Is the pop album having a second life? In an era of pop music where singles and loosies are becoming the driving force behind pop stars, there have been a number of statement pop albums in 2025. Welcome to pop music stardom, Addison Rae. The long time internet star, and rookie pop music artist released her debut studio project to widespread acclaim. Taking the next step were Pink Pantheress and Olivia Dean who released their most complete projects to date. Still at the top—Lady Gaga, Sabrina Carpenter, and of course Taylor Swift had records that weren’t their best, but certainly stylistically reminiscent of their best work.
Returns to the spotlight were made by Lily Allen and Lorde who were deeply personal on their first albums in seven and four years, respectively. A peculiar idea has been sparked—ROSALÍA is still pop, but also not really? Her newest album is multi-lingual, cross-genre, and operatic throughout, but still retains an air of pop. Out of left field, KPop Demon Hunters was one of the brightest moments in pop music this year. In the alternate sphere, Dijon was this year’s Mk.gee.
Country music has been a bit quiet after a raucous 2024. The biggest name in country music, Morgan Wallen, dropped a *checks notes* 37-track album that wasn’t as well received as his 2023 breakout, but the streaming numbers would suggest it’s business as usual. Other than Morgan Wallen, it’s mostly been a year for smaller country acts. Charley Crockett continues his industrious pace with two full-length projects this year. Women continue to thrive as Willow Avalon and The Castellows had tight debut full-length projects. Off the main road, Turnpike Troubadours continued life post-hiatus and Tyler Childers returned with a sudden album release produced by Rick Rubin. Zach Top brought gentleman country to the 2020s and people are loving it.
Hip hop continues to be fractured as we’re far from its monolithic days. Beefs have stayed relatively quiet and no one has done anything to claim the crown. The closest rapper we have to a mainstream success is Tyler, the Creator who dropped an album merely nine months after his last (then featured in Marty Supreme). The most interesting rapper is definitely YoungBoy NBA who released a staggering three(!) albums and played his first arena tour. Earl Sweatshirt is back! Oh, and so is Playboi Carti! “Old head” hip hop is still thriving with projects by Westside Gunn, Freddie Gibbs, The Alchemist, Lary June, Armand Hammer, and Conway the Machine, among others. Blending the old and the new was Clipse who released their first album in 16 years and their first since reuniting in 2019.
Rock had big moments in 2025. Turnstile got a little less hardcore. Geese seemingly became everyone’s favourite band overnight. Wednesday’s newest album was a favourite of many and propelled up the charts off the rocket power of their hit single “Elderberry Wine”. After 43 years, Electric Nebraska was finally released.
Let’s look back on the year through one specific lens—mine—and go through my 10 favourite albums of 2025.
Honourable Mentions
- Foxes in the Snow – Jason Isbell
- Rituals – Watchhouse
- Snipe Hunter – Tyler Childers
- Dollar a Day – Charley Crockett
- Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You – Ethel Cain
- Baby – Dijon
- Getting Killed – Geese
- God Save The Gun – Militarie Gun
10. Let God Sort Em Out – Clipse
Self-released
July 11
Hip hop
Clipse’s long-awaited return was well worth the wait. Their bars have gained wisdom with age, but their flair hasn’t changed a bit. Backed by Pharrell Williams, who is the album’s executive and only producer, Pusha T and Malice are just as surgical and precise as they were in the 2000s. They trade verses like LeBron and Wade traded lobs during the heyday of the Miami Heat. Features are spread throughout the album and used effectively—sprinkled as an extra spice on the recipe as opposed to being the main flavour. Yeeeeuuuughhhh!
Favourite Track: The Birds Don’t Sing
9. LUX – ROSALÍA
Columbia
November 7
Art pop
LUX is impressive as an album, but even more impressive as a musical endeavour. The lyrics are in 14 languages, the track listing is thematically split into four movements, the album is genre-fluid, and all the orchestral elements are tracked live by real musicians—no computer strings. ROSALÍA is at her best vocally on her fourth studio album. Unconstrained by the drums of reggaeton or the traditionality of flamenco, her voice at times acts as an instrument in the grand orchestral arrangement. ROSALÍA is pushing the boundaries of pop music with each idea and execution on LUX.
Favourite Track: Reliquia
8. The Clearing – Wolf Alice
RCA/Columbia
August 22
Rock
The ever style changing Wolf Alice show their versatility and breadth on The Clearing. The London band’s early energetic grunge and alt-rock sound evolved into a beautiful shoegaze tapestry on Blue Weekend (2021), and now they’ve settled into something lighter. The Clearing is much more pop rock and classic rock, which fits the lighter tone. Wolf Alice’s fourth album features some of their best songwriting, and reflects the band’s maturation into their 30s. It’s fun, bright, and a skip in the park on a sunny day.
Favourite Track: Just Two Girls
7. NEVER ENOUGH – Turnstile
Roadrunner
June 6
Hardcore
Following universally acclaimed Glow On (2021), Turnstile returns with another genre-fluid album that pushes further into territory outside of hardcore. There are moments where dream pop and jazz elements are blended into traditional hardcore songs, and there are songs that aren’t hardcore at all. Of course, there are also straightforward conventional hardcore tracks too. At the heart of it all is frontman Brendan Yates’ vocals, which create a baseline to tie everything together. Turnstile continue to experiment and roam around the hardcore sphere, and they do it effectively and artistically.
Favourite Track: BIRDS
6. Cruel Joke – Ken Pomeroy
Rounder Records/Concord
May 16
Folk
Folk singer Ken Pomeroy jumped onto the scene with a couple songs featured on FX television show Reservation Dogs and subsequently a song off the Twisters movie soundtrack. Since then, fans have admired her pristine songwriting, and her sophomore album has been highly anticipated. Cruel Joke delivers the promise Ken has shown early on in her young career. Every song is filled with strong imagery. The storytelling is sweet and deep. You can feel her Cherokee roots in the lyrics she writes. The production is always simple with some light guitar picking, easy going drums, maybe a strummed guitar, and perhaps an accent on top like a slide guitar or mandolin. It’s Ken’s smooth soprano vocals and her words that are centre stage on Cruel Joke. Appropriately too.
Favourite Track: Cicadas
5. moisturizer – Wet Leg
Domino
July 11
Indie rock
Sophomore albums are hard—especially when the debut was widely acclaimed. Wet Leg nailed it. Now as a full 5-piece band, Wet Leg follow up their self-titled debut with an album that’s just as fiery and fun, but is also balanced. The big, loud tracks are explosive in their energy, while the softer and more mellow tracks are sweet and purposeful. All of it has a sexiness and rawness to it that Rhian Teasdale evokes so well with her vocals.
Favourite Track: mangetout
4. The Price of Admission – Turnpike Troubadours
Bossier City Records/Thirty Tigers
April 11
Red dirt
Turnpike Troubadours are back with another collaboration with country music producer extraordinaire Shooter Jennings. Frontman Evan Felker is still writing some of his best lyrics. He continues to be deeply personal and paints images with every verse. Felker sings about alcoholism, family, and love over Turnpike Troubadours’ classic red dirt sound. 4 years on from their hiatus and 10 years on from their self-titled magnum opus, Turnpike Troubadours are still as good as they ever were.
Favourite Track: Heaven Passing Through
3. Southern Belle Raisin’ Hell – Willow Avalon
Assemble Sound/Atlantic
January 17
Country
Introducing country music’s next big female star… Willow Avalon! The Georgia native’s debut album is exciting, promiscuous, and funny. The album kicks off with a speedy train beat that’s more or less ever present and the snares and kickass that chug along drive the whole album. Willow channels female country and rock icons of the past on this record. There’s an aura of Stevie Nicks, Janis Joplin, Joan Jett, and also Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire. Willow even compares herself to Dolly on “Hey There, Dolly”. Willow Avalon is next up in a long lineage of powerful, sexy, women in country music, who are full of flair.
Favourite Track: Homewrecker
2. Thinking Too Much – Joshua Slone
Self-released
October 29
Indie
Joshua Slone has often been miscategorized as country. Perhaps it’s because he’s coming up along with a swath of other sad boys with guitars on TikTok, who are more categorically country. Perhaps it’s an association with “sometimes, sometimes not, always alt-” country singer-songwriter Zach Bryan. Slone’s debut album is an intersection of pop, R&B, and indie. There are strands of Phoebe Bridgers, but any song on this album could also be found as a deeper acoustic cut on a Shawn Mendes album. Meanwhile, Slone’s tenor voice graces each song sweetly like so many classic R&B singers. Truthfully, as an album, Thinking Too Much doesn’t make a ton of sense. The songs are too similar in concept and songwriting that they can blend together. It’s really a debut collection of songs, rather than a thematically focused album. But, man are they good. Thinking Too Much is well written, well sung, and well produced. This is what Khalid could’ve been.
Favourite Track: Adeline
1. The Art of Loving – Olivia Dean
Capitol/Polydor
September 26
Pop
Olivia Dean has always shown promise since her debut album Messy in 2023, but this is on another level. No longer pigeonholed into neo-soul, The Art of Loving is a pop masterpiece. Dean’s sophomore album is much more diverse and it shows the breadth of her abilities. There are still some neo-soul elements, but also moments of soft rock, contemporary pop, and synth pop. It’s a well-rounded album that will make you smile and dance, but also cry and yearn. It’s been a year for Olivia Dean and the arrow continues to point up.
Favourite Track: A Couple Minutes
Happy listening in 2026!
Listen to my favourite tracks from these albums on Spotify!
The Utility Spot 