Taylor Swift released an album so bad we won’t even talk about it. FKA twigs fucked around with EUSEXUA and found out… it got even better? Rosalía let her hair down from the Tower of Babel. Addison Rae went mainstream; Justin Bieber went indie. We all fell in love with Oklou and wore some big, big shoes. Here are 30 of the best pop albums of 2025, ranked by us with a little help from some of our favorite critics. –Anna Gaca & Walden Green
Check out all of Pitchfork’s 2025 wrap-up coverage here.
(All releases featured here are independently selected by our editors. When you buy something through our retail links, however, Pitchfork may earn an affiliate commission.)
30.
Lady Gaga: MAYHEM
MAYHEM’s best songs feel like they detonate at every audible frequency, retooling Lady Gaga’s pyrotechnic synth-pop to max out its sound. Despite a couple of funky skips, the album is fueled by the hunger of an artist who really wants the pop life again, perking up electro-scuzz and arena rock with new wave that gleams like glitter. –Owen Myers
Listen/Buy: Amazon | Apple Music | Rough Trade | Spotify | Tidal
29.
Oli XL: Lick the Lens / Pt. 1
The Stockholm producer’s Warp debut is a glitzy glitch-hop stim toy. For 25 minutes, he decorates his many guest vocalists with blipping electronics and indietronica flair, ensuring every melody is part of a larger tapestry of dizzying, downtempo cool. It’s a soothing confluence: Oli burrows you into the mix so you’re dazzled by the details, while fluttering vocal melodies keep things grounded. It’s as kaleidoscopic as it is cozy. –Joshua Minsoo Kim
Listen/Buy: Amazon | Apple Music | Bandcamp | Spotify | Tidal
28.
Raisa K: Affectionately
Bubbling up from the geyser of experimental-minded pop within Mica Levi’s orbit, London songwriter Raisa Khan’s gentle, beguiling debut hisses and spoils and woolgathers through foggy industrial atmospheres and imperfect singer-songwriter ballads: a record for when the knowledge of love comes hand-in-hand with the shadowy weight of Grouper dragging the deer up the hill. –Anna Gaca
Listen/Buy: Apple Music | Bandcamp | Spotify | Tidal
27.
JADE: THAT’S SHOWBIZ BABY!
Jade Thirlwall’s first album apart from Little Mix, her Simon Cowell-appointed girl group, is frequently as gaudy and hectic as the star machine itself. “Midnight Cowboy” pattern-clashes ballroom culture against shoutouts to former British Vogue editor Edward Enninful. Then along come “Plastic Box” and “Unconditional,” rarefied aeries where Thirlwall sheds any cynicism about the pop-industrial complex. THAT’S SHOWBIZ BABY! knows its tropes—the breakaway solo artist, the disillusioned diva—and sets them aside to let a class-A entertainer do what she does best. –Walden Green
