Top 100 Albums of 2025

KGNU’s 2025 Top 100 is a snapshot of a year in listening, shaped by the adventurous ears of our DJs and the community that tunes in. Spanning styles, scenes, and sounds from across the musical spectrum, these are the albums that stayed in heavy rotation and soundtracked the year for our listeners and a reflect the depth, range, and curiosity that define KGNU.

Rank	Artist	Album	Label
1	Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson	What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow	Nonesuch
2	Billy Strings & Bryan Sutton	Live At The Legion	Reprise
3	Willie Nelson	Oh What A Beautiful World	Sony
4	Say She She	Cut & Rewind	drink sum wtr
5	Mollie O’Brien & Rich Moore	Lost In The Crowd	self
6	Ale Hop & Titi Bakorta	Mapambazuko	Nyege Nyege Tapes
7	Sierra Hull	A Tip Toe High Wire	Sierra Hull
8	I’m With Her	Wild and Clear and Blue	Rounder
9	Tony Allen & La BOA	LA BOA MEETS TONY ALLEN	Planet Woo/Comet Records
10	Tim O’Brien, Bill Frisell & Dale Bruning	Life Lessons	Wendell World Records
11	Femi Kuti	Journey Through Life	Partisan Records
12	Kenny Wayne Shepherd & Bobby Rush	Young Fashioned Ways	Deep Rush
13	Charley Crockett	Lonesome Drifter	Lone Star Rider
14	Bonnie “Prince” Billy	The Purple Bird	No Quarter Records
15	Derya Yildirim & Grup Simsek	Yarın Yoksa	Big Crown Records
16	Alison Krauss & Union Station	Arcadia	Down The Road
17	Ora The Molecule	Dance Therapy	Mute
18	Ebo Taylor, Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad	Ebo Taylor JID022	Jazz Is Dead
19	Rodney Crowell	Airline Highway	New West
20	Margo Price	Hard Headed Woman	Loma Vista
21	Barry Can’t Swim	Loner	Ninja Tune
22	Stereolab	Instant Holograms On Metal Film	Duophonic UHF Disks
23	Horsegirl	Phonetics On and On	Matador Records
24	Kingdom Molongi	Kembo	Nyege Nyege Tapes
25	Antone’s 50th Allstars	50 Years of the Blues	New West
26	Witch	SOGOLO	Desert Daze Sound
27	The Seldom Scene	Remains to Be Scene	Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
28	Various Artists	A Selection of Music from Libyan Tapes (Habibi Funk 031)	Habibi Funk
29	Peter Rowan	Tales of the Free Mexican Airforce	There Records
30	Jon Cleary	The Bywater Sessions	FHQ Records
31	Tim O’Brien & Jan Fabricius	Paper Flowers	Howdy Skies Records
32	Valerie June	Owls, Omens, and Oracles	Concord
33	Songhoy Blues	Héritage	Transgressive
34	Juana Molina	EXHALO – EP	Sonamos / Little Butterfly Records
35	Becky Buller	Songs That Sing Me	Dark Shadow Recordings
36	Water From Your Eyes	It’s A Beautiful Place	Matador
37	Maria Muldaur	One Hour Mama: The Blues of Victoria Spivey	Nola Blue
38	Sweet Megg	Never Been Home	Sweet Megg
39	Tyler Grant	Flatpicker	Grant Central Records
40	Missy Raines & Allegheny	Love & Trouble (feat. Missy Raines)	Compass Records
41	Japanese Breakfast	For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women)	Dead Oceans
42	The Devil Makes Three	Spirits	New West
43	Deep Sea Diver	Billboard Heart	Sub Pop Records
44	Cymande	Renascence	BMG
45	Michael Cleveland & Jason Carter	Carter & Cleveland	Fiddleman Records
46	Chronixx	Exile	Forever Living Originals
47	Shawn Camp	The Ghost of Sis Draper	Skeeter Bit Records
48	David Byrne	Who Is The Sky?	Matador
49	Trombone Shorty & New Breed Brass Band	Second Line Sunday	Treme Records
50	Wet Leg	moisturizer	Domino
51	Sababa 5	Nadir	Batov Records
52	Surprise Chef	Superb	Big Crown Records
53	Kin’Gongolo Kiniata	Kiniata	HELICO
54	Butcher Brown	Letters From The Atlantic	Concord Jazz
55	Biig Piig	11:11	Sony
56	The Velveteers	A Million Knives	Easy Eye Sound
57	Ahmed Essyad	Moroccan Electroacoustic Music 1972-74	SUB ROSA
58	Nyron Higor	Nyron Higor	Far Out Recordings
59	Meredith Monk	Cellular Songs	ECM
60	Brennen Leigh	Dumpster Diving	Signature Sounds Recording
61	Sofia Kourtesis	Volver – EP	Ninja Tune
62	Gelli Haha	Switcheroo	Innovative Leisure
63	Eje Eje	Primordial Soup	Batov Records
64	Charif Megarbane	Hawalat (Habibi Funk 030) [Bonus Edition]	Habibi Funk
65	Babe Rainbow	Slipper imp and shakaerator	p(doom) records
66	Florence Adooni	A.O.E.I.U. (An Ordinary Exercise In Unity)	Philophon
67	Shabaka	Possession – EP	Verve
68	Kendra Morris	Next	Karma Chief
69	Plein Air Sound Collective	Weathering Steel	Plein Air Sound Collective
70	The Beths	Straight Line Was a Lie	Anti
71	Shelby Means	Shelby Means	Shelby Means
72	Durand Jones & The Indications	Flowers	Dead Oceans
73	tUnE-yArDs	Better Dreaming	4AD
74	Samantha Fish	Paper Doll	Rounder Records
75	Asleep at the Wheel	Riding High In Texas	Bismeaux Records
76	Tunde Adebimpe	Thee Black Boltz	Sub Pop Records
77	Saya Gray	SAYA	Dirty Hit
78	Madalitso Band	Ma Gitala	Les Disques Bongo Joe
79	North Mississippi Allstars	Still Shakin’	New West
80	Pachyman	Another Place	ATO
81	Antibalas	Hourglass	Daptone Records
82	Emma-Jean Thackray	Weirdo	Warner
83	Samantha Crain	Gumshoe	Real Kind
84	Miss Tess	Cher Rêve	Miss Tess
85	Christone “Kingfish” Ingram	Hard Road	Red Zero
86	Cochemea	Vol III: Ancestros Futuros	Daptone Records
87	Hot 8 Brass Band	Big Tuba	Tru Thoughts
88	Jeff Tweedy	Twilight Override	dBpm
89	Galactic & Irma Thomas	Audience With the Queen	Tchoup-Zilla
90	Angelique Francis	Not Defeated	Kiran Francis / Angelique Francis
91	Charley Crockett	Dollar A Day	Lone Star Rider
92	Rick Faris	Life’s Parade	Dark Shadow Recording
93	Big Country Bluegrass	Carry Me Back To The Bluegrass	Rebel Records
94	Loaded Honey	Love Made Trees	Vetra
95	Dom Salvador, Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad	Dom Salvador JID024	Jazz Is Dead
96	KOKOROKO	Tuff Times Never Last	Brownswood Recordings
97	Lagartijeando	7 Caminos	WONDERWHEEL RECORDINGS
98	Junior Roy & Dub Shepherds	Trodding on Showcase	BAT Records
99	Maribou State	Hallucinating Love	Ninja Tune
100	The Altons	Heartache in Room 14	Daptone Records