Each year at NPR Music, we curate two flagship lists: The Best Albums of the Year and The Best Songs of the Year. But there's a lot more recommendations and criticism where those came from. You'll ...

Apple Music has just launched a diverse lineup of new ‘Best of 2025’ playlists, and also named Tyler, The Creator as its Artist of the Year. Here are the details. New ‘Best of 2025’ playlists ...

The best albums of 2025 spanned seismic rage rap, intricate guitar music, protest folk, spacey dream pop, and laptop twee. A virtuoso of experimental electronic music re-emerged, a Brooklyn band ...

In these 100 songs, you’ll hear lusty dubstep, quietly subversive electronic pop, regional rap bangers, alt-country odysseys, ubiquitous chart-toppers, and much more. We were drawn to songs this year ...

If 2024 was the year of the situationship album (and, yes, there are still plenty that dropped thereafter), then 2025 was the year we danced through the fire. The hypnotic, high-tempo momentum of this ...

As 2025 comes to a close, one of the most significant stories in music, which will surely grow in importance in the coming years, is who—or what—will be singing the songs of the future. Recently a ...

Only Slate Plus members can gift Slate stories. Become a member to share 10 free articles a month. To make a list is immediately to begin second-guessing it. This year that’s especially true below the ...

The Korean pop outsider Effie and the Brooklyn indie-rock band Geese top our critics’ lists this year. By Jon Caramanica and Lindsay Zoladz Jon Caramanica Musicians know how to make music, and they ...