Below the surface of the mainstream, music had a wonderful year —making the task of whittling down 2025’s best albums to a top-10 list maddeningly difficult—though you’d hardly know it from looking at the pop charts or overhearing the anodyne streambait that tends to fill public spaces. Culture’s tech overlords have made it easier than ever to come across AI slop or algorithm-worshipping TikTok influencers masquerading as pop stars, but the profiteers won’t win their war on human art without a fight. My favorite albums reckoned deliberately with our existential moment, offering flickers of hope and grace under pressure.

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10. Iris Silver Mist , Jenny Hval

The music of Norwegian art-pop hero Jenny Hval is as daringly adventurous as it is incisive. Also a novelis

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