16 March 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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Twelfth album and first on seven years from Columbian-born pop star featuring collaborations with Cardi B, Bizarrap, Rauw Alejandro, Grupo Frontera, Ozuna, Karol G, Fuerza Regida and Tiësto
6.6
A great two-for-one set that is essentially a short new album and a de facto "Greatest Hits 2022-2024" Read Review
The She Wolf is back and she is howling louder and prouder than ever Read Review
The long-awaited return from the Latin trailblazer sees her unpick her recent emotional devastation with wit and real self-awareness Read Review
Lawsuits and lost love couldn’t stop the Colombian powerhouse from taking her rightful place atop Spanish pop’s streaming-fuelled resurgence Read Review
Las Mujeres is a grab-bag of pop genre fusions, yet Shakira manages to hold court in every song with her incisive and enduring songcraft Read Review
The Colombian superstar’s first Spanish-only album in 19 years is a brutally honest look at her breakup that overflows with vengeance and still-got-it sex appeal Read Review
Her first record since 2017’s El Dorado melds pulsating dance anthems with reggaeton, pop… and even a splash of grunge Read Review
Despite a hit diss track so withering it affected the stock market and enlivening turns from Cardi B and leading regional Mexican musicians, the Colombian’s wan 12th album washes out her adventurous spirit Read Review
Break-ups reoccur throughout the songs, but they lack the vim of the record’s hit single Read Review
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Kim Gordon Play Me
If The Collective was punishing in its density, Play Me is its equal and opposite: leaner and more melodic without sacrificing invention. It's an album that reaffirms Gordon still knows how, and why, to push forward All Music
In a time when chaos and unpredictability are the experience de jour, one can push reality away or embrace it. Gordon does the latter. With unflagging allure Beats Per Minute
James Blake Trying Times
Over the course of a thirteen-track run, it becomes abundantly clear that James Blake truly, madly, deeply, believes in love Northern Transmissions
Consider, then, Kim Gordon’s PLAY ME as a window to that harrowing world of nausea, bad lyrics, gnarly dance beats, and for-profit mentality Northern Transmissions
Mandy, Indiana URGH
URGH is creative, scary and club-worthy all at the same time. If you're a fan of industrial music, techno, hip-hop and/or post-punk, there will be something for you to enjoy about this album Sputnik Music (staff)
While PLAY ME is an indulgence that can be allowed, it feels like a lesser work given her accomplishments and clear artistic ambitions Spectrum Culture
Ora Cogan Hard Hearted Woman
Even at its bleakest, the record resists easy cynicism. Instead, Cogan does the more difficult thing holding open a dark space long enough for light and curiosity to flicker inside it. Resilience lies not in becoming impenetrable, but in finding ways to feel more alive without breaking altogether God Is In The TV
The Canadian songwriter draws from gothic Americana, psychedelic folk, and ghostly bluegrass on an album of hypnotic ballads that land like incantations Pitchfork
She alternates between fighting the current and giving in. That approach, coupled with vocals balancing despair and determination, lends "The Smoke", with its cathedral synths, and especially "Division", with its narcotised krautrock drumbeat, an unsettling energy that's both treacherous and cathartic. Print edition only Uncut
With Hard Hearted Woman, Ora Cogan showcases that, in a patriarchal world, you have to be literally and figuratively ready to fight, body and soul PopMatters
Her haziest and trippiest yet, involving well over a dozen guests, including on synthesizer, organs, and electric guitar All Music
A beguiling and consistently original album from the indie-folk maverick The Skinny
Brigitte Calls Me Baby Irreversible
The production is lush, but not overpowering, and the lyrics remain as pin-sharp and emotionally connecting as ever Spill Magazine
Further evidence that their upwards climb remains a steady one DIY
Leavins’ voice is an instantly identifiable instrument that could present avenues to get really weird in the future. Or else it could just end up being used in tribute Beats Per Minute
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