The Top 30 ALBUMS of 2025: Part Three (#1--10)...

 

A new AOTY champ gets crowned:

1. Clipse LET GOD SORT EM OUT:  

taking a break even for a few years is enough to veer a music career off course, yet Clipse’s Pusha T and Malice spent the past 16 years sharpening their pencils for 2025’s greatest comeback. Already proven street poets, the duo delivers cascades of intricate rhymes with a nonchalance that makes the whole thing seem like light work. There’s enough beef and barbs to fill a plate, yet they find moments to round out the world of “Let God Sort Em Out” with an emotional punch (see opener “The Birds Don’t Sing”). Assuming the throne as hip-hop’s elder statesmen can be a daunting task in an industry where age is currency, and the brothers Thornton do it at the highest level. (VARIETY)

 

2. Rosalia LUX: 

the album’s lyrics find reflections of Rosalía’s own experiences with love and fame in the lives of saints. And her desire to assert her worth as a woman and artist exists in parallel to a fixation on the place of women in Christianity. She makes plain her disappointment with the material world, and the distance between loving God and individual people. Lux is ambitious, challenging, and provocative. But it rewards patience—and repeat listens—as you luxuriate in the breadth of Rosalía’s transcendent world. (SLANT MAGAZINE)

 

3. Perfume Genius GLORY: 

 Hadreas dials back the climactic pop of his recent work in favor of subtler compositions that lurch and wobble over layers of alt-rock and orchestral instrumentation. From this ornate environment, Hadreas delivers tactile poetry and pained self-examinations, extracting catharsis from isolation and anxiety. Even with Blake Mills’s painterly production, Glory feels compact and introspective, with a current of uneasiness that harks back to 2010’s mournful Learning. In the spirit of finding beauty in confinement, the album’s final tracks make lethargy and uncertainty sound blissful, and Hadreas and Mills imbue even moments of reflective quiet with simmering intensity. (SLANT MAGAZINE)

 

4. FKA Twigs EUSEXUA: 

FKA Twigs will always distort the boundaries of what pop music can be, but it’s when she approximates convention (whatever that means) that her music approximates immediacy. “Eusexua” is Twigs’ most tangible record to date, a project inspired by the sour thump of acid house and glitch-hop. Echoes of Madonna’s “Ray of Light” permeate through “Eusexua,” a record that exhumes the tropes of ’90s club music and brings them into her universe. It’s not Twigs-gone-pop by any means, but it’s the clearest example of what she’d sound like if she wanted to. (VARIETY)

 

5. Geese GETTING KILLED: 

reportedly recorded in just 10 days, it thrives on sharp edges, sudden turns, and a kind of half-broken beauty. This is a band that moves so fast that it sounds like the songs are inventing themselves as they go. If 2023’s 3D Country was an attempt at mapping out a grand narrative, with a full-throttle sound to boot, Getting Killed is far more impressionistic. It’s a fragmentary portrait of daily life as an endless street fight, where cruelty and tenderness are two sides of the same coin. (SLANT MAGAZINE)

 

6. Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist ALFREDO 2: 

yep, second time proves to be the charm. Five years ago, Freddie Gibbs found insane chemistry on the first Alfredo installment. Round two finds the pair with darker undertones yet even better chemistry than before. As expected from rap’s premier beatmaker, Alchemist’s production is top-tier, but it would mean nothing if Gibbs didn’t consistently bring the goods. Here, he balances his menace and vulnerability, pessimism with hilarious wit. Y’all will probably scream “recency bias,” but I think Alfredo 2 is one of the rare sequel projects that tops its predecessor. Call it The Alfredo Strikes Back – umm, better yet, call it another win for this dynamic duo. (SOULINSTEREO)

 

7. McKinley Dixon MAGIC, ALIVE!: 

Dixon isn’t afraid to add more voices and hands into his musical soup, and each song is an elixir of jazz-rap, with pockets layered in chain-link grandeur. Every chapter of Magic, Alive! is bigger than him, yet his verses focus on the micro with historical hip-hop citations, literary allusions, and horror films metabolized into heady sonic palettes. Like the illustrations he animates in his spare time, the rarely-pedantic Dixon meticulously sketches expressions of people he both knows and imagines. His lyrical fascinations with mythology are decorated in rare and endangered fits of orchestral patterns; the noisy percussion, mechanical poetry, and blood-boiling strings haunt the magic Dixon is chasing in the epilogue of Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!?’s block-bending cynicism but never smear it. (PASTE)

 

8. Dijon BABY: 

the singer-songwriter-producer’s sophomore effort hits like a sensory overload. Upon first listen, it’s brash, chaotic, and overwhelming—bursting at the seams with ideas, feelings, and electricity. But the album’s wild, brain-melting production isn’t just a container for the songs. Distorted drums, strange arrangements, and an overcompression that gives these songs their signature tension—every choice feels jagged, deliberate, and just a little wrong in just the right way. Dijon’s music boasts the craft and swagger of Prince, the esoteric inner world of Frank Ocean, and the no-rules, hands-on impulse of Cody Chesnutt. It’s messy, fearless, and gloriously unconcerned with tradition. Rules were meant to be broken, but Baby pulverizes them and builds something entirely new.  (SLANT MAGAZINE)

 

9. Ariel Pink WITH YOU EVERY NIGHT: 

the album is a return to form for Ariel Pink, displaying why the artist is recognised as the father of the ‘Hypnagogic Pop’ genre. It features a delightful blend of bubbly synth textures, 80s indie pop inspiration, and 60s psychedelic influences, embodying what exciting ‘Hypnagogic pop’ sounds like. ‘With You Every Night’ is a perfect follow-up to ‘Dedicated To Bobby Jameson’, in sound and vibe, bringing together Ariel Pink’s absurd lyricism with Cleaners from Venus-esque experimentation. Overall, the album is a consistently enjoyable listen, with no notable drop-offs in quality.‘With You Every Night’ is a dreamy synthpop success for Ariel Pink, 7 years after his last major release. (OXFORD STUDENT)

 

10. Tyler, the Creator DON’T TAP THE GLASS: 

Tyler, the Creator is a whiz when it comes to world-building, pairing high-concept ambition with higher execution. Last year’s “Chromakopia” confronted mortality and embraced the notion of what it means to age not just in hip-hop, but in life, his thoughts filtered through dark, often frenetic songs. “Don’t Tap the Glass,” released with little warning in July, was like hitting a pressure valve on all the insecurities and big questions that come with growing up. The rapper dipped back into the days of sweaty house parties and simply let loose, stringing together an escapist record that’s meant to move your body, and not much else. (VARIETY)

THE TOP 100 SONG OF 2025 (PART FIVE)...

 

so, we get to the thrilling finale:

1.Berghain (Rosalia feat Bjork & Yves Tumor): 

feels like a surge of adrenaline — all urgent, frenzied strings and soaring operatic vocals, signaling a dark grandeur few were expecting. If that wasn’t striking enough, she keeps burying surprises into the labyrinthine arrangement, packing in a cameo from Bjork, vocals from Yves Tumor, and nods to the ever-nocturnal German nightclub the track gets its name from. The effect is intense — and breathtaking. (ROLLING STONE)

2. Sugar Water (Mckinley Dixon feat. Quelle Chris & Anjimie):

 ascending in its groove toward a verse driven by a hypnotic upright bassline as Dixon raises the specter of, well, raising specters: “Sun been getting its revenge, feel the heat you hear it buzzing/’How we raise him from the ground?’ type shit discussing with my cousins.” (TREBLE)

3. Anosognosia (Ariel Pink): 

super dynamic with lots of moving parts and very tasteful transitions between verses with the reliance on bouncy synth lines and a nice mix of live percussion and drum loops. (SPUTNIK MUSIC)

4. Bow Down (Geese): 

amidst the pounding drums and frenetic strums of "Bow Down," his character's grief-stricken sentiments again might just as easily incite a smirk or chin-stroking contemplation: "I was a sailor, and now I'm a boat/ I was a car, and now I'm the road." Like Bob Dylan after he left pure protest songs behind, Winter is scripting oblique sequences at an epic scale, blowing out his own anxieties into imagery that conveys the distress of the times. His lyrics may defy interpretation, but the images and sensations he conjures feel like products of a generation defined by upheaval, absurdity, and constant looming threat. (STEREGUM)

5. 1995 (Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist): 

Gibbs has spent nearly a decade now leaning into the easy swagger of his confident cool since the drop of Freddie, his Teddy Pendergrass-visual referencing record. “1995” doesn’t skimp on fireworks, of course, both vocally as well as that gnarly diMeola-esque guitar line, but more than anything it exudes that smoky room, silk-sheet cool of classic soul-funk. The Alchemist, maybe our collective favorite modern producer, certainly understood the assignment, delivering a beat so sexy you can practically hear Barry White prepping to start singing at any minute. It’s the sound of two men in the midst of mutual career highs, fully aware of how good they are, and it’s glorious. (TREBLE)

6. All Mine (Doja Cat): 

though we were advised in advance of its 1980s’ influence, we all expected Doja to subvert quirky intricacies into Vie but here she pulls off something I was not sure she had in her repertoire: full submerging into the wrinkle of time she is exploring. “All Mine” is gorgeous sure but it’s 80s through and through and contemporary—and cool—without even trying.

7. P.O.V. (Clipse feat. Tyler, the Creator): 

Pusha T dices through his verse on “P.O.V.” like he’s settling a score, his voice twisting against itself during the chorus so that it sounds like two narrators sharing the same deranged conscience. Tyler, the Creator drops in like the lifelong Clipse acolyte that he is, delivering the track’s coldest verse. But besting them both is Malice, who crashes in on a beat switch that detonates beneath him to uncork some hair-raising bars. (SLANT MAGAZINE)

8. It Girl (Jade): 

I gotta hand it to Jade Thirlwall, not only for daring to follow up the pop juggernaut “Angel Of My Dreams” with “It Girl” but it also follows it in the track listing on her debut. This exudes confidence and why shouldn’t it—who else is giving such fierceness or nasty beats and intent?

9. Rock A Bye Baby (Jean Dawson): 

proving that Doja Cat isn’t the only auteur ruminating through the 1980s for inspiration, Dawson and team (Hoskins, Lecx Stacy, Johnny May, and Jesse Shuste) seamlessly finesse intent and lyrical acrobatics in a manner that mimic some grand idea Prince would have put out circa Sign O’ The Times.

10. Victory Lap Five (Fred Again feat Skepta& PlaqueBoyMax): 

flips Deochii and Rico Nasty’s “Swamp Btches” into a jolt of pure adrenaline, with Skepta jumping in at the same ferocious intensity. Fred again.. teased the track on Twitch before its release, sending fans into a frenzy for the full version. Through Fred again..’s signature electronic lens, the grime backbone crackles with fresh electricity. The result is a collision of hip-hop, dubstep, and pure chaos. (COMPLEX)

 

11. Yamaha (Dijon): 

the track’s idiosyncrasies — drums landing amid unexpected harmonies, like the cadence of popcorn kernels — breathe a kind of spirituality into an experience that mirrors the song’s existential feel. “I am in love with this particular emotion,” he sings sweetly. By the end, we’re floating over trap-sounding drums as electronics slowly sublimate Dijon’s vocals, which delicately transmit wonder in a maelstrom of sound and feeling. (ROLLING STONE)

12. Where Is My Husband? (RAYE): 

it’s a scenario that you can imagine Aretha or Erma Franklin singing so well, though not at quite so high a tempo: a woman, having presumably been told by her well-meaning mates that Mr Right is out there somewhere, gets irate as she wonders where exactly he might be. From the foot-stamping mock petulance of the title downwards, it’s all delivered so knowingly by Raye as she gabbles her way through this screwball caper against a backdrop of Ronson-esque horns. (GUARDIAN)

13. Room Of Fools (FKA Twigs): 

if earlier tracks on Eusexua seemed for Ray Of Light inspired then here Twigs clearly channels Bjork in her Post era and, if you follow electronic music over the last couple of decades, then you’d know that not only is this a logical step but, more precisely, the only step left on an album that shimmers brightly on all fronts.

14. Euro-Country (CMAT): 

grapples with pride, alienation, and loss, contrasting Ireland’s romanticized mystique in pop culture with her own mundane, occasionally painful memories of growing up in an ordinary Irish town amid the 2000s financial crisis, globalization, and the legacy of English colonization. (PITCHFORK)

15. Diva (Model/Actriz): 

draws as much of its palette from hip-hop as it does rock, its push and pull between distorted beat thumps and barbed-wire guitar squall maintaining a tense surface over which Haden provides a tour through series of sexual encounters (“I met a guy in Copenhagen/He was gay but had a girlfriend”). (TREBLE MAGAZINE)

16. Baile Inolvidable (Bad Bunny): 

Benito enlisted an ensemble of young musicians from Puerto Rico’s esteemed school, Escuela Libre de Música Ernesto Ramos Antonini, to play the trombones and claves that dominate the track. The soulful storytelling and nostalgic lyrics were already enough to make this song an instant classic, but it’s the personal P.R. touch that makes it hit that much harder. (ROLLING STONE)

17. The Deep End (12AM) (Cautious Clay): 

Clay can produce a smooth flow seemingly at will so this track, albeit a tad too short to really spazz out into even more greatness, packs a punch but next time, more of those addictive horns please.

18. Dancing Without Moving (Quadeca): 

continues a lot of that wonderful baroque instrumentation, but once again we see Quadeca swinging back in more of a hip hop direction, but again doing so in a way that feels true to the genre while simultaneously I can't really name any contemporary artists who are riding and producing instrumentals that sound quite this psychedelic and sparkly. There are some pockets on the track where I wish his vocals were a bit more raw or naked or up front, but I'm still massively impressed with how well the beats and flows groove on this track without really succumbing to all of the pretty layers of instrumentation surrounding them. Meanwhile, the lyrics on this track dive further into the idea that Quedeca is just on this solo journey we could call life, and he's working through regrets and rejections. (THE NEEDLE DROP)

19. Sucka Free (Tyler, the Creator): 

“I’m that guy” croons Tyler repeatedly on a track that he then spends its entire run time proving just that.

20. Capezero (Perfume Genius): 

on the diaphanous “Capezio”, Hadreas pens some of his most cryptic lyrics and yet, the song is one of the most evocative pieces on the album. Adopting a higher-pitched vocal, he conveys fragility or precariousness, his voice framed by well-placed accents, light drum beats, and his own supporting vocals. (BEATSPERMINUTE)