Purple Rain nearly earns a ninth stay at No. 1 on the Official Soundtrack Albums list this week, as the Oscar-winning release ...

Welcome to New Music Friday, NPR Music's podcast dedicated to sharing the best albums out each week. We listen to dozens of new releases in advance, identify the ones we think you need to hear, and ...

The waiting is the hardest part, when it comes to some recording artists. And if a lot of them come through on their promises, threats or hints of delivering new material in 2026, it will be like a ...

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 ...

In a year that had no rap songs in the Billboard Hot 100’s Top 40 for the first time since 1990, rap thrived in so many other ways. This list of the 25 best rap albums of 2025 includes grand ...

What were 2025's best rock albums? While we recently shared with you the 51 Best Rock + Metal Albums of 2025 with you and named Three Days Grace's Alienation our Rock Album of the Year, we have not ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... After much consternation, I’ve managed to pare down a long list of fine jazz-improv recordings from 2025 to a top 10. So, apologies to Marshall Allen, The ...