Best Albums of 2025: 10-6

We broke the top 10! Or, at least we’re about to break the top 10 with this entry in our best albums of 2025. Let’s get right to it, and don’t forget to jump in the comments to share your thoughts on this batch of albums.

#10: Turnstile – NEVER ENOUGH

The amount of mornings I spent waking up to this record honestly isn’t rivaled by a single other album. We went from “Brat Summer” last year to “Turnstile Summer” this year as the hardcore group from Baltimore swept across the U.S. reaching higher heights than ever. It’s so tired to complain that Turnstile’s sound has somehow weakened as the group has gotten more mainstream. I think a lot of people listening to harder music when they might not normally is a good thing, sue me!

“Birds” showed up on TikTok countless times this summer because the crowd, rushing the stage and singing along, felt like part of the band. Hardcore is a community-oriented genre, and seeing so many young folks keep their phones put away and just live in the moment together was special. I think we’re seeing a new generation of hardcore bands that aren’t afraid to leave the confines of the scene sonically, and they’ll certainly be the ones to shape the genre to come, starting with Turnstile.

#9: Japanese Breakfast: For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women)

Before this record came out, I remember the group announcing they’d be doing the album live in an acoustic format, something they shared wasn’t possible with other records. Following the breakout Jubilee that launched alongside Michelle Zauner’s Crying in H-Mart memoir, this collection of Japanese Breakfast tracks, like past albums, is unlike any other record from the group. No band in indie is doing more to diversify what they bring to the table, project after project like this one is, and I love them for it.

I remember not loving the lead single, “Orlando in Love”, and was immediately pleased to see it’s honestly the weakest track on the album. A standout appearance from Jeff Bridges of all people, as well as a killer detour into some twangy themes, keeps you guessing on this record. I will never doubt a Japanese Breakfast project, but this album puts them in an echelon I didn’t know they could reach.

#8: Snocaps – Snocaps

Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield and her twin sister Allison Crutchfield, best known from the group Swearin’, worked together on this surprise release. If that wasn’t great enough, indie darling MJ Lenderman is on this project as well, along with Brad Cook. This supergroup could easily coast on a few fun tracks and call it a day, but the fact that this album is so methodical in honoring its influences makes it a standout in a fantastic year of music.

I have long been a fan of Waxahatchee, as readers of these annual lists know. I’ve also been desperate for Allison Crutchfield to kickstart more projects, and I’m so glad it was this one. There are songs on this record I feel like could have been massive standouts on albums from the group’s other projects, but something about these tracks coming from this collection of artists at such monumental parts of their careers makes it an all-timer in terms of collaborative records.

#7: Hayley Williams – Ego Death At a Bachelorette Party

Paramore is one of the bands from the mid-2000s that has aged the best, and that has a lot to do with frontperson Hayley Williams. On this collection of tracks, similar to past solo works, we see Williams at her best, defying a singular genre or lane and weaving between many. There are a ton of artists who could put out a solo record after years of being the main force behind a band, but Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party feels the most definitive when it comes to why Williams’ output has been so stellar.

Across tracks that push emotional boundaries and have us all nodding along in agreement, there is a vulnerability that feels exemplified by this being a non-Paramore project. Nobody would have expected, after the release of “Misery Business” nearly two decades ago, that one of the defining voices in pop could potentially be the punk kid leading Paramore. Still, I could see a future in which Hayley Williams, with band or without, goes on to supersede the success Paramore brought for a much brighter spotlight.

#6: Olivia Dean – The Art of Loving

Nobody quite had a year like Olivia Dean. From a relatively under-the-radar pop artist to a massive name in music, Dean truly could be dropped in any of the past four decades and be a star. A timeless sound with an infectious persona while performing leaves me thinking that Olivia Dean might be the name to watch in the latter half of the 2020s.

“Man I Need” is easily one of the catchiest songs of the year, and its simplicity is its secret. There’s no massive moment or groundswell to a bigger idea. It’s just a 3-minute pop song that is stronger than most released in the last decade. With SNL performances and plenty of touring ahead, Dean’s star could continue to rise, and I’m not one to bet against it potentially reaching all-timer status. What are your predictions for the final five albums in our best of 2025 countdown? Let us know in the comments!