These are the projects that got us through the year.
Stream this list on Apple Music and Spotify.
50. Tyler, the Creator, Don’t Tap The Glass
In a chronically online, AI-slop-embedded hellscape, Don’t Tap the Glass is Tyler, the Creator’s surprise social experiment. Determined to inspire intimacy and reconnection with community away from our screens, the rapper breezes through a melded curation of bouncy R&B, Miami bass, and funk cues in just 28 minutes. Whether he solves the worldwide existential dilemma is debatable, but he ejects listeners onto the dance floor without “a fear of being filmed,” even if briefly. —India Roby
49. Bassvictim, Forever
Recorded in a sauna-studio in the Norwegian woods, Bassvictim’s debut album bravely asks, “What if Mother Goose had a synth pad and a subwoofer?” In their most feral showcase of “basspunk” yet, tracks like “Mr. President” and “Grow Up!!!,” that fuse Maria Mannow’s bratty chants with blown-out sub-bass, feel like a mosh pit in the schoolyard. —Hajin Yoo
48. YVES, Soft Error: X
Former LOONA member Yves has come a long way since she twirled onto the scene with 11 other girls in matching tennis minis. Soft Error: X is already Yves’ third EP since leaving her previous label in 2024, signifying her eagerness to make music on her own terms. Sonically and visually, the album unfolds in a series of little glitches — warped synths, and choppy vocals. Put otherwise, “soft errors” that culminate in a newer, more honest version of herself. —HY
47. Olivia Dean, The Art of Loving
British singer Olivia Dean strips bare on her sophomore album, The Art of Loving. It’s a perfect, no-skip compilation of heart-wrenching ballads that touches on all facets of love, backed by an orchestra of snazzy trumpets, trombones, and saxophones. At 26, Dean doesn’t have this love thing figured out but, as she croons on the intro, the pursuit is “something lost and something gained.” —IR
46. Thirteendegrees, Clique City Vol. 2
“I don’t do IG models, only do Tumblr models!” Thirteendegrees exclaims on “Talkin 2 Much (Knockout).” That’s a pretty succinct snapshot of the Chicago rapper’s interests and general shtick: everything outlandish and anachronistic. In April, he packed a hometown venue to play music he claims he made on an iPhone 4, and Clique City Vol. 2 is equally as vintage, a barrage of #OOTD reports and sexcapades with “Supa Hot Girlz.” Through it all, Thirteen’s melodic runs swoop, soar, shoot for the stars, carving hooks into some of the plushest beats you’ll hear all year. —Vivian Medithi
45. Sudan Archives, The BPM
This astonishing, pathos-drenched dance record is an ode to inner conflict, catharsis, and the savory, snug loneliness of a very late night. Fiddle player and electronic tinkerer Brittney Parks steps out as Gadget Girl here, a humanoid alter ego in an existential tug-of-war with the machine. But it’s sensual as hell, too — highlight “MS. PAC MAN” exemplifies the computerized horniness of it all, and the obvious fun Parks had constructing this open-world gamespace. —Leah Mandel
44. Edward Skeletrix, Museum Music
“Life’s so funny it gotta be a joke,” raps Edward Skeletrix, and he wants to be in on the punchline. Consider him the perfect comedian for our ironypoisoned, AI-addled era, a self-avowed troll and conceptual artist whose raps prod at the materialism and violence that define modern life. Museum Music mutates the tropes of contemporary trap music, like if you put SpaceGhostPurrp, Playboi Carti, and Young Jeezy in a blender with Damien Hirst, Marina Abromavić, and Chris Burden. He chooses feverish, clickbait titles (“Drug Dealer Injects His Fentanyl (Psychosis)”) and warps tracks until they barely constitute a song. But every “misstep” feels intentional, a series of gestures forming a compelling portrait of the artist on sale. —VM
43. Marie Davidson, City of Clowns
Québécois producer Marie Davidson finds humor and propulsion in Shoshana Zuboff’s study of our extractive, digital economy, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, the non-fiction book that explicitly inspired City of Clowns. On it, Davidson skewers influencer performativity, hustle culture, and modern, polarized politics. Her whispered lyrics contrast with her production, a world of saber-toothed synths and topsy-turvy rhythms. Theory has never felt so fun. —Tobias Hess
42. Malibu, Vanities
True open space was in short supply in 2025. Vanities, French ambient producer Malibu’s full-length debut, is defined by its scope and breadth. Swelling synths, punctuated by low notes of piano, kissed by the fog of Gregorian chorals and Malibu’s own ethereal and immediate vocals. The album becomes a place to lose and find your sanity. —TH
41. kwn, with all due respect
kwn knows how to drag a heart through every stage of love, sex, and heartbreak. with all due respect enjoyed a breakout year because of the London singer-rapper’s expert balance of sultry seduction and honest balladry delivered over beats that knock one minute and caress the eardrum the next. This is music for lovers, the kind that sounds as sweet blasting out of car speakers as it does in the heat of the bedroom. —Dylan Green
40. Jordan Patterson, The Hermit
The first thing you’ll notice on Jordan Patterson’s audacious debut is her voice: It’s shifty, low, and saturated in breath. The next is the North Carolina-born artist’s songwriting, which is wide-eyed and refreshingly true. Whether she’s recalling an imaginary friend named “Jim,” contemplating a metaphorically rich race car, or simply staring at the sky, Patterson has an almost childlike ability to capture whimsy. —TH
39. Ela Taubert, Preguntas a las 11:11
After winning Best New Artist at the 2024 Latin Grammy awards, Ela Taubert has solidified herself as Latin pop’s new It girl. On her debut, Preguntas a Las 11:11, the Colombian singer-songwriter channels her late-night thoughts into confessional and heartfelt anthems. Max Martin contributes to the sharp “¿Es En Serio?” and Joe Jonas on the angst-driven “¿Cómo Pasó?” Cosigns that signal the arrival of a new pop princess. —Lucas Villa
38. Easykid, I’M PART
This Gallium-coded, rage-y reggaeton out of Chile blew up this autumn thanks to a Rosalía cosign on viral track “Shiny.” Metallicky and club-oriented, I’M PART has a tender core. My favorite moments are the softer, almost folky ones, when Easykid sings like he’s serenading someone in a window above a dark street. It feels familiar, homey, a heart-to-heart on the bathroom line. —LM
37. Blood Orange, Essex Honey
Essex Honey is a deceptive album about grief. It’s not obviously sad-sounding, and Dev Hynes does not place his sorrow — thick coiled, and unresolved — at the forefront. Instead, its 14 songs provoke stark feelings of environment and place: “Look At You,” a dew-covered countryside at sunrise; “Mind Loaded,” a grey Sunday at your childhood home; “The Train (King’s Cross,)” the bustle of the city in which you grew up. Written after the passing of his mother and reconnecting with his hometown, Hynes made an album about losing a part of his life and then finding pieces of it still here, scattered in the winds of the world. —Steffanee Wang
36. Molly Santana, Molly & Her Week of Wonders
The American Dream in Molly & Her Week of Wonders is a little bigger than life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. She’d like creative fulfillment, a Porsche Cayenne, and true love too, thanks. Santana’s more than tough enough to compete with the rage rap boys’ club but on her latest she reveals that her sing-song flow can carry unexpected emotional heft, too. Whether she’s spiraling or feeling dejected, Molly & Her Week of Wonders reminds us that fairytale endings can have nightmarish beginnings. —VM
35. Sol ChYld, ReBirth.Theory
Does being reborn mean having to shed what makes you, you? Not according to Sol ChYld, who spends the majority of her fourth album exploring how to keep her heart in her hometown of Camden, New Jersey while ensuring her music reaches as many ears as possible. A soothing mix of neo-soul, hip-hop, and a touch of southern trap, ReBirth.Theory makes it clear that wherever she ends up, she’s always got the crib with her. —DG
34. Ruger, Blownboy Ru
R&B rooted in safe, healthy love is the angel on your shoulder; Ruger’s Afrobeats sleaze is the devil. The pink-haired heartbreaker flaunts his toxic persona like hell: “Call me a devil, there’s no angel in this world.” There’s passion and blunt honesty about his fear of abandonment behind his music, but no willingness to change. This will get him booted from any therapist’s couch, but a permanent spot in dancehall’s future. —Kylah Williams
33. Vayda, Get In The Car
Vayda’s Get In The Car plays out like one long joy ride; “Pam Grier” speedily drifts in as the opener, asking, nay, demanding listeners to heed the imperative in the album’s title. Once we’re off to the races, “Bubblegum” and “Kiki” zoom in and out like a car-chase scenes, broken up by mellower tracks like “No Neighbors” that feel like driving down a long road at sunset. —HY
32. MIKE, Showbiz!
MIKE’s albums are so consistently great, and he drops so frequently, that it can be easy to take him for granted. “Of course Showbiz! digs at the heart and soul of the New York rapper-producer and 10k head honcho in his late 20s,” you might say. But missing the opportunity to hear him wax poetic and celebrate life over increasingly varied beats — warped samples, StepTeam-esque 808s, hazy plugg-adjacent bangers — would be a grave mistake. —Dylan Green
31. Water From Your Eyes, It’s A Beautiful Place
Simply put, this is a work of nonchalant genius. Gordian and algebraic, shreddy, and sneakily partly a banging dance record, it really is a beautiful place to be, here, in the Rachel Brown-Nate Amos contained world. The music gets shrewder and more intricately netted with each listen. I have a thousand more awe-stricken adjectives to throw like roses at the feet of Water From Your Eyes. —LM
30. Odeal, The Summer That Saved Me
“No sleep, bus, club, another club, new lover, another break up, plane, next spot, no sleep”—that’s a play-by-play of this album, a summer that’s been fully lived in. The Nigerian-London singer-songwriter carries us through Miami with Leon Thomas, London, and Nigeria. It’s an 82-degree June day that you’ll be missing by the album’s end. —KW
29. Exo, Exo
Exo is a concept album about insects made on warped Tascam tapes by three N.Y.C. punks. On one side, buzzing, glittering portraits of Ladybug (“Mechanical”), Butterfly (“Got flowers on my mind”), Mantis (“I eat the night”), Fig Wasp (“I taste the juice”). On the other, a 15-minute sound collage that’s like a Buñuel short about a crazed spider spinning her web. It seems almost a manifesto, as in, Here’s what punk can be: beautiful, intricate, mystical, attentive. —LM
28. Earl Sweatshirt, Live Laugh Love
Earl Sweatshirt likes shit, and to a certain extent, he’s outside. Zeal is everywhere you look on his sixth album, an affectionate ode to the family he’s building with his wife Aida Osman, the community he’s built as a rapper-producer, and the lingering anxiety of what could happen if he fucks it all up. “I need the love, gang,” he says intently on “gamma (need the