15 June 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.
Browse specific styles
Second posthumous album from the rapper following his death in February 2020 includes guest appearances from Kanye West, Pusha T, Rick Ross, 21 Savage, Future, Chris Brown, Dua Lipa and Pharrell
5.6
Faith is the ultimate affirmation of Pop Smoke’s musical transcendence Read Review
‘Faith’ succeeds by offering not ony an elegiac portrait of Pop Smoke, but also a vision of what he could have become Read Review
The rapper’s second posthumous album has some dazzling moments, but ultimately feels like business as usual for an audience whose attention may be elsewhere Read Review
Despite poor production choices and lazy song structures, Pop Smoke's energy and solo spurts of brilliance won't allow for this stale posthumous release to tarnish his legacy Read Review
The Canarsie don's raw talent is overshadowed by superfluous guest spots on the second album to be released since his tragic death in 2020 Read Review
Pop Smoke’s second posthumous album sounds like it’s solely designed to generate clicks as a new generation of rap fans continues to be exploited for their streams Read Review
Roll over video for more options
Lifeguard Ripped And Torn
The young Chicago band crams its debut album with streamlined hooks and a reverence for pop, punk, and post-punk history Pitchfork
Alan Sparhawk With Trampled by Turtles
The outcome of this pairing is an uneven affair, with deep troughs and high peaks The Quietus
Addison Rae Addison
Addison simultaneously feels like a coronation and a make or break moment, and Rae has brilliantly cemented herself among pop’s newest faces Paste Magazine
Haim I quit
The three LA sisters dwell on the bitter end of a relationship in tracks that range from replayable valley-girl rap to plodding country-pop The Guardian
caroline Caroline 2
With their second album, caroline has achieved an impressive new accessibility, and done so mostly on their terms Spectrum Culture
The sister trio’s fantastic new I Quit is a cathartic concept record about hard-won independence Rolling Stone
This sublime collection of breakup bangers could well be the soundtrack to your summer Rolling Stone UK
Hayden Pedigo I'll Be Waving As You Drive Away
Hayden Pedigo’s latest album illustrates the internal struggle involved when expressing your identity, especially with the increased pressures of social media Spectrum Culture
These compositions are crammed with imaginative flourishes. Print edition only Uncut
To top it all off, the record ends even more facetiously, with a reading of its players and a thank you from Pedigo. It’s the first time we’ve heard Pedigo’s voice throughout the Motor Trilogy – an unexpected treat from an unexpected goodby Beats Per Minute
A record to spend time with, you won’t want to bid adieu to Hayden Pedigo on its conclusion Clash
It's another quiet gem from an artist in the full bloom of his talents All Music
On his most majestic and sincere record yet, the Texas guitarist plays with grace and power, evoking the gentle emptiness of the American West Pitchfork
On the Texas-born, Oklahoma-based picker’s third album with Mexican Summer, his ramblings are great surveys of a songbook turned strange by geography and his portraits of loneliness and redemption covet a paintbrush hued with resolve Paste Magazine
If Rae wants to build real longevity in music, she’ll need to go deeper, push harder, and move past just looking the part Northern Transmissions
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