A selection of the must-listen albums released in 2025 As the New Year celebrations approach, many of us will be pausing for some reflection in the next few days. For some, this period is all about looking back over what’s brought us joy in the last year, while for others, it’s more of an opportunity to catch up on the big moments we didn’t get the chance to fully embrace at the time. One thing we always like to do in the lull between Christmas and New Year is check out some of the big musical releases from the last 12 months that we missed out on first time around, to give them due attention before the year is out. So, if you’ve suddenly found yourself with an hour or two to spare in the post-Christmas lull, why not check out some of these essential albums from 2025 now you finally have the opportunity...? Bad Bunny – Debí Tirar Más Fotos We’re starting off strong here, with Bad Bunny ’s latest, the 2025 album with the highest score on Metacritic , which has also as just been named the best of the year by Rolling Stone . Embarrassingly for us Brits, Bad Bunny has never quite cut through when it comes to UK listeners (Debí Tirar Más Fotos charted at 13 here, compared to its number one placement in the States), but as we look ahead to what promises to be an unmissable Super Bowl Half-Time Show in 2026 , now would be a great time to embrace his unique flare of reggaeton that has helped him reclaim as his spot as the year’s most-streamed artist on Spotify , and earned him such glowing praise for his most recent musical offering. Rose Gray – Louder, Please We’re just going to put it very simply, Rose Gray makes bangers . If you enjoyed the clubbier vibe of Dua Lipa’s Radical Optimism, or some of the more dance-centric and house-y tracks from artists like Jade, Robyn or Rina Sawayama, then Rose Gray tunes like Just Two, Switch and Wet & Wild are guaranteed to have you on your feet. Clearly we aren’t the only ones that have been won over by Rose’s beat-heavy offerings, as she’s currently in the running for the Critics’ Choice title at next year’s Brits , and recently gave her debut performance at Capital’s Jingle Bell Ball. Sam Fender – People Watching The so-called “Geordie Springsteen” continues to go from strength to strength, with his third studio album earning him yet more glowing reviews, his third consecutive number one and the coveted Mercury Prize (a wave of recognition at the Brit Awards now also feels inevitable). While People Watching sounds like Sam Fender ’s most crowd-pleasing, arena-friendly effort to date, he’s still pouring his heart out in the lyrics, whether it’s calling out social and class injustice or paying a beautiful homage to his grandparents on the tear-jerking ballad Remember My Name. Lady Gaga – Mayhem Between the pop-tastic Chromatica and the more radio-friendly offerings from her A Star Is Born and Harlequin albums, Lady Gaga never really went anywhere – yet with her sixth full-length album Mayhem still felt like a homecoming for the modern-day pop pioneer. Early interviews and the the moody and aggressive single Disease led many to assume that they were in for another dark offering from the self-professed Mother Monster, and while that’s certainly one part of Mayhem, it certainly doesn’t represent the whole album, which features some of the breeziest and earworm pop tunes since her debut, nestled along certified bangers like Abracadabra, Perfect Celebrity, Garden Of Eden and Zombieboy. Meanwhile, on stand-out Vanish Into You, it feels like Gaga has found a perfect balance between the more organic-sounding rock and jazz-inspired music she’s expressed love for in the past and the all-encompassing pop she’s now synonymous with. Self Esteem – A Complicated Woman After Self Esteem ’s sophomore effort Prioritise Pleasure proved to be one of the most lauded British albums of the 2020s, the singer-songwriter has made no secret of the fact that putting together a follow-up came with a whole lot of pressure and expectations. The end product, A Complicated Woman, sees Self Esteem singing as candidly as ever not just about where she’s found herself both as a newly-celebrated artist and the load that comes along with that, but as a woman in modern Britain, and everything that entails. As the title suggests, the album gets into the nitty gritty of all of these differing ideas, taking the listener on a journey that begins with the moody I Do And I Don’t Care, and ends on the cautiously optimistic The Deep Blue Okay , via the ferocious Mother and Lies, the introspective In Plain Sight and The Curse, and the jubilant Cheers To Me, which could almost be mistaken as a poppier Taylor Swift offering, were if not for those unmistakably Self Esteem lyrics. PinkPantheress – Fancy That We’ve been championing PinkPantheress for years now , and in that time she’s been putting out some serious bops, but it felt like with her 2025 mixtape Fancy That, things really clicked for her and she levelled up as an artist. Proudly wearing her influences on her sleeve while still managing to make something that sounds completely fresh, Fancy That was an unmistakably British release that had enough hooks to cut through on an international level – with the TikTok trend inspired by Illegal making it one of the app’s biggest songs in the UK of 2025 . Considering Fancy That is allegedly a “mixtape” rather than a full-length album, the thought of what PinkPantheress will cook up next with all of this new momentum means there’ll no doubt be even more eyes on her heading into 2026. Tom Aspaul – Cabin Fever The third album from independent pop artist Tom Aspaul is undoubtedly his strongest and most cohesive to date, helped by the fact it’s effectively a concept album based on an acid trip gone wrong during a visit to Sweden for the midsummer festival. If that sounds at all offputting, rest assured that Cabin Fever is full of catchy ear candy hooks – as showcased on lead singles Bang Bang and the title track, as well as the ABBA -esque Cabaret – that are simultaneously sexy, dance-able and, at times, deeply weird. Aitana – Cuarto Azul The Spanish Dua Lipa had another epic year in 2025, selling out stadiums all over her home turf thanks to her third album Cuarto Azul, featuring some of her dreamiest and catchiest tunes, with cuts like 6 De Febrereo and Superestrella among our top songs of the year. It feels like Aitana’s international breakthrough could be coming at any minute given that she’s already one of Spain’s biggest stars, so why not dive into Cuarto Azul now so you can have bragging rights when the inevitable happens? Addison Rae – Addison Considering she’s a former TikTok personality who first decided to branch out into acting via a low-budget Netflix rom-com and a festive slasher, before embarking on a pop career, Addison Rae ’s debut album, on paper, should not have worked. And yet, the finished product became that rare thing pleased both pop aficionados and more casual top 40 listeners as well as the infamously-hard-to-please high-brow cultural commentators for the simple reason that it’s just really good. Lead singles Diet Pepsi and Aquamarine let us know last year that Addison was on the brink of something special, but few could have predicted that the ensuing album would  be quite so lacking in skips, from the escapist and dramatic Headphones On to the subdued All Saints-esque Times Like These, without even getting into the triumphant balls-to-the-wall pop perfection of Fame Is A Gun. Having already had the seal of approval from pop goddesses Lana Del Rey and Charli XCX , Addison has wound up on pretty much every albums-of-the-year round-up in the last few weeks (and been named The Guardian’s artist of the year! ), so if you’ve not given it a spin now, we insist that you find out what all the fuss is about for yourself. Little Simz – Lotus Already one of the most celebrated figures on the British rap scene, Little Simz ’s sixth full-length album was borne out of a turbulent time in her life, which is reflected in the music itself, resulting in the most experimental offering of her career that crosses all kinds of genre boundaries. Take the defiant single Young, for example, on which the Brit Award winner merges straightforward rap and grime with elements of punk and grunge, all while donning an entirely new persona to bring the listener in on where things stand for her right now. As ever, Lotus makes for a revelatory and revealing listening experience, with her fusion of different musical ideas just adding to the fabulous chaos of it all. Lorde – Virgin After the unusually-breezy Solar Power, Lorde made her triumphant return to the pop world in 2025 with Virgin, effectively the more grown-up sibling of the fan-favourite Melodrama, complete with its own Green Light in the sing-a-long-friendly What Was That. Virgin allowed the New Zealand-born star to allow fans to see how her world looks now (the title being a nod to the fact that she felt during its production that she’d gone through a rebirth, and was feeling a sense of newness). Quite possibly Lorde’s most personal album to date, tracks like Man Of The Year and opener Hammer see her reflecting on her changing feelings about her gender identity, Broken Glass features lyrics about her struggles with her mental health and a debilitating eating disorder , while on the heartbreaking closing track David she reflects on lost love. Heavy though that might sound, even at its darkest, Virgin still has plenty of hands-in-the-air moments as the Grammy nominee encourages us all to dance our way through the more troublesome struggles in our lives. Audrey Hobert – Who’s The Clown? Audrey Hobert is one of our absolute favourite musical discoveries of 2025, and we’ve had her debut album Who’s The Clown? on near-constant spin since we first heard it. The US singer-songwriter started her career as a screen writer for kids’ TV, meaning her music often has a clear-cut narrative, while mixing the ultra-specific lyrics found in the music of Taylor Swift and Gracie Abrams (her BFF and former roommate, whose biggest hits she has a co-writing credit on) with a sense of humour that is often so sorely lacking in pop. And while tracks like Sue Me, Thirst Trap and Bowling Alley perfectly walk the line of showing vulnerability while still retaining a sense of fun, tracks like Phoebe (“who cares if I’m pretty? I feel like I’m Phoebe!” and Sex And The City  (“nobody’s watching me write in my room, and anyway, when I get home, I take off my cool clothes, ’cause why would I stay in those?”) incorporate imagery from pop culture to get messages and feelings across that we can all relate to. Sue Me’s accompanying music video sees Audrey literally rolling out a red carpet for herself and dancing down it, which is exactly what Who’s The Clown? does for her as an artist. We can’t wait to see what she has coming in 2026... CMAT – Euro-Country CMAT is another artist who it feels like had her biggest and most successful year yet in 2025, all through being her most unapologetically herself. Her personality and dark sense of humour are peppered throughout her third album, Euro-Country, whether she’s wrestling with herself on the stunning,y-named The Jamie Oliver Petro Station, pausing for reflection on the loss of a friend on the deceptively tender Lord Let That Tesla Crash or singing a love song to her home of Ireland on the release’s title track. Then, of course, there’s breakthrough single Take A Sexy Picture Of Me, which the Mercury nominee has said in the past was inspired by some of the most troubling hate she’s faced during her time as an artist, but was so catchy and with lyrics so relatable that it wound up inspiring its own TikTok dance trend. Jade – That’s Showbiz, Baby! Anyone who doubted former Little Mix singer Jade Thirlwall ’s artistry or chops as a solo act was promptly shut up last year when she unveiled her first single Angel Of My Dreams, a joyful racket of a song cramming a decade of highs and lows in the music industry into a four-minute tune complete with a distorted Eurovision sample, three different tempos and lyrics taking aim at those who’ve tried to stifle her over the years. She may have made us wait for it, but Jade’s debut album That’s Showbiz, Baby! was just as daring and experimental, with the singer making sure to use every colour in her pop crayon box across its initial 14 tracks. And while she picked up where she left off in lifting the lid on the strife of life as a modern pop star on the likes of It Girl, what perhaps came as a surprise was how much of Jade as a woman she revealed on the full album. Unconditional, for example, is dedicated to Jade’s mother (already an icon to her fanbase), who has struggled with chronic illness throughout the star’s life, while on Self Saboteur and Glitch she opens up about her own insecurities and past struggles with her mental health. If you’re in it for some tea-spilling, you’ll be pleased to hear Jade lifting the lid on various aspects of her relationship with Jordan Stephens on Plastic Box, Headache and Lip Service, and making thinly-veiled digs at an adversary (believed to be former bandmate Jesy Nelson) on Natural At Disaster, before the closing two-punch of the inner-child-embracing Before You Break My Heart and the tender love ballad Silent Disco. That Jade rounded off the year by chucking out a special edition of the album with no fewer than seven new tracks (and a previously-recorded Madonna cover that pays homage to her love of the Queen of Pop) is only further testament to her artistry. Where she goes from here is truly anyone’s guess... Olivia Dean – The Art Of Loving No one had a breakthrough year in 2025 quite like Olivia Dean, particularly when it comes to British artists, with her second album The Art Of Loving scoring the singer-songwriter a string of hits including Man I Need, Nice To Each Other and So Easy (To Fall In Love). If you’ve still not checked out the rest of Olivia’s album, you’ll be pleased to hear that it’s just as pleasing to the ear, with the British star having really perfected her signature sound after support slots for Sabrina Carpenter and Sam Fender. When next year’s Brit Award nominations roll around, get ready to see Olivia’s name cropping up repeatedly... Geese – Getting Killed Towards the end of last year, Geese frontman Cameron Winter released his debut album Heavy Metal, with critics falling over themselves to heap praise on it. Just one month later, he quietly got the group back together to put together what would become their fourth release, Getting Killed, proving that not only were Geese not going anywhere, but Cameron was certainly not squirrelling away all of his best material for his solo release. After teaming up with producer Kenny Beats, best known for his work in the hip-hop genre, Geese wound up putting out what has become their most well-received album to date, with Cameron admitting that the success of his solo work made him even more confident in pushing the envelope when it came to the band’s latest songs. Lily Allen – West End Girl The album that spawned a million headlines , if you’d actually not listened to Lily Allen ’s West End Girl, it’d be easy to dismiss it as simple tabloid fodder. And while the jaw-droppingly candid and salacious details are a big part of what sets West End Girl apart from other break-up albums ( Lily has described as “autofiction” partly inspired by her divorce from David Harbour , albeit with dramatic licence applied), it would be a mistake to reduce it down to just its more scandalous moments. Brilliant titles like Pussy Palace, Nonmonagamummy and 4Chan Stan might seem like a bit of fun, but West End Girl itself is both smart and thought-provoking , with the opening song (also the title track) using distortion to take the listener from supposed domestic bliss to a stark realisation that there’s something not quite right – and it’s all downhill from there. Dave – The Boy Who Played The Harp Mercury Prize and Brit Award winner Dave returned for his third album in 2025, which served as the follow-up to his chart-topping efforts Psychodrama And We’re All Alone In This Together. On The Boy Who Played Harp, the British rapper’s winning streak continued, with critics particularly lauding the way that Dave managed to fuse genres on his latest album, which was similarly praised for its confessional-style lyrics and his approach to storytelling. Rosalía – LUX If there’s one thing Rosalía gave us on LUX it’s full-on drama . And we mean that literally. The Spanish singer’s fourth full-length album is a piece of pure theatre, mixing elements of orchestral and opera music with the flamenco-infused pop that already launched her to global fame. Rosalía has always been a creative force ever since we first came to know her through tunes like Malamente and Con Altura, but on LUX, she’s spreading her wings as an uncompromising and agenda-setting artist like never before. Who else has that rare sign-off from Björk herself? Come on, now… READ MORE: Self Esteem: ‘I Achieved Everything I Set Out To Do, And I Was Sadder Than Ever’ On The Jaw-Dropping West End Girl, Lily Allen Sets A New Bar For The Confessional Break-Up Album Lady Gaga’s Mayhem Ball Is Quite Simply The Best Thing She’s Ever Done