I really thought there'd be more consensus this year around the best songs and albums. But if you spend any time with all the different lists dropping everywhere, you'll find they're all over the place, maybe more than in any other year. I'm still puzzling out what this means — the death of monoculture moments, the rise of micro-niches, the staggering number of releases that drop every week. Too much good music. Too much bad. A growing aversion to ranking art or placing it in a kind of competitive bracket. No idea. Probably all of the above and more.
For me, Rosalía's LUX was the runaway standout and it wasn't even close. I wrote a good bit about it already for our main NPR Music list, but no other album had the range and reach or depth of LUX. Honestly, I hit "play" on it for the first time only after hearing everyone else rave about it, so my expectations were through the roof. And even then, Rosalía exceeded them. I really think it's a genuine masterpiece we'll be listening to and talking about for many, many years.
After that, it gets a little blurry. Patrick Watson's uh oh is truly breathtaking in its beauty and sonic vision, and Daniel Caesar's Son of Spergy, a vivid reflection on his father, spirituality and more, moved me to tears. I thought the polarizing Geese album, Getting Killed, was incredible — a weird and unpredictable thrill ride that feels like it could careen off a cliff at any moment, but somehow stays on the tracks. I'd have Annie DiRusso's Super Pedestrian and Wet Leg's moisturizer tied for rock records of the year and crown Asher White's 8 Tips for Full Catastrophe Living as the official soundtrack to every anxiety, rumination and moment of hopeful hand-wringing I had this year. Madi Diaz continued to move and amaze with her plain-spoken poetry and gift for melody on Fatal Optimist, while Silvana Estrada put out the year's most perfectly calming, deep-breath of an album, Vendrán Suaves Lluvias. Lastly, I have to tip my hat with gratitude to Jeff Tweedy for the generous triple album Twilight Override and all the hope and wisdom and perspective it offers.
Robin Hilton's Top 10 Albums of 2025
- Rosalía, LUX
- Geese, Getting Killed
- Patrick Watson, uh oh
- Wet Leg, moisturizer
- Annie DiRusso, Super Pedestrian
- Madi Diaz, Fatal Optimist
- Asher White, 8 Tips for Full Catastrophe Living
- Silvana Estrada, Vendrán Suaves Lluvias
- Daniel Caesar, Son of Spergy
- Jeff Tweedy, Twilight Override
Read about more of NPR Music's favorite albums of 2025 and our list of the 125 best songs of 2025.
Graphic illustration by David Mascha for NPR.
Copyright 2025 NPR
