The 20 Best U.K. & Ireland Albums of 2025: Staff Picks

In mid 2024, there was talk that the U.K. wasn’t producing future stars nearly fast enough and that its reputation as a great exporter of music was threatened. Then, Charli xcx’s Brat happened and encouraged the industry to be bullish with its next crop of artists and to back them in the long run.

2025, then, saw the best-case scenario of that vision with a run of outstanding LPs from British and Irish musicians to reclaim its place at the centre of pop music culture. Olivia Dean’s sophomore album The Art of Loving rapidly established her as a main pop girl to contend with, while Yungblud’s Idols placed him at the centre of the rock universe. Sam Fender’s People Watching was both a critically acclaimed masterpiece and commercially successful to boot, and earmarked him as a musician with serious long-term potential.

There were storming comebacks for artists like Lily Allen whose shocking and salacious West End Girl dominated online discourse for weeks, while Pulp’s first album in over two decades was a reminder of the band’s capabilities in the studio after an indefinite hiatus. That these artists made their case via stunning full-length collections that demanded attention is vital for the health of the entire ecosystem. 

The future appears bright too, as Dove Ellis, Jacob Alon and Jim Legaxcy all released stunning debuts, while CMAT and Lola Young came good following years of excitement behind the scenes. A relatively dry creative period feels like a long, distant memory after a year of music from this truly original cast of characters. Find our 20 favorite U.K. and Ireland albums below, listed alphabetically by artist.