The 100 Best Albums of 2025
Liner notes, music videos, and vinyl variants on the best records of the year.
Welcome inside The Wax Museum, home to exhibits on new vinyl, curated mixtapes, culture recs, and most of all, LISTS! Glorious, unnecessary lists.
I love making lists. Some fear them, I sprint toward them like a man spotting a vinyl grail in a Goodwill crate. Maybe it’s because I grew up on Grantland and AV Club, or maybe I just crave the dopamine hit of ranking things that don’t need to be ranked. Either way, here we are.
The last few years I dropped the 100 Best Records of the Year as paywalled PDFs and paperbacks. This year, I’m feeling either generous or unwell, so the full hundo lives right here, free of charge.
I rank records all year on the Album of the Year Leaderboard™. Still, I am just one man with a full time job and two rugrats, so yes, I’ve missed things. A January addendum is coming with even more gems, because I stay in discovery sicko mode. The playlist is at the bottom; drop your missing album nominations in the comments to shame me publicly.
So whether you’re here to debate, discover, or just scroll until you spot an album you already like and mutter “finally, someone gets it,” let’s begin. The 100 Best Albums of 2025, complete with my favorite vinyl variant of each, starts now.
The 100 Best Albums of 2025
100. Mavis Staples - Sad and Beautiful World
Get Vinyl: Clear Pink | Marbled Violet | Black
Let’s begin with 86-year-old Mavis Staples, who’s still out-singing entire generations. Here on her 14th full length album, she turns covers of Tom Waits, Sparklehorse, Leonard Cohen, and Curtis Mayfield into straight-up protest hymns. With MJ Lenderman, Derek Trucks, Bonnie Raitt, and Jeff Tweedy riding shotgun, Sad and Beautiful World lives up to its name. It’s a rich gospel blues hug from one of the last true legends we’ve got.
99. Black Country, New Road - Forever Howlong
Get Vinyl: Red | Black
Black Country, New Road’s Forever Howlong is their first proper post–Isaac Wood release, and boy are those some giant shoes to fill. With temporary frontwomen Georgia Ellery, Tyler Hyde, and May Kershaw tag-teaming vocals, the band leans into theatrical whimsy and chamber-folk charm, proving they’re still one of the most fascinating indie acts of the decade.
98. Sunny War - Armageddon In A Summer Dress
Get Vinyl: Glacier Blue, Signed Cover | Clear Pink, Signed Cover | Black Swan
Sunny War throws a Molotov cocktail of blues and punk with Armageddon in a Summer Dress. Written while living in her late father’s house, Sydney Ward thought it was haunted due to eerie sounds and scary visions. Turns out, there was a gas leak on property. That’ll do it… At least it inspired the gorgeous “Ghosts.” Another standout is “Walking Contradiction,” a critique on how U.S. tax dollars fund atrocities worldwide, featuring legend Steve Ignorant; punks from all ages in this fight together.
97. PLOSIVS - YELL AT CLOUD
Get Vinyl: Black
Four years after their debut, the supergroup of Rob Crow (Pinback), John Reis (Hot Snakes), Atom Willard (Against Me), and Jordan Clark (Mrs Magician) return with YELL AT CLOUD, a gift for anyone who falls down the same annual Pinback rabbitholes I do. They made it during a brutal Winnipeg blackout with generators humming, candles for light, and daily blizzard treks for COVID clearance, basically The Thing with guitars. All that cold seeped into the music, giving the record a tense pulse that feels shaped by the conditions that birthed it.
96. Sharp Pins - Balloon Balloon Balloon
Get Vinyl: Orange | Black
Sharp Pins, the solo outlet of Chicago’s busiest 20-year-old Kai Slater, follows this year’s great Radio DDR reissue with Balloon Balloon Balloon, a 21-song-in-43-minutes blur of indie pop that feels beamed in from another decade. Kai is also one-third of Lifeguard, whose noisy debut Ripped and Torn just missed my top 100 (stacked year!).
95. Snocaps - Snocaps
Get Vinyl: Red Pink Splatter | Frosted Blue | Sky Blue | Black
Suck it, Oasis… there’s a new sibling reunion in town. Twin sisters Katie (Waxahatchee) and Allison (Swearin’) Crutchfield reconnect for the first time in 15 years with Snocaps, a surprise Halloween debut full of warm, twangy Americana backed by Brad Cook and Wax Museum mascot MJ Lenderman.
94. Tame Impala - Deadbeat
Get Vinyl: Smoke (sold out) | Yellow | Black
Kevin Parker returns after five long years with Deadbeat, a techno side quest that swerves hard from his signature psych-rock. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss the old Tame — Deadbeat is uneven and meanders a bit — but there are still enough vibes to earn it a spot in the Top 100.
If you’re craving something closer to vintage Tame Impala in 2025, scroll down to #16 on this list for a record that also received polarizing reviews that I enjoyed much more.
93. Wolf Alice - The Clearing
Get Vinyl: Flower Filled (sold out) | Coke Bottle, Signed Insert | Picture Disc | Black
Wolf Alice’s Blue Weekend is one of my favorite albums of the decade, and while The Clearing doesn’t live up to its predecessor, it boasts one of the songs of the year in “Bloom Baby Bloom.”
And speaking of blooms, maybe my favorite looking vinyl this year was this flower filled record from the UK’s Bad World — an off shoot of Blood Records — who specialize in liquid filled vinyl. Take a look at this beauty, which sold out in minutes.
92. Clipse - Let God Sort Em Out
Get Vinyl: Pink
16 years ago, two roads diverged in a yellow wood — one paved with bricks of coke, the other with gospel reflections — and thankfully brothers Pusha T and Malice have found their way back together for Let God Sort Em Out, with Pharrell at the helm like it’s 2006 again. It’s not Hell Hath No Fury–level divine, but the bars are sharp, the beats are head-banging, and the “THIS IS CULTURALLY INAPPROPRIATE!” tag deserves its own Grammy.
91. Glitterer - erer
Get Vinyl: Red
erer, the fourth full-length from D.C.’s Glitterer, shoots out of a canon with Albini-sized guitars, spiraling melodies, and Ned Russin’s urgent lyrics.
Speaking of Russin, last month I went deep on why new vinyl is so gotdamn expensive, which was sparked by seeing erer priced at $18 — so I asked him how the hell he’s pulling that off in 2025, and his philosophy is absolutely worth a read.
90. Bill Fox - Resonance
Get Vinyl: Black
Cleveland enigma Bill Fox returns after a 13 year absence with Resonance, a lo-fi gem of folk-pop melodies and quietly devastating lyricism. An elusive recluse, he lets the songs do the talking, and they speak volumes.
89. Marshall Allen - New Dawn
Get Vinyl: Transparent | Black
At 100 years old, Marshall Allen, the Sun Ra Arkestra saxophonist, just released his first solo album, New Dawn, making him the oldest debut artist in history. That is indeed a Guinness World Record, beating the previous titleholder by over a decade. The record is cosmic and deeply alive, a spiritual free-jazz dispatch from someone who’s been bending sound since the Eisenhower era. Watch out for this promising newcomer.
88. Alien Boy - You Wanna Fade?
Get Vinyl: Smokey Clear | Baby Blue
Portland’s Alien Boy have been at it for a decade now, but You Wanna Fade? is the best they’ve ever sounded. The wall of sound is huge; you got three guitars swirling around Sonia Weber’s wistful, heart-on-sleeve vocals, layered with synths, drum machines, and just enough shoegaze haze to keep things dreamy.
87. Sea Lemon - Diving For a Prize
Get Vinyl: Apple Red (sold out) | Coke Bottle Clear (sold out) | Black
We stay in the Pacific Northwest with this debut from Seattle’s Sea Lemon. Diving for a Prize is full of swirling reverb, hushed melodies, and just enough unease to keep things interesting. Natalie Lew’s lyrics play like short stories where fantasy and anxiety collide. With production from Andy Park and a feature from fellow Seattleite Ben Gibbard, the album floats somewhere between Loveless and Plans.
86. Destroyer - Dan’s Boogie
Get Vinyl: Coke Bottle Clear with Black Swirl
Dan Bejar’s 14th (!!!) album somehow still crackles with new energy; single “Hydroplaning Off the Edge of the World” is a Best Song of 2025 candidate; Dan’s Boogie is Destroyer at his effortlessly cool best.
85. Hiromi’s Sonicwonder - OUT THERE
Vinyl: Black
You know I love me some jazz fusion, and Hiromi Uehara’s Out There checks all the boxes I look for: playful, complex, and overflowing with energy. After building a new band for 2023’s Sonicwonderland, she takes that same crew and expands their language across eight new compositions including a wild four-part title suite. The chemistry is unreal, the solos are ridiculous, and Hiromi’s approach to melody and harmony is refreshing. Top tier modern jazz!
84. TURQUOISEDEATH - Guardian
Get Vinyl: Turquoise and Black Marble
TURQUOISEDEATH’s Guardian is atmospheric drum and bass at its finest. The 30-minute closer “Close Your Eyes” is ambitious to say the least (who makes a half-hour DnB track and sticks the landing???). If I still played video games, this would be the soundtrack to whatever world I’d be lost in all night.
83. Wet Leg - moisturizer
Get Vinyl: Black
Wet Leg double down on the unique charm of their debut with moisturizer, now fully expanded from the Rhian and Hester duo into a five-piece. Produced again by the great Dan Carey, it’s sharper, louder, and more self-assured. The lyrics especially have leveled up, and I like this one more than their debut.
82. OK Cool - Chit Chat
Get Vinyl: Orange
OK Cool’s long-awaited debut album, Chit Chat, delivers ten melodic guitar-pop songs that capture their passion and self-aware sense of humor. Their sound is a bridge between the indie rock of Chicago forbearers like Sarge and the modern folk rock of Moontype. Chit Chat is a confident debut from a band with a classic somewhere in their future, and this record feels like the first step toward it.
81. Go Kurosawa - soft shakes
Get Vinyl: Green
Go Kurosawa, frontman of the great psych-rock band Kikagaku Moyo, steps out on his own with his first solo album. soft shakes was born from a process of unstructured jamming, with Go picking up whatever instrument was around in his Rotterdam studio and following the sound without plan or pressure. I’m talking tambourines, woodblocks, bongos, and cowbells, to name a few. The result is rhythmic yet delightfully unexpected, exactly what you want from a personal jam session.
80. keiyaA - hooke’s law
Get Vinyl: Black and White Milk | Blue | Black
Hooke’s Law says the more you stretch something, the harder it pushes back — which tracks perfectly for KeiyaA, who turns five years of pressure into hooke’s law, an experimental blend of jazz, RnB, and soul that never snaps into easy release. She wrote and produced the whole she-bang herself, using tension as the engine rather than the payoff, and the result feels like listening to someone rebuild in real time.
79. Gigi Perez - At The Beach, In Every Life
Get Vinyl: Picture Disc | Black
Gigi Perez’s self-produced debut faces the grief of losing her sister with raw power, pushing her folk roots into stormy electronics and indie rock. From the billion-stream breakout “Sailor Song” to the wrenching swell of “Normalcy,” there’s intensity here that will hit you straight in the tear ducts. I swear I was not crying listening to this at the coffee shop.
78. Tune-Yards - Better Dreaming
Get Vinyl: Blue | Black
Better Dreaming is Tune-Yards’ most vibrant, free-flowing release in over a decade, a joyous burst of instinct and rhythm that ranks among their best. Merrill Garbus and Nate Brenner approached the album with a “first thought, best thought” mindset, letting songs emerge naturally and follow their own danceable logic.
77. Nina Maia - Inteira
Get Vinyl: Cream
A label I swear by for digital crate-digging is the UK’s Mr Bongo, known for unearthing hard-to-find Brazilian gems, and they’ve just brought us a stunner in Nina Maia. The 22-year-old’s Inteira is a knockout debut, blending samba canção, trip-hop, and moody pop into something wholly her own. It’s intimate on headphones but built big enough to echo through stadiums.
76. Pile - Sunshine and Balance Beams
Get Vinyl: Smoke | Black
Boston band Pile returns with their ninth album Sunshine and Balance Beams, which distills a decade of the band’s intensity into one snarling, sorrow-soaked record. It’s pensive, dense, and furious in all the right ways — a career highlight.
75. Broken Record - Routine
Get Vinyl: Clear Red
Denver’s Broken Record come out swinging on Routine, a 30-minute blast of stadium-sized emo and late-capitalist dread that feels both furious and cathartic. Co-produced by Justin Pizzoferrato (Pixies, Sonic Youth) and channeling peak Jimmy Eat World, it’s loaded with towering choruses and turbulent guitars, the kind of righteous energy that leaves you buzzing.
74. The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes are the Ghost Nation
Get Vinyl: Splatter | Clear
Montreal husband-and-wife duo Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas are The Besnard Lakes, who’ve spent the last two decades perfecting their brand of neo-psychedelia, and their seventh album The Besnard Lakes Are the Ghost Nation (a reference to the threat of Canada as the 51st state) dazzles with eight gorgeous slow-burners. If you’re a Beach House fan, you’ll find plenty to love here.
73. Erika de Casier - Lifetime
Get Vinyl: Black
Erika de Casier’s Lifetime arrived without a rollout, a label, or guest feature. Just a quiet flex featuring some of the most beautiful downtempo pop you’ll hear all year. After two solid 4AD albums, she’s back in full command, self-producing a hazy swirl of trip-hop and ‘90s R&B that splits the difference between Velvet Rope Janet and Ray of Light Madonna. It’s music for after the party — gorgeous, moody, and built to loop.
72. Amy Millan - I Went To Find You
Get Vinyl: Hot Pink
Amy Millan, one of my favorite voices in indie rock via Stars and Broken Social Scene, returns with I Went To Find You, her first solo album in 15 years. She’s reaching back toward the feeling of singing beside her father, who died before she turned five, and the music that’s kept her tethered ever since. With Jay McCarrol handling production, she weaves a dreamlike patchwork that feels like flipping through old home movies and finding new meaning in every frame.
71. Youth Lagoon - Rarely Do I Dream
Get Vinyl: Dracula Red | Thunderstorm | Black
Boise’s Trevor Powers trades his lo-fi bedroom pop for grander affair on Rarely Do I Dream. I’ve been struggling to describe what it sounds like to listen to Youth Lagoon and the best I’ve come up with is it feels like chugging NyQuil around golden hour: hypnotic, surreal, brazen, unhinged. If you’re looking for an album that makes you feel more than most, this is it.
70. Bad Bunny - Debí Tirar Más Fotos
Get Vinyl: Red | White
The upcoming Super Bowl halftime performing superstar reinvents himself on Debí Tirar Más Fotos (“I should have taken more photos”), a love letter to Puerto Rico and a statement on colonization that ditches the bloat and shallowness of his last album. Packed with salsa, jíbaro, and live instrumentation, featuring students from Libre de Música San Juan and rising local artists, it’s a vibrant celebration of his roots and a defiant, danceable step forward for Bad Bunny.
69. FKA twigs - EUSEXUA
Get Vinyl: Bone | Clear | Black
FKA twigs makes her grand return with EUSEXUA (bad title alert!), her third album and first in five years. If you can look past some gimmicks (North West rapping on “Childlike Things”), you’ll discover a techno-disco-club hybrid filled with sounds you’ve never heard before. twigs’ vocals have always been the star, but here, she’s matched with production that’s just as dynamic and innovative.
68. Cymande - Renascence
Get Vinyl: Coral | Black
In what may be the most surprising comeback this year, afro-soul icons Cymande shatter a 51-year silence with a record that slips right back into their pocket-deep grooves, turning Renascence into the spiritual successor to 1974’s Promised Heights. It’s funky, politically tuned-in, and full of warmth, like they never left the stage.
67. Tennis - Face Down in the Garden
Get Vinyl: Cobalt Blue | Sea Glass | White
One band returns as another bows out. Face Down in the Garden is Tennis’ final serve after a quietly prolific 15-year run. It’s everything they do best one last time: dreamy melodies, slinky basslines, and jazzy flourishes wrapped around Alaina Moore’s ever-lovely, late-night vocals. LONG LIVE TENNIS!
66. feeo - Goodness
Get Vinyl: Black
London experimentalist feeo (Theodora Laird) blew me away with Goodness, a hauntingly beautiful record and definitive headphone music that pulls you under to whisper secrets from the static. With frequent collaborator Caius Williams (bass, guitar, baritone) grounding her spectral vocals, feeo builds a world of drone, ambient, and minimalist electronics that fans of Beth Gibbons will fall for.
65. Durand Jones & The Indications - Flowers
Get Vinyl: Iceberg Blue
It should be illegal to be this smooth. Flowers is Durand Jones & The Indications at their silkiest, blending Durand’s gospel grit with Aaron Frazer’s featherlight falsetto on a slow-burning, Motown-steeped soul record. Exhibit A is “Flower Moon,” which is in the running for my favorite track of the year.
64. billy woods - GOLLIWOG
Get Vinyl: Black
billy woods’ GOLLIWOG is not a “press play and chill” record, no siree. You need a certain mindset (and a stiff drink) to take on this harrowing trip through racism, imperialism, and everyday violence. The production is spooky and jagged, matching woods’ gut-punch lyricism, and by the time the album shifts from rage to more mournful fare, you’re already deep inside his brain with no easy way out.
63. Ninajirachi - I Love My Computer
Get Vinyl: Splatter | Blue and White | Black and White
Australian DJ Ninajirachi’s I Love My Computer is a killer debut, a hypercharged blend of euphoric EDM and digital-age anxiety that feels both personal and built for festival stages. Fans of Flume and Porter Robinson will eat this up, especially if you like your electronic music bright, glitchy, and heart-on-sleeve.
And don’t miss the “Infohazard” video, which might be the best-edited music video of the year. It boggles my mind thinking how they pulled this off.
62. Sudan Archives - THE BPM
Get Vinyl: Silver Nugget | Red | Black
Brittney Parks, better known as Sudan Archives, has always been a shapeshifter, but THE BPM is her boldest move yet. The self-taught violinist who blurs the lines between R&B and hip-hop steps fully onto the dance floor, combining thick basslines, trap kicks, D&B rushes, and Jersey club bounce with her trademark violin and vocal delivery. THE BPM feels like a train speeding through time and geography, connecting Chicago house to West African strings. Big leap forward for Sudan Archives.
61. Terraplana - Natural
Get Vinyl: Red | Black
Terraplana, a Curitiba quartet, layers Portuguese-language vocals, both male and female, over swirling walls of noise that split the difference between Sonic Youth and Slowdive. Their sophomore album is the kind of record that reminds you why swirling noise and dreamy melodies make such perfect bedfellows.
60. Cory Hanson - I Love People
Get Vinyl: Signed Cover
Wand frontman Cory Hanson follows the unfortunately titled Western Cum with I Love People, a gentler, Laurel Canyon-folk record full of strange characters and his trademark wit. Grab the vinyl (Cory signs and ships every record himself) and then put on “Bird on a Swing,” a certified instant classic.
59. Dutch Interior - Moneyball
Get Vinyl: Evergreen (sold out) | Black
Dutch Interior is a six-piece rock band from Long Beach serving up a blend of Americana, alt-country, and indie rock on their third album (and Fat Possum debut) Moneyball. While there’s plenty to love across the record, what really lit me up is the track “Sweet Time,” a finger-plucking jam that evolves into an Allman Brothers’ “Jessica” riff that completely electrifies the track.
58. Rose City Band - Sol Y Sombra
Get Vinyl: Coke Bottle | Black
Rose City Band, led by Ripley Johnson of Wooden Shjips, has been crafting breezy, cosmic country rock for years, but their latest album is their best yet. Effortlessly uplifting and brimming with laid-back charm, it’s the kind of record you’ll come back to whenever you need a moment to slow down and breathe.
57. Earl Sweatshirt - Live Laugh Love
Get Vinyl: Black | Black and Orange (Alt Cover)
Earl Sweatshirt’s LIVE LAUGH LOVE is 24 minutes of disorienting, stream-of-consciousness raps, full of off-kilter time signatures, sideways punchlines, and producer Theravada’s dusty beats that keep the ground wobbling under you. And in between the abstract rhyme mazes, Earl sounds happy? content? maybe even settling into fatherhood? But don’t worry, it’s still weird, raw, and deeply Earl.
56. High. - Come Back Down
Get Vinyl: Yellow
North Jersey’s High. have delivered one of the year’s most addictive shoegaze albums with Come Back Down, a record that proves you don’t have to sacrifice melody to drown in reverb. Unlike many of their peers, High. put hooks front and center, wrapping big, fuzzy guitar swells around the tender lyrics. Easily one of the year’s most replayable debuts.
55. Stereolab - Instant Holograms on Metal Film
Get Vinyl: Clear | Black
After fifteen years away, Stereolab whipped up their eleventh album in six weeks, and it sounds like they teleported their 90s prime straight into the present. From that first synth blast to Lætitia Sadier’s loungey, weightless vocals, Instant Holograms On Metal Film quickly asserts itself as their best since their classic run and proof The Groop still has plenty of tricks humming in the circuitry.
54. Bon Iver - SABLE, fABLE
Get Vinyl: Black and Salmon | Black and Yellow | Black
If this really is the end of Bon Iver, as Justin Vernon has been alluding to in recent interviews, SABLE, fABLE is a tender farewell. Split into two halves (greyscale grief, then salmon-hued serenity), it lands as a quiet victory lap, the kind of beauty that asks nothing of you except to sit with it.
53. Sam Fender - People Watching
Get Vinyl: Blue Eye Yolk | Black and White Striped | Picture Disc | Black
With The War on Drugs’ Adam Granduciel co-producing half the tracks, Sam Fender’s third album soars on sprawling guitarscapes and widescreen production. The result is heartland rock with Springsteen-sized ambition and a distinctly British soul.
52. Deafheaven - Lonely People With Power
Get Vinyl: Daydream | Coke Bottle | Black
If you can’t tell by now, metal is my blind spot (I get enough screaming at home with two toddlers), but Deafheaven remains my exception. Lonely People With Power brings back George Clarke’s full-throttle shrieks that were missing from predecessor Infinite Granite, yet it’s still packed with enough earworms to keep a metal lightweight like me hooked.
51. Mulatu Astatke - Mulatu Plays Mulatu
Get Vinyl: Black
At 81, Mulatu Astatke said “Let’s run it back.” Mulatu Plays Mulatu finds the Ethio-jazz legend re-imagining his own classics with a killer band, better gear, and the swagger of someone who’s lapped the genre he helped invent.
Congratulations, you’ve made it to the halfway point. If you’ve bought a record or two so far, you need The Vinyl Tote Bag.. it’s perfect to carry your records in and will look as good hanging by your turntable as it does on your shoulder.
Support The Wax Museum for $5 a month, and receive $10 off in the Gift Shop, which you can put toward the Vinyl Tote or something else that catches your eye.
Now enjoy the top 50…
50. Water From Your Eyes - It’s a Beautiful Place
Get Vinyl: Coke Bottle (sold out) | Black
Water From Your Eyes’ It’s a Beautiful Place is six songs, four interludes, and at least a dozen moments where you’ll say, “Wait, what is this?” in the best way. Rachel Brown and Nate Amos (This is Lorelei) keep their streak of genre-bending alive with cosmic themes, unreal guitar grooves, and enough surprises to remind you they’re one of indie’s most unique duos.
49. Squid - Cowards
Get Vinyl: Clear | Black
The Brighton boys of Squid are three-for-three in my book with Cowards. They’ve tossed their post-punk roots aside for a layered psych and art-rock journey that’s as freewheeling as it is intriguing. While the melodies sometimes vanish in the chaos, if they can hone that energy a bit, they could be an album or two away from dropping a masterpiece that tops a list like this.
48. Perfume Genius - Glory
Get Vinyl: Cobalt | Black
Blake Mills’ third production of 2025 finally sticks the landing after two high-profile whiffs with Japanese Breakfast and Lucy Dacus, this time pairing perfectly with Perfume Genius on Glory. He frames Mike Hadreas’ voice in raw, cinematic detail, as experimental folk and haunted Americana swirl into something nervy.
47. Blush - Beauty Fades, Pain Lasts Forever
Get Vinyl: Pink
Here’s a band more people need to hear: Singapore’s Blush, who quietly dropped one of the year’s best shoegaze records in Beauty Fades, Pain Lasts Forever. Their debut Supercrush landed on my 2023 year-end list, and this follow-up also gets crowned. Swirling guitars, velvety vocals, jangly undercurrents.. it’s all here, and it all hits.
46. Uwade - Florilegium
Get Vinyl: Orange Vinyl, Signed Insert | Cream
Uwade’s Florilegium — Latin for “a gathering of flowers” — lives up to its name: a radiant debut where soul, folk, and West African rhythms bloom under her luminous voice. Few first albums feel this assured, or this alive.
45. Laura Stevenson - Late Great
Get Vinyl: Clear with Red, Black, Beige Splatter
Laura Stevenson’s Late Great is raw to say the least, chronicling the blow-up of a 17-year relationship with her husband, co-parent, and bandmate. Released on Jeff Rosenstock’s Really Records (including Rosenstock himself on multiple instruments), the album finds Stevenson’s singular voice floating above lush arrangements. It’s a record about rebuilding yourself from the wreckage, and it creeps up on you and then never leaves.
44. caroline - caroline 2
Get Vinyl: Blue (Signed) | Red | Black
On their sprawling second album, UK octet caroline push deeper into avant-folk, post-rock, and ambient collage. The appropriately titled caroline 2 is disorienting in all the right ways, an immersive, slow-blooming record that rewards attention.
43. Cloakroom - Last Leg of the Human Table
Get Vinyl: Green Orange Splatter | Black White Split with Splatter
Story of the Egg, Cloakroom’s fourth LP, is a dreamy, shape-shifting triumph that drifts between alt-rock grit, twangy Americana, and hazy dream-pop with ease. It carries their signature melancholy grandeur, but with a looseness that makes it feel like it was a joy to make and an even better one to play.
42. La Dispute - No One Was Driving The Car
Get Vinyl: Green Smoke | Tri-Color | Eco Mix | Black
Paul Schrader’s First Reformed is in my Letterboxd Top 4, so my expectations were sky high hearing La Dispute’s first album in six years was directly inspired by it. I’m happy to report No One Was Driving The Car not only meets expectations but stands as the post-hardcore band’s best work since 2011’s Wildlife. Channeling their rage into ambitious compositions and dark writing, La Dispute stares into the void and creates a work of art from the despair.
41. Shallowater - God’s Gonna Give You a Million Dollars
Get Vinyl: Black
Self-proclaimed “West Texas dirtgaze” trio Shallowater have returned with their striking second album, God’s Gonna Give You a Million Dollars. Produced by Wax Museum Hall of Famer Alex Farrar (who has at least three albums on this list!), the record balances slowcore patience with sudden walls of distortion, folding in shades of alt-country and Americana along the way. This gives the songs an intimacy that makes the quiet moments tender and the heavy ones devastating.
40. Winter - Adult Romantix
Get Vinyl: Red and White Smash | Cherry Kiss | Blue and Red Nova | Black
Friends, I listen to a lot of new dreampop and shoegaze, which means I wade through plenty of forgettable efforts, so believe me when I say that Samira Winter’s Adult Romantix is the real deal. Her Winspear debut, inspired by Mary Shelley novels and 90s rom-coms, is a perfect blend of swirling guitars and smoky vocals. Nostalgic, woozy, and moving, I wouldn’t be shocked to see Adult Romantix mentioned among the great modern shoegaze albums in the years to come.
39. Purity Ring - Purity Ring
Get Vinyl: Pick Acid Wash Splash
Purity Ring’s new self-titled album is the triumphant return to form we’ve been waiting for, definitely their strongest work since their 2012 debut, Shrines. Inspired by Japanese RPGs like Final Fantasy, the record plays as a concept soundtrack, charting the journey of two characters as they seek to build a kinder world from the ruins of a broken one. It’s a beautiful listen and an invigorating reminder of why they mattered in the first place.
38. John Michel & Anthony James - Egotrip
Get Vinyl: Black (sold out)
I have no idea who John Michel and Anthony James are, but they just dropped perhaps the best hip-hop debut of the year. Egotrip sounds like two friends dared each other to make a classic… and then actually did it. Warm jazz rap, sharp conscious bars, and East Coast grit collide with a confidence most major-label acts couldn’t fake with a million-dollar budget.
37. Militarie Gun - God Save the Gun
Get Vinyl: America (sold out) | Iridescent Blue | Black
“Ooh ooh!” It feels good to be back in the raucous world of Militarie Gun. Their 2023 debut won the Waxy for Best Debut thanks to its blistering pace and undeniable hooks. Sophomore record God Save the Gun is still rooted in hardcore punk, but now brushes up against pop rock with a surprising amount of vulnerability. Ian Shelton turns his sudden battle with alcohol addition into a three-act emotional sledgehammer, making this one hell of a cathartic rock record.
36. Alan Sparhawk - With Trampled by Turtles
Get Vinyl: Sunflare
The self-explanatory title With Trampled by Turtles finds Low’s Alan Sparhawk teaming up with fellow Duluth-ers Trampled by Turtles. Alan’s signature slow-burning sorrow meets the band’s warm, bluegrass embrace. Following the recent passing of Sparhawk’s wife and bandmate Mimi Parker, Trampled by Turtles brought him on tour, offering comfort through music. That chemistry spills into these songs of loss and resilience. Sparhawk’s voice is raw and unadorned, especially on “Not Broken,” a highlight that tricks the ear into thinking Mimi is singing, only to find out it’s his daughter. A beautiful collaboration and tribute.
35. Little Simz - Lotus
Get Vinyl: Electric Pink | Moonstone | Black
A phoenix rising from friendship betrayal and self-doubt, Lotus finds Little Simz at her most raw and refined. Over lush orchestrations and pulsing noir beats, she excoriates former allies while wrestling with her artistic identity. The stellar supporting cast (Sampha, Michael Kiwanuka, Yussef Dayes, Wretch 32 and Moses Sumney) form a constellation around her brilliance.
34. Kokoroko - Tuff Times Don’t Last
Get Vinyl: Purple | Black
For those needing a jolt of happiness, London’s Kokoroko has the cure with Tuff Times Never Last. This Afrobeat album is groove after groove, effortlessly cool as the other side of the pillow. It serves as an optimistic reminder to embrace life’s many dualities. Start with “Sweetie,” my vote for Song of the Summer.
33. Dijon - Baby
Get Vinyl: Clear
Dijon’s Baby is an ecstatic celebration of love, lust, and fatherhood, blending horny Prince-esque funk and Springsteen ballads into raw, personal pop. Co-produced by Mk.gee, who handles half the record, it’s a soulful tribute to his wife, his newborn son, and the messy beauty of trying to get it all right.
32. Florry - Sounds Like…
Get Vinyl: Apple Red | Black
Florry’s Sounds Like… is a raw, rollicking blend of alt-country and early ’70s rock, led by Francie Medosch’s vivid storytelling and a band that absolutely cooks. Fiddles, pedal steel (you know I love me some pedal steel), and fuzzed-out guitars collide into a glorious murk, delivering the most heart-on-sleeve jams to come out of Philly this year.
31. Hotline TNT - Raspberry Moon
Get Vinyl: Celestial Cardinal | Black
After landing high on my 2023 list with Cartwheel, Hotline TNT continue the hot streak with Raspberry Moon, their fuzz-drenched “next phase of New American Shoegaze.” With a full band lineup behind Will Anderson for the first time, the wall of sound hits harder. File this under 2025’s most satisfying guitar record.
30. Anna von Hausswolff - ICONOCLASTS
Get Vinyl: White | Clear | Black
ICONOCLASTS is Sweden’s Anna von Hausswolff at her most ambitious, an art-pop opera where pipe organ duels with sax and scorched guitars, strings swell to the heavens, and guest spots like Iggy Pop and Ethel Cain add to the grandeur. The first two tracks set the stage, but once the 11-minute “The Iconoclast” lands, it’s a full-body experience from there on out. If you’ve never tuned in to Anna before, this is the perfect entry point.
29. The Beths - Straight Line Was A Lie
Get Vinyl: Blue Sky | Sapphire | Sherbet | Black
Everyone’s favorite New Zealand indie quartet The Beths go four-for-four with Straight Line Was a Lie, yet another entry in their spotless catalog. Following frontwoman Elizabeth Stokes’ battle with Graves’ Disease-induced writer’s block, the band returns with their most introspective album to date. While still packed with their signature catchy hooks and big guitar riffs, the melancholy that always lingered at the edges now takes center stage. It may have been their most difficult record to make, but it’s another reminder that The Beths remain one of the most consistent bands of the last decade.
28. quickly, quickly - I Heard That Noise
Get Vinyl: Frosted Coke Bottle
In Liz Pelly’s book Mood Machine, we learn that Graham Jonson, aka quickly, quickly, was one of the casualties of Spotify’s shift toward AI ghost artists in their ambient playlists. I Heard That Noise is his spirited rebuttal — a charming, detail-packed record where lush instrumentation crashes into jagged guitars, especially on standouts like “Enything” (a song so dense it broke his computer). More than just surviving the algorithm, Jonson reminds us why real musicians still matter.
27. Mei Semones - Animaru
Get Vinyl: Pink Marble
If there’s a more charming debut this year than Animaru, I haven’t heard it. Mei Semones blends samba, math rock, and chamber pop with sweeping strings, bilingual lyrics, and guitar work that feels both effortless and virtuosic. It’s graceful, self-assured, and surprising from start to finish.
26. Racing Mount Pleasant - Racing Mount Pleasant
Get Vinyl: Burgundy (sold out) | Citrus | Black
Racing Mount Pleasant, the eponymous debut from the Michigan-based seven-piece, knocked me sideways with this lush, wildly ambitious record. Fans of Black Country, New Road will feel right at home, but this Ann Arbor collective builds their own world of lilting time shifts, weeping sax, and sweeping, bruised crescendos. It’s one of the prettiest albums I’ve heard all year and one of the most striking debuts in recent memory.
25. Ribbon Skirt - Bite Down
Get Vinyl: Bi-Color
Speaking of striking debuts… Bite Down grabs you and doesn’t let go. Fronted by Anishinaabe singer-guitarist Tashiina Buswa, Ribbon Skirt channel post-punk tension into nine sharp, urgent tracks produced by Scott Munro (Preoccupations, who also dropped a killer new album) and Marlaena Moore. Buswa’s lyrics cut deep, delivered with a swagger and presence that signals a true breakout moment.
24. McKinley Dixon - Magic, Alive!
Get Vinyl: Orange
Chicago’s McKinley Dixon cements himself as jazz rap’s modern torchbearer with Magic, Alive!, a cinematic concept album where harps, horns, and live drums collide with force. Framed as 11 short stories touched by grief, memory, and survival, it’s a masterwork that honors the genre’s roots while pushing it forward.
23. Liquid Mike - Hell Is An Airport
Get Vinyl: Black
After last year’s Paul Bunyan’s Slingshot (which landed #14 on our 2024 leaderboard) nailed the sweet spot between prime Blink-182 energy and Fountains of Wayne wit, frontman Liquid Mike Maple quit his day job as a USPS mail carrier to go all-in. Now a fully locked-in five-piece, the band returns with Hell is an Airport, cramming 14 fuzzed-out, hook-stuffed songs in a frantic 27 minutes. It’s one of the tightest, most exhilarating power pop records of the year.
22. Hannah Cohen - Earthstar Mountain
Get Vinyl: Translucent Yellow
After six years away, Hannah Cohen is back with Earthstar Mountain, a radiant, genre-blurring record that feels like sunlight through leaves. Co-produced with partner Sam Evian at their Catskills studio, it stretches her folk roots into warm ’70s rock, dreamy pop, and subtle funk. With sticky choruses, rippling guitars, and cameos from Clairo and Sufjan Stevens, it’s a comeback worth the wait.
21. Horsegirl - Phonetics On and On
Get Vinyl: Crystal Clear | Black
Horsegirl dodge the sophomore slump with Phonetics On and On, a crisp, Cate Le Bon–produced gem that swaps their debut’s noisy scrappiness for softer grooves and hypnotic vocals. This set of swooning harmonies, rich guitar layers, and earworm melodies feel timeless.
20. Home Is Where - Hunting Season
Get Vinyl: Green, Purple, Brown | Splatter | Green
Hunting Season cements Home Is Where as one of the most thrilling, unclassifiable bands working today, doubling down on their country-screamo and conceptual ambition. Across 13 songs of 13 doomed Elvis impersonators, Bea McDonald’s lyrics cut deeper than shattered glass, turning Americana’s rot into gory punk poetry.
19. Turnstile - NEVER ENOUGH
Get Vinyl: Snow | Orange Clay | Purple | Black
NEVER ENOUGH is Turnstile’s victory lap and reinvention all at once — the sound of a band refusing to stand still after breaking through. If GLOW ON cracked the hardcore ceiling with dream-pop haze and rhythmic ambition, this one fully breaks free, fusing dancefloor bounce with pit-starting energy.
18. Larry June, 2 Chainz, The Alchemist - Life is Beautiful
Get Vinyl: Black
The rap album I’ve spun the most this year is Life is Beautiful, a collab where Larry June’s effortless cool meets 2 Chainz’s boundless energy, all gliding over The Alchemist’s masterfully crafted beats; the producer remains the ultimate cheat code for elevating any rapper’s game.
17. Loaded Honey - Love Made Trees
Get Vinyl: Marbled
Imagine Sade covering Moon Safari at a poolside jam session: Loaded Honey’s debut floats on jazzy chords, soulful whispers, and the chemistry of two new lovers (Jungle’s J Lloyd and Lydia Kitto, seen embracing on the album art) composing in real time. The perfect summer album and a future classic.
16. The Mars Volta - Lucro sucio; Los ojos del vacio
Get Vinyl: Black
Lucro Sucio; Los Ojos del Vacío might be the most misunderstood album of 2025. Critics shrugged, but I’m hooked. The Mars Volta go back to their roots with Latin-tinged psychedelia, smoky jazz grooves, and mini-suites that reward full immersion. The final three tracks are the highlight, blooming into a lush, sax-laced crescendo. This isn’t the Volta you remember, but it might be the one you need right now.
15. Panda Bear - Sinister Grift
Get Vinyl: Curacao Blue | Black
The psych-pop alchemist delivers his sunniest, most immediate work in over a decade, trading Animal Collective’s kaleidoscopic sprawl for Beach Boys-worthy harmonies and crystalline hooks. Sinister Grift is a career highlight, proving Noah Lennox’s gift for warping nostalgia into something blissfully new.
14. Friendship - Caveman Wakes Up
Get Vinyl: Autographed | Black
Caveman Wakes Up is Philly band Friendship’s finest work yet, a slow-burning collection of cracked Americana where Dan Wriggins delivers surreal, sorrowful dispatches in a voice that barely rises above a whisper. With key players from 2nd Grade and Dear Life Records in the mix, the band drifts somewhere between David Berman’s wit and Jason Molina’s ache.
13. Wednesday - Bleeds
Get Vinyl: At least six colorways
Wednesday have owned my year-end lists two years running — Rat Saw God at #1 in 2023 and MJ Lenderman’s solo record in my top five last year — and Bleeds keeps their hot streak alive. It’s their Southern-fried sludge at its finest, hooky country haze that sticks in your cortex, none more so than “Elderberry Wine,” which I assume Spotify Wrapped will show me as my most listened song of 2025.
12. Greet Death - Die in Love
Get Vinyl: Poltergeist
Die in Love is the latest from Flint’s Greet Death. Known for their brooding slowcore, they’ve pivoted to love songs inspired by Paul McCartney. Basically if Paul wrote “Maybe I’m Amazed” after a long Michigan winter… With a fuller lineup and a sound that’s more expansive, Greet Death proves that even the darkest bands can find new light. One of the most exciting acts in shoegaze today.
11. Rosalía - LUX
Get Vinyl: Crystal Clear
Rosalía’s LUX is a four-act, genre-smashing supernova where she trades MOTOMAMI’s quick-hit chaos for something way more ambitious. With the London Symphony Orchestra recording every track and collaborators ranging from Pharrell to Daft Punk’s Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo in the mix, she turns a pop record into an opus on power, beauty, and whatever sparks between the divine and the painfully human. It’s dense and demanding, but give it your attention and it absolutely pays you back.
Before I reveal the top 10, here’s a reminder that I send out this newsletter a few times a month. For those looking for up-to-the-second vinyl news, drops, and deals, follow my other project, Vinyl on Sale, the Internet’s #1 vinyl resource trusted by over 20,000 fellow collectors!
Now drumroll please for the top 10….
10. Titanic - HAGEN
Get Vinyl: Cream | Black
I’ve been singing the praises of Mexico City–based, Guatemalan multi-hyphenate Mabe Fratti for a while now. She made last year’s Top 100 list, she cameos in our #1 pick this year, and her collaboration with her partner Héctor Tosta under the Titanic moniker starts off our top 10.
Trust me when I say HAGEN may be the most spellbinding half hour of music you’ll hear this year. One moment they’re channeling the soft funk of Sade, the next they’re wrangling heavy metal blast beats beneath Fratti’s soaring falsetto. It’s an endlessly surprising album that cements her as one of this generation’s rising stars.
9. Colin Miller - Losin’
Get Vinyl: Black
MJ Lenderman’s touring drummer Colin Miller steps into the spotlight with Losin’, an album about grief, memory, and the weight of love. Written after the loss of his close friend and father figure, and produced by my guy Alex Farrar, the record pairs warm instrumentation with tender, often brutal lyrics.
Losin’ makes me miss my best friend, but more than anything, it makes me grateful for the time we spent together.
8. Fust - Big Ugly
Get Vinyl: Beer (sold out) | Black
Back to back Asheville and Alex Farrar joints in the top 10!
Fust’s Big Ugly blends folk and cosmic Americana with the heartfelt storytelling of Wild Pink and Trace Mountains. With a seven-member band and guests like Merce Lemon and Dave Hartley (The War on Drugs), Big Ugly is rich with pedal steel swells, dynamic rhythms, and vivid soundscapes that’ll have you dreaming of misty Blue Ridge Mountain mornings.
7. Panchiko - Ginkgo
Get Vinyl: Sweet Tart (sold out) | Clear with Blue and Pink Splatter
Panchiko’s second act keeps getting more surprising and sublime. Ginkgo transforms their myth (abandoned ‘90s demos turned internet lore) into meticulous indie-rock, with Radiohead’s ghost humming through glitchy lullabies, a wild billy woods appearing to spit bars in the haze, and melodies that feel infinite. It’s the kind of record that makes you marvel at how far a once-forgotten band has come.
6. Benjamin Booker - LOWER
Get Vinyl: Clear | Black
Eight years after his last album, Benjamin Booker returns with LOWER, and he’s swapped blues-rock grit for grungy, beat-driven fire. With Kenny Segal behind the boards and a sharpened focus on systemic injustice, Booker channels personal trauma into raw, righteous fury. It’s the sound of an artist with nothing to lose.
5. Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band - New Threats From The Soul
Get Vinyl: Black
For those looking for the best country album of 2025, I present Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band’s New Threats From The Soul, a sprawling, 57-minute journey that seamlessly weaves in psych-prog and subtle electronica among the alt-country. The seven long, winding songs unfold like a great movie you never want to end, each listen revealing new punchlines and harmonic shifts. It’s a prime example of an artist stretching the boundaries of what country music can be.
4. Car Seat Headrest - The Scholars
Get Vinyl: Green and Red Marbled (Sold Out) | Black
No album this year lit my brain up quite like The Scholars, Car Seat Headrest’s first record in five years and easily their boldest yet. It’s a full-blown rock opera —theatrical, messy, and gloriously over-the-top. Think Ziggy Stardust by way of American Idiot. The band sounds bigger and tighter than ever, and the record delivers both narrative sweep and immediate bangers. It’s the kind of album that begs for repeat listens and keeps giving more every time you come back.
3. Saya Gray - SAYA
Get Vinyl: Clear (sold out) | Black
Canadian-Japanese singer-songwriter Saya Gray blew my socks clean off with SAYA, a wild, genre-resistant debut that slips between psych-folk, art-pop, and glitchy prog like it’s second nature. No two people will have the same favorite track, usually a sign you’re hearing something special.
2. Geese - Getting Killed
Get Vinyl: Red Splatter (sold out) | Ultra Clear | Blue | Eco Mix
Geese already floored me with their 2023 rock freakout 3D Country, winning the highly prestigious Waxy for Best Sophomore Album, and Getting Killed somehow takes things even further. It opens with screams of “THERE’S A BOMB IN MY CAR!,” the funniest windows-down anthem ever, and “Taxes,” which boasts one of the best transitions (and music videos) of the year.
Getting Killed is razor-sharp, carved from 30-minute LA jams with producer Kenny Beats while wildfires literally burned outside. And the craziest part? According to this GQ interview, they’ve already got the next album nearly done, and frontman Cameron Winter claims he has over a thousand more songs in his Dropbox. The sky’s the limit for these Geese, sheesh. (Dr. Seuss over here…)
1. Blood Orange - Essex Honey
Get Vinyl: Orange | Marble | Black
After the death of his mother, Devonté Hynes wasn’t sure he’d ever make music again, until hearing Sufjan Stevens’ “Fourth of July” for the first time (also a song about a mother’s passing) cracked something open and reminded him of music’s ability to heal. That revelation pulses through every moment of Essex Honey as Hynes threads childhood memories into a warm, shimmering tapestry of sound.
Caroline Polachek, Lorde, Zadie Smith, Turnstile’s Brendan Yates, Daniel Caesar, and Mabe Fratti all show up, but Essex Honey still feels unmistakably Hynes. It’s genre-fluid, deeply human, endlessly replayable, and the most moving thing I’ve heard all year. Essex Honey is the rare album that feels like a life being pieced back together, and it’s my undisputed #1 of the year.
Album of the Year Leaderboard (151+ Songs)
🎧 Stream Playlist on Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube Music
The 100 Best Albums of 2025
🎧 Stream Playlist on Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube Music
Hey friends, thanks for reading my tome! I’d love to hear your new favs; send some record-mendations my way!
OK I’m exhausted, it’s nap time, and I’ll catch ya here next week!
Do me a solid and forward this newsletter to any music lovers in your life! 🙌
Great list! A lot of stuff I love and a lot to check out. Love seeing Greet Death so high.
I was obsessed with Hannah Cohen's new album this year. I'm a sucker for anything that sounds like it was recorded in the '70s, so this was right up my alley. I need to revisit that Saya Gray record though! I listened to it once and was intrigued but forgot to get back into it.