The Best Albums of 2025 So Far

A ranking and review of the top 100!

Before reading, please note that…

• An “album” is defined here as “a release with three or more songs on it,” so EPs, mini-albums, and longer albums were all equally considered, but not single albums (meaning one song plus one B-side).
• This list looks at the best albums beyond the traditional definitions of “K-pop,” “J-pop,” and “C-pop.” All albums by Korean, Japanese, and Chinese artists were considered, regardless of genre or language.
• To keep this list focused on the first half of the year, and because this list was being narrowed down throughout the month of July, no album released on July 1 or later was considered.
• Some of these are excerpts from longer reviews released when these albums were brand new, hence the ellipses and “Read more here!” links.

#100: ONE LOVE ONE HEART, yureruseishun 
yureruseishun’s title refers to “Wavering Youth,” which explains the album’s inconsistencies. Its best moments are the most showtunes-esque ones, like “tenprefassionista” and “iyanakotonantefutsukadeyamero.” Other standouts include the cheerful, clap-along-ready “story;” the rollicking pop-rock “Girls Forever;” and the rap-focused “Upgrade,” with start-and-stop synths and other digitized surprises. Each song’s strong suits vary, making this album a fittingly exploratory example of young artists coming into their own.

#99: ME:I, MUSE
MUSE is a short and sugary-sweet showcase of ME:I’s sound and style. The title track dazzles with a cute and catchy post-chorus and a glitch-filled, mid-song breakdown. … The B-sides on MUSE are just as chipper and charming, sometimes sticking to down-the-middle pop fare and sometimes featuring more hyper-pop-adjacent leanings. Read more here! 

#98: RESCENE, Glow Up
As is their tradition, Glow Up is scent-focused, and this time, that scent is soap. This adds new meanings to descriptors like “bubbly” and “refreshing” when talking about these pop songs! “In my lotion” further leans into the theme; it is all about the recall power scents can have. What could easily seem like a generic pop release becomes memorable and unique not just thanks to its concept, but its dual applications… Read more here! 

#97: Hebi, Chroma
All anime music fans ought to check out this quick and quirky EP! It briskly follows an upward trajectory, sounding sunnier and faster as it goes on. It begins with eerie sounds, like a whistling wind and echoing and rattling noises, but the intro sounds the opposite of out-of-place. Chroma is like a soundtrack for a main character’s sprint towards a finish line, gaining more momentum as the finish line draws nearer and ending such a far distance from where it started that the daunting feeling from the starting line feels like a distant memory.

#96: GYUBIN, Flowering
Flowering is an endearingly earnest EP about puppy love. The main track, “LIKE U 100,” is about a deep crush that isn’t too deep. … The B-sides also show that GYUBIN is not growing up too fast. “Oops!” has a natural “Who, me?” innocent quality, “So Yeah, LOVE!” describes love as a “sugar high” as big as a “Lollipop in the sky,” and “Born To Love You” turns talk of loving back to liking: “Maybe I was born to love you,” she thinks, before following up with another version of “LIKE U 100,” as if to say, “Wait, maybe not!” Read more here!

#95: Bobby Kim, PART OF ME
PART OF ME is an intimate glimpse at the man behind the musician who’s been in business for over three decades now. Remarkably, given how long he has been a public figure, he proves there is still much to learn about him, and the reveals come via a refreshingly wide lens. He does not just sing about himself from his own perspective; he shows the bigger picture through how others see him. He enlisted close friends and industry peers to write these songs, composed them himself, and brought them to life with musicians spanning a range of backstories and experience levels. The result is an EP that started where all great music does - from a personal place - and turned into something with more universal resonance.

#94: Omoinotake, Pieces
As noteworthy as each song on Pieces is, the emotional core lies in “Better Half.”... The other songs on Pieces are original in their own rights, and they range from brassy and upbeat (especially “Whiteout”) to solemn and slow (“Tsubomi,” “Pieces”), while palpable feelings remain their shared guiding light. Read more here!

#93: AILEE, (Me)moir 
(Me)moir includes three songs that each show a different side of AILEE’s musicality, while sticking with the theme as written on the cover: “Love and trust yourself. Only then will your story shine the brightest. Make your own memoir.” ... (Me)moir is a strong self-love message and a reminder that no one deserves to co-write someone else’s life story. Read more here!

#92: Kandis, Playground 
As naturally appealing as an air of mystique is, there is also appeal in just telling it as one sees it, and this group does so countless times. As for the album’s instrumental components, they are heavily R&B and hip-hop influenced and often bring to mind second-generation K-pop girl groups, which is welcome! The group alternates between moments of harmonizing and singing solo, between sounding more conversational and more melodic, and between maintaining higher and lower tempos; this variety helps keep such direct songs interesting. The best song is “Be Humble,” which marks the moment on Playground when they fully hit their stride. Read more here!

#91: O3ohn & Car, the garden, TWO
For those searching for something new and different to add to their playlists but unsure what that “something” is, O3ohn and Car, the garden have them covered! It is more of an atmosphere than an album at times, with vibes doing more of the talking than actual words! Songs like “BIG BIRD” dress up a cry for help in a groovy exterior, which matches the music video’s unconvincing “Everything is fine and normal” pretense!

Since each song on TWO is an outlier, none of them are true outliers, a subversion that suits the ways so many disparate details congeal into this project’s final form. Read more here!

#90: R.E.D, 釉 (You)
Plenty of K-pop girl groups’ songs come to mind when listening to this album: ILLIT’s during “Love is Everywhere,” KISS OF LIFE’s during “Proud of Us,” aespa’s more sentimental B-sides during “My Rose”... That being said, this C-pop group brings their own types of both polish and jaggedness to their songs, weaving Eastern and Western instrumentals together while utilizing a K-pop song formula. They start off strong with the assertive rap/trap song “Diamonds,” then quickly prove they have singing skills in spades with the guitar-led “Proud of Us.” Third comes the best song, “Let Me Go,” a testament to their great harmonizing and vocal control. Another standout is the flute-laced, danceable “Love is Everywhere.” Overall, R.E.D have enough in common with K-pop girl groups - especially the more R&B-influenced ones - to make it worth putting them on the same playlists, but R.E.D definitely have musical might that is one-of-a-kind.

#89: THE BOYZ, Unexpected 
THE BOYZ’s prolific output has not diluted its quality; this uber-busy group is still delivering the Unexpected! “Feel The Bass” starts the album strong, with one of their most spitfire raps yet. “VVV” has a boxing-themed music video, which is not unique in K-pop but stands apart thanks to its plot twists, role changes, and overall meaning (the title stands for “Veni, Vidi, Vici,” meaning “I came, I saw, I conquered”). Besides the opening tracks, which stay in THE BOYZ’s hip-hop-meets-pop wheelhouse, “Ain’t Salty” is a highlight, for its orchestral flair. The rest of the album includes the unexpectedly groovy “Rock and Roll;” the rough-voiced “Nothing;” the bouncy “Miss Demeanor;” the meaningful “Crossover;” and two R&B-focused songs, “Starry Night” and “Rose,” the latter differentiating itself with a more dramatic analogy.

#88: LIL LEAGUE from EXILE TRIBE, Shigeki-Saiyusen
Shigeki-Saiyusen is a volcanic eruption of energy! A lyric in the title track sums up the group’s mantra: “The top priority is stimulation”! Indeed, the music video is a relentless romp reminiscent of one of NCT DREAM’s videos, with contagious enthusiasm and surreal surroundings (not to mention the mid-song tonal shift reminiscent of NCT DREAM’s in “ISTJ”). “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo” is just as electric and warp-speed. Although they calm down in the EP’s second half, neither “Homeboys” nor “Ichibanboshi” takes itself too seriously. They misdirect the listeners time and time again, although the best formula detours are definitely in the title track. LIL LEAGUE are unpredictable spitfires that pop fans of all kinds ought to know! 

#87: CIX, THUNDER FEVER 
This CIX era is all about contrasts. They prove to excel at two different types of ballads (“My name is shadow” and “My Everlasting Sun,” which obviously show a contrast thematically, too); to pull off two different pre-release single concepts (the danceable “THUNDER” being a follow-up to the moodier “Lovers or Enemies”); and to play up two different demeanors, depending on what the song warrants: a down-for-fun vibe (like in “Bad Moves”) or a calm, “Everything will be okay” one (like in “My Everlasting Sun”). Yet another example of their duality comes from this era’s visual components… Read more here!

#86: ITZY, Girls Will Be Girls
With this comeback, ITZY’s spunk and spirit are sharpened in some ways and softened in others. They stubbornly stick to the album’s title as their mantra, conveying a message of empowerment that is meant to be both evergreen and unmissable. Topic-wise, the forms their encouragement takes cover the past (“Kiss & Tell” says goodbye to caring about others’ judgement), present (the fan-dedicated “Promise” is about cherishing the present moment), and future (“Locked N Loaded” calls on girls to let their voices be heard loud and clear from here on out). They also cover many bases in terms of who their encouragement is directed towards: “You,” themselves individually (“I”), and themselves collectively (“We”). For example, they switch subjects throughout “Girls Will Be Girls”: “I got your back / So don’t you worry;” “I ain’t gonna need a hero / We know what to do with ego.” (The latter lyrics are extra meaningful when recalling the anti- “damsel in distress” narrative of their “RINGO” era!) The perfect finishing touch on this self-hype builder of an album is the runway-ready closer, “Walk”! 

#85: Han Seungwoo, TOP NOTE
TOP NOTE offers a sampling of styles Han Seungwoo proves to do well, from the pop-punk “STOP IT” to the band-pop-style “Lonely.” He dabbles in details with the right proportions, never sounding like he’s tweaking things just for the sake of doing so but tweaking things enough to make the changes worth his while. For instance, the subtle instrumentation shifts in “Feel your love” keep his voice the main event but switch up the sideshows. The percussive pacing of “Falling Too Fast” adds emphasis in the proper places, as do the moments when guitars amplify prolonged high notes. Other ways he mixes things up but not too much are with the surprises in the “chillest” tracks: “Chill guy,” featuring a chanting crowd, and the chill-sounding “Comma,” featuring a computerized voice.

#84: ReN, Early Project 2
This EP sounds like ReN acing this assignment: “Show the world your musical strengths as succinctly yet comprehensively as possible”! After coasting through the surprisingly chill “Riot” and the reverb-heavy synth-pop “Why so serious?,” he gets to the emotional climax (and overall best part of the album), belting out “Precious.” Falling action is served well by “Free to go,” which channels the feeling of fading away by focusing on just his voice and a guitar. “Chandelier” concludes the brisk up-and-down arc with a powerful piano ballad. Taken as a whole, these songs show ReN’s self-awareness of how to best use his voice while keeping the element of surprise through sound and topic contrasts. 

#83: siso, Dear Nobody
Dear Nobody is an admirably authentic account of living an insecure life. siso wonders what role she can fill in society, where she belongs, and what degree of conformity will be necessary to find those answers. She conveys something on the minds of many people who dare not say it aloud: internal conflict over wanting to dream big and worrying one’s dreams will be too big of a load for the world to carry. “Seashell” sums up her relatable mindset: “I have a lot of hopes / With the anxiety of nowhere to go.” It’s normal to worry about where, how, and how much one should take up metaphorical space, and for siso to address this seldom-talked-about concern with such candor - not to mention with some unexpected cheekiness here and there! - is worth appreciating.

#82: Ian Chan, Interlude
After a fast-paced and light pop song (“Lost at first sight”), Interlude prioritizes Ian Chan’s stirring and sincere balladry. He conveys just as much depth when singing his gratitude to the deliverer of his love letters (“Thank You Postman”) as he does when crying out in pain and frustration during a relationship’s rough patch (“Sculp”). Yet Interlude ends with a new version of “Thank You Postman,” which sends the message that Ian Chan will always bounce back from the times when he regrets falling in love. His commitment to letting love back in again and again is represented by the EP’s title. The darkest moment of the love story, “Sculp,” is a mere intermission, not a curtain call.

#81: KAI, Wait On Me
While KAI’s eponymous EP, Peaches, and Rover have more to rave about thanks to their corresponding short films, Wait On Me has a deserving role in KAI’s solo discography. There is an upside to him setting narrative-building aside for a minute to show off his natural sense of rhythm, both via the “Wait On Me” music video and via this EP’s groovy tracks. He makes the most of the nineteen-minute runtime, not just showing self-awareness of what he does best vocally, but showing a coexisting appetite for repertoire expansion. He dabbles in influences that include Latin-trap, Reggaeton, Amapiano, and Afrobeats, and his innate sense of rhythm always proves to be seamlessly translatable. Overall, Wait On Me is short but serviceable, showing KAI standing in his sweet spot while staring at wider musical horizons.

#80: ASH ISLAND, Voice Memo 
Voice Memo aces its assignment, embracing pop-punk angst in ASH ISLAND’s signature autotune-laden style. He keeps his focus inwards, but the brisk pacing, genre blending, and seamless track transitions maintain listeners’ interest. Plus, his “woe is me” routine avoids growing old or annoying by touching on deeper feelings in understated ways. Read more here!

#79: Boramiyu, clover #2
Fans of Younha will love this artist! Boramiyu proves to be a natural at altering her voice for the specific qualities for which the moment calls. Her voice’s delicate side shines in the gentle, self-explanatory opener, “Go For A Walk.” The vocal emphasis shifts to power and volume for “SoulMate,” befitting the song’s heightened sense of yearning compared to the first song. Her voice melds into a fun groove and lands somewhere between the fragile tone of “Go For A Walk” and the powerful one of “SoulMate” in the third song, “Wish You Luck.” Lastly, in “Yesterday,” she lets her voice shine through an absence of distractions; instruments stick to supporting roles only. clover #2 makes a short but sweet argument for becoming a fan of Boramiyu.

#78: SEOAN, Good to Bad to Good
Good to Bad to Good sounds dreamy yet dotted with doses of reality. Harmonized backup vocals and synth waves are go-tos, but so are moments when SEOAN expresses herself more sternly and less melodically, and moments that sound like she is leaving a message on an answering machine. The listening experience is like a mix of eavesdropping on private conversations and being directly invited to listen to her soulful relationship reflections. She saves the best for last with “Suffering,” which lets her voice fully shine in both its breathier and more powerful moments. Good to Bad to Good just goes from “Good” to “Great” and showcases the smoothness and smart instincts of this underrated artist. 

#77: N.Flying, Everlasting
Everlasting is an aptly-titled anniversary release, marking a decade with N.Flying. Loyal fans will love this present, which is anthemic in a wide range of ways and a reminder that not every artist needs to swing for the fences. N.Flying’s longevity is in part due to knowing what they are best at, and Everlasting delivers it in spades. Pop music formulas and rock-ballad stylings coexist, as do moments of levity next to dramatic and OST-worthy numbers. The lovely lyrics often involve constellation-related, floral, and ocean-themed analogies. The group sings about staying on their journey far into the future, and fortunate reassurance of this goal comes the most from “Born To Be,” which could easily fit on an old-school N.Flying album. Another standout is the title track, for its Brit-pop inspiration that sounds natural for them, rather than try-hard.

#76: CRAVITY, Dare to Crave
Dare to Crave has CRAVITY’s staples in spades, including soaring harmonies, a mix of softer synth-pop and more rock-inspired and assertive pop songs, and personal writing and composing credits. However, as indicated by the symbolic cracked egg on the album cover, this era marks the dawn of a new day for CRAVITY, too. This is the group’s first time splitting into subunits, for a foot-tapping good time (“Straight Up to Heaven”), a punk-inspired jam (“Stadium”), and some unexpected maturity (“Marionette”). The more classically CRAVITY songs are smartly before and after these subunit tracks, taking listeners into and out of familiar territory without requiring any convincing first that the listening experience will be worth it for fans. An additional way that CRAVITY “dare to crave” to take their sound to the next level: asking “Why not?” more often than “Why?,” when it comes to tonal exploration and instrumental layering.

Stay tuned for the rest of the countdown!

View the Substack version of this piece here!