1 September 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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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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Interpol This Mirror Weighs a Ton
Nearly a quarter-century after Turn on the Bright Lights, the lived experience Interpol brings to This Mirror Weighs a Ton lets them touch on heavy feelings lightly - and adds twists that keep their steady path from feeling too predictable All Music
Mike D 5D Thank You
There are a brace of dance bangers in ‘True Colours’ and ‘Crypto’, while the centrepiece of the album is the suite comprised of ‘Secrets Pt. 1’ and ‘Secrets Pt. 2’ Hot Press
Another strong entry into Interpol’s practically faultless line of records Far Out
Brandon Flowers Thrasher
His love of country-western is on display and there ain’t nobody who can get in his way of showing it Beats Per Minute
Dinosaur Jr There Near
It’s a scrappy, sincere entry in a victory lap that’s been going on for two decades now, and it’s the sound of a band that pioneered a formula and sees no reason to abandon it while it still works this well Northern Transmissions
Thank You may not always know when to stop, but it knows exactly what kind of record it wants to be and, more often than not, it gets there Northern Transmissions
The rap legend – with a little help from his kids – returns to the spotlight with the infectious energy of an upstart with nothing to lose NME
Alabama Shakes I Must Be Dreaming
With I Must Be Dreaming, Alabama Shakes have stepped into the pantheon of soul-rock greats, and they couldn’t be doing so at a more important time in history Sputnik Music (staff)
There Near is a very solid entry in Dinosaur Jr.’s discography and a stormier guitar record than most anything else released this year Spectrum Culture
An abundance of rich, cooling indie rock The Arts Desk
On This Mirror Weighs a Ton, New York outfit Interpol are sounding the most refreshed they have in over 15 years The Skinny
On the group's first album in more than a decade, the Shakes sound like old friends exploring new sounds Rolling Stone
The first music from a surviving Beastie Boy since the death of Adam Yauch, Thank You finds a legend restless to go somewhere new Rolling Stone
The album’s sonic milieu is a fitting callback to another period of social upheaval Slant Magazine
Mastodon Marrow Deep
The band delivers a metal masterpiece in the wake of unfathomable loss Consequence Of Sound
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