In terms of what was bad about 2025’s music, that fell out pretty easily. It always tends to, mostly because there’s always so much more good stuff to have to choose from. Notably in pop, there were plenty of real gems this year, but highlights are abundant across the musical spectrum, pretty much everywhere you look.
So here are the winners of 2025, the music that made the most indelibly positive marks over the course of the last 12 months. They might not be the absolute best, bear in mind—our albums of the year are still to come—but these were impossible to ignore all the same.
TRAILBLAZER OF THE YEAR
PinkPantheress
PinkPantheress’ Fancy That was a somewhat unorthodox project this year—a fizzing 20 minutes of Y2K perfection that felt like a scrapbook, full of creative possibilities but contained and intimate at the same time. Not only is Pink a true pop star embodying and selling this world with all the charisma in the world, but she’s curated it all expertly as well (taken even further with remix album Fancy Some More?, featuring the most fitting names in pop and dance’s takes on these songs). Everything’s done in-house, and PinkPantheress’ way of doing things will surely be one that’s replicated often in the next couple of years. • GJ
MOST IMPROVED
Yungblud – Idols
It speaks volumes that Yungblud was exponentially more believable from the beginning as a trad-leaning rockstar than he ever was as a punk. Older releases were always trying too hard to embody the character, and thus, flame-outs were far more frequent and spectacular. Therefore, despite Idols being a less interesting album—taking its primary cues from indie-rock and Britpop that’s middle-of-the-road to a fault—it’s still the most accomplished thing he’s ever done. It’s more composed and controlled, to where the rehabilitation of alt-music’s most obnoxious yowler into solid frontman plays out in real time. Of course, this wouldn’t be the only bit of overhaul for Yungblud in 2025, between his Ozzy-vetted seat at the big boys’ table and an also-okay collaborative EP with Aerosmith, but Idols paved the way for the icon to come out at full pelt. For something that was always predicted but felt so far out of reach, it just makes it more impressive. • LN
“FINALLY, THEY’VE ARRIVED”
Conan Gray – Wishbone
A few big names have found their sound this year, from Zara Larsson embracing maximalist, vibrant Europop and Tate McRae finding her noughties bombshell niche. But Conan Gray was the one who really felt like he’d come into his own—while his last album Found Heaven saw him turn to trendy 80s pop and enlisting super-producer Max Martin (arguably the move for someone looking for their star to rise, and fast), Wishbone sounds timeless, Gray focusing on narrative and baring his soul instead of playing an untouchable character. Strings add depth and drama to Gray’s intimate vocals, making his immaculate choruses shine more than they ever have. Conan Gray’s might not be the epiphany that’s gotten the most attention this year, but it’s the best evolution by far. • GJ
JUSTIFIED AS A MAINSTREAM STAR, AT LONG LAST
Sam Fender – People Watching
Sam Fender has always meant something. The working-class hero, ‘Geordie Springsteen’ status has never been unfounded, even if you’d struggle to say a full album ever even came close to sticking the landing. People Watching, then, couldn’t feel like more of a significant turning point if it tried. The songs are definitely there, now in much greater quantities of festival-ready indie bravado. But you also feel development across the board, where the pictures of northern poverty are painted with greater deftness, and the vulnerability is given its due space to sink in and ferment. This is album that’s stood firm throughout most of the year, while simultaneously giving Fender the killer swing that’s always been ascribed to him. The result is a version of Sam Fender that’s bigger, more powerful and more extensive in reach than ever, and it’s wholly deserved. • LN
ACTUALLY LISTENABLE NOW
Dance Gavin Dance – Pantheon
For a band whose music has been historically good for little more than causing brain haemorrhages, it’s shocking to see Dance Gavin Dance take advantage of their restructure and do better. Pantheon is more a recalibration than a rebirth, but still manages to rocket past estimations because ‘some’ worth is more than ‘none’. There are actual melodies in here, and actual songs that you can listen to without becoming flushed with overwhelming nausea. As a new addition, Andrew Wells can sing without sounding perpetually winded, too. With just a few small tweaks, mathcore’s most exhaustingly hyperactive sons can make something of themselves, to where the ensuing sugar crash doesn’t even feel like that big a deal. • LN
SONG OF THE SUMMER
Turnstile – I CARE
After 2024’s summer was soundtracked by Espresso, Not Like Us and Von Dutch, this year looked pretty barren in comparison. Publications eventually settled on Alex Warren’s church camp anthem Ordinary as Song of the Summer, but real ones know that Turnstile’s NEVER ENOUGH was the real soundtrack to the sunshine months. I CARE in particular is breezy and carefree with a verse melody that’s so simple it gets stuck in your head immediately. It all comes to a head in its “do you really wanna fall apart?” refrain where guitars crash in and the lovelorn lyrics do a sharp 180, before lighter-than-air synths put you straight back in windows-down singalong mode. It’s new-era Turnstile at their best, and a one-song case for why we deserve a new record from them every summer. • GJ
DEEP CUT OF THE YEAR
Lola Young – CANT WE IGNORE IT? 🙁
Lola Young’s Messy was a textbook traditional hit song, but she’s always had more bite to her sound than you’d think. Her debut album I’m Only F**king Myself was chock-full of rasp and guitars, but CAN WE IGNORE IT? 🙁 was the cream of the crop. It’s washed out around the edges but full of conviction, Young feeling tangibly at the end of her tether in a powerful performance that grabs you by the throat. It all culminates in a distant vocal exorcism and chugging instrumental break, a one-song case for Lola Young deserving far more credit than she gets. • GJ
POP GIRL OF THE YEAR
JADE
2024 saw a slew of pop’s biggest names dropping records, essentially leaving 2025 wide open for new voices to break through. Enter JADE, formerly of Little Mix, who presented her own love letter to the genre this year. That’s Showbiz, Baby! is an exquisite balancing act, JADE referencing everything from The Supremes to Giorgio Moroder to Gossip to Eurovision and everything in-between while still being her own fully-formed diva. She’s truly a student of pop making exactly what she (and plenty of others) wants to hear, and it’s why no one’s doing it like her at the moment. • GJ
EP(S) OF THE YEAR
After – After EP 1 & After EP 2
One of the year’s most promising new artists was Los Angeles duo After, their excellent self-titled EPs showing they’re not just Y2K trend-chasing. There’s a whole spectrum of 2000s pop covered here, from garage breakbeats, Avril Lavigne-esque guitars and wistful indie pop cuts that feel like you’re watching the end credits of your favourite Hilary Duff movie, leaving the low-rise jeans and skinny scarves of the time firmly in the past. It’s not just a fantastic debut but a fully-formed one—we’re sure to be seeing more of them in 2026. • GJ
MOST EMPHATICALLY STILL GOT IT
Deftones – private music
What makes private music so special is the specialness that’s been bestowed upon it. It’s not just that it’s a good album (which it invariably is); it’s an album that’s whipped up a frenzy around Deftones that hasn’t been seen in many years. Here’s a band who were already deemed the saving grace of first-wave nu-metal, now recontextualised among the 2020s’ alt in-crowd and still sounding justifiably exciting while doing so. Yes, private music is the best that Deftones have sounded in a long while, leapfrogging their devotees who’ve built entire brands around a ‘next Deftones’ archetype. All the while, the genuine article still wins out and ropes in the widespread adulation for it that they deserve. That’s the mark of a real all-timer right there. • LN
DISTINCTION IN CREATIVITY
The Callous Daoboys – I Don’t Want To See You In Heaven
Within the spheres of ‘normal’ rock music, no one felt quite less normal than The Callous Daoboys in 2025. For a band who’ve turned being spasmodic and erratic into their chief M.O., that’s not a shock. What is, is the distances they took that on I Don’t Want To See You In Heaven. Quite simply, the scene has not seen a more fearless album than this in the longest time, where any and all shifts from emo-pop to mathcore to post-hardcore to frame narratives in the form of museum announcements come entirely naturally. It’s daunting, to be sure, but The Callous Daoboys have always had a way of reshaping that into a satisfying listen, instead of an alienating one. I Don’t Want To See You In Heaven is their best stab at that yet, and it’s not particularly close, either. • LN
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
ROSALÍA – Lux
ROSALÍA has long been changing the game when it comes to her albums, but this year’s Lux felt like a step up. She’s always been the star of her records, but the thunderous classical backdrops on these songs lift her up instead of simply accompany her. This is a record inspired by saints, sung in 13 different languages and completely uninterested in spoon-feeding listeners; when something is as in its own league as Lux is, it has to be recognised as such. • GJ
THE ONLY BACKSLIDE THAT’S EVER WORKED
Whitechapel – Hymns In Dissonance
In literally any other circumstance, a band reverting to deathcore thuddery after a pair of gripping, diversified albums like The Valley and Kin would leave you with head deep in hands. Thus, Whitechapel might truly be capable of (un)holy miracles. Not only is Hymns In Dissonance fathoms heavier than its ‘standard’ genre brethren, but with each subsequent listen, more of itself gets revealed. You can tell that this was a conscious decision for Whitechapel, weaving in the lessons they learned as a more estimable metal band into a sound where they should not be. The result is an odds-defying album that seriously might be among the band’s best, for no other reason than proving how easy it is for them to blow deathcore’s hangers-on to smithereens. • LN
BEST DELUXE EDITION
Ariana Grande – eternal sunshine: brighter days ahead
eternal sunshine was exactly the album Ariana Grande needed to make last year, and this year’s brighter days ahead was the perfect end to the chapter. It may only be five songs but most of them are sure to become essential tracks in the Grande canon—the glittering twilight zone and sunny warm are the singer at her pop best while the show-stopping Hampstead is musical theatre perfection. While Grande’s future as a musician might be uncertain, this is a lovely place to leave things for the time being. • GJ
MOST INESCAPABLE BREAKOUT
Lambrini Girls – Who Let The Dogs Out
The start of 2025 belonged to Lambrini Girls and very little has changed for the duration. Even with UK punk and post-punk still being a hot commodity, the tear that Who Let The Dogs Out has set upon this year is definitely more noteworthy than most. Here’s an album that’s deliberately scrappy and messy, performed by a duo mirroring that vibe wholesale, and yet, Lambrini Girls only seemed to unlock new benefits and rewards from it with each passing week. Tastemaker nods; international tours; the ability to slot into any festival bill going on their own terms; in 2025, that became the standard for Lambrini Girls to enjoy. And given that the album remains a pretty great little ball of snark and fury nearly 12 months later, not a single step of that rise is unjustified. • LN
TEARJERKER OF THE YEAR
Gigi Perez – At The Beach, In Every Life
The emotional storm at the centre of Gigi Perez’s debut album is the most resonant one of the year; the sudden death of Perez’s sister and a relationship breakdown leading to an entire unpicking of her religious upbringing and the judgement that came with it. She explores all of this with such specificity and depth that it feels like a movie unfolding in front of your eyes. There are moments of joy and hope on this record, but songs like Fable, Sleeping and Sugar Water are heavy enough to get you choked up for the rest of the record’s runtime, Perez’s hypnotising alto getting anyone with a heart to feel her grief alongside her. • GJ
RELIEF OF THE YEAR
AFI – Silver Bleeds The Black Sun…
Talk about touch-and-go! Over the course of the last few AFI albums, faith in something good has been a distressingly limited resource for a band as influential as this. And while Silver Bleeds The Black Sun… isn’t exactly a new classic to add to their ranks, going HAM on the goth that’s often played more of a supporting role in their work has reaped more rewards than they’ve seen in a long time. Critically, the air of fun is back in a big way, not just in sound but clearly emanating from the band themselves. Even with a bit of awkward sequencing to contend with, Silver Bleeds The Black Sun… is what you get from AFI being all-in on an album once again. It looked like a pipe dream all those moons ago, but being back on track in such a way is wonderful to see. • LN
STORYTELLING OF THE YEAR
Lily Allen – West End Girl
The record performs more as a play than anything else, following Allen through her reluctant acceptance of her husband’s open marriage suggestion, then the unfurling of every detail of him breaking their verbal contract, her trust and her heart. Every detail feels like a bombshell despite Allen’s matter-of-fact delivery and the schtick never gets old, the singer leaving you hanging on every word open-mouthed as though you’re getting the goss from your mate over a bottle of wine. It’s bombastic yet deeply vulnerable—there hasn’t been a moment centred around an album like this since Beyoncé’s Lemonade. • GJ
INAUGURAL CERTIFICATE IN ADULTING
RØRY – Restoration
Restoration is the kind of album that you value the most with the benefit of full context. On its own, it’s a good breakthrough from RØRY, expanding on the emotional territory of an artist finding their industry feet ‘too late’ and navigating the inner complexities and turmoils that come with that. Among its peers, there’s a boldness that comes from not kowtowing to the arrested development that pop-rock and nu-gen soloists have treated as gospel to get anywhere. RØRY’s mature viewpoint stands out all the more thanks to its novelty and its believability, a pair of factors that’ll keep Restoration fresher than any reel-driven flavour-of-the-month. In a corner of the alternative industry where an identifiable personality is viewed more as a suggestion than a necessity, it speaks volumes when it’s the thing that RØRY gets the most right. • LN
BEST NEW WORD
FKA twigs – EUSEXUA
There was strong competition for this one (Cuntissimo? Nonmonogamummy?), but EUSEXUA is a state of mind perfectly illustrated by the album’s title track, a dance cut that’s both pulsating and ethereal, bubbling over into pure strobe-lit bliss. It’s a feeling that underpins the rest of the record too, the ideal soundtrack to not just the best night out of your life, but to being completely in-tune with yourself and what makes you feel like your best self. When a record encapsulates a brand-new concept so vividly that life before it feels like ancient history, it has to win this title. • GJ
MOST GLORIOUSLY UNHINGED VOCALS
Kaonashi
It’s not often that something entirely unique makes the rounds these days, and it makes sense that Philadelphia metalcore outfit Kaonashi have made waves with the…interesting vocal stylings of frontman Peter Rono. Their notoriety began with single I Hate The Sound of Car Keys making the rounds online, this year’s full-length I Want To Go Home continuing it all on in characteristically insane fashion. Rono is often a ticking time bomb building tension before finally detonating, which sounds like a frenzied version of South Park’s take on Mickey Mouse and is entertaining every single time. It won’t be for everyone, but you’ll never be more baffled and giddy in equal measure to a song about brushing your teeth. • GJ
MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED IN 2026
The Pretty Wild
There’s not a single new band more ready to make the scene their own in the new year than The Pretty Wild. It’s one thing to be the subject of industry murmurs (and not a very special thing, either), but it’s another to be putting out actual, tangible results ready to be extrapolated into more. That’s exactly what zero.point.genesis is, a debut album that’s amongst the most refreshing bits of metalcore put out in some time, thanks to personality and hard-hitting sound and production that appear anathema to the genre at large. It’s still fairly recent, too, meaning that The Pretty Wild are entering 2026 in quite possibly the most advantageous way they can. Here’s a band with genuine promise that’s already well on its way to solidifying, and plenty of opportunities on the horizon to let it excel. An unavoidable explosion is well on its way. • LN
Words by Georgia Jackson (GJ) and Luke Nuttall (LN)
