Rosalía’s Lux leads BBC News’ 2025 best albums and songs in a close poll

Rosalía’s Lux has been named the best album of 2025 in a year-end poll of polls conducted by BBC News, a result that underlines critics’ fondness for genre-blurring experimentation over blockbuster releases this year. The ranking blends more than 30 year-end lists from major music publications and critics around the world into a single super-ranking of the year’s notable records.

Geese’s Getting Killed finished second, 52 points behind Lux, in a tally that highlighted how crowded the field was this year. The BBC drew from outlets including NME, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, The Guardian and many others, then assigned points to each entry: first place 20 points, second 19 points, and so on. The exercise produced what BBC described as the closest race in its method, with the top two albums separated by a narrow margin and the rest of the field bunched together.

The 10 best albums of 2025, in descending order, are: 10) Addison Rae – Addison; 9) Lily Allen – West End Girl; 8) Pulp – More; 7) Dijon – Baby; 6) FKA Twigs – Eusexua; 5) CMAT - Euro-Country; 4) Oklou – Choke; 3) Bad Bunny - Debí Tirar Más Fotos; 2) Geese – Getting Killed; 1) Rosalía - Lux. Addison Rae’s Addison is described as shimmering, trance-like pop produced by a small team, with singles such as Diet Pepsi and Headphones On marking the album as both classic and forward-looking. Lily Allen’s West End Girl is portrayed as a sharp, intimate portrait of a marriage under pressure. Pulp’s More returns the band to a mid-1990s swagger, with Jarvis Cocker navigating themes of stagnation, divorce and aging. Dijon’s Baby is a harmony-rich R&B record that sweeps through love and fatherhood. FKA Twigs’ Eusexua creates abstract, futuristic soundscapes with punchy melodic hooks. CMAT’s Euro-Country turns social anxiety and late-stage capitalism into a riotous, self-aware road trip. Oklou’s Choke is a sparse, intimate collection built on hypnotic loops. Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos fuses plena, salsa and reggaeton in a jubilant celebration that also laments loss. Geese’s Getting Killed fuses influences from Radiohead to the Velvet Underground into a transgressive patchwork. Rosalía’s Lux stands out as a monumental multilingual work that blends classical intuition with flamenco and avant-pop bravura.

The results emphasize a year when critics gravitated toward bold, cross-genre statements rather than crowd-pleasing pop anthems. The gap between Lux and Getting Killed illustrates the strength of the top tier, while the rest of the top 10 showcases a wide range of styles and voices that defined 2025 for many publications.

The BBC’s methodology involved aggregating lists from more than 30 year-end roundups published by outlets around the world, including Albumism, Billboard, BuzzFeed, Clash, Complex, The Fader, Flood, The Guardian, NME, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Stereogum, Time and Vulture, among others. Each publication assigned points to its top albums, with the number one entry earning 20 points, the second 19 points, and so forth. The top two entries—Lux and Getting Killed—finished with a narrow margin that BBC described as the closest in its coverage to date.

The 10 best singles of 2025, in descending order, are: 10) Wednesday - Elderberry Wine; 9) Kehlani - Folded; 8) Addison Rae - Headphones On; 7) Amaarae - SMO; 6) Bad Bunny - Baile Inolvidable; 5) Huntr/x – Golden; 4) Chappell Roan - The Subway; 3) Lady Gaga - Abracadabra; 2) Olivia Dean - Man I Need; 1) PinkPantheress - Illegal. PinkPantheress’s track tops the list with a blatant sense of dance-pop immediacy that critics described as fresh and urgent, while the rest of the field remains tightly contested, illustrating a year without a single runaway hit.

Geographically diverse and stylistically varied, the singles countdown reflects a year in which constancy gave way to experimentation and a proliferation of intimate, personal songs that resonated within online and club cultures alike. The top entries—including PinkPantheress’s Illegal and Lady Gaga’s Abracadabra—demonstrate how artists drawn from pop, electronic, R&B and indie traditions shared the stage in 2025, even as the music industry reeled from shifting streaming dynamics and touring patterns.

Overall, BBC News notes that the year’s results point to a broader cultural moment: listeners rewarded records that felt personal, adventurous and texturally rich, even as major commercial successes remained less influential in shaping critical consensus. The list of contributing outlets underscores how cross-border commentary helped shape what many critics considered the year’s most significant songs and albums.

The exercise also highlighted how critics weigh music that extends beyond conventional pop forms. Rosalía’s Lux, for example, is noted for its linguistic breadth, formal ambition and emotional range, while Geese’s Getting Killed is praised for its audacious synthesis of rock, art-pop and punk energy. The year’s top singles similarly emphasize immediacy, mood and flexibility, bridging dance-floor energy with of-the-moment lyricism.

The list did not hinge on sales or streaming dominance; instead, critics across outlets emphasized impact, invention and the ability to shift perceptions of pop and popular music. The BBC’s aggregation approach—collating dozens of lists and assigning points—produced a composite view that many readers could consider a more representative snapshot of what mattered in 2025’s music scene. The final rankings also reflect an era in which established artists continued to explore new ground while rising names, such as Addison Rae and Geese, captured attention for their distinctive voices.