24 July 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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Fourth solo album from the Houston rapper featuring guest appearances from Bon Iver, Sampha, Drake, Playboi Carti, Beyoncé, 21 Savage, the Weeknd, Yung Lean, Young Thug, James Blake, Kid Cudi, Bad Bunny, Future and SZA
6.2
UTOPIA sees Scott stay true to his style, his preferences, and his principles, going against the grain of the tendencies in the viral-hungry world that is 2023 ra Read Review
Lead single ‘K-POP’ remains a titanic moment, but its immediacy is perhaps a misnomer on a record dominated by misdirection, about-turns, and sudden revelations Read Review
The album operates less as a cohesive body of work and more as a series of show-stopping set pieces Read Review
The Houston rapper's first album since 2018 teases a brave new sonic world, but has little to say about what might happen if we get there Read Review
In an attempt to give the world a true blockbuster rap album, the Houston rapper delivers a shiny, empty spectacle loaded with pop superstars who rarely make an impact Read Review
The reality is that while Scott is a masterful curator, he’s just an OK rapper. Those two realities are discordant for too many moments on Utopia Read Review
Returning with a long-awaited fourth album in the wake of the Astroworld disaster, Scott’s rhyming isn’t strong enough to distinguish him from his A-list guests Read Review
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Charli XCX Music, Fashion, Film
If anything, Charli should’ve probably taken more time to develop this release – especially considering she just released Wuthering Heights earlier in the year. With a bit more time and development, Music, Fashion, Film could’ve been Sputnik Music (staff)
The Strokes Reality Awaits
I’m a huge advocate for Auto-Tune when it's used with purpose, but here it feels like it's fighting against everything that made The Strokes great The Arts Desk
The veteran band’s latest album is an at times thrilling, often inscrutable, sometimes straight-up bizarre addition to their story Rolling Stone
It’s The New Abnormal with fewer guardrails, with a dash more Voidz, with whatever nutso energy comes from recording with Rick Rubin in Costa Rica Consequence Of Sound
Yard Act You're Gonna Need A Little Music
The UK band smooths out its characteristically jagged post-punk for a vaguely uplifting album that brings to mind lots of older British rock groups Pitchfork
Latest experimental offering from Charlotte Aitchison may sail close to self-indulgence but also cements her status as one of our most compelling pop stars musicOMH
As old songs become cultural artefacts and time folds in on itself, The Strokes rotate the lens outwards and inwards. What comes next? The future feels more ominous and isolating than hopeful, and that lack of resolve is the reality we have to prepare for Clash
If Brat was the nightclub, then this feels like three hours into the after party that you never wanted to be at, full of posers chatting shite about “real incestuous vibes” Far Out
The pop star’s seventh album plays around with a number of ideas about her three favourite artforms, along with questions of identity and self-worth. It’s strange to hear her sounding so unsure of herself after the neon-green boldness of ‘Brat’ The Independent
Her proper follow-up to Brat is a brilliant, catchy, often very funny look at the machinery of fame Rolling Stone
Brilliant writing that is subtle and clever, delivered with arrogance, irony and self deprecation Beats Per Minute
On the follow-up to BRAT, the pop auteur pivots to a referential, proudly tossed-off rock sound that offers mystifying glances behind the curtain of stardom Pitchfork
Her art dips into legacies without being beholden to them, rejecting references as soon as she invokes them, creating a playful contradiction that feels like her own post-postmodern language The Line Of Best Fit
How do you follow up the album that made you a star – and a caricature? In classic Charli style: with a pivot to guitar and a meta masterpiece about the instability of identity The Guardian
A candid, introspective triumph that leaves just enough of the dancefloor well and truly alive DIY
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