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2025 was… well, a lot of things for a lot of people, but one thing it definitely wasn’t lacking for was its more than fair share of standout albums. From bold reinventions, masters of their craft proving why they’re at the forefront of their respective genres, to those seeking to dismantle the very concept of genre itself, 2025 saw its fair share of albums sure to stand the test of time. So, without further ado, we present to you the 30 best albums of 2025, according to your friends and family here at OnesToWatch. 

30. Gigi Perez - At The Beach, In Every Life

After captivating listeners with her breakout “Sailor Song,” Gigi Perez delivers a debut album that is both poetic and unflinchingly honest. She unpacks grief, faith, love, and loss, weaving her late sister’s voice memos into the fabric of the record. Across twelve tracks, Perez traces her journey through triumph and heartbreak, from landing a major-label deal in the chaos of a pandemic to facing rejection and finding her way back home to Florida to start over. The result is a raw, beautiful album that does not disappoint and leaves a lasting impression long after its final note.

-Alessandra Rincon

29. Lola Young - I’m Only F**cking Myself

When we are uninhibited, living our insides on the outside, we are Lola Young. The 24-year-old South London native is radically unafraid, a full spectrum of human, and it’s for that very reason that I’m Only F**king Myself had as grand a year as it did. Raw and unpolished, it’s its jagged edges that make it ultimately such a remarkable body of work. I’m Only F**king Myself is an immersive alt-pop wonderland that bends every industry rule, as Young makes herself the butt of the joke and reclaims raunch as something both disgusting and cosmic. With no artistic limitation, “SPIDERS” is a brash emotional catharsis, while “One Thing” is every hot and horny girl’s summer anthem. Though fans have, of course, praised and supported Young’s decision to step away from music and prioritize her well-being, there’s undeniably a subtle rumbling of hope that she’ll come back sooner than later.

-Jazmin Kylene

28. Justin Bieber - SWAG

Between its introspective meditations on fame and desire, SWAG sees Justin Bieber at his most tender and intimate thus far in his career. Trading the maximalism of 2021’s Justice for something more decidedly stripped back and raw, SWAG is a powerful statement on distance, incongruence, and disconnect, and the love that inevitably pulls us closer together. Despite the album being stacked with A-list collaborators like Dijon, mk.gee, Carter Lang, and Tobias Jesso Jr., Bieber’s vocals never take the backseat, as the subtle nuance of the album’s production often serves as the perfect foundation for Bieber to deliver some of the best songs of his career. Whether he’s locked in with Lil B or soul-searching with Druski, Justin Bieber’s candor and confidence carry the record to heights few artists of his caliber can reach.

-Carter Fife

27. 2hollis - star 

Following the release of 2hollis’ third studio album boy last year, the young artist experienced an incredibly rapid ascent into mainstream music superstardom that few are able to achieve - and even fewer sustain. Armed with a signature sound that pairs extreme electronic abrasion with distorted hip-hop percussion, star manages to exceed the astronomical hype surrounding it by offering fans the last thing they may expect from 2hollis: vulnerability. Though star certainly sees 2hollis mastering his own sonic chaos while expanding his repertoire of sounds, he also takes a step back to reflect on fame and expectation, revealing the human heart behind the aura.
-Carter Fife

26. Bassvictim - Forever

Nostalgia has never been a hotter commodity, and few artists grasp that notion better than Bassvictim. The London duo has had a string of bubbling internet-led hits, but in their debut album Forever, Bassvictim feels more assured in their sound than ever before. Their most cohesive work to date, Forever plays out like a 2010s childhood-led frolic through an overgrown garden. Joyous and bursting with life, the London duo foregoes much of the predictable indie sleaze trappings that surrounded their earliest releases in favor of artful pop experimentations that would perfectly soundtrack any escape—raging house party or twiglight venture into the woods.   
-Maxamillion Polo

25. Addison Rae - Addison

It’s safe to say Addison Rae was one of the most doubted artists of 2025, with many challenging her transition from TikToker to popstar. Born from that challenge was Addison, an album written and produced entirely by women, fine-tuned with self-love, and delivered with an acute artistic vision that ended up winning over even the most cynical pop fans. From its successful singles like “Diet Pepsi” and “Headphones On” to beloved deep cuts like “In The Rain” and “Money is Everything,” Addison put her whole heart and soul into crafting a debut her inner child would wear out on a portable CD player. 2025 saw her first headlining tour, a GRAMMY nomination for 'Best New Artist,' and a spot on nearly every year-end list, proving that if you wield your uninhibited desire to create, the only barrier to achieving your dreams is how much you truly believe in yourself.

-Giselle Libby

24. Alex G - Headlights

Headlights marks a turning point for Alex G, who steps into the spotlight with his 10th album and first major label release. Despite now dwelling on a much bigger stage, the album sidesteps gloss in favor of the raw, offbeat charm that has made him a cult favorite. Twisting melodies, enigmatic lyrics, and sweeping production come together to create a soundscape where beauty and unease intertwine, making Headlights feel both familiar and thrillingly new.

-Alessandra Rincon

23. Olivia Dean - The Art of Loving

Have you ever heard an album so smooth it makes you blush? Gracefully crooning alongside saxophones and trumpets, Olivia Dean matches the elegance of the classics and intimacy of her contemporaries on The Art of Loving. Dean’s sophomore album made a star out of the young singer with standout hits “So Easy To Fall In Love,” “Nice To Each Other,” and “Man I Need,” with the latter amassing half a billion streams. Besides soundtracking our digital year—if you’re on TikTok you’ve given Dean the time and the place—The Art of Loving is home to her most confident vocal stylings and timeless songwriting. “I’ve Seen It” closes the album by skillfully underscoring the depth and wonder of love itself, without ever claiming to understand it.

-Ariana Tibi

22. Wet Leg - moisturizer 

Wet Leg is a band whose heart beats in gritty guitar riffs and hot and heavy vocals. Renowned for their cult classics like “Wet Dream,” the band has flagshipped a new wave of indie rock, and continues to master it on their latest album, moisturizer. This album expands Wet Leg’s familiar palette of speak-sung vocals and distorted guitars with new computerized decorations and delicate keyboards. Songs like “jennifer’s body” lure listeners into a seductive, Radiohead-esque soundscape with restrained drums, building harmonies, and a wandering bass, just to explode back into alt perfection. Others tap into a taste of pop, like the earworm of “mangetout” and its soft falsetto bridge. Across moisturizer, Wet Leg delivers faithful listeners the guttural bass lines, fuzzy distortion, and deliciously speak-sung vocals they’ve come to love from the innovative band. 

-Abby Kenna

21. Oklou - choke enough

If God is real, then he has to exist somewhere in Oklou’s music, as choke enough manages to deliver all of the pain and suffering from my soul in a way that only a holy exorcism could. While Oklou has always been great at making music that feels like it exists in its own private ecosystem, choke enough manages to create a world that feels eerily alien and human at the same time. Drifting between dreamlike ambience, heart-pounding electronica, and futuristic pop stylistics, Oklou’s long-awaited debut is nothing short of pure magic, an odyssey of self-discovery and existentialism that can instantly transport you from blissful safety to complete emotional annihilation.

-Carter Fife

20. Men I Trust - Equus Callabus 

Men I Trust has mastered an ability to curate soundscapes that could be replicated nowhere else. The second installment of Men I Trust's Equus series, Equus Caballus is a gentle swim through melancholic nostalgia. The project finds their capabilities well-matured and on a grander scale, without compromising on the specificity of their homegrown feel. “Another Stone” is a particular standout, a lyrical triumph that poetically cages the art of getting lost while in search of yourself. Men I Trust has cornered a sector of alternative indie that will always exclusively belong to them, making bass-heavy music with a hazy groove that almost masks its poetry, if you don’t lean in closely enough to catch it.

-Jazmin Kylene

19. Laufey - A Matter of Time

Laufey’s A Matter Of Time is an open diary, a tea-stained mug, an annotated, dog-eared book, an ode to girlhood in the form of a ballet. The lauded album documents the life of a twenty-something in all of its beauty and vulnerability and resilience and mess, and above all, is Laufey at her very best. Leading up to its releases, Laufey teased its whimsical and theatrical sonic and visual worlds with a string of singles, including the bossa-nova-inspired “Lover Girl” and the heartbreakingly beautiful “Snow White.” Both tracks demonstrate the wide range of human emotions that one experiences, especially as a girl growing into herself, a theme that is fully realized here. 

Standout tracks include “Mr. Eclectic,” featuring backing vocals from Clairo, “Castle In Hollywood,” which details that one friendship breakup we all inevitably have, and “Forget Me Not,” with lyrics in Icelandic and English, although you’d be doing A Matter Of Time a disservice to not listen to it as a whole (preferably while wearing your favorite dress and a felt crown, lighting a scented candle, and sipping a glass of red wine).

-Tatum Van Dam

18. Water From Your Eyes - It’s a Beautiful Place

The space between irony and sincerity is a desolate and confusing place, and its sole occupants include the Brooklyn-via-Chicago duo Water From Your Eyes. On their latest album, It’s a Beautiful Place, the band blends indie rock and experimental pop into an experience that sometimes feels intimately human and cerebral one moment, and uncomfortable and emotionally detached the next. You’ll be ensnared by the operatic ambience of “You Don’t Believe in God?” and then quickly dropped on your head with the playful yet honest “Spaceship” that follows it. What does it all mean? Who’s to say? These two perspectives are not necessarily incompatible or incongruent. In fact, they both magnify the other, and together they show off the band’s undeniable charm and affinity for clever songwriting, making It’s a Beautiful World an album that rewards those who are open-minded enough to feel certain and clueless at the same time.

-Carter Fife

17. Samia - Bloodless

Samia has become a staple in the indie singer-songwriter genre, and in her third album, the brutally honest Bloodless, she digs deeper than ever before. The record’s thesis forced the 29-year-old artist to face herself head-on, analyzing an unfortunate universal female experience when you realize your identity has been created to satiate the male gaze. When you strip the performance away, what’s left? This topic is explored through 13 beautiful tracks, portrayed through Samia’s poetic style and distinctly sublime vocal performance. Pulling inspiration from fables to paintings to the process of bloodless cattle mutilation, Samia has curated her own songwriting language that strikes the deepest parts of the soul. One of the most relevant lyrics of the year can be found in the track “Fair Game,” where Samia potently declares, “You can go outside on a hot night and clap / But you won't get your blood back.”

-Giselle Libby

16. PinkPantheress - Fancy That

PinkPantheress has become known for her micro song lengths and sugary sweet charm, and in 2025, left more of an impact than ever with her second mixtape Fancy That. With only nine tracks resulting in a total of 20 minutes, the project became one of this year’s biggest hit factories with smashes like “Illegal,” “Tonight,” and “Stateside.” Every aspect of what makes PinkPantheress in a lane of her own shines, from samples with emotional backstories and bouncy synth-pop production to her perfect personality-driven lyrics and introspective undertones. Later in the year, she blessed us with Fancy Some More?, full of remixes and features that elevated the songs without stripping them of their original glory. This year PinkPantheress further solidified her spot as Gen Z’s favorite Y2K-inspired popstar, literally and figuratively introducing herself to a new level of mainstream experimental pop.

-Jazmin Kylene

15. Blood Orange - Essex Honey

An offbeat symphony of eclectic, soulful musings, Blood Orange delivers a masterpiece with his fifth album, Essex Honey. It feels as vast as a live stadium show, yet retains a rare, finessed intimacy achievable only in the studio. Intentionally stirring without being explicit, we realize we’re on a journey with Blood Orange as he uses experimental soundscapes to move through the grief of losing his mother. Songs like “The Last of England” feature the old French method of musique concrete, creating a melancholic but curious ballad. “The Field” is a masterclass in collaboration: Daniel Caesar, Caroline Polachek, Tariq Al-Sabir, and The Durutti Column glide over a tender nylon-string guitar, with Polachek’s ethereal touch expertly balancing Blood Orange’s rich vocals. Like a walk through the maze of mourning, Essex Honey is unpredictable, raw, and refreshingly brave. 

-Ariana Tibi

14. Perfume Genius - Glory

Glory finds Perfume Genius, or Michael Alden Hadreas, at his most focused and emotionally potent, crafting an album that stands tall among his finest works. He navigates anxiety, loss, and isolation with a gentle touch, letting vulnerability shine through a carefully layered soundscape. Blending chamber folk, alt-pop, and hints of country, the album feels unified yet never boxed in. Collaborating with a full band, including longtime partner Alan Wyffels and producer Blake Mills, Hadreas adds new depth and color, yet his voice remains the album’s beating heart. The result is a record that feels vast and personal, inviting listeners to return and discover new layers each time.

-Alessandra Rincon

13. Turnstile - Never Enough

Turnstile’s rise to the forefront of the modern hardcore scene is no accident, and Never Enough proves they have no intention of standing still. Building on the momentum of 2021’s Glow On, the band dives deeper into experimentation without losing its trademark urgency. Tracks like “Birds” channel the sweat and energy of their legendary live shows, inspiring even the most reserved fans to get in the circle pit. “I Care” opens up their sound with lush melodies, while “Sunshower” swaps raw aggression for moments of calm, weaving in meditative flute lines. Never Enough is a bold, self-assured leap forward, capturing a band unafraid to take risks yet still rooted in the community that made them.

-Alessandra Rincon

12. The Last Dinner Party - From the Pyre

Time-traveling us into a new level of whimsically fierce femme fatale, The Last Dinner Party continues to stun with their sophomore album, The Pyre. Blending '70s art-rock influences with gritty sophistication, The Last Dinner Party’s unrestrained marriage of musical influences and societal inspirations creates a sound that exceeds boundaries. While the band’s debut album, Prelude to Ecstasy, dripped in ornate Victorian sensibilities and Tumblr-era moodiness, The Pyre lives more in a medieval world. Lead single, “This is the Killer Speaking,” is an avant-pop murder ballad shifting through eras of sound, from the mystique of the Wild West to a disco-leaning chorus. There’s the resolutely gut-wrenching farewell of “The Scythe” balanced by the spellbinding magic of “Woman is a Tree,” and the classic rock-style anthem that is “I Hold Your Anger.” The Last Dinner Party is a spectacle of unstoppable femme perspective and art-rock revival, surrendering status quo pop boundaries with The Pyre.

-Abby Kenna

11. Ethel Cain - Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You

This year, Ethel Cain went into a lab and created a bat signal for all the D1 yearners wrought with unresolved emotional tension, self-doubt, and fear that only a life-changing heartbreak could afflict. The lab is a recording studio, and the batsignal is her newest album, Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You. Atmospheric, melancholy, and emotionally derelict, Ethel Cain pulls no punches as she delivers another all-timer that is so immersive and nuanced that I feel like I’m practically wading deeper and deeper into it the longer I listen. From the pleading desperate harmonies on album opener “Janie” to the closing lines on “Waco, Texas,” “I can wait if I want / But it’ll never be good enough like I want to believe it is,” few albums this year make me want to lie unmoving on the floor of my own apartment like this one. Though Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You is like the poison damage of music, and you’ll love every second of it.

-Carter Fife

10. Jim Legxaxcy - Black British Music

On his third full-length project and XL Recordings debut, Jim Legxacy brings together a wealth of musical influences to create something that exists outside the mere sum of its parts. Black British Music effortlessly runs the gamut of afrobeats, midwest emo, grime, jerk, alternative R&B, and more to present a project wholly true to its name. And amid this feverish jump from genre to genre, Legxacy offers some of his most heartfelt songwriting to date, seeking to not just transform the very notion of genre on its head but transform grief into healing, pain into connection. Few projects this year feel as uniquely human and inhibited as Black British Music.   
-Maxamillion Polo

9. Jane Remover - Revengeseekerz

Jane Remover is an artist who does not simply defy expectation; rather, the experimental artist seems to thrive most when they’re actively pushing themselves toward complete reinvention. In Revengeseekerz, the impossible-to-define artist pushes maximalism to its extremes, teetering on breaking points that only give way to unforeseen, cathartic highs. “Dancing with your eyes closed” unsurprisingly became the breakout hit of the project, but equally soaring feats can be found throughout its 12-track run. In being unafraid to burn away everything they’ve created before, Jane Remover arises from the ashes like a phoenix, time and time again.   

-Maxamillion Polo
8. Deftones - Private Music 

At their inception, few likely could have predicted the lasting permanence of Deftones. Yet, some three decades later, the ‘90s alternative metal band feels more transcendent than ever on their 10th studio album, Private Music. While not a bold reimagining or reinvention, at no point throughout its heavy 11-track run does the illustrious band ever feel stale or like they’re resting on their laurels. Instead, Private Music feels like the latest greatest work of Deftones' renaissance era, one buoyed by spiritual shoegaze and unrelenting post-hardcore that grasps at an unseen emotional push and pull just beyond an endless horizon.     
-Maxamillion Poo

7. Nourished By Time - The Passionate Ones

It is hard to articulate or describe exactly what it is about The Passionate Ones that makes it such a rare album to experience, but after one listen, you know it’s there. Borrowing influence from post-punk, pop, R&B, and new wave in a way that gives way to its own unique sound, Nourished By Time is clearly an artist who is just as reverent towards his own sound as those that came before him. From the downtrodden dereliction of “9 2 5” to the almost soul-adjacent “BABY BABY,” The Passionate Ones has a habit of feeling so emotionally transparent that it almost frightens you, vocalizing thoughts that you previously have only revealed to yourself. These powerful moments result in a palpable tension that is woven throughout the record, and whether or not that tension ever gets resolved is up for debate. The only thing we can say for certain, is that this album is more than deserving of your ears and attention.

-Carter Fife

6. Dijon - Baby

Dijon is arguably alt R&B’s most fascinating figure to dissect. The 33-year-old's next move is always a sharp left while evolving more closely to his truest form, as Baby only further proves. His second studio album, which carried the burden of rising to the height of 2021’s Absolutely, is a futuristic thrill ride drenched in textured production and exploratory vocals. Walking a path forged by the likes of Prince and Frank Ocean, undefinable Black men exclusively devoted to their individual truth, Dijon is a critical figure. So much of his sacred touch is the reason why Justin Bieber’s SWAG found as much success as it did, with his lyrical mastery and sonic aura imprinted on the majority of the project. Yet, Baby is completely his and impeccably so, a hyper-modern album guaranteed to only mature with time.
-Jazmin Kylene

5. Bad Bunny - DeBí TiRAR Más FOTos

If there’s anything DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS solidified, it’s that Bad Bunny is exactly who he thinks he is. A global superstar who can connect with audiences beyond all barriers, his music is alive and breathing, and this album is his magnum opus. The rapper’s sixth solo studio project speaks the language of movement and exuberance, one universally understood. It’s a colorful explosion of Latin sounds that meets reggaeton and house with the traditional Puerto Rican soundscapes that colored his childhood, ranging from plena to salsa to bomba. Beyond an album, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS is an unabashed cultural celebration. It’s Puerto Rico’s newest flag on the moon, a declaration of pride for his homeland and the nuances that make it so particularly special. As much as it is a club album, it’s equally the critical reminder to return to your roots, treat home as sacred, and capture life with as much radical presence as you can.
-Jazmin Kylene

4. Hayley Williams - Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party

Solo Hayley is fucking free. Edgy in its apathy but powerful in its delivery, Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party carries as an unburdening exhale. The Blink 182-esque guitars on “Whim” drive us into a pop arena in a red '90s convertible, while “Mirtazapine,” Williams' proclaimed “genie in a screw top bottle,” has enough static to make your hair frizz. The acoustic resonance on “Kill Me” parallels the candor of her lyrics and “Ice In My OJ” has so much swag it almost makes you lean. Williams is no one but herself on this third solo album, making it a career standout, but it was “True Believer” that made it a cultural one. A brooding hymn that tells modern civilization’s horror story, “True Believer” started conversations about Southern Christianity's hypocrisy, racism, and institutionalized division. Anyone who was asleep to it probably got a jolt, and that is true art.

-Ariana Tibi

3. Ninajirachi - I Love My Computer

2025 was a year of breakouts, one of the most memorable being Australian “girl EDM” savant Ninajirachi, who released her debut album aptly titled I Love My Computer. The project, she says, is “dedicated to the greatest collaborator I’ll know in this lifetime” – the endless possibilities presented through a computer. She positions technology as the main character of her artistic journey, as a roadmap to her own personhood, a concept that clearly connects with a generation of music fans raised online. The album is a mixture of nostalgic lyricism and full-blown house beats, bridging the gap between sentimental reflection and pure party escapism. If you still haven’t stopped streaming Brat a year later, Ninajirachi delivers a similar emotional journey through the increasingly relevant genre of “computer music.”

-Giselle Libby

2. Geese - Getting Killed

Geese has been heralded as many things—the coolest band to come out of New York in quite some time, saviors of rock ‘n’ roll, a defiant stance against commercialized, radio-ready rock music. And with their avant-garde third album, Getting Killed, Geese gives credence to all those sentiments and more. Fronted by Cameron Winters’ idiosyncratic croon, the New York quartet turns inward and explodes outward over the course of 11 genre-shattering tracks, dismantling any preconceived notions formed by their two previous works. Getting Killed is transformative, unafraid to violently tear away Geese’s skin—feathers and all—to unveil the shimmering foundation of a lasting rock legacy.
-Maxamillion Polo

1. ROSALÍA - LUX

A perfect execution of theatrics, the magnitude of LUX’s opera eclipsed all expectations and solidified ROSALÍA as one of the most important artists to emerge from the new generation. The distinctive artist bled completely into all four movements of the project, a grandiose effort that centered God, unbecoming, and self-salvation. From notes of traditional Spanish flamenco to avant-garde, orchestral pop, it is a sonically unbound record that sounds nothing like what anyone else has dared to do. With an elite vocal agility sung in 14 languages, each corresponding to a different female saint, LUX is in full devotion to the entire spectrum of femininity—from a woman in her most complete expression to a woman withered down to bare bones. ROSALÍA had to survive the darkness in order to be reborn through LUX, and it’s one of the most impressive albums this last decade has seen.
-Jazmin Kylene