As 2025 draws to a close, Metacritic has unveiled its annual rankings of the best albums of the year, highlighting a diverse and genre-spanning collection of critically acclaimed releases. From ...

It’s easy to pinpoint when trends in music begin: People rally around a specific band or album, a new scene forms around a shared sensibility, or a particular sound permeates the zeitgeist. It’s more ...

The top country albums of 2025 are so different from each other that it seems like the only thing they have in common is that they fall under the same umbrella genre. But there is one thing these ...

90 tracks! Five hours! Remix the year in pop however you wish. By Lindsay Zoladz The longest Amplifier playlist of the year is finally here: five hours, 90 tracks, each of which was chosen as a 2025 ...

If 2024 was the year of the situationship album (and, yes, there are still plenty that dropped thereafter), then 2025 was the year we danced through the fire. The hypnotic, high-tempo momentum of this ...

If we needed any more proof that the album isn't dead, 2025 was it. On this episode, Stephen Thompson is joined by Ann Powers and Daoud Tyler-Ameen to run through 12 dazzling albums that stuck with ...

Before I share my list of favorite albums of 2025, I need to repeat my regular “year-end list” disclaimer. If you already know the drill, feel free to skip ahead. We all know this. Art isn’t a ...

Have you noticed that guitars are back? I’m being a little facetious, but rock and even punk has has been steadily climbing its way back to the mainstream and we felt that more this year than we have ...

In 2025, bands had a lot to say about the state of the world, from La Dispute’s No One Was Driving the Car, which surveyed late-stage capitalism, and End It, who examined class structure through ...

2025 was one hell of a year. From the tumultuous political climate, the continued rise of social media, and the uncertainty of the future. One thing that remains consistent however, is the beauty of ...

Rosalía made an album invoking the saints, Lily Allen took us on a tragicomic trip through her domestic hell, Lady Gaga found the sweet spot between artpop and arena-ready funk, and Bad Bunny was just ...

From Mavis Staples to the Kronos Quartet—these are our music critic’s favorite works from this year. The Lebanese Civil War. Corporate agri-capitalism. Tips for surviving a nasty divorce. Violence, ...