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10 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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New

The Rolling StonesForeign Tongues

The new Rolling Stones album is freewheeling, frisky and fabulous. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood make growing old sound like the best fun ever" (8/10 - The Irish Times)

New

MadonnaConfessions II

"After years spent chasing trends like trap and Latin pop, Madonna settles back? nicely into? old-school dance music to tell vivid vignettes of life in 80s New York" (8/10 - The Guardian)

New

mary in the junkyardRole Model Hermit

"A magnificent feat in angry, sad and fantastical folk-rock" (10/10 - The Skinny). The complex instrumental layerings and weaving storylines will entrance you (8/10 - Clash)

Highest Recent Ratings

Albums to watch

Vince StaplesCry Baby

"An urgent manifesto against American injustice and complacency" (9.1/10 - Consequence of Sound). "The Long Beach lyricist delivers his most passionately political release to date" (8/20 - NME)

Boards of CanadaInferno

"The elusive Scottish electronic duo return after over a decade away with an immersive, multi-dimensional album that is both evocative and ambitious" (10/10 - musicOMH)

Ed O’BrienBlue Morpho

"The guitarist’s album might be the most Radiohead side project yet to emerge from the mother ship" (8/10 - The Irish Times). "Works that move and grow like the building blocks of life itself" (8/10 - Clash)

Kevin MorbyLittle Wide Open

"A masterpiece of simple and, at times, epic proportions that will linger deep within one’s soul" (9/10 - PopMatters). "The eight-minute-long title track is arguably Morby’s greatest song to date" (8/10 - Mojo)

Aldous HardingTrain On The Island

"A spellbinding listen, the high water mark of Harding's singular career" (9/10 - Exclaim. "It’s an oblique character study of herself, and the best album of her career so far" (9/10 - Pitchfork)

The Independent : recent releases

The ADM rating is a weighted average from our survey of more than 50 sources , taking into account the number of reviews

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10
ADM Rating

Olivia Rodrigo

You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love

Third album from the American singer and actress produced by Dan Nigro (Carly Rae Jepsen, Sky Ferreira, Empress Of) and featuring a guest appearance from The Cure’s Robert Smith

Added: 12/06/2026
8.0

Madonna

Confessions II

Fifteenth studio album and first in seven years from the singer is a sequel to Confessions on a Dance Floor (2005)

Added: 02/07/2026
4.0

Lizzo

Bitch

Fifth album from the Minneapolis alternative hip-hop artist Melissa Jefferson

Added: 05/06/2026

Latest Reviews

mary in the junkyard Role Model Hermit

The London trio rummage through musical daydreams and trust their chemistry as friends and bandmates while piecing together a full-length as imaginative as it is eclectic Paste Magazine

Madonna Confessions II

After a string of creative misfires, the pop iconoclast crafts a spry, muscular sequel to her 2005 disco-pop record. Not only does it mark a return to form for her, but it’s also the most alive and present she’s sounded in ages Paste Magazine

Madonna Confessions II

It's yet another unprecedented return to form from an artist who is forced to keep reminding us why she deserves to be taken seriously, time and time again Exclaim

More reviews

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Fresh stuff

Cry Baby by Vince Staples

"Intimate, thoughtful and gorgeously-rendered" (9/10 - Clash). "Most of the album proceeds unhurriedly, both immersive and atmospheric" (8/10 - Slant). "Candid album finds hard-won clarity" (8/10 - Uncut)

MuseThe Wow! Signal
"Sometimes preposterous times call for preposterous music" (10/10 - The Arts Desk). "Not only sees them break that purgatorial cycle, but suggests that more greatness is on the way" (8/10 - Clash)

Chanel BeadsYour Day Will Come
"Your Day Will Come is not the future of pop or rock, but nothing yet sounds this much like the present" (8/10 - The Line Of Best Fit). "All about refinement rather than repetition" (8/10 - NME)

Graham CoxonCastle Park
"It’s a rare delight to hear him back in the driving seat" (8/10 - DIY). "Blur guitarist's 'lost' ninth solo album mixes a strong '60s aesthetic with some interesting stylistic tangents" (8/10 - musicOMH)

Death Cab For CutieI Built You A Tower
"Their hardest-rocking and emotionally urgent set in a while" (9/10 - All Music). "Death Cab is here to stay, my friends, and here's to hoping that there's many more to come" (9.6/10 - Sputnik Music)

Modest MouseAn Eraser And A Maze
"A dense, challenging, and highly rewarding listen. It is a record that is at times anxious, claustrophobic, and deliberately rough around the edges" (8.5/10 - Under The Radar)

IceageFor Love of Grace & the Hereafter
"The quintet add shoegaze, country and 50s rock’n’roll to their core indie-punk sound, resulting in songs that offset lyrical bleakness with gleeful, uplifting music" (10/10 - The Guardian)

Paul McCartneyThe Boys of Dungeon Lane
"A richly nostalgic trip that proves this legend is still as creative as ever" (9/10 - Rolling Stone). "A welcome return from the master" (8.5/10 - Hot Press).

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.

See full list