Anyway, the fact that Lola has created such a bold third album so soon after her breakthrough amidst the sudden commercial rise she saw in the wake of hit Messy is so impressive. Moments like Post Sex Clarity, SPIDERS and Not Like That Anymore capture the rock edge I really loved in her previous music, while her personality continues to shine through. Lola continues to impress me so much and I really hope she can get the balance right of her career for her own sake, she deserves to enjoy being a musician as much as it is to hear these albums.

37) GOOD FOR THE SOUL – GANS

A wild, brutal and daring record that demands your attention and earns it as every track unfolds. Love the guitar on this record, moments like I THINK I LIKE YOU are almost disco, while the diversity of sound heard on EVERYTHING IN EXTREME makes it such a dynamic album. Defies your expectations throughout, an immediate favourite and continues to get better every time I go back to it.

36) Full Moon – Moonchild Sanelly

Uplifting, danceable, catchy and fun, Full Moon is Moonchild Sanelly’s personality on an album. There really is no music quite like this album, pulling influence from Africa, but also bassy house on In My Kitchen and Do My Dance. There’s a poignancy to her performance on I Was The Biggest Curse and even To Kill A Single Girl, while Big Booty is exactly the sort of positive energy I need to be carrying into 2026. Full Moon comes alive when Moonchild Sanelly is on stage, some of my favourite live moments of the year too.

35) Let God Sort Em Out – Clipse

A Hip Hop classic out of time. Let God Sort Em Out recalls my personal fave era of Rap music, but still manages to sound so relevant and current too. Malice is excellent here, but for me Pusha T owns this album. The songs where they trade bars back and forth are electric. Throw in some of Pharrell’s best production ever and it’s no surprise one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the year is also one of the most accessible and instantly enjoyable.

34) choke enough – Oklou

The smallest and most insular album on my list, Oklou manages to do just enough on tracks like ict and the title track in a genre that can be so in your face it’s refreshing to hear this from electronic music. But it allows for the peak moments like Harvest Sky or take me by the hand to really shine when she wants them to. Such a bold debut record that is really captivating when you lose yourself to it.

33) . – Kesha

I was actually nervous going into the latest album by Kesha, the singles hadn’t got me as excited as I had hoped following her fantastic career best album Gag Order. I needen’t have worried, the bold and experimental sound of that album is alive and well on tracks like FREEDOM., DELUSIONAL. and CATHEDRAL.. While THE ONE., RED FLAG. and BOY CRAZY. prove why Kesha is one of the greatest pop songwriters of her generation. Kesha’s first truly independent release as a free woman and she reclaims her voice on this brilliant album.

32) hopefully – Loyle Carner

Somehow Loyle Carner has managed to make the quietest and most introspective music of his career. Moments like strangers are so stark and empty that it allows for Loyle to fill the music with some really touching, emotional and honest lyricism. His most soulful music yet and maybe not as flashy as the brilliant Hugo, or the catchy moments on Not Waving, But Drowning, but the nicest guy in Rap continues to create music that makes me feel so much.

31) Magic Alive! – Mckinley Dixon

Loud, funky and free very few hip-hop albums in 2025 were as bold as Magic Alive!. Stacked with jazz influence at every turn, every track is so independent of each other, differing stories, new perspectives but comes together so brilliantly as a whole album thanks to the musicianship on display. Lyrically exhilarating and uplifting it’s an instant classic that rewards you to go back time and time again.

30) Louder, Please – Rose Gray

Imagine being so in command of your own sound that you can release Louder, Please as your debut album? Rose Gray left a massive impact on me this year, tracks like Wet & Wild, Everything Changes and Switch some of the most instantly fun pop music of the year. Bops 12 bops to start a long career making banging pop music.

29) Don’t Look Down – Kojey Radical

Kojey Radical is so engaging as a rapper, I was a massive fan of his joyous debut record Reason To Smile and Don’t Look Down retains the uplifting and dynamic presence he brought to that album. Here though he’s diving into wider genres, musically adventurous and engaging throughout. I love his lyrics and performance on Conversation, while Expensive is one of the year’s most infectious rap records. Kojey is so direct but there’s a joy inside of him that just beams on moments like Comfortable or Rule One.

28) moisturizer – Wet Leg

I enjoyed the debut Wet Leg album, it placed at number 40 on this very list back in 2022, but I didn’t know whether the ‘gimmick’ of it all would last past the next festival season. Moisturizer is a very well said ‘sit down an shut up’ to any doubters as it’s the band’s most thrilling and engaging music yet. Few rock bands are as command as Wet Leg are on the absolute standouts Catch These Fists or don’t speak. Mangetout is obscenly hooky, while elsewhere there’s a confidence and a rawness that’s impossible to deny. Alt rock in 2025 didn’t get much better than moisturizer.

27) In Limerence – Jacob Alon

Such a quietly devastating record from an artist with a singular voice and style. I love the way they play the guitar on this record, specifically songs like Fairy In a Bottle, the picking gives everything this closeness that brings the lyrics even nearer to you. There’s a poignancy on I Couldnt Feed Her or August Moon and Jacob’s voice is so unique here it’s entrancing. One of the year’s most delicate records and definitely one of the biggest breakthrough records too.

26) Who Let The Dogs Out – Lambrini Girls

Loud, abrasive but an absolute riot. Lyrically there’s moments that feel aimed at me to the point where including this on my best albums of the year list feels performative. ‘‘Oh my god, hi do you remember me? You reposted that thing I wrote about women in music. Thank you so much for doing your bit’ and all I can do is lean into the irony of it all. So in command but absolute unafraid of a catchy hook, Big Dick Energy, Company Culture and Filthy Rich Neop Baby some of best on here. 2025 would have been boring without this absolute knockout of a debut album.

25) I quit – HAIM

The thing I appreciate the most about I quit is how effortless it feels at this point. Maybe this album isn’t up there with the career highs of Women In Music pt III but I quit never feels like it’s aiming for that at all. Instead it’s Danielle, Este and Alana as their raw, confident selves. Musically the band have never sounded more in control than on Down to be wrong and everybody’s trying to figure me out, while Blood on the Street sees Este and Alana shine as vocalists in a way I’ve never heard before. As a trio HAIM know exactly who they are, which means every bit of experimentation here never loses who they are as musicians or people.

24) Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You – Ethel Cain

Explaining the lore of Ethel Cain albums to the uninitiated does make it sound like you are talking complete nonsense, but what I love the most about both Ethel Cain’s spectacular debut Preacher’s Daughter and its prequel follow up WIlloughby Tucker is how that lore only enhances the incredible music that’s already there. The highs on this record are stunning, Janie, Dust Bowl and Waco, Texas some of the most emotive vocal performances of the year, while Fuck Me Eyes is a lost 80s pop classic. Ethel Cain is so singular in her vision as an artist, using drones, empty space and unexpected instrumentation to make every moment feel poignant. It’s definitely not for everyone, but if you get it, it’s hard to not be lost in Ethel Cain’s world, I know I was this year.

23) Tether – Annahstasia

The best debut album of 2025, Annahstasia completely blew me away with her voice on this haunting an powerful. Her voice blends into the delicate strings or plucked guitars on moments like Slow, while lyrically this album is captivating on Waiting. It’s hard to think of a debut album as self assured and accomplished in her own voice as this in 2025 and it left me entranced.

22) Midnight Sun – Zara Larsson

Zara Larsson in album form. Pop music can be this dynamic. Pop music can be infectious. Pop music can be sung to within an inch of its life. And pop music can capture its performer in a way that no other genre can. Midnight Sun is the best of Zara Larsson on moments like The Ambition, Hot n Sexy or Blue Moon. SHe’s in command, but she wants you along for the ride. A career high for the most deserving performer in pop.

21) West End Girl – Lily Allen

The most surprising album of the year, both in terms of genuine surprise at its frank depiction of the most outrageous open relationship drama of our time, but also that Lily Allen is back and at her best. This is her best album and I definitely would never have predicted she would surpass her It’s Not Me, It’s You peak, but West End Girl is a triumphant moment for one of Britain’s greatest storytellers. West End Girl is a great example of how writing with purpose and from a real place outweighs the search for a hit on any day. I believe Lily Allen could write pop records as good as Tennis, Just Enough and Ruminating, but by leaving everything in the music lyrically and emotionally she’s created something more. An album that will become her biggest legacy.

20) Revelation – The Knocks & Dragonette

A pop masterclass, joyous, infectious and glittering. 9 of the best pop records you’ll hear in 2025 one after the next. Dance pop experts doing what they do best.

19) Hurry Up Tomorrow – The Weeknd

It’s hard to not get caught up on the album that Hurry Up Tomorrow could have been. Strip away half an hour of this album and it’s in my top 3. Abel’s third dark pop masterpiece in a row let down by its own ambition. Taken for what it is though, it remains another clear example of The Weeknd at his confident best on the likes of Give Me Mercy, Take Me Back to LA and the monumental Open Hearts. At its best no one creates soundscapes as huge and entrancing as The Weeknd, songs transition and meld together in the boldest ways and he still sounds fantastic. If this truly is the end of The Weeknd, I have to thank him for being one of the truest pop superstars of our time, while never forgoing his own vast creativity.

18) Lotus – Little Simz

There’s few artists making music I trust as much as Little Simz, a musician in the truest sense of the word and still the most consistent artist in Britain. Another stellar album from Simbi? Obviously. I love the exploration and transformation that Little Simz has on Lotus though, yes moments like Lion, Flood and Lotus continue her unique power as a lyricist and creative, but it’s the alternative rock influence on Young or Free that make this such a bold change of pace for one of my favourite artists.

17) THAT’S SHOWBIZ BABY! – JADE

There’s making your solo debut following huge success in a group and then there’s THAT’S SHOWBIZ BABY!. A student of pop, not only pulling from the greats of the genre – Madonna, Diana or Tina – but remembering that only one person could make this music. I’ve always loved hearing JADE’s voice in Little Mix, both her performance and as a songwriter, but hearing her as a person so clearly on Silent Disco, Plastic Box, Natural at Disaster and the absolute standout Self Saboteur just made me so proud of the artist I’ve followed since I was a teenager. I’m a year older than Jade, I remember voting for her on X Factor, following Little Mix for their entire career and the pride I hear whenever I listen to That’s Showbiz Baby is unmatched. Throw in the fantastic deluxe tracks and it’s an album that defined 2025.

16) Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party – Hayley Williams

Hayley Williams pours out her soul on her best solo album yet. Ego Death doesn’t just sound like a set of random thoughts put out into the world, its release as individual singles makes it literally that too. Yet somehow when it comes together as a singular listen its one of the most engaging, intricately crafted and consistently great albums of the year. Parachute, Negative Self Talk and True Believer are the massive highlights from an artist who continues to SAY something at a time where so many forget that you can do that both in and outside of the music.

15) Constant Noise – Benefits

One of the year’s most abrasive and politically charged albums and an instant favourite of mine back in March. Everything is so measured on this album though, Divide, Missiles and Blame are so cutting and direct but there’s intent behind every moment. The move away from the harder industrial sound on previous album Nails into a more electronic soundscape suits the band so much, this is immediate, vital and thrilling music that I demands your attention and action. Probably the most surprising album in my top 20, but an undeniable triumph for me this year.

14) Everybody Scream – Florence + the Machine

The most straightforwardly rock album of Florence + the Machine’s career makes sense when Everybody Scream also sounds like the most cathartic album yet. You Can Have it All, Everybody Scream, One of the Greats and Music By Men feel like the pain of wounds yet to heal, while Sympathy Magic and The Old Religion retain all of the gothic beauty of the best Florence music. Perhaps the least spiritual music Florence Welch has ever written, but the most human. An exhale of a record from one of my all time favourite musicians.

13) Fancy That – PinkPantheress

The year’s most immediate earworm record, across 20 minutes PinkPantheress proves why she#s the most exciting new British producer and songwriter in recent years. Armed with a mid 00s sample she is a beast. Not a single second is wasted on Fancy That, Tonight, Girl Like Me, Stateside, Illegal, Nice to Know You, every track is a knockout. Pop music at its boldest and most irresistible.

12) Something Beautiful – Miley Cyrus

When Miley Cyrus released Midnight Sky back in 2020 I was so glad that she had finally arrived. Years of potential as arguably the most talented of the ‘Disney era’ pop girls and she finally delivered a singular song that matched her own talent. Something Beautiful does the same as an album. As ambitious, musically creative and unexpected as Miley Cyrus herself. She’s finally been able to deliver the music her own talent deserves. Something Beautiful is wild and musically daring, More to Lose is emotive and heartfelt, while Walk of Fame, The Only Girl You’ve Ever Loved and Easy Lover prove that no one in Pop is the rockstar that MIley Cyrus is. The greatest Miley album because it finally sounds as exciting as she does on stage.

11) People Watching – Sam Fender

Sam Fender no longer sounds like ‘a geordie Springsteen’ on this phenomenal third album. He sounds like Sam Fender. Songs like Crumbling Empire, Nostalgia’s Empire and the stark emotive closer Remember My Name set him so clearly apart from other artists and away from the comparisons that plagued his earlier records. It’s such an intimate and personal album, yet Sam makes it all sound so universal. It’s a record that feels like home, a safe haven that’s real and honest, full of nostalgia delivered by a welcome friend. I can see myself returning to this a decade from now still in awe of its beautiful simplicity.

10) EURO-COUNTRY – CMAT

Nobody in 2025 told a story as well as CMAT did. In some ways EURO-COUNTRY is ireland the album, others it’s the clearest artist statement by an artist who has been on the verge of greatness, but in the end it’s just an album it’s impossible to deny. So charming and stacked with personality on Jamie Oliver Petrol Station and Take a Sexy Picture of Me, and emotion on Ready and Lord Let That Tesla Crash. CMAT has such a unique delivery and tone as a singer that it brings these stories to life in a way very few artists can. EURO-COUNTRY is personal, celebratory and heart breaking in equal measure and undoubtedly one of the best albums of the year.

9) The Boy Who Played the Harp – Dave

With the almost impossible task of following up his fantastic We’re All Alone In This Together and Dave has done it with this equally special album. He’s so open on this record, lyrically touching on so many emotions and inner thoughts, his place as an artist, a man and his faith. Chapter 16 with Kano is the peak, two of Britain’s greatest rappers holding each other to account in a thrilling moment. The closing tracks Fairchild and the title track feel poignant and make this such a vital album. It’s all about his lyricism and across these lengthy 5 or 6 minute songs Dave gives everything to the listener, and it’s impossible to not be entranced.

8) EUSEXUA – FKA twigs

Captivating and unique, EUSEXUA is an album only one person could have created. FKA Twigs has always been one of the most dynamic and impressive artists in music but she’s never sounded as in control and delivered like she does on EUSEXUA. Girl Feels Good is hypnotic 90s pop, while Drums of Death is clattering and chaotic. Electronic music feels so alive in the hands of an artist with a voice and presence like Twigs. Beautiful and hypnotic on Sticky, while losing herself to the rhythm on Room of Fools and the title track. FKA twigs creates music to move to, to live through and she’s never delivered a singular project that’s achieved that goal like EUSEXUA.

7) DeBI TiRAR MaS FOToS – Bad Bunny

5 days. That’s all it took for one of 2025’s defining albums (and its most streamed) to be released. The biggest artist in the world also being VERY VERY GOOD is a great place to be in as a music fan. Bad Bunny’s celebration of Puerto Rico, both through collaborating with local acts, but also through his exploration of every facet of the musical identity of his home. Every second of this record is infectious. Songs like Cafe CON RON, El Club and EoO are so musically ambitious and exciting you never know where you are going to end up next but you know it’ll be an absolute riot when you get there. Opener NEUVaYol is one of the year’s most instant pieces of music, while the poignancy of DtMF can be heard across language barriers. Bad Bunny is fascinating, he absolutely does not need to make music as wild as this, but it clearly just comes from such a real place. No album felt as defiant in joy and the craft of making music as Debi Tirar Mas FotoS and it’s hard to think of a more 2025 album either.

6) Self Titled – Kae Tempest

I’m so thankful that artists like Kae Tempest are making music. For years he has been creating and sharing other people’s stories, speaking on the state of the world, music on behalf of others. Self Titled he’s looking inward, his most pointed, infectious and emotionally devastating album yet. It’s hard to think of a 2025 album that completely stopped me in my tracks like this. Opener I Stand on the Line was one of the most overwhelming first listens of a song ‘How many strangers will I upset with my existence today?’ speaking on his life as a trans person in a country becoming more intolerant by the day. ‘I’m just trying to be someone the child I used to be could believe in’ on standout Breathe broke me on first listen, while Know Yourself and Prayers to Whisper feel triumphant in the knowledge of yourself. As an album it’s such a devastating listen, so emotional and yet so cathartic. Self Titled is an album of self acceptance and a celebration of who you are from one of the defining artists of the last decade. I needed this music nearly as much as I imagine Kae needed to make it.

5) MAYHEM – Lady Gaga

‘Pop music will never be low brow’ was one of the first things I ever remember seeing Lady Gaga saying back in 2008 before I knew she would become probably the most impactful artist of my life. 17 years on MAYHEM captures that sentiment better than any Gaga music since Born This Way, Gaga’s best album in well over a decade. Unlike Joanne, Chromatica and Artpop, Mayhem isn’t laser focused on one kind of pop music. It’s chaotic and genre hopping in a way we haven’t heard since The Fame, KIllah is funky and electronic; How Bad Do You Want Me is country tinged and impossibly catchy, The Beast is theatrical and melodramatic; Garden of Eden is power stadium pop; while the best Gaga song in decades Perfect Celebrity is a rock anthem that revels in Gaga’s rockstar mentality. Every song is a knockout individually but together bridge the many facets of Gaga as a songwriter, performer and as a woman. She’s Lady Gaga because of the wildly ranging creativity inside her and MAYHEM might just be the most Gaga she’s sounded yet. The artist of my life on top of the world again.

4) Virgin – Lorde

8 years ago Lorde topped this very list with an album that would go on to be my favourite pop record of the 2010s decade. Melodrama was monumental, follow up Solar Power lost me. I hadn’t been that disappointed by an album in years, so I tempered my expectations of Virgin. I absolutely didn’t need to, Lorde has created yet another masterful example of her unique artistry. There’s truly no one that can perform a song like Hammer like she does here, or make Man of the Year such a thrilling song to unpack. It’s in the details though, the subtle guitar line of If She Could See Me Now, the clatter of Shapeshifter or the vocoder on the stunning Clearblue. Such a succinct record, Lorde so purposeful with every moment and with the instrumentation, David is towering and emotionally devastating, while Current Affairs is earthy with an electronic sheen. Lorde is such a singular talent at crafting personal stories that are completely universal and Virgin is an album that has built and built for me through 2025.

3) LUX – ROSALIA

ROSALIA is incredible. It’s hard to think of a musician I admire as much as her, so completely in command of her own style and creative output, she’s a classical artist in an era of immediacy. Lux is overwhelming in the same ways that El Mal Querer and Motomami were. ROSALIA manages to take her sound, rooted in classic flamenco and bring it into a new place each time, 00s RnB, Reggaeton and Orchestral sounds respectively. At all times she retains the magic of Flamenco, the emotion in her vocal performance and lyrics on Mio Cristo Piange Diamanti and Savignon Blanc, the movement of a dancer on moments like La Rumba Del Perdon, or De Madruga, and the drama of a theatre performance on Reliquia and Berghain. LUX is spectacular, it’s a singular album that feels so human and organic thanks to the dense orchestration throughout, without forgoing pop hooks and sheer creativity. ROSALIA is a pop artist, without having to forgo any of the musical creativity of classical genres of music. Another almighty triumph from the best artist of the last 10 years.

2) A Complicated Woman – Self Esteem

Every other album in this top 10 started very high in my ongoing list through 2025, but no album has left me feeling more and more with every listen as A Complicated Woman by Self Esteem. Everything on this album has purpose and never fails to say something and because of that it never fails to make me feel something too. The communal power of Focus Is Power can be heard across so much of this record, that peaks on moments like The Curse with it’s ‘I wouldn’t do it if it didn’t fucking work’ chant really living with me as a poignant matra in 2025. Opening song I Do and I Don’t Care is devastating in its directness ‘This really is all there is. And that’s the thing you’ve got to get comfy with, we’re not chasing happiness anymore girls, we’re chasing nothing’. A Complicated Woman is an album of a singular experience, Rebecca Lucy Taylor’s existence and place as a woman, but it’s also an album of community. From the wall of voices, to the self reflection that things can be more. It’s an album full of hope, ‘you know what I might try today’ and I did. A Complicated Woman gave me so much this year, the pop album of 2025.

1) Sable, Fable – Bon Iver

I’ve collated a best album list for 15 years and not once has an artist claimed the top spot more than once. That changes 9 years after Bon Iver claimed my #1 with 22, A Million as Sable, Fable is my favourite album of 2025. Justin Vernon has had me hooked for nearly 20 years and he captured me completely this year.

Sable, Fable feels like it’s an album about the Bon Iver project, opening with the more earthy folk leaning music from them in years before descending into the most surprising and soulful music of their career. From the moment I heard I’ll Be There, Things Behind Things Behind Things or From I was enraptured by these songs. Day One is ambitious and hooky and at every moment Justin sounds incredible.

It’s an album that’s uplifting and positive from an artist we’ve never heard this from and in so many ways feels like a finale. If this is the end for Bon Iver then it’s the perfect way to bow out. Tracks like the gorgeous There’s a Rhythm feel like the culmination of years for this collective of musicians, creatives and energy that has made Bon Iver an artist that has fascinated and surprised me from day one. There are albums more culturally relevant, you could argue there’s music that’s more painstakingly crafted, but there’s a magic to this record that I’ve spent every day since the day I heard it trying to find again.

No one moves me like Bon Iver and this record moved me more than anything else I heard in 2025.