This 10 Greatest Global Albums of 2025
Looking back on the musical landscape of worldwide music that defied expectations. Here is a countdown of ten exceptional albums that shaped the year in music.
Number Ten: The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on cyclical percussion might not seem the most accessible listening experience. However, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar transforms this driving beat into a hypnotically captivating work. Guiding an trio of three drummers, Korwar creates a intricate percussive dialect throughout the record's ten sections. The work references the phasing techniques of Steve Reich as well as traditional Indian musical phrasing, all anchored in the recurrence of a persistent, thrumming refrain. The longer one listens, this refrain evokes the trance-inducing cycles of devotional music, pulling the listener further into Korwar's unique percussive universe.
9. The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
After an long absence, Arab vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a mournful album of songs. She expands on the Arabic-sung, dub-influenced style that established her as a fixture in the Arab alternative scene since the nineties. Hamdan's voice is gentle and thoughtful, delivering soft melodies over the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the deep trip-hop groove of Vows. During more energetic moments such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a wavering, longing vibrato against electronic lines with North African flavors and skittering electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is sparse and subtle, yet this simplicity provides the ideal environment for Hamdan's deeply felt songwriting to take center stage. This is a record truly deserving of the wait.
Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Slowed Down
From Mexico producer Debit has a knack for haunting reimaginings of historical sounds. On her new album, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected take of the rhythmic Latin American musical style. Debit slows this sound even further, processing its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm through sheets of sludge and hiss to generate a fresh, menacing groove. Periodically ambient and uneasy, Debit transforms the celebratory dancefloor sound of cumbia into a persistent, ghostly memory.
Number Seven: The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Maximalism is the key term for the output of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a tumult of sirens, explosive bass tones and shouted lyrics on top of the enduring Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This emulates the propulsive sound of neighborhood block parties. On his follow-up release, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the energy, incorporating everything from techno kick drums to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a notably manic and punishingly loud 40-minute listening experience. Submit to the noise and Vieira's unapologetic productions become oddly freeing.
Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco beats and Punjabi folk melodies is a newly appreciated treasure. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an strikingly engaging fusion of the metallic sound of electronic keyboards and programmed drums with her fluid Indian classical vocal technique. Electronic percussion echoes the undulating tones of the tabla, while synthesiser melody parallels the traditional sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Elsewhere, Latin-inflected grooves takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya channels a driving funky bass rhythm. It's a club-ready hybrid created over a decade before the Asian Underground explosion.
Number Five: The Mongolian Artist Enji – Resonance
Mongolian vocalist Enji's delicate new release, Sonor, develops her jazz-inflected sound to offer some of her most wide-ranging music yet. Departing from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's 11 tracks travel from the gentle Norah Jones-esque melodies of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a sprightly, funk-tinged cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a ensemble rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains intimate, pulling the listener into the warm soundscape of her distinctive voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – If There Is No Tomorrow
Channeling the 1960s legacy of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work with her band Grup Şimşek merges the distinctive buzz of the electrified saz with dreamy Mellotron and R&B-inflected lines. It's a 1970s throwback sound grounded in Yıldırım's powerful high register and influenced by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape aesthetic. But, on Turkish standards such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group reaches lively new territory. They develop sinuous, slow-burning grooves and soaring vocals that impart a fresh, unconventional spin to the Turkish psych sound.
Number Three: Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Sacred music, Eastern European folk melodies and symphonic arrangements merge on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable fourth album. Arranging music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett explore a vast range including the liturgical vocals of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the theatrical interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic dembow rhythms of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Yet, it is Pim