13 December 2025
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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Ninth studio album and first in over seven years from the R&B artist featuring guest appearances from 21 Savage, Burna Boy, H.E.R., Jung Kook of BTS, Latto, Pheelz, The-Dream and Summer Walker
6.1
Usher’s ninth album is another impressive display of his endless charm and vocal chops. Thirty years into his career, the R&B icon still knows how to keep it light and throw a great party Read Review
The album hits its stride with a sequence of slow jams demonstrating that Usher is at the top of his game as a singer, still much more than a mere entertainer Read Review
The star’s sprawling, twenty-song LP is nostalgic and familiar as Usher leans into the past without making it feel stale Read Review
Lyrical foreplay isn’t exactly the singer’s strong suit on this throwback album full of percussive panting Read Review
‘COMING HOME’ competently portrays love as part Afrodisiac, part pulse-racing chase, part languorous and lived-in sensation Read Review
The album feels less driven by creative ingenuity or an aesthetic vision than by sheer showmanship Read Review
Vintage effects in the singer’s first album in eight years underline the degree to which he has been left behind Read Review
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Dove Ellis Blizzard
A debut album full of beautifully crafted songs, delivered with the confidence and verve of a veteran musicOMH
Blood Orange Essex Honey
There’s a consistency in the inconsistent nature of this music, and beauty resonates throughout every unpredictable second Far Out
Lorde Virgin
A record that is searingly honest, thoughtful, erudite, and fertile. It’s an elixir of excitement, hedonism, and reflection – and the reason Lorde will only continue to grow as the most dynamic force in electro-pop Far Out
Blizzard establishes Dove Ellis as one of 2025's most compelling new artists. An artist with both generational voice and singular vision. Whether he becomes this year's breakthrough story or continues operating on his own enigmatic terms, this album stands as beautiful mystery worth unraveling Earmilk
Melody’s Echo Chamber Unclouded
A record that is just as impressively crafted as anything Prochet has done. That is high praise indeed, considering she's made some of the most inventive and pleasing neo-psychedelic-adjacent albums of the previous decade or so All Music
Hayley Williams Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party
For its candor, its daring scope, its lyrical depth and sonic invention, EDABP stands as Williams’ strongest solo work, a project that solidifies her place among the most vital songwriters of the past 15 years Northern Transmissions
The music is immaculate and interesting throughout Northern Transmissions
Dove Ellis crafted a stunning debut, exemplifying the promise of his rare vocal, lyrical, and musical talent Northern Transmissions
A further incantation of psych-pop goodness DIY
The drive is crystal clear, and the sound is entirely his DIY
The Irish singer makes his mark with a set of tender, intimate, abstract ballads NME
Fresh from touring with Geese and selling out headline shows, Dove Ellis’ debut translates his quietly magnetic presence into something much larger, one that barely scratches the surface of what he’s capable of. We’re just at the start Clash
De La Soul Cabin In The Sky
This rollercoaster of an album deliberates on self-worth, artistic integrity, relevance and legacy musicOMH
On her latest album of diaphanous psych rock, the French musician’s songwriting is as ethereal as ever, but the crisp production sharpens the focus Pitchfork
On the Daisy Age veterans’ 10th album, De La confront the loss of Trugoy the Dove, who died while making the record. But despite the sorrowful subtext, their rhymes and beats are as playful as ever Pitchfork
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
Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Ways
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Skeleton Tree