Well, if anyone cares, here is a list of my favorite albums of 2025. I don’t like the “best of” terminology because I acknowledge I’ve missed a lot of great stuff. Also, I didn’t stick to a “top 10” — there are actually 14 entries below. But these are the releases I enjoyed the most during the past 12 months.
*I am going to start off with two honorable mentions because one came out in late 2024 and the other is actually an EP
Chaos Into Poetry – Polaroid Fade
I am a huge fan of 1990s jangle/dream-pop band, The Sundays, who were one of the hottest alternative acts around before suddenly calling it quits in 1997. Well, during the first half of 2025, WXPN in Philadelphia began playing a song called “Bliss” by Polaroid Fade. And, man, did that song fill The Sundays-sized hole in my music-loving heart. For about three years, Polaroid Fade, it seems, has been a rotating cast of musicians backing Vineland, N.J., teen vocalist Nicoletta Giuliani. Their full-length debut, Chaos Into Poetry, was actually released in November 2024, but I had to put it on this list because a) I didn’t get to it until 2025, and b) it consumed much of my music-listening time throughout May and June, especially. Here are “Bliss” and “Cotton Candy Skies” from Chaos Into Poetry by Polaroid Fade.
Audio Vertigo ECHO – Elbow (EP)
OK, Elbow’s Audio Vertigo ECHO isn’t an album…it’s an EP. But it’s a GREAT EP! Building on the groove/vibe-heavy sound of 2024’s Audio Vertigo album, Elbow released these five additional songs that are a really fun listen. The fifth track, “Sober,” was my favorite song of 2025 so ECHO definitely deserves a spot here, in my opinion. And my opinion is all that counts for this list. Also, I FINALLY was able to see Elbow live for the first time ever back in September, and it exceeded even my lofty expectations. They are amazing.
The Great Western Road – Deacon Blue
Deacon Blue is a band I keep forgetting about, but always get drawn into a rabbit hole of great music when I remember them. I first became familiar with the band in 1993 when the much-missed WHTG in Eatontown, N.J., played their song “Your Town” quite a bit. That track had an interesting folk-rock vibe with an industrial edge that really ticked a lot of boxes with me. But the Scottish band started out in the 1980s as more of a straight-up pop band with some folk touches. In fact, Whatever You Say, Say Nothing, the album that spawned “Your Town,” was an experiment into a more alternative sound that wasn’t well-received. The band had a successful UK tour the following year, but broke up later in 1994. Five years later, Deacon Blue staged a reunion show that led to a continuation of the band. Fast forward to June 2025 and I, again, have forgotten about the band Deacon Blue. However, I see news come across my feed that Deacon Blue founding member and keyboardist James Prime has died from cancer. In reading the news, I learn that before he passed, Prime recorded parts for a Deacon Blue album released earlier in the year called The Great Western Road. I check it out and it is phenomenal! It is such a throwback to great 80s pop. Nostalgia oozes throughout the album’s lead single, “Late ’88,” and throughout most of the album.
Minor Birds – Negative Players
When fascist billionaire con artist Elon Musk bought and ruined Twitter in 2022, I started a Mastodon account and joined the fediverse. From 2022-2024, there was an online radio station that played only independent artists with a presence in the fediverse called Radio Free Fedi. RFF played my music a lot and the title track of my 2021 album, Looking for the Light, caught the attention of the fediverse-focused online publication We Distribute, which included it on its “canned nostalgia” mixtape of RFF artists. Anyway, I discovered so many independent artists in the fediverse thanks to RFF. Michigan-based Negative Players is one such act. The band describes itself as “a theoretically fantastic two-piece indie/alternative rock band from Southwest Michigan combining melody and noisy aggression to spin some tasty tunes of sadness and nostalgia.” Here is “I’m a Creep, Not a Monster” from Minor Birds.
Play Both Sides – Fragile Creatures
Fragile Creatures is a UK-based band that I discovered in the final days of Radio Free Fedi. I heard “Don’t Know What to Do” on RFF and it immediately caught my attention, so I went to their Bandcamp page to hear more. Yeah, this is a band that ticks a lot of boxes for me. Here is the song that turned me into a fan.
The Life of a Showgirl – Taylor Swift
So…we go from two indie artists in the fediverse…to the biggest pop star in the universe, Taylor Swift, and her 2025 album The Life of a Showgirl. Yes, this is a drop-off from Folklore, Evermore and Midnights, but I enjoy this album more than The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD was OK, but even the standard release was too much…and then Swift released additional songs hours after the initial release…ugh). TLOAS is a just fun, tight pop album. That’s what Swift wanted to create and that’s what she gave us. And even in doing that, she threw some curveballs like the lead single, “The Fate of Ophelia.” Most, if not all, pop songs are based on sections of four-bar patterns. But this song, especially the verses, is built mostly on the use of a five-bar pattern. It catches the ear’s attention and its somewhat unsettling nature draws you deeper into the song.
Face Down in the Garden – Tennis
I discovered Tennis — a duo consisting of married couple, Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley — through SiriusXM around 2011 and became a huge fan of theirs. Sadly, I never had the chance to see them live, and upon releasing their 2025 album, Face Down in the Garden, they also announced it would be their last as Tennis. The grind just became too much, punctuated by a series of mishaps during and after their 2023 tour that included “an attempted robbery at sea.” They did go on tour in 2025, but I wasn’t able to make it to their Philly show. Alaina and Patrick are still together as a couple and say they will pursue other creative opportunities. It sounds like the door isn’t completely closed to a return to music, but it won’t be as Tennis. Face Down in the Garden serves as a fantastic musical farewell from the duo, and their swan song was one of my favorite albums of 2025.
Young Love – Boo Boos
Boo Boos are a side project of EELS frontman Mark “E” Everett and Kate Mattison of 79.5, a Brooklyn-based band I saw open for Young Gun Silver Fox in February 2024 and instantly liked a lot. E and Kate even developed a backstory and new pseudonyms for the project — Bronco Boo and Katie Boo. The album has a fantastic retro vibe and you can tell both E and Mattison had fun doing something so different from their respective regular music projects. “Total Thunder” is a great introduction to Young Love.
Hard Headed Woman – Margo Price
I have been a big Margo Price fan since “Hands of Time” from her 2016 album, Midwest Farmer’s Daughter, started getting a ton of airplay on WXPN in Philadelphia. Since then, she has become a favorite of WXPN and of mine. She is the biggest badass in country music right now and when she performed “Don’t Let the Bastards Get You Down” on what, at one point, appeared to be the final episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! on September 16, Price fittingly replaced the lyric “Keep the haters underground” to “Keep all them fascists underground.” Don’t let the bastards — and the fascists — get you down, indeed!
A Still Life Revisited – The Tisburys
The Tisburys became my favorite Philly band going right now in 2025. Saw them twice live this year, and I have been following and interacting with frontman Tyler Asay on social media for a couple of years now. The band is just super-fun and their 2025 album, A Still Life Revisited, is fantastic. And the obsession with Margate, N.J.’s Lucy the Elephant does not hurt! Here is “Forever” from A Still Life Revisited.
Humanhood – The Weather Station
Toronto-based Tamara Lindeman, a former child actor, has been releasing indie folk/rock-pop music as The Weather Station since 2006. But, in late 2020, TWS released the single “Robber” from their upcoming album, Ignorance, released in February 2021. WXPN began playing “Robber” right away and I immediately picked up the Talk Talk/Mark Hollis vibes of the track. Lindeman said in multiple articles about the album that she was indeed channeling Hollis during the making of the record, which was a stark departure from earlier TWS releases (which I also wound up enjoying). But “Robber” became my favorite song for 2021, with Ignorance being my favorite album that year. I’ve seen The Weather Station live twice since then, and Tamara and Co. are amazing in person. Their latest album, Humanhood, is another stellar effort punctuated by great tracks like “Neon Signs” below.
A Bridge To Far – Midlake
Yes, the “to” in the title of Midlake’s latest masterpiece is spelled like that. They say there is a reason for it. I don’t get it, but the album — as usual — is amazing. I’ve been a huge fan of Midlake since their epic The Trials of Van Occupanther was released in 2006. A Bridge To Far kind of came as a surprise. It was either late 2024 or maybe even earlier this year, when the band started teasing new music with photos and short videos shot in the studio. I figured a new album wouldn’t come until 2026. But the fantastic A Bridge To Far wound up being released in early November, with three singles preceding it, including “Days Gone By” below. If you watched Ted Lasso and caught the sixth episode of the third season (“Sunflowers”) when the team goes to Amsterdam and has a series of adventures and misadventures, there is that scene where the team sings “Three Little Birds” on the bus at the end of the episode. The camera pans up the aisle toward the front of the bus and the character Trent Crimm (played by James Lance) is wearing a Midlake shirt. Turns out, Lance is a big Midlake fan and is featured in this beautiful video for “Days Gone By” shot in the early morning in a still-waking-up New York City.
Pleasure – Young Gun Silver Fox
I have been a fan of the duo of Andy Platts and Shawn Lee — Young Gun Silver Fox — for over a decade now, ever since WXPN in Philadelphia gave their debut single, “You Can Feel It,” a ton of airplay. They wear their 1970s “yacht rock” influences on their sleeves and they really bring “the smooth.” But they can also rock and groove, as they do on Pleasure‘s lead single and standout track, “Stevie & Sly,” one of my favorite tracks of 2025.
The Art of Loving – Olivia Dean
By far, my favorite album of 2025 was by an artist I wasn’t really familiar with until late September, Olivia Dean. Dean’s fantastic The Art of Loving is an exquisite collection of well-crafted and soulful pop songs, with some interesting musical adventures along the way. A clip of Dean’s appearance on Later…With Jools Holland wound up in one of my feeds, and it was so good I had to find out more. I was obsessed with this album for most of October and I still find myself revisiting it. Here are videos of Dean’s performances of two singles from the album, “Man I Need” and “Nice to Each Other.”
Tandem With The Random 