If there's one question that professional music lovers hear most often, it's some variation on: "Heard any good albums lately?" We always have, of course, but when it came time to highlight the cream of 2025's crop, the members of the NPR Music team could not agree — with one glaring exception. There was something off-balance about the music of 2025. Some genres felt like they were flaming out, others being awkwardly reborn; whatever conveyer belt it was that delivered new pop stars all year in 2024 seemed in need of maintenance; the threat of streaming services and social media delivering a spoonful of A.I. slop cast a shadow on the whole project of "discovery."

Our solution was to get personal: Each of a dozen people on our team — critics, podcast hosts, editors and Tiny Desk producers

See Full Page