One band absolutely dominated the hardcore conversation this year, and they did it by working way, way harder than anyone else. Affable Boston bruisers Haywire spent 2025 playing sweaty, cathartic, ...

Clarice Jensen, In holiday clothing, out of the great darkness They said Sgt. Pepper's was a perfect album. Here's another one — and it's arguably more ambitious. That Rosalía sings in 13 languages ...

I really thought there'd be more consensus this year around the best songs and albums. But if you spend any time with all the different lists dropping everywhere, you'll find they're all over the ...

My favorite albums of 2025 weren’t exactly magic tricks, but you had to listen to them closely to keep from getting head-faked. A country music traditionalist was the freshest in his field. A ...

This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here. Piling on, stripping down, looking back, pushing ahead: Musicians found all sorts of uses for the album form this ...

The Korean pop outsider Effie and the Brooklyn indie-rock band Geese top our critics’ lists this year. By Jon Caramanica and Lindsay Zoladz Jon Caramanica Musicians know how to make music, and they ...

NEW YORK (AP) — The Associated Press has selected its 10 best albums of the year, presented in no particular order and with a legend describing who might particularly enjoy them, in the vein of our ...

The best albums of 2025 spanned seismic rage rap, intricate guitar music, protest folk, spacey dream pop, and laptop twee. A virtuoso of experimental electronic music re-emerged, a Brooklyn band ...

I joined Paste in 2023 and, in my tenure as editor, this year’s AOTY list is my favorite by far. The publication has been doling out these rankings since 2002, affixing an “Album of the Year” ribbon ...

Earlier this year, my colleague and bud Kelefa Sanneh suggested that music critics, as a lot, have gone soft—becoming submissive, overly agreeable, and, in some cases, nearly servile. He’s right, of ...