Consequence’s Mid-Year Report kicks off today with a roundup of the 30 Best Albums of 2025 so far. Stay tuned for more lists throughout the week as we chart the films, TV shows, and songs that captured our attention in the first half of the year.
We aren’t just halfway through 2025, we’re halfway through the 2020s altogether. It’s a trip to think about, because it feels like just yesterday we were lifting our heads from the doomscroll and patiently waiting for the world to open back up.
Five years into the decade, the world feels no less chaotic, and the doomscroll has similarly only gotten doomier. In 2025, some of the best artists around have attempted to reckon with the charged energy of our present day with their new albums, whether that’s Lady Gaga conducting a seance on MAYHEM or acts like Florist, Hannah Cohen, Bon Iver, and Samia searching for solace in the face of grief and anguish.
Artists have found new ways to reflect the chaos of overstimulation through the freedom of expression, community, and rejecting isolation. Philly noise-punks YHWH Nailgun burst from their DIY scene with one of the most urgent and eclectic debuts of the year. Ethel Cain responded to fans projecting their trauma onto her by making an 89-minute drone album full of caustic tones and meditative static. billy woods took inspiration from horror and surrealism to craft the outstanding GOLLIWOG. FKA twigs returned with a dance album that simultaneously serves as her most experimental and accessible release to date.
Across every corner of the music world, the best and brightest are attempting to make sense of it all with music that has more questions to ask than answers to give. For our picks of the 30 Best Albums of 2025 so far, we looked at which projects made strong impressions, gave us some serious ideas to chew on, and made us elated to be alive. Whether these artists are outsiders and insurgents or the most heavily-streamed musicians working today, they’ve made their presence known this year with albums that brought us directly into their corner.
From Blondshell and Model/Actriz to MIKE and Viagra Boys, check out our picks for the best albums of 2025 so far below.
— Paolo Ragusa
Associate Editor
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