Ever since we started The Minimalists, I’ve catalogued my favorite albums at the end of each calendar year. For me, 2025 was the best time for new music in a while, so much so that my Top 10 List includes 14 albums. I know … that’s not very minimalist! Or is it?
1. Justin Bieber, Swag II. I never imagined The Biebs would top one of my year-end lists, but then he poured his heart into this luscious masterpiece—a double album that harkens back to the R&B of the late 80s and early 90s. Certainly my most played album of 2025, because I can’t help but smile (and dance) every time I press play.
2. Rustin Kelly, Pale, Through the Window. Rustin returns with a scathing indictment of contemporary life—critiquing everything from pickleball and modern love to aging parents and glowing screens. In any other year, this would easily be the #1 album on this list.
3. Lithe, Lost in Euphoria. With its sparse, minimalist percussion, this project is an extravagant display of musical restraint—only seven songs and 16 minutes of runtime, but every note is agonizing with aura. Lithe’s music gives me a singular feeling—like I’ve stumbled across something very special, right before the entire world finds it. Stated plainly: it’s a vibe.
4. Matt Nathanson, The King of (Un)Simple. With this overdose on magical thinking, Nathanson solidifies his position as my favorite living songwriter, especially with devastating lyrics like, “When they said you were bad for me / All I could see / Were jealous fools / But every time we fall asleep / I wake up weak / With puncture wounds.”
5. The Terrys, The Terrys. Frisky surfer-punk songs that sound like a pleasant surprise every time this album waterlogs my speakers.
6. Ken Yates, Total Cinema. Calculated chords and dignified lyrics about the pain and beauty of being alive—a precise, measured album about an imprecise life that, ironically, can’t be measured.
7. Matt Berninger, Get Sunk. I rarely know what The National’s lead singer is talking about, but it always feels like capital-T truth when he says it. To wit: “She says she takes photos of tractor bones / And sells ’em to model luxury homes / The closest thing she’s ever found to love / Is the kind you can’t get rid of fast enough.”
8. SAINt JHN, Festival Season. From power ballads to gritty hip-hop, the genre lines aren’t merely blurred on this album, they have dissolved completely.
9. William Fitzsimmons, Incidental Contact. An intimate, honest exploration of grief, love, loss, and resilience. Fitzsimmons’ heartfelt lyricism and emotional sincerity make this project particularly moving.
10. La Reezy, Welcome to La Reezyana Vol 1. This album is a melodic passport into La Reezy’s worldview, chalk full of local pride, quick wit, innate charisma, and a dash of nostalgia that refuses to chase mainstream trends.
11. Two Lanes, No Feeling Is Final. The vibrant Berlin-based electronic duo returns to the spotlight by blending magnetic piano, analog synths, and minimal electronic elements in ways that feel organic and newly harvested.
12. Joshua Radin, One Day Home. Quiet, perfect songs about a loud, imperfect heart.
13. Spacey Jane, If That Makes Sense. This expressive indie rock album is dripping with emotional honesty, introspection, and lush songwriting that mines universal themes like self-reflection, growing up, and identity.
14. Clipse, Let God Sort Em Out. An elevated return to form for these two Virginia brothers and their coconspirator, the musical savant Pharrell Williams. The trio’s chemistry is the main character on this record—as cutting and as gripping as ever.
Honorable Mentions: Brandi Carlile, Hammock, Medium Build, The Game, Wale, Summer Walker, Tory Lanez, Andrew Belle, Yung Lean, Dominic Fike, Gunna, The Lumineers, MGK, knw, Kevin Abstract, Yungblood, Whatever the Weather, Fridayy, EST Gee, Bon Iver, Ben Rector, Chance the Rapper, The Midnight, De La Soul, Penny and Sparrow, Matthew Mayfield, The Weeknd, PND & Drake, David Gray, Central Cee, Brian Eno, Lil Baby.
What was your favorite album this year?
Let me know via DM on Instagram.
—JFM
P.S. You can find previous years here.
