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18 December 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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New

Dove EllisBlizzard

"With shades of Jeff and Tim Buckley, the Galway-born artist writes tunes so strong they seem as familiar as old friends" (10/10 - The Guardian). "The sound is entirely his" (8/10 - DIY)

New

Melody’s Echo ChamberUnclouded

"The music is immaculate and interesting throughout" (8/10 - Northern Transmissions). "A record that is just as impressively crafted as anything she has done" (9/10 - All Music)

New

Oneohtrix Point NeverTranquilizer

"An impossibly dense and transportive electronic album that takes impermanence as its inspiration" (8.6/10 - Pitchfork). "A demonstration of Daniel Lopatin’s mastery of structural tension" (9/10 - Slant)

Highest Recent Ratings

Albums to watch

SnocapsSnocaps

"They are back playing pop that is pretty darn unmatched" (8.6/10 - Northern Transmissions). "A hailstorm of warm, exceptionally-written country-rock bangers backed by MJ Lenderman and Brad Cook" (8.5/10 - Paste)

Florence + The MachineEverybody Scream

"Florence Welch enlists horror and magic to harness hope" (10/10 - NME). "An urgent and vital testimony to survival and rebirth, Florence Welch’s sixth album is a defiant middle finger to doubters" (9/10 - musicOMH)

Lily AllenWest End Girl

"Her best album in 16 years, an incisive diary of a marriage in freefall" (10/10 - The Independent). "A hard-hitting pop exposition, while also providing an endless supply of hooks" (8/10 - Clash)

The Last Dinner PartyFrom The Pyre

"Insanely rich with ideas, hooks, smart artifice and real emotion, From The Pyre is a feast of giddy raptures" (10/10 - Record Collector). "Both thematically and sonically richer" (10/10 - DIY)

BrògealTuesday Paper Club

"2026 is there for Brogeal’s taking, they’re gonna be a lot of people’s new favourite band" (8/10 - God Is In The TV). "This is what it sounds like when a band get it right the first time" (10/10 - Dork)

Jay SomBelong

"With ‘Belong’ serving notice of Jay Som’s continued abilities" (8/10 - Clash). "Will undoubtedly solidify her reputation as your favourite pop singer's favourite pop singer" (8/10 - Exclaim"

IdlewildIdlewild

"The fact they are producing some of their best work seems almost absurd, and yet here we are" (9/10 - The Line Of Best Fit). "Idlewild is no nostalgic LP—it’s the sound of a band rejuvenated" (10/10 - XS Noize)

Dark Mean

Dark Mean

Dark Mean

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Dark Mean: Dark Mean

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All-time top 10

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.