2025 was yet another year where I spent a Sunday in November sweating buckets trying to cut down all of the music I’ve listened to in the current year to twenty albums as part of the Ghost Cult staff voting. Each year is a mix of pain and pleasure, and 2025 was certainly a difficult one. Before I unveil my Top 20, here are some Honorable Mentions, in no particular order, that you should add to your library if not done already.
I know you’ve already read at least 10 top lists for the year, and I’ve written at least 20 of them in various corners of the internet for different genres. So what I’ve done to keep things fresh is make this a look at the top 2O artists whose albums set the bar in their respective genres for 2026, and the bands most likely to rise to the occasion and take the top spots for 2026. Being neuro-spicy, I of course had to arrange them ranked by how many times I listened to each album, so thanks to Last FM, the total plays of each album are included as an additional data point, in case you have an official ranking kink. So here’s my top 20 albums for the year and my hopes for the bands to watch in 2026.