3 July 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 from the pop giant, and his first solo effort since reuniting with Take That in 2010
5.8
It's not going to win over anyone who doesn't already own at least a couple of Robbie Williams albums, but that isn't what it sets out to do Read Review
Producer Jacknife Lee and primary writers Tim Metcalfe and Flynn Francis have concentrated on pure pop. Print edition only
The most wildly entertaining album Robbie Williams has released in years Read Review
Features Robbie doing what Robbie does best -- writing and performing effortless pop music -- but not at his best Read Review
If you loved Williams the way he was, rejoice. If you didn't, it may be time to switch off the radio and television for a few months, and bury your head in a bucket of calamine lotion Read Review
He has showbiz genes tempered with unpredictability and a fascinating, unlikely openness Read Review
Imperial return from deposed pop emperor and new dad. Print edition only
Not the triumphant comeback he'd planned, but still, here's to the next one. Print edition only
Flawed, funny and full of hits, this is something of a return to form Read Review
More epic rock than playground pop, with echoing guitar lines and “oh-way-oh” backing vocals directly lifted from Coldplay Read Review
A well-crafted ode in honour of self-obsession Read Review
It’s safe, something of a retreat from past endeavours to a sound more suited to commercial returns in the present Read Review
A largely by-the-numbers exercise and seems almost certain to quickly fall off the public consciousness Read Review
Williams has a long way to go if he is to surpass the mature pop peak of Feel Read Review
As is his custom, many songs here are littered with contrite musings – not least Hunting for You, a song that tries epic U2 stadium balladry on for size. But even revelations like "I am the wreckage of my past" are trumped by Take the Crown's riveting closer, Losers Read Review
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Robbie Williams: Take the Crown
Lorde Virgin
Because for all the grand ideas here, it feels like Lorde has more to say about them, and as the aesthetic and songcraft of Virgin illustrates — almost despite all of this — she is more than skilled enough to do so Beats Per Minute
Frankie Cosmos Different Talking
Different Talking feels like Frankie Cosmos finally coming into its own. By self-producing, the band articulates a broader sound palette than on 2022’s Inner World Peace Northern Transmissions
A thrilling comeback that puts Lorde’s trajectory to the stars back on track DIY
Haim I quit
It’s easy to wonder if the soft-rock trio’s fourth record would be better if it were just a few songs — or, ideally, about 10-15 minutes — shorter Spectrum Culture
Hotline TNT Raspberry Moon
By opening up the recording process to accommodate more people and more ideas, Hotline TNT embrace a different side of themselves on Raspberry Moon, one that feels warmer and more open-hearted while still retaining the fuzz and noise that made their early albums so bracing Spectrum Culture
U.S. Girls Scratch It
While Scratch It lives up to its aged influences, Remy gives these nine tracks an undeniable immediacy, both with her singing and lyricism — which are eerily left of field — along with her spot-on taste in backing musicians and homage-motif Under The Radar
Loyle Carner hopefully!
The sounds are slightly different here than on previous albums and his tentative sojourn into singing is a success because his voice connects as easily as his rapping does Albumism
Lorde trades in her secrecy and mystique for a tremendously healing, desperately relatable record that cements her mark as her generation’s defining artist Northern Transmissions
On the uncomfortable paths of the 28-year-old’s fourth album, slam-dunk bangers are substituted with reinvention and restraint surrendered through hushed, reflective, and carnal synth-pop vestiges Paste Magazine
The New Zealand pop star chips away to reveal her purest self on her fourth album NME
For Lorde, it's an opportunity to reclaim something she thought she had lost long ago, but has always been within her: her true self Exclaim
Different Talking introduces some novel elements to the Frankie Cosmos sound, but despite that, their core identity remains intact Spectrum Culture
Musically Scratch It will probably be the least memorable in U.S Girls’ discography and aside from ‘Like James Said’ and ‘Bookends‘, the relatively thrill-less album does sort of fly by unnoticeably, made worse by the weak closing track No Fruit God Is In The TV
Lorde may not break entirely new ground on fourth album Virgin, but its warmth and texture make it consistently compelling and quietly brilliant The Skinny
yeule Evangelic Girl Is A Gun
A sun-drenched pop album — perhaps the pop record of the summer Under The Radar
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
Spiritbox Tsunami Sea
Kendrick Lamar Damn.
D'Angelo And The Vanguard Black Messiah
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Ghosteen
Self Esteem Prioritise Pleasure
Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Ways
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Skeleton Tree
Frank Ocean Channel Orange