2025 has already proven to be a blockbuster year for music, bursting at the seams with bold experimentation, long-awaited comebacks, and breakout brilliance. From chart-topping juggernauts to underground gems, artists across genres have delivered records that have surprised us, moved us, inspired us and stuck with us.
Whether you’re into soul-stirring ballads, razor-sharp rap, genre-blending pop, or noise that flirts with chaos, this year’s releases are setting the bar sky-high.
To help you cut through the noise, our staff has handpicked the albums that have truly defined the first half of 2025. The ones we can’t stop spinning, debating, and obsessing over. Here are our favorite albums of the year (so far) in alphabetical order by artist. Let’s dive in.
54 Ultra, First Works
Aminé, Thirteen Months of Sunshine
Anna Shoemaker, Someone Should Stop Her
Bad Bunny, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS
Blondshell, If You Asked for a Picture
Clipping., Dead Channel Sky
Clipse, Let God Sort Em Out
Destin Conrad, LOVE ON DIGITAL
Djo, The Crux
Duckwrth, All American F ★ck Boy
Gigi Perez, At The Beach, In Every Life
Home Is Where, Hunting Season
Jadu Heart, Post Heaven
JENNIE, Ruby
Junior Varsity, My Star
La Dispute, III
Kali Uchis, Sincerely,
Lorde, Virgin
Lucy Dacus, Forever Is A Feeling
Mac Miller, Balloonerism
Malcolm Todd, Malcolm Todd
Paris Texas, They Left Me With A Gun
Playboi Carti, Music
PUP, Who Will Look After The Dogs?
Spacey Jane, If That Makes Sense
Turnstile, NEVER ENOUGH
Quickly Quickly, I Heard That Noise
Wet Leg, Moisturizer
The Weeknd, Hurry Up Tomorrow
