21 October 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 and first in over seven years from the R&B artist featuring guest appearances from 21 Savage, Burna Boy, H.E.R., Jung Kook of BTS, Latto, Pheelz, The-Dream and Summer Walker
6.1
Usher’s ninth album is another impressive display of his endless charm and vocal chops. Thirty years into his career, the R&B icon still knows how to keep it light and throw a great party Read Review
The album hits its stride with a sequence of slow jams demonstrating that Usher is at the top of his game as a singer, still much more than a mere entertainer Read Review
The star’s sprawling, twenty-song LP is nostalgic and familiar as Usher leans into the past without making it feel stale Read Review
Lyrical foreplay isn’t exactly the singer’s strong suit on this throwback album full of percussive panting Read Review
‘COMING HOME’ competently portrays love as part Afrodisiac, part pulse-racing chase, part languorous and lived-in sensation Read Review
The album feels less driven by creative ingenuity or an aesthetic vision than by sheer showmanship Read Review
Vintage effects in the singer’s first album in eight years underline the degree to which he has been left behind Read Review
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Soulwax All Systems Are Lying
The more you listen to Soulwax’s new album, the less reassuring and more frightening it becomes. It delivers its message in concentrated and relentless doses PopMatters
Bar Italia Some Like It Hot
Tired of their enigmatic rep, the London indie rockers embrace the spotlight on their most polished album yet. But the newfound pep in their step doesn’t always lead them to convincing songs Pitchfork
Militarie Gun God Save the Gun
Out of Ian’s time of crisis, Militarie Gun have made themselves a silver lining, a record that’s not just a tremendous step up but one that could be their defining moment Kerrang!
Tame Impala Deadbeat
Kevin Parker’s long-awaited fifth studio LP fulfills the promise of poppier, techno-focused sounds, but rarely fuses the two, leaving you wishing for fewer hooks and more trance Paste Magazine
Sudan Archives The BPM
The sensual, sonorous third record from Brittney Parks takes her already dexterous technical skills to the club, fusing her R&B pop background with Detroit and Chicago-influenced experimental beatwork and an earnestly optimistic take on technology Paste Magazine
'Deadbeat' comes off rather downbeat despite the undeniable groove The Arts Desk
The Last Dinner Party From The Pyre
A bold, spellbinding second album, one that actually eclipses Prelude to Ecstasy not by outshining it, but by adding more depth to their oeuvre Under The Radar
On Deadbeat, his first album in five years, Kevin Parker mixes frazzled moods and plush beats Rolling Stone
Kevin Parker's fifth album as Tame Impala has a few bangers, but the club-psych experiment yields mixed results Consequence Of Sound
Jay Som Belong
Jay Som’s guitar may have taken a more minor role, but the production and attention to the tiniest details throughout Belong show a new level of artistry. PopMatters
Kevin Parker’s latest offering is patchy and overly synthetic, failing to hit the heights of his generation defining previous albums musicOMH
Madi Diaz Fatal Optimist
A triumph of less being more and substance over instant gratification, it is intriguing to ponder how ‘Fatal Optimist’ will be viewed four decades hence Clash
Though he is still the mastermind behind Tame Impala, the Aussie composer is starting to sound more and more like one person in a studio — a fact that used to blow people’s minds Clash
Skullcrusher And Your Song is Like a Circle
A song like "Maelstrom" lets loose with a thundering bass drum and more-distant syncopated snare. For the most part, though, tracks levitate above ground along webs of acoustic guitar, piano, layered vocals, and atmospheric shimmer to the point where it's sometimes difficult to distinguish one song from another All Music
Helen Ballentine mixes ambient electronic harmonies with her signature spectral confessionals on her sophomore album Paste Magazine
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
Kendrick Lamar Damn.
D'Angelo And The Vanguard Black Messiah
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Ghosteen
Spiritbox Tsunami Sea
Self Esteem Prioritise Pleasure
Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Ways
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Skeleton Tree
Frank Ocean Channel Orange