The ten best albums of 2025 – according to music experts

By Hussein Boon, Principal Lecturer, Music, University of Westminster
Andrew J. Green, Lecturer in the Anthropology of Music, King's College London
Chris Waugh, Lecturer in Sociology and Criminology, Manchester Metropolitan University
Douglas Schulz, Lecturer in Sociology and Criminology, University of Bradford
Ellis Jones, Lecturer in Music and Management, University of Leeds
Eva Dieteren, PhD researcher in Gender and Popular Music, Kingston University
Glenn Fosbraey, Associate Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Winchester
Julia Toppin, Senior Lecturer, Music Enterprise and Entrepreneurship, University of Westminster
Samuel Murray, Lecturer in Music Management, University of Leeds
Stephen Ryan, Course Director, MA in Songwriting, University of Limerick

With Something Good, the arts and culture newsletter from The Conversation, we aim to cut through the noise and recommend the very best in new releases every fortnight. And what a soundtrack this year’s newsletters have had. From Lily Allen’s devastating breakup album West End Girl to Rosalía’s genre-defying LUX,…

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~	The five best films of 2025 – according to experts

~	The ‘pawprint economy’ is booming – and it offers huge opportunities for tourism

~	Six of the best novels of 2025 – chosen by our literary experts

~	AI translation is replacing interpreters in GP care – here’s why that’s troubling

~	Great apes are humans’ closest relatives, but many are endangered by illegal trading. Here’s what needs to be done

~	Over 16,000 dinosaur tracks discovered at a site in Bolivia

~	The celibate, dancing Shakers were once seen as a threat to society – 250 years later, they’re part of the sound of America

~	How the ‘slayer rule’ might play a role in determining who will inherit wealth from Rob Reiner and his wife

~	Myanmar: Repressive tactics intensify before junta-imposed elections

~	Wheelchair user completes historic bungee jump in Nepal