I collected over 13 lists of Best Music (albums) of 2025 from the Internet, newspapers and magazines and compiled them into one meta-list. Here are the results: every recording on four or more of the original source lists, organized by rank (that is, with the albums on the most lists at the top).
Note 1: I have provided genre descriptions of the artist from Wikipedia as a guide.
Note 2: These are not my personal opinions. I have not listened to all this music.
On 13 Lists
Geese – Getting Killed (indie rock/post-punk)
On 12 Lists
Rosalía – LUX (orchestral pop/art pop)
On 10 Lists
FKA twigs – EUSEXUA (avant-pop/techno)
Bad Bunny – DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS (reggaeton/plena/bomba)
On 9 Lists
Wednesday – Bleeds (shoegaze/alt-country)
On 8 Lists
billy woods – GOLLIWOG (hip-hop/abstract hip-hop)
Oklou – choke enough (experimental/electronic)
Addison Rae – Addison (pop)
On 7 Lists
Hayley Williams – Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party (alternative pop)
Turnstile – NEVER ENOUGH (hardcore punk/alternative rock)
Dijon – Baby (R&B/soul/experimental)
Clipse – Let God Sort Em Out (East Coast hip-hop/gangsta rap)
On 6 Lists
Wet Leg – moisturizer (indie rock/post-punk revival)
Deftones – private music (alternative metal/shoegaze)
Nourished by Time – The Passionate Ones (alternative R&B/synth-pop)
They Are Gutting a Body of Water – LOTTO (shoegaze/experimental rock)
Bon Iver – SABLE, FABLE (R&B/soft rock/pop)
Water from Your Eyes – It’s a Beautiful Place (alternative pop/alternative rock)
Earl Sweatshirt – Live Laugh Love (hip-hop)
Sudan Archives – The BPM (electro/R&B/dance)
On 5 Lists
Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band – New Threats From the Soul (indie rock/alternative rock)
Little Simz – Lotus (hip-hop)
CMAT – EURO-COUNTRY (indie pop/country)
Horsegirl – Phonetics On and On (post-punk/indie rock)
PinkPantheress – Fancy That (UK garage)
Lady Gaga – Mayhem (synth-pop)
Alex G – Headlights (indie rock/lo-fi/DIY)
On 4 Lists
Stereolab – Instant Holograms on Metal Film (avant-pop/post-rock/indie electronic)
John Glacier – Like A Ribbon (hip-hop)
Blood Orange – Essex Honey (alternative R&B/experimental jazz/art rock)
Panda Bear – Sinister Grift (psychedelic pop/tropical rock)
Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory – Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory (indie rock)
Annahstasia – Tether (folk)
Ichiko Aoba – Luminescent Creatures (folk/singer-songwriter)
Lily Allen – West End Girl (pop)
Freddie Gibbs and the Alchemist – Alfredo 2 (hip-hop)
Hannah Cohen – Earthstar Mountain (indie folk)
Cameron Winter – Heavy Metal (folk/soul/neo-classical)
Pulp – More (Britpop/art rock/indie pop)
MIKE – Showbiz! (hip-hop)
Smerz – Big City Life (electronic)
Jim Legxacy – black british music (UK rap/grime/alternative R&B)
Mavis Staples – Sad and Beautiful World (R&B/soul/gospel)
Amaarae – Black Star (pop/R&B/Afrobeats)
Perfume Genius – Glory (indie pop/alt-pop/post-rock)
Olivia Dean – The Art of Loving (R&B/pop/neo-soul)
Mary Halvorson – About Ghosts (avant-garde jazz)
On 3 Lists
Lambrini Girls – Who Let the Dogs Out (punk rock/post-punk)
Ninajirachi – I Love My Computer (electronic)
Saya Gray – SAYA (alternative pop)
Heartworms – Glutton for Punishment (post-punk/gothic rock/dance-punk)
Ethel Cain – Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You (Americana/slowcore/indie pop)
Anna Von Hausswolff – ICONOCLASTS (art pop/neo-classical darkwave/drone)
Annie & the Caldwells – Can’t Lose My (Soul) (gospel/soul)
Black Country, New Road – Forever Howlong (alternative rock/folk/baroque pop)
caroline – caroline 2 (post-rock/folk rock)
The Armed – THE FUTURE IS HERE AND EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE DESTROYED (metalcore/hardcore punk/experimental rock)
Agriculture – The Spiritual Sound (black metal/blackgaze)
Jason Isbell – Foxes in the Snow (Americana/folk/Southern rock)
Viagra Boys – viagr aboys (post-punk/art punk/cowpunk)
Deafheaven – Lonely People with Power (blackgaze/post-metal/screamo)
Hotline TNT – Raspberry Moon (shoegaze/alternative rock/noise pop)
Model/Actriz – Pirouette (post-punk/noise rock/dance-punk)
Lorde – Virgin (synth-pop/dance-pop)
Jeff Tweedy – Twilight Override (alternative country/alternative rock/indie rock)
Mark Pritchard & Thom Yorke – Tall Tales (electronic/experimental/ambient)
HAIM – I quit (soft rock/pop rock)
Tyler Childers – Snipe Hunter (neotraditional country/bluegrass/folk)
YHWH Nailgun – 45 Pounds (experimental rock/post-punk)
Rochelle Jordan – Through the Wall (alternative R&B/dance-pop)
Jade – That’s Showbiz Baby! (pop/R&B)
Playboi Carti – MUSIC (Southern hip-hop/trap/rage)
Brad Mehldau – Ride Into The Sun (jazz)
Classical
Johann Sebastian Bach – Mass in B minor (Pygmalion/Raphaël Pichon)
Johann Sebastian Bach – King of Kings: Orchestral Transcriptions by Andrew Davis (BBC Philharmonic Orchestra/Martyn Brabbins)
Johannes Brahms – Piano Quartets Nos. 2 & 3 (Zimerman, Nowak, Budnik & Okamoto)
Franz Liszt – Via Crucis & Solo Piano Works (Leif Ove Andsnes; Norwegian Soloists’ Choir/Grete Pedersen)
Richard Wagner – Der fliegende Holländer (Davidsen, Finley; Norwegian Opera Chorus & Orchestra/Edward Gardner)
Fatma Said – Lieder
Bohuslav Martinů – String Quartets Nos. 2, 3, 5 & 7 (Pavel Haas Quartet)
Michael Tippett – New Year (BBC Singers & BBC Scottish Symphony/Martyn Brabbins)
Anna Clyne – Abstractions (Baltimore Symphony Orchestra/Marin Alsop)