4 July 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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Debut album from London-born singer-songwriter and former child actress
6.4
This album is pretty special. Listen to it and let it help make your summer better Read Review
Immensely likeable debut album, which suggests Lily Allen with a more earthy, unadorned twist Read Review
It's refreshing to have something that has that timelessly enjoyable bounce without the feeling of rage that is so obviously bubbling under the surface Read Review
The songs are of a consistently high quality. Print edition only
A coherent and effortless-sounding debut album Read Review
If this album was any happier, cutesy or full of smiles, I could have swore that I was about to have overdose on rainbows, bubblegum and unicorns Read Review
There are many charms to be found within Read Review
It’s all very throwaway, especially in the lyric department, but we shouldn’t forget that this is the debut album from a 22 year old Read Review
A nice, pleasant debut album which will make the perfect accompaniment to a fair few summer barbecues this year Read Review
If you can handle a lot of wacky in your pop music, there’s a lovely album here waiting for you. If not, Corinne Bailey Rae is over there Read Review
Little more than a soundtrack to bright summer days that is as likely to disappear from the nations playlist as picnic-ers are from the parks when the sun disappears behind the autumn clouds Read Review
If jaunty summer pop is your game – and you’re not too fussy how about how “original” it is – Doolittle’s your dame Read Review
Swathed in the everything-is-sunny tweeness of the terminally entitled. Print edition only
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Eliza Doolittle: Eliza Doolittle
Kae Tempest Self Titled
Some tracks tend to border on prosaic, but others sparkle with Tempest’s cheeky wit The Independent
Despair runs through the Londoner’s fifth album but, in what is essentially a love letter to the trans community, his home town and partner, a hard-won beauty breaks through The Guardian
Five albums into an already sterling career, Tempest has made no real missteps, keeping his catalog consistently interesting, emotionally engaging, and, above all, incisive All Music
It's often raw, venerable, painful stuff, as on the impassioned charge of "Breathe", but it's also peppered with moments of joy. Print edition only Uncut
‘Self-Titled’ makes up for its musical instability with Tempest’s sharp penmanship, and it is difficult not to be raptured on their next word Clash
The award-winning poet and rapper's fifth studio album is a beefy, self-assured celebration of newfound identity NME
Instinctive and raw, yet tender to the touch, his most powerful statement yet demands to be heard musicOMH
Kesha . [Period]
Achieves a post-Brat sound that’s lathered in quirky personality The Arts Desk
Spectacular serves sit alongside catharsis and contemplation on the pop star’s first release on her own label, Kesha Records NME
Loyle Carner hopefully!
Though vastly different from its predecessors, in a way, ‘hopefully !’ feels like a celebration of an intrinsically Loyle Carner quality Dork
Pulp More
It’s classic Pulp: gloriously awkward, sharply observed, and still dancing proudly to its own weird rhythm. We’ve missed them. They’re back. More, please Dork
Addison Rae Addison
She’s not here to reinvent the wheel, just to spin it in diamanté heels while lip-syncing into a Hello Kitty mirror Dork
Haim I quit
‘I quit’ is a record that’s fallen straight out of 1977, bringing in whispers of Fleetwood Mac, Neil Young and Gloria Gaynor: one or two more daring decisions and it would be truly great Dork
. isn't just a good album, it's a decisively great one, full stop All Music
Following an experimental phase and a long-gestating split from RCA and Kemosabe Records, Kesha resumes her interest in party pop with a spirited sixth album that’s unfortunately littered with lazy, obnoxious, and dated songs 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
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