The 50 Best Albums of 2025: Staff Picks

Is pop now officially an albums-driven genre? The year 2025 made a strong argument for the answer being “yes.” Acclaimed sets from rising stars like Addison Rae and Amaarae established them as leading voices without producing a huge chart hit, while the excitement over Olivia Dean and the KPop Demon Hunters film grew so overwhelming that their respective albums ended up spawning several major hits at once. Meanwhile, proven hitmakers like PinkPantheress and Rosalía used new albums to cement their stardom, while Lily Allen and Lorde used comeback albums to reassert their pop relevance.

And of course, the A-listers made their presence felt on the LP front: Bad Bunny proved he could still be blazing hot even with a January sneak-release, one that smoldered all through the calendar year. Lady Gaga bolstered her legacy with another fan-beloved Billboard 200-topper. Sabrina Carpenter immediately proved her 2024 breakthrough blockbuster was no fluke by going two-for-two barely a year later. And the biggest star of them all, Taylor Swift, put the entire music industry in her rearview in October with an album that broke records we previously thought unnearable — and continues to rule the roost even into the start of the holiday season.

Which is hardly to say pop had a monopoly on the year’s buzziest albums. In rap, Clipse had perhaps the year’s most-heralded comeback set, while Tyler, The Creator one-upped Sabrina Carpenter by releasing his follow-up to his 2024 smash less than nine months later. In rock, Geese won over the critics while Lola Young and Sombr proved the genre had renewed crossover potential. And in country, Zach Top won over the old heads while Morgan Wallen continued to raise the genre’s commercial ceiling for the future.

Find the albums from all these year-defining artists below — as well as many less-heralded favorites that still found their fair share of fans — as part of our staff’s picks for the 50 best albums that 2025 had to offer.