3 July 2026
Here's how it works: The Recent Releases chart brings together critical reaction to new albums from more than 50 sources worldwide. It's updated daily. Albums qualify with 5 reviews, and drop out after 6 weeks into the longer timespan charts.
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Third album from the London rapper featuring guest appearances from Drake, Naira Marley, Jorja Smith, Burna Boy, Popcaan, CB, Villz and Boss Belly
7.3
The London rapper’s third album extends his carnal and philosophical investigation of masculinity against lush, robust beats that evoke a distinctly Black British take on G-funk Read Review
Back after three years away, the east Londoner is polarised between feelgood summer tracks and bleak reportage – but he makes it all cohere, despite some terrible sex puns Read Review
Beautiful and Brutal Yard displays both the beauty and brutality of the world, from a man at the top but also aware of where he came from. It is an album that connotes the essence of home, and his home is his music Read Review
On his third album – and first since 2020 – the British star taps Drake, Burna Boy and more for a scattershot burst of brilliance Read Review
No other artist commands rhythm and rhyme like Hus, and it’s patently clear that the Stratford rapper is enjoying making music again, which is a blessing for the rest of us Read Review
The Stratford rapper is back with both fiery drill cuts and forays into a smoother sound Read Review
The London rapper inhabits various roles on his third album, from badman to Casanova Read Review
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Madonna Confessions II
On her most vital album in over two decades, pop music’s grande dame proves she still knows how to make us move NME
After years spent chasing trends like trap and Latin pop, Madonna settles back? nicely into? old-school dance music to tell vivid vignettes of life in 80s New York The Guardian
A celebration of the dance floor that incorporates tributes to her earliest days on New York’s club scene, the queen of pop’s new music is engineered to make you move, or indeed, sweat The Independent
Beth Orton The Ground Above
As fatigued as the space created by The Ground Above may be, it never gives into despair. To the contrary, it finds comfort in both motion and solitude Beats Per Minute
Chanel Beads Your Day Will Come
This is a record that asks for a slower kind of attention, one that finds difference inside repetition instead of beyond it. In a moment when listening is increasingly shaped by acceleration and novelty, Chanel Beads makes a persuasive case for lingering a little longer Northern Transmissions
Lizzo Bitch
The singer’s return to the limelight arrives mean-spirited, out of touch, and woefully inconsistent Paste Magazine
Another immersive, collaborative collection that grounds itself in her efforts to connect with others, embrace the present, and insist on survival Paste Magazine
Muse The Wow! Signal
After a deep discography of sci-fi epics, dystopias and spiritual yearning, Muse varies the formula a little — but fails to wow Spectrum Culture
The Rolling Stones Foreign Tongues
It leaps out of the speakers from the off, sticking out its Kali tongue and raging against any dying of the light The Arts Desk
Vince Staples Cry Baby
Cry Baby is comforting, filling, and just a bit weird—exactly the kind of meat and potatoes we’ve come to expect from Vince Staples God Is In The TV
We’re a long way from Showbiz, but Muse deserve credit for not caring about relevance and doing things as they want to, as they always seem to have done. The Wow! Signal is a strong collection of real quality and, more than that, is a thoroughly enjoyable listen Under The Radar
The U.K. neo-prog band’s latest, is a predictably heavy lift Rolling Stone
On her snowy, self-produced ninth album, the UK songwriter howls from inside the squall Pitchfork
The band’s 10th album makes a return to gargantuan, ambivalent, overleveraged Muse form Pitchfork
Swim Deep Hum
A finely balanced record, ‘Hum’ seems to find Swim Deep fully comfortable in their own skins – mature but also refreshing, it stands as their finest project to date Clash
Since we've been around, that is. So, the highest-rated albums from the past twelve years or so. Rankings are calculated to two decimal places.
Kendrick Lamar To Pimp A Butterfly
Fiona Apple Fetch The Bolt Cutters
Rosalía Lux
Kendrick Lamar Damn.
D'Angelo And The Vanguard Black Messiah
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Ghosteen
Spiritbox Tsunami Sea
Self Esteem Prioritise Pleasure
Hayley Williams Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party
Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Ways