27 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.
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Fourth album of electronic pop from New Zealand-born Ella Yelich-O'Connor co-produced with Jim-E Stack
7.1
NEW The pop star turns inward and redefines who she wants to be on her most introspective record yet Read Review
NEW Between it’s successful sonic reinvention, which sees Lorde return to her signature synth-pop sound with songwriting untangling a multiplicity of traumas, ‘Virgin‘ cements itself as existing beyond being the ultimate reclamation record, but the soundtrack of Lorde’s rebirth Read Review
NEW After her last album embraced switching off, the musician returns to pop’s fray to revel in the mess of late-20s angst with a strikingly unsettled sound Read Review
NEW It’s a treat to hear Lorde attack some of these ideas with maturity and nuance, and many of the songs bring restrained-but-engaging sonics to match. But the final product, unfortunately, leaves the listener a bit wanting Read Review
NEW New Zealand artist channels her signature bluntness into songs about rebirth and reconnection Read Review
NEW There’s an odd lack of ambition that has brought the mood of Virgin down Read Review
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Frankie Cosmos Different Talking
A warm blanket of bedroom pop vignettes, Frankie Cosmos's sixth album is a comforting listening, but hesitant to experiment The Skinny
Thoughtful sixth album, which sees the songwriter wrestle with the growing challenges of life as she enters her early thirties. Print edition only Uncut
Singing with a sweet weariness, Kline can seem bemused by her melancholia, her resigned acceptance given an appealing warmth by a band whose gentle sway lends her pop miniatures depth. Print edition only Mojo
Lorde Virgin
New Zealand artist channels her signature bluntness into songs about rebirth and reconnection The Independent
It’s a treat to hear Lorde attack some of these ideas with maturity and nuance, and many of the songs bring restrained-but-engaging sonics to match. But the final product, unfortunately, leaves the listener a bit wanting Consequence Of Sound
Between it’s successful sonic reinvention, which sees Lorde return to her signature synth-pop sound with songwriting untangling a multiplicity of traumas, ‘Virgin‘ cements itself as existing beyond being the ultimate reclamation record, but the soundtrack of Lorde’s rebirth Clash
The pop star turns inward and redefines who she wants to be on her most introspective record yet Rolling Stone
There’s an odd lack of ambition that has brought the mood of Virgin down The Arts Desk
U.S. Girls Scratch It
girlsOn her ninth album as U.S. Girls, Meghan Remy grapples with and ultimately endorses a philosophy of self-preservation and space as power against the battles she’s been waging for over a decade Spectrum Culture
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Phantom Island
Phantom Island is King Gizz at their best producing yet another album that can not only be heralded for its precision and progression, but for once again showing how to take a bundle of diverse ingredients and transform them into a cohesive, intriguing, and overall fun experience, while remaining introspective and exploratory Sputnik Music (staff)
Greta Kline’s sixth record as Frankie Cosmos is another solid if slightly monotonous showcase of her brisk, pleasant brand of indie-pop, only occasionally doling out flashes of wit and unexpected stylistic flourishes Paste Magazine
A tight 17-track, 38-minute album that should be welcomed by all fans but especially by millennials (and elder zoomers) aging alongside the beloved songwriter All Music
After her last album embraced switching off, the musician returns to pop’s fray to revel in the mess of late-20s angst with a strikingly unsettled sound The Guardian
Haim I quit
The three sisters from the Valley reclaim quitting as an empowered act – and that includes shedding past sounds, not just exes The Independent
Danielle Haim’s had her heart broken, and you’re going to hear all about in the sisters’ wonderfully vituperative songs The Irish Times
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