Across the next two weeks, we’ll be revealing the list bit by glorious bit. Just the albums that made our hearts race, our brains fizz and our year make a tiny bit more sense. From the cult favourites to the big hitters, this is 2025 as we heard it: brilliant, unpredictable, occasionally unhinged, and absolutely worth celebrating.
100-81 | 80-61 | 60-41 | 40-21 | 20-11 | 10-6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1
80. Hannah Jadagu – Describe
Hannah Jadagu has always had a gear-shift instinct — even on her previous album ‘Aperture’, she slipped between indie-pop, R&B warmth and left-field electronics. But ‘Describe’ is the first time that restlessness feels like a home rather than a detour. Written as her life split between New York, a California summer, and video-call love, the album lives in the tension of being away for the thing you’re building, and the guilt that comes with it.
Sonically, she steps past guitar muscle memory and lets synths and soft electronics lead, keeping her silky, steady voice at the centre. ‘Gimme Time’ blooms from reflection into hazy electro-soul, ‘Doing Now’ loops doubt into a hook, and the title-track glides with easy confidence. ‘Describe’ is growth you can hear, and one of 2025’s best because it trusts that evolution. FN
79. Loyle Carner – hopefully !
‘hopefully !’ hears Loyle Carner step into a wider, steadier version of himself. After the tension of ‘hugo’, he’s writing from a place that values pause and the messy work of staying open. He’s still razor-focused on meaning; ‘time to go’ lays out the album’s central idea – taking it slow as a way to survive and to love properly – and the rest of the tracklist keeps testing that thought from different angles. The big surprise is his voice: singing on ‘strangers’ and ‘in my mind’ isn’t a side quest, it’s a natural extension of the intimacy he’s always had. Coming off a Glastonbury moment and into a tour that keeps expanding, ‘hopefully !’ captures growth you can actually hear. JE
78. The Belair Lip Bombs – Again
‘Again’ might be The Belair Lip Bombs’ second album, but it really feels like a debut in every sense. Their first album to really, properly reach a global audience, it also sees them crawl out of the dark, grungy tones of their first album ‘Lush Life’, reaching sunnier climbs through clean lines, warped riffs, and choruses made to be played in big rooms. Mimicking an Aussie summer day, ‘Cinema’ is soaked with sun-drenched vibes, while ‘Hey You’ rattles through your bones in the way any good classic rock track should. Bringing together myriad influences into one cohesive, charming, and chillingly assured record, ‘Again’ leaves you begging for more. CP
77. Victoria Canal – Slowly, It Dawns
Victoria Canal’s ‘Slowly, It Dawns’ has the energy of a debut from someone who’s already been excellent for ages. Years of EPs and those Ivor wins weren’t a warm-up so much as groundwork, and this is where the whole picture comes into view. It’s an album about the slow, slightly chaotic process of becoming a person in front of others: spiralling thoughts, small victories, and the mundane aspects of healing that turn out not to be mundane at all.
Musically, she keeps the door wide open without losing the plot. ‘June Baby’ hits with bright, open-armed pop rush; ‘California Sober’ leans into a jittery, sunlit groove; ‘Cake’ has that mid-track gear change that makes you sit up; and the ballads work because she sings them like she’s telling the truth to herself first. After the last year’s spotlight, this feels like Canal locking in on her own terms – and well worth the wait. FN
76. Courting – Lust for Life, Or: ‘How To Thread The Needle And Come Out The Other Side To Tell The Story’
Courting are the perfect example of why bands a) shouldn’t find one sound and stick with it, and b) get bogged down by criticism or mixed reviews. ‘Lust for Life’ brings together the raucous elements of debut ‘Guitar Music’ with the glitchy, sometimes jarring electronica of ‘New Last Name’ to create an album that takes their journey so far into an entirely new realm. ‘Pause At You’ and ‘After You’ are unabashed alt-rock anthems, ‘Stealth Rollback’ turns techno-rhythms into a noise-rock banger, and ‘Lust for Life’ sprawls and screeches through a winding, Lou Reed meets Americana narrative. They’ve never been afraid to push themselves to the edge of sanity, and this album proves them right to do so. CP
75. Perfume Genius – Glory
Perfume Genius’s ‘Glory’ feels like Mike Hadreas sharpening his instincts down to the bone. The songs move with a real, physical band energy, thanks to Blake Mills and Alan Wyffels, but the centre is still Hadreas’ voice and the way he writes straight through the fog. He’s always been brilliant at turning private terror into something you can hold, and here that skill is at peak strength.
There’s a nervous momentum to the opener ‘It’s a Mirror’, then ‘No Front Teeth’ twists that tension into something weirdly euphoric, helped by Aldous Harding’s off-kilter presence. ‘Me & Angel’ is the emotional gut-punch, direct and unguarded, while tracks like ‘Clean Heart’ and ‘Capezio’ show Hadreas’ gift for making tenderness feel sturdy. Across the album, he keeps circling love, the body, memory, and what survives in you over time. ‘Glory’ hits because it feels fearless, and absolutely his. JE
74. Conan Gray – Wishbone
Conan Gray’s ‘Wishbone’ is his cleanest argument yet for why he’s one of pop’s best heartbreak writers. After the synth-pop side-step of ‘Found Heaven’, he’s back in diary mode, but with more control over the story.
The songs are rich in detail, just as his best work always is. ‘Actor’ opens on a gut-punch scene of being erased in public, and that hyper-specific sting runs all the way through. ‘This Song’ and ‘Vodka Cranberry’ sit in the slow ache of trying to unlearn someone, while ‘Caramel’ and ‘Care’ prove he can write something bright without letting the sadness off the hook.
What lands hardest is the voice he’s found here. ‘Romeo’ is petty and perfect, ‘My World’ has bite, and even the softer cuts keep the tension humming. ‘Wishbone’ doesn’t just document heartbreak, it edits it into something you want to live inside. FN
73. Zara Larsson – Midnight Sun
Zara Larsson’s ‘Midnight Sun’ has ended up feeling like the glue in her year. She’s had a run that’s felt properly switched on, not just because the singles hit, but because she’s been out there sounding like someone who actually lives in pop culture rather than orbiting it. Clued in, quick with an opinion, happy to be a bit messy if it makes the song better. This album carries that same energy.
It starts in sun-bright, big-hook mode, then keeps pushing at the edges. The production has that clean Zara sparkle, but she lets in grit, humour, and the kind of late-20s self-interrogation most pop stars file off. When she’s euphoric, it’s full-body. When she’s unsure, she says it out loud. The result is an album that feels current without chasing anything, and personal without turning inward. Zara sounds like she’s leading the conversation again. FN
72. Moonchild Sanelly – Full Moon
There’s a point in every rising artist’s story where everything starts clicking in public, and ‘Full Moon’ captures that moment with total delight. It sounds like lift-off, but with jokes. Moonchild Sanelly has spent the past few years transforming festival fields into instant fanbases, and this record captures the exact energy that has been following her from stage to stage.
‘Scrambled Eggs’ bursts out with the confidence of someone who already knows the crowd will scream it back. ‘Sweet & Savage’ explains why artists from Gorillaz to Self Esteem keep choosing her as a creative co-conspirator; it has the swagger of a club anthem and the hooks of a pop star. At the centre sits ‘Do My Dance’, a hyperactive jewel.
Songs like ‘Big Booty’ illustrate how easily she can swing from commentary to pure hedonism without losing the thread, while the rest of the album shows how far she can stretch her vision without breaking its shape. ‘Full Moon’ is bright, funny, unfiltered and completely unmissable. FN
71. PUP – Who Will Look After the Dogs?
On their fifth record, ‘’Who Will Look After The Dogs?’, Canadian upstarts PUP successfully manage to bridge the space between their acerbic punk and the challenges of post-adolescent life. Gone is the bombastic penchant for self-destruction, which finds itself replaced by a horrifying sense of self-awareness. Throughout, PUP retain their wonderful sense of humour and their open-heartedness; there’s no pretention here, just the sound of four punks messily figuring shit out. To echo the thoughts of a far wiser man than I, ‘I guess this is growing up’. RM
70. Sam Akpro – Evenfall
Sam Akpro’s ‘Evenfall’ arrived at the start of the year as one of those brilliant records that somehow slipped under the radar. His path into music wasn’t glamorous or inevitable. It runs through skate videos, graffiti soundtracks, a short-lived stint in biomedical science, and a chance nudge from Joy Crookes to start making his own beats. All of that winds its way into ‘Evenfall’ without ever turning into a collage of references. Instead, the record moves with the focus of someone who’s learned to shut out the static and trust his ear. There’s plenty to latch onto, too – the controlled tension of ‘Death By Entertainment’, the spiralling pull of ‘Chicago Town’, the late-night glow of the title-track – but the real appeal is how confident it feels in its own space. No hype cycle, no overexposure, just a great record by an artist who took his time. If anything in 2025 deserves a second (or third) look, it’s this.
69. La Dispute – No One Was Driving The Car
La Dispute’s taut and discordant post-hardcore lends itself perfectly to ruminations on the role and fate of humanity amid the rising tide of technology. Inspired by a fatal car crash which involved an autonomous self-driving vehicle, ‘No One Was Driving The Car’ starts off with a horrifying premise and only sinks deeper into despair. In lesser hands, such a concept could have been a moribund disaster, but Jordan Dreyer and Co are experts at wringing emotion from such unlikely source material. The result is a conceptually challenging, musically strident, triumph. RM
68. Nova Twins – Parasites & Butterflies
Nova Twins anxiety-fuelled third album could easily have fallen from the tightrope and into a chaotic, rattling abyss. Luckily, Amy Love and Georgia South know more than well enough how to create a record that plays at the edges of insanity, deep in the beckoning darkness, and still come out the other side with something that shimmers with metallic edges and a malevolent grin. Lead single ‘Monsters’ blasted in this new era with bombastic power, supported by self-love anthem ‘N.O.V.A’, rap-rock inspired ‘Drip’, and operatic closer ‘Black Roses’ to weave together a tapestry bigger, bolder, and frankly better than any thing Nova Twins have done before. Ever worry that rock is dead? Well, if Nova Twins are the new guard of British rock, then we’re in good hands. CP
67. Brògeal – Tuesday Paper Club
The Celtic folk revival has been going on for a while now, with bands like The Mary Wallopers proving that traditional music is best enjoyed not in a candlelit café but instead in a rowdy venue alongside 10-12 pints of lager. Brogeal have taken this a step further, blending folk and indie sensibilities to become the perfect band for raucous shows in sweaty basements. ‘Tuesday Paper Club’ distils the essence of the band while expanding their scope. The fast-paced bangers are still at the fore, but it’s in the slower, more reflective nature of tracks like ‘Go Home Tae Yer Bed’ that Brogeal really shine. JH
66. Lady Gaga – Mayhem
It feels a bit strange to say it about one of the biggest pop stars on the planet but as she entered 2025 Lady Gaga had something to prove. Her last proper pop album was 5 years ago with the pandemic stunted ‘Chromatica’, beloved by some but considered lightweight and frivolous by others. People wanted weird Gaga so Lady Gaga did what all the best pop stars do at certain points in their career. Deliver on fans expectations and wishes with lazer focused precision.
‘Mayhem’ is dark and alluring yet full of the playful idiosyncrasies that make Gaga so unique. It has proper banger hits, redolent of her imperial phase but sounding incredibly fresh in the soft focus Spotify playlist pop era. It’s refreshing to see someone go big and no one quite goes big like Lady Gaga. MY
65. Big Thief – Double Infinity
As society at large seemingly teeters on the edge of disaster, it’s reassuring to know that Big Thief remain so resolutely true to themselves. Sixth studio album ‘Double Infinity’ finds them charting new paths, but still maintaining that familiar gravitational pull. Condensed to a three-piece and joined by a revolving cast of collaborators, it’s an album that offers all the release of a deep collective breath. Title track ‘Double Infinity’ may have emerged as a late bloomer in the sessions, yet it’s undoubtedly the conceptual heart. Meanwhile, ‘No Fear’ floats through, yet also sticks the landing with a pleasingly hefty weight. The band’s decision to record live brings with it an energy, adding a brightness to Big Thief’s knack for finding the divine in the mundane. An open invitation to join the search for meaning amidst the noise. DH
64. Julien Baker & TORRES – Send a Prayer My Way
Country-pop is so hot right now, although nobody can quite pinpoint why or where this resurgence came from. Well, no matter what it was, it brought us the duet we never we knew we needed, with Julien Baker and TORRES combining to produce one of the most heartfelt and raw records of the year. ‘Send A Prayer My Way’ blends together traditional country and americana roots with an eminently modern-day subject matter. Midwest country ballad ‘Dirt’ sets the tears away, before ‘Sugar In The Tank’ turns up the volume on a country-rock banger. Meanwhile, ‘Sylvia’ plays a coming out story over clawhammer guitar, transforming the most conservative of music genres into a safe space for all. This is no bandwagon-jumper, this is a passion project that turned a trend into treasure. CP
63. Ghost – Skeletá
Ghost’s universe has always been a carefully managed bit of nonsense, compelling mostly because Tobias Forge delivers the bit with such unshakeable conviction. ‘Skeletá’ arrives with a new Papa in the robes and a sense that the whole enterprise is now so deep into its own mythology it doesn’t even bother pretending otherwise. This is a good thing. Not a reinvention so much as a deliberate escalation in an arms race of glorious absurdity, it’s a record that swells and broods and occasionally grins like a loon, usually at the same time. Forge leans into the melodrama while letting enough human detail slip through to keep it rooted at least partly in reality. Ghost feel fully settled into their imperial phase, expanding the story with the confidence of a band who know you’ll follow them wherever it goes. DH
62. Florence + The Machine – Everybody Scream
Florence + The Machine’s ‘Everybody Scream’ sounds like Florence Welch finally admitting she’s never going to be someone who quietly processes her feelings in a neat little bullet journal. She’s the one who stages the exorcism before lunch and deals with the fallout whenever she can get round to it. The album comes out of a stretch where her real life and her imaginary one kept collapsing into each other, and she treats the whole thing (correctly) like the only reasonable response was to turn it into performance art. That familiar medieval-and-witchy-but-also-kind-of-modern fixation remains strong, although this time it’s presented less like a form of mythmaking and more like a mocking of the industry for expecting her to be both a saint and a siren before brunch. It’s an album that doesn’t bother smoothing itself out for appearances. It’s just her, a little frayed round the edges, doing the version of Florence Welch you suspect has been hovering backstage for years. DH
61. bar italia – Some Like It Hot
Bar Italia’s ‘Some Like It Hot’ arrives with perfect timing. A band who once felt like a half-whispered rumour in London’s post-punk corners have become a real force; unpredictable and magnetic without trying to be. Now, calling them post-punk feels like confusing tea bags with Super Noodles because they once lived in the same cupboard.
Three albums in 18 months isn’t normal by anyone’s standards, but it suits them – and you can hear it across ‘Some Like It Hot’. The sprint of ‘Fundraiser’, the grin tucked inside ‘I Make My Own Dust’, the way ‘Cowbella’ twitches like it’s trying to outrun its own thoughts. It’s all proof of a band who’ve learned how to turn constant motion into momentum. Even the breathers, like ‘The Lady Vanishes’ and ‘Lioness’, carry that same edge, as if they’re holding back laughter or frustration, or both.
The album feels like a declaration: Bar Italia aren’t hiding behind myth anymore. They’re having fun, trusting their instincts and reminding the UK guitar landscape that being a band can still feel properly alive. FN
Tune in for Dork’s albums of the year 2025: 60-41 tomorrow, Tuesday 2nd December.
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