50. Comet Gain - Letters to Ordinary Outsiders (Tapete Records)
Here is a list of my favorite albums of 2025 presented in order but lacking any supporting evidence. Check the bottom if you're curious how this list was compiled.
49. Ryan Allen - One Week Off (self-released)
48. Tullycraft - Shoot The Point (HHBTM Records)
47. Teenage Bottlerocket - Ready To Roll (Pirate Press Records)
46. Trust Fund - Has It Been a While? (Tapete Records)
45. The Jellybricks - Dreaming in Stereo (Wicked Cool)
44. Autocamper - Autocamper (Slumberland/Safe Suburban Home)
43. Killer Hearts - Unchained & Bloodstained (Screaming Crow Records)
42. Bob Mould - Here We Go Crazy (BMG)
41. Guided by Voices - Thick Rich and Delicious (Guided By Voices Inc.)
40. Jonathan Richman - Only Frozen Sky Anyway (Blue Arrow Records)
39. Lion's Law - Evermore (Pirates Press)
38. The Limiñanas - Faded (Because Music)
37. The Tubs - Cotton Crown (Trouble In Mind)
36. Loose Lips - Last Laugh (Dig! Records)
35. Horace Pinker - Now and the Future (People of the Punk Records)
34. Drifter - Grigori (Thoughtcrime/Subterria/Skunt)
33. AFI - Silver Bleeds the Black Sun... (Run for Cover)
32. Motorbike - Kick It Over (Feel It Records)
31. Private Lives - Salt of the Earth (Feel It Records)
30. Slow Crush - Thirst (Pure Noise Records)
29. The Oxys - Casting Pearls Before Swine (Cleopatra)
28. Wyldlife - Sorted. (Wicked Cool Records)
27. The Vapors - Wasp In A Jar (self-released)
26. Booze & Glory - Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (Concrete Jungle Records)
25. Suzie True - How I Learned To Love What's Gone (Get Better Records)
24. Lambrini Girls - Who Let the Dogs Out (City Slang)
23. Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band - New Threats from the Soul (Sophomore Lounge)
22. Fullbloods - Playing It Safe (High Dive Records)
21. Jason Isbell - Foxes in the Snow (self-released/Southeastern)
20. Sea Lemon - Diving For A Prize (Luminelle Recordings)
19. Los Pepes - Out Of The Void (Wanda Records/Spaghetty Town/Beluga/Ghost Highway)
18. The Casket Lottery - Feel The Teeth (Iodine)
17. Allo Darlin' - Bright Nights (Slumberland/Fika)
16. Death By Unga Bunga - Raw Muscular Power (Jansen Records)
15. Ravagers - On the Loose (Spaghetty Town)
14. Visual Learner - Greg (Salinas Records/Bloated Kat)
13. Bonnie "Prince" Billy - The Purple Bird (No Quarter)
12. Jetstream Pony - Bowerbirds And Blue Things (Shelflife/Spinout Nuggets)
11. Seashine - Seashine (self-released)
10. Jeffrey Lewis - The EVEN MORE Freewheelin' Jeffrey Lewis (Blang)
09. Pigeon Pit - Leash Aggression (Ernest Jenning)
08. Ryan Allen - Livin' On A Prayer On The Edge (Setterwind Records)
07. Alan Sparhawk - With Trampled by Turtles (Sub Pop)
06. Foxy - Tonight Tonight (Rum Bar Records)
05. Panic Shack - Panic Shack (Brace Yourself Records)
04. The Prize - In The Red (Goner Records)
03. Craig Finn - Always Been (Tamarac Recordings/Thirty Tigers)
02. Daniel Gum - The Great Conjunction (self-released)
01. Advance Base - Horrible Occurrences (Run for Cover)
BONUS: FAVORITE EP
The Buzzers - Bloody Minded EP (Longshot/TASM)
BONUS: FAVORITE DIGITAL-ONLY ALBUM
Friends of Cesar Romero - Spider Dreamer Sweet Tooth (self-released)
Like last year, I streamlined my process for choosing my top 50 albums by writing a program to sift through the 375 releases I added to my library this year (including physical releases and digital downloads purchased from Bandcamp or other sources, but nothing that was just streamed). It removed anything without a physical release (vinyl, CD, or tape), anything not released this year, plus all the Christmas albums, compilations, reissues, best-ofs, and tribute albums. That left me with 146 candidates for my Top Albums of 2025.
From there, it ranked the albums based on how much I liked each song when I first listened to the album for the podcast. I then monkeyed around with it a bit: added in albums released in December 2024, pulled up a couple that were solid front-to-back even without standout tracks, dropped a few that just haven’t held my interest, and started sorting again. This is that list. Is it useful? Well, it is to me. YMMV.
For a run down of my favorite songs of 2025 visit Top Songs of 2025 or my Favorite Local Releases of 2025.
