Our Ten Greatest Worldwide Albums of the Year 2025

The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of worldwide sounds that expanded horizons. We explore ten notable albums that shaped the year in music.

10. Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already

The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on repetitive drumming may not appear the most approachable listening experience. But, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar transforms this insistent rhythm into a hypnotically captivating work. Guiding an group of three drummers, Korwar crafts a complex percussive language across the record's ten sections. His composition draws from the phasing techniques of Steve Reich alongside Indian classical phrasing, all anchored in the reiteration of a continual, pulsing motif. Over its duration, this refrain begins to emulate the trance-inducing cycles of ritual music, drawing the listener deeper into Korwar's singular percussive universe.

9. Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember

Coming off an hiatus of eight years, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan returns with a mournful set of songs. The work builds upon the Arabic-language, dub-influenced style that cemented her status in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the 1990s. Hamdan's voice is soft and introspective, delivering tender melodies atop the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop beat of Vows. During more energetic moments such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a quivering, longing vibrato over north African synth lines and rattling electronic percussion. The album's sound is lean and subtle, yet this simplicity creates the perfect setting for Hamdan's expressive lyricism to shine through. This is a record well worth the wait.

8. Debit – Desaceleradas

Mexican electronic artist Debit has a knack for uncanny reimaginings of historical sounds. On her latest release, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dubby version of the shuffling Latin American dance music genre. Debit drags this sound to a near-halt, processing its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm through veils of murk and noise to generate a novel, foreboding groove. Sometimes ambient and discomfiting, Debit morphs the exuberant dancefloor sound of cumbia into a lasting, ghostly echo.

7. DJ K – Liberator Radio!

Sensory overload is the defining principle for the output of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a onslaught of alarms, pummeling bass tones and shouted lyrics over the classic Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This captures the propulsive sound of urban celebrations. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the ferocity, adding everything from driving techno rhythms to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a particularly manic and deafeningly intense forty-minute listening experience. Surrender to the cacophony and Vieira's bold productions become unexpectedly liberating.

6. The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi

Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco music and Punjabi folk melodies is a newly appreciated gem. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an unusually engaging fusion of the synthetic sound of 1980s synthesisers and programmed drums with her melismatic classical Indian singing style. Drum machine patterns mirrors the rolling tones of the traditional drums, while synthesiser melody parallels the classic sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. At other times, Latin-inflected grooves is prominent on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a up-tempo walking disco bassline. It's a dancefloor fusion delivered over a decade before the rise of Asian Underground music.

Number Five: The Mongolian Artist Enji – Sonor

Mongolian singer Enji's delicate fourth album, Sonor, develops her jazz-inflected sound to deliver some of her most diverse music yet. Departing from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces veer from the gentle jazz-pop melodics of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a energetic, funk-inflected cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Showcasing a ensemble rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still close, pulling the listener into the tender acoustics of her unique voice.

Number Four: Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – If There Is No Tomorrow

Channeling the 60s heritage of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's new album alongside her group merges the metallic twang of the electrified saz with woozy keyboard and classic soul melodies. It's a 1970s throwback sound rooted in Yıldırım's commanding high register and influenced by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape sound. However, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group finds vibrant new territory. They develop sinuous, slow-burning grooves and soaring vocals that lend a new, unconventional spin to the Anatolian psychedelic style.

3. Lido Pimienta – La Belleza

Sacred music, Eastern European folk melodies and symphonic arrangements converge on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable fourth album. Arranging music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett journey through a vast range including the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the dramatic counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic dembow rhythms of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim