Let’s all agree that 2025 wasn’t a great year overall (unless you won the lottery or something), but thankfully the music didn’t suffer. I remain somewhat astounded that very few artists (especially in the U.S.) have met this trying era with songs and records that push back against the tyrrany and evil permeating our world. A protest record, particularly by a prominent artist or band would not only be relevant but could serve as inspiration for others to use their voices and do the same. Alas, it was not to be in 2025, but if you plan to make music next year and are reading this, there’s a wide open topical direction you could take with a real potential for positive impact.
But enough about what types of records we didn’t get in 2025, and more about what we did. There wasn’t really a general theme or style that dominated this year, other than maybe pop music remaining pop(ular) and hip hop struggling to find new ways into the cultural zeitgeist. A TikTok star somehow managed to pull a pretty damn good debut album out of her ass (with the help of a talented team), a well-known rock band singer made her strongest solo album to date, and alt/experimental pop brought a couple of new names to the forefront. We reaffirmed that just about anything with the names billy woods or Earl Sweatshirt attached to them is going to be quality, welcomed back a beloved rap duo to reclaim their status for the first time in nearly 20 years, and saw a slightly different side of Tyler, The Creator.
You want to prove rock music isn’t dead or dying? Listen to Geese, Wednesday, Viagra Boys, Wet Leg, Deftones, and Deafheaven. R&B certainly isn’t suffering either when Dijon, FKA twigs, PinkPantheress, and Amaarae are giving us inspiration. Then there’s the immense talents of Chicagoans like Saba, Jeff Tweedy, Sharp Pins (/Lifeguard), Pixel Grip, and Circuit des Yeux, with Horsegirl getting honorary local ststus even though they’ve relocated to New York. I’m grateful for all their contributions this year, even if some didn’t make the list.
Below you’ll find my 50 favorite albums from 2025, plus 10 more Honorable Mentions because I couldn’t just stop there. Honestly this list could have gone to 75 without much trouble, but I don’t want to assign you even more homework beyond what’s already here. In short, if you haven’t heard these records yet, please do yourself a favor and give them a try. My hope is that you’ll fall in love with something new and continue to expand your world through music. Taste is subjective, and most likely everything listed here won’t fully capture your attention or imagination. But in the off chance some of this does, it’ll turn out to be well worth the exploration. Please enjoy this list and these records as we collectively prepare to strap in for the wild ride 2026 is sure to bring.
Well we have once again made it through another year. As such, the time for reflection and list making is upon us. Did you listen to a lot of new music this year? If you did, congratulations because 2023 happened to be a pretty great one overall in terms of pure artistry and quality recordings. Some years it’s a struggle to name 50 records that both held my attention and truly impressed. This one both came together with relative ease, and left me a little sad not everything I loved in 2023 could be included. 50 is a manageable number, plus another 10 honorable mentions because I can’t help myself. Even still, everyone from Jessy Lanza to PJ Harvey to The Armed to Lydia Loveless to Bar Italia all couldn’t quite survive the inevitable cuts and it breaks my heart.
Selecting and ranking 100 songs as the “Best of” any given year is a fool’s errand. There’s simply too much music to choose from and the notion that any of these lists can truly encapsulate what it was like to listen to music in 2020 inevitably leaves some important things out or places too much importance on certain artists or genres. In the end it’s all subjective anyway, and what captures one person’s imagination might leave another in the cold. Plus, with so much music available there’s no way you can listen to everything. I know I’ve discovered plenty of songs and artists weeks, months, or years later, only to wish I had known about them sooner so they could’ve been included in a year-end roundup. It’s the way life goes sometimes. But that’s also the benefit of any list like this! For anyone to tell you these are songs that meant something to them in 2020 automatically elevates those tracks above your standard fare. If you’re looking to put your music listening in focus, a list like this can help to some degree. 
Time to close out 2018 on a high note. While it’s been a pretty rough year overall for a number of different reasons, I’d like to think this was one of the better years in recent memory for quality music. There’s been a really rich array of artists coming into their own by exploring new ideas and sonic territories, while some of the “old guard” either took a break or released material that might best be regarded as sub par. It’s been a thrill watching brilliant songwriters like Mitski and Janelle Monae hit new career highs in terms of acclaim and popularity, while Snail Mail, Soccer Mommy, Noname, Cardi B, and Kali Uchis all came out with strong debut albums that fulfilled their early promise. If you didn’t find a whole lot of new music to love this year, you weren’t looking hard enough. Maybe this list of Top 50 Albums can help! My sincerest hope is that you discover at least one new artist or record below that you hadn’t heard of or listened to before today, but even if you don’t, feel free to hand write me letters about how wrong these rankings are and all the great albums I somehow “missed” this year. Seriously though, I do love your feedback, so feel free to comment, email, or use the old social media to get in touch and share your thoughts! Oh, and before I forget, here’s some other year-end list things you might want to check out:
There were a lot of really great songs released in 2018. Actually, there are a lot of great songs released in any given year, and definitely more than a list of 50 can fully contain. But I’ve got to try anyway. The 50 songs in the list below feel like a relatively comprehensive chronicle of what it was like living through 2018, though I suppose if it were truly accurate there’d be a lot more depressing shit that’d turn most people off. Overall I’d say this is a strong balance of mood, tempo, style, and genre I sincerely hope will leave you feeling satisfied. The most fascinating thing to me about this year’s list is that the top two songs are not currently part of any full-length album. As for the unofficial “rules” behind the selections for the Top 50 Songs, there are only two: the song must have been officially released by an artist or band in 2018, and no artist is allowed to be featured more than once (for diversity’s sake). While there are audio streams and in some cases videos to accompany each song (apologies for the couple of live videos, as album versions were unavailable), you can also stream the entire list (minus one song) via the Spotify embed at the bottom of this post, or by going to 
