Posted: 18th December, 2025 by The Alt Editing Staff

List season again, baby! Our 50 favorite albums of 2025 run the gamut: trip-hop to indie folk, emo-pop to alt-country, shoegaze to math rock. Thanks for sticking with The Alternative for another year, in the age of AI and pay-for-play and click-chasing. You could be reading anybody’s year-end list right now, but you’re reading ours. 

As ever, if you like what we do, we really cannot do it without you. If you’d like to show your support, you can subscribe to our Patreon or snag a t-shirt on our Bandcamp! Even if you can’t, I’d would like to stress how much it means that you’re willing to come to us when you need new tunes. If this list is any indication, I don’t think we’ll let you down.

Keep on scrollin’ to see our 50 favorite albums of 2025!

50. Addison Rae – Addison

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49. billy woods – GOLLIWOG

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48. Pretty Bitter – Pleaser

47. Fust – Big Ugly

46. Blue Earth Sound – Cicero Nights

45. crushed – no scope

44. The Caution Children – Appropriate Music

43. Jenny Hval – Iris Silver Mist 

42. Hachiku – The Joys of Being Pure at Heart

41. Lorde – Virgin

A blue-tinted x-ray of a pelvis. A belt buckle, pants zipper, pants rivets and an IUD can be seen on the x-ray.

40. Los Thuthanaka – Los Thuthanaka

39. Water from Your Eyes – It’s a Beautiful Place

38. Mei Semones – Animaru

37. Horsegirl – Phonetics On and On

36. Dijon – Baby

35. Florist – Jellywish

34. Big Thief – Double Infinity

33. Baths – Gut

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32. Pretty Rude – Ripe

31. Lady Gaga – Mayhem

Black-and-white photo of Gaga's face near a piece of glass

30. Massa Nera – The Emptiness of All Things 

29. acloudyskye – This Won’t Be the Last Time

28. Nourished by Time – The Passionate Ones

27. Djo – The Crux

26. Armand Hammer & The Alchemist – Mercy

25–11 and 10–1 + Awards!