There are many throughlines in the list you’re about to scroll through: triumphant comebacks, showstopping debuts, thrill-seeking left-turns and emotional documents of grief and pain. But what stays with me, after weeks of working on our end-of-year lists, is the element of surprise – your longtime fave’s capacity to catch you off guard, years into their career, or the possibility you could fall instantly in love with an album by an artist you’d never heard of. And isn’t that why we love music? Here’s hoping you find something new and exciting in this list: NME’s 50 best albums of 2025.

Karen Gwee, Managing Editor (Music)

Words by: Alex Flood, Andrew Trendell, Ben Jolley, Daniel Peters, David James Young, Gary Ryan, Georgia Evans, Hollie Geraghty, Joe Goggins, Jordan Bassett, Karen Gwee, Kayleigh Watson, Kyann-Sian Williams, Laura Molloy, Lisa Wright, Mika Chen, Nick Levine, Poppy Burton, Rhian Daly, Rishi Shah, Spencer Hughes, Surej Singh, Tom Morgan and Ziwei Puah